WC4 MAC redistribution?

Chernikov

Spaceman
Not sure if this is the proper place for the topic, so please move it if needed.

Anyway... rummaging through a local used bookstore and I ran across a copy of WC4 for the Mac (PowerPC version), the box has a somewhat bowed-in center like something relatively heavy was set on top of it, but otherwise it looks to be in excellent condition. Box contents were:
-large manual
-CD-case manual
-Install guide (turned inside out, but a heavy book should remedy that)
-registry, warranty, and advertisements (crisp and neat, if you dig this type of stuff)
-and of course, a case with six blemish-free CDs after a cursory check (no magnifying glasses, mediocre lighting). One CD seems to have a dirt particle on the back.

Price: $.25 USD

So... me having not owned a Mac for eight years, and even then that was a SE/20 mod... Im going to redistribute it. If this is a rare/collector's item, I'd prefer that it go to an established collection used for reference. If it's something that LOAF has eighty of sitting in the closet for use as doorprizes at the next CIC Birthday, I'm not going to be so picky.

So... tell me how it is, please!
 
eBay Germany has one of them listed, current price 1€, 0 bids, remaining time 23h. BUT as the German auction community tends to last-minute sniping, keep an eye out, and get an idea for the price.
 
I. myself, am a little discouraged by Apple for dropping OS 9 support in Panther. I had Jaguar for a while, on my old machine, and by booting the system into OS 9, I could play my copy of Wing Commander III flawlessly. Without the ability to boot into OS 9, which is the case with my new system, I can't get the game to play without major problems. Super Wing Commander shared a similar fate :(

However, the demo I have of WC IV seems to work pretty well, even in Panther, so I'm guessing that the full game would work just fine on a newer machine.

I'd play it if it worked well, despite having already beat through it before on the Playstation. I don't think it has much collector's value, though (my copy of WC III is in perfect, complete condition, and is worth about $2.00 on ebay...), but if you could get it to work on a newer system... well, I could think of worse ways to spend your time ;-)

I'd *love* to take it off your hands (I have a good home... promise!), but I doubt I'd have the money to shell out for it, regardless of actual cost. I'd recommend you hold onto it, though -- you never know when fate might send a curveball (i.e., working Macintosh system) your way.
 
This thread is pretty much done, I think, but it should go in the Wing Commander Zone since, you know, it talks about Wing Commander and all.

Off you go!
 
no matter what version of OS X you are running you can always set it to boot directly into OS 9 or you can run the OS 9 enviro in X, both work great with WC3/4 and SWC
 
Hey Durandal, how edid you ge them working great? I've tried on my G4 with both 10.1.5 and now with panther and still can't get the video to run without jumping. Any help would be graet. Thanks.
 
I ebayed myself an old PowerMac a few years back -- anybody have experience with them? I'd like to get it up and running (Wing Commander) over break...
 
I have a now ancient iMac G3 500, I never really had any problems with the video skipping I am currently running 10.3.5, although for frame rate reasons I usually try to boot directly into 9.2.2 I think it is. Sorry that I don't have any advice for you, but I haven't experienced that problem.


LOAF what kind of PowerMac with what specs? Then we can see what to do from there....
 
are you running the games in OS 9 or under X? You might want to try to boot directly into 9 instead of playing the game through the environment under X, as X sometimes likes to do other things that can affect playback. OS 9 is not as good at multitasking as X and as such should be more dedicated to just playing back the video and not trying to do other things in the background
 
OS9's multitasking is kinda fake...And that's really a good thing for games :) Pitty I can't help with PowerMac tech stuff. It would be cool to have a Power Mac wc gaming FAQ.
 
I could probably whip something up if that many people were interested it really wouldn't take to long....would just need some FAQs to answer.....


OS 9 is alright for doing one thing at a time, OS X has an annoying habit to sometimes spin the drive for no apparent reason whereas 9 won't do anything until you ask it to
 
Yeah i think I will try that. right now i'm at school so need to wait til i go home for the x-mas break. As far as the FAQs, I think it'd be great. can't think of anything in particular i'd need to know. Thought I'd love to see Prophecy ported over to Mac, but at the same time I'd like to be able to fly around the world in under half an hour so. But yeah, a general Mac FAQ would be great
 
I'll have to see if I can find my mac WCs...unfortunately I think they may have become casaulities of moving as I have not seen them in quite a while....
 
LOAF what kind of PowerMac with what specs? Then we can see what to do from there....

My notes say it's a "PowerMac 7300" -- I don't have anything else on it at the moment (and the actual machine is back home in Maryland). It works, according to whoever I bought it from a year or so ago ($20 or so on ebay) -- but all I have is the machine... no monitor, no keyboard, no mouse, no power cable.

So, that's my starting point! What do I need to buy? Is there some sort of switch so I can use my existing PC monitor? Once I can turn it on, what do I do? Etc.
 
Well first there were 3 models of the PM 7300 (166 MHz 604e, 180 MHz 604e [w/ Pentium 166 MHz daughter board for running Win/DOS apps], 200 MHz 604e). If you can find out which one you have it would great, they all would have used the same cables (Apple Desktop Bus ADB for keyboard and mouse) Finding the keyboard and mouse shouldn't be too hard, try a local second hand computer store, they probably have them stacked in some back corner. A power cable might be a bit harder but if you can find a place that has the mouse and keyboard you might be able to get them all at once.

You should be able to use your current monitor with the Mac, however you might need a connector between the two, although I'm not 100% as it's been a long time since I've handled an older powermac (I had an 8500/180 way back when).

Well when you turn it on hope that you see the "happy mac" and not a black flashing "death mac" as the death mac means the internal drive is kaput. Once that goes by you should see the Mac OS logo and it should start loading whatever extensions are on the machine along the bottom half of the screen. Depending on what OS it has on it, it might also tell you (although OS 9 simply states "OS 9" and not which .x.x). It should then go to the desktop where you will be able to access things on the machine.

First stop should be the Apple System Profiler, on later OS's it is under the Apple Menu but sometimes appears in the control panel submenu. Run that and let me know what it says for stats on the machine.

After that we can go through and see what if anything needs to be dug up for you to get WC working. I have copies of most of the extensions and control panels you'll need on my iMac so in that sense you should be all set.

Hopefully when you get back home for break we can get it up and running fairly quickly. I'll see what I can find for my mac WCs over break but so far my search has not created any results....damn

Then I can get working on a Mac WC FAQ for OS 8.5-9.2.5 and OS 10.x.x
 
Back
Top