Oct 29, 2019 CrossOver Mac is basically Wine with specialized Mac support. Like Wine, it's a Windows compatibility layer for the Mac that enables some games to run. CodeWeavers has modified the source code to Wine, made some improvements to configuration to make it easier, and provided support for their product. Apr 23, 2019 You can use popular programs like XQuartz, WineHQ, or Boot Camp to play Windows games on your Mac. While Boot Camp requires a copy of Windows, XQuartz and WineHQ do not. Always using caution when running Windows games on a Mac, as it's easy to damage your computer by accident.
One of the easiest and best ways to play PC games on a Mac is to use Nvidia's cloud-based game streaming service for macOS users, GeForce Now. GeForce Now for Mac is available right now across.
The Mac has plenty of games, but it'll always get the short end of the stick compared to Windows. If you want to play the latest games on your Mac, you have no choice but to install Windows .. or do you?
There are a few ways you can play Windows games on your Mac without having to dedicate a partition to Boot Camp or giving away vast amounts of hard drive space to a virtual machine app like VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop. Here are a few other options for playing Windows games on your Mac without the hassle or expense of having to install Windows.
GeForce Now
PC gaming on Mac? Yes you can, thanks to Nvidia's GeForce Now. The service allows users to play PC games from Steam or Battle.net on macOS devices. Better still, the graphic power of these games resides on Nvidia's servers. The biggest drawback: the service remains in beta, and there's been no announcement when the first full release is coming or what a monthly subscription will cost.
For now, at least, the service is free to try and enjoy. All supported GeForce NOW titles work on Macs, and yes, there are plenty of them already available!
The Wine Project
The Mac isn't the only computer whose users have wanted to run software designed for Windows. More than 20 years ago, a project was started to enable Windows software to work on POSIX-compliant operating systems like Linux. It's called The Wine Project, and the effort continues to this day. OS X is POSIX-compliant, too (it's Unix underneath all of Apple's gleam, after all), so Wine will run on the Mac also.
Wine is a recursive acronym that stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. It's been around the Unix world for a very long time, and because OS X is a Unix-based operating system, it works on the Mac too.
As the name suggests, Wine isn't an emulator. The easiest way to think about it is as a compatibility layer that translates Windows Application Programming Interface (API) calls into something that the Mac can understand. So when a game says 'draw a square on the screen,' the Mac does what it's told.
You can use straight-up Wine if you're technically minded. It isn't for the faint of heart, although there are instructions online, and some kind souls have set up tutorials, which you can find using Google. Wine doesn't work with all games, so your best bet is for you to start searching for which games you'd like to play and whether anyone has instructions to get it working on the Mac using Wine.
Note: At the time of this writing, The Wine Project does not support macOS 10.15 Catalina.
CrossOver Mac
CodeWeavers took some of the sting out of Wine by making a Wine-derived app called CrossOver Mac. CrossOver Mac is Wine with specialized Mac support. Like Wine, it's a Windows compatibility layer for the Mac that enables some games to run.
CodeWeavers has modified the source code to Wine, made some improvements to configuration to make it easier, and provided support for their product, so you shouldn't be out in the cold if you have trouble getting things to run.
My experience with CrossOver — like Wine — is somewhat hit or miss. Its list of actual supported games is pretty small. Many other unsupported games do, in fact work — the CrossOver community has many notes about what to do or how to get them to work, which are referenced by the installation program. Still, if you're more comfortable with an app that's supported by a company, CrossOver may be worth a try. What's more, a free trial is available for download, so you won't be on the hook to pay anything to give it a shot.
Boxer
If you're an old-school gamer and have a hankering to play DOS-based PC games on your Mac, you may have good luck with Boxer. Boxer is a straight-up emulator designed especially for the Mac, which makes it possible to run DOS games without having to do any configuring, installing extra software, or messing around in the Mac Terminal app.
With Boxer, you can drag and drop CD-ROMs (or disk images) from the DOS games you'd like to play. It also wraps them into self-contained 'game boxes' to make them easy to play in the future and gives you a clean interface to find the games you have installed.
Boxer is built using DOSBox, a DOS emulation project that gets a lot of use over at GOG.com, a commercial game download service that houses hundreds of older PC games that work with the Mac. So if you've ever downloaded a GOG.com game that works using DOSBox, you'll have a basic idea of what to expect.
Some final thoughts
In the end, programs like the ones listed above aren't the most reliable way to play Windows games on your Mac, but they do give you an option.
Of course, another option is to run Windows on your Mac, via BootCamp or a virtual machine, which takes a little know-how and a lot of memory space on your Mac's hard drive.
How do you play your Windows games on Mac?
Let us know in the comment below!
Updated October 2019: Updated with the best options.
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If you've always wanted to partition your Mac's hard drive so you can run a separate operating system — including the launch of macOS Catalina — in tandem with your current one, it's surprisingly easy to do so thanks to Apple's built-in disk utility program. Here's how to partition your Mac.
What is a disk partition?
Partitioning your Mac is basically splitting your hard drive into separate, usable systems. It makes it possible to run two separate operating systems on one device, like Windows and macOS or two versions of macOS (like Mojave and Catalina).
Note: If you want to run Windows on your Mac, Apple's Boot Camp assistant will automatically make a partition for you. Here's how to install Windows.
It is important to note that partitioning your hard drive also splits up your available hard drive space. Each partition will take up a portion of your usable storage. So, if you are running low on storage capacity on your hard drive, we don't recommend partitioning.
Before you start
The most important thing to do before making any changes to your hard drive is to back it up. Seriously. Back it up. Please. Time Machine is the easiest way to back up your data if you don't already have another system in place.
Second, make sure you have enough free disk space to properly run a secondary operating system. Shoot for at least 30GB free, though I recommend closer to 50GB if you have it available.
How to create a partition on your Mac
- Open Finder from your dock.
Select Applications.
- Scroll down and open the Utilities folder.
Double-click to open Disk Utility.
- Select your hard drive in the Disk Utility window. It will be the first drive on the list. It might be named 'Fusion,' or 'Macintosh HD.'
- Click on the Partition tab. You will be prompted to either add an APFS volume or a Partition.
Click Partition.
- Click the Add partition button it looks like a plus (+) symbol.
- Change the size of the partition you wish to use by dragging the resize controls. The used space is represented in blue.
- Name the new partition.
- Specify which file system format you want to use. If you're running macOS 10.13 or higher, you'll want APFS. If you are running macOS 10.12 or older, you'll want Mac OS Extended.
Click apply.
Disk Utility will check the disk and make changes. This will take several minutes.
How to switch partitions
You can switch to the new partition, install the current macOS, and then download and install macOS Catalina from there.
- Click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your screen.
Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
- Select Startup Disk.
Click the Lock in the lower left corner of the window to unlock and make changes.
- Enter your system admin password.
- Click OK.
- Select your partition drive.
Steam not loading games mac. Games similar to harvest moon for mac. Click Restart.
You can also restart your Mac and press the Option Key when you hear the startup chime. This will take you to the Startup Manager and you can select your drive from there.
You will then be asked to install macOS. This will install the latest available macOS onto the partitioned hard drive. You may have to install macOS Mojave before upgrading to macOS Catalina.
Despite the fact that Apple keeps the Mac Library folder hidden from users, it’s good to learn how to show the Library folder on Mac. You may need to access the Library folder when you need to clear cache, remove the app’s leftovers, edit preference files manually, etc.In this article, we explain how to find the Library folder on Mac. Find folders on mac.
How to download macOS Catalina
If macOS Mojave doesn't automatically install on your partitioned hard drive (if it installs macOS High Sierra instead, for example), you can install it from your System Preferences in About this Mac.
After you have macOS Mojave installed, you can follow the instructions to download and install macOS Catalina.
Any questions?
Do you have any questions about installing a partition or downloading a new operating system onto a partitioned drive? Let us know in the comments. If you're having trouble partitioning your hard drive, be sure to check out our forums for help!
Updated September 2019: Updated for macOS Catalina.
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