Help me play Spiritfarer on my Early 2015 MacBook Pro
January 2, 2022 6:26 PM   Subscribe

Based on this terrific AskMe about peaceful videogames, I found and purchased Spiritfarer on Steam. But I can't run the game on my un-updated Mac because I don't have High Sierra, and I can't seem to find the complete the upgrade. Help?

I have an Early 2015 MacBook Pro that's currently running Sierra 10.12.6. Life's been a bit of a blur, so I never updated to High Sierra, and now I'm wondering if I've missed the, uh, boat. Here's what's happening:

I've purchased and downloaded the Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition on Steam. When I click >Play, I get an error that says:
You can't use this version of the application "Spiritfarer" with this version of macOS. You have macOS 10.12.6. The application requires macOS 10.13 or later.
So off I trot and download the macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 update, and I go to open the .pkg file and I get another error from the Installer:
This update requires macOS version 10.13.
Okay, no problem. I hunt for High Sierra 10.13 and find it at the app store, here: https://apps.apple.com/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?mt=12. But when I click OPEN to download 10.13, I get another error that says:
This copy of the Install macOS High Sierra application is damaged, and can‘t be used to install macOS.
And that's where I'm stuck. I'm so bad at this, folks. What am I missing? I'm betting I could return the game to Steam for a refund, but I'd much rather play. Thanks for your help!
posted by mochapickle to Technology (3 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: This copy of the Install macOS High Sierra application is damaged, and can‘t be used to install macOS.

So this is sort of a crummy error message, because the installer is probably not actually damaged. It's just doing something with a security certificate which has expired (and which Apple hasn't updated, because they don't really support that OS any longer) so your computer doesn't want to let you run it now. If you manually set the clock on your computer to a date closer to when High Sierra was released, it should run. Today's date in 2018 should be fine.

In case you've never had to do this, go to System Preferences > Date & Time, click the lock at the bottom of the preference screen and enter your login password. Uncheck "Set date and time automatically" and roll the date back. After you do the OS installation & updates (and before you do anything major with the computer, like run Mail or Photos or anything that's going to want to sync with online stuff!) set the Date & Time back to Automatic, give it a few minutes to leap back to 2022, maybe even give the machine another reboot just to get it back on the right track.

Make sure you have a good backup before doing any kind of OS upgrade. Sierra to High Sierra should be a pretty painless upgrade (I still run HS on a spare laptop of the exact same vintage and it's very solid) but it's never a good idea to tempt fate.
posted by bcwinters at 7:18 PM on January 2, 2022 [15 favorites]


Response by poster: IT WORKED!

You are mighty brilliant and that was mighty helpful and I am mighty grateful! Thank you so much!
posted by mochapickle at 9:26 PM on January 2, 2022 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Also, I am more than a little delighted that the solution involved time travel.
posted by mochapickle at 9:34 PM on January 2, 2022 [9 favorites]


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