Working: How to play on Mac OS Big Sur and Catalina
The original World of Warcraft clients version 3.3.5a and older don’t have support for 64 bit, so they are only available in 32-bit executables. There is no WoW.exe 64 bit for WOTLK 3.3.5 and older versions.
This could be an issue if you are running macOS Catalina or macOS Big Sur (or newer) since Apple removed the support for 32 bit programs since Catalina.
Luckily there is a way to run 32-bit applications on macOS that works for WoW clients version Wrath of The Lich King (3.3.5a), The Burning Crusade (2.4.3) and Classic (1.12.x).
How to run WoW 32-bit on macOS:
- You need a to have a Windows client of WoW
- Open this URL: https://github.com/Gcenx/WineskinServer/releases
- Under the latest release section, expand Assets
- Download Wineskin.Winery
- Extract the Wineskin Winery.app and place it in your Applications
- Open Wineskin Winery.app with right-click -> Open (or the system doesn’t let you open it)
- Click on the “+” sign to add an Engine
- Select the engine WS11WineCX64Bit19.0.2
- Click on “Download and install”
- In the “Wrapper Version” area click Update
- Click Create New Blank Wrapper
- Choose a name for the wrapper, e.g. “WoW335”
- Click ok, it will now take some time to load
- If it asks to download Gecko or similar, accept and continue
- Click View wrapper in Finder, pay attention to the location so you know where to find it again – you can also add it to your Dock
- The folder contains your WoW wrapper, e.g. “WoW335.app”
- Open it with right-click -> Open (or the system doesn’t let you open it)
- Click Install software
- Select Copy a Folder Inside
- Select your World of Warcraft folder within your computer
- It will ask you for the default executable, select Wow.exe and close the window
- You can now open your .app wrapper (e.g. “WoW335.app”) to run the game.
- Have fun!
It's working, but not the addons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
lemonpiglet
I currently use a pirated version of CrossOver. Does this work in exactly the same way?
My point is, at the moment there is no way I have found to allocate more RAM to WoW. Meaning I have to play on 'Fair' graphics or else the game crashes due to insufficient RAM when I enter somewhere like Dalaran.
Would running the game using Wineskin fix this RAM issue, or is there an easier way I can allocate more RAM by doing it this way?
I understand that CrossOver still uses Wine, so I don't want to mess around with anything if it's going to be identical.
This is a great post by the way. Much needed. A better solution than using CrossOver regardless. I just need to find a way to fix this RAM issue, and I know others do too (as discussed here:
http://forum.warmane.com/showthread.php?t=385339).
Ok, I tried it out. It works great but I can't seem to get any addons. It's not like the addons just aren't working, it's that there is no Interface folder. When I add one by copying my old Interface and WTF folder over, the addons still don't appear. There isn't even an addons button on the character screen. I've copied over the whole directory, so it's identical to the directory I use in CrossOver and still no addons.
I've tried deleting Interface, WTF and Cache folders, but they are not being created when I start the program and log back in.
Anyone know why this could be?
EDIT:
I solved it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
AvicusDelacroix
Update: Some mac systems display fire and effects incorrectly, which makes it impossible to play.
Solution: Open your package contents, find the game folder, open WTF folder and find the Config.wtf file.
Then add the following lines to the file:
SET gxAPI "opengl"
SET ffxGlow "0"
SET ffxDeath "0"
Then save the file and reload the game, everything should display correctly!
From here, I read that you have to use 'open package contents'. From there you have a virtual C drive, and you can find the WoW3.3.5a folder. In that folder is where the Interface folder is created.
I was looking in the original folder I downloaded from Warmane. This is how it works on CrossOver, I expected it to be the same.
I've done a test in Dalaran and got the program to use 2.17GB of RAM and it didn't crash. I'll check tomorrow at peak times, but hopefully it's fixed that issue too.