Originally posted by PsiNorm
and not from PC users who have nothing better to say than "Mac's suck".
How about one from a PC user who says "I'd love to use a Mac but am too poor to get a new comp?
"
I want to make a Mod for Civ 3, but the Mac editor doesn't do everything the newer PC editor does. Also, I want to make my own unit animations, etc., and I can't find anything that say that there's a program for mac that'll do it.
I've also heard about the Play the World expansion and I'm wondering what compatability issues there are between the two. Can a mod made with the PC be used on the Mac?
mods are, to my knowledge, platform independent. There is no executable code involved, only some standard data formats (textfiles, WAVe sounds, FLiC animations, PCX images, etc). So long as the Mac and PC versions use the same formats, you are fine. In general, programs use the same data files on both platforms for maintainability, but it is not always the case. I am assuming civ3 uses the same formats but since I only own the PC version, I cannot say for certain. I know for a fact that a .bic file created on a mac is useable on the PC because I downloaded a scenario from the Mac forum once to check that very issue. The only instance where a mod would probably not be useable on the other platform would be if it is distributed in an executable install program instead of as a simple compressed format like ZIP. There are some differences between vanilla civ3 and PTW with regard to scenario-handling (PTW is much nicer IMHO in that everything goes in the Scenarios Folder and no standard data files need to be replaced) but that issue occurs regardless of platform.
As to program issues, editor functionality is obviously a problem. I have heard of people who use the PC editor within virtual PC as a workaround, but the main solution is to pressure the software maker to give a decent mac editor. As for unit animations, the civ3 units use a modified version of the FLC format and so pretty much everyone uses the FLiCster program on the PC to deal with that. I don't know of a Mac version, but there are some people working on newer viewers than FLiCster and perhaps one of them could do a Mac version or could at least work with someone else on a Mac port; check the FLiCster thread in the utility forum for further details. Leaderheads are a standard FLiC and so I imagine there is something available on a Mac which could save to that format; check around the mac freeware/shareware sites for animation programs if you don't have a commercial program which will do it. Terrain and other "static" graphics use PCX and I know there are plenty of Mac image editors which support that.
I have 4-5 older PC's sitting around the house (as friends PC's quit they give them to me, and I used to be a PC guy) I'm sure I could piece one that worked together, should I just make a PC and use it for mod making? Will the Mac editor ever be updated? I'd rather use the mac, but I also want to make the mod the way I want.
I'd put one together for, at the very least, testing to make sure anything you create would work in both places. I have heard that the editor is available for free download and the utilities posted here such as FLiCster are free to use, so if you can make a PC with what you have there isn't much of a monetary investment. As for the state of the Mac editor, that's a question for Infogrames or Firaxis.
Also, if you haven't done so, check with the people in the Mac forum for tips on mac-specific areas of scenario creation; they probably also have a better idea on the state of the editor.
