Borderlands 3 on M1 MBP via CrossOver

[Rodan52]

Obviously there's a lot of discussion around this topic and I was one of those "gamers" eagerly awaiting the release of BL 3 back in 2019. Having played all of the franchise several times over I still had to wait till 2020 to get my hands on a 14" M1 MBP with a processor capable of running it. A 512GB, 16GB RAM (Unified Memory) 10 Core with the M1 Pro chip.

Of course I knew it wouldn't run natively so I coughed up the A$ 90.00 price on Epic Games Launcher and downloaded the massive 140GB file.

Now initially all went well Playing as Zane and I completed the game and several DLC's. The problems began when I started again as Moz. I had a lot of trouble even starting the game and when I finally did and reached the level for the Handsome Jackpot DLC it would not load. Every time I tried to enter the "jump pod" the game would crash. Same thing for every other character. Not only did it take multiple attempts to start a new game with a new character none were able to access any of the previously paid for DLC's.

Believe me I was patient, I tried everything but to no avail. Epic referred my enquiries to Gearbox and 2K and they in turn referred me back to Epic.

So I abandoned the game in disgust, uninstalled it along with the Epic Games Launcher.

Yesterday I was reading some articles which suggested CrossOver was working well with Steam so after doing a little more research I downloaded the 2 week free trial, loaded up Steam which had thought didn't even have BL 3.
I checked for BL 3 and low and behold it was 85% off only A$16.00. (well it is getting older now but it's still a lot more on Epic) and only 95GB for the Windows version. So, I thought what the heck.
I set the advanced settings for the Steam bottle as D3DMetal which seemed to work best for Steam home screen, downloaded the base game and I'm playing it now.
It easily performs as well as the Mac version on Epic after a few minor "hiccups" at startup. I've left the game settings as default for this Mac so far, resolution and sound is good as is frame speed on "unlimited". I must admit that I thought I would have to "tinker" with the game settings but so far so good.

It remains to be seen if DLC's will work this time around but I have a sneaky suspicion the Windows version will be fine.

So, is it perfect? No, but it is definitely better than just "playable" it's good, and for the price well worth it. I will probably buy CrossOver at the end of the 2 week trial, inbetween times I will give it a good workout before I decide.

If you want to try Steam on CrossOver for games yourself, make sure you get a demo version of the game you'd like if possible. I initially tried Left4Dead 2, worked like a charm.

 

[Homy]

You didn't have to buy it again on Steam. You can use Heroic Launcher with Crossover for games on Epic and GOG. Works like a charm. You can even choose if you want to install the Win version or Mac. You only have to choose the right Wine bottle in Heroic. Here is a manual. It makes it easy to play all the free games on Epic, like Guardians of the Galaxy and The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition.

According to Crossover's compatibility database BL3 have some problems in the latest version 24 but works well in 23.7.1. If you buy Crossover you can download older versions and even have different versions on your drive. Crossover also uses Apple Game Porting Toolkit which makes many more games compatible.

 

[Rodan52]

I knew about Heroic Launcher but I didn’t want anything that had been synced to Epic Cloud Sync as that had been already identified as part of my (and others) problems with Epic. In the end I just wanted to start from new.

I will take on board your advice about CrossOver versions, as it turns out I have Ver. 24.0.1 already. Auto updates are off for now.
PS. Thanks for the link to the manual.👍

 

[Homy]

I knew about Heroic Launcher but I didn’t want anything that had been synced to Epic Cloud Sync as that had been already identified as part of my (and others) problems with Epic. In the end I just wanted to start from new.

I will take on board your advice about CrossOver versions, as it turns out I have Ver. 24.0.1 already. Auto updates are off for now.
PS. Thanks for the link to the manual.👍

I understand. Cloud Autosync can be toggled off though. You can choose manual sync and not to sync if you want.

 

[Rodan52]

Yes, I think I did that a little too late.🤷🏼‍♂️
By the time I realised that was a possible cause it seemed I was locked in with conflicting backup versions.
I mean, I understand the idea, start playing on one device and continue on another, a bit like Apple's Handoff but there seems no way to start over or delete old backups manually. I guess they would be wiped from their servers over time.

 

[Irishman]

Obviously there's a lot of discussion around this topic and I was one of those "gamers" eagerly awaiting the release of BL 3 back in 2019. Having played all of the franchise several times over I still had to wait till 2020 to get my hands on a 14" M1 MBP with a processor capable of running it. A 512GB, 16GB RAM (Unified Memory) 10 Core with the M1 Pro chip.

Of course I knew it wouldn't run natively so I coughed up the A$ 90.00 price on Epic Games Launcher and downloaded the massive 140GB file.

Now initially all went well Playing as Zane and I completed the game and several DLC's. The problems began when I started again as Moz. I had a lot of trouble even starting the game and when I finally did and reached the level for the Handsome Jackpot DLC it would not load. Every time I tried to enter the "jump pod" the game would crash. Same thing for every other character. Not only did it take multiple attempts to start a new game with a new character none were able to access any of the previously paid for DLC's.

Believe me I was patient, I tried everything but to no avail. Epic referred my enquiries to Gearbox and 2K and they in turn referred me back to Epic.

So I abandoned the game in disgust, uninstalled it along with the Epic Games Launcher.

Yesterday I was reading some articles which suggested CrossOver was working well with Steam so after doing a little more research I downloaded the 2 week free trial, loaded up Steam which had thought didn't even have BL 3.
I checked for BL 3 and low and behold it was 85% off only A$16.00. (well it is getting older now but it's still a lot more on Epic) and only 95GB for the Windows version. So, I thought what the heck.
I set the advanced settings for the Steam bottle as D3DMetal which seemed to work best for Steam home screen, downloaded the base game and I'm playing it now.
It easily performs as well as the Mac version on Epic after a few minor "hiccups" at startup. I've left the game settings as default for this Mac so far, resolution and sound is good as is frame speed on "unlimited". I must admit that I thought I would have to "tinker" with the game settings but so far so good.

It remains to be seen if DLC's will work this time around but I have a sneaky suspicion the Windows version will be fine.

So, is it perfect? No, but it is definitely better than just "playable" it's good, and for the price well worth it. I will probably buy CrossOver at the end of the 2 week trial, inbetween times I will give it a good workout before I decide.

If you want to try Steam on CrossOver for games yourself, make sure you get a demo version of the game you'd like if possible. I initially tried Left4Dead 2, worked like a charm.

How was the difference between BL 3 via Crossover and just double-clicking it in the Epic Games Launcher in MacOS via Rosetta 2?

 

[Rodan52]

Well, resolution and FPS are the same and the game itself plays in pretty much the same way if not a little smoother. The primary difference is Steam as opposed to Epic and the cloud sync that they both have. I had a lot of problems with Epic cloud sync which so far has been fine on Steam.
Personally I think the Windows version of the game is better. Not surprising really, I think porting games to macOS is often sloppy and untested, there was no support from Epic, the minute I said I'm running a Mac version they palmed me off to the developer. In the end the game would crash any time I entered a drop pod or attempted to start a new game with a different charecter.
When a backup conflict occured, which was frequent, there was no help or suggestion of which one to choose, the most recent or the one previous. Epic could/would not give any suggestion.

Suffice to say it works well so far, I've yet to try any of the DLC's or a different character.

 

[Irishman]

Well, resolution and FPS are the same and the game itself plays in pretty much the same way if not a little smoother. The primary difference is Steam as opposed to Epic and the cloud sync that they both have. I had a lot of problems with Epic cloud sync which so far has been fine on Steam.
Personally I think the Windows version of the game is better. Not surprising really, I think porting games to macOS is often sloppy and untested, there was no support from Epic, the minute I said I'm running a Mac version they palmed me off to the developer. In the end the game would crash any time I entered a drop pod or attempted to start a new game with a different charecter.
When a backup conflict occured, which was frequent, there was no help or suggestion of which one to choose, the most recent or the one previous. Epic could/would not give any suggestion.

Suffice to say it works well so far, I've yet to try any of the DLC's or a different character.

Well, the Mac version offered only on Epic was made internally by Gearbox so technically it’s not a port, which makes it even worse news.

Hopefully, they will make a better product when Borderlands 4 comes out.

 

[Rodan52]

Let's hope.

 

[Rodan52]

Added DLC, Moxxi' Heist of the Handsom Jackpot, added to game and accessed from the optional game poster in the main game. Drop pod worked as hoped but intro had no sound, gave me a bit of concern but once the game started all was as expected. Phew!