Forge for macOS 1.6.53

[Agetian]

After a long delay in providing macOS-compliant application packages for Forge, I decided to try my hand at creating these packages that will simplify the procedure of installing and launching Forge on Mac computers for everyone who owns that kind of machine and would like to play our Magic engine.

As of right now, consider these packages experimental, they might be a little rough around the edges. I'm not sure about the exact minimum specifications for a Mac machine that you'd need to run them, but a friend of mine who owns a Mac reports that he's been successfully repackaging Forge in a similar way for the last three years or so and it worked, so a recent enough Mac machine should most likely be fine.

I'm providing two packages right now. Please note that because the packages come from an unregistered developer, you will need to follow the standard macOS security procedure to run them. You can read more about it here: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25088?locale=en_US

Our main package is the following one:
Desktop Forge v1.6.53:
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https://www.dropbox.com/s/w51yke1kk3l35 ... 3.zip?dl=0

This is the latest official Forge release, packaged as a Mac app. Note that this engine is not HiDPI-capable, so the card pictures (even XLHQ ones) will look rather small and pixelated, and you may experience some minor UI issues like text not fitting on buttons properly. You may need to change to a non-native resolution to make your experience with Forge better. Since changing to a non-scaled resolution on a Mac laptop is not offered in the default settings UI, you will need to use a tool such as this free app https://github.com/Eun/DisableMonitor that allows easy resolution changes, including to the non-HiDPI native resolution of the screen. But note that naturally this will make text (in Forge and in the OS in general) quite small (since a small screen will be running at a high resolution with no DPI scaling).

The alternative package, which might be better for a HiDPI-capable Mac but which might require some manual tweaking and hackery for the time being, is the following one:
Mobile Forge Backport v1.6.53:
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https://www.dropbox.com/s/i5sxf2o03gjnk ... 3.zip?dl=0

This is a backport of the GDX version of Forge that we use for the mobile (Android) version of the game. It is fully HiDPI-capable (works well on Retina displays). There is now a launcher in place which allows you to define the resolution for the game. You can also change the resolution by manually opening the application package in Finder (right click and "Show Package Contents") and editing the text file screen_resolution.ini in the "Contents/Resources/" folder. You can specify any resolution you want that is supported by your machine. The last parameter defines whether it is full-screen or not (e.g. 1280x720x0 specifies a non-fullscreen 1280x720 mode, while 2560x1600x1 specifies a fullscreen 2560x1600 mode). Note that this GDX backport has all the features of mobile Forge (including Planar Conquest) and inherits all its current limitations (such as limited support for quest draft tournaments), and has some additional caveats, you can read more about them here: viewtopic.php?f=52&t=19640#p207145 Please note that this is NOT an iOS mobile version of the game, it is meant to be launched on a machine running macOS.

Please let me know if you run into issues with these packages.
Please do NOT report general gameplay issues in this thread. Let's limit this thread to reports about technical issues running the app packages on macOS. If you have a general bug report to make while playing with the Forge Desktop v1.6.53 package, please follow the standard guidelines for bug reports and make a report in the general 1.6.53 release thread.

I would like to say thanks to my friend @nefigah who owns a Mac and who provided invaluable input and help with creating these packages and for devising a series of steps that allowed me to create Mac packages without actually owning a Mac myself.

Enjoy!

- Agetian

[nefigah]

Nicely done!

I've exclusively played Forge on my Mac (a 13" Retina Macbook Pro) since 2014, and have been manually updating my app bundles most of that time. Until this year, I ran the standard Desktop version of Forge—as Agetian noted, there are definite tradeoffs to doing this on a Retina display. Basically you can choose between having nice-looking, readable Forge UI text with crappy-looking card art, or excellent-looking card art (assuming you have high-quality card pics) but small UI text. I prefer nice-looking cards, so I manually changed my screen resolution (to 2560x1800 in my case) using an app like the one linked above when playing Forge (and then switched back to normal when done playing).

Nowadays I usually play the Mobile version, both because you get nice text and card art on a Retina display without having to mess with your screen resolution, and because of Planar Conquest (which is a game mode only available on Mobile for some reason). I'd recommend most people with Retina-display Macs use the Mobile version, though it has its own quirks. (For example, the battlefield is rigidly set to two rows of cards and you'll have to often scroll it horizontally, and some functionality isn't available like some of the keyboard shortcuts or the macro recording system, but I imagine many people don't use that stuff anyway.)

If you've never played the Mobile version with a mouse before, note that you can zoom in on any card at any time by left-clicking-and-holding. If you need to "swipe" (such as to view card details), this is done by clicking-and-dragging in the indicated direction. Vertical scrolling with a trackpad/mousewheel is nice and smooth, but unfortunately horizontal scrolling isn't supported in the same way, so you have to do the somewhat awkward "swipe" click-and-drag to scroll horizontally, unless we find a way to implement something better.

Anyway, I'm pretty familiar with both versions of Forge and OS X, so if you have any questions you can ask them here and I'll do my best to answer.

[Bog Wraith]

This is great!

I've been manually updating the version I have had for over a year now since they stopped being available to us. I download the latest snapshot at least once or twice a day, so I've been doing this a lot. I use the "Show Package Contents" option when I right click on the Container, then swap the new files in each time I update.
I also do this because I have many cube & draft files that go into their respective folders from cubes I created and have collected over the years so I have to copy and paste those files whenever I update to the latest snapshot.

This method was working for me flawlessly for over a year, but just last week, for some reason, it stopped working as the program crashed every time during startup. I had to return to using the folder version and launch the java file which is so un Mac like in its method that Windows user are used to doing. It's great to be able to use the container version again as the icon is so much more atheistic looking and functional.

I tried your version which worked perfectly and also, as you can see in the screenshot I took, updated it this morning with the latest snapshot of 1.6.5 r-35940 and it is performing perfectly as well.

Thanks for doing this & BTW, I'm using the HiDPI-capable Mac version on my 2009 Mac Pro with a 27 inch Cinema Display & will also try it on my iMac, Mac mini & Mac Book Pro in the near future.

[Agetian]

Glad to hear you found this version release useful! Thanks!

- Agetian

[Bog Wraith]

My pleasure!

If you have anything that you want to test on things in the future that you're working on that is to be run on the Mac, just post it in the Forge forum as I will be more then happy & eager to beta it anytime you release your latest version(s)!

[noratora]

Amazing, thanks so much! I'm all thumbs, in a technical sense, and haven't been able to update Forge since the last Mac installer way back in Eldritch Moon. SO MANY CARDS I'VE NEVER PLAYED WITH. I'm excited. The mobile version (which I've been using) looks wonderful.

THANKS!!!!

[Agetian]

Very glad to hear you find this useful! Thanks!

-Agetian

[frankyXII]

Thank you Agetian. I was the guy who asked you about a Mac version for my friend some days ago. He has tried this one and it's functional! Thanks!

[Agetian]

My pleasure! Glad your friend found it useful!

- Agetian

[FtGander]

Thanks so much! I've been waiting for this. the ".com" file was okay but annoying not to have it in my applications.

[Agetian]

Glad to hear! No problem!

- Agetian

[Agetian]

UPDATE (12/03/17): Forge for macOS v1.6.5 has been released. Both the desktop and the mobile backport are available (please check the first post of this thread).
This version aims to improve Java 9 compatibility, hopefully the desktop version package should no longer crash when running on macOS machines with JRE 9.

This version is released in sync with desktop Forge v1.6.5 and features the same changes and updates as that version of Forge. Many changes have been made under the hood, improving some card scripts and card Oracle text, making keyword functionality more rule-correct in certain corner cases, etc. Also, this version features a significant AI overhaul when it comes to AI card playability (700+ cards have been marked as AI playable which were previously unplayable by the AI). Enjoy!

NOTE: There is a known issue in this version related to Suspend cards and changing zones (the Suspend keyword ability gets duplicated after the card that was resolved via Suspend changes zones, e.g. is exiled). We will try to address this issue soon.

- Agetian

[Agetian]

UPDATE (01/15/18): Forge for MacOS v1.6.6 has been released. Both the desktop and the mobile backport are available (please check the first post of this thread).

This version is released in sync with desktop Forge v1.6.6 and features the same changes and updates as that version of Forge. Most notably, it includes all of the cards of the upcoming Rivals of Ixalan set, and a new quest world based on Theros.

Enjoy!

- Agetian

[Bog Wraith]

Thank you my friend, this was a much welcomed treat today as I was hoping to get it for the weekend release of RIX.

Much appreciation to all of the folks who work on Forge for the benefit of all of us, & a special thanks to you for the Mac app too!

[Agetian]

It's my pleasure! Happy to know you're continuing to enjoy my macOS builds!

- Agetian