Macintosh Tech Support/Game FAQ

[dojoboy]

How can I edit an image to remove the backgorund color, say for an avatar? I've looked all over graphic converter but can't seem to locate the right command. Thanks.

 

[AlanH]

Send me the image and I'll investigate. I use Photoshop Elements, but I guess the options in GC are similar.

 

[frunobulax]

How can I edit an image to remove the backgorund color, say for an avatar? I've looked all over graphic converter but can't seem to locate the right command. Thanks.

Hi dojoboy, try the free Transparency application (it's OS9, but runs fine in Classic on my Mac).

Launch it, open a GIF file, and click on the colour you want to make transparent. Then save as a GIF 89 type file - but with lowercase gif suffix (you can't upload '.GIF' type to this site, only '.gif').

Simple but v. effective app.!

If it messes up some pixels, you can always retouch in GKON.

 

[dojoboy]

Hi dojoboy, try the free Transparency application (it's OS9, but runs fine in Classic on my Mac).

Launch it, open a GIF file, and click on the colour you want to make transparent. Then save as a GIF 89 type file - but with lowercase gif suffix (you can't upload '.GIF' type to this site, only '.gif').

Simple but v. effective app.!

If it messes up some pixels, you can always retouch in GKON.

Thanks fruno!

 

[Fleiter]

Just bought the game second hand. No manual.

How do I activate fortified units inside cities using the Mac version of Civ III?

Thanks for your help.

 

[AlanH]

Hi

Control click the city and select the unit from the drop down list.

 

[Fleiter]

Thank you, Alan. Now I can get my leader out of a city that's about to fall.

 

[Toasty]

I tried to install the GOTM Mod w/Installer. Opened Civ and opened the scenario file. I got a message that Civ 3 could not open the file and it may be corrupt.

Any tips?

 

[AlanH]

The "corrupt file" message normally happens if you try to open a version 1.29 file using an earlier version of CivIII - 1.14 or 1.21.

Which installer did you use? The Drag and Drop Mod Installer or the all-in-one GOTM Full Installer? The GOTM Full Installer shouldn't allow you to install into an earlier version, but there's an option in the Mod Installer that allows you to install any mod into any version of CivIII.

 

[Toasty]

I used the all-in-one, and I've been running 1.29b2 for a while now--the main screen even says Civ 3 1.29b2 -- GOTM Mod.

 

[AlanH]

Then I'm at a loss. The installer will refuse to install on earlier versions*.

I can't find a way to reproduce that problem here. When does the message come up? When you select "Open Scenario" and select the gotm mod scenario? Or later, after you try to start the game? Can you zip up a copy of the installed scenario file you are trying to run and attach it to a post here? Maybe it's getting corrupted in the installation process If you don't have a zip facility, just change its name to gotm_mod_1.1.zip and attach it. The file attachment option here will accept xxx.sav or xxx.zip, but not xxx.bic as far as I know.

* (Actually the main screen in a modded version will always say "Civ 3 1.29b2 -- GOTM Mod.". That string comes out of the /Text/version.txt file, and the all-in-one installer just replaces the old one. I'm being lazy - I should really script it to edit the existing file to append " -- GOTM Mod" to the existing version string, in case users are installing on 1.29b1).

 

[Toasty]

The message comes up after clicking "Load Scenario" and opening the gotm_mod_1.1.bic file.

I've attached a zipped copy of the .bic file for you.

 

[AlanH]

Loads up OK in my copy of the installed system, and a hex comparison of my copy with yours says they are identical.

Even if I try to run the scenario file with an unmodified copy of CivIII I don't get your result. It complains of missing files, which is not surprising. Does your modded copy open GOTM start files?

One option is to install a fresh copy of CivIII and patch it to 1.29b2, then to run the GOTM installer on it. At the end of the GOTM installation and before you quit the Installer, go to the "File/Show Log" menu item to open the Installer log window, and select "Show everything" in the pop-up menu at the bottom of the window. Use Select All and copy/paste all the text in that window to a post here, and I'll see if there are any clues in the installer log. Of course, you should then check that the freshly created and modified copy also fails.

 

[Toasty]

Installing a fresh copy solved the problem. I'm still curious as to why it arose, though.

 

[AlanH]

It's good to hear that you are operational.

It had to be the copy of CivIII in the previous folder. I can only surmise that it was not actually version 1.29. If you still have that file, check the version in Finder/Get Info. As I said, the version data that the installer uses is not tightly bound to the software. It's just a text file and it can be wrong. The Get Info version is embedded in the software has to be hacked explicitly to change it. If it really was 1.29 then I guess it must be corrupt. Did it run a GOTM start file?

 

[SamTheOzzMan]

Huge problem... and no one else seems to be able to help me.
I recently installed the Game of the Year version of Civilization 3 and no matter what I do I can not get the game to start. All I get is: "The application Civilization III has unexpectedly quit"

very annoying seeing as I just bought this game and was so happy to play it I got off work early to play it and I was hit in the face with this...

I've contacted support of Apple and they are no help just the basics that I have already tried, such as disk repair and installing it under a different user.

My specs are all good for the game and I'm running on the latest version Mac OS 10.3.6 with 1.25 GHz enough RAM.

This is very frustrating and I need to play!!! This game is addicting and I'm ready top waste my time...

Any help would be very nice, Thank You!

 

[AlanH]

Hi! Welcome to MacCivFanatics

When it unexpectedly quits, do you get an option to "Send report .."? If so, click yes and you will see a crash report. Don't send it to Apple, as they won't help. But if you copy and paste it here - just the first 50 lines or so - we may be able to get a clue as to what's causing the crash. It's worth a try.

 

[SamTheOzzMan]

Thank you here it is:

Date/Time: 2004-11-22 21:34:27 -0800
OS Version: 10.3.6 (Build 7R28)
Report Version: 2

Command: Civilization III
Path: /Applications/Civilization III/Civilization III
Version: ??? (???)
PID: 863
Thread: 0

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x0000000c

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 Civilization III 0x004d00d8 get__4TextFv + 0x18
1 Civilization III 0x004f1504 loadLabels__8CitizensFv + 0x54
2 Civilization III 0x004f1ef8 _sinit_citizen_cpp + 0x98
3 Civilization III 0x00408eec _ct__8CGameAppFv + 0xfffffe3c

PPC Thread State:
srr0: 0x004d00d8 srr1: 0x0200f030 vrsave: 0x00000000
cr: 0x28002222 xer: 0x20000000 lr: 0x004f1504 ctr: 0x90288ca8
r0: 0x004f1504 r1: 0xbffff7c0 r2: 0x01010000 r3: 0xbffff93c
r4: 0x0000ffe0 r5: 0x00000000 r6: 0x0000f9a0 r7: 0x00001010
r8: 0x000b7668 r9: 0x00000000 r10: 0x00000010 r11: 0x88002228
r12: 0x00000000 r13: 0x00000000 r14: 0x00000000 r15: 0x00000000
r16: 0x00000000 r17: 0x00000000 r18: 0x00000000 r19: 0x00000000
r20: 0xbffffe88 r21: 0xffffffff r22: 0xbffffc40 r23: 0x00000000
r24: 0x0030f3f0 r25: 0x0000a000 r26: 0xbffffe78 r27: 0x0107061c
r28: 0x00000000 r29: 0x0107061c r30: 0x0102370c r31: 0xbffff93c

 

[AlanH]

Hmm! It look as if the software hasn't got started at all, but has tried to execute some of the game code. I assume you see nothing on the screen between double clicking CivIII and getting the crash message?

My first guess is that you have a bad CD, and it has installed a corrupt application. Have you tried to update it to version 1.29b2? If the updater will run then that may *possibly* completely replace the corrupt application software with a new version. You would want to do that anyway, as version 1.29b2 is better and more stable and is file-compatible with mods build for PC version 1.29f. There's a link to the updater in my sig.

Please let us know how you get on.

 

[SamTheOzzMan]

Well there's been no luck to report back it seems that the people at Mac Soft are incredibly stupid, and disorganized. If anyone ever reads this and knows of this problem I am having go to my profile and send me an e-mail. Thank you.