How to install and play

Step by step

Version 1.0.0 Each step says what to do and what you should see on screen.

1. Check which chip your Mac has

   Click the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen, then choose About This Mac.

   What you will see

   A line called Chip that says Apple M1, or a later one such as M2 or M3, means you want the Apple Silicon download. If you see Processor and the word Intel instead, you want the Intel download. It is new and has not been tried on a real Intel Mac yet, so tell us in the Discord how it goes.

2. Get the Clementine client from Clementine

   Register a free account at psu-clementine.com, then download the Clementine client from their site. That download is theirs and our app never includes it.

   Double-click the zip file to unzip it. I suggest putting the result in a folder called Games inside your home folder (the one named after your Mac username). Our app looks there first, so it will find the game without asking.

   What you will see

   A Clementine folder. Open it and check that it holds a file called PSUC.exe and a folder called DATA. That is the folder the app will ask about in step 6.

3. Download our app

   Go to the Download page and download the DMG. It holds only our own tools and no SEGA or Clementine files.

   If you want to check that the file arrived intact, open Terminal (in Applications, then Utilities) and run this, with the real file name in place of <file>.

   shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/<file>.dmg

   Compare the result with the SHA-256 shown on the release card of the Download page. If they differ, don't open the file. This check is optional.

   What you will see

   A file ending in .dmg in your Downloads folder. If you ran the check, Terminal prints a long string of letters and numbers that should match the release card exactly.

4. Drag the app to Applications

   Double-click the DMG. Drag the app onto the Applications shortcut in the window that opens. When it has copied, you can eject the DMG.

   If you skip this and open the app straight from the DMG or from your Downloads folder, the app offers Move to Applications or Not Now. I suggest Move to Applications. Not Now still works, but Applications is the tidier place for it. The copy on the DMG is never deleted.

   What you will see

   A window with the app on one side and an arrow pointing to Applications on the other. After the drag, the app appears in your Applications folder.

5. Open the app for the first time

   Open your Applications folder and double-click the app. The first time, macOS blocks it, because the app is not notarized yet (notarized means Apple has scanned it). That is expected, and you only go through it once.

   1. Click Done on the message that macOS shows.
   2. Open System Settings from the Apple menu, choose Privacy & Security in the sidebar, and scroll down to the Security section.
   3. Click Open Anyway next to the app's name. macOS may ask for your password or Touch ID.
   4. Click Open to confirm.

   What you will see

   A message saying macOS cannot verify the app. The wording differs a little between macOS versions. After you confirm, the app opens and macOS stops asking.

   If notarization comes later, this step will shrink to one click.

6. Show the app your Clementine folder

   A welcome window explains that the app makes its own private copy of your Clementine folder and builds the game on your Mac, and that your folder is never changed. Click Continue.

   The next screen is called Find your Clementine folder. The app first looks quietly in your Games folder, your Applications folders, the top of your home folder and any CrossOver bottles. You are not asked anything for those.

   macOS protects your Downloads, Desktop and Documents folders. If you unzipped the client into one of them, click Look in Downloads, Desktop and Documents. Under that button the app says "macOS will ask before this app can look in those folders." The question from macOS is expected. You can also click Choose Folder… and pick the folder yourself, which needs no extra permission and opens in Downloads.

   The folder you want is the one that holds PSUC.exe and the DATA folder.

   What you will see

   If the app finds one folder, it shows the path and the date of its PSUC.exe, with Use This Folder and Choose Another…. If it finds several, you get a list with each path and date, newest first. If it finds none, it says so and offers Choose Folder….

7. Let the app check the folder

   The next screen is Checking the folder. You have nothing to type. It counts the files and their size, and tells you how the copy will go. On the same drive as your Mac's main storage the copy is instant and costs almost no extra space. On another drive it is a real copy of roughly 7 GB plus some headroom, and the app shows the size needed and your free space first. If the copy will not fit, it stops you.

   Click Continue. If you would rather use a different folder, click Choose Another….

   What you will see

   The file count, the size and the line "Your folder is never changed." If the folder has no PSUC.exe or no DATA folder, the app says which one is missing and offers Choose Folder…. If PSUC.exe is a version the app does not recognize, you get a warning and the button changes to Continue Anyway. That one is your call. I only test against the versions I know.

8. Let it build the game for your Mac

   There is nothing to click here. The app copies your Clementine folder and turns the game into a native Mac program. It happens once.

   Your Clementine folder is never changed. The app only reads it and works on its own copy.

   What you will see

   A screen called Setting up your game with a progress bar. First it shows the copy, then "Building the game for your Mac (one time)" and "Part N of 563". On my Mac the build takes about 22 to 25 seconds. Yours may take more or less. Cancel stops it cleanly, and a half-built game is never kept. When it finishes you land on the Home screen with a green line saying the game is ready.

   If you see "One more thing: a free compiler from Apple"

   The compiler is inside our app, so this screen should not appear. If it does, there is a backup.

   If your Mac lacks Apple's tools, the app explains why. Click Install Apple's Command Line Tools and Apple's own installer does the download. The app says "Apple's installer is running. This can take several minutes. Keep this window open; it continues by itself." Leave the window open. If you cancelled Apple's dialog, click Try Again. Quit always works, and the next time you open the app it picks up at the same screen.

9. Play

   From now on, the Home screen is the first thing you see each time you open the app. It shows your Clementine folder with a Change… button, and a line such as "Ready to play. Built on" with the date. It also has a checkbox, Start the game directly next time. It is off until you tick it. If you tick it, the app skips this screen and starts the game at once. Hold Option while you open the app to see the window again.

   Click Play, or press Return. The window hides and the game opens. It starts full screen unless you chose Window in Settings (next step). Log in with your Clementine account on its title screen and play.

   These shortcuts work while you play. The sound ones are also in the Audio menu in the menu bar.

   Quit

   Cmd + Q

   Switch full screen on or off

   Cmd + F

   Mute

   Cmd + Shift + M

   Volume up

   Cmd + Shift + Up Arrow

   Volume down

   Cmd + Shift + Down Arrow

   What you will see

   The game's title screen, and one icon in your Dock. When you quit the game, the launcher closes too. After a game update, Play first shows a short progress screen for a few seconds, and then the game starts.

10. Settings and controllers

    On the Home screen, click Settings…. You can also choose Settings… from the app menu or press Cmd + ,. It opens its own window with four tabs, in this order: Display, Game, Sound and Advanced. There is no OK button. Each change is saved as soon as you make it and is used the next time you press Play.

    Display tab

    Full screen or Window for how the game opens, and Smooth or Sharp for the picture.

    Game tab

    Resolution is a pop-up with 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 960, 1280 x 1024 and 1280 x 720 (widescreen). Under it the app explains both settings. Nothing larger than 1280 x 1024 or 1280 x 720 is possible, because that is the game's own limit.

    Frame skip sits next to it and is the game's own frame rate setting: 0 (60 fps), 1 (30 fps), 2 (20 fps) or 3 (15 fps). It starts at 0. On the slower choices the game runs slower for you, and travel PAs only work on 0. It never goes above the game's own 60. The choice is written to the game's settings when you press Play.

    There are two check boxes, Music and Sound effects, for turning each on or off. The volume is on the Sound tab.

    Keyboard lists the game's actions with their keys. Click a key, then press the new one. Esc cancels. Each row has a Clear button. If two actions share a key, both rows turn orange with a warning. Reset Keys to Defaults asks before it does anything. Shift, Control, Option, Command and Caps Lock can't be used as keys.

    Sound tab

    A Volume slider and Start muted. The in-game Audio menu uses the same setting, so the two always agree.

    Advanced tab

    Safe mode (slower to load, for troubleshooting), Rebuild the Game…, Open Logs Folder, Choose Icon… and Use Default Icon for the Dock icon, and Reset Settings…. Rebuild and Reset both ask before they do anything. Reset puts these settings back to their defaults and leaves your folder and the built game alone.

    The Game tab changes the game's own settings, in the app's copy only. Your Clementine folder is never changed.

    Controllers

    An Xbox controller, a PlayStation controller or any other Mac-compatible controller should work. Connect it before you press Play, by USB or by Bluetooth (pair Bluetooth ones in System Settings first). The game looks for a controller once, when it starts, so one you connect later is not seen until the next start. Unplugging the controller and plugging it back in during play is fine.

    In the menus, B on an Xbox controller confirms. That is Circle on a PlayStation controller. Menu on an Xbox controller, or Options on a PlayStation one, is Start. The right stick moves the camera.

    I have played with a PlayStation 5 controller and it works.

    What you will see

    A separate window with the four tabs above. If your controller is connected when you press Play, the game should answer it in the menus.

11. Change the folder later, and updates

    If you move or replace your Clementine folder, click Change… on the Home screen or choose Change Clementine Folder… from the app menu. If the app finds that the remembered folder is gone, it opens the folder screen by itself and says so.

    When the game updates itself, the update is applied inside the app's copy. You do not need to do anything, and your original Clementine folder is not touched.

    What you will see

    The same folder and check screens as in step 6 and step 7, with a Cancel button if you change your mind.

Troubleshooting

Uninstall

~/Library/Application Support/PSU Clementine
~/Library/Logs/PSU Clementine