#basics:ask

[blonmac]

Mounting .ISO files

Hello~ This is in reply to asks sent by inuotaku, otomegamingmarathon, and inkstainedmoony. I have answered a similar ask here. A very long answer is under the cut. :)

tl;dr Mounting ISO files on Mac is very easy. Simply double-click on the ISO file to mount it. Alternative ways are suggested in this site. Remember to mount the ISO first then look for the setup .exe file.

As I am unsure how to go about answering these question, please forgive me if I sound rude or something. Must be stress. I'll try to answer them to my best of ability.

Mounting? What?

An ISO file contains the image of a disk, or replica of the data from an optical disk. For the game to work, you have to let your computer access the data within the ISO. How? By mounting or opening it. What do I mean by mounting an ISO file? I can't define it myself but our good friend Google helped me :)

To mount an ISO file means to access its contents as if it was recorded on a physical medium and then inserted in the optical drive. If you downloaded a software in the form of an ISO image and want to install it, mounting it will be faster and easier than recording it on an actual disc. - WinCDEmu

Basically, it's inserting a CD without the actual thing. The same principle applies for Mac. For the system to access the installation data within the ISO file, you have to directly mount it without having to burn the data to a physical CD.

I know, it's kinda confusing. Let's just think it this way: ISO is like a compressed file--a zip or rar. In order to have access to the files within the compressed folder, you have to open or extract it. By mounting the ISO, you are able to open it without having to extract it. Now the difference between extracting and mounting? Extracting: taking out copies of the files within the zip/rar. Mounting: peeking and accessing the files inside the compressed folder.

Are you familiar with DMG files?

A DMG file is a disk image, which is sort of like an archive file. When you download one, you can double-click it to “mount” it, allowing you to extract the application from inside it. For example, let’s say you wanted to install Google Chrome on your Mac. You’d visit Google’s Chrome download page and download the file — it would be a DMG file. You’d then double-click the DMG file and a window would appear with the Application and a link to your Applications folder. - howtogeek

ISO files, when mounted, work exactly the same.

If you look closely, you’ll see that the DMG file is mounted under Devices in the finder. The window with the the application icon is basically just a Finder (file browser) window that contains several things — the application file (here, Google Chrome), a link to the Applications folder on your computer, and some sort of background image that tells you to drag and drop the icon. - howtogeek

In the case of ISO files, what is inside are not application file. Instead, ISO files contains the installation data (for the purpose of this article) of the game--i.e. Setup.exe, Autorun.inf, data.npa, etc. ISO files, once mounted, can be ejected similar to DMG files.

You can “eject” the disk image by clicking the Eject button under Devices in the finder or Command-clicking its desktop icon and selecting Eject. You can then delete the DMG file by moving it to the Trash. - howtogeek

Have I lost you? I hope not ^^;

How do I do it? I mean, how do I mount the ISO file?

Simple! Double-click on the ISO file. Or, right-click then Open. Or, use advanced methods described here. Viola! You can now access the contents of the ISO file, and so will the system and Wineskin. Do you need pictures to show the steps? Nah. But here's a video showing how to do it.

Okay. Then how do I mount the ISO into the Wineskin?

You don't. You mount the ISO file on your Mac so you can navigate through the files inside the ISO file and find the setup .exe to be used by Wineskin to install the game. Again, you need to mount the ISO file first. Then, on Wineskin, look for the setup .exe within the ISO file. The path would probably look like this: /Users/[YourUsername]/[FolderWhereYourISOfileIsLocated]/DMMd.iso. Be sure to look for a file with .exe as its extension. That is the setup file for the game.

Let's navigate step-by-step.

Look for your game ISO file.

Mount it. (refer above on how-to)

Go back to your wrapper. On the Wineskin window, click on Install Software. Click on Choose Setup Executable and look for your game installer. (image)

On the Finder window that pops up, look for the ISO file mounted under Devices. (image)

Open it and look for the setup .exe. (image)

Click Choose to continue.

Follow through the installation.

Carry on.

I hope this helps. This is the longest answer that I have written so far, I believe. ^^

[blonmac]

ohh, icic. then how might I change the wineskin engine? ><

First, open up your Wineskin Winery. From there, you can download the latest Wine Engines.

If you're to make a new Wrapper, just click on Create New Blank Wrapper. But if you're changing the Engine of an existing Wrapper, open up that Wrapper's Wineskin Advanced menu. Go to tools tab and click on Change Engine Used.

Finally, click on Refresh Wrapper on Tools tab. Now you can try it out.