Character Builder for Mac - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Character Builder for Mac

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
scrubftw
Jan 31, 2009 22:34:34 As a member of the D&D insider I was dissapointed that I could not even use the character builder because I have a Mac.

Will the character builder ever be compatible with Mac?
#2
Butcha
Feb 01, 2009 3:05:37 It is built on the .NET framework, so you might have some luck with Mono... However I don't think that mono is fully 3.5 compatible yet.

Also I'm guessing the installer might not work out of the box... Maybe a nice project for you to see if you can get running... I'm sure many would be interested in a walkthrough if it is possible.

Otherwise I'm guessing you could run it on virtual pc.
#3
gibsly
Feb 01, 2009 20:15:13 I would like to see this for Mac also.
#4
Son_Of_Stewalker
Feb 02, 2009 1:47:30 I currently run CharBuilder on my mac through VMWare Fusion. Virtual PC (as provided by Microsoft) is of no use--shortly after they bought it they changed what it was designed to do and no longer even exists for Macs.

As for getting it up and running with Mono, thats a very exciting prospect. My guess is we won't be seeing a Mac version any time soon from WotC, since the PC version seems to be missing quite a bit of functionality as is and they don't really seem like they have a whole lot of interest in porting the software. Bummer really, 'cause we all know that if they did make a Mac version it would run smoother.....
#5
aloecius
Feb 04, 2009 16:28:50
As a member of the D&D insider I was dissapointed that I could not even use the character builder because I have a Mac.

Will the character builder ever be compatible with Mac?

There are multiple positive reports of it working well under Parallels for the Mac. There are other 3rd parties who are working on support for .Net 3.5 on Mac/Linux as well. However Wizards does not officially support this application on the Mac or on Linux.
#6
silvenger_dup
Mar 05, 2009 8:46:56 Yes, as a Mac user I miss an OS X version uf the utility. Yes, I can switch between both systems, but it's disgusting. The Mac users community is growing day by day, an we'll be pleased on having this amazing utility running native in our systems...
#7
relgyros
Mar 05, 2009 8:57:15 In the few groups I play in, anywhere from 10-12 of the players wish the builder would become available for Mac users.

I would only hope that group of folks working on a port might make it a Mac thing, too.

Please, save me from buying a mini-laptop with Windows. :/
#8
silvenger_dup
Mar 05, 2009 11:14:15 Well, the point is an official CB for Mac. Other things would be only a temporary patch.
#9
jseipp
Mar 11, 2009 14:37:28 The demo works fine on my Mac running XP through Bootcamp. I would still prefer a Mac (or even better, a web-based) version. I think if it's not web-based, you should be able to purchase a standalone version rather than having to buy a subscription. I don't see myself subscribing until one of the two happens.
#10
big-mac
Mar 11, 2009 19:58:35 I think a web-based version would be best and then if you had a subscription, have them store your character info. That way you could pull up your characters from anywhere even if you don't have your stuff with you. When I first heard about the CB, that's how I thought they were going to do it, because it just makes the most sense that way.
#11
big-mac
Mar 11, 2009 20:04:04 So if a staff member could possibly explain why they chose the more cumbersome route of a downloadable app rather than an online one that could include anybody who has internet access instead of just windows users? After all, Mac users represent a significant portion of home computer users and it seems odd they would want to exclude so many people. It also means they will be missing out on the revenue generated by those who would otherwise subscribe to their service.
#12
mudbunny
Mar 11, 2009 20:28:35 Ask and you shall receive. Elf used to be a DDI dev:

I would have love to have done a mac version. I have a mac. I also have an iphone.

When I originally joined the project though I was given a 6 month time frame to full release, 3 months to beta, and by the way, that includes the time I could spend hiring a staff. Staff was, fortunately, hired in short order, and I was lucky to get some great people on the team. With the short schedule though we were making decisions between releasing it as a web app, or perhaps winforms. We mocked up a web app and it wasn't responsive enough, we mocked up a winforms prototype, and it was slow and lacked the ability to do all the things we wanted to do so we ported to WPF which set us back a week but was so worth it. We were able to do more things, have better control of the UI and development time was very fast.

Given the short schedule that we had it wouldn't have been reasonable to make a multi-platform version. Once we were done with the initial build I did cost out what it would take to make a mac version, as I think it is short sighted not to make one. The problem being that Wizards just doesn't have enough mac customers yet. They would need something like 10 times as many in order for it to break even, and that's not counting the fact that the majority of mac users can run windows apps in some sort of vm setup.

It's also entirely possible that by the time there are enough mac customers there will also be either native osx support for wpf, or some sort of rapid development tool for mac/iphone that could be trivially ported too. It's also possible that with the coming release of windows7 that XP will drop in price so much that it doesn't make sense not to have a copy running in a vm with your mac.

#13
jseipp
Mar 12, 2009 8:31:24
Ask and you shall receive. Elf used to be a DDI dev:

Oh, great! Thanks so much for posting that.

*edit*

I should add that I'm not in the least upset about the lack of a web/mac version, I just am not at all interested in spending money on it as is. It makes perfect sense to not invest in a mac version if you have a short schedule and limited resources.
#14
koesherbacon
Mar 14, 2009 2:34:11 I've got it working fine on my Bootcamp partition running Vista.

That said, I was toying around with Crossover for OS X (you can find it here). I can download and get the first part of the set up to work... the part where the window opens and downloads the real installer. Then, I can get the second installer to launch, but it does not detect .NET and thus cannot finish the process.

Now, I won't lie... I'm no programmer, so I have little idea what I'm doing when it comes to figuring out what is the problem and how to go about fixing it. But, maybe we'll get lucky, and somebody else in these forums can play around with Crossover and see if they can figure out a way to get it to work.

I'd also like to say that I love the program and if a web-based version could be made that would be awesome. Maybe it could be a "lite" version that does not include all the DND Compendium entries readable in the application. That should probably cut down quite a bit of the load. I hope that made sense... for instance, if you were making a character, it wouldn't give all the fluff information about races, classes, powers, feats, etc. People can look those up on their own. It would just give the minimal amount of information that somebody would need to create a character in a web-based environment.

Hope these suggestions help!
#15
carbon_dragon
Jun 01, 2009 12:04:34 It does work in parallels, but it cost you about $100 for XP OEM (and you can't get it anymore) and about $70 for parallels so it's kind of an expensive option for JUST running the character builder. Also parallels tends to want to grab system hardware when it's running so you can't keep it running all the time if you ever want to use your printer.

So it works, but it's not optimal. I do like that I can use the character builder offline though. I wish the compendium was the same way (or at least I wish there was an offline option). But the time will come and soon when no-one will ever be offline, and at that stage you're probably better off with an online option -- for a variety of reasons. So it should be in your planning.

I'm windows developer but I've never heard of WPF. What does that stand for?
#16
spullara
Jun 05, 2009 23:21:47 Instead, make the APIs available via OAuth (to make sure they are a DDI user) so that any developer can make a version for any platform. Seems like its mostly just updating and reading the data model rather than getting any real value out of the client.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 scrubftw Jan 31, 2009 22:34:34	As a member of the D&D insider I was dissapointed that I could not even use the character builder because I have a Mac. Will the character builder ever be compatible with Mac?
#2 Butcha Feb 01, 2009 3:05:37	It is built on the .NET framework, so you might have some luck with Mono... However I don't think that mono is fully 3.5 compatible yet. Also I'm guessing the installer might not work out of the box... Maybe a nice project for you to see if you can get running... I'm sure many would be interested in a walkthrough if it is possible. Otherwise I'm guessing you could run it on virtual pc.
#3 gibsly Feb 01, 2009 20:15:13	I would like to see this for Mac also.
#4 Son_Of_Stewalker Feb 02, 2009 1:47:30	I currently run CharBuilder on my mac through VMWare Fusion. Virtual PC (as provided by Microsoft) is of no use--shortly after they bought it they changed what it was designed to do and no longer even exists for Macs. As for getting it up and running with Mono, thats a very exciting prospect. My guess is we won't be seeing a Mac version any time soon from WotC, since the PC version seems to be missing quite a bit of functionality as is and they don't really seem like they have a whole lot of interest in porting the software. Bummer really, 'cause we all know that if they did make a Mac version it would run smoother.....
#5 aloecius Feb 04, 2009 16:28:50	As a member of the D&D insider I was dissapointed that I could not even use the character builder because I have a Mac. Will the character builder ever be compatible with Mac? There are multiple positive reports of it working well under Parallels for the Mac. There are other 3rd parties who are working on support for .Net 3.5 on Mac/Linux as well. However Wizards does not officially support this application on the Mac or on Linux.
#6 silvenger_dup Mar 05, 2009 8:46:56	Yes, as a Mac user I miss an OS X version uf the utility. Yes, I can switch between both systems, but it's disgusting. The Mac users community is growing day by day, an we'll be pleased on having this amazing utility running native in our systems...
#7 relgyros Mar 05, 2009 8:57:15	In the few groups I play in, anywhere from 10-12 of the players wish the builder would become available for Mac users. I would only hope that group of folks working on a port might make it a Mac thing, too. Please, save me from buying a mini-laptop with Windows. :/
#8 silvenger_dup Mar 05, 2009 11:14:15	Well, the point is an official CB for Mac. Other things would be only a temporary patch.
#9 jseipp Mar 11, 2009 14:37:28	The demo works fine on my Mac running XP through Bootcamp. I would still prefer a Mac (or even better, a web-based) version. I think if it's not web-based, you should be able to purchase a standalone version rather than having to buy a subscription. I don't see myself subscribing until one of the two happens.
#10 big-mac Mar 11, 2009 19:58:35	I think a web-based version would be best and then if you had a subscription, have them store your character info. That way you could pull up your characters from anywhere even if you don't have your stuff with you. When I first heard about the CB, that's how I thought they were going to do it, because it just makes the most sense that way.
#11 big-mac Mar 11, 2009 20:04:04	So if a staff member could possibly explain why they chose the more cumbersome route of a downloadable app rather than an online one that could include anybody who has internet access instead of just windows users? After all, Mac users represent a significant portion of home computer users and it seems odd they would want to exclude so many people. It also means they will be missing out on the revenue generated by those who would otherwise subscribe to their service.
#12 mudbunny Mar 11, 2009 20:28:35	Ask and you shall receive. Elf used to be a DDI dev: I would have love to have done a mac version. I have a mac. I also have an iphone. When I originally joined the project though I was given a 6 month time frame to full release, 3 months to beta, and by the way, that includes the time I could spend hiring a staff. Staff was, fortunately, hired in short order, and I was lucky to get some great people on the team. With the short schedule though we were making decisions between releasing it as a web app, or perhaps winforms. We mocked up a web app and it wasn't responsive enough, we mocked up a winforms prototype, and it was slow and lacked the ability to do all the things we wanted to do so we ported to WPF which set us back a week but was so worth it. We were able to do more things, have better control of the UI and development time was very fast. Given the short schedule that we had it wouldn't have been reasonable to make a multi-platform version. Once we were done with the initial build I did cost out what it would take to make a mac version, as I think it is short sighted not to make one. The problem being that Wizards just doesn't have enough mac customers yet. They would need something like 10 times as many in order for it to break even, and that's not counting the fact that the majority of mac users can run windows apps in some sort of vm setup. It's also entirely possible that by the time there are enough mac customers there will also be either native osx support for wpf, or some sort of rapid development tool for mac/iphone that could be trivially ported too. It's also possible that with the coming release of windows7 that XP will drop in price so much that it doesn't make sense not to have a copy running in a vm with your mac.
#13 jseipp Mar 12, 2009 8:31:24	Ask and you shall receive. Elf used to be a DDI dev: Oh, great! Thanks so much for posting that. edit I should add that I'm not in the least upset about the lack of a web/mac version, I just am not at all interested in spending money on it as is. It makes perfect sense to not invest in a mac version if you have a short schedule and limited resources.
#14 koesherbacon Mar 14, 2009 2:34:11	I've got it working fine on my Bootcamp partition running Vista. That said, I was toying around with Crossover for OS X (you can find it here). I can download and get the first part of the set up to work... the part where the window opens and downloads the real installer. Then, I can get the second installer to launch, but it does not detect .NET and thus cannot finish the process. Now, I won't lie... I'm no programmer, so I have little idea what I'm doing when it comes to figuring out what is the problem and how to go about fixing it. But, maybe we'll get lucky, and somebody else in these forums can play around with Crossover and see if they can figure out a way to get it to work. I'd also like to say that I love the program and if a web-based version could be made that would be awesome. Maybe it could be a "lite" version that does not include all the DND Compendium entries readable in the application. That should probably cut down quite a bit of the load. I hope that made sense... for instance, if you were making a character, it wouldn't give all the fluff information about races, classes, powers, feats, etc. People can look those up on their own. It would just give the minimal amount of information that somebody would need to create a character in a web-based environment. Hope these suggestions help!
#15 carbon_dragon Jun 01, 2009 12:04:34	It does work in parallels, but it cost you about $100 for XP OEM (and you can't get it anymore) and about $70 for parallels so it's kind of an expensive option for JUST running the character builder. Also parallels tends to want to grab system hardware when it's running so you can't keep it running all the time if you ever want to use your printer. So it works, but it's not optimal. I do like that I can use the character builder offline though. I wish the compendium was the same way (or at least I wish there was an offline option). But the time will come and soon when no-one will ever be offline, and at that stage you're probably better off with an online option -- for a variety of reasons. So it should be in your planning. I'm windows developer but I've never heard of WPF. What does that stand for?
#16 spullara Jun 05, 2009 23:21:47	Instead, make the APIs available via OAuth (to make sure they are a DDI user) so that any developer can make a version for any platform. Seems like its mostly just updating and reading the data model rather than getting any real value out of the client.