GOG Adds Armada to Mac Compatible Lineup (December 18, 2013)

ChrisReid

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
Good Old Games has upgraded several of its Origin games with Macintosh OS X compatibility! In theory, it's possible to take any of the games' files and get things running with DOSBox, but not all players are interesting in going through the effort to set it up just right. We've previously passed word back that people really like the ease and convenience of the Mac installers, and GOG has responded that it can be tricky to come up with a customized solution that runs well automatically on the vast majority of machines. That's why only Wing Commanders 1, 2, 3 and Privateer had OS X installer packs originally, but now Wing Commander Armada has been added to the list. In addition to Armada's newfound compatibility, Strike Commander, the Crusader games and all of the main Ultimas (except IX) can also now be downloaded for Apple machines. As an extra bonus, GOG has also included preconfigured multiplayer settings. We haven't tested these out yet to see how well they work or if a different configuration is needed for optimized Internet play, but please post your experiences if you have. Here's looking forward to some awesome Confed vs Kilrathi match-ups! Thanks to Whistler for the tip.










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Original update published on December 18, 2013
 
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Well Boxer, gog's app of choice, is just a very well engineered piece of software for OSX. It is dosbox with the SDL thrown out and heavily integrated with the OS native calls. It makes these dos apps behave like normal mac apps; i.e. entirely standalone and not out of place in the Applications folder. One example of this integration is can even copy paste directly from the OS into any dos application. I find it really helps with entering Ip addresses into the modem line or whatever.
 
not sure if this has been answered, but on the "gog" website, it states that the games are compatible with Windows and Mac OS. does that mean that you download one install and it will play on either operating system or do you get to select one at time of download. I ask because i recently got a Mac and really want to play the Wing Commander games. Thanks
 
not sure if this has been answered, but on the "gog" website, it states that the games are compatible with Windows and Mac OS. does that mean that you download one install and it will play on either operating system or do you get to select one at time of download. I ask because i recently got a Mac and really want to play the Wing Commander games. Thanks

You have to select when you download, but you only ever pay once.

If a game has files for multiple operating systems, the GOG download page for that game will offer tabs for those operating systems. This will default to the OS you are currently using, but you can choose a different OS if you want it, and can download both.

GOGWCArmadaDownloadSelection.png


If you buy a game while it's Windows-only, and GOG later adds a Mac OS version (as happened with Armada), you can download the Mac OS installer when it becomes available. You'll be told if any games have updated files when you log into your GOG account.

For GOG games that run in DOS (like Armada) both the Windows and Mac OS "installers" are pre-configured DOSBox distributions with the game files. This also means that, if you can get at least one of the installers to work, you have the option of digging into its DOS directory and copying the contents to any system that supports DOSBox - or the 286 sitting in your basement, if you're really old school.
 
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