WoW - Windows to Mac

It's been a while since I've had to support both a Windows and OS X WoW machines. I currently have the latest gen MBP and my partner has a Vista machine. She doesn't play much anymore, so you're milage may vary on recent patches - but, from memory, even though the Windows / Mac patch versions comes as .exe and .app respectvaly I believe I used to be able to copy the .MPQ files across.

Basically, install WoW on your MBP and let the Blizzard downloader start to get the patch. Cancel the download and look in the /Applications/World of Warcraft folder. Find the patch file ie:

WoW-2.4.2.8278-to-2.4.3.8606-enUS-patch

Right click and "Show Package Contents". In the new Finder window expand the "Content" folder, and then the "Resources" folder. There should be a .MPQ file inside, in this example "standalone.MPQ". Copy the "standalone.MPQ" file from the same Windows patch version into this folder on your MBP. Start the "WoW-2.4.2.8278-to-2.4.3.8606-enUS-downloader" or whatever patch version you are using and it should recognise the file you copied and simply update the OS X specific content. Like I said, I used to do this pre-Burning Crusade; but give it a shot.

Or you could try installing WoW on the MBP and simply copy over the revelant .MPQ files from the Windows machine into /Applications/World of Warcraft/Data/

These files are:

common.MPQ - 3.57GB
expansion.MPQ - 1.37GB
patch.MPQ - 1.9GB
patch-2.MPQ - 119.9MB

Plus the enUS folder - 1.GB. Unfortuanetly Blizzard don't provide a file check and repair for OS X... if they did, you could simply run that and repair your install... oh well.

Lastly, if you're having problem using the Torrent Blizzard patch downloader, you can use the following web page to get the patches via standard HTTP from high speed local mirrors...

http://www.wowwiki.com/Patch_mirrors

As an indication, from a clean install of the original WoW CD, through to a compete patched Burning Crusade, the total patch sizes I have are 2.52GB.

If you are going from base WoW to Burning Crusade, you don't need every patch, simply grab the followinf rom the URL above:

After installing Base WoW:

WoW-1.12.0-enUS-patch - 466MB
WoW-1.12.x-to-2.0.1-enUS-patch - 483.6MB
WoW-2.4.0-enUS-patch - 925.4MB

After installing Base Burning Crusade:

WoW-2.4.0.8089-to-2.4.1.8125-enUS-patch - 1.9MB
WoW-2.4.1.8125-to-2.4.2.8278-enUS-patch - 15.1MB
WoW-2.4.2.8278-to-2.4.3.8606-enUS-patch - 26.1MB

You can run these manually, or exapand into your /Applications/World of Warcraft folder and then run the /Applications/World of Warcraft/Background Downloader which should pick up the patches and simply run through them for you!

I simply backup my WoW folder before and after each major patch; keeping the patch files the Blizzard downloader dumps in /Applications/World of Warcraft/ or keep a copy of the patch download from http://www.wowwiki.com/Patch_mirrors so I don't have to go through this pain if I ever re-install.

Best of luck

xandrex said:

By the end of this summer, I will have a beautiful MBP as my main computer and can leave Windows (for the most part) behind. However, I do have a snag.

I am, admittedly, a WoW addict. Not hardcore, I suppose, but I do play a decent amount and so obviously I hope to continue my playing on my MBP.

I long ago confirmed that it will, in fact, run on the MBP, but the real issue is re-installing it. My net connections is known to run at snail's pace when downloading patches and because I have a fairly old version of WoW (probably three years old or so when I first bought the physical CDs and such), there are a lot of patches and such I need to download. I know that I cannot transfer EVERYTHING from my PC to my Mac, but can I at least transfer patches?

I don't really use any addons so I don't really need any of those to come with me.

And if I can bring stuff over, can someone give tips on how to make my transfer as smooth as possible?

Click to expand...

Can't you just download the latest full version over night for a few days?

Industries said:

Can't you just download the latest full version over night for a few days?

Click to expand...

As he said "My net connections is known to run at snail's pace when downloading patches". The new client download uses bitorrent too. I can only assume he has a slow net connection, a broken firewall or his ISP is shaping torrent traffic. In effect, it's no different to his complaint regarding a inability to download patches...

WoWWiki uses standard HTTP, hopefully this won't cause his connection to die

Put WoW on the new computer and go borrow a faster net connection. Have any friends with a faster connection? WiFi access points in the area that are usable? Library?

Do you have any friends with apples? You may be able to do a copy of there WoW directory that is patched or just copy the patches on CD/ DVD or portable hard disk.

I realize this is kind of a low-tech answer (relative to all the .MPQ and file-naming mumbo-jumbo from above), but why not just download the patches that you need (since those have already been listed off) and put them on a flash drive? Surely you either have a 1GB/2GB drive or can borrow one. If you can go into town and use a public computer at a library like someone suggested (or wifi at a coffeehouse) then you can download the patches, save them to your flash drive, and take them home and patch your WOW client offline.

As far as I know, the patch files are .exe and thus cannot run in OS X. You will need to get yourself the apple version of all the patches unfortunately.

The addons may be transfered as is as they are not operating system dependent.

I keep all the patches on a dvd for both windows and mac installations for my own use as well as helping out friends. You could consider starting to work on one for yourself as blizzard as a hard to find page where you can download all the patches without the game. Oddly I cannot find the page on their site at the moment but sending them a quick email will probably get you what you need.

good luck

northerngit said:

WoWWiki uses standard HTTP, hopefully this won't cause his connection to die

Click to expand...

^
Use one of the Wowwiki mirrors to download the patches you need, if torrents don't work for you.

One nice thing about portables is that they are portable...

Perhaps you could carry the laptop to a place with a fast connection - a friend, or an Apple store, these are just ideas.