Running MBII on M1 Macs via Crossover

Starboyxo

Starboyxo

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Unfortunately since JKJA is a 32-bit game, it is no longer playable on M1 chip Macs/Macbooks, which subsequently means MovieBattles II isn't either. However, I've managed to get the game running via Crossover on my M1 Macbook Air which lets you run alot of Windows apps without having to partition or use bootcamp. I'll try detail as best I can how I got it working for me.

Notices: Crossover has a 14 day free trial which is definitely worth trying out, then you if you want to keep playing MBII or even just JKJA through it you'll need to one-off purchase the software, but I highly recommend if you'll want to play on your Mac alot.

Also, this assumes you are using the Steam version of the game. If anyone needs help with another version let me know and I'll look into it.

  1. Download Crossover
  2. Download the manual Windows install of MBII (latest version)
  3. Run Crossover and click Install a Windows Application
  4. Search for Jedi Academy and select it, then select Install from Steam
  5. Make sure to Select Bottle at the top and choose Windows 10 (NOT the 64-Bit one)
  6. Continue Installing Jedi Academy, you'll need to login to your steam that pops up and download it in your library there as normal.
  7. Once Installed close it and go back to Crossover; then Install a Windows Application again
  8. This time search for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and Install that; Make sure it installs to the bottle called "Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy"
  9. After that Install a Windows Application again; this time search for the 32-bit Visual C++ 2013 redistributables and install them, again to the same bottle.
  10. Once done, right click the Star Wars bottle on the left of Crossover and click Open C: Drive.
  11. Navigate in there to your Jedi Academy folder (should be Program Files - Steam - Steamapps - Common - Jedi Academy)
  12. Extract/drag your MBII folder contents to the GameData folder there.
  13. Now close the Finder and look at Crossover; your Star Wars bottle should now have the MBIILauncher.exe there to run. Run it.
  14. Allow the launcher to patch and do its thing, then you can try play. If it crashes or you cannot connect to servers with cgame errors, keep following the guide.
  15. Go to the launcher settings, disable Steam Integration, and change the engine from JMAP to MBIIClient, then Repair Installation.
  16. The game should now work!
PS: You will have to play around with resolution and maybe graphics settings to get it to fit and run smoothly. I personally am on Medium graphics with a 1280 x 720 windowed resolution on my 2020 M1 Macbook Air.

Hope this guide helps any other M1 Mac players get onto MBII and JKJA!
 
N

Nick.

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To be honest as an iMac user it’s easier to just install Windows via bootcamp and then go on from there to save up time and avoid any unprecedented problems that might occur when doing all this, plus if you want to use another app that is 32-bit besides mb2. I also haven’t noticed any problems when running the game at max settings (this might depend on which Apple computer you’re using though). Just my take on this :)
 
Starboyxo

Starboyxo

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Nick. said:
To be honest as an iMac user it’s easier to just install Windows via bootcamp and then go on from there to save up time and avoid any unprecedented problems that might occur when doing all this, plus if you want to use another app that is 32-bit besides mb2. I also haven’t noticed any problems when running the game at max settings (this might depend on which Apple computer you’re using though). Just my take on this :)
Click to expand...
True, but as a Macbook Air user I don't really have the free hard drive space to be bootcamping or partitioning, rather just have the game and mod downloaded like any other application :)
 
FrenzY

FrenzY

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Movie Battles II Team
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Starboyxo said:
Unfortunately since JKJA is a 32-bit game, it is no longer playable on M1 chip Macs/Macbooks, which subsequently means MovieBattles II isn't either. However, I've managed to get the game running via Crossover on my M1 Macbook Air which lets you run alot of Windows apps without having to partition or use bootcamp. I'll try detail as best I can how I got it working for me.

Notices: Crossover has a 14 day free trial which is definitely worth trying out, then you if you want to keep playing MBII or even just JKJA through it you'll need to one-off purchase the software, but I highly recommend if you'll want to play on your Mac alot.

Also, this assumes you are using the Steam version of the game. If anyone needs help with another version let me know and I'll look into it.

  1. Download Crossover
  2. Download the manual Windows install of MBII (latest version)
  3. Run Crossover and click Install a Windows Application
  4. Search for Jedi Academy and select it, then select Install from Steam
  5. Make sure to Select Bottle at the top and choose Windows 10 (NOT the 64-Bit one)
  6. Continue Installing Jedi Academy, you'll need to login to your steam that pops up and download it in your library there as normal.
  7. Once Installed close it and go back to Crossover; then Install a Windows Application again
  8. This time search for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and Install that; Make sure it installs to the bottle called "Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy"
  9. After that Install a Windows Application again; this time search for the 32-bit Visual C++ 2013 redistributables and install them, again to the same bottle.
  10. Once done, right click the Star Wars bottle on the left of Crossover and click Open C: Drive.
  11. Navigate in there to your Jedi Academy folder (should be Program Files - Steam - Steamapps - Common - Jedi Academy)
  12. Extract/drag your MBII folder contents to the GameData folder there.
  13. Now close the Finder and look at Crossover; your Star Wars bottle should now have the MBIILauncher.exe there to run. Run it.
  14. Allow the launcher to patch and do its thing, then you can try play. If it crashes or you cannot connect to servers with cgame errors, keep following the guide.
  15. Go to the launcher settings, disable Steam Integration, and change the engine from JMAP to MBIIClient, then Repair Installation.
  16. The game should now work!
PS: You will have to play around with resolution and maybe graphics settings to get it to fit and run smoothly. I personally am on Medium graphics with a 1280 x 720 windowed resolution on my 2020 M1 Macbook Air.

Hope this guide helps any other M1 Mac players get onto MBII and JKJA!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the guide. Have you been able to make this work with the new MBII Launcher?
 
B

bobn't

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Has anyone been able to somehow get this working on ARM chip Macs so far? I got it running pretty well with Apple Game Porting Toolkit but without the MBII Launcher, which is then of no use unfortunately.
 
B

bobn't

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For anyone wondering, I got it running pretty well with Parallels 19 using Rend2, while on Parallels 18 it was unplayable.
 
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