Installing Apple’s game porting toolkit on macOS can be a little tricky.There is now a third-party installer that makes this process much easier.
At WWDC ’23, Apple introduced the Apple Game Porting Toolkit (AGPT), a new SDK that allows game developers to port existing Windows DirectX games to the Mac via a broadcast layer.
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Our original article on how to install the Game Porting ToolKit shows you how to install AGPT using the macOS Terminal, but for many users, the process is complicated and error-prone.
Now InstallAware – traditionally the maker of Windows installation tools – has created a macOS installer for AGPT that lets you install software with just a few clicks compared to a traditional macOS installer.
Below we will explain how to use the InstallAware installer for AGPT.
Beginning
This walkthrough assumes that you already have the git source control system installed on your Mac.If not, download the installer from git-scm.com and run it to install git.
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First, you need to build all parts of the installer from the InstallAware GitHub repository: the source codes, the .dmg, and the installer contained in the .dmg.
To do this, create a local folder to store all files on your Mac’s drive, where you usually store all your downloads and sources.We will use the working name “AGPT” for the folder.
Then open the Terminal app in the Utilities folder on your Mac.Change the directory to the folder you just created with the cd command followed by a space, then drag the new AGPT folder into the terminal window to add the path.
Click “Return”.This will change your current working directory in the Terminal to the AGPT folder.
Then go to the InstallAware AGPT GitHub page and click on the “Code” button, then the small button with the clipboard icon to copy the URL to clone the repository into the new AGPT folder:
https://github.com/installaware/AGPT.git
Back in the Terminal, on a new line, type git clone, a space, then paste the GitHub repository line you copied above.
If all goes well, git will fetch the remote AGPT repository into the AGPT folder on your Mac’s drive.This will leave you with the contents of the remote InstallAware installer repository in the AGPT folder you created.
The git clone command completes.
Get an installer
Then scroll down the GitHub repository page a little to the level just above the screenshot and click the link to get the installer .dmg file from www.installaware.com/iamp/agpt.dmg.
After manually downloading, drag the .dmg file into the Finder to the AGPT folder you created.Now double click it in Finder to open the .dmg file.
If you like, you can also copy the installer to the AGPT folder to copy it to your Mac’s drive, or simply double-click it in the .dmg file to open:
InstallAware Installer.
If you get a warning that “Game Porting Toolkit Installer” is an application you downloaded from the Internet, just click “Open” to open it anyway.
Run the installer
Double-clicking on the installer will open a window with several options (some of which the installer says are optional).
At the top are options for installing the Homebrew package manager, the Wine translation layer, and tweaking Windows options.The installer says it automatically detects if these options are set, but on our Mac it didn’t uncheck the Homebrew option even though it was already installed.
If this happens and you already have Homebrew installed, uncheck this option.
In the box below, you can choose which Apple Game Porting Toolkit .dmg file the installer will use by clicking the Browse button – if you’ve already downloaded it from Apple’s site, but this step is optional.The installer knows how to find the Apple Game Porting Toolkit .dmg on the Internet.
If you don’t already have the .dmg file for the Apple Game Porting Toolkit downloaded on your Mac, click the little link above the top text box to download it:
Click the text link to download the Apple Porting Toolkit game.
This will open the More Downloads section of the Apple Developers website, but first you’ll need to sign in with your Apple ID.
After logging in, expand the Game Porting Toolkit item by clicking the View Details link, then click the .dmg download button.The Apple Game Porting Toolkit .dmg will be downloaded to your Mac:
Download the Game Porting Toolkit from the Apple website.
Once downloaded, the .dmg file should automatically mount on your Mac’s desktop, but copy it to the AGPT folder for later use.
Now switch back to the InstallAware installation application, which should still be running, and click the Browse button next to the text box.Navigate to the Apple Game Porting Toolkit .dmg file you downloaded and select it by clicking the “Open” button.
Setting up a Windows application for installation
The next step is optional, but if you also want to customize the Windows application when you install the Game Porting ToolKit, click the second Browse button below the first and select any compatible Windows installation .exe file from the disc.In this example, we will install Medal of Honor: Allied Assault:
Select a third party application to install.
Now you are finally ready to install everything.Click the Next button to start the installation.
If you’re getting the error “Failed to push Apple Homebrew!”with error code -1, you will either need to enable the Homebrew option at the top of the original installer window, or manually press the Apple Homebrew formula in the Terminal with:
brew tap apple/apple http://github.com/apple/homebrew-apple
But as we said in our original article, this can take a long time – up to an hour on an Apple Silicon machine.So you can just check the Homebrew option in the InstallAware installer and try again.
When the installer runs, it will ask you for your Mac’s administrator password, with a “Check sudo access” prompt.To continue, you will need to enter the administrator password for your Mac:
Enter the administrator password.
You won’t see any progress bars, so it’s best to just let the installer run, which can take quite some time.When you’re done, you’ll be prompted to enter Wine and other settings.Just use the defaults:
Request to change additional settings.
Finally, if you have chosen to install any third party software, the installer will run it last and you will have to go through it.If you are installing commercial software, you will need the installer’s serial number:
The game installer is running.
Once the third-party installer is done, you’re done.Click the Done or Done button and you’re done.
In our previous article, we already covered how to run third-party games using the Game Porting Toolkit, so check out the instructions in this article.
The InstallAware installer really makes it easy to install the Game Porting Toolkit with far fewer steps and far fewer commands in the Terminal – even if it seems like there are a few hiccups or quirks here and there.