ZGE & Mac M1

[rrTea]

For various reasons, a few months ago MacOS (M1) became my main working environment instead of Windows. I still have my Windows computer (I have a few in fact) but I'm avoiding using it because I have to first drag it out of the cupboard, connect / mount it, wait for it to update 20 times… It's impractical.

I also noticed that the latest ZGE versions do not offer MacOS builds, did anybody try launching ZGE executables (while it was still possible to make them) on M1?

So, is there any interest in making ZGE work on M1 or at least make MacOS (M1 I guess) executables?

[VilleK]

Hi,

During the last year I've been involved in the process of making FL Studio running natively on M1 and this includes ZGE. So ZGE works fine on M1. Using Intel Mac binaries with Rosetta on M1 also works very well.

The only reason I don't include Mac binaries in recent ZGE releases is that I don't have a build environment that automatically builds the Mac files. And since Mac is very rarely used for ZGE then I haven't bothered so far.

But yes, it works fine. Just let me know if I should try to make a binary for you to test with.

[rrTea]

That'd be fantastic!

[VilleK]

That'd be fantastic!

I forgot to be specific: it is just the possibility to generate M1 files that works. Zge itself (the authoring tool) still needs to run on Windows. Perhaps you can run Windows in a VM like VirtualBox.

[rrTea]

Setting up a VirtualBox is a bit impractical… Well then the only thing I can think of for my situation is to dedicate a Windows laptop (I have one, packed somewhere) specifically for ZGE or something like that. I'll have to think about it.

[VilleK]

There is also Parallells: https://9to5mac.com/2021/05/03/the-supe ... mac-video/

I hope you find a solution that works for you. It would be a shame if this becomes a hurdle for further development. Your ZGE projects look fantastic.

[VilleK]

There is a way to develop on Mac if you can manage to edit the zgeproj file directly with a text editor.

1. Install demo version of FL Studio: https://www.image-line.com/fl-studio-download/
2. Put your zgeproj file in this folder /Applications/FL Studio 20.app/Contents/Resources/FL/Plugins/Fruity/Effects/ZGameEditor Visualizer/Effects
3. Start FL Studio and add the ZGameEditor Visualizer plugin on the mixer
4. Select your zgeproj from the effect selector

Now you can run your project and whenever you save a change in a text editor then the plugin will reload the project.

Not ideal of course but better than nothing

[rrTea]

That's quite an interesting solution, I'll definitely try it!

I'm still working on setting up a Windows corner, it's taking lots of time but it should work eventually.

[rrTea]

It works! …but when I tried opening some of my projects FL Studio just crashes. Maybe because I often use a Windows specific library (to turn off Microsoft's cursed IDE) so next time I'll try to manually edit those out.

[VilleK]

Nice! I think you can test with "if(MACOS)" to make code run differently on Mac. Indeed I expect it will crash if you try calling Windows specific functions.

[rrTea]

I tried to get used to using ZGE through FL, but didn't manage.

[VilleK]

I tried to get used to using ZGE through FL, but didn't manage.

I can understand this. Do you have any other option to run ZGE?

ZGE designer tool uses the VCL library that is Windows specific and that makes it hard to port to Mac.

[rrTea]

Right now no (I gave away all my Windows computers) but I'll buy a laptop or something small like that when I get a chance (maybe one of those Intel NUCs, on which I tested ZGE already and it works well, or maybe a HP 24-dp1002ng). Too bad about the library, but there's no helping it if it's Windows specific.

[Ats]

Did you try using Wine emulator on MAC? I'm running ZGE perfectly on linux with it.
https://wiki.winehq.org/Download

[rrTea]

Emulators: in my context it's impractical. Easier to just get a new computer.