Mac GOTM Installers

Last time I reinstalled my Civ3 application I found the reinstatement of the Game of the Month files from GOTM16 upwards to be a royal pain. So here are some installers I have created for Mac OS X players.

Game Files The installers do NOT contain the actual game start files. Game file links can be found on or through the GOTM Reference hread

Update November 10 2004 The single one-step OS X installer package that sets up a standard copy of Civ3 v1.29 to play current GOTMs now includes a copy of Bluebox's GOTM Scenario files. This allows you to play randonm games with all the extra civs and units supplied in the GOTM mods. The installer also installs the additional resources files you would need to play the GOTM Scenario, and for GOTMs 20 to 31 inclusive, and provides instructions on the file moves you need to do that. Just two files need to be swapped. Be warned - it's a 24 MByte download, but as Mac users you are now way ahead of your PC brethren

Update November 28 2004 The full installer v3.3 now installs the SGOTM resource set as standard. This is backwards compatible with the current GOTM and with standard factory resources, so the only time you need to swap resource files is to play bluebox's scenario or old GOTMs.

Use the old separate installers if you prefer smaller downloads, but note that you will then need to swap resources files and get the latest pediaicons.txt file in order to play the current GOTMs.

Here is a list of the installers with their download links:

** NEW ** Full GOTM Installer (24.46 MBytes) Updates a copy of Civ III version 1.29 to play any Game of the Month.

GOTM23 Full Installer (8.5 MBytes). Updates a copy of Civ III version 1.29 to play any Game of the Month up to and including #23.

GOTM24 Basic Incremental Installer (6.9 MBytes). Adds the minimum files needed to play GOTM24. Requires a working GOTM 23 installation.

GOTM24 Enhanced Incremental Installer. (9.5 MBytes). Adds all the files needed to play GOTM 24 with enhanced graphics. Requires a working GOTM23 installation.

GOTM25 Incremental Installer. (6.9 MBytes). Adds all the files needed to play GOTM25 onwards. Requires a working GOTM24 installation.

Warning: The installers overwrite some files in the Text directory. They first copy these files into a directory called "Before GOTMXX", where XX is the game number being installed. You can use these backup copies to revert to the previous state. However, if you run an installer twice for the same game then you should first make a copy of the "Before GOTMXX" folder to avoid the second run overwriting the backup files.

All these installers check for the existence of some key files and folders in your Civ III directory, so if they indcate an error, look at the Installer log for an indication of the problem.

Check out my new alpha release "think different" mod installer. This post describes it and provides a download link. It may overcome problems with OS X 10.1.x.

As always, please let me know if you have any problems with these installers.

OMG, who is this man?

Thanks a ton, AlanH!

Excellent work AlanH, thanks a lot.

Thanks for your encouragement, but I'm still holding my breath waiting for someone to tell me whether they work on a system that isn't sitting on my desk !

Going blue .... ..... bluer ... ... [gurgle] .....

AlanH, it worked like a charm!

Now, I've not played very far at all, but it all seems well for now.

Whew, that's a relief! I'll start breathing again. Thanks for the feedback. I assume that was the full installer, as that's the one you asked me about in PM?

Originally posted by AlanH
Whew, that's a relief! I'll start breathing again. Thanks for the feedback. I assume that was the full installer, as that's the one you asked me about in PM?

Click to expand...

Correct.

Alan,

Just to let you know, the installer you e-mailed me worked great as well. I'm glad its now up on the website for all to access.

Thanks so much for making things easier for the rest of us!
James

Thanks for your feedback, guys. I guess we have enough evidence that maybe they work. I'll ask Thunderfall if we can sticky this thread for new peeps to find.

Could not open the full installer.
Message stated "Missing or old Bill of materials."
I am using OS 10.1
Since I know you use Jaguar it seems you built this app for jaguar only. If this is the case why didn't you state this fact?
I am an OS X user and it did not work.

Originally posted by n8mac
Could not open the full installer.
Message stated "Missing or old Bill of materials."
I am using OS 10.1
Since I know you use Jaguar it seems you built this app for jaguar only. If this is the case why didn't you state this fact?
I am an OS X user and it did not work.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that, n8mac. I fully intended it to be compatible with 10.1 and 10.2,so I made sure to build it using Apple's latest tools. They are supposed to buiild installers compatible with 10.1, but I don't have a 10.1 system to test it with.

I'll investigate and try to find out what went wrong.

Its OK. Its just an extra and not required to play. I just get mad (not at you but in general) when I download a big file on my dial-up to find it won't work.

I have never seen a message 'old bill of materials' before. Wierd.

Alan

I tried the incremental installer and got the same result as n8mac. I installed it by hand.

Not that it really matters as I won't have time to even come close to finishing the game this month.

Thanks for the effort though.

Adrian

@AdrianE: Was that using 10.1.x like n8mac?

I have investigated the 10.1.x problem and come up with a blank so far. Contacts on the relevant Apple Developer mailing list have not been able to suggest a reason for the problem, and I have also tried building the installer using the 10.1 Packagemaker - so far without success. I'm still trying, though, so don't give up on me yet.

Alan

yes thats 10.1.x (.2 IIRC)

Adrian

Alan, I haven't taken advantage of your installer yet because I've always been caught up, and couldn't see how much time I'd save each month by not doing it the manual way. But it seems like this month, there are quite a few files and folders to upload, and the automatic version looks very attractive. I'll definitely want to play with the optional units, so I guess I download the big package, right? Now what about swapping the resources files? In other words, how automatic is this?

@Txurce:

Yes. The big package includes everything you need to upgrade your GOTM23 installation to GOTM24 complete with all Cracker's new optional graphics.

Re resources:

The full GOTM23 installer puts all of the resources files in place, moves the existing set into "resources storage/my original resources folder" and puts the GOTM21 "smilies+blips" ones in their place.

However, the incremental installers don't swap the resources currently, as I've assumed you would run them on a copy of Civ3 that has previously been used for a GOTM, and from GOTM21 onwards all the games have used the same resources set. As you may recall, my recommendation is to keep a separate copy of the Civ3 application that is modded up for GOTM, then file swapping is unnecessary unless you want to go back and play game #20, which had a unique resources set.

I considered trying to box clever and install a set of resources files using the incremental installer. But it gets complicated when you don't know which existing resources are currently active, what might have already been copied to "resources storage/my original resources folder", which version of blips and smilies the user prefers and so on. It just seemed easier to let the user decide what files to use. I'm sure I haven't covered all the angles, so if you can suggest a fool-proof way to do this, please let me know.

Alan, I am now at the point where I only play the GOTM and the Medal Play game each month, so I don't worry about an unmodded game. I will now download the big package, and prime myself for Korea. Once again, thanks for your daily support of the GOTM process. It is greatly appreciated, even if not acknowledged each time.

Question: I did up to now all manual installs, and everything is fine. But the civilopedia does not have information on the gotm-introduced tribes. Is this so, or did I miss some install step? Which?

<stretchs, yawns, and looks around.>


So....... I've been asleep for about 4 months and this seems a great way to get caught up. The only prblem is, I get this error when I try to install:
(this is the GOTM 23 full install file BTW)
"The installer package 'GOTM23 Full' cannot be opened.
The preflight script was either not executable or not readable."

any thoughts?

BTW, how have the last few games been? I fell out for awhile. Getting married will do that to a person.

lateralis