How to Port a Game in Wineskin

Hello you got a game that you bought and then it's Only supported for windows fear not there's an Mac app called wineskin winery. In this Instructable I'll teach you how to port a game using this application, I'm gonna use Skitch for most of the images for this so I don't have to write what to do.

Step 1: Now Pick a Game That You Wanna Port on Wineskin

Before you even make the wrapper you'll need to pick a game you want to port to the Mac using this application, once you have your game of choice goto the next step about download and using wineskin winery.

Step 2: Downloading the App

goto this website to download wineskin Winery for Mac http://wineskin.urgesoftware.com/tiki-index.php?page=Downloads

Step 3: Using Wineskin Winery

unzip the file and put the app inside your main Applications folder and then open the main application from it. and then you'll see a window with no engines installed (in screenshot number 2)

Step 4: Installing a Wine Engine

Installing one is really easy do. Just click on The plus and install any engine you want from the popup menu.

Step 5: Create a Wrapper

Once you have your downloaded Engine like WS8Wine1.5.2 you now create a Wrapper that will be used for your game, a wrapper contains the wine tricks, windows system files and other things.

Step 6: Once Created Open the Empty Wrapper

Once you create the wrapper Wine may display that didn't find the gecko HTML engine or whatever it is just install it. it will help the Help screen a lot since it uses HTML based coding on the game you're importing as a Wineskin Wrapper. When the Wrapper creation is done it will tell you it's ready in /users/your username/applications/wineskin

Then when you're at the wineskin app we'll need to install some Winetricks (that will be in the next step)

(In most times you may need Gecko Html for the help files which it's powered by Html so the engine will help it if you're having trouble with the game.)

Step 7: WineTricks? What Is a Winetrick?

Winetricks is wine's override of the actual software like Direct X 9 to Windows Media player Codecs. To install a winetrick you'll need to download it first from the main Winetrick window. Once all of your selected winetricks are done you now can install your software inside your wrapper.

To Install Winetricks you'll need to click on Advanced and then goto the tools section (Refer to picture for this) Then click on Winetricks button and you'll see a window to install winetricks.

Step 8: Configuring Your Wrapper

The configuring section of your wrapper contains what is needed to make it like a Mac Game like

EXE Flags - what command line keywords that needs to run like -windowed (for window mode) and so on

Version - what is the version of your wrapper? (I prefer you use the version number of the game's release for this)

Menubar name - It will display the name of the App in the application menu

icon - A picture of your .icns icon for the wrapper

Once you're happy with the configuration you may install the game or make it have a wine desktop or not that's in the Screen options (refer to picture)

Step 9: Installing the Game

When installing ALWAYS make sure to install it in drive C: not Z: which is your main volume so be sure to use the installer's default location.

If an installer installs any shortcut or other junk on the desktop you may remove them since these won't work like those shortcuts which are .ink files. 

Step 10: Done and Ready to Play.

Once you have the game installed make sure you pick the right .exe that is the game itself most games will crash because it must rely on the CD like Need for Speed Carbon which you need to use a No-CD Patch or like Monopoly Tycoon patch it to 1.4 and disable the intro movie or it will crash.

Here's Monopoly Casino running in a wineskin wrapper.
This is a screenshot of Lights out Slot machine.

Step 11: Bonus: Referring to WineHQ's App Database

You may have to ask why? The reason I'm saying to refer to the database is to what other wine versions other people used to get the games running and post results like Command & Conquer

The Database can be helpful when you're trying to port and run the game so it runs as a native Mac app.

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=246 - This is for an example.


When Referring to this Database it will help you along and run many games you have laying around BUT you need to experiment with the game if it's NOT in the database like Monopoly Casino to NASCAR Racing 3 (for which I can't run for some reason)