Guide: How to run SWTOR on macOS using Wine + Catalina/Apple Silicon update.
December 24th, 2020 - Users don't have to create their own application anymore. The script comes with a ready .app that will be placed on the Desktop.
Hello r/swtor. This is a huge revamp of my guide on how to run SWTOR on macOS systems after a 4-month hiatus. Let's start with an update on macOS Catalina and future of Apple transitioning to Apple Silicon:
- As of right now, it's not possible run SWTOR on Catalina. I've been coordinating with multiple people the last couple of months trying to make the game run on Catalina, but came to a conclusion that as of the time this post was made, it's impossible.
- Apple announced that they are pulling away from Intel chips and switching to their own Apple Silicon chips. Since Wine is built to work on Intel chips, ARM-based systems won't be able to run Wine. Apple has an emulator in place for applications that require x86_64 instructions, but it's currently unknown how Wine will interact with it.
Now that we are done with the ugly, let's transition to the guide.
Over the last couple of weeks, I've been notified by multiple users that they either can't create a shortcut, or can't see a list of Wine versions to download. Since that brings up negative user experience, I've rewrote the guide so SWTOR can be installed with little user interaction purely through Shell using a script that I have written and posted on GitHub:
https://github.com/AgentRG/swtor_on_mac
Works with 6.1.2
If you want to play on Linux, please check out this link https://lutris.net/games/star-wars-the-old-republic/
-- ##Footnotes and known bugs in the comment section. ##Steps:
REMINDER THAT THIS WILL NOT WORK WITH ANY OS AFTER MOJAVE!!!
- Add Terminal to Accessibility by clicking on the top-left -> System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Accessibility -> Add Terminal
- Open Terminal by going to Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
- If you don't have CLT (Command Line Tools) OR Xcode installed, type in
xcode-select --install - If you don't have Homebrew installed, copy-paste this command
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)" - Start the SWTOR On Mac installation process by copy-pasting
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AgentRG/swtor_on_mac/master/install.sh | bashinto your Terminal. Depending on your macOS version, the installation process can take from a couple of minutes to an hour. - Follow the SWTOR_setup.exe installation process and install it into the default given folder. Do not start the launcher.
- Close Terminal by pressing
⌘Q - Open Terminal again
- Copy-paste
WINEPREFIX=~/"SWTOR On Mac" winecfginto Terminal - Switch to Libraries tab
- Click on
*crypt32 (native)->Edit...->Builtin then Native->Ok->Ok - A SWTOR.app was created and moved to your desktop folder, which acts as a .exe you'd see on a Windows machine.
- (Optional) There's a
swtor_icon.icnsplaced in the Program Files (x86) folder if you want to customize the icon of the application. - After launching the application, a spinning cog wheel will appear top-right indicating that the application is running. If after about a minute the launcher won't appear, type in
WINEPREFIX=~/"SWTOR On Mac" wineserver -kin the Terminal and start the application again. - After the launcher appears, it will restart a couple of times to install updates. When the restarting stops, login into your account
- Don't click the play button. After a couple of seconds, the game will start downloading. The entire download process will be about 60GB.
AND WE ARE DONE! All you have to do next time you want to play the game is double click the shortcut and you are good to go 👍.
So what works and doesn't work currently? Everything works! I tested every aspect of the game from character creation to
Knights of the Fallen Empire... Eternal Throne... United Forces... Galactic Legends... Jedi Under Siege... The Wretched Hive... Heralds of Victory... The Dantooine Incursion... Onslaught!
Posted Aug 10, 2020, 5:19 AM UTC · edited