Installing Games

Installing games

There are four ways to add a game:

From	How
The community catalogue	The Community tab: open a game and choose Install… on a recipe. See [[The community catalogue
The website	Install in Distiller on a game's page at nullfx.github.io/distiller.
A recipe file	File ▸ Add Game from Recipe File… (⌘O), or Add Game ▸ Add from Recipe File… in My Library, and choose a .yaml file.
A game with no recipe yet	File ▸ Create Recipe… (⌘N). See [[Creating recipes

From the website

A website link only names a catalogue game and recipe. Distiller looks both up in the catalogue itself (downloading it again if needed) and shows Install Game? with:

• the recipe, its graphics layer and its rating;
• where the game comes from (for example, the publisher's installer and its address);
• a reminder that Windows programs run with your permissions (Wine isn't a sandbox), so install games you trust;
• if you already have the game, how many copies, with Show in Library.

Nothing happens until you click Install (or Cancel).

The install window

Installing opens a window that lists every step before it starts, then checks each one off:

1. Creating a bottle
2. Setting Windows to the recipe's version
3. Applying registry settings
4. Adding the graphics layer
5. Installing each winetricks component, one at a time, by name (for example Installing Microsoft core fonts, Installing .NET Framework 4.8, Installing the Visual C++ 2015 runtime)
6. the recipe's own steps: downloading the installer, checking a file you downloaded, copying your files, running the installer, and so on

The step that's running is highlighted with its own timer, and the header shows the total time so far ("Step 6 of 9 · 12 min so far"). Steps that take long say so: .NET Framework components can take 30 minutes or more, with nothing on screen, and fonts and newer .NET runtimes several minutes. The list scrolls to follow the current step.

You can keep using Distiller while it installs; closing the window doesn't stop the install. Cancel Install… asks first (Stop Install / Keep Installing), then stops everything running in the new bottle and removes it.

When it finishes, the window says the game is installed and in your library.

Installers that show a window

When the recipe runs an installer, its window appears: follow its steps as you would on Windows. The step's note says so. Some installers finish by starting a launcher or the game itself (Battle.net does): Distiller notices when the recipe's program is running from the game's folder and finishes the install, without waiting for you to close it.

When an installer is cancelled or fails

Many installers exit normally even when they were cancelled or hit an error. After the install, Distiller checks the game's program is actually in the bottle. If it isn't, the game is kept in your library (marked as missing its program, with Finish Setup…) and Distiller tells you; remove it to remove its bottle too, and install again.

Downloading from the publisher's page

Some publishers have no download link that works on its own (it needs the page's cookies, or expires). Their recipes name the download page instead, and you download the installer yourself in Distiller's private browser:

1. The Download Game's Installer window opens on the publisher's page, with a note on what to download.
2. Click the page's download for Windows, as you would in a browser. If the page asks, choose the Windows version.
3. Distiller checks the file is the installer the recipe expects: by its checksum, or for installers that change with every update, by the publisher's signature. You'll see … is the installer the recipe expects in green, or why it isn't (try the page's other Windows download).
4. Use This File continues the install.

The browser is private: nothing (cookies, history) is kept after the window closes. The window can be resized. On the command line, distiller install shows the page and asks for the path of the file you downloaded, or takes it with --file installer=<path>.

Games you already have

Some recipes use a game you already have on your Mac (a folder you choose, or a file). Distiller asks for it during the install. For a large game on another drive, a recipe can use the folder where it is: Distiller links it into the bottle and gives the drive a Windows letter (D:, E:, …), so the game reads and updates its own files. Otherwise the folder is copied into the bottle (an instant APFS clone when it's on the same drive).

Where installers run from

Distiller keeps downloaded installers in the bottle's cache folder, so they can be reused, and runs each installer from a copy in the Windows user's Downloads folder (C:\users\<you>\Downloads), as if a browser had saved it there. Some installers fail when run from Wine's view of the Mac (the Z: drive).