Although I originally went through this process to be able to play RoA on my Mac, this guide will likely be useful for those wanting to install the Windows version of Steam on their Mac. This should allow you to play other games that are Windows-only.
Given how close Mac and Linux are internally, this guide might be useful for those wanting to get RoA on Linux. I don't know, maybe.
Finally, this guide is for people who have already bought RoA on Steam and want to play it on Mac. I won't show you how to get the game for free (I don't even know how to do it).
Bottom line: if you want the game, support the developers!
- Downloads
- Creating a Wineskin Wrapper
- Installing Steam
- Installing Rivals of Aether
- Cleanup
- Notes
- Wineskin Winery
- Wine is a compatibility layer that allows Windows programs to run on Unix-like (aka Mac and Linux) operating systems.
- SteamSetup.exe (the Windows Steam installer from the official website)
Once you download and install Wineskin, open it and you should see a window like this:
Click the "plus" icon under the list of installed engines to be taken to this window:
From there, click the dropdown and the most recent version of "WS9Wine". As of now, the most recent version is "WS9Wine2.22".
Click "Download and Install", then "Ok".
After you install the most recent WS9Wine engine, you should be taken back to the original Wineskin Winery window. Now, select the engine you just installed and hit "Create a Blank New Wrapper" at the bottom.
In the next popup window, name it something like "Steam.app" and hit "Ok".
A window like this should appear:
Select "View Wrapper in Finder" to be taken to where the wrapper was made.
Double-click your wrapper. If you see an error that says it can't be opened, just try again. I'm not sure why you can't open it the first time, but it seems to be consistent on my Mac.
Click "Choose a Setup Executable" and navigate to where you downloaded SteamSetup.exe. For me it's on my desktop.
A window should briefly appear that says something like "Wineskin is currently busy" but then the Steam setup window should pop up.
Go through the Steam install wizard until you reach a window like this:
Make sure "Run Steam" is checked, and hit finish.
Steam should start installing an update:
You may get an error about steamwebhelper.exe not being able to run, but feel free to close out of that window. It hasn't affected my ability to play RoA.
Once you log in, you may have to complete a Steam Guard authentication because this installation of Steam will be recognized as a new computer. All you have to do is follow the instructions in the windows that pop up.
After you're logged in, a small window will appear:
Click on the tiny steam icon and then select Rivals of Aether from your library. Install that baby!
You can re-select RoA from the tiny steam icon to monitor the game's progress.
We got 'em!
In order to access RoA again, look for this window:
It should have popped up after completing the Steam install wizard. From the dropdown menu, change it from SteamSetup.exe to "/ProgramFiles/Steam/Steam.exe" and hit "OK".
If you want to make a desktop shortcut, I recommend making an alias to the Steam Wine wrapper. This is done by right clicking (or command-clicking) the wrapper and then clicking "Make Alias".
Rename the alias whatever you want and then drag it to the desktop!
The next time you start up Steam on this computer, Steam should pop up correctly:
- Gamecube controller support works out-of-the-box with Mayflash adapters. In my experience it only works if the adapter is already plugged in and set to PC mode before you start up the game. The black USB port is for data and the grey one is for rumble, so if you can only plug in one, do the black one.
- Sometimes the game doesn't scale correctly when going fullscreen. Set the game size through RoA's graphics options to x2 or x3 and then restart. x2 works perfectly for me.