Civilization II Multiplayer Gold for MAC OS X

[Pabloria]

Does anyone know of a patch that will enable me to play Civilization II Multiplayer Gold through MAC OS X?

MAC OS X Tiger no longer enables classic OS.

Thank you.

[Gatekeeper]

I wish I could help you, but I cannot. It does, however, suck to learn that Civ II is no longer playable on 10.4.x short of, I imagine, installing 9.x in its own partition on the HD.

Gatekeeper

[Pabloria]

No patch seems to exist then. It really is a shame.

Guess I will have to wait for Civilization IV. Hope they don't screw it up like they did with civ III.

The only OS 9 application I use is CIV II. I am going to need to install the OS 9 system folder just to play the game. Ridiculous! Someone should develop a patch. I am sure some people would even pay for it... I would.

[Gatekeeper]

True, but would enough be willing to pay for it to make financial sense? Probably not. Which is too bad, since I still consider Civ II to be the best of the series, even if it's 10 years old.

Gatekeeper

[Insane]

Scanning the Apple Discussion groups, it appears that the Classic environment, does run on 10.4.1, but the Tiger installer does not contain a Classic installer.

So... it seems that if you already have Classic installed and upgrade to Tiger, or if you have an older set of install CD's which contain the Classic/OS 9 installers, you should be able to get it up and running.

But they certainly aren't making it easy...

[Gatekeeper]

So basically, if I order a damn Macintosh with 10.4 on it, I'm screwed because the jackasses at Apple decided not to include the Classic installers?! I don't have access to installers for older OSes, other than for my ancient 8.5.1 installer CDs.

God! If it isn't one thing it's another with Apple. I'm really getting ****ing tired of it. Screw computers. Someone get me a system that does Internet, e-mail and includes a word processor, and I'll be happy.

Gatekeeper

[Agathon]

How many timess do I have to say this: Classic does not come preinstalled on new macs, but it comes on a CD should you wish to install it. I just did on my new Powerbook.

Now.... please resume...

[Gatekeeper]

^^^I found that out on June 20th, hence the reason for no further posting. This is what I uncovered, verbatim, from Apple's knowledge base:

Out of the box, some Macintosh computers manufactured after June 2004 do not have Classic pre-installed, including iMac G5, Mac mini, and some Power Macintosh G5 computers. Classic is available on one of the Apple software discs that came with the computer, and you can install it if you need to.

To install Classic support:

1. Insert the disc that came with your computer that contains Classic support ("Additional Software & Apple Hardware Test" for iMac G5 and some Power Macintosh G5 computers, Software Restore discs for others--check the labels on the discs).

2. Double-click the "Install Extra Software" icon.

3. Follow the onscreen instructions.

4. After selecting the destination disk for installation, continue following the onscreen instructions for a basic installation or click Customize to choose the applications you want to install.

[Pabloria]

The carbon patch that allows classic applications to be played through OS X is the only way to play Civilization II on new macs.

Here is why:

Classic support has flaws when playing Civilization II. Music and animated graphics do not work for example. New Macintoshs do not Support OS 9, therefore you cannot install a startup disk that runs OS 9.2.

In summation... 1, Classic support through OS X has flaws. Game does not run properly. 2, New Macs do not allow you to install an OS 9 startup disk.

So, these are the reasons why Civilization II Gold will not be able to be played on new Macintoshs.

Solution: Wait for a carbon patch that will never come or wait for Civilization IV.

[FlameFlash]

Either way, you're not going to get anywhere.

The best chance is wait for Apple to switch to Intel, buy a new comp then, get a copy of Windows, and a copy of Civ II for Windows. There should be plenty of hacks that allow you to run Windows on a Mactel after a few months that you can have your Civ II back.

Classic goes the way of the dodo as of the Mactel switch anyway, so getting the windows version is about all you can do. Either that or buy a new mac right before the switch.

Civ II works fine in Classic for me. As does CTP. SMAX, on the other hands, runs horribly slowly. While there is a user-made patch for SMAX to make it 'Carbon' it hasn't been updated for the newer versions of OS X so it's rather unstable now (have to depend on auto-save because manually saving generally crashes it).

[Gatekeeper]

If Civ II works in Classic for FlameFlash, I'm sure it'll work for me too once I get around to buying a middle-of-the-road iMac (i.e. the $1500 model).

Gatekeeper

[Insane]

I give up. I'm never going to find the time to finish this properly...

Go here... read carefully... download.

It works beautifully for me on my 20" display on 10.4.2. Two problems that I know of, both cosmetic.

Enjoy...

[Gatekeeper]

^^^I'll be damned. I never knew you were posting at 'Poly! Although I should've suspected it, since a lot of folks involved in the Civ community come here from time to time.

Long time, no see! Lord, I still have an old e-mail or two somewhere on my HD from that time you sent me a copy of C:CTP after helping you out with some debugging issues WRT to Civ II Gold for the Macintosh.

Heh. I'm still using OS8.6, but I'm definitely writing down the Web address so that when I upgrade I can scurry on over if I have to. Civ II is simply a timeless game! **sigh** If only Civ III or the forthcoming IV would be along similar lines ... heck, I've never necessarily had a problem with ".5" additions to well-established gaming series like Civ!

Gatekeeper

[Gatekeeper]

If I had to choose between playing Civ II or Civ III, I'd have no choice but to go with the former. Why? The latter is simply an incomplete game on the Macintosh, that's why. For example (in no particular order):

1. Officially supported only through the 1.21 patch. Never mind the fact that major changes came with the 1.29 patch, to me the patch that really counted.

2. Map editor was never officially ported over.

3. Civilization placement is impossible.

4. The entire installation process is irritating — one, buy the game (which ships with the 1.17 patch included); two, patch it up to 1.21; three, duplicate the application; four, update one of the app versions to 1.29; five, retain the other version, which is necessary in order for the unofficial map editor to work; six, pray.

The Civ III Macintosh porters really dropped the ball. I mean, REALLY DROPPED THE BALL. I'm *not* talking about Joe and Jane Programmer, either. I'm talking about *their* bosses, the ones who make the policy decisions. Terrible, I tell you, especially after how Civ II and its Gold version were ported and *supported* even to the point where programmers were doing stuff on *their* own time! That's dedication, and for that I'm forevermore grateful.

I fervently hope that when (not if) Civ IV comes to the Macintosh, TPTB at its porting company look to the example of Civ II, and not III, for how to do a proper port. For the premium price folks pay in order to own a Macintosh, they deserve a premium effort when it comes to porting games, especially ones as venerable as the Civ series.

The folks in charge of Civ II did it right. The ball's in your court, Civ IV folks!

Gatekeeper

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Insane
I give up. I'm never going to find the time to finish this properly...

Go here... read carefully... download.

It works beautifully for me on my 20" display on 10.4.2. Two problems that I know of, both cosmetic.

Enjoy...

Sweet! Thanks, very much Insane (aka B. Neese)! This is very cool. Hope things are going well for you. The Mac-Civ community is indebted to you for this. Thanks again!