How to Run StepMania 5 on macOS Sierra

StepMania is pretty rad piece of software. Initially released in 2001, the open-source rhythm game engine has since become the premiere PC-based platform for playing any dancing step chart under the sun. Wanna play your favorite Dance Dance Revolution songs from any version? Download a chart. Wanna play a custom dance routine for one of your favorite non-DDR songs? Download a chart—or heck, create your own.

As much as I loved practicing with official home versions like Dance Dance Revolution II for the Wii (and numerous PlayStation 2 entries), I knew I’d have to get StepMania if I wanted to really up my skill-level. So, before I had even purchased a USB dance pad, I zoop-swooped over to StepMania.com and…well, downloaded StepMania.

Yes.

My excitement was reaching an intense peak. Finally, I would be able to play all the official and custom songs I wanted! The sky was the proverbial limit, people! Once the download was complete, I dragged the folder to my desktop and opened up StepMania 5—the fifth version!

Hm. It seemed my excitement was unwarranted. And after doing a little Internet research, I found that this was a recurring issue for many people. Just how on Earth do we open StepMania on our MacBooks, people?

My search led me to a nice forum that seemed to have the solution. The primary solution seemed to be some Terminal wizardry that would cause me unwanted trouble, and I didn’t know enough to mess with it. Then, that’s when I found the real answer. And because I love StepMania so gosh danged much, I figured I’d share this PSA with all of you boys and girls of the Internet.

What can I say? I’m a real high-and-mighty beneficiary. For reference (but not that it matters too much), let me specify which version of each software I’m using. This is StepMania 5.0.12 running on Version 10.12.6 on macOS. Just in case you needed to know. So, let’s get started.

First, you’ll need to open your handy-dandy StepMania-5.0.12 folder. If that wasn’t…clear.

Then, right-click the StepMania icon and select “Show Package Contents” from the resulting context menu.

After that, double-click that aptly-titled “Contents” folder.

Within the Contents folder, double-click the “MacOS” folder.

Double-click that StepMania Terminal icon thing and boom—you’re all set! If you close the Terminal window, you’ll close StepMania, as well. Other than that, feel free to minimize Terminal, close the folder window, and get crackin’ with some dancing. It’s all good fun, kiddos.

I know that this was a rather simplistic article and that it’s much shorter than my usual fare, but I hope you still found it plenty useful. It took my friend and me a bit of digging to finally figure out how to run StepMania 5 on Sierra, and I wanted to centralize the information for any curious parties. Don’t fret, children! Dustin Wilcox has saved the day once again!

Now go away. I am a busy boy.

And read my other articles. I am vain.