MakoAoyama's Guide for MM8BDM on Mac **UPDATED 10/9/10**

[MakoAoyama]

Installing the MM8BDM on a Mac
***UPDATE*** 10/9/10
MM8BDM and Skulltag are temporarily down for Mac!!
Skulltag has been updated since the last time I added to this guide, and the version that was released with MM8BDM is build 98d-alpha-r2969. Because this is an alpha build, there is no Mac version and the build for Windows will not function on a Mac(it needs the Skulltag.exe file, but Mac cannot read .exe files).
I will update this guide again when a usable Mac version is available, but Mac users still may have issue trying to play since the game was bundled with an alpha build for release and most other users will have no reason to update. We'll deal with that bridge when we cross it.
For now, unfortunately, if you have access to a Windows based computer to install the game on and play I would suggest you do that. I'm currently having to play on my Windows 7 partition on my Mac.
If you need help installing it on Windows, please check the help section of the forums.


Introduction

As of the time this was written, there a basically two ways to install MM8BDM on a Mac.

The easier method, and it's drawbacks, will be detailed in the following sections along with a download link that contains all you need to get MM8BDM running.

The more advanced method(which is beyond the scope of my knowledge) involves installing Wine on Mac OSX, and running Skulltag through it. If you are interested in this method, you can go here to the Skulltag forums and learn about it.

Since this guide is about getting MM8BDM running the easiest way possible, and I have not personally attempted the advanced method, I leave it to you to decide which way is best for you.


Things to know

Although this is the easiest method to getting MM8BDM running, it's also the most limited. There are certain features that I'll detail later that I've yet to find a way to make work because the versions on Skulltag and Doomseeker available for Mac at present are either early builds or just very basic programs that get the job done and nothing else. Unfortunately, there also aren't any alternatives to either program(Skulltag is a requirement for MM8BDM, and replacements for Doomseeker are all Windows only).

For reference, all testing done for this guide was done on a late 2007 model iMac(one of the first aluminum ones I believe), 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, and the video card is a 256 MB ATI Radeon HD2600. I was running Mac OS X version 10.6.4.
I don't see a reason this method won't work on any other Intel-based Macs, but without a PowerPC Mac to test it on you'll be on your own trying to get this working on one of those.


Preparing to install

Before you begin, you will need to download the following things:
1. The MM8BDM SGC Demo from here.
2. Skulltag 98c for Mac OS X from here.
3. Doomseeker 0.6 Beta from here.

Or you can download the prepared .zip file I created containing all these files here.

Installing the demo


1. Extract the MM8BDM-SGC8.zip file and keep it handy, you'll need it in a minute.


2. Open the st-v098c_macosx.dmg file and it will mount on your desktop(if you have it set to not do that just click Finder and you'll see it on the left). It should pop up on it's own either way. Do as it says and drag the Skulltag.app to your "Application” folder to install it. Don't close that window just yet.

3. You notice in the st-v098c_macosx.dmg window, it also says to "add your IWADs to ~/Library/Application Support/ZDoom/" Click on Finder. In your "Home" folder(which is labeled with whatever your system is named and has a little house icon beside it), open up you "Library" folder. Then open up "Application Support". Here, you need to create a folder named "ZDoom" and open it up. Keep this window open and you can close the Skulltag install window now.

4. Now, go back to the window where you extracted the MM8BDM-SGC8.zip(the demo itself) and look for the files "megagame.wad" and "MM8BDM-SGC.pk3". Copy those files to the "ZDoom" folder you created and you can close that window if you want. You may discard the other files that were in the MM8BDM-SGC8.zip file.

5. Now, at this point if you click on Skulltag.app in your "Application" folder, it tries to open and then immediately closes for no reason. For me at least, it gave no error at all. Just opened then closed right afterward and it was like I had never ran it to begin with. In order to get in to run, have to install Doomseeker to find the available servers and run the Skulltag.app for you. So open the doomseeker-0.6b_macosx.dmg file and install Doomseeker.app by dragging it to your "Applications" folder.

6. Open up Doomseeker.app. When it opens it displays all the available servers. You can click the "IWAD" tab at the top to organize by the name of .wad files. You'll be looking for "megagame.wad"(those are the servers playing the demo), but you can't play just yet because you have to tell Doomseeker where to find the files it needs. Click the "Doomseeker" tab at the very top of your screen(next to the Apple icon), and go to “Preferences”. When it pops up, click the little arrow next to "Engines" and a drop menu will open. Click on Skulltag. Where it says "Path to client binary:" click the "..." box then follow the path "Machintosh HD(or whatever you call your hard drive)/Applications/Skulltag.app" and once it's highlighted click Open.
Now click on "File Paths" in the menu to the left. Click Add to put a new path in and go find that "ZDoom" folder you made earlier. My path was "/Users/MakoAoyama/Library/Application Support/ZDoom". Hit Apply and OK.



Playing Online

Now that everything is set up, if it was done correctly you should be able to just jump right in a game.
Double-click one of the "megagame.wad" servers. The game should load right after that. You'll notice that it opens the Skulltag.app for you(you'll see it at the bottom of your screen). Basically, anytime you want to play, you need to open up Doomseeker.app to run the game and pick a server because Skulltag.app will NOT run by itself and this is the only way to run the program.



Limitations


Playing Offline

One of the drawbacks of running the game through Doomseeker is that it opens you up straight into an online game and there's no way to change that.
The problem with playing offline occurs when, on the rare occasion, there's no servers running "megagame.wad" you cannot open the game at all. Trying to open into another server not running "megagame.wad" simply causes an error because you don't have the correct .wad file to play.

To play an offline game by yourself, there must be a server running "megagame.wad" so that you can open the game. Choose a server and double-click it. The game will open and you'll be in the server playing online. Hit “Esc” and move to “Start”, then click on the option “Robot Master Tournament” and the single player mode will start.
This is the only known way to play a single player offline game.


Hosting a server

At present, there is no known way to create your own server on the Mac OS X version of Doomseeker.
All the options for it are there, and for the most part the program will run just like its Windows counterpart, but it does so a little too much.

By clicking the File menu at the top in Doomseeker, you can see and click the option ”Create server”. From here, the program will do most everything the Windows version does(as detailed here) and can be set up the exact way as the Windows version. But when you try to look for an “Executable:” to run your server with, the program wants a standard .exe file. Mac OS X cannot run a .exe file without the help of an outside program like Wine, so therefor selecting the latest Skulltag.exe file for Windows(assuming you were to download it) causes an error.
Doomseeker also won't work with the default Skulltag.app for Mac, because the program is looking for a .exe file instead of a .app file.
If anyone else figures out how to get this working properly, maybe by doing something I missed, please let me know.


Using custom skins UPDATED!

It took me a while to figure out but I finally managed to get custom skins working!

Go to Macintosh HD(or whatever you have your hard drive named), then Applications, then find Skulltag.app. Right click Skulltag.app, and click "Show Package Contents" in the pop up menu. This will open a new window labeled "Skulltag.app".
Each .app file in Mac OS X is actually a container that holds all files and folders necessary to run a program, which is why I couldn't find where to put the skins before(I learned something new today). The place to put skins is hidden here.
Inside Skulltag.app, open the "Contents" folder, then a folder labeled "MacOS". The "MacOS" folder is where you need to create a folder called "skins". Simply place your .pk3 skin files in your "skins" folder and they should load in-game!


Using an Xbox 360 or PS3 controller

This can be done, but doesn't work nearly as well as it does in Windows.

For the PS3 controller, go here and download the driver.
You can use you PS3 controller through USB or Bluetooth. Just install the driver to use it with USB. To use it with Bluetooth:
1. Set your Mac to "Discoverable" on the Bluetooth menu
2. Install the driver from the .dmg file and restart you computer
3. Connect your controller via USB and press and hold the PS button for 5 seconds
4. Unplug the USB cable and press and hold the PS button again for 5 seconds
5. Check your Bluetooth menu. It should register as "PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller" after a few seconds.

You can disconnect it by going to you Bluetooth menu, then ""PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller"/Disconnect".



For the Xbox 360 controller, go here to find the driver.
You must use either the wired Xbox 360 controller, or buy a Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver to use one of the wireless controllers. The wireless controllers will not work any other way(it's not Bluetooth).
Just install the driver and plug the wired version in, or plug the wireless receiver in and sync your controller to it.


Neither controller will work by itself and will not be recognized in game because the drivers, although they work, are technically not finished and it looks like the projects were abandoned.
You will have to map the buttons to keys on your keyboard to make it work. I recommend you use Gamepad Companion which can be found here, along with information on how to use it.
You'll also have no control over how sensitive the controllers are, so unless you like your settings on FAST, then I would recommend a keyboard and mouse(which is what I had to do).


Oddities and other issues


Non-"megagame.wad" servers

I have recently run across a server that is playing MM8BDM but didn't appear to be using "megagame.wad". Instead, on the Doomseeker server list it appeared they were using "doom2.wad" but still had "MM8BDM-SGC.pk3" listed on their "wads" section.

Doomseeker would not let me enter their server without a "doom2.wad" in the same directory I put my "megagame.wad". The easiest way to deal with this, outside of buying Doom 2, is go here and download Freedoom which is a free alternative for the "doom2.wad". Just download the "Complete IWAD" listed there and place it in the same directory you put your "megagame.wad".
You should now be able to enter their server.


Compatibility with Skulltag 98c-alpha(also know as "0.98c-alpha-r2792")

When the SGC Demo was released, it was originally packed with version 98c-alpha of Skulltag, which was the most current version at the time. A short time later, unbeknownst to CutmanMike, Skulltag released the final version 98c.

Unfortunately for Mac users, most people running servers have decided NOT to upgrade to the new version, which limits the number of games we can get into. Users running the final version of 98c cannot enter servers running 98c-alpha, and vice versa. Since Mac never had an alpha version of 98c, it's not possible to get into games hosted on those servers for Mac users.






Alright, if anybody has questions feel free to ask or send me a message. I'll help if I can.
If you'd like a downloadable version of this WALL OF TEXT, click here.

Good luck!

[CutmanMike]

Now, at this point if you click on Skulltag.app in your "Application" folder, it tries to open and then immediately closes for no reason. For me at least, it gave no error at all. Just opened then closed right afterward and it was like I had never ran it to begin with.

This is as far as I got when dicking around with my friend's Mac. I didn't know anything about Mac's when I tried it though.

Regardless, this is extremely helpful to all Mac users, even those who don't want to play MM8BDM! You deserve a badge and a sticky.  

[MakoAoyama]

Now, at this point if you click on Skulltag.app in your "Application" folder, it tries to open and then immediately closes for no reason. For me at least, it gave no error at all. Just opened then closed right afterward and it was like I had never ran it to begin with.

This is as far as I got when dicking around with my friend's Mac. I didn't know anything about Mac's when I tried it though.

Regardless, this is extremely helpful to all Mac users, even those who don't want to play MM8BDM! You deserve a badge and a sticky.  

Thank you, good sir! My small contribution to a badass game. It's the least I could do.

Yeah, I got to that point and I couldn't figure out where to go either. My answer to stuff like that is to just start clicking random stuff and moving things around until the thing either gripes at me and tells me it's wrong or everything suddenly works.
In this case, I did enough crap that it suddenly worked. Just lucky I have a decent memory and remember what all I did.

[BEan]

YOU PLAYED ON MY SERVER WITH A MAC!!  OH GOD, I FEEL SO VIOLATED. LOL

Just kidding, I am not surprised that you figured out how to do it.

Hey cutmanmike, in the next update could you include the mac and linux binaries?

[CutmanMike]

No but I will certainly post instructions along with it. Btw the next "version" is going to be the final release  

[MakoAoyama]

YOU PLAYED ON MY SERVER WITH A MAC!!  OH GOD, I FEEL SO VIOLATED. LOL

Just kidding, I am not surprised that you figured out how to do it.

Hey cutmanmike, in the next update could you include the mac and linux binaries?

I'm in ur servers.
Playin' on my Mac.
 Heh.

In all honesty, this was really the first thing I've bumped into in the few years that I've owned a Mac that I couldn't figure out how to run, or find a Mac alternative that does the same thing and it was driving me nuts. I was bound and determined to figure this out.

One thing that I'm still trying to figure out, though, is that sometimes I can't join certain games. Finding a game to jump into is easy, actually getting in the game is about 50/50. It either lets me join or get this message:

"Level authentication failed. Please make sure you are using the exact same wad(s) as the server and try again."

And that's from your server, BEan. Maybe you know what it means?
I'm going to test on the other servers later today and see if I get the same error. I'll post my results here when I get to it.

[BEan]

"Level authentication failed. Please make sure you are using the exact same wad(s) as the server and try again."

And that's from your server, BEan. Maybe you know what it means?
I'm going to test on the other servers later today and see if I get the same error. I'll post my results here when I get to it.

I am thinking maybe its a glitch in the mac version of skulltag. My theory is that it cannot make the comparison between the server and client wads.

[CutmanMike]

You get that message if the host is using different wads (and sometimes skulltag versions) than you.

[MakoAoyama]

Ah, I figured it out.
My inexperience with Doom mods, servers and whatnot is the problem. :?

When Doomseeker opens it show me a list of servers. Double click one and it takes you to a game.
I, for some reason, assumed that the in-game list in the multiplayer menu was of rooms or games available on the server I was on at the time. Of course it's not, it the same list of servers that Doomseeker shows me but it's nowhere near as organized as it looks in Doomseeker.

My bad.

[Anonymous]

By the way, this would also work for GNU/Linux as well; just download the Linux version and use the IWAD for 8BDM.  Of course, I just run the thing in WINE, which also works (and I believe that WINE has a Mac version as well).

[MakoAoyama]

By the way, this would also work for GNU/Linux as well; just download the Linux version and use the IWAD for 8BDM.  Of course, I just run the thing in WINE, which also works (and I believe that WINE has a Mac version as well).

Yeah, we have a WINE version for Mac but it's very hit and miss on what actually works on it. It's mostly miss, to be honest.

[BEan]

By the way, this would also work for GNU/Linux as well; just download the Linux version and use the IWAD for 8BDM.  Of course, I just run the thing in WINE, which also works (and I believe that WINE has a Mac version as well).

If I didn't have my hands ful I would try to do it in ubuntu on my laptop.

[CutmanMike]

Tried the Mac again and got as far as setting up Doom Seeker after installing ST. I didn't have a connection at the time so I thought I'd try running a offline server. But then I got an error saying Skulltag couldn't be found. I tried moving Skulltag around, installing into different folders, nothing. Grrr  

[MakoAoyama]

Tried the Mac again and got as far as setting up Doom Seeker after installing ST. I didn't have a connection at the time so I thought I'd try running a offline server. But then I got an error saying Skulltag couldn't be found. I tried moving Skulltag around, installing into different folders, nothing. Grrr  

Sounds like you just need to have Doomseeker find Skulltag in the Preferences section.
Click the "Doomseeker" menu at the top and go to "Preferences". When it opens, click the little triangle next to "Engines" for the drop down list, then pick Skulltag.
The "Path to client binary" part tells it where to find the Skullag.app. Honestly, I think you could pretty much put the Skulltag.app anywhere on your computer, you just have to remember where it's at and make Doomseeker find it from here.
Let's say you put it in your Applications folder, which is where most people would put it. Click the "..." box under "Path to client binary", and go to Macintosh HD/Applications/Skulltag.app and then hit ok.

It should work now, assuming you also told Doomseeker how to find your wads under the "File Paths" preferences section.

[CutmanMike]

Thanks for updating, I'll try this again once I get on a mac.

Ugh, who the hell is hosting this with Doom2? I need to somehow make it so that can't be done.