Play the world

[Trabpukcip]

Hi everyone!!!

I just receve a replie to an email I sent to macsoft to make them understand that I'm craving for an expension pack for civ 3... this is their replie:


"Mr. X:

I just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for taking the time to contact
us in regard to Civ III Mac. I can appreciate your concern about the release
of the 1.21 patch. I just want to assure you that we are working on it. In
fact, we are now beta testing the patch and hope to release it very soon. If
you would be interested in helping to test the patch, you can contact our QA
Lead at jrobrahn@us.infogrames.com.

As to the expansion pack, well, this has to be negotiated with the rights
holders and contracts have to be signed. This is a very time consuming
process. Although no deal has been signed, we are pursuing the matter.

The level editor was delayed a bit because the patch had to be completed (we
didn't know that the patch was coming when we allocated resources for the
project). As soon as the patch is certified, we'll get back to work on the
editor and finish it up as quickly as possible."


So I thought, may be there is hope yet!

-----Trying is the first step toward failure-----

 

[Daelda]

Hi,
I also received that exact same reply from Mr. Schilling (Must be a form letter). I did write about the beta patch and am downloading it as we speak (FAST response time). However, I responded to Mr. Schilling as follows:

*****

Mr. Schilling,
My main concern was for the fact that I have heard that no funds were provided to Westlake Interactive for the production of any Civ III patches and that their employees are doing the patches for free and on their own time. If this is true, it does not bode well for the Mac gaming community. I do understand that some games that come out do not require patches and some may require multiple patches, so funding for this can be a difficult thing to estimate. However, I do believe that some sort of clause can be developed in the porting contracts to allow for a small amount of funding to be set aside for potential future patches, and should any patches prove to not be necessary after a certain period of time, the funds can be redirected to other efforts.

I do realize that the Mac community is a small community compared to the PC gaming community. However we are a very loyal community and we would like to be able to count on the quality of the Mac games to at least equal that of their PC alter egos.

This letter is not meant as a flame, it is just meant as a statement of what I and other Mac gamers are feeling and what we would like to see as well as what I think we should expect from game developers. I thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I do thank you for your wonderful efforts to date and hope that you can take my comments into consideration. Thank you again.

Sincerely,
David Caudill

 

[dojoboy]

Hey guys, I just sent this email to Macsoft And Westlake Interactive. It may not be well written but I think it conveys what has been on my mind lately, in regards to gaming. If this is a concern of yours, I ask that you also email them your thoughts. If it is not, I wish to enlist your support for the "cause." Thanks in advance.

[I realize nothing is official regarding PTW being ported to mac. I do hope so. If it is, and Macsoft and Westlake Interactive handles the port, which I assume it will, I request that it also is capatible with the OS systems. My concern is that because the Civ3 editor is being published for OS X only then the EXP will also be published in OS X only. I realize the need for mac gaming companies to move towards the OS X system; however, I only ask that this move does not occur in the "middle" of a game's development. I greatly appreciate the efforts of key persons to bring upgrades to the mac version, and I wish to convey my support for Macsoft and Westlake Interactive. Finally, I do ask that the Civ3 editor be published for the OS systems at a later date. Thanks very much for your consideration.]

-TH

 

[Trabpukcip]

I too am consurn about that even if I mainly use osx... becose osx tend to be slower and civ3 seems to be more buggy when on osx... so that would be very great if the os9 was considered to for the release of PTW, if it is ever release for mac that is...

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Trabpukcip
I too am consurn about that even if I mainly use osx... becose osx tend to be slower and civ3 seems to be more buggy when on osx... so that would be very great if the os9 was considered to for the release of PTW, if it is ever release for mac that is...

Yea, I need OS 8.6 requirements met. Of course, I could upgrade to os9, but I think OS X might not interact well w/ my 3 y/o imac.
I believe the buggy issues w/ OS X is because Civ3 was made for both systems. I hear that if it was OS X only, everything would be fine.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by dojoboy
Yea, I need OS 8.6 requirements met. Of course, I could upgrade to os9, but I think OS X might not interact well w/ my 3 y/o imac.
I believe the buggy issues w/ OS X is because Civ3 was made for both systems. I hear that if it was OS X only, everything would be fine.

Where to begin...

For starters, as we all know, nothing official has been said about a port of the expansion to the Mac, so everything I'm about to say is hypothetical. I don't know if it'll be ported to the Mac, if Westlake will do the port, or even if I'll do the port if Westlake signs it.

So the system requirements: it's possible that 8.6 will be the minimum, since I don't think there's anything in the code that would warrant changing that. However, I could see making a case to raise the minimum to 9, mainly because there's not really any testing being done on 8.6, and the addition of OpenPlay for the network code might necessitate that.

Which leads me to the netplay issue. Last I heard, they're using DirectPlay on the PC side, which means that net games in the expansion are (currently) going to be PC-PC only. Mac users will end up playing only Mac users if things stay the way they are. That is out of the control of both MacSoft and Westlake, should it end up being ported to the Mac. The only way to change that would be to write to Firaxis.

You can see what kind of position this might put MacSoft in: announce it and take a drubbing from angry Mac users who can't play against the PC (and take the stance that a half-assed port is worse than none since netplay is the big selling point), or not sign the port and get flogged from those who feel that Mac-only netplay is better than nothing. It's a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't scenario at the moment. Speaking only for myself, it's not a scenario I'm anxious to entangle myself in. See above about writing to Firaxis if this is a concern to you.

Finally, I don't know where you heard that about OSX-only clearing up problems, as it's not true in the case of Civ3.

Brad

 

[Daelda]

Originally posted by Brad Oliver

<SNIP>
Which leads me to the netplay issue. Last I heard, they're using DirectPlay on the PC side, which means that net games in the expansion are (currently) going to be PC-PC only. Mac users will end up playing only Mac users if things stay the way they are. That is out of the control of both MacSoft and Westlake, should it end up being ported to the Mac. The only way to change that would be to write to Firaxis.
<SNIP
Brad

Hi Brad,
Nice to see you posting again, you have been rather quiet lately. Must be busy.

On CivFanatics it mentions that one of the features of PTW will be:

In Play by Email (PBEM) games, players will not have to have matching default bics.

Would this mean that while Mac players could not play a network game with PC users, but could play them via an e-mail game? Not the best solution I know, but if that is how it works, then at least *some* Mac to PC gaming is possible.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by ferretloverdc
Would this mean that while Mac players could not play a network game with PC users, but could play them via an e-mail game?

Yes, that sounds reasonable. PBEM in SMAC for the Mac allowed you to have games against PC users in this way. Without having seen the code, it's not unreasonable to assume the same will hold true for the Civ3 expansion.

Brad

 

[Daelda]

Thanks Brad. I did write Firaxis with my concerns about no network play between Mac & PC. We will see if they listen to our opinions.

 

[Daelda]

Hi all,
I wrote to Firaxis about the PC to Mac porting. Here are the results of my inquiry:

From: David Caudill [mailto:ferretloverdc@earthlink.net]
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 3:45 PM
To: bcaudill@firaxis.com
Subject: Game Feedback: CIVIII Suggestion

Greetings,
I am writing about CivIIITW. I am a Mac user and I am hoping that
in writing the multi-player support, you are keeping Mac players in mind. We
like to be able to play against PC gamers. Will the multi-player scripting
allow this? I know that no deal for a mac port of PTW has been made, however
I am hopeful that it will come and when it does, it would be wonderful if we
could play against PC users. Please keep this in mind. I love CivIII and
would like to buy PTW should it come out for the Mac. If I can play against
PC games, that will be a big selling point for me. If it does not allow
that, I will probably be less inclined to buy it new.

Thank you for your time,
David Caudill

**********

HIS REPLY:

All I can say is that Mac stuff is totally out of our hands. Infogrames
handles all such deals and I would imagine that they would want the same
things you want because it would mean more sales. Of course there is no
guarantee of anything in this world so you never know. Now...let's talk
about that last name (see my signature).

Barry Caudill
QA Manager
Firaxis Games
mailto:bcaudill@firaxis.com

**********

MY REPLY:

Hello Barry,
I wrote because of this recent statement by Brad Oliver on the CivFanatics Forum:

Which leads me to the netplay issue. Last I heard, they're using DirectPlay on the PC side, which means that net games in the expansion are (currently) going to be PC-PC only. Mac users will end up playing only Mac users if things stay the way they are. That is out of the control of both MacSoft and Westlake, should it end up being ported to the Mac. The only way to change that would be to write to Firaxis.


<SNIP about the name>

David Caudill

**********

HIS REPLY:

I can’t believe that there isn’t a way to connect a Mac to a PC using DirectPlay…but I am not 100% sure about that._We are a PC developer, so we are going to write the code using what we feel are the best tools._I know that DirectPlay is used in a majority of multiplayer PC titles right now and PTW will be no different._I’m not sure what else I can say about the conversion process right now._I’ll probably find out what the situation is whenever the Mac port begins (probably after Play the World ships…maybe when we go Beta…hard to say)._If I hear anything more, I will try to let you know._

<SNIP about our last names>

Take care,

Barry Caudill

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Brad Oliver


... I don't know where you heard that about OSX-only clearing up problems, as it's not true in the case of Civ3.

Brad

The rumor-mill of course, forums and such. If I heard it from a credible source I would cite it. Thanks for poo-pooing it --- it gives me one less worry for the OS systems. I think.

This is all already becoming too complicated re: PTW & Mac. My head is starting to hurt.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by ferretloverdc I can’t believe that there isn’t a way to connect a Mac to a PC using DirectPlay…but I am not 100% sure about that.[/B]

Believe it. So there you have it - Mac users are (apparently) officially boned on cross-platform netplay.

Brad

 

[gfeier]

Originally posted by Brad Oliver


Believe it. So there you have it - Mac users are (apparently) officially boned on cross-platform netplay.

Brad

So are PC users. I'd rather play against most of the people posting in this forum than against a lot of the PC types whom I can only judge by the quality of their posts in the other forums. You can only play one net game at a time anyway.

 

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by gfeier


So are PC users. I'd rather play against most of the people posting in this forum than against a lot of the PC types whom I can only judge by the quality of their posts in the other forums. You can only play one net game at a time anyway.

I wholeheartedly agree w/ you gfeier. Posting among the PC'ers can turn into a real twilight zone , even at Apolyton -- where the mac thread is buried. However, we do deserve (and I know you're in agreement gfeier) the capabilities to play on the net w/ PCs.

How about those new Apple commercials? Its about time they brought the 'word' to those heathens of PCdom.

 

[gfeier]

Originally posted by dojoboy


I wholeheartedly agree w/ you gfeier. Posting among the PC'ers can turn into a real twilight zone , even at Apolyton -- where the mac thread is buried. However, we do deserve (and I know you're in agreement gfeier) the capabilities to play on the net w/ PCs.

Of course.

 

[juanvaldes]

gfeier up for a game with me and cheerios?

Brad: I hope that if you or westlake does the port of PTW I would very much be in favor of some kind of networking over none.

 

[gfeier]

Originally posted by juanvaldes
gfeier up for a game with me and cheerios?

Absolutely, but I tend to be a little behind. I've got a great 1.17g monarch-level game going as the Aztecs and I'm going to finish that before I even try 1.21. My playing time is severely limited by my schedule for the next 4-1/2 years, but after I retire - watch out! Hopefully we'll have multiplayer by that time.

 

[juanvaldes]

Originally posted by gfeier


Absolutely, but I tend to be a little behind. I've got a great 1.17g monarch-level game going as the Aztecs and I'm going to finish that before I even try 1.21. My playing time is severely limited by my schedule for the next 4-1/2 years, but after I retire - watch out! Hopefully we'll have multiplayer by that time.

summer break for me!

Playing a large game of earth and I rule all of europe and have high tech in the 1600's