BTS coming?

My guess is they simply don't know how to program for a Mac.

Is that not mostly a function of their tools though? I mean, it is not like they are using the Windows UI. And CIV got less proprietary with how it uses PHP and XML. So they are starting to move in the right direction.

What's 'the lutz'?

It is some old guy embarrassing himself by trying to talk like the kids. I meant lulz.

There are clearly not enough of them to make it attractive to Aspyr to produce BtS ... and Aspyr *do* know how to spell Macintosh.

Aspyr is expected to do all the work, take all the risk, and then split the profits. Since Mac gamers now have choices, it is no longer safe to assume that that market will pay full retail for mediocre products that are late to market.

Why would Firaxis see it as worth while to change their whole software engineering process and hire scarce Mac game programmers just in order to make their software run on a few more percent of the world's computers? Those computers can already run the Windows version if players are prepared to reboot.

This is the interesting question I think worth discussing here. My thoughts are:

  1. The engineering process has to be refreshed periodically anyway. Just do it right next time. It is not clear to me that multiple Mac game programmers would need to be hired. It is just adding new tools and expectation to the current stable. With the proper tools, one guy who knows the different nuances come compile time might be enough.
  2. The few more percent question is the rub. I would guess that, for many titles, selling 6 percent more product at launch (i.e., full price) would be the difference between good profit and breaking even.
  3. For the reasons I outlined before, Boot Camp cannot be depended upon to move product.
 
Engineering process don't get torn up and rewritten, they evolve.

"Tools" and "nuances" hardly covers the extent of the differences between the Windows and Mac OS X libraries of APIs, frameworks and file systems. Have you ever tried comparing the two development environments?

To do the job properly, as companies like Blizzard seem to, you have to throw away DirectX and replace it with OpenGL and OpenAl. You have to forego Windows-only game engines or develop converters for them that will drive the Mac OS X APIs. The Mac-savvy programmers have to be in the team at the start, they don't come along and just flip a compiler switch at the end of the project to build the Mac version. Is all that really worth doing just for a few percent extra sales? Probably, if, like Blizzard, you took those decisions from the start, but not if you are starting from where Firaxis is now.
 
Sorry I didn't mean to bug you guys about it. I figured it was already a "covered topic" but I also didn't want to read/necro up a dated thread if there has been some new news. I will do a better job of researching before starting likely-duplicate threads.

I do have an intel mac, and I could do the whole bootcamp thing. But then I would need to re-buy Civ 4. Granted I can just buy civ complete for only 50$ or whatever. I ALREADY bought civ4 and warlords for mac.

I also need to acquire windows, which I really don't feel like buying. I also don't want to run bootcamp because I use many other programs while playing civ. I am more interested in using Fusion to run windows ... in a window. But still I need to get windows.

I am passively working on it. Maybe if I can find a cute deal on win XP I will finally make it happen.
 
Steam and CrossOver Games seems to be an option. You still need to buy Civ4Windows as a Steam download, and you need Crossover Games, but you don't have to buy Windows itself.

I haven't tried it myself. I already have Civ4Windows on DVD and the Aspyr versions, so I can't really justify buying yet another version of a game I don't play, just so that I can talk about it here :eek:
 
I don't really, apart from the occasional casual game of solitaire or sudoku. I prefer solving "real" technical problems. Being retired, I can do that for fun now rather than relying on it for a living.
 
Civ3 vanilla, Myst series, Lemmings ... nothing very deep. Manic Miner back in the days of the Spectrum.
 
Lemmings, oh yes... happy memories. I wasted hours and hours of my life on that game while I was supposed to be writing my thesis. Somehow I still got a doctorate at the end.

I think it was the tacky music I enjoyed most.
 
Lemmings, oh yes... happy memories. I wasted hours and hours of my life on that game while I was supposed to be writing my thesis. Somehow I still got a doctorate at the end.

I think it was the tacky music I enjoyed most.

Most of that "tacky" music was written by a couple of guys called Mozart and Beethoven.... at least on the port that I have.
 
I have done so, reluctantly. Too many stickies reduce the chances of people seeing the other new threads as they drop further down the page, and I can't see any existing stickies that can be unstuck.

Note that this is already covered in the sticky FAQ
 
Is it at least possible to simply add the ten new civs as a mod? (With the appropriate mods for buildings.)
 
this likley has already been posted, but some things to point out;
I can understand you wish to know more about how we choose titles to port to Mac. We continually evaluate games to be brought over to the platform, looking at several factors including its popularity, whether the Mac market is interested in the game, whether the company that owns the rights is interested in having a Mac version, and how hard it would be to port over (for example, if a game using the same software engine has already been ported, it becomes much easier for us to have it done). Our customers are one of the sources of determining interest, so we thank you for your mail.

However the Civ 4 series is a bit different. Warlords did not produce a great number of sales, far less than was expected. There is also the problem of programing for Civ 4, now as I said above using the same engine as previous game usually makes porting new titles easier, that is not the case for the Civ 4 titles. While the actual game is fairly stable (not perfect of course) the code behind it on the PC side is a mess. This kind of thrown together code makes it difficult to port the game and fix problems that arise in the port. Due to the sheer number of problems we have encountered with working with the PC code for the Civ 4 titles it may be that production does not wish to have to go through it again. For instance when patching games it usually takes a couple of weeks or as much as eight weeks. Civ 4 patches take us months to program and test because of constant problems.

I wish I could give better news about BTS for Civ 4 but at this time we have no plans to port the expansion.

Have a nice day,
Aspyr
I'm hoping that they do, because i'd like to buy a mac and civ is one of my favourite games, but maybe if they'd put the game together better there would be a number of things solved;

1. PC-Mac porting much, much easier
2. we'd have a faster pc game (i've heard it's very slow)

note, i'm not to sure, but technology is changing, mac and pc files and programs are starting to look like similar files
 
Honestly, isn't there someone with the skills to create a mod that just adds the bts civs and leaders to warlords?
 
It would be simple to add just the new civs and leaders, but you'll either have to learn how yourself or try to entice someone else to do it (not too likely.) If you just want more civs and leaders, then I would suggest checking out the civ gold mod.
 
Back
Top Bottom