How to install and update PlatinumQuest through WINE (macOS 10.15 or later)

Since macOS Catalina dropped support for 32-bit applications, the only way to play PlatinumQuest online is to play the Windows version of the game through WINE. If you are still using an Intel-based Mac and have a Windows partition with Boot Camp, you can just play the Windows version natively on your other partition. If, however, you don't want to make a Windows partition, don't want to have to restart the computer every time you want to play, or have an Apple Silicon Mac and thus can't use Boot Camp, then these instructions are for you!

1. If you haven't installed Homebrew, go to  brew.sh and run the installation command in your Terminal.app.
2. Follow the instructions in the Homebrew installer to make sure it's completed properly.
3. In Terminal, run the command  to install the utility to download the files.
4. Run  to install WINE, which will allow you to play PQ.
5. Visit these two links to see which one has the most recent version of the game, i.e. the most recent file modification dates:
marbleblast.com/pq/where/yeahboii-1/
marbleblast.com/pq/where/yeahboii-2/
At time of writing, yeahboii-1 has files modified 2024-04-01, while yeahboii-2 has files modified 2024-02-07. So the correct version to download right now is yeahboii-1, but it changes sometimes.
6. Run  (or yeahboii-2 if that's the most recent version). This downloads the game files. Last night it took me 3m 46s to download them all, but this will vary with your internet speed.
7. In Terminal, enter  or whichever folder you downloaded. This will make sure you're working in the directory you just downloaded, so that you can unzip all the archives.
8. Run  to unzip all the archives. You may have to type A for All if it prompts you to decide whether to uncompress everything.
9. Run  to run PQ.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
This will install a fresh copy of PQ! If you have things you need to back up from your previous install, you have to put them in a separate folder before installing PQ, as it will overwrite everything already in your folder. Here is what's important for me to back up, since I use this install of PQ for multiplayer only.
platinum/client/config.cs
platinum/client/mbpPrefs.cs
platinum/client/lbprefs.cs
platinum/shared/mp/prefs.cs
platinum/data/multiplayer/hunt/custom and everything that isn't in the "existing" or "nuked" folders
platinum/data/multiplayer/interiors

If you use this PQ for single player too, you'll want to back up platinum/data/recordings.



Once you're done updating PQ and replacing the stuff that you backed up, delete the old install and empty the Trash, since it will take up about 2.4 GB every time otherwise.

You should probably run  every so often, to make sure you're using the latest version of wine.

Every time you want to run PQ, you have to run  (or whichever directory you saved the game in), or just go to the appropriate yeahboii folder in the Finder, type  into Terminal, and drag that folder in, then press Return. Basically you have to be in the yeahboii folder in Terminal and then type  to run the game.