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Flashpoint's Mac support is heavily experimental. This page provides information about the current Flashpoint for Mac package.
This page provides information about the first official Flashpoint release for MacOS! For information about older releases, see the [[/Beta 2022-06-22|Beta 2022-06-22]] subpage.


Please join our Discord and provide your feedback: http://discord.gg/S9uJ794
Please join our Discord and provide your feedback in the <code>help</code> forum channel: http://discord.gg/S9uJ794


== Latest Package ==
Since the current Mac version of Flashpoint is outdated, you may want to [[#Running Windows on your Mac|try running the Windows version on your Mac]] instead.


'''Download Beta 2019-12-15:'''
== Compatibility ==
Flashpoint is compatible with MacOS Mojave (10.14) and later. If you have an earlier MacOS version, you will need to use the older [[/Beta 2022-06-22|Beta 2022-06-22]] version of Flashpoint. See the table below for detailed information, or [[#Installing Flashpoint|skip to the next section]] to begin installing Flashpoint.


https://bluepload.unstable.life/flashpointinfinityformacbeta2019-12-15.zip
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="2"|Supported macOS versions
|-
!High Sierra (10.13) & older
!style="background-color:#fdb3ab;"|Not supported; use [[/Beta 2022-06-22|Beta 2022-06-22]] instead
|-
!Mojave (10.14)
!style="background-color:#fef8c6;"|Supported; requires an app like [https://theunarchiver.com/ The Unarchiver]
|-
!Catalina (10.15)
!style="background-color:#d4f4b4;"|Supported
|-
!Big Sur (11)
!style="background-color:#d4f4b4;"|Supported
|-
!Monterey (12)
!style="background-color:#d4f4b4;"|Supported
|-
!Ventura (13)
!style="background-color:#fef8c6;"|Supported; [[#Blank Waterfox on MacOS Ventura|requires a Waterfox update]]
|-
!Sonoma (14)
!style="background-color:#fef8c6;"|Supported; [[#Blank Waterfox on MacOS Ventura|requires a Waterfox update]]
|}


'''Changelog:'''
== Installing Flashpoint ==
<ol>
<li>
Open Finder, then click the Applications tab.
</li>
<li>
Scroll down and double-click the Utilities folder to open it. Then open the Terminal app. <br>
[[File:TerminalInUtilitiesFolder.png|700px]]
</li>
<li>
Copy the following command, then paste it into the Terminal and press Return: <br>
<pre>/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlashpointProject/homebrew-flashpoint/main/DownloadFlashpoint.sh)"</pre>
[[File:PasteCommand.png]]
</li>
<li>
Flashpoint may need to install some additional dependencies. If so, you will need to enter your password to authorize the Terminal to perform the installation. Your password will '''not''' be shared with Flashpoint. <br>
The terminal will not show anything while you are entering your password - this is normal. Simply type in your password and press Return, just as you usually would. <br>
[[File:EnterPassword.png]]
</li>
<li>
Once any dependencies have finished installing, Flashpoint will begin downloading. Wait for the download to complete. The terminal will indicate the download progress as shown below. <br>
[[File:TerminalDownloadingFlashpoint_v2.png]]
</li>
<li>
When the download completes, your new Flashpoint folder will open. Control-click the downloaded 7Z file, then choose Open With > Archive Utility.
* '''Note''': This will not work if you are on MacOS Mojave (10.14). Instead, you will need to install [https://theunarchiver.com/ The Unarchiver] and use it to open the 7Z file. Then once Flashpoint is installed, you will probably need to follow the [[#JavaScript Error on First Launch|troubleshooting instructions]] below. (This is because the Unarchiver causes Flashpoint to be "quarantined.")
</li>
<li>
When the file finishes expanding, you will see a new folder called "Flashpoint 11 Infinity". Open the folder, then open '''Flashpoint.app'''. <br>
[[File:FlashpointFolder.png]]
</li>
<li>
After Flashpoint opens, Control-click the Flashpoint icon in the Dock, then choose Options > Keep in Dock. <br>
[[File:KeepInDock.png]]
</li>
</ol>
'''Flashpoint is now installed!'''


2019-12-15: Added <code>"wmode":"direct"</code> to the default SWFObject parameters. This fixes certain 3D Flash games which previously did not work properly.
== Troubleshooting ==


2019-12-14: First beta available!
=== JavaScript Error on First Launch ===
[[File:JavaScriptError.png|thumb|An example of the JavaScript error popup.]]
When launching Flashpoint for the first time, you may encounter a JavaScript error stating the following:
Uncaught Exception: Error: Preferences must be set before you can open a window.
If the launcher does not start upon pressing OK, then Flashpoint doesn't have the necessary permissions to run properly. The easiest way to fix this would be to move the Flashpoint folder '''(not just the application)''' to your Applications folder and relaunch Flashpoint. If the error persists, but the launcher starts after pressing OK, the error can be safely ignored. Otherwise, follow the instructions below:
# Open the Terminal app.
# Type or paste in <code>xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine</code>, then press Space.
# Click & drag the Flashpoint folder from your Finder to the terminal. The path of the folder should appear in your terminal window after doing so.
# Press Return to run the command. When it's done, try opening Flashpoint again.
[[File:UnquarantineFlashpoint.png]]


== Installation Instructions ==
=== White Screen in Corner ===
# Download and unzip the latest package using the link above.
[[File:WhiteScreenCorner.jpeg|thumb|An example of the white screen error.]]
# Double-click <code>StartFlashpoint.command</code> to open Flashpoint.
'''Note: The following information only applies if there are two or more windows on top of each other. If there is only one, you may be experiencing a different error.'''


=== Installing Java ===
Some games and animations may fail to load, even if everything else is working normally. This is because the offending material has spaces in their launch commands, which macOS interprets as multiple different files instead of one. To fix this, the offending material must be patched manually:
To add support for Java games, you'll need to install the Java Development Kit. Follow the steps below:
# Open the Config tab on the top left corner of your launcher, and turn on "Enable Editing".
# Download JDK version 8u212 from here: https://github.com/frekele/oracle-java/releases/download/8u212-b10/jdk-8u212-macosx-x64.dmg
# If not already, go back to either the Games or Animations tab and select the entry that has this problem.
# Open the DMG file and run the installer. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the JDK.
# Click the pencil icon on the top right of the right sidebar to begin editing the entry, then scroll until you see "Launch Command".
# Replace every space in the launch command with <code>%20</code>, then save the entry by clicking the check mark on the top right.
 
If done correctly, the entry should now be fixed and should correctly play the associated content when relaunching.
 
=== Blank Waterfox on MacOS Ventura ===
When launching some games on MacOS Ventura, you might get a see-through window like this:
 
[[File:SeeThruWaterfox.png|1000px]]
 
To fix this problem, you will need to update Flashpoint's copy of Waterfox Classic. Follow these instructions:
# Open your Flashpoint Infinity folder, then open the FPSoftware folder within it.
# [https://classic.waterfox.net/ Download the latest Waterfox Classic version from here].
# Open the downloaded file if it doesn't open automatically.
# Drag the Waterfox Classic app from the DMG window into the FPSoftware folder as shown below. Replace the original file when prompted.
 
[[File:ReplaceWaterfox.png|1000px]]
 
=== Blank Flash games in Waterfox ===
After you have updated Waterfox Classic on MacOS Ventura, the browser window will appear normally, but Flash games themselves may still show up blank. For example, Poptropica looks like this when the problem occurs:
 
[[File:BlankFlashInWaterfox.png|700px]]
 
This happens because MacOS Ventura recently removed the <code>Internet Plug-Ins</code> folder that Waterfox uses. You will need to recreate the folder by following these steps:
# Open Finder and press Command-Shift-G to open the "Go to folder" dialog.
# Copy and paste <code>~/Library/</code> into the path box and press Return.
# Press Command-Shift-N to create a new folder. Copy and paste this name for the folder: <code>Internet Plug-Ins</code>
#* Be sure to get the name exactly right; capitalization matters!
#* If the folder already exists, that means you are having a different (unrelated) issue. Read through the rest of this guide, and if nothing helps, ask for help in the Discord server.
 
Once you have recreated the folder, try launching the game again. If all went well, the game will work this time!


=== Installing Wine ===
=== Installing Wine ===
Running games in Wine is not yet supported, but we hope to add support for this in a future build. If you'd like to contribute to our efforts, you can download an installer [https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/macosx/download.html here].
[[File:WineNotFound.png|thumb|The error message displayed when Wine is not installed and is required to run a game.]]
If you see an error message about Wine when trying to run a game, that means you need to install Wine. Copy the following command, then paste it into the Terminal and press Return: <br>
<pre>/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlashpointProject/homebrew-flashpoint/main/InstallDependencies.sh)"</pre>
After Wine is installed, the game should run without further issues.


=== MacOS Catalina ===
=== Flash EOL Screen ===
Because Flashpoint's applications are from an "unidentified developer," if you're using Catalina, you'll need to approve each application before it can run. Open your system preferences, click "Security & Privacy", then allow each of the following applications to run: StartFlashpoint.command, Flashpoint Launcher, swfbbox, and SeaMonkey.
If you see the Flash Player EOL information screen (shown below) when you try to play a game, that means that Waterfox Classic is loading your installed Flash Player plugin instead of the plugin that is bundled with Flashpoint. To fix the problem, [https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-mac-os.html uninstall Flash Player from your Mac] and restart Flashpoint. Games should work in Waterfox Classic now.


Because Adobe Director Projectors are 32-bit applications, [[SPR for Mac]] will not work on MacOS Catalina. This means that Flashpoint for Mac does not support Shockwave games on Catalina.
[[File:FlashTimebomb.png|200px]]
 
=== Fixing Dependencies Error ===
If you see a "Failed to install Flashpoint dependencies" error when trying to download Flashpoint, that likely means that something is wrong with your Homebrew installation. Run the following command in your terminal:
brew doctor
 
Next, read through the output and run any commands that it tells you to run.
 
Finally, [[#Installing Flashpoint|try installing Flashpoint again]].
 
== Using Flashpoint ==
[https://flashpointproject.github.io/manual/Using_the_launcher.html See the Flashpoint Manual].
 
== Changelog ==
 
2022-08-25: Bundled dependencies with Flashpoint to make Homebrew unnecessary in many cases. Updated install scripts appropriately.
 
2022-08-17: Flashpoint 11 Infinity for Mac is now available!


== Technologies ==
== Technologies ==
Currently, only Flashpoint Infinity is available for Mac. We plan to also create a Flashpoint Ultimate package for MacOS in the future. To do this, we will need to set up Apache for use on MacOS, including all of its required modules.


Currently, only Flashpoint Infinity is available for Mac. However, [https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-install-php-on-a-mac-2694012 as explained here], both PHP and Apache are included with MacOS. This means it should be fairly simple to create a Flashpoint Ultimate package for MacOS as well. Let us know in our Discord if you can help!
Thanks to the work of volunteer [https://github.com/LindirQuenya/ LindirQuenya (Ardil)], we now have an equivalent to FlashpointProxy for Mac, aptly named [https://github.com/FlashpointProject/FlashpointProxyMac FlashpointProxyMac]. This allows us to use the native standalone projectors for most Flash games and eliminates nearly all of the Flash-related bugs that plagued previous Flashpoint Mac builds.
 
No equivalent to the Flashpoint Redirector currently exists for MacOS. MacOS also does not provide any native way to set per-application proxy settings. In Flashpoint for Mac, the proxy settings for each supported technology must be set separately. This rules out using the Flash projectors, since they do not have configurable proxy settings. In Flashpoint for Mac, all Flash games run in a browser.


The [http://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/faq/ Flashpoint FAQ] contains a list of all web game technologies ("Platforms") supported in the Windows version of Flashpoint. The Mac version currently supports a small subset of these platforms. This is explained in detail below. The list of supported platforms includes an unscientific estimate of the percentage of games supported by our method.
Flashpoint for Mac now includes [https://github.com/Gcenx/wine-on-mac Wine-crossover] as a dependency. This is a version of [https://www.winehq.org/ Wine] specially designed to run on MacOS. Thanks to Wine-crossover, Flashpoint for Mac now supports '''21 web technologies''' ([[Platforms]]):
* Flash: Supported natively with standalone projectors. Older 32-bit-only Flash versions are supported through Wine.
** Flash in the browser is supported natively with [https://classic.waterfox.net/ Waterfox Classic].
* HTML5: Supported natively with Waterfox Classic and Chromium.
** Games that use Flashpoint Launcher's Browser Mode are [[#Known Issues|not supported yet]].
* Java Applets: Supported natively with the Java Development Kit.
** Java in the browser is not supported yet.
* Shockwave: Fully supported with Wine, including Shockwave in the browser.
* ShiVa3D: Supported with Wine and the help of custom shell scripts.
* 3DVIA, Authorware, GoBit, PopCap, Silverlight, Vitalize, Tcl, DeepV, LiveMath, AnimaFlex, Visual WebMap, o2c-Player, Squeak, WebAnimator, iPix: All supported in Flashpoint Navigator with Wine!


=== Supported Platforms ===
An attempt was made to support Unity Web Player, but it is not working right now. See [[#Known Issues|Known Issues]].
* Flash: Supported using the SeaMonkey web browser, with a Flash plugin included. Games that use a Flash Player version other than 32 are not yet supported.
** ~95% of games supported.
* Shockwave: Supported with nosamu's custom [[SPR for Mac]]. Because LeechProtectionRemovalHelp is only available for Windows, the majority of Shockwave games will not work properly.
** ~30% of games supported.
** Requires a 32-bit compatible OS; Catalina is not supported.
* HTML5: Supported using the SeaMonkey web browser. WebAssembly support is enabled in Flashpoint's SeaMonkey profile, so it should be compatible with nearly all of the same games as Basilisk.
** ~99% of games supported.
* Java Applets: Supported natively using the JDK. Java in the browser is not supported yet.
** ~99% of games supported.


=== Unsupported Platforms ===
Most of the remaining unsupported technologies rely on Flashpoint Secure Player, which is only compatible with Windows right now. We hope to port some of Flashpoint Secure Player's functionality to a launcher extension to enable support for more platforms; see the [[Help Wanted List]] for more information. Another possibility may be to port Flashpoint Secure Player itself to MacOS and Linux, using the cross-platform features of .NET/C#. Regardless, Flashpoint Secure Player's support for ActiveX controls relies on Windows-only features and cannot be ported to other platforms.
* Unity Web Player: Has not been attempted yet. We would need to track down the Mac builds of all 12 versions of Unity Web Player that we support on Windows. Needless to say, this would be a huge challenge.
* PopCap Plugin: As far as we know, there is no version of PopCap Plugin for modern Macs.
* Authorware Web Player: Authorware is incompatible with all Intel Macs.
* GoBit Plugin: As far as we know, there is no version of GoBit Games Plugin for modern Macs.
* Silverlight: Silverlight for Mac is available [https://www.microsoft.com/Silverlight/ here], but as explained in [https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/348822/does-silverlight-for-macos-support-64-bit this StackExchange answer], Microsoft Silverlight for Mac is 32-bit only, even though the Windows version has 64-bit and 32-bit versions. This is a problem because no major browser for MacOS has a 32-bit version, and MacOS Catalina drops support for 32-bit programs entirely. As such, Silverlight is unusable on Mac.
* 3DVIA Player: As far as we know, there is no version of 3DVIA Player for modern Macs.
* 3D Groove GX: 3D Groove is incompatible with all Intel Macs.
* ActiveX: ActiveX is a Windows-only technology.
* ShiVa3D: The Windows version of the ShiVa3D Player is available in the free [https://shiva-engine.com/get/ ShiVa Web Edition]; this is where we obtained it. However, no Mac version of the ShiVa Web Edition is currently available, so we haven't been able to find a Mac version of the ShiVa3D Player. It's possible that we could extract a Mac version of the player from a Mac version of a ShiVa3D game. Or maybe we could obtain the Mac runtime from the Windows version of ShiVa3D Web Edition, since it has the capability of publishing for Mac.


== Launcher Issues ==
== Known Issues ==
A number of Flashpoint Launcher issues affect the experience of using Flashpoint Launcher on MacOS. Unfortunately, none of our Launcher developers currently have access to a Mac, so updates for the Mac version of Flashpoint Launcher will not be available in the foreseeable future. We will be unable to release a Mac version of Flashpoint 7.0 until a new version of the Launcher is built for MacOS. If you have access to MacOS and are able to build Flashpoint Launcher, please let us know!
* [https://github.com/FlashpointProject/launcher/issues/333#issuecomment-1218457380 Launching HTML5 games that use Flashpoint Launcher's Browser Mode fails and shows an error popup].
* For unknown reasons, if a game fails to launch, the launcher may claim that an update is available and force a restart, as shown below. No update will actually occur. <br> [[File:LauncherRestart.png]]
* Unity Web Player games will get stuck on the loading screen. Audio will play but the graphics will not initialize. We are currently trying to diagnose the cause of this problem.
* Clicking a link inside a Flash game that launches your default web browser may also crash the browser. This is because the Flash projector is launched with an environment variable telling it to load FlashpointProxyMac, and it passes the variable to its child processes. But the variable value is a relative path to the FlashpointProxyMac library, and the relative path will not resolve correctly for applications in other locations, such as your default web browser. Thus the browser will fail to load the library and will crash.
** This only happens if the browser is not already open because when launching a new instance of an existing process, it inherits the environment of the existing process.
** We considered avoiding the problem by referring to the FlashpointProxyMac library with an absolute path, but this would force the launched browser to use Flashpoint's proxy, which is not ideal either.
** It seems like older Flash projector versions do not have this issue, so we are considering using the Adobe Flash Player 29 projector by default on MacOS if no better solution is found.
* Flash games that use Waterfox Classic may not work in mainland China due to Adobe's geolocation restrictions, which we have not patched out of the MacOS browser plugin yet. A workaround would be to use Wine to play the games instead. To switch to Wine, click the Config tab of the launcher, scroll down and click the "Native Platforms" dropdown, and uncheck Flash.
* HTML5 games may perform poorly in Waterfox Classic on Apple Silicon Macs because Waterfox Classic is an Intel binary. In the future, we plan to run HTML5 games using a different browser such as Chromium. Or we may switch from Waterfox Classic to our own build of Flashpoint Navigator for MacOS, if we are able to get that working. Either way, we may need a launcher extension to choose which browser to launch based on a game's Platform, because both Flash and HTML5 games use Basilisk on Windows.
* [https://github.com/FlashpointProject/launcher/issues/378 The Flashpoint Path box on the Config tab is highlighted in red even though it is valid]. This may be confusing but does not impact Flashpoint's functionality.


The current issues with the Mac version of Flashpoint Launcher are listed below.
== Running Windows on your Mac ==
* Errors are shown in the log when services are missing from the <code>services.json</code>. These services are unnecessary for Flashpoint on Mac, so the errors can be ignored.
* A "NotValidJSON" error is shown for each loaded localization file. The localizations appear to work anyway.
* Flashpoint Launcher cannot find its own Version file, even if it is present in the Launcher's folder and app package.
* The Theme dropdown menu on the Config tab does not work properly. To select a theme, you must manually type the path to the theme's CSS file.
* A popup appears if the user attempts to start a Windows executable from Flashpoint. This popup tells the user to install Wine, and points them to the [[Linux Support]] page, even though the Launcher is running on Mac.
* If a shell script is specified in <code>execs.json</code> as an alternative to a batch script, the Launcher will attempt to launch the shell script defined for Linux, even if a different shell script is defined for Darwin (MacOS).
* Platform XMLs created with later Launcher versions fail to load and cause a "No games found" error.
* When Wine is started from Flashpoint Launcher, it uses >70% CPU for several minutes without ever starting the intended executable. This is despite Wine working fine when started from the terminal. This issue needs to be investigated and solved before Flashpoint can support launching games through Wine.
* By default, Flashpoint Launcher will attempt to read and modify <code>config.json</code> and <code>preferences.json</code> inside its own app package. Since Mac applications are not allowed to modify their own app packages, this will fail. For this reason, Flashpoint Launcher must be opened with a shell script command <code>StartFlashpoint.command</code>. This script sets the current directory to the Flashpoint Launcher folder so that the Launcher accesses the <code>config.json</code> and <code>preferences.json</code> in the correct location. However, this unusual way of opening the Launcher may be the cause of the previously mentioned Wine bug.


== Other Notes ==
{{:Running Windows on your Mac}}
* Flash games with URLs pointing to filenames with special characters will not work. This is because <code>nosamuEmbedSWF.sh</code> does not properly handle special characters when it converts URLs to paths, so it cannot copy the game's HTML to the correct location in <code>htdocs</code>.
* Some Shockwave games may not close when you quit them from the menu. If this occurs, click inside the Message Window next to the game. Then type <code>quit</code> and press Enter to close the game.
* Flashpoint for Mac uses exec mappings to determine what native executable to run based on the specified Windows application path. For example, <code>flashplayer_32_sa.exe</code> is mapped to <code>nosamuEmbedSWF.sh</code> for MacOS. To add more exec mappings, navigate to Flashpoint's <code>Data</code> folder and open <code>execs.json</code> in a text editor. The exec mappings use "darwin" to refer to MacOS.
* Flashpoint for Mac uses <code>swfbbox</code> to determine the width and height of an SWF file. <code>swfbbox</code> is part of the <code>swftools</code> homebrew package. To install <code>swftools</code>, first [http://osxdaily.com/2018/03/07/how-install-homebrew-mac-os/ install homebrew]. Then type <code>brew install swftools</code> in the terminal.
* Flashpoint for Mac requires that PHP and cURL are enabled on your system. These components should be enabled by default.


== Packaging Flashpoint for Mac ==
<noinclude>[[Category:Technologies]]</noinclude>
Here are some steps to keep in mind when packaging Flashpoint for Mac. This assumes that you are using the current package as a base and modifying it.
* You can follow [[Extended FAQ#GameDeleted|these instructions]] to update Flashpoint's XMLs to the latest version.
* You can follow [[Extended FAQ#UpdateRouter|these instructions]] to update Flashpoint Router to the latest version.
* Use <code>update-spr.sh</code> in the <code>FPSoftware</code> folder to update SPR to the latest version. To get the latest version of SPR for Mac, see [[SPR for Mac]].
* If you would like to distribute a modified SeaMonkey profile, be sure to clear the cache, cookies, and other data. In SeaMonkey, click <code>Tools -> Clear Private Data</code>.
* If you would like to add a plugin to SeaMonkey, first install the plugin normally. Then, follow these steps:
*# Navigate to <code>/Library/Internet Plug-Ins</code> in Finder and copy the files for the plugin you want to add.
*# Navigate to Flashpoint's <code>FPSoftware</code> folder. Right-click <code>SeaMonkey.app</code> and choose "Show Package Contents."
*# Inside the app package, navigate to <code>/Contents/Resources/plugins</code>. Paste the plugin files that you copied in Step 1.

Latest revision as of 23:47, 26 January 2024

This page provides information about the first official Flashpoint release for MacOS! For information about older releases, see the Beta 2022-06-22 subpage.

Please join our Discord and provide your feedback in the help forum channel: http://discord.gg/S9uJ794

Since the current Mac version of Flashpoint is outdated, you may want to try running the Windows version on your Mac instead.

Compatibility

Flashpoint is compatible with MacOS Mojave (10.14) and later. If you have an earlier MacOS version, you will need to use the older Beta 2022-06-22 version of Flashpoint. See the table below for detailed information, or skip to the next section to begin installing Flashpoint.

Supported macOS versions
High Sierra (10.13) & older Not supported; use Beta 2022-06-22 instead
Mojave (10.14) Supported; requires an app like The Unarchiver
Catalina (10.15) Supported
Big Sur (11) Supported
Monterey (12) Supported
Ventura (13) Supported; requires a Waterfox update
Sonoma (14) Supported; requires a Waterfox update

Installing Flashpoint

  1. Open Finder, then click the Applications tab.
  2. Scroll down and double-click the Utilities folder to open it. Then open the Terminal app.
    TerminalInUtilitiesFolder.png
  3. Copy the following command, then paste it into the Terminal and press Return:
    /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlashpointProject/homebrew-flashpoint/main/DownloadFlashpoint.sh)"

    PasteCommand.png

  4. Flashpoint may need to install some additional dependencies. If so, you will need to enter your password to authorize the Terminal to perform the installation. Your password will not be shared with Flashpoint.
    The terminal will not show anything while you are entering your password - this is normal. Simply type in your password and press Return, just as you usually would.
    EnterPassword.png
  5. Once any dependencies have finished installing, Flashpoint will begin downloading. Wait for the download to complete. The terminal will indicate the download progress as shown below.
    TerminalDownloadingFlashpoint v2.png
  6. When the download completes, your new Flashpoint folder will open. Control-click the downloaded 7Z file, then choose Open With > Archive Utility.
    • Note: This will not work if you are on MacOS Mojave (10.14). Instead, you will need to install The Unarchiver and use it to open the 7Z file. Then once Flashpoint is installed, you will probably need to follow the troubleshooting instructions below. (This is because the Unarchiver causes Flashpoint to be "quarantined.")
  7. When the file finishes expanding, you will see a new folder called "Flashpoint 11 Infinity". Open the folder, then open Flashpoint.app.
    FlashpointFolder.png
  8. After Flashpoint opens, Control-click the Flashpoint icon in the Dock, then choose Options > Keep in Dock.
    KeepInDock.png

Flashpoint is now installed!

Troubleshooting

JavaScript Error on First Launch

An example of the JavaScript error popup.

When launching Flashpoint for the first time, you may encounter a JavaScript error stating the following:

Uncaught Exception: Error: Preferences must be set before you can open a window.

If the launcher does not start upon pressing OK, then Flashpoint doesn't have the necessary permissions to run properly. The easiest way to fix this would be to move the Flashpoint folder (not just the application) to your Applications folder and relaunch Flashpoint. If the error persists, but the launcher starts after pressing OK, the error can be safely ignored. Otherwise, follow the instructions below:

  1. Open the Terminal app.
  2. Type or paste in xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine, then press Space.
  3. Click & drag the Flashpoint folder from your Finder to the terminal. The path of the folder should appear in your terminal window after doing so.
  4. Press Return to run the command. When it's done, try opening Flashpoint again.

UnquarantineFlashpoint.png

White Screen in Corner

An example of the white screen error.

Note: The following information only applies if there are two or more windows on top of each other. If there is only one, you may be experiencing a different error.

Some games and animations may fail to load, even if everything else is working normally. This is because the offending material has spaces in their launch commands, which macOS interprets as multiple different files instead of one. To fix this, the offending material must be patched manually:

  1. Open the Config tab on the top left corner of your launcher, and turn on "Enable Editing".
  2. If not already, go back to either the Games or Animations tab and select the entry that has this problem.
  3. Click the pencil icon on the top right of the right sidebar to begin editing the entry, then scroll until you see "Launch Command".
  4. Replace every space in the launch command with %20, then save the entry by clicking the check mark on the top right.

If done correctly, the entry should now be fixed and should correctly play the associated content when relaunching.

Blank Waterfox on MacOS Ventura

When launching some games on MacOS Ventura, you might get a see-through window like this:

SeeThruWaterfox.png

To fix this problem, you will need to update Flashpoint's copy of Waterfox Classic. Follow these instructions:

  1. Open your Flashpoint Infinity folder, then open the FPSoftware folder within it.
  2. Download the latest Waterfox Classic version from here.
  3. Open the downloaded file if it doesn't open automatically.
  4. Drag the Waterfox Classic app from the DMG window into the FPSoftware folder as shown below. Replace the original file when prompted.

ReplaceWaterfox.png

Blank Flash games in Waterfox

After you have updated Waterfox Classic on MacOS Ventura, the browser window will appear normally, but Flash games themselves may still show up blank. For example, Poptropica looks like this when the problem occurs:

BlankFlashInWaterfox.png

This happens because MacOS Ventura recently removed the Internet Plug-Ins folder that Waterfox uses. You will need to recreate the folder by following these steps:

  1. Open Finder and press Command-Shift-G to open the "Go to folder" dialog.
  2. Copy and paste ~/Library/ into the path box and press Return.
  3. Press Command-Shift-N to create a new folder. Copy and paste this name for the folder: Internet Plug-Ins
    • Be sure to get the name exactly right; capitalization matters!
    • If the folder already exists, that means you are having a different (unrelated) issue. Read through the rest of this guide, and if nothing helps, ask for help in the Discord server.

Once you have recreated the folder, try launching the game again. If all went well, the game will work this time!

Installing Wine

The error message displayed when Wine is not installed and is required to run a game.

If you see an error message about Wine when trying to run a game, that means you need to install Wine. Copy the following command, then paste it into the Terminal and press Return:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlashpointProject/homebrew-flashpoint/main/InstallDependencies.sh)"

After Wine is installed, the game should run without further issues.

Flash EOL Screen

If you see the Flash Player EOL information screen (shown below) when you try to play a game, that means that Waterfox Classic is loading your installed Flash Player plugin instead of the plugin that is bundled with Flashpoint. To fix the problem, uninstall Flash Player from your Mac and restart Flashpoint. Games should work in Waterfox Classic now.

FlashTimebomb.png

Fixing Dependencies Error

If you see a "Failed to install Flashpoint dependencies" error when trying to download Flashpoint, that likely means that something is wrong with your Homebrew installation. Run the following command in your terminal:

brew doctor

Next, read through the output and run any commands that it tells you to run.

Finally, try installing Flashpoint again.

Using Flashpoint

See the Flashpoint Manual.

Changelog

2022-08-25: Bundled dependencies with Flashpoint to make Homebrew unnecessary in many cases. Updated install scripts appropriately.

2022-08-17: Flashpoint 11 Infinity for Mac is now available!

Technologies

Currently, only Flashpoint Infinity is available for Mac. We plan to also create a Flashpoint Ultimate package for MacOS in the future. To do this, we will need to set up Apache for use on MacOS, including all of its required modules.

Thanks to the work of volunteer LindirQuenya (Ardil), we now have an equivalent to FlashpointProxy for Mac, aptly named FlashpointProxyMac. This allows us to use the native standalone projectors for most Flash games and eliminates nearly all of the Flash-related bugs that plagued previous Flashpoint Mac builds.

Flashpoint for Mac now includes Wine-crossover as a dependency. This is a version of Wine specially designed to run on MacOS. Thanks to Wine-crossover, Flashpoint for Mac now supports 21 web technologies (Platforms):

  • Flash: Supported natively with standalone projectors. Older 32-bit-only Flash versions are supported through Wine.
  • HTML5: Supported natively with Waterfox Classic and Chromium.
  • Java Applets: Supported natively with the Java Development Kit.
    • Java in the browser is not supported yet.
  • Shockwave: Fully supported with Wine, including Shockwave in the browser.
  • ShiVa3D: Supported with Wine and the help of custom shell scripts.
  • 3DVIA, Authorware, GoBit, PopCap, Silverlight, Vitalize, Tcl, DeepV, LiveMath, AnimaFlex, Visual WebMap, o2c-Player, Squeak, WebAnimator, iPix: All supported in Flashpoint Navigator with Wine!

An attempt was made to support Unity Web Player, but it is not working right now. See Known Issues.

Most of the remaining unsupported technologies rely on Flashpoint Secure Player, which is only compatible with Windows right now. We hope to port some of Flashpoint Secure Player's functionality to a launcher extension to enable support for more platforms; see the Help Wanted List for more information. Another possibility may be to port Flashpoint Secure Player itself to MacOS and Linux, using the cross-platform features of .NET/C#. Regardless, Flashpoint Secure Player's support for ActiveX controls relies on Windows-only features and cannot be ported to other platforms.

Known Issues

  • Launching HTML5 games that use Flashpoint Launcher's Browser Mode fails and shows an error popup.
  • For unknown reasons, if a game fails to launch, the launcher may claim that an update is available and force a restart, as shown below. No update will actually occur.
    LauncherRestart.png
  • Unity Web Player games will get stuck on the loading screen. Audio will play but the graphics will not initialize. We are currently trying to diagnose the cause of this problem.
  • Clicking a link inside a Flash game that launches your default web browser may also crash the browser. This is because the Flash projector is launched with an environment variable telling it to load FlashpointProxyMac, and it passes the variable to its child processes. But the variable value is a relative path to the FlashpointProxyMac library, and the relative path will not resolve correctly for applications in other locations, such as your default web browser. Thus the browser will fail to load the library and will crash.
    • This only happens if the browser is not already open because when launching a new instance of an existing process, it inherits the environment of the existing process.
    • We considered avoiding the problem by referring to the FlashpointProxyMac library with an absolute path, but this would force the launched browser to use Flashpoint's proxy, which is not ideal either.
    • It seems like older Flash projector versions do not have this issue, so we are considering using the Adobe Flash Player 29 projector by default on MacOS if no better solution is found.
  • Flash games that use Waterfox Classic may not work in mainland China due to Adobe's geolocation restrictions, which we have not patched out of the MacOS browser plugin yet. A workaround would be to use Wine to play the games instead. To switch to Wine, click the Config tab of the launcher, scroll down and click the "Native Platforms" dropdown, and uncheck Flash.
  • HTML5 games may perform poorly in Waterfox Classic on Apple Silicon Macs because Waterfox Classic is an Intel binary. In the future, we plan to run HTML5 games using a different browser such as Chromium. Or we may switch from Waterfox Classic to our own build of Flashpoint Navigator for MacOS, if we are able to get that working. Either way, we may need a launcher extension to choose which browser to launch based on a game's Platform, because both Flash and HTML5 games use Basilisk on Windows.
  • The Flashpoint Path box on the Config tab is highlighted in red even though it is valid. This may be confusing but does not impact Flashpoint's functionality.

Running Windows on your Mac

For a better experience, you may want to use the latest version of Flashpoint for Windows instead of the current Mac beta. There are two main options for doing so:

If you have enough disk space, Boot Camp is the most reliable option.

Once you have Windows up and running, follow these steps to install Flashpoint:

  1. Download Flashpoint if you haven't yet.
  2. Within your Windows environment, run the Flashpoint installer. You don't need to change any options, though you can if you want to.
    FlashpointInstaller.png
  3. When you're ready, click the "Install Flashpoint" button.
  4. After Flashpoint is done installing, double-click the new Flashpoint shortcut on your Windows desktop to start playing!