Windows How to use Wineskin

first... you should only use Wineskin 2.0 beta... 1.x is outdated and out the door very soon (as soon a i get the time to fix a few bugs and add a couple things to get 2.0 to a Release Candidate). The current Beta version does everything and more that 1.2 does.

I'll update the online FAQ and Manual when I get a chance... its currently still for Wineskin 1.x. Since this is 99% a single person project (just me), it takes time to get things done

For 2.0... basically you download Wineskin Winery... run it... use the update button in there to get the latest master wrapper and download whatever engine you want. Always try the newest Wine version builds first... which right now is Wine 1.3.10... the newest "stable" Wine release is 1.2.2. This would be the engines currently listed as available called WS5Beta3Wine1.3.10 and WS5Beta3Wine1.2.2.

Once you have an engine and a master wrapper, you select the engine you want and hit the "create wrapper" button... you name it what you want, and its going create and throw a wrapper named that in your home folders Application folder under a subfolder called Wineskin. When it is crated you'll have an option to open it directly in Finder for you.

Once the wrapper is created, then you can start getting the program your wanting to work right in it... the main configuration utility for the wrapper is called Wineskin.app. Right click the new wrapper you made and select "show package contents" and you'll find Wineskin.app and the drive_c folder that will be treated as the C: drive for anything run in this wrapper.

Wineskin.app has several Help screens already in it that will explain things about the Screen Settings and the Configuration and tools built in, as to what they do... you see these on any of the menus in Wineskin.app by pressing the little round button with the "?" in it.

getting games to work isn't always straight forward, but the first step would be just trying to install it with the "Install Windows Software" button and hope for the best.

A good place to always check for things that might need to be done to get a game working is the Wine AppDB... here is the entry for that game.

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=2594

being Platinum rated I'd expect it to be very easy to get to work... you might just be able to install it and run it without any tweaks.

Once the wrapper is set up and works.. its just like a "port" .. you can move it wherever you want and just double click it and run it like any other mac application. Its all self contained, so any other wrappers or Wine usage on your machine will not interfere with it... unlike other ways to use Wine where upgrades can break things, you just leave that one wrapper set the way it is, and it should keep working fine. If you want to move it to another computer you can just zip it up (with the normal right click Compress" method in finder).. move it to a new computer... and unzip it and it should continue to function properly. Things might get messed up, if you just try to copy it directly without a zip or dmg image that will help keep permissions correct.

Hi


Starting to feel an interest in having a go at this.

How hard/easy is this Wineskin thing to setup and get going for
a complete novice at it ?

Wineskin 2.0 is current in Release Candidate 3 and should be released in a week or so.

Its running great! The interface and some concepts are a bit different then Crossover Games, but it really can run just as good if not better than Crossover... there are even engines built using Crossover wine source available.

The Wineskin Manual is updated with all the info you need... and the step by step directions at the end for a couple of wrappers help give you the gist of it. It can still be difficult getting some programs working, where you'll have to research in the Wine AppDB or just google searches and figure out what to do. Its not always terribly easy, but its not that hard many times either.

The good thing about this over Crossover... when you get a finished app, it runs like a Mac app, you can move it wherever and do whatever you want with it.... it doesn't run through Crossover, and possibly get broken with Crossover updates, so all your games keep self contained to themselves, no need to worry about new games or updates breaking others.

For total ease of use though, Crossover is still the easiest, because they keep a database of games, how to get them to work, and actual installation scripts.... so if they have one for a game you want, you can click 1 button and let it go to work for you.

Being a free program I do for fun, I don't really have the time/funds to do that with Wineskin. I rely on the community (mainly portingteam.com) to make wrappers people can share and download instead.

Hi


Thanks for info and pointers

Questions...hoping you can help.

Just started experimenting with this program.

I already have Parallels installed and a bunch of Windows programs that I use through it.

I have Wineskin installed and I created my first wrapper. I right click on it and I can see the "C" drive inside.

Any way that I can point it to any of the Windows programs I already have installed via Parallels? I am sure they are all sitting in a directory on my drive.

Most of the Parallel Window programs are database programs so I need their existing information rather than installing a brand new copy instead.

How can I go about doing this, if at all? Thanks in advance.

NJRonbo said:

Questions...hoping you can help.

Just started experimenting with this program.

I already have Parallels installed and a bunch of Windows programs that I use through it.

I have Wineskin installed and I created my first wrapper. I right click on it and I can see the "C" drive inside.

Any way that I can point it to any of the Windows programs I already have installed via Parallels? I am sure they are all sitting in a directory on my drive.

Most of the Parallel Window programs are database programs so I need their existing information rather than installing a brand new copy instead.

How can I go about doing this, if at all? Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

you'll need to move/copy it.

Wineskin is designed to port an app. The actual Windows app is installed inside of the wrapper, so its just like a normal Mac app, not pointing to somewhere else. If you try copying it over, make sure you find the actual data too, because just getting the installed program isn't always enough to get the actual data which could be stored elsewhere in Windows (My Documents usually, or elsewhere). Depending on the program that might not even work, as all the registry entries will also be missing. Some programs are fine with that and remake things, some won't work. Usually its best to actually install the program in the wrapper, then depending on the program and how you set it up, to then copy over your data so you still have everything.

Besides all that, Parallels virtual drive contents are not just sitting on your machine like other files. Its mounted in a way you can read the data in Finder as long as the virtual machine is running, otherwise you do not have access to that data.

Battlefield 3 install

Hi all,

I've been trying to install Battlefield 3 (PC Version) that I downloaded from Kick-Ass Torrents on my 27-inch 2011 iMac with wineskin but I am stuck. I have already passed the engine and master wrapper stage though I have not been able to "Install Windows Software".

My iMac runs OS X Lion 10.7, 4GB Ram
A little help would be wonderful!

nobody is going to help you pirate games.

OK, sorry 'bout that.
But can someone help me install DVDs because I have the authentic version too.
Thanks for your help.

please don't hate me

Me and my friend have been sharing games back and forth, I have a pc and he has a mac. he just gave me a game that was wineskin encoded and I am just wondering if or how I can use it on my pc? I know its along the same lines as a game boy emulator I just am kinda wondering if it will work or if I need to tell him to just give me the DVD. Please forgive this pc user for asking for help.

so if I "wrap" a game, say simcity... does it become the game + windows wrapped in 1 .app file meaning a HUGE file size?

bluespider said:

so if I "wrap" a game, say simcity... does it become the game + windows wrapped in 1 .app file meaning a HUGE file size?

Click to expand...

just like other OSX apps, they have everything inside and can be huge... it will be whatever file size the Windows program is plus about 150mb more for the wrapper.

Fifa13

please help ! how to make fifa 13 work with wrapper ???????

This thread was a good read and made me want to try running some AAA RPGs such as Fallout 3, Oblivion, Fallout NV, Skyrim, etc. using Wineskin. Particularly with prebuilt wrappers available, I am tempted so I can skip rebooting even though I do have Windows 7 available via bootcamp. I hate rebooting away from OS X.

Something came to mind though and that is, how does this work when the games are run via Steam? I have a lot of Windows games that run from Steam since they were purchased there. I can't just install them by themselves into a wrapper.

You can install Steam in a wrapper as well. There is an entry in Winetricks to do it for you.

doh123 said:

You can install Steam in a wrapper as well. There is an entry in Winetricks to do it for you.

Click to expand...

How does this work with Steam? I followed some step by step directions, but Steam still tells me my PC-only game can't run on my system.

Gasu E. said:

How does this work with Steam? I followed some step by step directions, but Steam still tells me my PC-only game can't run on my system.

Click to expand...

you don't use Steam for Mac... you use Steam for Windows inside the wrapper.

doh123 said:

You can install Steam in a wrapper as well. There is an entry in Winetricks to do it for you.

Click to expand...

Okay, thanks. I take it that per game this is what you'd do - setup steam first and then that particular game.

Installing Windows Software

Heya
I get most of it except when it comes down to the 'Install Windows Software' part (!!!) I'm normally alright at these sorts of things but I don't understand where to get this Windows Software; I would be so grateful if any of you could help me Thanks!

TIncredibleTash said:

Heya
I get most of it except when it comes down to the 'Install Windows Software' part (!!!) I'm normally alright at these sorts of things but I don't understand where to get this Windows Software; I would be so grateful if any of you could help me Thanks!

Click to expand...

that means software thats made for Windows... software = a program.... so say the softwre you want to run is a game... then the software would be that game.

OK, I'm trying to find the latest release of 2.0 Wineskin and every link I get is dead. I have an old 1.7 version or something, but it looks like I shouldn't use that.

What I'm trying to do is fix a game I am playing from GoG games, called The Temple of Elemental Evil. There is a graphics glitch, where lights and spell effects flicker. You can't see existing spell effects, while in combat and it's making the game very difficult to play. I'm using the Co8 Modpack and I have done hours of research into the problem I'm getting and all roads lead to changing the game engine with Wineskin. The thing is, I'm running this game in Crossover Games and I can't seem to figure out how to implement Wineskin for the game, as it already exists.

I've never used wineskin or crossover before, so I really don't have a good working grasp of either. Is what I'm trying to do very complex or is there a fairly easy way to use wineskin to fix this game, without having to start over?

Thanks.

Kirodoc said:

OK, I'm trying to find the latest release of 2.0 Wineskin and every link I get is dead. I have an old 1.7 version or something, but it looks like I shouldn't use that.

What I'm trying to do is fix a game I am playing from GoG games, called The Temple of Elemental Evil. There is a graphics glitch, where lights and spell effects flicker. You can't see existing spell effects, while in combat and it's making the game very difficult to play. I'm using the Co8 Modpack and I have done hours of research into the problem I'm getting and all roads lead to changing the game engine with Wineskin. The thing is, I'm running this game in Crossover Games and I can't seem to figure out how to implement Wineskin for the game, as it already exists.

I've never used wineskin or crossover before, so I really don't have a good working grasp of either. Is what I'm trying to do very complex or is there a fairly easy way to use wineskin to fix this game, without having to start over?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Wineskin Winery 1.7 is the right version... "Wineskin Winery" is a tool for using Wineskin. The main Wineskin wrapper version is something you'll download inside of Winery... which current version is 2.5.8.

I don't understand how your trying to use Wineskin though when you say your running in Crossover... you don't use both, they are different tools that do a similar job.

I don't know any specifics about that game though... you might find its entry in the WineHQ.org AppDB and see what are some things other people have done to get it to work.