Anyone have any experience with emulator/simulator programs? I'm running OSX and need to open up a .exe game file. I'm aware of a few commercial programs out there, but they seem to require owning a MS operating system disk as well. I really want to avoid any unnecessary purchases, especially since it's only one file that I need to access. I found something called Darwine, which states that it can turn Windows code into Unix, but then the accompanying readme.txt file states that it actually can't do this. I'm posting this in the sound and audio area because this, at least on my end is audio related. Should I invest in a PC as well? Are game developers mostly working on a Windows Platform? Thanks in advance

Quote: I found something called Darwine, which states that it can turn Windows code into Unix, but then the accompanying readme.txt file states that it actually can't do this.

Darwine is based on Wine, which lets you run windows code on Unix/Linux... Darwine obviously lets you run it on OS X. This isn't a conversion tool though - the .exe stays unchanged, it just (hopefully) runs for you. Darwine behaves like an emulator essentially. However, nothing but a genuine copy of Windows is guaranteed to run it completely correctly.

Don't know what options you have other than that.

And yeah, most game developers use Windows... If your Mac is an Intel mac (as opposed to say a G5) you can likely install Windows directly on your Mac and don't need to buy a second machine.

Thank you for the incredibly fast reply!

Ok, so maybe I'm confused about darwine. I was skeptical about even trying it, because of the warning notes. You say it does act as an emulator, so does that mean I should be able to run this program through OSX without Windows? Sorry if this is redundant, but obviously, it's confusing and frustrating.

No, my machine is a few years old, G4 PPC. I'd love to by a second machine, but would prefer it to be a new mac.

Thanks again!

Darwine hasn't even had a 1.0 release. If the developers don't feel it's ready for prime time, you probably shouldn't bother with it.

It could. There are a few possible roadblocks:

1. WINE is not actually an emulator, they're actually reverse engineering Windows functionality. What this means for you is certain things might not work right (or at all).

2. Add to that the fact that Darwine is a port of Wine so even fewer things may work with it...

That said, it's your best (only?) bet without a copy of Windows. And it doesn't hurt to try.

Quote: Original post by Sneftel
Darwine hasn't even had a 1.0 release. If the developers don't feel it's ready for prime time, you probably shouldn't bother with it.

Wine itself didn't hit 1.0 until last year, and they're 16 years old. Many programs worked perfectly (especially smaller ones) on Wine before the 1.0 release (this includes AAA video games), and once again, it doesn't hurt to try.

Quote: Original post by Sneftel
Darwine hasn't even had a 1.0 release. If the developers don't feel it's ready for prime time, you probably shouldn't bother with it.

You must not use google :P
As said before WINE didnt hit 1.0 till '08 yet ran a LOT of things great. Dont have OSX so cant comment on darwine.

As said before, too, WINE is not a emulator (get it?), it is a rewrite of the windows API. A lot of the common api has been made meaning simple programs, or just ones that stick to the core API should would fine. They also have a lot of the dx things down.

Well, I'm about to try, except I have to figure out which app to use, as the folder came 10 different files!!!

And i hope you're right, that it doesn't hurt to try.

I really don't know what I'm doing.

Any suggestions?!

OK, so I'm with you cherryyosh, it's not an emulator.

this is for developers, coders, etc...

Will have to try something else.

[insert expletives here]

Just looking at the FAQ, it says:

Quote:
Is the Darwin/Mac OS X release of Wine currently able to run Windows executable (.exe)?

No. We are currently working on integrating an x86 emulator in wine in order to run Win32 exe on a PowerPC Box. But on Darwin-x86 a Win32 .exe should run within wine with a limited effort.

So it currently only works if you've got an Intel Mac anyway. I'm pretty sure there is no other option available to you other than a virtual machine -- meaning you need a copy of Windows.

Technically, you could use a virtual machine to install a copy of Linux, and then use that virtual machine to run the program in Wine. It wouldn't require a Windows license, but it's rather convoluted... Also, I'm not sure what the legalities of using Wine without a Windows license is?