This install guide for Mac has been provided, with huge thanks from the team, by b0bbyd1g1ts:
Installing BattleTech Revised on a Mac
Did you know you can play BattleTech Revised on a Mac? You’ll need Wine installed to to run the CAB Installer, then download the Mod and use mono to inject ModTek into to the BattleTech binary to load it and viola!
These steps assume you already have Steam installed and the BattleTech base game installed and patched to the latest hotfix (which Steam should do for you).
Installing Winehq packages on MacOS using homebrew
Winehq packages can be installed using homebrew:
1. First, install/update XQuartz:
brew cask install xquartz
2. To install wine the following command can be used: brew cask install wine-stable
The advantage of installing via homebrew means wine is available from a standard terminal session.
Installing the Community Asset Bundle (CAB)
1. Download the the CAB Installer (the smaller, not-pre-cached version) to a new “CAB” folder in your “Downloads” folder (~/Downloads/CAB)
2. Issue the following command to launch the Installer (where the Cab.exe is the version you downloaded):
cd ~/Downloads/CAB
wine64 CommunityAssetBundle-xyz123.exe
Note: that the path to your Mac root volume is mapped as a “Z” drive
3. Once the CAB installer launches, click on “Advanced Mode”. The default path to the “Checkout Workspace” will be
Z:\Users\<username>\Downloads\CAB\CaiCache - leave this as is.
For the “Install Target”, click “New Target”, a dialog box will appear - which if you are running MacOS Catalina you may have an issue where the folders are not navigable, if this occurs you will still be able to enter an absolute path in the “filename” field however. Enter the following and click “Open”: Z:\Users\<username>\Downloads\CAB
4. Check the “Correct Corrupt Files” option
5. Click “Update CAB” it will run for a long time the first time you run it as its processing 5+ GB of data. When done you will get the following message:
"The CAB has been updated to the latest version."
6. Close the CAB Installer but keep the Z:\Users\<username>\Downloads\CAB\CaiCache folder for the next time you run the CAB installer, which should be every time you update BattleTech Revised with a new version. This will drastically cut down on the time it takes to update CAB in the future.
Then download the latest version of the BattleTech Revised mod and unzip the contents to the Mods folder as well. You should wind up with a Mods folder that looks like this:
Almost done now, proceed to the next step
Mono Injector for ModTek
Next, we’ll install Mono so the ModTek mod loader will work
Install Mono
- Download Mono (Stable channel) https://www.mono-project.com/download/stable/
- Run installer
Next, run ModTek
1. Open a Terminal window
2. Navigate to the ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/Steam/steamapps/common/BATTLETECH/BattleTech.app/Contents/Resources/Mods/ModTek folder
cd ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/Steam/steamapps/common/BATTLETECH/BattleTech.app/Contents/Resources/Mods/ModTek
3. Run the command "mono ModTekInjector.exe"
You should get a success message.
Create Symlinks for the differences between Windows/Mac folder structure
Windows/Linux and Mac installations of BattleTech have a slightly different folder structure, you’ll need to create a symlink to “shortcut” the folder BattleTech references to where the folder actually resides in a Mac installation.
Run the following commands:
cd ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/Steam/steamapps/common/BATTLETECH/BattleTech.app/Contents/MacOSln -s /Users//Library/ApplicationSupport/Steam/steamapps/common/BATTLETECH/BattleTech.app/Contents/Resources/Data BattleTech_Data
You can check the creation of this symlink by issuing an
ls -ltr command, you’ll see that it’s created a shortcut to the “Data” folder in a different location, named “BattleTech_Data”, which is what the executable is expecting.Launch BattleTechFinally, Run BattleTech - it will take a bit to load while ModTek processes files, especially the first time. You will see a custom splash page once ModTek has finished loading all mods.
Note: Your app may crash the first time loading, no worries, launch it again and it should load just fine.
Enjoy!
Feedback is welcomed on these steps
https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/567?tab=description
15 comments
I am new to this installation, and I am working my way through the instructions.
?brew cask install xquartz
This is out of date
the new command should be:
??brew install --cask xquartz
I completed step:
wine64 CommunityAssetBundle-xyz123.exe
And the CAB launcher opens on my Mac. However, I input my directory paths as stated then execute 'Update CAB' and receive the following error:
"Could not read server data, check your internet connection and try again"
Edit:
I have checked that iexplorer.exe connects to the internet in the .wine directory does in fact connect to the internet. Perhaps the source of the problem is CAB?
due to various depreciated programs, wine forums recommend:
>brew uninstall wine-stable
>brew tap gcenx/wine
CAB is now downloading...>brew install --cask --no-quarantine gcenx-wine-stable
due to various depreciated programs, wine forums recommend:
brew uninstall wine-stable
brew tap gcenx/winebrew install --cask --no-quarantine gcenx-wine-stable
CAB is now downloading...1) After installing the base game + DLC, but before installing the CAB, you must install ModTek itself. If you don’t do this, some of the directories in the instructions will not exist when you get to that step.
ModTek’s repo on GitHub is https://github.com/BattletechModders/ModTek
Installation instructions for Mac are on the associated wiki https://github.com/BattletechModders/ModTek/wiki/The-Drop-Dead-Simple-Guide-to-Installing-BTML-&-ModTek-&-ModTek-mods
2) To prevent unnecessary security warning dialogs, you should remove the com.apple.quarantine attribute from the CAB installer by using the following command:
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Users/<username>/Downloads/CommunityAssetBundle-###-#-#-#-##########.exe
3) When you first run Wine for the CAB installer, you may be prompted to install Mono as a part of Wine. Go ahead and do this, but it does not substitute for installing Mono separately for the ModTek injection.
4) The target in step 3 of the procedure for installing the CAB is incorrect. The new target should be “Z:\Users\<username>\Library\Application Support\Steam\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech.app\Contents\Resources\Mods”. Alternatively, install the CAB to a convenient location, then move the CommunityAssets folder inside the Mods folder.
5) The screen shot of the what the mods folder should look like is missing. The structure should look like
BattleTech.app
Contents
Resources
Mods
AbilitiesArgoEventsSkills
AbstractedArmorRepair
BattletechPerformanceFix
BE Mechs
BetterHeadlights
BiggerDrops
BR_MechQuirks
<…more mods...>
CommunityAssets
<…more mods...>
ModTek
<…more mods...>
6) It does not appear to be necessary to symlink the Data folder to BattleTech_Data. The latest versions of the ModTekInjector.exe binary will find the necessary dll in either location (confirmed by reading the source code on GitHub).
Only thing you have to make shure is, that you have a shared drive where CAB installer writes the files.
Open the shared location on your Mac and move the files to the mods folder and you are done.
Wine caused a lot of crashes on my maschine and after 3 or 4 attempts of downloading and crashing i went the VM-route.
what is all that??? ok, I know what WINE is (and what it is not)) but SERIOUSLY - why not to follow instructions by HBS:
1.1 How to install a mod into BattleTech
1) Find a mod you’re interested in. You can start with some common modding communities, listed below.
https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech
https://www.reddit.com/r/BattleTechMods/
2) Once you’ve identified and downloaded a mod, place the mod contents into a named folder inside the same folder where this document is located.
a) WIN: C:\Users\user_name\MyDocuments\MyGames\BattleTech\mods
b) LIN: /home/user_name/MyGames/BattleTech/mods
c) OSX: /Users/user_name/MyGames/BattleTech/mods
3) Launch the game, then click the ‘Mods’ button at the bottom left of the main menu
4) You should now see your new mod in the list. If so, it’s installed and ready to go!
why make simple things complex, FFS?!!?
why you guys are doing that????
this is REALLY pain in the arse – ESPECIALLY when you are omn MacOS and every installer of every mod is done for Windows and EACH has some freaky special way to install it for Mac (if any at all)
i appreciate the classic old battletech feel, not so much the classic old mod installation hackery.
/Users/<username>/Library/ApplicationSupport/Steam/steamapps/common/BATTLETECH/BattleTech.app/Contents/Resources/Data,
I think I have:
/Applications/Entertainment/BATTLETECH/BattleTech.app/Contents/Resources/Data
Thank you in advance!
Putting it all together would be:
cd ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/Steam/steamapps/common/BATTLETECH/BattleTech.app/Contents/MacOS
ln -s ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/Steam/steamapps/common/BATTLETECH/BattleTech.app/Contents/Resources/Data BattleTech_Data
I'll contact the admins to get the page updated :)