Unable to interact on Mac

[NEMadman]

Sorry, I realize there is a lot of pieces involved here and so it does make it hard to figure out where is topic should be started, so please forgive me if this isn't the right place.   I just tonight downloaded and ran the launcher, I guess I got Issue 27, Page 6 - 27.6.5440.2.  I am able to get to the COH Homecoming login screen where is asks for Account Name and Account Password but I'm unable to interact with any part of that screen, unable to type, unable to click on anything.  I hear the music when I have focus and funny enough when I leave focus a flashing text cursor appears in the Account Name field, but when I click back into the screen the text cursor disappears.  The only thing I can really do is kill it in finder.  I am running Mavericks on a 2019 Mac Pro (intel).

[Tock]

Assuming that last sentence is correct, both Island Rum and HC Launcher installs done on MacOS versions older than Sierra are pretty much "on your own" at this point.  Mavericks predates High Sierra by three annual releases (Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, then Sierra) which is the current recommended 'legacy' OS for older Macs.  Both installers use Wine, which no longer offers bug fixes for OS X Mavericks and older.

 

As for the hardware:

• 2019 Mac Pro (looks like a ginormous Cheese Grater): it shipped brand new with Catalina.  It should be able to run Ventura without any issues, but MacOS Catalina should definitely work with HC Launcher out of the box.
• 2013 Mac Pro (looks like a sleek black "trash can" with fan grating on the top): That came with Mavericks.  Good news?  You should be able to download MacOS Monterey, which still gets security updates.  HC Launcher can run on that OS (I use it on my 2014 Mac Mini, can attest to it working well), but you need to upgrade it away from Mavericks to get it going... see the steps below.
• Older Mac Pro (silver aluminum body that was from revamped from the Power Mac G5 from 2007-2012): You can install High Sierra on the later models in that line, but that's as far as it'll go.

You can check when the Mac was made with the Apple Menu, and "About This Mac..."  It should report when the system was made and what OS you're using.

 

For the 2013 Mac Pro, the Mac App Store has been present since Mountain Lion, you should get OS X upgrades from there, or you can download the installer from here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683.  OS Updates need done at least a little sequentially.  It's not difficult, but...:

• From Mavericks, I'd start with High Sierra.  Download it from the above link, then let it run. Big, Autumn, yellow and grey mountain scene when finished.  Some detailed help on making a USB installer if needed: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
• Once High Sierra goes to the desktop, open the Mac App Store.  You can search for "MacOS Monterey" from there and run that installer.  Another wait to get to a very purple mountain-y desktop.

This is oversimplifying the update process.  For a couple of OS 'leaps' to a recent release, it's probably going to be a Saturday or Sunday project.  Expect to invest at least 4-8 hours into catching it up.

 

Stability-wise: I know older Macs updated to recent OS versions mean losing performance over "new shininess" that 30-60% won't do the new features on the older hardware anyway, but I'd strongly recommend updating your OS to at least Catalina or Big Sur if you can.  The improvements made since those releases are totally worth the headache to carry them out.

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Tock
Confused myself, also learned not even Apple offers a Mavericks recovery DMG anymore.