Running Black & White on modern MAC's

[pappde]

I see from time to time a few interested questions regarding playing B&W on MAC machines. The original MAC version of the game from the early 2000's was for PowerPc, and never was updated. I played the game when it came out and I relly bonded with it. I am and never was a big video game person, but a few games somehow stuck with me. B&W was a special even among the few favorites of mine. I even had a B&W desktop theme with an animated ape cursor.
Over the years I moved over to MAC and most of my Win games were forgotten. From the distance of 25 years most of my Widows files saved on DVD got trimmed/lost and pretty much forgotten. Then on one of those "let me clean up my basement" days I came across my old DVD case and I became nostalgic and wanted to return to B&W. Alas I am a MAC person now and of course I have to have the latest of everything, my current equipment did not support Bootcamp.
In my search for a solution that commenced, I came across a few that was viable. My current setup is a M2 MacbookAir 13" laptop. Crossover and Parallels are commercial solutions. Parallels requires on top of it a Windows license. Unfortunately, it never worked for me. The game was just not working on Parallels/Win 10. The game played, but the video was just garbled. Crossover does not need you to have a Win license. B&W worked very well on it.
My other favorite game was/is The Longest Journey trio of games. I played them on my previous MAC that was a 2012 MBA. When I upgraded to the M2 machine most of my older games that were supported on my older MAC stopped working on the IntelMAC. This is how I came across Porting Kit. It is FREE and is run by an extremely dedicated person who wants to help with running games on MAC machines.
Here is what you have to do:
1. Download the latest version of Porting Kit, in options you can select
2. Get ALL these files: game CD or ISO or install files,
official patches v1.1, v1.3 and FanPatch 1.42
optional Villager Banter and Football addon
3. Open PK, chose All games tab, chose CustomPort, name it Black&White, next chose Wine, chose Advanced Options, then at set engine set: WS11WineCX64bit 22.1.1-12 leave everything as is, hit save. When it asks for installer navigate to installer exe on CD/or install file. Run it. Install game as: C: Black&White.
4. In PortingKit choose from game drop down menu chose add patch and add all three patches.
5. In PortingKit choose from game drop down menu choose add shortcut to exe, navigate to your BW folder on C drive (from PK game drop down menu chose show in finder then navigate to BW folder and find Setup.exe) Then run it. Choose NON windowed.

 

[leopard_85]

I see from time to time a few interested questions regarding playing B&W on MAC machines. The original MAC version of the game from the early 2000's was for PowerPc, and never was updated. I played the game when it came out and I relly bonded with it. I am and never was a big video game person, but a few games somehow stuck with me. B&W was a special even among the few favorites of mine. I even had a B&W desktop theme with an animated ape cursor.
Over the years I moved over to MAC and most of my Win games were forgotten. From the distance of 25 years most of my Widows files saved on DVD got trimmed/lost and pretty much forgotten. Then on one of those "let me clean up my basement" days I came across my old DVD case and I became nostalgic and wanted to return to B&W. Alas I am a MAC person now and of course I have to have the latest of everything, my current equipment did not support Bootcamp.
In my search for a solution that commenced, I came across a few that was viable. My current setup is a M2 MacbookAir 13" laptop. Crossover and Parallels are commercial solutions. Parallels requires on top of it a Windows license. Unfortunately, it never worked for me. The game was just not working on Parallels/Win 10. The game played, but the video was just garbled. Crossover does not need you to have a Win license. B&W worked very well on it.
My other favorite game was/is The Longest Journey trio of games. I played them on my previous MAC that was a 2012 MBA. When I upgraded to the M2 machine most of my older games that were supported on my older MAC stopped working on the IntelMAC. This is how I came across Porting Kit. It is FREE and is run by an extremely dedicated person who wants to help with running games on MAC machines.
Here is what you have to do:
1. Download the latest version of Porting Kit, in options you can select
2. Get ALL these files: game CD or ISO or install files,
official patches v1.1, v1.3 and FanPatch 1.42
optional Villager Banter and Football addon
3. Open PK, chose All games tab, chose CustomPort, name it Black&White, next chose Wine, chose Advanced Options, then at set engine set: WS11WineCX64bit 22.1.1-12 leave everything as is, hit save. When it asks for installer navigate to installer exe on CD/or install file. Run it. Install game as: C: Black&White.
4. In PortingKit choose from game drop down menu chose add patch and add all three patches.
5. In PortingKit choose from game drop down menu choose add shortcut to exe, navigate to your BW folder on C drive (from PK game drop down menu chose show in finder then navigate to BW folder and find Setup.exe) Then run it. Choose NON windowed.

Thank you so much for your detailed guide.
I've finally been able to get B&W running.
This game means so much to me, I even remember buying the game when it was first released.
Much appreciated. <3

 

[pappde]

Thank you so much for your detailed guide.
I've finally been able to get B&W running.
This game means so much to me, I even remember buying the game when it was first released.
Much appreciated. <3

I am glad it worked. We need some MAC representation on this board.
Now if you want you can add the Ultimate mod. That gives you , among other things, a HARD option, if you get bored to beat the regular game.

 

[qqbeq]

Hello, thanks for the explanation. I've managed to install B&W2 on my Mac via Porting Kit. Seems to work.
Do you have any idea how to install the expansion pack - Battle of the Gods?
I've tried it the same, but during the install it said that no base game was detected. Should I run it as an add on/patch, like I did with the patches for the base game? Thanks again!

 

[pappde]

I was never interested in BTG. So I never tried installing it.
Try the “install add on” method.
As a rule ALL my B&W installations are on their separate folder on C:, not in Program Files or such folders.

 

[qqbeq]

I reinstalled Black & White 2 using Porting Kit again but am having a weird double cursor bug... Did everything exactly like last time, but can't seem to get rid of it. Do you have any idea how to solve this? (Made a separate post about it). It's driving me insane

 

[pappde]

the double cursor is sometimes happens with me too, though very seldom. I just ignore it or save and close then reopen and the cursor goes away.

 

[lover]

HEY!

I'd love you to help me out explaining exactly what game versions I need to download and make it work

Ty!

 

[qqbeq]

the double cursor is sometimes happens with me too, though very seldom. I just ignore it or save and close then reopen and the cursor goes away.

It happens every time, sometimes after a minute, sometimes after 10. I'm not sure what triggers it.
Just randomly shows up after a while. Noticed that it always shows up when "changing daytime" using hand in-game (Click+hold LB and swipe horizon).

I've tried mouse capture in: Porting Kit > "B&W2 > Wine configuration > Graphics > Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows. Problem persists. Not sure if settings apply or get overwritten by something else.

"Emulate a virtual desktop" (setting in Graphics) is greyed out, apparently not supported by mac.

Are you still using WS11WineCX64bit 22.1.1-12 ?

 

[pappde]

Yes, I still run the game on WS11WineCX64bit 22.1.1-12.
Never heard of the "changing daytime" control combo.
Tried just right now, it doesn't even work on my setup at all.

 

[qqbeq]

By "changing daytime" I meant: Click + hold left mouse button on horizon/sky. A sort of clock will show up, where you will be able to change day/night.

I noticed that it almost immediately triggers the double cursor (just for troubleshooting purposes).

The double cursor will eventually show up anyways, no matter what I'm doing. Tabbing out (CMD+tab) and tabbing in the game will fix it sometimes, but again only temporary.

I just want to play the game Do you think another engine might fix the problem? I haven't found anything on the web as to which engine to use for the game.


... or maybe another install file/package

 

[qqbeq]

What I also noticed: In game text showing bugs (legibility). Is this normal or could it be related to the bug?

 

[pappde]

I just tried again the "changing daytime" you describe. It just does not work on my setup. And actually never heard of this feature mentioned by anyone else. When I put my cursor to the horizon or sky it gives the rotate or tilt option nothing else.

Oh for gods sake you are playing B&W 2!!!!!!
I have not played it at all. I only installed it on my Mac and tried whether it works at all. It does, but I really did not played it beyond the creature select part. I only play B&W only.

You can try to run it on Crossover, but that is a program you have to pay for.

 

[qqbeq]

LOL sorry I just noticed as well that you're on B&W1!

May I ask you: How do you know what engine to use?

 

[pappde]

So my friend, I just quickly installed B&W2 on Crossover.
It works well, but your cursor course does happen on this installation too.
I checked also my PortingKit B&W2 installation and it also has the "cursor curse".
At this point my best suggestion is to try Discord B&W2 forum.

 

[pappde]

In Crossover I just use "Unlisted program", choose Win10 64bit.

 

[qqbeq]

Thanks! I'll let you know if I find anything.

In the meantime, I'm going to try another install package. I remember mine showing an error message anyways!