Extract RCT2 files on macOS - Quickstart Guide
If you're on macOS there are 2 options to extract the game files.
First option: WINE
GOG.com and Retail CD versions
You can use WINE - a reimplementation of the Windows API - to run the installer. Using a wrapper such as PlayOnMac is recommended to make the process easier. Follow the wizard the wrapper provides, pointing it to the installer at the appropriate point. It does not matter if RCT2 actually runs, as we'll be using OpenRCT2.
Steam version
Follow a guide for installing Steam via WINE, such as this one from the Arch Wiki. Download and install RCT2, remembering to note/copy the path where you installed it.
Second option: Manual extraction
GOG.com version
If you have the GOG.com installer, you can extract it using innoextract. Check if your distribution has a package for it, if not it can be downloaded from the link provided.
Create a folder for the RCT2 files, and move the installer package to it, as innoextract will simply dump the contents to the folder where the installer resides. Open a terminal window, navigate to the folder you created and run the following command.
innoextract INSTALLERNAME.exe
The files will be extracted, and you're ready to go.
Retail CD version
If you have the retail installer, you'll need unshield to extract it. There may be a package available for your distribution, or build from source (grab the source from the link, then run cmake . && make).
Once you have unshield, run the following commands, replacing PATH-TO-EXTRACT-FILES-TO and INSTALLER-LOCATION appropriately.
unshield -g Minimum -d "PATH-TO-EXTRACT-FILES-TO" x "INSTALLER-LOCATION/data1.hdr" cp -R "$INSTALLDIR/Data/" "$EXTRACTDIR/Minimum/Data" mv "$EXTRACTDIR/Minimum" "$EXTRACTDIR/RCT2"
Steam version
Launch Steam with the console enabled.
/Applications/Steam.app/Contents/MacOS/steam_osx -console
You should now see additional tab in the top menu called CONSOLE. Open it, and enter the following command.
download_depot 285330 285331
If you also own RCT1 Deluxe on Steam and want those assets as well, you could enter this command. You don't have to wait for the first download to finish before entering the second one.
download_depot 285310 285311
Once the download is complete, the console will display something along the lines of the following.
Depot download complete : /home/USERNAME/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32\\steamapps\\content\\app_285330\\depot_285331
The game won't show up in the list of installed games - this is normal.