The downloader downloads both Mac and Windows setup programs, which are both very small (< 3MB) and a lot of generic binary files.
Are these binary files cross platform? Can I use my Mac and the Mac downloader to get the setup files, and then install on my Windows PC?
I understand the need for two "installers" from the battle.net website as the downloading process needs to be platform dependant, but if the downloader downloads both .app and .exe files then it seems to be cross platform from then on.
Can anyone confirm this?
Best Answer
Yes, Blizzard includes both the Mac and Windows versions of the installer when you download it. The "Mac/Win" link you click on Battle.net is for which version of the downloader to use.
You can use the downloaded files to install your game on either platform, regardless of which platform you downloaded them with.
Blizzard likely structured things this way so that their peer-to-peer distribution system would benefit from a larger pool of people downloading the installer, instead of splitting the swarm into separate Mac and Windows groups.