[Mac] Installing the Mod With No Name

[mythusmage]

Spacer One having died (heart attack) back in Sept. he's no longer available to answer requests such as this. So this is for anyone who has any experience with MWNN. I'm going to try installing the mod on my iMac again to see if I can get it to work. Any errors that pop up will be reported in this thread to see if anybody can devise a solution, or do any editing necessary. As I type the main file is downloading, first report when that is installed and opened. After getting that going I'll be updating to patch1 and seeing how that goes.

 

[timerover51]

Spacer One having died (heart attack) back in Sept. he's no longer available to answer requests such as this. So this is for anyone who has any experience with MWNN. I'm going to try installing the mod on my iMac again to see if I can get it to work. Any errors that pop up will be reported in this thread to see if anybody can devise a solution, or do any editing necessary. As I type the main file is downloading, first report when that is installed and opened. After getting that going I'll be updating to patch1 and seeing how that goes.

So, have you gotten it running yet, or given up?

 

[mythusmage]

So, have you gotten it running yet, or given up?

MWNN 1, yes. MWNN 2, no. The latter looks for a PediaIcon entry in the wrong PediaIcon. Correcting that means editing the scenario biq, and there is no Civ3 editor for the Mac.

 

[AlanH]

MWNN 1, yes. MWNN 2, no. The latter looks for a PediaIcon entry in the wrong PediaIcon. Correcting that means editing the scenario biq, and there is no Civ3 editor for the Mac.

... or copying the file it wants into the location where it wants to find it.

 

[mythusmage]

... or copying the file it wants into the location where it wants to find it.

Won't work. It's looking for a PediaIcon Entry that isn't there. I would much rather not mess with core PediaIcons. Scenario PediaIcons I will mess with, with proper instructions, but not core PediaIcons.

 

[AlanH]

What is the error message?

By the way, re. your signature, it isn't the Mac that's intolerant, or at least, any more intolerant than other computers. It's the ports of Civilization series games to the Mac.

 

[mythusmage]

What is the error message?

What the MWNN 2.0 biq is calling for is an entry in the Conquest Game Data/text/PediaIcon.txt file. A file that does not have such an entry. The MWNN 1.0 biq calls for entrys from the MWNN/text/PediaIcon.txt file. When Spacer One updated the scenario he made a big mistake, a mistake that could be easily corrected by anyone with a Civ3 editior; and that means the Windows version of the game. Since I have a Mac I'm really not qualified to do it. Besides, I'm not going to mess with any of the three core game PediaIcon texts lest I somehow turn reality into an ocean of lemon custard lit by phosphorescent flatulence.

Yes, it is time for the Mod With No Name 2.0.1. Or MWNN 2bis to borrow an Italian term.

 

[AlanH]

When the software comes across a reference to an icon or an image or sound resource, it looks for that reference in a number of places. It should look in the Scenario's data folder first in case the scanario has overridden a standard item - eg the modder has made a custom worker graphic. If it can't find the resource in the scenario, it should then search the expansion data folder, and finally it should look in the base data folder for Civ3.

I suspect the error message simply quotes one of the places where the software tried to find the entry. That doesn't mean you have to put the entry in the base data file. It should work with the info in the scenario.

Since I have Civ3 running in Mac and in WindowsXP/Parallels, I have all the requisite bits to try to investigate. All except one ... a link to the mod ... please?

I did try Googling it, honestly. All I got back were references to your posts.

[EDIT] Never mind. I searched for Spacer One, found his threads, and got it from there. For future reference, it makes it easier for people to help if you don't assume the mod is as easy to track down as you found it.

Don't hold your breath. Download speed is glacial. Since I am away for the next two days, I may not get to look at it until Sunday at the earliest.

 

[AlanH]

UPDATE

I'm still waiting for the main mod to download. However, the patches have downloaded, and I've checked the /Text/pediaicons.txt file in them. ICON_BLDG_Kitty_Hawk is referenced there.

So ...

Are you sure you have installed the mod correctly? Note that when you install the patches, you can't just use the instructions given in the included file, as you will just replace the entire /Text/ and /Art/ folders in the mod with the ones in the patch. That will delete a whole lot of essential stuff and just leave you with the patch. You have to manually insert/replace the individual components from each patch into the mod.

 

[mythusmage]

UPDATE

I'm still waiting for the main mod to download. However, the patches have downloaded, and I've checked the /Text/pediaicons.txt file in them. ICON_BLDG_Kitty_Hawk is referenced there.

So ...

Are you sure you have installed the mod correctly? Note that when you install the patches, you can't just use the instructions given in the included file, as you will just replace the entire /Text/ and /Art/ folders in the mod with the ones in the patch. That will delete a whole lot of essential stuff and just leave you with the patch. You have to manually insert/replace the individual components from each patch into the mod.

Fairly certain. I have checked the scenario's PediaIcon and found the Kitty_Hawk entry. For some reason the scenario biq in this case is not looking in the obvious spot. It may indeed be a case of corruption. Guess I'll be downloading MWNN 2.0 again to see what happens.

Update: I've got a cold, I can't hold my breath. And if I don't say it enough, thank you.

 

[AlanH]

I've downloaded it and installed it, and I get the same error, so it's not just you

I'm now installing it into the Windows version to see if it behaves the same, and where I can open the .biq in the editor.

[EDIT] There is nothing in the .biq to tell the game where to find the scenario resources, so it must require the name of the .biq file to be the same as the name of the mod folder. I changed the file name from NWNN(beta 2.0).biq to MWNN.biq, and I was able to start a game.

Give it a try ...

[UPDATE] OK, I've just opened the .biq in the Windows editor, and there *is* an entry in the 'Scenario Search Folders' field. It's set to 'MWNN(beta 2.0)'. Therefore, strictly speaking, you should make the mod folder name equal to the .biq name. However, it does seem as if you can get away with my first solution.

 

[timerover51]

Personally, I think that once someone gets a mod working for the Mac, they should post it to a Mac-only mod site.

 

[mythusmage]

I've downloaded it and installed it, and I get the same error, so it's not just you

I'm now installing it into the Windows version to see if it behaves the same, and where I can open the .biq in the editor.

[EDIT] There is nothing in the .biq to tell the game where to find the scenario resources, so it must require the name of the .biq file to be the same as the name of the mod folder. I changed the file name from NWNN(beta 2.0).biq to MWNN.biq, and I was able to start a game.

Give it a try ...

[UPDATE] OK, I've just opened the .biq in the Windows editor, and there *is* an entry in the 'Scenario Search Folders' field. It's set to 'MWNN(beta 2.0)'. Therefore, strictly speaking, you should make the mod folder name equal to the .biq name. However, it does seem as if you can get away with my first solution.

I think I'll try your second suggestion. Do you want to post this solution to a certain Mac forum thread, or should I?

Update: It worked! I'm now playing the Sioux in a Regents game, and we've learned pottery from the Saxons.

 

[mythusmage]

Personally, I think that once someone gets a mod working for the Mac, they should post it to a Mac-only mod site.

Yes, playful cats have been known to shred one's fingers. Comes from being carnivoridae of very little brain.

 

[AlanH]

Personally, I think that once someone gets a mod working for the Mac, they should post it to a Mac-only mod site.

Who do you suggest should create and maintain this Mac-only web site?

Posting a copy of someone else's work normally needs the author's permission.

Once you post a copy that claims to be Mac compatible, you take responsibility for that version. You may get involved in adding new features that arrive in the original, and ensuring that it remains compatible in the face of OS upgrades.

Are you volunteering for this? Or are you assuming I'll do it?

 

[timerover51]

Who do you suggest should create and maintain this Mac-only web site?

Posting a copy of someone else's work normally needs the author's permission.

Once you post a copy that claims to be Mac compatible, you take responsibility for that version. You may get involved in adding new features that arrive in the original, and ensuring that it remains compatible in the face of OS upgrades.

Are you volunteering for this? Or are you assuming I'll do it?

Thanks so much for the back of the hand and baseball/cricket bat to the head response. If I actually, for some bizarre reason, spend the time required to get a major mod working on by G4 laptop, I will most assuredly not tell anyone.

As for anything that I do myself, using my Windows game editing box, or on my son's old Windows laptop, once I get it running satisfactorily on my G4 Ibook, running 10.4.11, if I post anything, I will indicate that it runs okay under whatever version of Windows that I test it and under 10.4.11. What it does on an Intel Mac under Snow Leopsrd, I will not have the foggiest idea, nor am I particularly worried about it. I do not have an Intel Mac, and I will not be upgrading to Snow Leopard until I absolutely have too, which means likely never.