Howdy

[Schaefer_Aspyr]

Hello Civ Community. I work for Aspyr Media as their Community Manager.
I recently moved in to this position and just want to say to you
Civ Mac players out there, that if you ever have any questions
or concerns to please contact me and I'll be happy to answer
any questions you have. I'll be a daily visitor. I know that in the
past Aspyr got a bad wrap for the lack of interaction they had
with their community but I'm here to tell ya, there's a new guy
on the block and I'm here to help if you need anything.


Steven Schaefer
Digital Publishing Content & Community Manager
AIM - overdogmountain
email - sschaefer@aspyr.com

 

[Thunderfall]

Good to have you here, Steven!

 

[Schaefer_Aspyr]

It's good to be here! Hopefully I can be of help in some way!

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

Get Civ to stop having a dll. Make them move on to something Mac-Friendly!

 

[AlanH]

Welcome to the forums, Steven

It's great to know that someone from Aspyr will be listening and talking here. Got to be a win-win for Aspyr and the fans.

 

[dojoboy]

Welcome, Steven.

 

[Xyth]

Great to hear you're getting involved Steven, welcome!

 

[Schaefer_Aspyr]

Thanks everyone, well I guess I can address the first question of Dll's.. I'll get back to you guys shortly with an answer. Keep in mind you may not like the answers I provide, however, you've got my word that every single question that is asked will be escalated to the proper department. By the way, the little smilie wavey guy reminds me of a Kodama from Princess Mononoke... Just thought I'd point that out

 

[Schaefer_Aspyr]

Get Civ to stop having a dll. Make them move on to something Mac-Friendly!

Do you want dll removed so it would work/work better with Mods?

 

[Jarlaxe Baenre]

I just want it replaced with something Mac-Compatible, so more mods can work on a Mac.

 

[OgreProdigy]

Putting aside the question of finding a way to auto-rewrite all DLL mods so they work on the Mac (Which I understand is a pretty enormous task), would it be possible to translate one or two of the most popular individual mods over, or no?

 

[Xyth]

I just want it replaced with something Mac-Compatible, so more mods can work on a Mac.

We Mac users were extremely shortchanged by lack of DLL/SDK support in Civ4. I realize that that's mostly Firaxis' fault for implemented such a Windows-centric system but there was earlier talk by Brad Oliver of some progress being made on a (limited?) form of SDK support. If you could follow up on this it would be greatly appreciated. Even just conversion of a few of the most popular DLL around would be incredible.

SDK aside, Mac BTS also lags behind the Windows version in both XML and Python too. The Mac implementation of the xml parser is much 'fussier'; it often throws errors when it encounters accented characters, certain hyphens and quotes, and such. While we can fix these ourselves we shouldn't really have to. Mac BTS uses Python 2.3 I think while Windows BTS uses Python 2.4. Most of the time this is not an issue but occasionally it causes unnecessary incompatibility with mods (especially mapscripts).

We could really use a BTS patch to address these, along with some other Mac specific issues; I believe antialiasing breaks things on many systems (see this thread)and something about PBEM games doesn't work right. Do you think you could talk to the powers that be at Aspyr and see if a new patch of some sort is a possibility?

Due to the sheer technical difficulties I realize that an SDK for Civ4 is probably a pipedream at this stage. However if Aspyr get the job for Civ5 I can't begin to express how much we'd all like to have 100% mod compatibility for once in the franchise. Hopefully Firaxis are more flexible this time around.

EDIT: Support for multiple cores would sure be nice too

 

[Xyth]

Putting aside the question of finding a way to auto-rewrite all DLL mods so they work on the Mac (Which I understand is a pretty enormous task), would it be possible to translate one or two of the most popular individual mods over, or no?

This would indeed be incredible. If it's a possibility I'd be more than happy to survey the CFC Mac community to see which are the most desired (RevDCM and FfH would top most people's lists I imagine); I'll even try locate and collate all the source code for you.

 

[dogdoo]

i think the dll change would be beneficial to first time modders like myself who have no idea what their doing and learn as they go

 

[Schaefer_Aspyr]

Good stuff guys. Don't think this in un heard.. This thread is great because all these suggestion are documented. And yes, as far as releasing anything to the community for previously released Civ games.. I wouldn't hold your breath on that one, however, IF and that's a big if, we get Civ V, rest assured that these will all be addressed. I will actually hold a meeting discussing these ;-)

 

[dojoboy]

Good stuff guys. Don't think this in un heard.. This thread is great because all these suggestion are documented. And yes, as far as releasing anything to the community for previously released Civ games.. I wouldn't hold your breath on that one, however, IF and that's a big if, we get Civ V, rest assured that these will all be addressed. I will actually hold a meeting discussing these ;-)

Finally, someone mentions Civ5. And, it's the Aspyr guy at that. Don't drop the big "IF" on us now.

Or else,

 

[flying toaster]

IF and that's a big if, we get Civ V

hu ... wait ... what does that mean ?
I know civ V is first release for pc. Are we suppose to understand here that there is a big chance there is no mac version ?
if so, I don't want to be mean but then why would a community manager bother to come and say hello since it is obvious that nothing will be release for past game.

Or I'm just bad in english and that if doesn't mean what I suppose. ( let's hope for that )

 

[coffee junkie]

Hi Schaefer_Aspyr

Welcome I'm really glad to see someone from Aspyr there ...

Do you want dll removed so it would work/work better with Mods?

YES ! for sure. From a Mac gamer point of view : .dll is a kind of heretic stuff, an always-source-of-problems to get more involved in any game community and every part of the game itself.

Putting aside the question of finding a way to auto-rewrite all DLL mods so they work on the Mac (Which I understand is a pretty enormous task), would it be possible to translate one or two of the most popular individual mods over, or no?

Not enough. Translate one or two mods is a really really cheap way and doesn't resolve the fundamuntal question of .dll on Mac platform.

I think we are all aware of the difficulty to translate .dll in something Mac-friendly AND compatible so Xyth idea of a patch able to resolve first something such as the "antialiasing" break ... ( you know, all the leaders looking like aliens in Mars Attacks ... )

Python compatibility ( from version 2.3 ) should be really a good idea too.

Support for multiple cores would sure be nice too

I agree with this too.

Now, don't be angry with me Schaefer_Aspyr ( we all remember the lack of support from Aspyr to Mac gamers, and not only about Civilization ) I wonder ... Is it because the soon arrival of iPhone OS 4, next generation of most advanced mobile OS in the world AND the success of iPad which brings Aspyr now to be interested by what are thinking Mac users ?

I won't complain.

 

[Schaefer_Aspyr]

hu ... wait ... what does that mean ?
I know civ V is first release for pc. Are we suppose to understand here that there is a big chance there is no mac version ?
if so, I don't want to be mean but then why would a community manager bother to come and say hello since it is obvious that nothing will be release for past game.

Or I'm just bad in english and that if doesn't mean what I suppose. ( let's hope for that )

No, not at all. The big if is "IF" Aspyr will be doing it or not. A Mac version of Civ V will most definitely come out, but by who or when is un-known. There's been a Mac version of every other Civ game so I guess it's more a matter of "when." And nothing here is quotable, I honestly don't know what the plan is for Civ V. I hope that plan involves us though!

 

[Schaefer_Aspyr]

I agree with this too.

Now, don't be angry with me Schaefer_Aspyr ( we all remember the lack of support from Aspyr to Mac gamers, and not only about Civilization ) I wonder ... Is it because the soon arrival of iPhone OS 4, next generation of most advanced mobile OS in the world AND the success of iPad which brings Aspyr now to be interested by what are thinking Mac users ?

I won't complain.

YOU SONIVA!!! HOW DARE YOU no no no I'm just kidding ;-).. I appreciate the honesty, and like I said in a previous post, this is a new position at the company and I'm filling it. I think it's very important for Aspyr to be listening to their gamers. There's no conspiracy, nor is this a back ended attempt for market research. Trust me, I am a real dude with a real need to hear what you guys have to say, because honestly how can we as a company begin to think that we know what you guys want without asking you? So... Keep it coming!