Does Battletech work on the new M1 powered Apple Mac Book Air/Pro notebooks (2020)?

[kridpics]

Am considering buying a new notebook and am wondering if I can still enjoy playing Battletech given the new processors.
Does anyone know?

Thanks in advance.

 

[stjobe]

The M1 is an ARM processor, so I wouldn't bet on it (it's a completely different instruction set from x86 processors). However, I found this on the M1's Wikipedia page: "Rosetta 2 dynamic binary translation technology enables M1-equipped products to run software built for Intel x86 CPUs."

You might have to wait for someone with the M1 to tell you if it works, and if you do end up buying one anyway, be sure to check back in here to say if BT works or not!

 

[duanebreezy]

I am browsing to troubleshoot my install of Battletech so thought I'd comment here.

I have a shiny-new MacBook Pro with M1, 8-cores, 16gb memory and installed Steam and Battletech through there.

The game starts up fast, looks beautiful as I start a new campaign, controls all smooth and snappy but then... gets stuck on the first "Enemy Turn" in the tutorial mission. So... it's a fail so far.

I've seen elsewhere that the GOG version of the game works fine, but I'm not too interested in paying for another copy, though it'd be worth it if I was sure it would work.

 

[duanebreezy]

I bought the GOG version of the game, and had the same issue. So, I give up, it doesn't work. I'll just play Stellaris instead- it plays great.

 

[stjobe]

I bought the GOG version of the game, and had the same issue. So, I give up, it doesn't work. I'll just play Stellaris instead- it plays great.

Sorry to hear that, but thank you for the information/confirmation.

 

[PSi_AU]

Just to add to this, i'm having the same issue hanging on the first enemy turn. It also hangs in various spots for the other teams turns in Career mode.
On the graphics side, Mechs seem to float on top of the ground.

 

[Konstantin_1987]

Right - I have the same issues on a new macbook air m1 - eternal waiting of alllied vehicles moves (in escort missions) and floating mechs.
Hope, it could be solved some day...

 

[papaisland]

Can also confirm M1 processor hangs on Aliied turns. Makes the storyline unplayable. Career can be done with judicious use of avoiding missions with allies. Which can suck.

 

[stjobe]

On a somewhat related note, I found this site the other day: Apple Silicon Games, a list of games and whether or not they can run on M1. BATTLETECH isn't on there (yet?) though.

 

[NotYourTechSupport]

I borrowed my daughters M1 Air and ran through a few rounds. Did not see any major issues other than the 'Mech's floating above the ground. This was on a clean install.

I'll check again once I replace my MBP with an M1 version and work through a full campaign.

As for the issues about stalling, I've noticed that when I have mods installed with DLLs.

 

[Konstantin_1987]

Hey NotYourTechSupport, are you able to complete the first mission in the campaign on that M1 Air?

 

[NotYourTechSupport]

Hey NotYourTechSupport, are you able to complete the first mission in the campaign on that M1 Air?

I didn't finish the first mission, just wanted to see if it'd run. When I replace my laptop I'll do a proper test of it.

 

[Konstantin_1987]

Got it, thanks. I'm stuck on the first few steps in the first mission, when dummy mechs should make their first move.

 

[NotYourTechSupport]

Have any mods installed? I got through that part and took them out.

 

[Konstantin_1987]

No mods. Just pure game (bought on Steam).

 

[NotYourTechSupport]

Odd. Might be a bug. Might be an artifact of the x86_64 -> ARM translation.

 

[Konstantin_1987]

Could be. The saddest thing is that devs in the Harebrained studio won't fix it as the project is completed.

 

[NotYourTechSupport]

It's 3 years old and they wouldn't fix the other ongoing issues either. I think Paradox pulled them off of it.

 

[Konstantin_1987]

Right. So the only way out is to buy another not-M1-laptop )))

 

[NotYourTechSupport]

Or Parallels and run it on windows.