Running LibreWorlds on macOS (Intel) with Wine

These instructions are for running LibreWorlds on an Intel Mac using Wine with a dedicated Wine prefix.    One of my friends enjoys the game and I wanted to play it with them. Upon writing these instructions I am in the process of moving and dealing with emergency evacuations due to a historical wild fire destroying a section of my home area. The only computer I have is my MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016) running MacOS 12. I do not know what other versions of macOS this works on.

If not already, install Brew:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

If not already, install Wine:

brew install wine

1. Create a Wine Prefix

Open Terminal and run:

export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine-worlds"

wineboot

This creates a new Wine prefix at:

~/.wine-worlds

2. Install Winetricks (Reccomended)

brew install winetricks

Install compatibility components:

WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine-worlds" winetricks corefonts ie8

3. Install LibreWorlds

Download the installer:

https://www.worldsplayer.com/

Run the installer:

In my case, I will run ibreworlds_worldsplayer1890-2.exe -so change the command accordingly to your installer and location.

WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine-worlds" wine ~/Downloads/libreworlds_worldsplayer1890-2.exe

After installation, LibreWorlds should be located in:

~/.wine-worlds/drive_c/Worlds

4. Verify Java

Check that the bundled Java works:

WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine-worlds" \

wine ~/.wine-worlds/drive_c/Worlds/bin/java.exe -version

Expected output:

java version "1.3.0"

Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment

This should work, but I had issues figuring this out so might as well check again. If not, further tinkering needs to be done.

5. Launch LibreWorlds

Important: run.exe must be started from the Worlds directory.

export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine-worlds"

cd "$HOME/.wine-worlds/drive_c/Worlds"

wine run.exe

Launching run.exe from another directory may produce a "Can't find Java Runtime Environment" error. This was the main hidden problem I was facing.

Creating a macOS Launcher

If you don’t want to run the launch command every single time, I recommend making a macOS launcher, I did this myself.

Using Automator

1. Open Automator.

2. Create a new Application.

3. Add Run Shell Script.

4. Paste:

#!/bin/bash

export PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin"

export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine-worlds"

cd "$HOME/.wine-worlds/drive_c/Worlds"

/usr/local/bin/wine run.exe

5. Save it as LibreWorlds1890-2.app.

You can now launch LibreWorlds like a normal Mac application. I recommend including the launcher version after the name of your installer in case you are testing out different players.

Useful Commands

Open the Wine prefix:

open ~/.wine-worlds

Open the C: drive:

open ~/.wine-worlds/drive_c

Open the Worlds folder:

open ~/.wine-worlds/drive_c/Worlds

Notes

• The bundled Java 1.3 runtime is included with LibreWorlds.

• The launcher (run.exe) relies on the current working directory being the Worlds installation folder.

• If LibreWorlds reports "Can't find Java Runtime Environment", verify that you are launching it from:

~/.wine-worlds/drive_c/Worlds

or use the Automator launcher above.

These instructions were based off of the Lutris Installer for worldsplayer-libreworlds-worldspl for Linux.