Black Mesa on Mac?

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#1

I’m sure that I’ll either get smashed for bringing this up, or just told NO (by members or devs);

Since it has been officially confirmed that both Steam and Source games will be playable on Mac OSX by April: https://kotaku.com/5488375/left-4-dead-2-team-fortress-2-portal-and-steam-coming-to-mac-in-april

Does anyone have any idea whether Black Mesa: Source will be compatible? I currently play Steam games (HL series, TF2, L4D, L4D2) on a bootcamped Windows XP, but with this switch coming, I’ll likely clear off my bootcamp and just play native on Mac.

To clarify, I only have a MacBook Pro here at college, and PC’s back home. So I can play the mod one way or another. I’m just curious if anyone knows/thinks the mod will work no matter what.

Please keep this thing civil, I don’t want any responses about how “Macs suck”, etc. because that’s irrelevant anyway. I’m posing a general inquiry to the devs, or anyone with any insight.

#2

BM can only support Windows for now.

The Source Engine for modders in all its variants only supports Directx which is a Windows only feature. Modders wont get Mac support, if at all, until valve release a new sdk. Valve’s history on updating the sdk for its current game is usually months after release. If we stick to our current schedule then we should release before Mac support comes to modders.

short answer: highly unlikely.

edit: When support Macs rolls out and BM is released, I doubt many of the team will stick around to port BM to the new SDK. It was a big project to move from Episode 1 sdk to Episode 2 sdk.

#3

Please do a search next time before posting. This has been discussed before. At the time being there is not Mac support, but this may change if all Source mods become available on Mac.

Edit: :ninja:

#4

No. Try looking at the ‘Got a Question’ (Believe it or not you’re supposed to ask questions there) thread where this same question was asked just moments ago and answered by a dev.

#5

Dillxn, you’re out of date.

But James’s point still stands, an updated version of the SDK allowing a Mac/OpenGL build of BM is probably still a ways off.

#6

No, I meant not supported for the mod.

#7

Would the team allow an external team to “port” it over to the Mac SDK post release, when the BM team has left the project to be?

Also, not sure if this applies to mod developers, but: “Support for the Mac in Source and Steamworks is available to third parties immediately. Interested developers should contact Jason Holtman at jasonh@valvesoftware.com.”

#8

Sorry, I should have checked the ‘Got a Question’ thread before I posted this up. But regardless, it still opens up discussion beyond a simple: “Will it work?”, “No.” So I guess just use this to discuss the possibility of BM on Mac…etc.

I’m also interested in how big of a jump this would actually be, to re-work the mod for OpenGL, etc. Though I also have no clue how big a jump it was from Ep.1 to Ep.2 SDK, and it’d probably be a lot more than I expect.

EDIT: Oh, and thanks JamesKane for the answer before.
To Dillxn & DeathMonkey: You’re kind of right, I should’ve just used Got a Question. But I’m obviously not experienced posting in this forum, and felt it would be better to start a discussion on the topic, rather than layer onto the same tired old thread. Not meant as an offense of course.

#9

Well I don’t see much use in discussing it. I mean if it happens then it happens, otherwise there’s no use dwelling on the fact that it hasn’t.

#10

Eh, fair enough. Moderator can feel free to lock it up, or just leave it sit in case someone has something else to bring to the table.

#11

Supposedly Source games on Macs will be available in April; I wonder how long it will take valve to update sdk.

#12

Maybe I interpreted that same message differently; naturally, if Source games come to Mac in April, then somebody would have to have the SDK in April, correct?

Not that I’m experienced at all in the SDK tools, but it would appear that the only platform-dependent things are the client/server/engine binaries distributed when “Make a Mod” is selected. The content itself would work anywhere that the engine does, all that would need to be done is a compile against (not using) the new SDK. Sorry if I’m talking out my ass; my only programming experience is with my 5-month-old Mac and it’s not good experience at that.

#13

The binaries we have are set to compile on Win32, as it uses Win32 datatypes (different standards on Mac) and Visual Studio proprietary code.

We would also need new .libs that are compile for macs (think of it as precompile code that is added into our code during compiling).

The SDK alone would take ages to ensure it is Mac compatible without valves help by providing an sdk update.

…then the process of porting our code to ensure it works on a Mac is another nightmare.

#14

Thanks for the thoughtful answer, JamesKane. I appreciate it, Mac or no Mac.

#15

Ah well, we can hope Black Mesa 2 will be on mac aswell

:stuck_out_tongue:

#16

In before OMG BM COMING OUT IN A FEW MONTHS

#17

You mean “City 17: Source2”?

#18

You are safer here…with DMR

#19

Why would you do that? I’m not sure most games work on mac computers. But if you insist, I’m sure there’s there’s some way to run windows on mac. It’s like having two computers in one.

#20

From reading Valve’s official news release on this whole thing, they make it sound like taking things over to Mac from PC is relatively simple, since they’ve, I guess, just made Source compatible with the system.

But once again, I have no clue about any of this, and it’s probably never going to happen, even if they popped out the SDK in April with everything else.

Also,

Umm…what? :expressionless:

Who are you responding too? Did…did you even read the thread, or just the title?

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.