The Witcher : Enhanced Edition through Steam on Mac OSX

Okay, this game uses wine wrappers to get itself going and seems like a fragile port though I guess it does work (eventually).

I bought it through the Steam sale and it refused to launch after downloading.

Here are the steps I followed to get it to work and the versions I'm using at the time of writing this that are working.

I'm on Mac OSX 10.8.2 and using the WineSkin Winery Engine version WS9Wine1.5.16 (previously had WS9Wine1.5.14 but this didn't work).  Wrapper version Wineskin-2.5.8

Instructions taken from reddit below (I'll copy and paste them here in case this reddit gets archived or something but cheers to WhiteMouse on reddit for the steps):
http://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/related/s2bqz/howto_update_the_witcher_enhanced_edition_engine/

As you know, The first Witcher game was released for Mac on Steam a few days ago. It runs decently within a Wineskin wrapper, but it has been a polarizing issue for people who believed it should have been a native port rather than a "lazy" wrapped port.

In any case, I've been scouring the Internet for information on this game, and one particular post on the Inside Mac Games Forum stood out. Here is the link to the full post, but I've highlighted the important note here:


The Witcher: Mac Edition is using an older version of the Wineskin engine (WS8 1.3.7), so I swapped out the 1.3.7 engine with the very latest 1.5 engine and performance has improved SIGNIFICANTLY. I mean it.


I thought that was really interesting, so I searched around some more and found a few more links from other forums linking to the same post and asking how to do it. The poster actually went into some detail on the instructions, but assumes some prior knowledge of using Wineskin. I took it upon myself to find out how to actually do it, and the instructions below are the culmination of hours of trial and error, and going through other how tos for other games and applications.

First thing you need to do is to actually have a copy of The Witcher for Mac on your computer. Haha.
Download Wineskin Winery from this link, and don't try to be a smartass like I did and use the links from the Manually Installed Item Downloads section. As of this writing, the latest version is 1.4.
Once downloaded, extract the ZIP file. You should have an app named 'Wineskin Winery'. You can run it anywhere, but you might as well put it in your Applications folder.
Run the app. This is how it looks like.
We need to install an Engine. Click the '+' button under Installed Engines. The latest version in the drop-down box shows WS8Wine1.5.1, but it lagged terribly on my machine, so I used WS8Wine1.5.0, and I would recommend you use that version too. (as an aside, if anyone manages to successfully use WS8Wine1.5.1, let us know in the comments). Press 'Download and Install', and 'OK' on the next window.
Now we need to install a Wrapper. Back on the main screen, press 'Update' in the Wrapper Version box, and it will prompt you to download the latest Wrapper, which of right now is Wineskin-2.5.4. It shouldn't matter if you have a different version, we really only need the Engine for The Witcher, but we need a wrapper to create a new wrapper we'll be extracting a file from. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Press 'OK'.
After the download successfully completes, you should be back at the main window, and a new option available to you to 'Create New Blank Wrapper'. Press it, and another window will come up for the option for you to rename the wrapper. It doesn't matter what the name is, we're not using it anyway. Continue, and wait while your app is being built.
You may get a prompt asking you to install a Gecko package. At this point I just pressed 'Install', but I'm pretty sure you can press 'Cancel' without any disastrous consequences. During this time, the Wineskin Winery may look like it's become unresponsive, but just wait it out.
Once it's complete, it will let you know where it saved your file. Choose 'View wrapper in Finder' to go directly to the app.
Right click the app you just created, and click 'Show Package Contents'. There will be a folder named Contents, an alias to a drive_c, and an app named Wineskin. Take note of that app.
In a new Finder window, open '~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/the witcher enhanced edition'. The best way of getting to this folder is to just copy the above and Shift + Command + G (or Go > Go to Folder...). It should show the app for 'The Witcher'. This would be a good time to back up this appsomewhere safe just in case something goes wrong so you don't have to download the 10-ish GB game 3 times like I did.
After you've BACKED UP the game, right click and 'Show Package Contents'. Remember the Wineskin.app from the wrapper we made earlier? Copy it here.
Run Wineskin.app inside The Witcher. It will show you a window with four options. Choose 'Advanced'.
In the new window there will be three tabs. Click the 'Tools' tab, and find the Change Engine Used button under Wrapper Tools, and press it.
The next window should show the currently installed engine, and an option to update the Engine. Press OK. It will take a while to update, be patient.
Once it's finished, press 'Done', and quit.
Run the game from Steam. Enjoy SIGNIFICANT performance.


tl;dr Download Wineskin Winery, use WS8Wine1.5.0, copy Wineskin.app from new wrapper, update.