For those of you who haven’t heard yet, Derek Yu of TIGSource fame released a freeware game recently called Spelunky.  As I found out recently, you can run the game in OS X without having to boot up Windows.  I’ll show you how.

Here’s a description of Spelunky from Spelunky World:

Spelunky is a cave exploration / treasure-hunting game inspired by classic platform games and roguelikes, where the goal is to grab as much treasure from the cave as possible. Every time you play the cave’s layout will be different. Use your wits, your reflexes, and the items available to you to survive and go ever deeper! Perhaps at the end you may find what you’re looking for…

Don’t be afraid to die! But also don’t be afraid to live! Happy Spelunky-ing!

The game has received a lot of buzz for being a great game and doing such a good job of using procedural algorithms for replayability.  Taking a look at the TIGSource forums, the feedback thread has dwarfed all other threads in terms of views by more than an order of magnitude – nearly 490,000 views (as of now).  So I’m assuming there are a sizable amount of gamers that are interested in trying to run Spelunky in OS X.  Those gamers can now rejoice.

Before I get started, I have an important disclaimer:

Skip step #6 if you’re on Snow Leopard, and try the game first in step #5 before moving to step #6 if you’re on Leopard. Step 6 requires special care, so perform it at your own risk.

Overview of How to Run Spelunky in OS X

Here’s a short rundown of the steps needed to get Spelunky running:

1. Download Spelunky
2. Download and install CrossOver Games (8 or higher)
3. Set up CrossOver Games
4. Run the Spelunky config
5. Set the Spelunky settings config file values to 1,1,0,0,1,15, and 15
6. Download and install X11 2.4.0 (skip for Snow Leopard, and try running the game first)
7. Play Spelunky using CrossOver Games

Detailed Instructions

First of all, in order to run the game, you’ll need an Intel Mac. More info after the jump.

Get Spelunky

Download Spelunky and unzip it to a convenient location.

Get CrossOver Games

Download CrossOver Games (8 or higher). Double-click the DMG and drag the CrossOver app to the Apps folder (or wherever).

Set up CrossOver Games

Launch CrossOver Games.  You need to create a Windows bottle first in order to run applications. Choose the menu option Configure > Manage Bottles. Then click the + (plus) button in the lower left corner above the ? icon. Name your bottle and choose a type – I chose WinXP, but feel free to try something else and let me know if it works.  Click Create and CrossOver will take a minute or two to create a new bottle for you.

Select the Control Panel tab in the top right of the window and then select winecfg from the list.  Click the Launch selected item button under the list. Select the Graphics tab and check Emulate a virtual desktop (it will likely be unchecked). The Desktop size field will be enabled, so set a resolution that is less than your desktop, and preferably a standard resolution for compatibility with other games.  I chose 1024×768 since my laptop screen is only 900 tall. Then click OK.

Run the Spelunky config

Select the menu option Programs > Run Command. If that’s not an option, don’t worry! Select the menu option Configure > Refresh Programs Menu first. Select Run Command and it will pop up a window. In that window, click Browse and then select the config exe in the folder that was created when you unzipped Spelunky. Click Open, then click Run in the lower right of the window. You should see a window with a black background that’s the size of the resolution you set earlier. Then most likely you won’t be able to do anything.  So close the large window, which will bring up some error dialogs, prompting you to Terminate Process or otherwise click OK a lot. You should come back to the Run Command window.

Set the Spelunky config settings file values

Running the config app will have created a settings.cfg file in the same folder as config and Spelunky. Just like on Linux, you’ll want to change the values in this file.  Open settings.cfg in a text editor. There will be one value per line, most likely 1,1,0,0,3,15,15 right now.  You want to change the 3 to a 1 such that the values are now 1,1,0,0,1,15,15. Save and close the file.

I installed a newer version of X11 before double-checking that Spelunky works after this point, so feel free to try running Spelunky.  Click Browse in the Run Command window and select the Spelunky exe and Open it. Click Run and see if it works.  It will most likely run, but only show part of the screen.

Make sure to let me know if this works without X11 2.4.0 or with Snow Leopard!

Download and install X11 2.4.0 (or higher)

Assuming only changing the settings file didn’t work for you, you’re most likely in the same situation I was.  You want to download X11 2.4.0 and install it following the instructions. Keep in mind that 2.4.0 does not work in Snow Leopard. If you upgrade to Snow Leopard in the future, you’ll want to make sure X11 is installed correctly by the upgrade disc.

Play Spelunky using CrossOver Games

You should now have everything you need to play Spelunky.  You can double-click the exe in the finder, or run the game from the Run Command window.

If you want to play Spelunky in sexy zoom mode, load the System Preferences app and then click on Universal Access. Then turn the second feature Zoom on, then click Options to the right. I’ve found the best settings are to set Maximum Zoom (at the top) to 3 and Minimum Zoom to 2. Uncheck Smooth images halfway down the dialog. Toward the bottom of the dialog under When zoomed in, select the second option Only when the pointer reaches an edge. Click Done.

Now you’ll be able to zoom in using Option-Command-[=] (equals) and out using Option-Command-[-] (minus). It should zoom between 2x and 3x magnification and not using smoothing.  If smoothing is turned on anyway, just press Option-Command-[\] (the slash above the return key) to disable it.

One last note: I’ve noticed that the game runs very slowly when text is being displayed on the screen.  The game seems to run fine otherwise (so far). Have fun!

Browse Timeline

• « Star Guard Impressions
• » Blurst Now Open to Other Developers

Comments ( 5 )

Add a Comment