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The downloader downloads both Mac and Windows setup programs, which are both very small (< 3MB) and a lot of generic binary files.

Are these binary files cross platform? Can I use my Mac and the Mac downloader to get the setup files, and then install on my Windows PC?

I understand the need for two "installers" from the battle.net website as the downloading process needs to be platform dependant, but if the downloader downloads both .app and .exe files then it seems to be cross platform from then on.

Can anyone confirm this?

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  • My Starcraft 2 folder does not have any *.app files.
    – ayckoster
    Commented May 18, 2012 at 12:52
  • @ayckoster it's in the setup folder downloaded by the Blizzard downloader, not the game install folder
    – Simon Walker
    Commented May 18, 2012 at 12:56

1 Answer 1

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Yes, Blizzard includes both the Mac and Windows versions of the installer when you download it. The "Mac/Win" link you click on Battle.net is for which version of the downloader to use.

You can use the downloaded files to install your game on either platform, regardless of which platform you downloaded them with.

Blizzard likely structured things this way so that their peer-to-peer distribution system would benefit from a larger pool of people downloading the installer, instead of splitting the swarm into separate Mac and Windows groups.

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  • Now if their peer2peer download system actually worked properly, we might even get to see some benefits from the twice-as-big download.
    – mkaito
    Commented May 18, 2012 at 13:46
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    @mkaito Including both platform's setup files doesn't make the download twice as large. In fact, the Mac setup files only adds another 20 MB or so. As a result, you get to leech from all those Mac users while you download your Windows installer (and vice versa). :)
    – Brant
    Commented May 18, 2012 at 14:20
  • I don't know what kind of internet setup you might have, but the p2p thing simply kills my line. So much for the benefits. But I didn't bother checking the added size, so please accept my apologies.
    – mkaito
    Commented May 18, 2012 at 14:32
  • @mkaito: If using your uplink hurts your connection then your internet service is doing it wrong and you should complain. Of course, if you are using your own router hardware perhaps you configured it badly and didn't set the QoS (quality-of-service) limits.
    – Zan Lynx
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 0:33
  • Maybe in the states an ISP "doing it wrong" is a big deal, but down here we have two ISP, and none of them gets anything right. Choking the uplink will hurt any connection, by the way. There needs to be some leeway for packet reporting and negotiation.
    – mkaito
    Commented Jun 8, 2012 at 13:47

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