Getting Kitsune Tails working on macOS
Instructions I posted on Pastebin for getting Kitsune Tails working on macOS. Kitsune Tails is a delightful platformer my children and I waited a long time for, and we celebrated it's release with a few days of playing only Kitsune Tails. We set up the livingroom to play and watch each other play.
Kitsune Tails received a huge amount of positive press on it's release, and it's well deserved. It's a side scrolling platormer with a virtual console. It has FPS mini games. It has modding. It has kick-ass music, and the voices are top tier.
I did not want to only watch the kids play, but my computer is a mac, and Kitsune Tails does not run on macOS. At least, not out of the box.
Below is all my notes on getting it to work, along with caveats and context, first posted 2024/08/02. As of 2024/10/13 it's about the same as the pastebin, which will be updated as necessary.
Notes
A unaffiliated fan/community set of instructions to get Kitsune Tails on macOS.
Following works with what I tested, there could be better or other settings that work.
Ping me at @antijingoist@hackers.town with questions, but no guarantees on an immediate solution.
Some Background on why it can be Difficult for Indie Devs
- FNA developer Ethan Lee's reasons for not working on new macOS ports
- Reasons behind FNA not having ARM binaries and the official current status
- The current attempt to charge 20%-30% of all a company's digital sales in the EU, with notes on past actions
Can't Post About Apple Without Mentioning
Running Kitsune Tails as a Native Intel macOS App (Works on Apple Silicon)
Caveats: README PLS
- There were libraries that needed linking and some of the binary libraries need to be recompiled for ARM.
- FNA docs to make this
- Known issues
- You may experience moments where you can't play Haunted Heist or Mods.
- The libraries are compiled for Intel. It'll work just fine, but if you really want native Arm, give me some time.
- It won't recognize your XBox360 controller that you've had for forever because Apple made that decision (depreciated kernel extensions, but still). That includes 8BitDo wired controllers. Works with other controllers that macOS does support.
I had help:
- @eniko@peoplemaking.games for this fracking OMG great game, and for pointing me to FNA docs and answering questions.
- @abstractcow@tech.lgbt for the audio solution in Wine and for testing the initial version of the native mac instructions.
- @Dreamship@infosec.exchange for testing that helped me find missing files, and that I forgot to mention KitsuneTails.exe was needed.
- @oscherler@tooting.ch for confirming only the windows copy of Kitsune Tails was needed.
Instructions
- Download the latest Kitsune Tails App package "KitsuneTailsShell_v2.zip" and extract it.All versions
- Right click the Kitsune Tails App and select "Show Package Contents"
- Navigate to Contents/Resources. You should see a folder with items already in it.
- Download the latest Kitsune Tails for Windows, from wherever you purchased it. On Steam, you may need to install steam on a linux VM or computer to retrieve the package. Or purchase from Itch.io (if someone has success using only the windows version let me know).
- Place the contents of the Kitsune Tails Windows directory into the Resources directory of the Kitsune Tails App. Do not overwrite files.
- Place Kitsune Tails.app into your Applications folder (technically should be able to run from anywhere). Right click and select Open.
Upgrade
To upgrade to the newest Kitsune Tails, copy the same files from the new Windows download the same way you did earlier, and override files when asked.
Cheats
- Run cheats by opening a terminal and typing
/Applications/Kitsune\ Tails.app/Contents/MacOS/KitsuneTails -cheats - You can also instead use the cheat code: Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down
Oh no, an issue:
- If you experience an issue where System.Management is not found, let me know.
- If the game Opens and Closes immediately, try opening a terminal and typing
chmod -R 755 /Applications/Kitsune\ Tails.app - If you are not getting any output try opening a terminal and typing
/Applications/Kitsune\ Tails.app/Contents/MacOS/KitsuneTailsSend me terminal output on mastodon: @antijingoist@hackers.town - Log files can be found in /Kitsune\ Tails.app/Contents/Resources
Running Kitsune Tails Under Virtualization
VMWare Fusion (free)/Parallels($): Install like normal.
Haunted Heist shows a blank screen
For Haunted Heist, open using the -angle parameter when running, or run Direct 3D Mode.bat instead of KitsuneTails.exe.
Running in virtualization has no issues on my M2 MacBook Pro aside from haunted heist.
Running Kitsune Tails in Whisky (Or Wine, or CrossOver)
Adjust your mac's sound settings via @abstractcow@tech.lgbt :
- Open Audio MIDI Setup (
\Applications\Utilities\Audio MIDI Setup.app) - Find you're mac's sound output and set it to 96,000 Hz Audio Midi Setup example
Setup Kitsune Tails
- Download Kitsune Tails!
Setup Whiskey
- Download Whisky and follow instructions when opening it: Download Whisky
- Create a new Bottle. Selecting Windows 10 or higher.: Create New Bottle Screenshot
- Select Open C: Drive. Open C: Drive screenshot
- Copy the Kitsune Tails folder to the Program Files directory.
- In Whisky, Select Run..., then select KitsuneTails.exe File to select screenshot
- Whisky will run Kitsune Tails, but also pin it so you can easily run it later.
Optimizing Whisky
- Keeping Retina Mode off will run it at a lower resolution but scaled larger, which shouldn't be noticeable.
- Enabling DXVK should allow the game to run more smoothly, with caveats
Caveats
- There is a 1-2 second interval where CPU usage spikes, stalling the game for a quarter of a second. This may likely be a wine issue. I've asked about it in the Heroic Discord: Discord link to heroic support request
Running Kitsune Tails on Windows 11 on ARM
Issues
Haunted Heist shows a blank screen
For Haunted Heist, open using the -angle parameter when running, or run Direct 3D Mode.bat instead of KitsuneTails.exe.