Problems With Scenario Installations

[mythusmage]

I'm having trouble opening ToB, when I try I get...

Problem is, I use a Mac. Now ordinarily I would move a copy of the folder in question to the ToB folder and then the scenario would open. Didn't work in this case. For, you see, the BIQ is looking for a folder that isn't there. In the Mac version of Civ2 Complete the pertinent floder is Play the World Game Data/Extras/Medieval Japan/...

What this means is that you have produced a Windows Civ3 scenario which can't be played on the Mac. Could some kind soul produce a Mac version ToB?

 

[Takhisis]

Go to the civ3 mac subforum.

 

[mythusmage]

The scenario looks for the wrong folder. I've already tried the usual solution, moving a duplicate of the pertinent Unit folder to the scenario's art/Unit folder. Only in this case this failed. Your scenario asks for Civ2PTW, but on the Mac the folder is called Play the World Game Data. That was Aspry's doing, and you need to ask Aspyr why.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Try making an alias of the folder in the appropriate place.

EDIT:
fwiw here's a screenshot to show the problem is not with ToB:

If what's been offered here doesn't work

Go to the civ3 mac subforum.

 

[mythusmage]

Try making an alias of the folder in the appropriate place.

I did

If what's been offered here doesn't work

Could you specify? Where in the forum is the issue addressed?

Let me put it this way, are you using Leopard with an Intel, or Tiger with a G4? It makes a difference.

 

[mythusmage]

Let me make this simple on folks. The error message I keep getting, no matter what I do with the damn file in question includes a reference to the "Civ3PTW" folder. No such folder exists in the core Civilization III Complete for the Mac installation. The equivalent folder is "Play the World Game Data". In short, the Twilight of Byzantium BIQ is looking for a folder that isn't there.

A certain party says I should create that folder and put it somewhere. Why should I have to do anything I don't have to do with any other scenario? RFRE works fine without my having to create new folders for it. Snork, RFRE works fine placed as it is under "Documents". I do not feel comfortable messing with core files and folders like that, because I don't know what it would do to my machine. Plus, it's multi hour slog to back up my files. (And where exactly do I put it?)

Please remember that just because you're not having a problem with something doesn't mean nobody else can have a problem with that thing.

So, Blue Monkey, what are the folders I'm supposed to create and could you lay out, precisely, the file path they're supposed to be a part of. Start from Applications/Civ III Complete/ and continue from there.

 

[Takhisis]

There was a similar problem in the Alexander scenario.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Moderator Action: Moved the discussion to this new thread for questions / problems concerning getting scenarios / mods installed & working properly on a Mac.

 

[Blue Monkey]

A certain party says I should create that folder and put it somewhere. Why should I have to do anything I don't have to do with any other scenario?

There is now at least one white crow:

I did, and I have to ask, why does Alexander ask something of me no other scenario does?
...
I can make more folders no problem, but I prefer to make new folders when it's strictly necessary. I don't see as it's strictly necessary here.

I could, but I prefer to avoid messing with the core installation. The problem lies in Alexander's Conquests, and the solution lies in correcting that problem.

The problem is with the differences between the Windows file structure & the OSX file structure. The problem is in the game port. Not in any particular scenario. Preferring not to utilize a solution is not at all the same as not knowing the solution.

 

[mythusmage]

Twilight of Byzantium is not compatible with the Macintosh without finagling, that is the gist of the matter. I especially refuse to finagle with my Mac without clear instructions. No instructions, no finagling.

It comes down to this, Twilight of Byzantium and Alexander's Conquests are Windows only mods, so installing either on a Macintosh is a useless act. That is my last statement on the matter.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Whilst I respect your right to your opinion it needs to be made clear for the sake of anyone else reading this thread that both scenarios have been successfully installed on Macs and that it's likely more than one way is available to do so. Instructions have been posted for Alexander the Great. Those directions as well as the directions for installing several other scenarios are likely to work for Twilight of Byzantium as well. None of these ways are deceitful, tricky, guileful, fraudulent, or otherwise anthropomorphically evil as the word "finagle" implies. none of them require doing anything that interferes with or subverts the Mac's normal operation. They are simply ways of effectively coping with a game port's compromise between two operating systems using differing file structures.

 

[AlanH]

I agree with Blue Monkey. There is no incentive for modders to try to adapt their scenarios to match the needs of Mac players. Mac Civ3 players are a small and declining community.

There are straight forward methods to overcome the problems that were created by Aspyr when they ported the game. If you want to play the mods then it seems to me that you have to reconcile yourself to using those methods.

 

[Takhisis]

Mac is a minority among gamers. Especially among such a niche game as civ3.
I still don't understand why Firaxis disabled several of the Windows features in the Mac version.

 

[AlanH]

Firaxis didn't disable anything, as far as I know. Aspyr chose what to do and how to do it. Aspyr's decisions resulted in (a) no scenario editor and (b) incompatible file path structures that break existing mods. They tried to fix the file path issues in a patch that included some additional path translations, but clearly they failed to resolve all the paths defined by modders. Hence the problems reported by mythusmage.

BTW. If creating a few extra folders in your Civ3 software structure is too much, you could always hex edit the paths you want into the scenarios.

 

[Takhisis]

Firaxis let them. I'm mad at both, even though I'm a Windows user. I simply don't liek alienating part of the fanbase for no reason at all.

 

[mythusmage]

Preferring not to utilize a solution is not at all the same as not knowing the solution.

Then detail the solution. I create a "Civ3PTW folder". Where does it go and what goes in it? I presume Extras/Medieval Japan/Art/Units, but what else?

I just put the "spotlight" on Civ3PTW and got only documents. No such folder exists on my hard drive. I make the folder where do I put it? Path please.

And let me point out that of all the scenarios I've tried only two have given me this problem. One of them didn't use to.

I have a disability, I need to be shown how to do things. You can't tell me, "Do this." You need to show me how to "do this". As in, "First, mythusmage, you make a folder by clicking on "file" under Finder and then clicking on "new folder". Rename your new folder "Civ3PTW" and place it in..." And that's where my ignorance stops me short. The gist is, you need to explain it.

Blue Monkey, how did you do it? How did you get Twiilight of Byzantium to work on your Mac? Don't just tell me you did, explain how you did it.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Follow the second link in my post above. You'll find specific directions for what folders to duplicate & where to put them.

 

[nathanboyet]

So, I am also trying to get the Twilight of Byzantium mod to work on my Mac. No matter what I get the error referencing the Ashigaru unit. I have tried the fixes mentioned in this thread and have also tried using Terminal to tell the scenario to look at the Play the World Game Data folder for CIV3PTW content but still no luck.

Any suggestions? Thanks,

 

[Blue Monkey]

Could you post a screenshot of the error message you are getting, please. It helps a lot with coming to a solution. Also, letting us know the directory path where you have the scenario & where you placed a copy of the unit would help.

 

[nathanboyet]

Hello, thanks for your quick response.

The scenario just worked for me. I did a bunch of stuff described by AlanH in this thread - using Terminal in Mac to let the scenario know where to look for the game data.

However, it still did not work until I restarted my computer. That must have did the trick. After I posted I thought I should try again just to see if it worked (it had been almost a week since I first tried).

As far as the screenshot to show you the error message, it is the same as the one posted in the first post of this thread.

I put the scenario informaiton in the scenarios folder within the Conquests Game Data folder.

I hope that the above linked thread might be of some help to people who are having trouble getting other scenarios to work on a Mac, the informaiton in it helped me to finally get the Twilight of Byzantium scenario to work.