Can I play Half Life 2 on my M1 MacBook with Big Sur?

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ozziegn Dec 18, 2020 @ 4:30pm

I was able to install the Steam client on my M1 MacBook Air with Big Sur. I paid for and downloaded Half Life 2 which installed on my SSD drive just fine. But I try to play the game and it tells me it isn't compatible with my OS. Can anyone tell me if I just wasted $20 for nothing?

Last edited by ozziegn; Dec 18, 2020 @ 4:31pm

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Showing 1-9 of 9 comments

cSg|mc-Hotsauce Dec 18, 2020 @ 4:37pm

Use Rosetta.

The game is 32-bit and can't be played natively.

Last edited by cSg|mc-Hotsauce; Dec 18, 2020 @ 4:37pm

Dr.Shadowds 🐉 Dec 18, 2020 @ 4:38pm

M1 chip is ARM processor, not a x86 processor. It features Rosetta 2 dynamic binary translation that allows it to run x86 software, but that seems pretty iffy as IDK what to tell you exactly not sure if all apps are supported, or not that were made using x86 instructions.

Now IDK if half life 2 got recompile for 64bit OS, if not then that be a problem as Apple drops the whole 32bit support so any app that were complie to work for 32bit will not work on Apple OS that 64bit as they drop 32bit support within the OS past 2 years I believe. But I believe Rosetta suppose to be the replacement support, but again IDK exactly if it will fix your problem, or not.

You can try asking for help here.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/220/discussions/

And here.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/2/

Last edited by Dr.Shadowds 🐉; Dec 18, 2020 @ 4:41pm

ozziegn Dec 18, 2020 @ 5:30pm

^ Ok. So should I just ask for a refund and call it a day?

Dr.Shadowds 🐉 Dec 18, 2020 @ 6:01pm

Originally posted by ozziegn:
^ Ok. So should I just ask for a refund and call it a day?

Well if you can't get it to work with Rosetta, then yes request a refund, or can use Nvidia cloud gaming service which stream the game to you.

But like said not much else to tell you beyond this.

Homy Dec 19, 2020 @ 6:23am

Only if you install Parallels and Windows ARM: https://youtu.be/DCwIN4Zqduc?t=325

yezsef May 30, 2021 @ 3:40am

I am running the 64 bit version of half life 2 in with wine it's very slow. Counter Strike source kinda works but it's a bit buggy.
I really wish Valve would update all of the 32 bit titles and perhaps optimise a wine binary or something that would be great