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FH 32bit or 64bit?

Posted: 24 Jun 2019 20:15
by Valkrider
Can anyone tell me whether FH is a 32bit or 64bit app? I suspect 32bit.

The reason I ask is that the next version of Mac OSX will not allow 32bit apps to run. Crossover has been updated to 64bit so that isn't an issue but I suspect that FH may well be.

Re: FH 32bit or 64bit?

Posted: 24 Jun 2019 22:20
by tatewise
FH is a 32-bit app, which is why it installs to C:\Program Files (x86)\ rather than C:\Program Files\.

I'd be surprised if there is not some suitable workaround as there are dozens of 32-bit apps for Windows.
Just take a look at how many are installed in C:\Program Files (x86)\ on any Windows PC.

I imagine Crossover/WINE currently include the support libraries for both 64-bit and 32-bit Windows apps, and will continue to do so, even though Crossover/WINE and Mac OSX become exclusively 64-bit.

Re: FH 32bit or 64bit?

Posted: 25 Jun 2019 06:12
by Valkrider
The current Mac OS is complaining that FH is 32Bit and the new version which is dues in the next month or so will prevent it running at all. I just wanted to check that it was before asking Calico if there were any plans to make it 64bit. My Mac laptop is not meaty enough to run a VM unlike my desktop and FH runs fine on it under Crossover on the laptop.

Re: FH 32bit or 64bit?

Posted: 25 Jun 2019 09:38
by mjashby
Colin,

MacOS isn't complaining about the 'bittedness' of FH, it's complaining about the WINE Wrapper produced by Crossover, and that's what needs to change. MacOS has no understanding of whether a native Windows software is 64-bit or 32-bit because it can't directly read/understand the content of the complied software.

My understanding is that the 'Unofficial' Wineskin Winery update has already been tested on beta versions of MacOS Catalina and seems to be producing Wine.apps of 32-bit Windows software without any new problems. PlayOnMac seems to be relying on its next release (Phoenicis) to provide their solution, but I am unlikely to use that because it's Java-based Software and I don't install Java on MacOS (or Windows). Crossover developers will, no doubt, be testing their own solution on new Catalina betas as they progess but are probably keeping quiet about progress until the Catalina feature list (and any new security features) settles down to before committing to a 'new' compatible release. Also the issue for them isn't limited to MacOS as some of the main Linux development companies (e.g. Ubuntu) also seem to be preparing to move their future OS releases to 64-bit only.

Mervyn

Re: FH 32bit or 64bit?

Posted: 25 Jun 2019 10:10
by Valkrider
Mervyn

I think that you are mistaken Crossover v18.x is a 64bit app and OSX Mohave does not complain about it. It is FH inside Crossover that generates the warning.

See https://www.codeweavers.com/support/for ... msg=208277

and

https://www.codeweavers.com/about/blogs ... ot-so-ugly

Re: FH 32bit or 64bit?

Posted: 25 Jun 2019 10:28
by tatewise
Both those links make it very clear to me that Crossover will support legacy 32- bit Windows apps in the 64-bit Mac OSX.
The 32-bit warning will indeed be triggered. We are not able to fix the warning but we are working on a solution which will allow legacy 32-bit Windows applications to continue working even after Apple drops support for 32-bit macOS apps. This is obviously very important to us and our customers, because as you point out a great deal of Windows software is 32-bit only. You can read a bit more about our 32-bit plan here:

https://www.codeweavers.com/about/blogs ... ot-so-ugly

We cannot stop the warning from appearing on macOS Mojave, but the warning is just that: a notice that 32-bit support will be dropped in a future version of macOS. The warning itself will not stop 32-bit applications from running, and we are working hard now so that we have a functioning solution well ahead of the time when 32-bit apps are actually dropped from macOS.
and the linked page says much the same, so just be patient, it seems Codeweavers & WINE are well aware of the issue and are promising to continue support for legacy 32-bit Windows apps.

Re: FH 32bit or 64bit?

Posted: 25 Jun 2019 11:41
by Valkrider
@Mike

The only problem is that Catalina, the next version of OSX, is in public beta which means its delivery to live is imminent and there has been no update from Codeweavers for 12 months.

Re: FH 32bit or 64bit?

Posted: 25 Jun 2019 14:21
by mjashby
Colin (Sorry miss-typed name in previous message. Can't explain why, other than recovering from a Macular Hole/Cataract op. and have an eye full of gas/blurred vision),

You misunderstood my earlier response. I was not saying there is anything 'wrong' with Crossover and agree that it is now a 64-bit app so will have no problems running on MacOS Catalina. The problem is with what takes place inside the generated Wine.Apps, i.e. within the individual Wrappers that contain the installed Windows Application. The issue is that when a 32-bit Windows application installed within a Wrapper, various MacOS 32-bit system calls/threads currently have to be used to interface with the Windows software. It is these 32-bit processes within the Wine.apps that the MacOS detects not the 'bittedness' of of the actual Windows software.

Have copied this from the 'Unofficial' Wineskin Forum:

"Unofficial Wineskin, is already 64Bit (except wsgamma due to no source code) so the application is ready.
CodeWeavers are working on at least two solutions that I'm aware of, one being Hangover, a patched pure wine64 with included custom qemu to handle 32bit applications/games.
Option 2, (patch?) and compile using a custom version of clang that had built in trunking support so 32Bit process will be ran on 64Bit threads. The resulting wine would be like now wine/wine64 but running as 64Bit. < The version I would prefer."

The major problem for the MacOS software developers is that, understandably, Apple will not provide any information on how its 32-bit detection system works, as that would probably encourage developers (and users) to look for work-arounds for existing native MacOS 32-bit apps in preference to updating to a modern pure 64-bit option.

I'm still confident that Wine.org together with Crossover and others will find a programming solution, as they would otherwise be dead in the water, as would all of the 'Windows Gamers' who seem to have built a culture of dependence on the WINE Project. But whether that solution will be complete when the final release of Catalina is made available is probably debatable. Given Apple's normal launch approach, that probably isn't likely to happen any earlier than September. Meanwhile, I'd be surprised if the next version of FH, whenever that might happen, continued to be 32-bit only.

Mervyn