Cannot get Duplicator archives to work

I normally use MAMP but would like to give local a try, but I use duplicator packages all the time, and so far I haven’t succeeded in many attempts in installing a duplicator package with local.

If I drag and drop the archive folder onto local and follow the instructions to set up the site, it appears to work, but when I try to visit the site it takes me to the WordPress install.php page.

I’ve tried instead creating a working site with local, deleting all of the contents of the /app/ folder, copying the Duplicator package and installer.php file, then visiting site.local/installer.php

I pass the first screen okay, but on the second screen I can’t seem to get any combination of settings to work, testing the database connection always fails.

I’d really like to get local working with duplicator.