Hi,
You cannot -purchase- games via the Steam GUI in Crossover -- that you have to do using your system's
web-browser...and I use Firefox for that purpose. Once you have purchased a game(s) from the Steam store,
when you start the Steam GUI, those purchases will appear in your Steam library, and you install them the
same way as you would in Windows. This doesn't effect demos/mods/beta/free period releases -- those you
can install direct via the Steam GUI itself.
Many (but by no means all) Steamapps install with a 'minimum of fuss' -- there are exceptions when some
manual user intervention is required...ie; having to install some service pack or runtime support component
into the Steam bottle using the Crossover 'Manage Bottles' interface --- and there are those Steam titles
which don't work in Crossover (or work in linux but not in OSX or vice versa) for one or another reason,
so the best strategy to avoid any disappointments here is to first search for the app in question here in
the C4 compatibility database, and look at it's C4 page medal rank/forum/tips&tricks section for any
further pointers with regards getting the game running..;
http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/search/
Of course, you can ask questions in any app's forum here, should you have trouble getting an app to run,
or need some help with such.
Obviously the performance of any app is going to be relative to your Mac's hardware performance,
particularly wrt what -video- card/chipset your Mac has. The Steam GUI itself does clunk&lag a tad
using Crossover (and wine too for that matter) in both OSX and linux, but this doesn't impact on
the actual app/game's performance very much....and obviously the game's software code is different
and disparate to that of the Steam client{app} itself -- the Steam client running 'in the background'
while playing a game just uses up a percentage of CPU time, that's all. What you will achieve wrt
maximum visual settings while still maintaining a certain level of playability, really does vary
dependent on the exact video card/chipset is fitted to your platform of choice (even more so with
the Macs, because many of them -are- builtin chipsets and can't be changed...not to mention the
many different actual brand/types of chipsets that Mac have used over the years) -- my iMac 11,2/4gb
with hd5670/512mb for instance, has little trouble with settings turned up @ 1920x1050, but YMMV
depending on which Mac you have...don't try this with a GMA950, you'll need to have low graphics
settings with that chipset, or it likely won't work at all... 8)
Finally...the demo version of Crossover -is- the full version, just time limited -- this allows you
to 'try before you buy' with the actual software you want to run, with the actual Crossover you
might buy a license for (if you like it 8) .... that said, if you've jumped over that part and just
bought it before trying, the Codeweavers crew a very kewl about such purchasing 'mistakes', so you
won't have 'wasted your money' at all -- if you decide -not- to buy a license, just send an email
to info@codeweavers.com and they will sort it out for you ;)
Cheers!
