Apple Silicon + Whisky + 64 bit CoH = Mac Client?

[Redlynne]

Now that the Whisky "bottler" app exists for Macs, enabling Macs to run Windoze software ... the opportunity arises to bring Mac users (such as myself) who reside on Apple Silicon (such as myself) to (re)join the Rebirth community.

The question is ... what win10 based Launcher software is available in a 64 bit format (for a 64 bit CoH game client?) that could be "bottled" using Whisky to provide access not only to the game, but also the Mids' Reborn character builder program that could be run on Apple Silicon?

Answer this question and CoH Rebirth could be added to the Mac Games list on reddit, creating an opportunity for new Players (and some former ones, like myself) to rejoin the community.

[Redlynne]

Well, that's disappointing.
Was able to use the Sweet Tea launcher via Whisky to run the launcher.exe.
Downloaded the Rebirth client.
Actually got the client to launch (!).
Actually got to LOG IN (!).

And ... the game is unplayable.

Since I have an Apple Studio Display with a 5120x2880 resolution, I'm kind of "stuck" for choices of screen resolution (thanks to using Whisky and GPTK to run a windows game client through emulation) which makes a LOT of things utterly bizarre. The Sweet Tea launcher shows up as a TINY WINDOW that I need to break out a magnifying glass in order to read. In the game, various graphical elements don't scale AT ALL ... such as mouseover text. My cursor looks smaller than a grain of rice (so I can barely see it on screen). And worst of all ... the audio is constantly skipping.

Messing around with the in-game settings ... didn't really help.

At least I know it's been 270 days (as of this posting) since my last login to my characters.

The real kicker though was that ... clicking on a door (to go in and out of the Arena building) crashed the game client to desktop ... convincing me that there still isn't a good option for me to be able to return to Rebirth.

[Redlynne]

Progress!

Been trying off and on to use Whisky to run the Sweet Tea launcher to get back into Rebirth.
Was still having problems with the sound skipping LIKE CRAZY indicating that something was OBVIOUSLY BROKEN and not working right.

Finally found this solution to the problem.
https://github.com/Whisky-App/Whisky/issues/637

• Open Whisky
• Run File > Kill All Bottles (at the top left of your screen) (this is to prevent any windows programs from running while applying this update)
• At the bottom of the Whisky window you will find the Winetricks... button, click it
• Go to DLLs tab, find dsound, choose it and press RUN
• Run the game!

Was able to finally log in and ... the installation of dsound through Winetricks solved the audio issue.



So it looks like I might be able to finally ... FINALLY(!!!) ... be able to resume playing CoH after almost a year off!

Now I just need to recover all of my default bind files and get them moved to where they need to be in the new Sweet Tea folder (where all the CoH files wind up) so I can play my character control builds properly again (once I relearn my old control scheme that I haven't been using regularly for a year!).

Kind of makes me wonder what it's going to take in order to get the Mids' Reborn app working on my M2 mac under Whisky.
Mind you, the Mids' Reborn app should have been converted into a browser page app at some point in the past DECADE so we don't have to keep being beholden to .NET and janky antiquated programming hacks to access the necessary compute power to make characters for this game.

[Redlynne]

Well that's kind of hilarious.
Apparently I can "only play in Windowed mode" on my 5k Apple Studio retina screen (so far).
The settings are "pure wonky" for being able to get a UI that can look even approximately right.

Gameplay is also quite janky.
Lots of lighting and textures "simply don't load" leaving Giant Blur Objects all over the place.
Go into the university in Imperial City? DARK.
Go into the auction house in Imperial City? REALLY DAMN DARK.
Running through the Vanguard Base in RWZ? You guessed it ... DARK.
Made it hard to see where stuff was or where I was going in there.

Ironically, a lot of the "older" textures and models worked just fine ... especially around RWZ and the MSR hordes.
Couldn't do a graphics reset while in combat without crashing to the desktop though.

Going to need to experiment to find out what full screen resolutions are supported by my current lashup emulation through Whisky.
Worst part is how there are a number of UI elements that DO NOT SCALE properly ... like tooltips or the mouse cursor.
Going to have to figure something out about that.

Bring on the Trial & Error phase of testing!

[Redlynne]

And ... no good results go unpunished.

So I got an invite to join a group in Atlas while on Redlynne.
Having run through a couple MSRs without only a few crashes to desktop when attempting to /unloadgfx to force garbage collection on memory, I was thinking things ought to be okay.
All kinds of world geo textures were failing to load properly (most notably, trees in Imperial City, along with most of the building exteriors and interiors as mentioned above), but at least the game client was running.

Anyway, I zone into Atlas from the RWZ just fine, exit the Vanguard Building when the team lead decides to teleport me a couple hundred yards and ... CRASH TO DESKTOP.

Log back in, select Redlynne again.
Loading Atlas Park and ... CRASH TO DESKTOP.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.

At this point, I decide to try one of my other alts parked in Pocket D.
Load just fine.
Do a lot of work rearranging windows around for the new screen resolution.
Get everything positioned right, save the new window locations as a default.
Switch to my Soldier of Arachnos parked inside the Arachnos Building in Port Oakes, load up the new window settings that just got saved. Everything's looking good.
Go outside ... CRASH TO DESKTOP.

Relaunch Sweet Tea. Validate all files.
Launch Rebirth. Log in. Select my Soldier of Arachnos. Load into Port Oakes ... okay, good, made it.
Run down the steps, turn right on the street below the hospital to head on over to the West Ferry, run just past the hospital steps up and ... CRASH TO DESKTOP.
Log back into my Soldier of Arachnos. Load into Port Oakes and ... CRASH TO DESKTOP.
Repeat.
Repeat.

I don't know WHAT it is ... but something in the environment of these locations in Atlas Park and in Port Oakes is absolutely FATAL CRASH LETHAL to being able to remain connected and play on 2 of my 3 characters now.

I'm hoping that a simple GM "move character in Atlas Park to new SAFE location" (inside the Vanguard Building) and "move character in Port Oakes to new SAFE location" (inside the Arena) will be sufficient to resolve this issue.
Otherwise, I'm going to be stuck staying offline from Rebirth again.