HOW-TO: Play Project 1999 on a Mac

[countbb]

Thanks I couldn't figure out what the issue was either, but with parallels 17.1 change the following: compatibility -> [change emulation settings] -> safe emulation (from the dropdown).

That worked for me.


This helped me get past the server select window! However, it doesn't seem like any of my environmental textures are loading (just character models and objects like torches). Did you have this issue?

Also, any tips for the camera? Feels like there is a dpi of 1,000,000. I can't look anywhere but directly down it seems.

[Boptop]

yeah, i gave up trying to get it to work, couldn't get UI details to match window size

[Meepasheep]

Does anyone have a solution for this error that I'm receiving? I want to play this game on my Mac so badly. Here's what I've done:

1.) Downloaded/installed the most recent version of Parallels
2.) Installed Windows 11
3.) Downloaded EQ via the link in this Youtube guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj_MMVgJ_Dk (step 2) and added it to my shared desktop
4.) Created the "Patchme" shortcut
5.) Configured EQgame to run as administrator, operate in XP service pack 2, and safe emulation.

Every time I try to join the server, I get this error message. I feel like I'm SO close!

"Unable to load World

EverQuest cannot load the zone file \"load_obj.s3d\" in the directory that you are currently running EverQuest from. The file is present but it may be corrupt."

I've tried uninstalling, reinstalling, and patching. Thanks in advance!

[oldschoolguy]

This helped me get past the server select window! However, it doesn't seem like any of my environmental textures are loading (just character models and objects like torches). Did you have this issue?

Also, any tips for the camera? Feels like there is a dpi of 1,000,000. I can't look anywhere but directly down it seems.

I had same issue too running on Virtual Box (similar to parallels).

Had to disable bunch of stuff in the eqclient.ini

HardwareTnL=FALSE
VertexShaders=FALSE
20PixelShaders=FALSE
14PixelShaders=FALSE
1xPixelShaders=FALSE
MultiPassLighting=FALSE

What I'd recommend is disable them all, and reenable one by one to see which one causes the problem.

[Lange]

Is it impossible to play EQp99 on a mac without using parelles etc programs/Windows

[krotar]

This wineskin is not compatible with the latest Mac OS

[tranceminus]

Is it impossible to play EQp99 on a mac without using parelles etc programs/Windows

I believe that if you are running an older version of MacOS that still supports 32 bit programs (Mojave or earlier), you should be able to run it under something like wine.

Unless I'm misremembering, I'm pretty sure that's the way I played on my mac for a long while, and it was pretty smooth.

The problem is that the most recent versions of MacOS dropped support for 32 bit programs, and that made it extremely difficult if not outright impossible to implement a wrapper that would work. So now your only recourse is bootcamp (on non-M1 macs) or running a VM like Parallels.

[freezzo]

Yes. P99 will not run in wine currently. (See https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371291). This is because of the custom DSETUP.dll file that P99 provides. You can plan on other emulated servers fine, as long as you do not update using the P99 client files.

[Velenia]

Does anyone have a solution for this error that I'm receiving? I want to play this game on my Mac so badly. Here's what I've done:

1.) Downloaded/installed the most recent version of Parallels
2.) Installed Windows 11
3.) Downloaded EQ via the link in this Youtube guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj_MMVgJ_Dk (step 2) and added it to my shared desktop
4.) Created the "Patchme" shortcut
5.) Configured EQgame to run as administrator, operate in XP service pack 2, and safe emulation.

Every time I try to join the server, I get this error message. I feel like I'm SO close!

"Unable to load World

EverQuest cannot load the zone file \"load_obj.s3d\" in the directory that you are currently running EverQuest from. The file is present but it may be corrupt."

I've tried uninstalling, reinstalling, and patching. Thanks in advance!


Hello everyone,

i am having the same problem. I was fighting for hours to get this far. It's a nightmare to play on a Mac...

I used to play P1999 a couple of years ago on a windows machine... that was no problem at all.

[irene167]

Thank you for sharing this data. I really enjoy what you've written on your blog. You've shared a very useful and entertaining blog post with the public. build now gg (https://buildnowgg.co/)

[xuebi]

m1 MacBook in parallels with win11

the ec tunnel is red

Can anyone kown how to deal with it?

https://s1.ax1x.com/2022/04/12/LmLOXD.png

https://s1.ax1x.com/2022/04/12/LmOlcT.png

[Rexin]

m1 MacBook in parallels with win11

the ec tunnel is red

Can anyone kown how to deal with it?

https://s1.ax1x.com/2022/04/12/LmLOXD.png

https://s1.ax1x.com/2022/04/12/LmOlcT.png

I never found a solution for this :(

[Mithu]

Yes. P99 will not run in wine currently. (See https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371291). This is because of the custom DSETUP.dll file that P99 provides. You can plan on other emulated servers fine, as long as you do not update using the P99 client files.

Interestingly enough, it runs fine under Steam's Proton 7.0+. I believe this was a joint effort by the CrossOver team at CodeWeavers, so that may work as well on the Mac side.

I may give it a try myself on my M1 mac to see if it fares better than the Parallels approach.

[freezzo]

Interestingly enough, it runs fine under Steam's Proton 7.0+. I believe this was a joint effort by the CrossOver team at CodeWeavers, so that may work as well on the Mac side.

I may give it a try myself on my M1 mac to see if it fares better than the Parallels approach.

What system are you running it on with Proton? I assume not a Mac catalina+? EQ seems to work, at least the eqemu servers on wine as long as you aren't playing on P99. Like I mentioned, there is something up with the DSETUP.dll file that prevents it from running. I confirmed this because I copied everything over a new install from P99 except that file, and was able to get to char select, I just couldn't do anything because it told me I was out of date.

I submitted a ticket a while back with P99 regarding this, and they told me to check with tech support forum, even though I had mentioned I already did. I posted in tech support about this issue and that a p99 dev needs to get involved, and no replies so /shrug

[Mithu]

The SteamDeck itself which was purely out of curiosity. I have a M1 MacBook that I tried running with CrossOver but can’t even get the launcher to pop up.

Since they’ve dropped native 32-but support it’ll require a layer of some kind to work, either virtualization or translation layers. I’ve heard people having luck with Parallels but I’m a bit stubborn and want to get it working without the weight of a full Windows VM.

I’m still a bit surprised that P99 works perfectly under Proton, as it’s essentially an in-house Wine. I’ve heard various issues with people trying to play P99 on Wine and didn’t have any of those except the known UDP login server issue which can be fixed.

[freezzo]

Just to be clear, the issue with P99 on Wine, post 32bit support drop is the custom provided DSETUP.dll file by the P99 crew, at least in the testing I have done. Seems like some kind of incorrect 32 <=> 64bit memory translation stuff happening. Gcenx looked into it a bit more from a technical standpoint. EverQuest titanium itself has no issue running. I assume the SteamDeck works fine because it works with 32bit.

[draight]

I had the 'open anyway' button in Privacy and Settings stop working but I got around it by running: `sudo spctl --master-disable`

[nordbear]

m1 MacBook in parallels with win11

the ec tunnel is red

Can anyone kown how to deal with it?

https://s1.ax1x.com/2022/04/12/LmLOXD.png

https://s1.ax1x.com/2022/04/12/LmOlcT.png

I was able to resolve the red tint thingie using dgvoodoo. Downloaded, extracted and copied the files mentioned here. https://www.project1999.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3180271&postcount=14

[xuebi]

I was able to resolve the red tint thingie using dgvoodoo. Downloaded, extracted and copied the files mentioned here. https://www.project1999.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3180271&postcount=14

ty very much , it works

[sogundordor]

I was able to resolve the red tint thingie using dgvoodoo. Downloaded, extracted and copied the files mentioned here. https://www.project1999.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3180271&postcount=14

yeah that’s nice !! thank you very much!!!

i try only drag the latest d3d9.dll in ms folder and cpl.exe to my everquest folder, it makes mouse look works normal , no more red tint and able remove dgvoodoo watermark yay!!

[nordbear]

yeah that’s nice !! thank you very much!!!

i try only drag the latest d3d9.dll in ms folder and cpl.exe to my everquest folder, it makes mouse look works normal , no more red tint and able remove dgvoodoo watermark yay!!

Oh, did you resolve the mouse look issue as well? Did you set any specific configuration to fix that?

[sogundordor]

Oh, did you resolve the mouse look issue as well? Did you set any specific configuration to fix that?

are you in full screen mode? as i remember full screen makes mouse look super fast
i play in windowed mode, set it looks like full screen in the ini file, set mouse optimum for game in pd setting, mouse speed =0 in game, it should be normal speed
when i drag all 4 dll file, i dunno why mouse look is slightly faster than normal,
if only drag d3d9, no red tint and normal mouse look
in cpl.exe i did some setting in directx tab, something like changed it to geforce 9800 and tons of ram, remove watermark
lighting effect seems improved, cpu temp keeps at 58c, running around feel smooth as normal, feel so good now yay

[Furcifer]

I managed to mount the ISO files and install the titanium client using the Crossover program. When executing the wrapping file the client produces the error message; 'Connection Failure: Could not establish a connection.'

I think I'm encountering this error because Crossover is trying to launch the .exe file instead of the 'launch titanium.bat' on execution. This is as close as I've gotten and I don't know how I would go about changing Crossover to run a different startup path.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate any help. Thanks.

[Evlpacman]

Hello everyone,

i am having the same problem. I was fighting for hours to get this far. It's a nightmare to play on a Mac...

I used to play P1999 a couple of years ago on a windows machine... that was no problem at all.

Were you able to find a workaround for this?

[freezzo]

I managed to mount the ISO files and install the titanium client using the Crossover program. When executing the wrapping file the client produces the error message; 'Connection Failure: Could not establish a connection.'

I think I'm encountering this error because Crossover is trying to launch the .exe file instead of the 'launch titanium.bat' on execution. This is as close as I've gotten and I don't know how I would go about changing Crossover to run a different startup path.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate any help. Thanks.

You should be able to install EQ Titanium fine on Mac, but if you are on Catalina or newer, once you copy over the P99 client files, it will fail to start loading EQ. This is due to their DSETUP.dll file.

[freezzo]

Were you able to find a workaround for this?

There currently is no "WINE" workaround if you are on Catalina or newer. Only option is something like Parallels. This is what im using, as virtualbox/vmware did not allow me to adjust the mouse the way I would like. If you are on an older mac, you can run eq via wine just fine.

[Evlpacman]

I'm on parallels right now, but i can't get past this error:

EverQuest cannot load the zone file "load_obj.s3d" in the directory that you are currently running EverQuest from. The file is present but it may be corrupt. \n\nPlease either reinstall or delete and re-patch this file.

I've set it to windows xp sp2 compatibility, and set the emulation mode to safe emulation

[Evlpacman]

i should mention, i'm on a 2021 macbook pro with m1 pro

[freezzo]

I dont think the mac should matter, since as far as EQ is concerned, its a windows environment. Is the "load_obj.s3d" file in your directory. How are you starting the game. What does your shortcut properties look like?

[Evlpacman]

yeah, load_obj.s3d is in there, i'm starting it with the a shortcut to eqgame.exe with patchme afterwards, i get past the login but right before showing character select i get the error.

[kentrg]

Need some help. I keep getting a memory error on my M1 Macbook.

What i'm using:
Macbook 14' M1
Parallel Desktop 18
ARM-based Windows as recommend
New install EQ with patch v54

Here is the screenshot of the error message

[kentrg]

[Edit] running patch v55 ( latest version )
Right Clicked on Everquest.exe and set Compatibility to XP Service Pack 2, Run as Admin, Safe Emulation.

Using WinEQ above but same thing happens when i launch from "Launch Titanium"

[Zwieback]

Had the exact same problem. Dont use a preinstalled client, install everquest via the titanium images and patch it by yourself. Works great on my M2 Macbook Air, Windows 11 via Parallels.

I'm on parallels right now, but i can't get past this error:

EverQuest cannot load the zone file "load_obj.s3d" in the directory that you are currently running EverQuest from. The file is present but it may be corrupt. \n\nPlease either reinstall or delete and re-patch this file.

I've set it to windows xp sp2 compatibility, and set the emulation mode to safe emulation

[Zwieback]

Its weird, it run smooth on my m1 pro, let me think about the step of install..
1. install parallel desktop 16
2. install arm-base windows (games only mode, i try productivity mode later seems no difference)
3. install everquest
4. patch v54
5. change the setting of eqgame.exe (right click, run in win xp sp2, reduce color, run in 640x480, run as admin, change emulation setting to safe emulation)
6. run launch titanium.bat
7. eq started with small windows 640x480, login run around should be smooth but some lighting effects color change from white to red (eg. at morning farclip, at night someone holding lightstone)
8. logout and close eq
9. uncheck reduce color and 640x480 mode in eqgame.exe
10. run launch titanium.bat, theres some error code as i remember
11. run launch titanium.bat again lol, no more error
12. login and change video setting in game (1440x9?? i can't remember, sharp and looks like full screen hehe)

13. i set mouselook to 0, still too fast =(



I fixed the mouse speed by doing following:

To access Mouse & Keyboard settings:

Do one of the following:
1. Click the Parallels icon in the menu bar and choose Configure.
2. If the Parallels Desktop menu bar is visible at the top of the screen, choose Actions > Configure.
Click Hardware and select Mouse & Keyboard in the sidebar.

Mouse
Choose: Optimize for games.
Done

[kentrg]

Had the exact same problem. Dont use a preinstalled client, install everquest via the titanium images and patch it by yourself. Works great on my M2 Macbook Air, Windows 11 via Parallels.

What do you mean preinstalled client? I install using 5 ISOs and then dropped the 55 patch files manually.
I use Launch Titanium bat and EQ windows. Can you provide instructions? Thank you

[FultonEffect]

First off, go to properties on "eqgame.exe" in your Everquest folder and make sure it's set to compatibility for service pack 2. Then check the 'run as Admin', go down to arm emulation and make sure it's set to 'safe' emulation from the drop down. Then move your Everquest folder to an actual folder off the C: drive (this is essential or you will get an error) for example Program Files or Program Files (x86). Now, create a shortcut and send it to your desktop from the eqgame.exe. Go to the new shortcut and open it up with properties and add 'patchme' to the end of the command line.

[veptune]

Hello,

This method does not work anymore. The app crash when it is starting :

Application Specific Information:
X.Org X Server 1.11.1 Build Date: 20110929
Failed to activate core devices.
abort() called

I think something in the wineskin wrapper is not up to date

[rkanon]

Any updates on the capacity to use Wine for this?
Also is there any other way, like wine, to not have the entire Windows OS running but simply instance applications?

[rkanon]

I have literally kept my laptop in an old version of iOS just so it can still run P99 ;P

[veptune]

A guy wrote this :

https://www.reddit.com/r/project1999/comments/osgvmk/new_method_tutorial_for_using_wine_to_run_p99_on/

But the engine WS9Wine2.2 is not available anymore :(

[Katjastarshine]

ok I got as far as running wineskin and my Mac says it won't install wineskin because it can't tell if it has Malware? is there a work around or am I doomed

[aakatz]

I'm running parallels and have followed all of the instructions. I can't seem to find anybody else citing the problem I'm having.

When I try to Launch using Titanium it gives me the following error:

Windows cannot find 'eqgame.' Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

Anybody have any ideas of how to address this?

[aakatz]

I also tried uninstalling Titanium and installing EQ lite. I made a shortcut of the eqgame.exe file changed to Safe ARM emulation, SP2, and added "patch me" to the target.

This attempt give me the following error:
The instruction at 0x000000001000F0CE referenced memory at 0x00000000FFFFFFC. The memory could not be read.

[sburggsx]

I also tried uninstalling Titanium and installing EQ lite. I made a shortcut of the eqgame.exe file changed to Safe ARM emulation, SP2, and added "patch me" to the target.

This attempt give me the following error:
The instruction at 0x000000001000F0CE referenced memory at 0x00000000FFFFFFC. The memory could not be read.


I had this same issue. It kept failing and I kept setting the everquest.exe file settings. finally I set the emulation pieces on eqgame.exe and it was fixed.

[Calrizien]

P1999 has been working lately on Crossover for me on my M1 Mac. Use CXPatcher. I have no idea why this works lol.

[sogundordor]

P1999 has been working lately on Crossover for me on my M1 Mac. Use CXPatcher. I have no idea why this works lol.

Interesting!! Can you tell us more about it?
Is it work without the "CXPatcher"? i'm new to crossover:D

[Calrizien]

oh and I also install wineq2 in the crossover bottle and run eq with that

[Bamspeedy]

I'm on parallels right now, but i can't get past this error:

EverQuest cannot load the zone file "load_obj.s3d" in the directory that you are currently running EverQuest from. The file is present but it may be corrupt. \n\nPlease either reinstall or delete and re-patch this file.

I've set it to windows xp sp2 compatibility, and set the emulation mode to safe emulation

In case anyone is looking for a solution to this error, this is what you need to do: Put the EverQuest (I am using EQLite) file folder inside of Program Files (x86) on the C: Drive within parallels. Running the .exe from anywhere other than the C Drive will cause this error.

I wasn't able to create a Dekstop shortcut to eqgame.exe because I couldn't figure out how to set the correct path location. Instead I used the Run app within windows and added a command line argument. Just right click on eqgame located at "C:\Program Files (x86)\eqgame.exe" and copy the path. Paste that into the Run command line with quotes, and then add patchme at the end.

That should fix the issue. It took me days to get P1999 running on my M1 I but was finally successful using Parallels with compatibility set to SP2 + Safe mode emulation.

[SwordNboard]

Anyone been brave enough to try running P99 via MacOS Sonoma Beta and the Game Porting Toolkit? I've been mulling it over for a few days now..

[Xadion]

Anyone been brave enough to try running P99 via MacOS Sonoma Beta and the Game Porting Toolkit? I've been mulling it over for a few days now..

Wondering this myself... may get me back into the grind!

I should be getting my m2 mac soon to replace this intel one I am on

[sajbert]

Getting microstutters every few seconds running parallels. Hmm..

[Crunk]

Hi everybody, I'm coming back after years away and wanted to share my experience getting P99 to work with CrossOver on Ventura 13.4.1 with Apple Silicon (specifically the M1 chip). Thanks to Calrizien who suggested that it could be done and inspired me to try to figure it out.

To start, you need to download the following files:
- CrossOver: https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover/download
- CXPatcher: https://github.com/italomandara/CXPatcher (if you don't want to build from source you can download the .app file from the Releases page)
- Apple's new Game Porting Toolkit (GPTK): https://developer.apple.com/download/all/?q=game%20porting%20toolkit (I used the updated 1.0.2 version; you'll need to enable your Apple account to be a developer account which you can do here: https://developer.apple.com/programs/enroll/)

Patching CrossOver steps:
- Mount the .dmg file for the GPTK
- Open CXPatcher app
- Toggle "Integrate External Resources" setting to the on state
- Click "Locate external resources", navigate to the mounted GPTK .dmg directory, and click "Open"
- Drag your CrossOver.app file onto the CXPatcher and it will patch it

Now you're ready to use CrossOver!

CrossOver EverQuest bottle installation steps:
- Open CrossOver, click "Install", and type "EverQuest" in the search bar.
- Click the "EverQuest" result
- Where it says "You will need to provide the installer file..." click the "Edit" button to the right of this message and select the "setup.exe" file from your Titanium install location. Note: if you've never done this or you forgot (like me) then follow the install guidelines for P99 on the wiki. An optimization I found useful was to copy all the files from the various Titanium CD ISOs into one location on my drive so I don't need to select multiple ISO files throughout the installation, but you can do this however you want.
- At the end of the installation process it will ask you to locate the installer location again, and you just need to navigate to the location where the "setup.exe" file was.
- CrossOver will complain that it thinks the app didn't install correctly, and you can just press "skip" or "ignore" or whatever this option was listed as.
- CrossOver will also install some other stuff like fonts that are standard for it's curated install of EQ
- Once it finishes you will see your new EverQuest bottle, and it should have 2 launchers that are titled "EverQuest". DO NOT CLICK THESE as they will go through the normal patcher process that will ruin your P99 installation.
- In your EverQuest bottle click "Run Command" on the right side. In the "Command" field, navigate to your "eqgame.exe" file and select it. Now put a space after the quoted path and then the word "patchme" (like this: "/Users/<your_mac_user_name>/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/EverQuest/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Sony/EverQuest/eqgame.exe" patchme). Click "Create log file" (just in case you need to see the logs) then "Save Command as Launcher" and "Run". At this point it will fail due to your eqclient.ini file not having the "WindowedMode=TRUE" key set, so we'll just cancel out of this "Run Command" window and do the P99 setup in the next section.
- Note you now have a new icon in your bottle titled "eqgame" that has the EQ icon. This is the launcher we will be using to launch the game.

Steps for making it work for P99:
- Click "Open C: Drive" on the right and navigate to "Program Files (x86) -> Sony -> EverQuest"
- If you have a working P99 installation with the latest patch (v57 as of this post) you can simply copy the files in the working EverQuest folder from that installation to the CrossOver bottle EverQuest folder
- If you are installing new then you should go through the normal steps on the wiki for installation (download the patch files, copy them in [don't overwrite folders at the destination with the source folders but rather open source folders and copy all files in folder to corresponding destination folders], delete the 5 game files [arena.eqg, etc], ensure your eqclient.ini file has "WindowedMode=TRUE" set, etc.)
- Ensure sure your eqclient.ini file has the following things set to FALSE:
- VertexShaders=FALSE
- 20PixelShaders=FALSE
- 14PixelShaders=FALSE
- 1xPixelShaders=FALSE
- UseLitBatches=FALSE
- UseD3DTextureCompression=FALSE
- MipMapping=FALSE
- ShowDynamicLights=FALSE
- MultiPassLighting=FALSE
- Go back to CrossOver and launch the program from the "eqgame" launcher et voilà! The game should be working now. If it doesn't then there might be some eqclient.ini optimizations I left out, and those can likely be found in the various Wine/Linux/macOS threads on the forum.

Some notes:
- CrossOver runs the game better than Parallels as far as I can tell from running around EC tunnel, which is great since Parallels is a yearly subscription model and CrossOver is just a one-time purchase (IIRC).
- When Sonoma comes out and the GPTK is natively supported in the OS you probably won't need CrossOver if you are willing to get dirty with Wine (although I could be wrong).
- I'm pretty sure you don't actually need to use the official EverQuest bottle that CrossOver maintains (the first couple of steps in the bottle installation steps aforementioned), but I did it anyway just because I knew it would install some things I've had issues with using Wine in the past (like corefonts and stuff).
- If anyone knows of a way to remove the window decorations for windows in macOS then please let me know so I can mimic windowed fullscreen.

[sajbert]

Getting microstutters every few seconds running parallels. Hmm..
Seemed to be a fullscreen issue. Running it in windowed fullscreen using the borderless gaming app it works well.

[slard271]

Hi everybody, I'm coming back after years away and wanted to share my experience getting P99 to work with CrossOver on Ventura 13.4.1 with Apple Silicon (specifically the M1 chip). Thanks to Calrizien who suggested that it could be done and inspired me to try to figure it out.

To start, you need to download the following files:
- CrossOver: https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover/download
- CXPatcher: https://github.com/italomandara/CXPatcher (if you don't want to build from source you can download the .app file from the Releases page)
- Apple's new Game Porting Toolkit (GPTK): https://developer.apple.com/download/all/?q=game%20porting%20toolkit (I used the updated 1.0.2 version; you'll need to enable your Apple account to be a developer account which you can do here: https://developer.apple.com/programs/enroll/)

Patching CrossOver steps:
- Mount the .dmg file for the GPTK
- Open CXPatcher app
- Toggle "Integrate External Resources" setting to the on state
- Click "Locate external resources", navigate to the mounted GPTK .dmg directory, and click "Open"
- Drag your CrossOver.app file onto the CXPatcher and it will patch it

Now you're ready to use CrossOver!

CrossOver EverQuest bottle installation steps:
- Open CrossOver, click "Install", and type "EverQuest" in the search bar.
- Click the "EverQuest" result
- Where it says "You will need to provide the installer file..." click the "Edit" button to the right of this message and select the "setup.exe" file from your Titanium install location. Note: if you've never done this or you forgot (like me) then follow the install guidelines for P99 on the wiki. An optimization I found useful was to copy all the files from the various Titanium CD ISOs into one location on my drive so I don't need to select multiple ISO files throughout the installation, but you can do this however you want.
- At the end of the installation process it will ask you to locate the installer location again, and you just need to navigate to the location where the "setup.exe" file was.
- CrossOver will complain that it thinks the app didn't install correctly, and you can just press "skip" or "ignore" or whatever this option was listed as.
- CrossOver will also install some other stuff like fonts that are standard for it's curated install of EQ
- Once it finishes you will see your new EverQuest bottle, and it should have 2 launchers that are titled "EverQuest". DO NOT CLICK THESE as they will go through the normal patcher process that will ruin your P99 installation.
- In your EverQuest bottle click "Run Command" on the right side. In the "Command" field, navigate to your "eqgame.exe" file and select it. Now put a space after the quoted path and then the word "patchme" (like this: "/Users/<your_mac_user_name>/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/EverQuest/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Sony/EverQuest/eqgame.exe" patchme). Click "Create log file" (just in case you need to see the logs) then "Save Command as Launcher" and "Run". At this point it will fail due to your eqclient.ini file not having the "WindowedMode=TRUE" key set, so we'll just cancel out of this "Run Command" window and do the P99 setup in the next section.
- Note you now have a new icon in your bottle titled "eqgame" that has the EQ icon. This is the launcher we will be using to launch the game.

Steps for making it work for P99:
- Click "Open C: Drive" on the right and navigate to "Program Files (x86) -> Sony -> EverQuest"
- If you have a working P99 installation with the latest patch (v57 as of this post) you can simply copy the files in the working EverQuest folder from that installation to the CrossOver bottle EverQuest folder
- If you are installing new then you should go through the normal steps on the wiki for installation (download the patch files, copy them in [don't overwrite folders at the destination with the source folders but rather open source folders and copy all files in folder to corresponding destination folders], delete the 5 game files [arena.eqg, etc], ensure your eqclient.ini file has "WindowedMode=TRUE" set, etc.)
- Ensure sure your eqclient.ini file has the following things set to FALSE:
- VertexShaders=FALSE
- 20PixelShaders=FALSE
- 14PixelShaders=FALSE
- 1xPixelShaders=FALSE
- UseLitBatches=FALSE
- UseD3DTextureCompression=FALSE
- MipMapping=FALSE
- ShowDynamicLights=FALSE
- MultiPassLighting=FALSE
- Go back to CrossOver and launch the program from the "eqgame" launcher et voilà! The game should be working now. If it doesn't then there might be some eqclient.ini optimizations I left out, and those can likely be found in the various Wine/Linux/macOS threads on the forum.

Some notes:
- CrossOver runs the game better than Parallels as far as I can tell from running around EC tunnel, which is great since Parallels is a yearly subscription model and CrossOver is just a one-time purchase (IIRC).
- When Sonoma comes out and the GPTK is natively supported in the OS you probably won't need CrossOver if you are willing to get dirty with Wine (although I could be wrong).
- I'm pretty sure you don't actually need to use the official EverQuest bottle that CrossOver maintains (the first couple of steps in the bottle installation steps aforementioned), but I did it anyway just because I knew it would install some things I've had issues with using Wine in the past (like corefonts and stuff).
- If anyone knows of a way to remove the window decorations for windows in macOS then please let me know so I can mimic windowed fullscreen.
@Crunk

Your process worked great with a new installation on a Mac mini M1. Couple quick notes on things I did slightly differently:
- In order to install GPTK you have to be running Sonoma (I couldn't change the slider to "Integrate external sources" on the CXPatcher and finally (accidentally) hovered the mouse over it where it told me you have to be running Sonoma.). So I just installed the Sonoma beta.
- I installed the EQ bottle as instructed but when I fired it up I was having texture issues (there was no ground). This is probably because I incorrectly copied over files. To remedy this, I had a copy of my entire old windows installation, so I opened the drive_c of the bottle, deleted the "program files x86/sony/everquest" directory and simply copied over the previous windows installation as you mentioned. This worked fine.
- Apparently the UI files are also kept in that same directory versus on a windows install where they would be under appdata.
- I didn't have to modify values in the eqclient.ini file. Specifically the values you set to false are all set to true... so YMMV.
- Related to the above point, frame rate is fine except in a couple zones. e.g. Wakening Lands was pretty abysmal out in the forest but improved when I went into the goo caves. (Granted two things: 1) this is just a Mac mini so it's not uber powerful 2) I don't know if the values you changed to false in the eqclient.ini might impact performance, so I might experiment with that.)
- I just wanted to echo what you said also about the bottle installation within crossover installing a couple extra things. It definitely did and that probably saves a lot of headaches with weird crashes or errors so if you do have an old installation that might be the way to go: use the bottle installation process then just delete everything and copy over and old installation.
- "Crossover will complain that it thinks the app didn't install correctly..." This definitely also happened for me so knowing to just ignore it was pretty darn useful.

Thanks for the writeup!

[Crunk]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm surprised that it forced you to run the Sonoma beta since I did it from Ventura, and I have no insight as to what would be different other than maybe we used different CXPatcher versions? Also, thanks for the info on the eqclient variables. I wasn't really sure if all that needed to be disabled but I had had it disabled in my previous install on the advice of some other threads related to wine-based installations. I'll try to enable them one by one later to see how they affect the graphics, and it's good to know that a working setup is less finicky than I thought.

[Xadion]

Nice! glad this is working some and only will get better.

Now to...erhum... remember where, I, um...put my Ti CD's ;-)

[Crunk]

Just a comment on my previous post: I claim that the CrossOver method runs better than Parallels, but I've found that after tweaking some settings in both versions that this is not the case. Parallels is more stable and ends up having better graphical performance overall. Too bad since it's a stupid subscription license instead of a one timer.

[Crunk]

So VMWare released a tech preview of their new version of Fusion that has 3D acceleration, and I wanted to try it out to see if EQ would run like it does in Parallels (since VMWare Fusion is free for personal use). It does! Go through all the steps like you would on Parallels and you're good. Just one note is that I found a weird time drift bug that affects GINA if you don't correct it. Basically what appears to be happening is that the time isn't being synced to the internet time server that Windows uses despite the toggle for syncing defaulting to "On". What I did to fix this is to toggle on the automatic time zone selection and then click "Sync Now" in the Date and Time settings. This fixed it. Hope this helps some future Mac players and saves them the $80 Parallels costs.

[apathe]

Anyone familiar with the mouse look issue, where trying to mouse look causes the game to (seemingly randomly) snap around your perspective? I assume it's something to do with the computer tracking your pointer and the client's tracking contradicting one another, but am not sure.

Hoping that there is a fix, because it can be pretty disorientating.

[Crunk]

Anyone familiar with the mouse look issue, where trying to mouse look causes the game to (seemingly randomly) snap around your perspective? I assume it's something to do with the computer tracking your pointer and the client's tracking contradicting one another, but am not sure.

Hoping that there is a fix, because it can be pretty disorientating.

There are settings in both VMWare Fusion and Parallels that will fix this. I can't remember what they called, but in Parallel's it's related to the gaming optimization settings.

[freezzo]

Anyone familiar with the mouse look issue, where trying to mouse look causes the game to (seemingly randomly) snap around your perspective? I assume it's something to do with the computer tracking your pointer and the client's tracking contradicting one another, but am not sure.

Hoping that there is a fix, because it can be pretty disorientating.

I always set Boot Order -> Boot Flags to have "devices.usb.enable_mouse=0" set and then mouse set to auto detect for games and seems to be the best I could get it in parallels.

[apathe]

There are settings in both VMWare Fusion and Parallels that will fix this. I can't remember what they called, but in Parallel's it's related to the gaming optimization settings.
You are the man. Easy fix, appreciate it.

[apathe]

I always set Boot Order -> Boot Flags to have "devices.usb.enable_mouse=0" set and then mouse set to auto detect for games and seems to be the best I could get it in parallels.

Did you try what Crunk suggested or were there other mouse issues you were experiencing?

[Ukeka]

enrolling costs like 70$? are you for real? or did you do something wrong.

[Crunk]

enrolling costs like 70$? are you for real? or did you do something wrong.

For Parallels? Didn't do anything wrong. It's a recurring annual subscription that, given its competitors' pricing is extremely expensive for not much extra benefit. This is why I've tried to get it working on VMWare which is free. :)

[drakkan]

So I have a brand new macbook pro M2 Max and on crossover using WinEQ2, I get no more than 20 frames in any zone, and when raiding, I get 3 FPS. Does anyone run crossover with a higher frame rate? Is it wineq doing something?

I haven't tried it yet without wineq2 and being that it's a program running within the everquest bottle, I'm sure it could make something worse but not sure. Any help?

[drakkan]

Those that are using parallels, how much ram and cpu cores are you devoting to run p99 on the virtual machine?

[Cytherion]

@Crunk

Your process worked great with a new installation on a Mac mini M1. Couple quick notes on things I did slightly differently:
- In order to install GPTK you have to be running Sonoma (I couldn't change the slider to "Integrate external sources" on the CXPatcher and finally (accidentally) hovered the mouse over it where it told me you have to be running Sonoma.). So I just installed the Sonoma beta.
- I installed the EQ bottle as instructed but when I fired it up I was having texture issues (there was no ground). This is probably because I incorrectly copied over files. To remedy this, I had a copy of my entire old windows installation, so I opened the drive_c of the bottle, deleted the "program files x86/sony/everquest" directory and simply copied over the previous windows installation as you mentioned. This worked fine.
- Apparently the UI files are also kept in that same directory versus on a windows install where they would be under appdata.
- I didn't have to modify values in the eqclient.ini file. Specifically the values you set to false are all set to true... so YMMV.
- Related to the above point, frame rate is fine except in a couple zones. e.g. Wakening Lands was pretty abysmal out in the forest but improved when I went into the goo caves. (Granted two things: 1) this is just a Mac mini so it's not uber powerful 2) I don't know if the values you changed to false in the eqclient.ini might impact performance, so I might experiment with that.)
- I just wanted to echo what you said also about the bottle installation within crossover installing a couple extra things. It definitely did and that probably saves a lot of headaches with weird crashes or errors so if you do have an old installation that might be the way to go: use the bottle installation process then just delete everything and copy over and old installation.
- "Crossover will complain that it thinks the app didn't install correctly..." This definitely also happened for me so knowing to just ignore it was pretty darn useful.

Thanks for the writeup!

I followed this but get error "No 3D Device Found"

[nordbear]

Hey! Been running on parallels v17 on my M1 mac for a couple of months without any issues. However, recently I started getting lag whenever I move my mouse. It happens in every app, not just p99. Anyone else had this issue? Trying to get help from parallels support but they are not very helpful..

[sogundordor]

Hey! Been running on parallels v17 on my M1 mac for a couple of months without any issues. However, recently I started getting lag whenever I move my mouse. It happens in every app, not just p99. Anyone else had this issue? Trying to get help from parallels support but they are not very helpful..

Memory pressure too high? I'm use imac m1 with 8gb ram, which share 4gb ram to parallels, it always turn to yellow sometimes red if i watch youtube when waiting, it will start to drop fps on parallels side

Yesterday i start to share 2gb ram to parallels to save more ram on mac side, it seems works with no problem, just killed vindi with 35+ ppl no fps drop, both mac and parallels run smooth, will try it again when 100+ ppl raid comes:D

[calderone26]

Been trying to set up on my MacBook.. seems the initial how to is out of date and doesn’t work. I’ve seen a lot of this or that workaround, but couldn’t find anything recent.
I might just be missing it though. Hard to piece together what parts of replies i need to use and whatnot.

Anyone have some instructions to play on a Mac? Seems my option is to download and pay for parallels (or sim) for $100+ then buy a windows license for $100+.. what are my options?

[sogundordor]

Good news~
i just update parallels from 17 to 19 on my M1 iMac(8gb ram), no more red tint no more dgvoodoo :D
parallels 19 on m2 macbook air (16gb ram, 10 core gpu), runs smooth below 60°C, also smooth with low power mode on
* not test in raid yet, 30ppl killing vindi has no problem~

[Calrizien]

Good news~
i just update parallels from 17 to 19 on my M1 iMac(8gb ram), no more red tint no more dgvoodoo :D
parallels 19 on m2 macbook air (16gb ram, 10 core gpu), runs smooth below 60°C, also smooth with low power mode on
* not test in raid yet, 30ppl killing vindi has no problem~
Can you post your dgvoodoo settings?

[sogundordor]

Can you post your dgvoodoo settings?

Before i update to parallels 19, my dgvoodoo setting is like this:
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=E103FF814DF802DF%2123108&authkey=%21APxws1588qRTLXc&width=837&height=994

https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=E103FF814DF802DF%2123110&authkey=%21AIKHIQyC8u5QNmU&width=818&height=978

https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=E103FF814DF802DF%2123109&authkey=%21AKh6kv1AC6-heuw&width=816&height=968

As i remember, in the DirectX tap i uncheck "dgvoodoo watermark", other than that i just use ramdom setting can't see the difference..

[Dundrige]

Has anyone been able to successfully play P99 with good performance on an Apple Silicone Mac using the Mac Gaming Porting Toolkit?

Otherwise, what’s the best way to play P99 on an Apple Silicon Mac without Parallels?

[dabbill]

Has anyone been able to successfully play P99 with good performance on an Apple Silicone Mac using the Mac Gaming Porting Toolkit?

Otherwise, what’s the best way to play P99 on an Apple Silicon Mac without Parallels?

I have gotten it so I can solo with Heroic Launcher, but it feels like it's running at about 20fps when in even a single group. Looking at CPU / GPU usage its sub 10%. Not sure how to get it to run faster. I cannot seem to get load times down either. Seems like it takes forever to load even to character select, and in to the game.

[Dundrige]

I wonder if anyone has figured this out as Parallels isn’t an option for me.

Playing p99 on apple silicon without parallels and get decent performance.

[dabbill]

I have not been playing p99 lately. I did get it to work decently. VMWare Fusion is free for personal use. Use that and install Windows ARM. When you create a VM for the first time in VMWare Fusion it asks if you want to download and install Windows ARM. Once the VM is up and running. Install the VMWare guest tools and reboot. Then copy p99 folder over to the VM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za2CyrxKYFs

[Baldtree00]

Im on a newer mac and what to get this going. Any suggestions? I am reading older threads and not sure if they are still viable?

[Baldtree00]

Where you able to get this figured out. Im on a mac and I can not for the life of me get this going.

[Alias]

I have played on mojave using the old wine setup for years, 2015 mbp. Maybe viable not sure if the new hardware will run mojave well.

[dabbill]

I ended up using VMWare fusion with Windows ARM VM. EQ runs prefect.
Check out that YouTube video if you need help. VMWare made Fusion free for personal use, and when you create your first VM it asks you if you want to download and use Windows. I just followed through with installing windows. Made a local user account, not a Microsoft account. Then copied EQEmu folder to the VM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9TUIVDUjto

[Dundrige]

Hi everyone. I am running Project 1999 on my new m4 iMac in Parallels 20 and everything works great in fullscreen mode, but the game is just a little dark and I can't adjust the gamma. Any fix?

[Jayoda]

Any still use this now days ? ;)

I've tried how ever every time I start wineskin it just says busy and does not progress .. any ideas?

Trying on old school MacOS Monterey MacBook Air 13 inc 2017. 8gig ram, intel HD Graphics 6000 1536MB

[darkvane]

Adding a "full" install comment to this thread. Crossover running on Apple M3 Pro Sonoma.

Sure. Open (double click) all the ISO files for titanium (there should be five). They should show up as new disks. Once you have crossover installed, go install a new application. Choose Everquest.. Unless you have anything else setup with a bottle (the container that windows stuff and your app go into) it will automatically create a new bottle called Everquest. Change the installer location (top button on the right). When that dialog opens, go to disk 1 and select the installer (install.exe). It will start installing and ask you some questions. Just take the defaults. It will then ask you to select Disk 2, then Disk 3,4,5 and finally back to disk 1. At the end, it may say something about having an issue, tell it to "skip that step". Now you should have two Everquest things in home. Select the bottle it created (on the left, probably called Everquest). Once selected, on the right, click "Run Command". Click Browse, navigate to "Program Files (x86)Sony/Everquest" and select the batch file "Launch Titanium.bat". At the bottom, click "Save command as launcher" and just wait... It takes a few seconds. You should see it pop up in the Crossover screen in the background. The icon will also show up in your Mac Launchpad. Close all the disk files (no more reason for them to be open).

Before you run it, you need to go download the updates for P99 from the main wiki. DO NOT just drop the folders and files into the Everquest folder (if you get files missing when you run it, you probably did this. Start over. You need to copy the files into the right folders manually. So get al the files from the main folder, copy them, and paste into the main folder (you should replace files when it asks, and this is the same for all files). Go into the next folder, copy the files, and paste them into the proper folder in the deployment. Keep doing this until you have copied over all of them. You can find the folder by "open C: drive" when selecting the Bottle in Crossover.

You can start EQ by clicking that icon either in Crossover, or from your Mac launchpad. If you get an error about not being able to attach, just close everything, and go back to Launchpad and click the Launch Titanium icon again. Sometimes it takes a few times.

[lillyjsm]

I've had success on Apple Silicon machines (M3 in my case) using Kegworks (https://github.com/Kegworks-App/Kegworks), which is basically a successor to Wineskin. It seems like there have been some folks doing a lot of development on the wine engine for silicon machines, as well as some work pertaining to the DirectX situation.

This is more or less the steps I did to set it up:

Install Kegworks via Homebrew (or MacPorts)
Open Kegworks Winery, install engine WS12WineCX24.0.7
Click "Update Wrapper" at the bottom to ensure Wineskin-3.1.5 is up to date
Click "Create New Blank Wrapper"
Name the wrapper p99 (or whatever you want)
Once the wrapper is finished, search for the name under Launchpad
In the KegworksConfig window for the wrapper, click "Install Software" on the bottom left
In my case, I had a p99 directory from a previous linux install so I just chose "Copy a Folder Inside" and selected my p99 folder
After the chosen install method is complete, ensure that it uses the "eqgame.exe" executable. Add patchme in the existing double quotes.
Under the "Configuration" tab, ensure "DirectX to Metal translation layer - (DXMT)" is checked
Close the configuration window, navigate back to Launchpad and attempt to run it


I don't have sound yet, but everything else seems to work great. YMMV of course.

[darkvane]

Great find and instructions! I'm getting sound on mine (no changes from your setup). I copied a folder from my crossover setup. M3 Pro.