FleetOps through Wineskin on OS X and MacBook Air

posted on September 15th, 2013, 6:44 pm

Thanks to the development team for this fantastic software!

I just wanted to pass along info of how I'm using this with Wineskin on OS X. The game seems to run fine on a late 2011 MacBook Pro with Intel HD 3000 graphics.

The only glitch I encounter is in the lobby (and, sometimes, the options screen). It comes up as black. However, when mousing over, I hearing the beeping sounds indicating that I'm hovering over buttons.

I am able to get around this problem by 1.) minimizing the lobby/options window, 2.) maximizing lobby/options window back, and 3.) grabbing the window by the title bar and moving it off the screen and then back on.

I always have to do steps 1. and 2. and I usually have to do step 3.

Once I start the game, it moves into full screen mode and everything works great.

I realize that my configuration is a low-priority issue. However, I thought I'd just publicize it so that everyone's aware (maybe it's an easy fix somewhere down the road) and so that anyone else with a Mac doesn't get frustrated by the blank screen that might pop up.

See video clip below for demonstration.

posted on September 16th, 2013, 3:16 pm

Welcome to the forums
Yes, i guess Wine cannot handle the strange window management Armada (and Fleet Operations) does.
There is a Direct3D layer present below the shell menu which seems to pop in front under Wine.
It is not a bug per se with Armada or Fleet Operations though. While this whole implementation is really ugly, it still is a bug in Wine. Wine - and that is even the goal of the project - must be able to handle even the strangest quirks.
I have tried to fix it in the past, but could not do it without breaking other stuff.

posted on September 16th, 2013, 4:02 pm

FO used to work in Wine. I would have to install a bunch of old versions to figure out exactly when it stopped, but I think it's around the time the main menu was placed in a window instead of fullscreen. Performance in Wine was pretty bad, though.

posted on September 16th, 2013, 4:24 pm

Yes, the fullscreen mode had various other issues - not only on Wine. The FO window mode is not much different from A2 window mode.

posted on September 16th, 2013, 9:33 pm

Just to clarify, I am able to get past the issue with the opening window, and play the game (using the 1-2-3 process I mentioned above).

Once in the game, it seems to run fine. Granted, I only tried playing with a couple of AI characters. It gets the fan revved up, but not stutters or bad frame rates or anything.

I do appreciate being able to revisit this old game in a substantially updated and polished way.