Playing Falcon BMS on my MacBook Pro

[kghayes1]

Hey fellow geeks, nerds, flyguys and gals,

My name is Korey Hayes and I first played Falcon 4.0 YEARS AGO when I was 12 yrs. old. I’ve recently downloaded the game on my MacBook Pro after seeing YouTube videos of updates to the game.

I use a program called Winebottler (http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/) to run Window’s based games on OS X Yosemite. I have the original Falcon 4.0 installed, and while it flickers vehemently in the menu screen, I can see what I’m doing to get to the gameplay. While flying, the screen works fine.

I also, downloaded Falcon BMS. Everything looks to be working fine except that when I click “LAUNCH” in the main menu, the screen goes black and nothing else happens. I have to Ctrl-Alt-Del in Mac configuration to exit the program, and that’s that. I can’t enter the gameplay.

I suspect the problem has to do with commands dealing with the graphics card (from the forums I’ve read) but I can’t be certain. I’m not much of a computer guy, but I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering so I can work my way through. If anyone has any information as to what could be going on and how to resolve it I’d be more than grateful.

Thanks guys

[Redneck]

Turn play intro movie in the configuration menu to off.

Don’t know if works on mac ( cause i am not a geek , nerd flygal).
Give it shot its a well known showstopper.

[Ninja]

Heya

what the system specs ?

[hollywoodvillain]

Im my experience, emulators rarely if ever can run games properly. Save yourself the headache and use bootcamp or something to dual boot into windows, its by far the best solution if you want to get a game to run at peak performance

[Focaldesign]

First try indeed to check off the intro movie option.
Other then that I can say I have ran BMS on an iMac for over 2 years. I would let go of the Wine option. It’s just not good enough for that. If you really want to remain inside OSX, you should consider real VMs. I tried VirtualBox first, but that didn’t work for sh*t. Then tried VMware Fusion. That worked great for me. iMac 27" from 2011, did that for over a year without real issues. Then I switched to Bootcamp to run it native (even better).
Still use that for quick testing or F4Awacs when I’m ATC/GCI for the sqn. General flights though I switched to a dedicated BMS game pc because I need the Mac too often for work.

[Stevie]

I have BMS running very well on two Mac Minis with Win 7 installs - running BMS on a MacBook Pro should work just as well, with a couple considerations. 1) one of my Minis has discrete Radeon graphics, and the video runs far better on that one…I get eventual stuttering on the one with Intel integrated graphics. 2) I always boot into Windows when running Windows - I don’t use Parallels, Crossover, Wine, etc. or any sort of emulation. Win 7 runs very nicely on a Mac…better than on my PCs at work, really…

As another consideration - there is a Mac version of FAF on the App Store that runs very nicely under OS X…and using a utility called ControllerMate you can set up and run FAF under OS X with a HOTAS Cougar or Warthog. I run Win and Mac versions of FAF, and BMS…just because I can. And because it’s another way to get more savvy about your computer and setting things up in general. I like having multiple options.

[kghayes1]

Here is my setup:

Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5
Graphics: Intel HD graphics 3000 384MB

I tried Bootcamp but it says Mac can’t run it because it’s windows based (free version claiming it was for Mac). Anyone have a link where I can get it for free?

[Stevie]

You can certainly run Windows, but you have to buy and install a copy of Windows - the OEM/System Builder version will do. All Bootcamp (or Bootcamp Assistant, really) does is to set up/interpret an NTFS partition for installation of Windows, and supply the required drivers for operation. You can get the latest version and info on Bootcamp directly from Apple, but the bottom line is that you need to install and use Genuine Windows with it.

http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

However - the Intel integrated graphics has limited graphic memory…even when you max out system RAM. My experience with my setup is that BMS runs fine once started, then stutters as the session progresses.

[lightswitch94]

I found an actual box copy of Falcon 4.0 at a thrift shop the other day. Not sure what was in it but the box was for macintosh.

[Stevie]

@lightswitch94:

I found an actual box copy of Falcon 4.0 at a thrift shop the other day. Not sure what was in it but the box was for macintosh.

That’s the old version for OS 9, and I have that one also…it has a far better thrust model, IMO. But it won’t run under OS X. The version from the App Store is what you want for OS X.

[Focaldesign]

@Stevie:

That’s the old version for OS 9, and I have that one also…it has a far better thrust model, IMO. But it won’t run under OS X. The version from the App Store is what you want for OS X.

If you have used BMS, even the Allied Force Mac version won’t cut it for you… Difference is just too big.

[Stevie]

A lot of folks bag on FAF, but it really is a good starting point for just plain learning to handle the jet, and to introduce oneself to fundamentals of tactical decision making. With the under-rated engine model, if you can learn to handle the jet and control your bleed rates well enough to gain advantage and win dogfights when underpowered, climbing into BMS and having real power on tap just make BMS that much easier and fun to fly.

So I don’t discount FAF as a learning tool…and on a Mac it’s all we have, natively. That’s way better than nothing!