Lowest commitment Steam fix for Catalina

[iamasmith]

I don't have a lot of Steam puchases but some of them like Halflife and Portal (and I was actually thinking recently about adding Portal 2 which I have on a console but not on the Mac) are 32 bit only and Steam (Valve?) response is that we can run the game on any platform.

They suggest emulators and running Windows or dual booting to Mojave etc. I think this is short term thinking but I'm not terribly hopeful they will indulge our crowd.

Any other ideas that folks have? I did a quick search and there seems to be a SteamOS Docker image.. any reports on the usefulness of that?

(just getting the ball rolling here)

 

[urban.spaceman]

I have the same issue. Portal 2's community chambers are something I've dearly missed since updating. I'm considering doing a BootCamp on a USB or a Virtual Machine though I hope there's a long term fix. If anyone could suggest a fix that could work I'd be extremely grateful!

 

[crjackson2134]

Just to chime in with interest. I’m not really a gamer, but the one and only game I have is Half-life and right away I saw it wouldn’t work anymore. So I hope you find a resolution but I don’t expect one for Catalina or Catalina+1

 

[iamasmith]

Had a bit of a ponder about this today and considered that the problem is probably beyond the scope of just 64 bit but probably also in GL support and docker maybe isn't the way to go.

Considered actually buying a Windows license and running some virtualisation and then had a revelation after leaving another Mac doing the update of some games on Steam that ARE available in 64 bit (Jackbox TV games).

It appears Steam for Mac, just like the iOS Streaming app, can stream off another Steam installation within the same household that may be on a totally different OS. The Jackbox games popped up on my iMac running Catalina as available to stream

I had considered that it may be possible to fudge a docker installation running SteamOS into providing the game tech but I think it leans heavily on GPU use to render to game stream and this isn't going to happen in the docker container.

Next thing then is to run Steam on a supported system and stream... it turns out I have a very old iMac gathering dust that I never thought I would use again but is probably just about up to the task of running Halflife through Portal 2 so I think I'll update that as far as it will go (it DEFINITELY won't run Catalina) and then run Steam on that as a server for those games.

 

[zmon]

Had a bit of a ponder about this today and considered that the problem is probably beyond the scope of just 64 bit but probably also in GL support and docker maybe isn't the way to go.

Considered actually buying a Windows license and running some virtualisation and then had a revelation after leaving another Mac doing the update of some games on Steam that ARE available in 64 bit (Jackbox TV games).

It appears Steam for Mac, just like the iOS Streaming app, can stream off another Steam installation within the same household that may be on a totally different OS. The Jackbox games popped up on my iMac running Catalina as available to stream

I had considered that it may be possible to fudge a docker installation running SteamOS into providing the game tech but I think it leans heavily on GPU use to render to game stream and this isn't going to happen in the docker container.

Next thing then is to run Steam on a supported system and stream... it turns out I have a very old iMac gathering dust that I never thought I would use again but is probably just about up to the task of running Halflife through Portal 2 so I think I'll update that as far as it will go (it DEFINITELY won't run Catalina) and then run Steam on that as a server for those games.

Really no need to even buy a Windows license since it can be ran fine unlicensed, especially if it's only going to be used for a few games.

 

[iamasmith]

Really no need to even buy a Windows license since it can be ran fine unlicensed, especially if it's only going to be used for a few games.

That's not ethical

 

[crjackson2134]

I have multiple boot drives in my cMP, so I can simply boot to Mojave, or a Windows 10 since both are already installed. It’s a shame however that such a popular game dies on Catalina. After checking my seldom used Mojave game folder, I find that I also have a working install of HALO installed. That too is killed off in Catalina. It had to happen sometime, but Air I’m gaming, I prefer older games.

 

[mariogt]

Im in the same boat, steam games, Starcraft remastered, Boxer (dosbox port for os x), GoG games like full throttle remastered, monkey island 2 remastered, Wine, etc are all 32bit, for that and other reasons I dont updated my macbook pro to OS X 10.15

 

[crjackson2134]

Im in the same boat, steam games, Starcraft remastered, Boxer (dosbox port for os x), GoG games like full throttle remastered, monkey island 2 remastered, Wine, etc are all 32bit, for that and other reasons I dont updated my macbook pro to OS X 10.15

Your GOG games will still work in the 64-bit Dosbox update. Boxer... NO, But DOSBOX yes, you have to navigate to the proper directory and load the games from the DOSBOX command line as if actually on DOS but the games play fine.

 

[Ritsuka]

Starcraft is 64bit.

 

[davidgnomo]

What is really pissing me off is that the Steam App on my Mac doesn't even tell me if the games I purchased (or the games I want to purchase) are 32 or 64 bit ... this is so annoying !!!

 

[Plutonius]

I don't have a lot of Steam puchases but some of them like Halflife and Portal (and I was actually thinking recently about adding Portal 2 which I have on a console but not on the Mac) are 32 bit only and Steam (Valve?) response is that we can run the game on any platform.

They suggest emulators and running Windows or dual booting to Mojave etc. I think this is short term thinking but I'm not terribly hopeful they will indulge our crowd.

Any other ideas that folks have? I did a quick search and there seems to be a SteamOS Docker image.. any reports on the usefulness of that?

(just getting the ball rolling here)

I'm just sticking with Mojave and not updating.

 

[Plutonius]

What is really pissing me off is that the Steam App on my Mac doesn't even tell me if the games I purchased (or the games I want to purchase) are 32 or 64 bit ... this is so annoying !!!

In the Steam Store it will list the versions of MacOS that are supported by the game.

If it doesn't list Catalina and you are running Catalina, I would not purchase the game.

Telling people that the game is 32 or 64 bit just confuses people who have no idea what it means.

 

[davidgnomo]

Yeah ... but it's not very simple to check for the versions of MacOs supported ... not to mention the previously purchased games : the only way to see if they're good to play on Catalina is trying to play them ...

 

[Schranke]

In the Steam Store it will list the versions of MacOS that are supported by the game.

If it doesn't list Catalina and you are running Catalina, I would not purchase the game.

Telling people that the game is 32 or 64 bit just confuses people who have no idea what it means.

My problem is that many just list MacOS 10.X or later...
I would love it they added what bit the game runs with
[automerge]1570888645[/automerge]
On another note, love that Aspyr will be updating some of their popular games to 64bit.
Did not think I through when updating so at the moment I can't play Civ V

 

[Plutonius]

My problem is that many just list MacOS 10.X or later...
I would love it they added what bit the game runs with
[automerge]1570888645[/automerge]
On another note, love that Aspyr will be updating some of their popular games to 64bit.
Did not think I through when updating so at the moment I can't play Civ V

I stopped playing Civ 5 after I got Civ 6. My opinion only but I prefer Civ 6.

I'm not sure if Civ 6 will run under Catalina.

I never thought about how the game requirement says MacOS 10.X or later. It looks like a bunch of companies need to update their requirements on Steam.

At least you can get your money back if the game will not run.

 

[Spacetime Anomaly]

For some weird reason I expected Valve to update their old flagship titles, because people still enjoy them (Half Life, Portal, Left4Dead, etc.) It just seemed the kind of thing they would do.

Sadly, no. I guess Mac gaming must be so niche it isn't worth their time, but it doesn't build confidence in their store.

 

[LeeW]

Yeah ... but it's not very simple to check for the versions of MacOs supported

Not sure how much easier they can make it.

 

[Schranke]

I stopped playing Civ 5 after I got Civ 6. My opinion only but I prefer Civ 6.

I'm not sure if Civ 6 will run under Catalina.

Would love to try out Civ 6, but right now I can defend the cost if I have to include expansions.
Civ 6 will run under Catalina.
Steam has added a 32bit warning on games that is not compatible with Catalina

But system requirements still needs to be updated

Portal 2 do have the same 32bit warning but its system requirements are a lot more unclear

 

[haralds]

That's not ethical

Actually I think it is now allowed by MS.

 

[davidgnomo]

Not sure how much easier they can make it.

View attachment 868971

They just put the notice in the Italian version of Steam, when I wrote my post it was not there yet ...

 

[davidgnomo]

In any case, it would be just great if you could filter away the 32 bit games you have or you want to purchase ...

 

[Gasu E.]

I don't have a lot of Steam puchases but some of them like Halflife and Portal (and I was actually thinking recently about adding Portal 2 which I have on a console but not on the Mac) are 32 bit only and Steam (Valve?) response is that we can run the game on any platform.

They suggest emulators and running Windows or dual booting to Mojave etc. I think this is short term thinking but I'm not terribly hopeful they will indulge our crowd.

Any other ideas that folks have? I did a quick search and there seems to be a SteamOS Docker image.. any reports on the usefulness of that?

(just getting the ball rolling here)

I believe you can run Mojave under emulators as well. That would save you the cost of a Windows license to run the few games you already own.

 

[Ethosik]

Can someone explain how Terraria which supports Windows XP 32 bit can still run on Catalina? Maybe I’m not understanding the "no 32-bit” thing?

 

[iamasmith]

In the end, for me, I spent close to £200 by buying a Windows 10 Home Edition (£119 - I thought they would be GIVING it away by now to get folks on some other subs) and a Parallels license.

It's really not the solution that Valve should wish everybody would take but I have to say that Parallels makes an awsome job of running DirectX 11 over Metal when running Catalina