Anyway, first impressions are... it looks *really* nice. The intro cinematic is awesome, and I like the graphics. The docs and readmes have been very helpful. I've read through some of the interface complaints here, so I'm hoping they won't bug me too much.

Looking forward to getting a few games under my belt so I can share my impressions with any Mac Civ-ers who are looking into getting CTP...

#1: The most serious is that you can't restore from a saved multiplayer game. I have a PC friend who has been hosting our multiplayer games, and that works fine until...

#2: Apparently, no more than one mac player at a time can join a saved multiplayer game. Every time we try it, the second Mac player to join gets error messages from CTP.

#3: There is no PBEM option in Mac CTP (even though it claims it is based on the PC 1.2 code base. :-/)

#4: Trade with foreign civs can cause problems in multiplayer games (I have yet to have it cause problems in a solo game). What can happen is if one of your trade routes is pirated, and you then manipulate your trade, you can end up with a negative caravan count. Thereafter, no trade is possible.

#5: The chat window in multiplayer games is seriously messed up. After several dozen lines of chat, the chat lines start overwriting each other, and other ugly things happen. Doesn't seem to affect the game, but it sure makes it hard to chat.

#6: Clicking on the wrong thing in a server chat lobby can cause your typed messages to go into outer space somewhere. The only fix is to quit all the way out of CTP and reconnect. This was most disconcerting when it happened to me..

#7 In Multiplay, the result of diplomacy is shown in a message window which you can not open when you have the diplomacy window open! This means that you have to make a diplomatic proposal, cut off negotiations, read the result, then go back for more negotiations if needed. Really dumb. In the solo game, the result of the diplomacy is displayed directly in the window. I understand why they made it work that way in multiplay (it could be a human-run civ you're talking to, so the result may not come back right away), but they could at least make it so you can view the response if it *does* appear! I think this is a design problem, my PC friend says it works the same way on the PC.

There are other minor problems, but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I have yet to see CTP crash on me, which is a good thing (Civ II Gold crashes on me all the time).

I expect we'll be seeing a multiplayer patch before too long...

I've had more trouble with this than any other program I've ever installed.

Currently, I'm having a problem with the game informing me it's unable to switch to 640x480, even if I set it there before trying to start the game!

I'm trading e-mail with tech support...

---

In article <20000119154251.02734.00000322@ng-da1.aol.com>,
timelf@aol.comblahblah (Tim Frankovich) wrote:

> Phil Sulak wrote:
>
> >Tim, what kind of Mac do you have?
>
> Heh. Give this info to enough people, and we'll figure this out.
>
> PowerCenter132 with a 250Mhz G3 upgrade from MaxPowr.
>
> >What video card and monitor is
> >installed?
>
> Built-in video, somewhat generic 15" monitor - I believe the brand name
> is KDS.
>

Tim -

Here's the problem. Your PowerCenter's built-in video doesn't have
enough VRAM to handle the Intro Movie. I believe the CTP box specifies
that you need a video card with at least 2 MB of VRAM, and those old
PowerCenter machines (I think) only have 1 MB.

Here's the solution. This is copied and pasted this from the
"Troubleshooting" Read Me file that CTP should have installed to your
hard drive. It should solve the problem.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROBLEMS PLAYING THE INTRODUCTION OR WONDERS MOVIES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Call to Power presents a DrawSprocket error when switching
resolutions to play the Intro movie, here's something that may help. If
the game has created a document called "userprofile.txt" (in the
"Civilization-Call to Power:ctp_program:ctp" folder), try modifying the
file with a program capable of editing DOS text files (such as Bare
Bones' BBEdit). Find the following line

HiResMovies=Yes

and change it to

HiResMovies=No

Save the file, quit your text editor, and re-launch Call to Power.

If Call to Power presents a DrawSprocket error after a Wonder has been
built but before the Wonder movie is played, open the "Graphics" window
in the "Options" screen, and make sure that "Full Screen Movies" are set
to "16-bit".

The game now works, though the opening movie is somewhat grainy, and it just randomly crashed after about a thousand years or so.

But I'm intrigued. I'll keep playing this weekend and let everyone know what I think.

It was stated that it does not include PBEM (although MacSoft is working on a patch to fix this among other things) but does it have hotseat?

I've been playing CTP on and off for a little over a week now, and I like it a *lot*. Even despite the multiplayer glitches I've run into, I find it more stable than Civ II, and a lot more fun. The alternative forms of warfare (economic and religious) are great.

I've read a lot of complaints here about the AI and diplomacy, but it's all good for me. I'm kinda wishing I never read the readme for CD's mod now, tho, because after having some of the stuff pointed out in the excellent analysis that accompanies that mod, I can see some of the rough edges. I'm looking forward to trying out that and the Awesome AIPs, too.

I just ordered my copy from electronics boutique in the states. Trying to find it anywhere in the UK is just a living hell. It $85.00 including delivery so, given the notorious high prices i probably didnt loose out much including the trip up to london which i wasnt relishing.

Here is the site if you want to find it:
http://www.ebworld.com/ebx/categories/homepages/macintosh.asp

It's still new and i make no denial about scavenging present information around here, on the newsgroup and on forums... as time draws on and my copy eventually arrives i will be making my own observations - please feel free to contact me about anything you have seen or heard and i will be sure to post it.

I've started one game (on warlord ) and am up to 1450 something with no crashes yet. The game seems very stable if you give it LOTS of ram and run with only necessary extentions.

I'm considering working on a tool that'll make this easier, but for now I don't really have the time to do a great job.

There are some mods that need to be made for CD's (and I think Awesome AIPs, too) because of some minor differences between the default Mac and PC files. Details when I get a chance to detail 'em....

Come to think of it... it may not be all that hard to just write an AppleScript that swaps default files and mod files in and out, for simple installation of mods that we know do not conflict... hmmmm

At any rate, be prepared for some headaches if you try to play any mod packs.

Nate B. of MacSoft today posted on the Usenet group comp.sys.mac.games.strategic that a patch is in progress, and that several specific bugs mentioned here have been addressed in the patch. If I read his message right, most of the problems I'm experiencing in multiplay are also fixed. Great news.

Has anyone here had any luck playing a multiplayer (not hotseat) game with several macs? He said they hadn't seen the problem I've experienced where multiple mac players can't join a game.