Downloading games in OSX and playing in Windows?

[ArcticConnor]

Hi all, just got my first Mac yesterday, a new 15" Macbook Pro and I love it.

I've set up BootCamp today and have Windows 7 running nicely for games. One question though, when downloading games for Windows via Steam, is it possible to download them on the OSX partition and then access them through the Windows partition and copy them over, then delete the original on OSX?

It's just that i'd much rather be using OSX for the duration of the download rather than having to use Windows until the download finishes.

Thanks in advance.

 

[iLog.Genius]

No. Steam will download the OS X version to be played in OS X. If you want the Windows version, you'll have to boot into Windows and re-download the Windows version.

 

[ArcticConnor]

Ah I see. So I guess if I were to download a Windows torrent on OSX then transfer to the Windows partition this would work?

 

[Huntn]

Ah I see. So I guess if I were to download a Windows torrent on OSX then transfer to the Windows partition this would work?

Grats on the Mac! If you are downloading through Steam this is quite different than downloading torrents. If the intent is to play on Steam it mostly likely is going to ask for registration at some point. If it is a PC only game, might as well download it through Windows Steam. When you open Mac Steam, it will show this as a game you own, but that is all.

 

[Kimbie]

No. Steam will download the OS X version to be played in OS X. If you want the Windows version, you'll have to boot into Windows and re-download the Windows version.

That is not strictly true.

If in OSX running Steam, it does download the windows versions if you let it.

The gcf files should be the same regardless which OS you are running though

Kimbie

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

If in OSX running Steam, it does download the windows versions if you let it.

This sounds like you think Steam will automatically download the Windows version unless you specify otherwise, which is not true. You may be able to download a Windows-only game, but otherwise I don't believe Steam will let you download the Windows version.

EDIT: Just tried, Steam will not let me download a Windows-only game or the Windows version of a SteamPlay (cross-platform) game.

 

[Matthew9559]

Yeah, you can only install Mac games through Steam.

Thankfully all of the orange box is on OS X. That's key or me.

 

[Huntn]

This sounds like you think Steam will automatically download the Windows version unless you specify otherwise, which is not true. You may be able to download a Windows-only game, but otherwise I don't believe Steam will let you download the Windows version.

EDIT: Just tried, Steam will not let me download a Windows-only game or the Windows version of a SteamPlay (cross-platform) game.

I discovered this gotcha though, it will let you purchase a Windows game on Mac Steam. I was not focused, purchased, but when I tried to download, got the message "this game does not run on MacOS". If you are running both versions of Steam (Mac/Windows) as I am , no big deal, otherwise some aggravation there.

 

[VPrime]

if it is a cross platform game by valve like counter strike source or portal, you can share the files across windows and osx.
It eill just re download the Wndows (or mac) executible which is fairly small compared to the rest of the game.
How valve has done it is split up the games resources from the actual game. So yo can copy the GCF files which contain models, sounds, maps over no problem.

 

[iLog.Genius]

I discovered this gotcha though, it will let you purchase a Windows game on Mac Steam. I was not focused, purchased, but when I tried to download, got the message "this game does not run on MacOS". If you are running both versions of Steam (Mac/Windows) as I am , no big deal, otherwise some aggravation there.

This. There is nothing stopping a user from purchasing a Windows game, Steam is a store as well, but when you need to download the game and assuming there is an OS X variant, Steam will download the OS X version.