Pfhortipfhy
Tavern Dweller
http://youaredestiny.ytmnd.com
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posted December 13, 2008 05:02 PM |
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HOMM3 Compatibility, your apple machine of choice, and you!
I find that searching for compatibility Q+A's for games that were ported to the mac is generally a fruitless expedition, so I'm going to lend a hand to my fellow Apple users and provide one here, regarding HOMM3 (Complete edition).
Q: Will HOMM3 work on my Intel macbook/macbook air/macbook pro/mac pro/mac?
A: No, AFAIK, the Complete .app (and presumably it's predecessors), was built for the PPC (or Power PC) architecture, and unless a third party patch is released, the HOMM3 Installer will not work. If the installer doesn't work, it's a safe bet the rest doesn't as well. On top of that, it's a classic app (No longer supported on PPC), so hoping for a patch that updates it to OSX and Intel is unlikely.
Q: Well, I've got a PPC machine updated to OS 10.5.3+, so I can run it fine, right?
A: Nope. As of system 10.5.3 and above, apple has seen fit to remove the code that enables 256/thousands of colors. The good news is, since most PPC machines were made before 10.5.3, you can just downgrade. However, if your PPC machine shipped with 10.5.3, apple *strongly advises* against downgrading to below what the computer shipped with, or suffer dire (and possibly bogus, I don't know) consequences.
Q: Hah! Thank the gods of compatibility, my computer fits the bill!
A: You aren't out of the woods yet. If you've tried to play, you'll notice that the game crashes harder than a tank and a big rig. Not to worry, with three simple steps (all the normal computer ridiculousness has already been endured by yours truly), you can fix this.
1) Select HOMM3.
2) Press Command+I
3) Increase the amount of memory given.
Q: It works! I'm going to install WOG now!
A: Sorry, it appears WOG doesn't work for the mac. More on this later (it hasn't properly been investigated, but from what I've read, it's a separate .exe, so unless someone ports it to a .app, it's a no-go).
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Disclaimer: This is HOMM3 Complete, so any older versions may be different (and probably buggier). Also, the patch (to 4.0.1 probably doesn't work for older versions. doesn't do anything, AFAIK, anyway, and is hard as hell to get.
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EDIT LOG: ~10:30 AM EST, Saturday, December 13, 2008: Added section about the crashes. Asked for advice on the subject of the crashes.
4:20 PM EST, Saturday, December 13, 2008: Added section about the patch, after several hours of trying to install User Agent Switcher, and subsequently removed the bits about "Crash! Post if you have halp, plz". Also added edit log.
6:15 PM EST, Saturday, December 13, 2008: Fixed epic fail, i.e. no patch for the game is required, as far as I know. Despite the two+ hours it took me to find it. Also discovered "Stealth Edit" function.
1:17 AM EST, Sunday, December 14, 2008: Added sticky request.
Tuesday, December 16, 3:28 PM EST Sorry about the bump, forgot stealth edit button. Really, really sorry!
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If you have anything more to say, or see an error, or a way of getting around some of the problems noted here, please post it up.
Also, sticky request.
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