GemRB (BG series IWD series PST)

[MurderousMoppet]

If anybody in here remembers the classic infinity engine games such as Baldurs Gate, Planescape Tournament, or Icewind Dale series I have good news. They are all available to play for free natively on Mac OS X! (practically any other platform too)

You still need the original data discs (either windows or old mac versions) to install the game data for playing.

after that just download and install GemRB

there is also a version available for iPhone/iPad

direct link to downloads

 

[cluthz]

after that just download and install GemRB

there is also a version available for iPhone/iPad

direct link to downloads

No binaries for OSX?

 

[MurderousMoppet]

No binaries for OSX?

the direct link to downloads i posted has binaries for mac, ipad, and windows it looks like.

Its a bit hard to set up (requires editing a text file with the path to the game you want to play etc) but I would be happy to assist anybody having difficulties.

alternatively you can post without an account on their official forums if you need assistance.

 

[cluthz]

the direct link to downloads i posted has binaries for mac, ipad, and windows it looks like.

Its a bit hard to set up (requires editing a text file with the path to the game you want to play etc) but I would be happy to assist anybody having difficulties.

alternatively you can post without an account on their official forums if you need assistance.

Thanks, I just saw the other link and it just had binaries for win and iOS.

I downloaded the GemRB binary and installed it.
Now I have a GemRB.app in Application folder.

According to instructions there should be a config file. But nowhere I can find where it is supposed to be.

Copy one of the GemRB.cfg samples and rename it to <game_name>.cfg . You can name configuration files arbitrarily, but this way makes the most sense if you'll be running multiple games.

Not to be harsh, but I've used linux and I've compiled plenty of stuff myself, I've also used Wine a lot, but the instructions here are just lacking.

edit:
Just checked debugging it.

/Applications/GemRB.app/Contents/MacOS/GemRB ; exit;
GemRB Core Version v0.7.0-git Loading...
[Core]: Initializing the Event Manager...[Core]: Initializing Lists Dictionary...[Core]: Initializing Variables Dictionary...[OK]
[Config]: Trying to open GemRB.cfg [NOT FOUND]
[Config]: Trying to open /Users/tob/.GemRB/GemRB.cfg [NOT FOUND]
[Core]: Could not load config file [ERROR]
Press enter to continue...
logout

So the config must go in a hidden folder in user.

I found the template in:
/user/Library(hidden folder)/Application Support/

It took me 15 minutes to find this! They really should fix their manual!

 

[MurderousMoppet]

Thanks, I just saw the other link and it just had binaries for win and iOS.

I downloaded the GemRB binary and installed it.
Now I have a GemRB.app in Application folder.

According to instructions there should be a config file. But nowhere I can find where it is supposed to be.

Not to be harsh, but I've used linux and I've compiled plenty of stuff myself, I've also used Wine a lot, but the instructions here are just lacking.

edit:
Just checked debugging it.

So the config must go in a hidden folder in user.

I found the template in:
/user/Library(hidden folder)/Application Support/

It took me 15 minutes to find this! They really should fix their manual!

yes, the mac package distribution is quite new. seems there are some mac build bugs. The gemrb project itself is only version 0.7 so there is quite a ways to go, but development appears to be progressing rapidly.

Its completely open source so feel free to submit patches for the mac build!

Regarding the location of files. it installs using a package so you can examine before you install where the files will go or view the receipt after to see what it installed where.

There doesnt appear to be a wiki page for the mac specific install like there is for iOS, but it is a wiki so we can add one

 

[cluthz]

Oki.
I had to make the .GemRB folder myself.
S i did mkdir ~/.GemRB/
I did make a config file and put it in the .GemRB folder.

Now I hit a new error:

/Applications/GemRB.app/Contents/MacOS/GemRB ; exit;
GemRB Core Version v0.7.0-git Loading...
[Core]: Initializing the Event Manager...
[Core]: Initializing Lists Dictionary...
[Core]: Initializing Variables Dictionary...[OK]
[Config]: Trying to open GemRB.cfg [NOT FOUND]
[Config]: Trying to open /Users/tob/.GemRB/GemRB.cfg [OK]
[Core]: Starting Plugin Manager...
[PluginMgr]: Loading Plugins from ~/Library/Application Support/GemRB/plugins/
[Core]: Plugin Loading Failed, check path...[ERROR]
Press enter to continue...
logout

[Process completed]

I do have a "~/Library/Application Support/GemRB/plugins/" folder filled with *.so files

I've got no idea what to do next

 

[MurderousMoppet]

Oki.
I had to make the .GemRB folder myself.
S i did mkdir ~/.GemRB/
I did make a config file and put it in the .GemRB folder.

Now I hit a new error:


I do have a "~/Library/Application Support/GemRB/plugins/" folder filled with *.so files

I've got no idea what to do next

I dont think gemrb expands the ~ (at least not all the time) I have the full path in my config and it works.

the .GemRB dir seems like either a bug or a leftover from linux... application support/gemrb seems like the intended location tho.

 

[cluthz]

I dont think gemrb expands the ~ (at least not all the time) I have the full path in my config and it works.

the .GemRB dir seems like either a bug or a leftover from linux... application support/gemrb seems like the intended location tho.

Plungin path is decided when compiling the app.
I used the precompiled one.

Did you compile it yourself?

 

[MurderousMoppet]

Plungin path is decided when compiling the app.
I used the precompiled one.

Did you compile it yourself?

No... I supplied plugin path in the config file.

like this:
PluginsPath=/Users/your user/Library/Application Support/GemRB/plugins

 

[cluthz]

No... I supplied plugin path in the config file.

like this:
PluginsPath=/Users/your user/Library/Application Support/GemRB/plugins

Instructions says you should not touch it, but let it say PlugInPath=@PLUGINPATH(I found @PLUGINPATH is defined in config.sh when building)

But, after doing as you said, it does start loading plugins!
Anyways, new problems, after plugins have loaded.

....
[Core]: Plugin Loading Complete...[OK]
[Core]: GemRB Core Initialization...[OK]
[Core]: Initializing Video Driver...[ERROR]
No Video Driver Available.
Termination in Progress...
Press enter to continue...
logout

Well I'm giving up for today
Thanks for the quick help tho, GemRB seems like a nice project, but it's still very immature, at least on Mac OSX.

 

[MurderousMoppet]

Instructions says you should not touch it, but let it say PlugInPath=@PLUGINPATH(I found @PLUGINPATH is defined in config.sh when building)

But, after doing as you said, it does start loading plugins!
Anyways, new problems, after plugins have loaded.

Well I'm giving up for today
Thanks for the quick help tho, GemRB seems like a nice project, but it's still very immature, at least on Mac OSX.

You likely dont have SDL.framework installed. download it and drop it into /Library/Frameworks/

also check that SDLVideo.so is in the plugins folder. if its not re-run the installer and make sure it is selected.

Looking at the gitweb progress there has been a lot of recent work for the mac and ios so we can hopefully assume these issues are being worked out

 

[cluthz]

You likely dont have SDL.framework installed. download it and drop it into /Library/Frameworks/

also check that SDLVideo.so is in the plugins folder. if its not re-run the installer and make sure it is selected.

Looking at the gitweb progress there has been a lot of recent work for the mac and ios so we can hopefully assume these issues are being worked out

I notices OpenAL and SDL had errors.
Since they was not listed as a prerequisite for the app I figured those was optional frameworks that could be run without.

Anyways. Success!!
I had to edit datapath a bit more.
GamePath=/Icewind Dale II/
CD1=/Icewind Dale II/
CD2=/Icewind Dale II/CD2/
CD3=/Icewind Dale II/
CD4=/Icewind Dale II/
CD5=/Icewind Dale II/
CD6=/Icewind Dale II/

(I have www.gog.com version, seems like they are linking all CDs except 2 to main folder).

I also got a error that GUIScripts was missing. Found it on the source download.

Thanks a lot for your help! If you didn't reply this quick i'll just go back to running it in wine.

Found out I could load the @.cfg like this:
./GemRB -c /Users/tob/.GemRB/iwd2.cfg
Which will make it easy to make one launcher for each game I have.

One little thing, game doesn't seem to like windowed mode.
If i set windowed in the GemRB.cfg or in game it does nothing.
Not a biggie tho, but would be nice.


edit: it's very buggy. Maybe I should have tried with BG1 or BG2, as Intro does play over the game after it started and interface doesn't work well.

I could not select the pre made chars, but making new seems ok

 

[MurderousMoppet]

The BG series does seem to be most complete (no real problems for me playing BG2)

Looking at the release builds on sourceforge and looking at the git history for the project reveals that there has been no oficial release for mac and that this is currently under active development. in fact it looks like the mac build didnt exist at all until 3 days ago!

I expect that when they release their next version these few mac specific issues will be worked out (remember they only have incremental/nightly builds for mac available and no mac release builds at all)

I'm watching this project closely and will keep you updated as things progress.

EDIT: i lied mac package has been available since late last year (2011-12-27) but only as beta

 

[MurderousMoppet]

looks like the latest updates fix the ~ expansion and includes SDL with the install

still wish there were gui alerts when something wasnt configured right. kinda a pain to open the console to see whats going wrong...

 

[cluthz]

looks like the latest updates fix the ~ expansion and includes SDL with the install

still wish there were gui alerts when something wasnt configured right. kinda a pain to open the console to see whats going wrong...

Yeah, since most mac users aren't really savvy with the terminal it's quite an disadvantage.

I'm looking forward to see this project expand, and will have a eye on it, and I'm sure I'll have much fun with it!
I still have to finish IWD2 and PST, and using GemRB seems like a better solution than wine, when they figure out the bugs

 

[MurderousMoppet]

hearing about BGEE reminded me that GemRB for mac finally has some GUI errors that will help people get this running. apparently there is even more GUI elements in the works (preferences/configuration interface)

unfortunately it looks like a recent update to the graphics rendering has made the mac version have greenish sprites unless you run in 16 bit mode. Hopefully, they will fix this problem soon.

 

[DaveStl]

Would one of you that has GemRB up and running be willing to paste your config file here to help those of us that are still having problems? I have been able to get GemRB up and running on iOS and Linux but geting things running under OS X seems to be much more of a challenge!