http://www.codeweavers.com/products/impersonator/

Ehh... it still looks like you'll have to create your own bottles, BUT from the looks of it, it looks like it does away somewhat with the particular problem I was having:
1. Install CrossOver/CrossOver Games.
2. Create A Bottle Like It Instructs Me To.
3. Go To Install A Game Or App.
4. Get Told By CrossOver That The Bottle I JUST Created Will Not Work To Install This Game/App.
5. Use Bottle They Create To Install Said Game/App.
6. Find That Said Game/App isn't working.
7. Uninstall CrossOver/CrossOver Games Out Of Sheer Frustration.

Hopefully someone from here will tell me if this is no longer the case (in which case thank God).

BJ

Have you tried Wineskin? I've found it relatively easy to use and pretty good ... it's also free. I have not tried the new crossover.

Also with help with particular games for either crossover or wineskin, you can check PalltheTall's website or the Porting Team's website.

EDIT: wait I just realized are you using this for Mac or Linux? All the above is for OSX.

I haven't upgraded yet but even in version 9 they introduced some fancy, handy-dandy, streamlined install scripts for many games. Is that what you are asking about?

Yes, thank you Darling_Jimmy for helping me with that.

BJ Mac. That might help you out. And no, I haven't tried WineSkin, but I really have no interest in having to screw around with configuration (I did that way too much in my Windows days to want to go back now).

BJ

Ok, cool. CrossTie is what it's called. It has worked great with 100% of the games I have installed. Only thing is that there isn't a CrossTie script thingy for every game. Check this list for supported titles.

I can empathize with that. ;)

I'm told by people who have used both that Wineskin and Crossover are fairly comparable in terms of ease of use. But I can't attest to that since I've not used Crossover myself, so it may be that they meant Crossover is still be the easier of the two but Wineskin isn't bad either. That said, I didn't know how to port at all until a month and half ago and I started with Wineskin to port games using Pall the Tall's videos and Rampancy instruction thread (in that thread I believe Rampancy in fact says that Wineskin does not present the kinds of hassles the other non-CrossOver programs like WineBottler present).

Best of luck with whatever you're porting and using to port! :)


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Out of curiosity do you guys play flight sims and are USB joysticks recognized by your CrossOVer wrappers? Wine doesn't seem to support USB joysticks in OSX despite supporting them in Linux and saying they support them in OSX. There is a bug report for it on winehq.

Wineskin has some important advantages (like portability) but CrossOver is much more turn-key. And I don't have a joystick so I can't say. Sorry. :(

Is okay ... sniff :(

So CrossOver is indeed easier (I assume that's what the expression "CrossOver is much more turn-key" means?).

Correct. I'm not saying Wineskin is difficult but CrossOver is easier (often requiring zero configuration with the new CrossTie thingies.)

Got it.

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On the joystick note: it seems CrossOver has the same joystick problems. Nuts. I've been hoping for a solution.

I haven't tried that, but personally, I pay for crossover as a way to support Wine. Codeweavers pays some of the top developers of Wine and contributes back somewhere around 99% of the code they develop for the products.

Of course if you haven't the money don't feel pressured to pay, I don't personally mind free riders as long as there's meaningful development going on.

Actually I donated some money to the Wineskin developer (I think some of these individual programmers do a pretty heroic job on these free apps) and was thinking of also donating to Wine :) - same for Boxer/DosBox. I agree about supporting these app and platform developers.

That is a good point as well. I'd love to be able to use Boxer, but IIRC that's OSX only at present and unlikely to get ported.