You want to play MK1212 on your Mac. So did I. And you'd probably rather be gaming than reading a GitHub page. Fair.
So I made a launcher that gets MK1212 working with the native Mac version of ATTILA. No Windows. No Boot Camp. No emulator.
macOS 12+ · Apple Silicon · Feral Total War: ATTILA 1.6.1
Already know what you're doing? Download it, install it, launch it, march to Jerusalem.
Never installed something like this from GitHub before? You're good. Instructions are right below.
-
Download the launcher.
Want to verify the SHA-256 checksum first? Go for it. Otherwise, carry on. -
Open the DMG and run the installer.
If macOS blocks it, use Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. -
Add
MK1212 Mac Launcher.appto Steam as a Non-Steam Game.
You'll find it in/Applications/MK1212 Mac Launcher/. -
Run the launcher from Steam.
The first launch does most of the annoying setup for you. -
Pick your submods, drag them into the order you want, and hit Launch.
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When the normal Feral launcher appears, leave its Mods section alone and start the game.
MK1212 Mac Launcher has already handled the mods for you.
That's it. Go play. Try not to get excommunicated.
You need:
- An Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 12 or newer
- Steam and the native Feral macOS version of Total War: ATTILA
- Python 3.9 or newer (the launcher checks for this)
- The MK1212 core packs subscribed through Steam Workshop
That's basically it. Keep Steam running when you launch the game through MK1212 Mac Launcher.
If macOS says it can't verify the installer:
- Right-click the installer and choose Open.
- If it still refuses, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.
If you're cautious about downloaded apps, verify the SHA-256 checksum first. That's what it's there for.
The first time you run it, the launcher takes a few minutes to get set up. Grab another Monster from the fridge and check the groupchat while you wait. I promise, it won't be that long.
After that:
- Check the submods you want to use.
- Drag them into priority order, with the highest priority at the top.
- Hit Launch.
If something gets weird later, Rebuild Cache recreates the launcher’s generated files from your Steam Workshop subscriptions. Help explains the basics without making you come back here and read all this again.
Help
Rebuild Cache
Alright, boring technical part. You should probably actually read this one.
This launcher is currently tested and supported with:
- Apple Silicon / ARM64
- macOS 12 or newer
- Feral Total War: ATTILA 1.6.1, build
480285.103778 - ATTILA executable SHA-256:
13f5d523019f291f489353fa5d3661bc9a668bb2b0375d6c3201e01d74525c5e - MK1212 Scripts, Cities, Base, Models 1–9, and Music
- Tycherious' 1212 Tweaks
- Realistic Smoke
- Tycherious' 4TPY
I’ve tested it through extended campaign play, multiple battles, multiple ten-slot settlements, and the submods above.
That does not mean I can promise it will work with every submod, every weird load order, or every future ATTILA update. If you're using something I haven't tested, congratulations, you're a beta tester.
If something breaks, let me know. The more weird setups people try, the better I can make this thing.
Something broke? Don’t reach for the xans yet. Let's try the obvious stuff first.
The launcher is taking forever the first time I run it.
Give it a few minutes. The first launch has more setup to do than later ones.
Things were working, then Steam Workshop updated something and now they're weird.
Hit Rebuild Cache in the launcher and let it rebuild from your current Workshop files.
I changed my submods and it's taking a while again.
That's normal the first time you use a new combination. Once it's built, later launches should be much quicker.
The Feral launcher opened and none of my mods are checked.
Good. Leave them that way. MK1212 Mac Launcher already handled the mods. Just start the game.
My submods are loading in the wrong order.
Drag them into the order you want in MK1212 Mac Launcher. Highest priority goes at the top.
The launcher says “ATTILA has been updated.”
Your ATTILA executable has changed, so the launcher stopped rather than applying an untested compatibility patch. Check for a newer version of MK1212 Mac Launcher. Your game installation has not been modified.
Everything has gone a bit sideways and I have no idea why.
Try Rebuild Cache first. If it still doesn't work, hit Help or send me a bug report.
If you just want to get back to charging knights into hapless archers, the short version is: it does the annoying compatibility stuff for you and cleans up after itself.
A slightly less short version:
- It finds your ATTILA install, MK1212 Workshop files, and optional submods.
- It builds a separate compatibility cache instead of editing your Workshop files.
- It handles the mod load order for you when you launch.
- It temporarily puts the files ATTILA needs in the right places, then removes them again when you're done.
- It leaves the actual Feral ATTILA app untouched. No editing it, no re-signing it, no replacing the executable.
- It enables ten-slot settlements with a small runtime memory patch while the game is running. Nothing permanent gets written into ATTILA itself.
- When you launch ATTILA normally through Steam without MK1212 Mac Launcher, it stays vanilla.
Basically, the launcher makes a reversible compatibility layer around the Mac version of ATTILA, starts the game, supervises the session, and cleans up afterward.
You do not need to understand any of that to use it. I just know some of you were going to ask.
There’s an uninstaller in /Applications/MK1212 Mac Launcher/.
Run it. It uninstalls the launcher. Obviously.
It also cleans up the compatibility files the launcher created, without touching your ATTILA install or Steam Workshop files.
This is the really nerdy section. If it makes your brain hurt, you can skip it.
The launcher runs a quick verification before every launch.
If you're running from a source checkout, you can also run it manually:
./bin/mk1212-mac-verify --quickThat checks the current setup without re-hashing all of your Workshop files.
For the full paranoid version:
./bin/mk1212-mac-verifyThat also recomputes the Workshop source hashes.
The launcher keeps its generated compatibility cache here:
TotalWarAttilaData/.mk1212-cache
Its own state, manifest backups, activation history, and diagnostics live here:
~/Library/Application Support/MK1212 Mac Launcher
If the launcher itself throws an error, check:
~/Library/Logs/MK1212 Mac Launcher/last-launch-error.log
Cache rebuild progress goes here:
~/Library/Logs/MK1212 Mac Launcher/rebuild-progress.log
Don't post your raw state files or logs publicly. They can contain local paths and other stuff nobody on the internet needs to know about your Mac.
The launcher does not:
- edit or re-sign the Feral ATTILA app
- modify your Steam Workshop packs in place
- permanently install mod files into ATTILA
- patch ATTILA's executable on disk
Workshop sources stay untouched. The launcher builds its own compatibility copies, activates what it needs for the current session, and removes that temporary state afterward.
Ten-slot settlements are handled by a small ARM64 runtime patch.
The short version: while ATTILA is running, the launcher finds the relevant settlement-slot objects in memory and changes the slot count from six to ten.
It does not rewrite ATTILA's executable code or permanently modify the game. When ATTILA quits, the memory change disappears with it.
During a normal exit, the launcher cleans up the temporary mod activation automatically.
If the game or launcher gets forcibly killed, your Mac crashes, or the power goes out at exactly the wrong moment, some temporary activation state can survive.
That's not catastrophic. The next launcher command checks for stale state and cleans it up before doing anything else.
The launcher checks the actual Feral ATTILA executable before it starts doing compatibility work.
If Steam or Feral updates ATTILA to a build I haven't tested yet, you'll get an ATTILA has been updated message and the launcher stops.
It does this before activating mods, applying the ten-slot patch, or launching the game, and it checks again immediately before activation in case the executable somehow changes halfway through the process.
Workshop updates are different. If MK1212 or one of your submods changes, the launcher uses its normal cache rebuild process instead.
It's annoyingly cautious, I know. I'll try to get rid of this limitation in a future version.
Requires:
- Apple Silicon / ARM64
- macOS 12+
- Python 3.9+
- Xcode Command Line Tools
Run the test suite:
python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -vBuild the runtime patch, launcher app, installer package, release bundle, and DMG:
./scripts/build-runtime-patch
./scripts/build-launcher-gui
./scripts/build-package
./scripts/build-release
./scripts/build-dmgRelease artifacts are written to dist/.
Local builds are ad-hoc signed by default. To use a Developer ID Application certificate, set:
CODESIGN_IDENTITY="Developer ID Application: …"Developer ID signing does not by itself notarize the release. Notarization and stapling require the appropriate Apple Developer credentials and must be performed separately.
If something breaks, you can:
- open an issue here on GitHub
- DM me on Discord at
@austenballard - join the official MK1212 Discord server: https://discord.gg/75rPKkEDzC
When reporting a problem, include what you were trying to do, what happened, and any error message you saw.
Please don’t post unredacted logs or state files publicly. They can contain local file paths and other information that doesn’t need to be on the internet.
MK1212 Mac Launcher is an independent community project.
It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Creative Assembly, Feral Interactive, SEGA, Valve, or the Medieval Kingdoms 1212 AD development team.
The launcher does not include or redistribute Total War: ATTILA, MK1212, Steam Workshop content, or other proprietary game or mod files. You must own Total War: ATTILA and obtain MK1212 and any submods through their authorized distribution channels.