For a smoother experience, follow the installation tips presented below for your platform/operating system. The Windows tips apply to both BGE v1.x and BGE v2.0.

If running Windows:
1. Once you’ve unzipped the downloaded file, be sure to move it out of your Downloads folder, as Windows won’t allow EXEs to run from that location.
2. Find the “Battlegrounds Gaming Engine.exe” app, right-click on it, go into Properties, and set the BGE executable to “Always Run as Admin”.
3. During the first launch, you might be asked to grant the app special permissions. I suggest you do so, as I haven’t tested the app after denying these permissions.
4. If you have anti-virus app running (e.g. Windows Defender) and BGE is failing to launch, you may need to whitelist BGE in your AV software.
5. If you have an nVidia video card, you will probably have to set it to use the Studio Driver, rather than the Gamer Driver.
6. If BGE still won’t launch for you and you’re running a 64-bit version of Windows, go back into Properties for “Battlegrounds Gaming Engine.exe” and set the app to always run in 32-bit compatibility mode (anything other than Vista mode should work).

If running on a Mac:
When first installed, the program will not be able to run right away. That’s because (depending on your computer’s security settings) macOS’s Gatekeeper feature automatically puts downloaded apps in quarantine, and will not allow them to launch. So some initial configuration is required to bypass this security feature (especially because BGE v2.0 is not code-signed, at this time).

The following are step-by-step instructions to un-quarantine BGE.

1. Open the “BGE v2_0 WINE” folder so that the “BGE (WINE).app” file is showing. It’s the one with the spiffy custom icon.

2. Launch the Terminal app, then copy-and-paste in this command (be sure to include a space after the word “quarantine”):
xattr -drs com.apple.quarantine

3. Don’t press Return yet.

4. Drag-and-drop the “BGE (WINE).app” file into Terminal, so that it automatically fills in the filepath for you (this saves you from having to type it out, and avoids potential typos).

5. Now press Return.

BGE v2.0 should now be safe from Gatekeeper’s quarantine, and be able to run properly.

6. Control-click on “BGE (WINE).app” and select the Open command. If asked “Are you sure you want to open this file?” (or something to that effect), say Yes.

7. BGE v2.0 should now launch. Subsequent launches of the app can be done by simply double-clicking the BGE app.

8. During the first launch, you might be asked to grant the app special permissions. I suggest you do so, as I haven’t tested the app after denying these permissions.