App bundle for macOS

[shinra-electric]

What feature do you want to get added? And how it will work?

This is kind of both a feature request and a bug report.

It would be great if the project provided an app bundle for macOS when releasing new versions.

But in the meantime, I was making my own bundle script. But I am having an issue where the game will launch when using terminal, but will not launch when double-clicking the app bundle. This issue usually means there is a problem with the Info.plist file, but I can't identify anything out of the ordinary.

For your reference, here is the script I wrote:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Requires dylibbundler
brew install dylibbundler

# Script for making an app bundle for the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
# After building, just place this script into the zelda3 project folder and run it. 

# This just gets the location of the folder where the script is run from. 
# For ZSH it is simply SCRIPT_DIR=${0:a:h}
SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )
cd "$SCRIPT_DIR"

# Create app bundle structure
rm -rf Link\ to\ the\ Past.app
mkdir -p Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/Resources
mkdir -p Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/MacOS

# create Info.plist
PLIST="<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC \"-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN\" \"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd\">
<plist version=\"1.0\">
<dict>
  	<key>CFBundleGetInfoString</key>
  	<string>zelda3</string>
	<key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
	<string>zelda3</string>
	<key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
	<string>zelda3.icns</string>
	<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
	<string>com.nintendo.www</string>
	<key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key>
	<string>6.0</string>
	<key>CFBundleName</key>
	<string>zelda3</string>
	<key>CFBundlePackageType</key>
	<string>APPL</string>
	<key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key>
	<string>1.0</string>
	<key>CFBundleVersion</key>
	<string>1.0</string>
	<key>LSMinimumSystemVersion</key>
	<string>11.0</string>
	<key>NSPrincipalClass</key>
	<string>NSApplication</string>
	<key>NSHighResolutionCapable</key>
	<true/>
	<key>LSApplicationCategoryType</key>
	<string>public.app-category.games</string>
</dict>
</plist>
"
echo "${PLIST}" > "Link to the Past.app/Contents/Info.plist"

# Create PkgInfo
PKGINFO="-n APPLLINK"
echo "${PKGINFO}" > "Link to the Past.app/Contents/PkgInfo"

# Bundle resources. 
cp -R zelda3 zelda3_assets.dat saves zelda3.ini Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/MacOS/

# Create icon if there is a file called zelda1024.png in the build folder
# mkdir zelda3.iconset
# sips -z 16 16     zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/icon_16x16.png
# sips -z 32 32     zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/[email protected]
# sips -z 32 32     zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/icon_32x32.png
# sips -z 64 64     zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/[email protected]
# sips -z 128 128   zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/icon_128x128.png
# sips -z 256 256   zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/[email protected]
# sips -z 256 256   zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/icon_256x256.png
# sips -z 512 512   zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/[email protected]
# sips -z 512 512   zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/icon_512x512.png
# cp zelda1024.png zelda3.iconset/[email protected]
# iconutil -c icns zelda3.iconset
# rm -R zelda3.iconset
# cp -R zelda3.icns Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/Resources/

# Otherwise get an icon from macosicons.com
curl -o Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/Resources/zelda3.icns https://parsefiles.back4app.com/JPaQcFfEEQ1ePBxbf6wvzkPMEqKYHhPYv8boI1Rc/3dfb87cfd67d8bd8da0f52d15212db98_The_Legend_of_Zelda___Link_s_Awakening_.icns

# Bundle libs & Codesign
dylibbundler -of -cd -b -x ./Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/MacOS/zelda3 -d ./Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/libs/

mv Link\ to\ the\ Past.app ..

[shinra-electric]

I created a workaround for this issue by creating a zsh script for launching the exe, which is run when opening the app bundle:

#!/usr/bin/env zsh

# Requires dylibbundler
# brew install dylibbundler

# Script for making an app bundle for the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
# After building, just place this script into the zelda3 project folder and run it. 

# This just gets the location of the folder where the script is run from. 
SCRIPT_DIR=${0:a:h}
cd "$SCRIPT_DIR"

# Create app bundle structure
rm -rf Link\ to\ the\ Past.app
mkdir -p Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/Resources
mkdir -p Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/MacOS

# create Info.plist
PLIST="<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC \"-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN\" \"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd\">
<plist version=\"1.0\">
<dict>
  	<key>CFBundleGetInfoString</key>
  	<string>zelda3</string>
	<key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
	<string>launch_zelda3.sh</string>
	<key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
	<string>zelda3.icns</string>
	<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
	<string>jp.co.nintendo.www</string>
	<key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key>
	<string>6.0</string>
	<key>CFBundleName</key>
	<string>zelda3</string>
	<key>CFBundlePackageType</key>
	<string>APPL</string>
	<key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key>
	<string>0.3</string>
	<key>CFBundleVersion</key>
	<string>0.3</string>
	<key>LSMinimumSystemVersion</key>
	<string>11.0</string>
	<key>NSPrincipalClass</key>
	<string>NSApplication</string>
	<key>NSHighResolutionCapable</key>
	<true/>
	<key>LSApplicationCategoryType</key>
	<string>public.app-category.games</string>
</dict>
</plist>
"
echo "${PLIST}" > "Link to the Past.app/Contents/Info.plist"

# Create PkgInfo 
PKGINFO="-n APPLLINK"
echo "${PKGINFO}" > "Link to the Past.app/Contents/PkgInfo"

# Create launch script (Launching the executable directly doesn't work for some reason) and set executable permissions
LAUNCHER="#!/usr/bin/env zsh

SCRIPT_DIR=\${0:a:h}
cd "\$SCRIPT_DIR"

./zelda3"
echo "${LAUNCHER}" > "Link to the Past.app/Contents/MacOS/launch_zelda3.sh"
chmod +x "Link to the Past.app/Contents/MacOS/launch_zelda3.sh"

# Bundle resources. 
cp -R zelda3 zelda3_assets.dat saves zelda3.ini Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/MacOS/

# Create icon if there is a file called zelda1024.png in the build folder
# mkdir zelda3.iconset
# sips -z 16 16     zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/icon_16x16.png
# sips -z 32 32     zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/[email protected]
# sips -z 32 32     zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/icon_32x32.png
# sips -z 64 64     zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/[email protected]
# sips -z 128 128   zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/icon_128x128.png
# sips -z 256 256   zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/[email protected]
# sips -z 256 256   zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/icon_256x256.png
# sips -z 512 512   zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/[email protected]
# sips -z 512 512   zelda1024.png --out zelda3.iconset/icon_512x512.png
# cp zelda1024.png zelda3.iconset/[email protected]
# iconutil -c icns zelda3.iconset
# rm -R zelda3.iconset
# cp -R zelda3.icns Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/Resources/

# Otherwise get an icon from macosicons.com
curl -o Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/Resources/zelda3.icns https://parsefiles.back4app.com/JPaQcFfEEQ1ePBxbf6wvzkPMEqKYHhPYv8boI1Rc/3dfb87cfd67d8bd8da0f52d15212db98_The_Legend_of_Zelda___Link_s_Awakening_.icns

# Bundle libs & Codesign
dylibbundler -of -cd -b -x ./Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/MacOS/zelda3 -d ./Link\ to\ the\ Past.app/Contents/libs/

codesign --force --deep --sign - Link\ to\ the\ Past.app

This works, but doesn't solve the core issue.