tanee
Nov 03, 2009, 10:32 AM
Hi all, I just registered for this..
I searched the forum and found a few nice threads discussing how to run (or rather, that you supposedly can't run) Civ IV on case-sensitive filesystems, e. g. this one (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=176677) is quite interesting.
Well, as I'm using a case-sensitive FS, I had the same problem and I won't comment on that older thread any further. In those posts, Brad, an Aspyr Developer?, asserted that the main problem are the folders "~/Library/Application Support/Civilization IV" and "~/Documents/Civilization IV".
I managed to run the game and I also found a few more broken parts, aside from the port itself (sorry! couldn't resist). So how did I do it?
(1) I already had copied the game off of the DVD onto a case-insensitive volume, generated using disk utility. This is the same way you can play Civ 3 or launch some other badly ported software. I'll assume familiarity with that, if you're using a case-sensitive system.
(2) I also created two more Volumes with the following settings: hard disk, 4gb, sparse, case-insensitive. These will hold the folders Brad mentioned inside Documents and Application Support. Just so the paths below make a bit more sense: I named them "Civ IV Documents" and "Civ IV Library" and put them into my home folder.
(3) Next, those Volumes can be mounted using hdiutil like so (note the upper-case destination folder!):
hdiutil attach ~/Civ\ IV\ Documents.sparseimage -mountpoint ~/Documents/CIVILIZATION\ IV
hdiutil attach ~/Civ\ IV\ Library.sparseimage -mountpoint ~/Library/Application\ Support/CIVILIZATION\ IV
Both Images also appear in the Finder's bar, if you want to eject them.
(4) Now the curious part: If you launch Civ IV now it doesn't work. Both folders get populated (like they always do) but the settings aren't saved. A quick test is to just launch the game holding the command-key to get the Fullscreen/Windowed-dialog. If you choose any resolution other than the default (1024) it just doesn't change anything. The game starts in 1024x768, regardless of the choice. This means "it doesn't work". The trick is to add the following links to your system (may have to be an Administrator):
cd /
ln -s Users USERS
cd Users
ln -s <your_username> <YOUR_USERNAME>
cd ~
ln -s Documents DOCUMENTS
ln -s Library LIBRARY
cd Library
ln -s Application\ Support APPLICATION\ SUPPORT
You also have to link your fake-directories to the correct case (so the launcher doesn't populate it again):
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support
ln -s CIVILIZATION\ IV Civilization\ IV
cd ~/Documents
ln -s CIVILIZATION\ IV Civilization\ IV
The game actually recognized the folders if it can get to it's data with an upper-case path! WTF Aspyr!
These commands should now work:
ls /USERS/<YOUR_USERNAME>/LIBRARY/APPLICATION\ SUPPORT/CIVILIZATION\ IV
ls /USERS/<YOUR_USERNAME>/LIBRARY/APPLICATION\ SUPPORT/Civilization\ IV
ls /USERS/<YOUR_USERNAME>/DOCUMENTS/Civilization\ IV
(5) Play. As strange as it may sound, these steps worked for me. I just finished a 3-hour game on my proudly case-sensitive formatted mac with only the usual mac-version's bugs. Ah and before I forget: this was all on Vanilla Civ 4 v1.74 (the patcher can be run from your desktop, nowhere else! I had first copied it inside the game directory, didn't work there), I don't have BtS.
I just verified the steps for Warlords, it works there as well.
I searched the forum and found a few nice threads discussing how to run (or rather, that you supposedly can't run) Civ IV on case-sensitive filesystems, e. g. this one (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=176677) is quite interesting.
Well, as I'm using a case-sensitive FS, I had the same problem and I won't comment on that older thread any further. In those posts, Brad, an Aspyr Developer?, asserted that the main problem are the folders "~/Library/Application Support/Civilization IV" and "~/Documents/Civilization IV".
I managed to run the game and I also found a few more broken parts, aside from the port itself (sorry! couldn't resist). So how did I do it?
(1) I already had copied the game off of the DVD onto a case-insensitive volume, generated using disk utility. This is the same way you can play Civ 3 or launch some other badly ported software. I'll assume familiarity with that, if you're using a case-sensitive system.
(2) I also created two more Volumes with the following settings: hard disk, 4gb, sparse, case-insensitive. These will hold the folders Brad mentioned inside Documents and Application Support. Just so the paths below make a bit more sense: I named them "Civ IV Documents" and "Civ IV Library" and put them into my home folder.
(3) Next, those Volumes can be mounted using hdiutil like so (note the upper-case destination folder!):
hdiutil attach ~/Civ\ IV\ Documents.sparseimage -mountpoint ~/Documents/CIVILIZATION\ IV
hdiutil attach ~/Civ\ IV\ Library.sparseimage -mountpoint ~/Library/Application\ Support/CIVILIZATION\ IV
Both Images also appear in the Finder's bar, if you want to eject them.
(4) Now the curious part: If you launch Civ IV now it doesn't work. Both folders get populated (like they always do) but the settings aren't saved. A quick test is to just launch the game holding the command-key to get the Fullscreen/Windowed-dialog. If you choose any resolution other than the default (1024) it just doesn't change anything. The game starts in 1024x768, regardless of the choice. This means "it doesn't work". The trick is to add the following links to your system (may have to be an Administrator):
cd /
ln -s Users USERS
cd Users
ln -s <your_username> <YOUR_USERNAME>
cd ~
ln -s Documents DOCUMENTS
ln -s Library LIBRARY
cd Library
ln -s Application\ Support APPLICATION\ SUPPORT
You also have to link your fake-directories to the correct case (so the launcher doesn't populate it again):
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support
ln -s CIVILIZATION\ IV Civilization\ IV
cd ~/Documents
ln -s CIVILIZATION\ IV Civilization\ IV
The game actually recognized the folders if it can get to it's data with an upper-case path! WTF Aspyr!
These commands should now work:
ls /USERS/<YOUR_USERNAME>/LIBRARY/APPLICATION\ SUPPORT/CIVILIZATION\ IV
ls /USERS/<YOUR_USERNAME>/LIBRARY/APPLICATION\ SUPPORT/Civilization\ IV
ls /USERS/<YOUR_USERNAME>/DOCUMENTS/Civilization\ IV
(5) Play. As strange as it may sound, these steps worked for me. I just finished a 3-hour game on my proudly case-sensitive formatted mac with only the usual mac-version's bugs. Ah and before I forget: this was all on Vanilla Civ 4 v1.74 (the patcher can be run from your desktop, nowhere else! I had first copied it inside the game directory, didn't work there), I don't have BtS.
I just verified the steps for Warlords, it works there as well.