Subject: comp.sys.mac.games FAQ Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games,comp.answers,news.answers From: schulman+@pitt.edu (Christina Schulman) Date: 10 Nov 1994 22:52:48 GMT Archive-name: macintosh/games-faq Last-modified: 1994/11/10 comp.sys.mac.games FAQ List (last changed November 10, 1994) Welcome to comp.sys.mac.games! If you're new to this group, READ THIS. All of it. Please. [ Lots of changes this month; the FAQ got a facelift. First, the content changes: 1. I added a section on joysticks 2. I added a section on where to find Unlimited Adventures modules and patches. 3. I put the X-Wing section back in 4. I added a note to the section on mail order sources, stating that they are NOT to be trusted about release dates 5. Changed the DOOM section to reflect rec.games.computer.doom.* I've also reformatted the FAQ to be compliant with the RFC 1153 digest format, which makes it easy for intelligent newsreaders to skip between sections. (Use ^G in rn, trn, and strn.) I also put all the http and ftp locations in URL format so that those of you who read news with a WWW browser can just click to reach these goodies. Forthcoming changes (they'll come forth when I have the time and definite information) will hopefully include sections on running PowerMacs at less than 256 colors, and when and if Colonization is coming out for the Mac (I'm getting conflicting information right now). ] ------------------------------ Subject: Introduction This FAQ provides the answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions on this newsgroup; readers new to this group should read it before posting. It is posted every two weeks to comp.sys.mac.games and monthly on or near the 10th of the month to comp.answers and news.answers. New users of Usenet news should be sure to read all of the articles in news.announce.newusers to familiarize themselves with the general etiquette of communicating on the net. How to get this FAQ: The latest version is available at the Usenet FAQ archive at rtfm.mit.edu as If you don't have ftp access, send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the line "send usenet/news.answers/macintosh/games-faq" in the body of the message. You can also send email to ; please include "Games FAQ" in the subject line. WWW users can find it in hypertext at or in plaintext at the WWW Usenet FAQ archive at: http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/macintosh/games-faq/faq.html Corrections, suggestions, and large cash bribes are welcome; please send them to Christina Schulman at . ------------------------------ Subject: Table of Contents Introduction Table of Contents 0. A word about flaming. 1. Where can I find Mac games available for anonymous ftp? 2. What does .hqx mean? What about .cpt and .sit? 3. Where else can I get Mac games? 4. What's the Patchlist/GPHL? Could somebody please repost it? 5. What's ResEdit? How do I get it? 6. I'm completely stuck in this game I'm playing. Where can I get a walkthru? 7. What's an easter egg? 8. How do I fix the bug in Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis? 9. I just saw this really great game called "X-Wing" on the PC. When is it coming out for the Mac? 10. I just saw this really great game called "DOOM" on the PC. When is it coming out for the Mac? 11. I've done some programming on other machines, and I'd like to write a game on my Mac. How do I start? 12. I've written this terrific game for the Mac. How do I get it out to the major ftp sites? 13. What's "IMG"/"Inside Mac Games"? 14. Are there any freeware chess games for the Mac? 15. Are there any mahjong games for the Mac? 16. Where can I find Unlimited Adventures updates and modules? 17. I always loved playing [Pacman, Star Wars, Frogger, etc.] at the arcade. Is there a Mac version? 18. What games will fail to run on my [AV Mac, PowerMac, bizarrely configured Mac]? How do I fix them? 19. What joystick should I buy for my Mac? 20. Is there a FAQ for [FA-18, Sim City 2000, Civilization, Pathways into Darkness, Spaceward Ho!,...] Credits ------------------------------ Subject: 0. A word about flaming. Every now and then some moron posts something along the lines of "Mac games suck!!!!! Get a real machine!!!!!" And immediately 30 or 40 people take the bait and post long, vitriolic replies and exhort everyone to mail-bomb the perpetrator. Please, please, please don't waste your time and our bandwidth replying to this kind of idiocy. More often than not it was posted as a practical joke from the account of some hapless user who left themselves logged in in a public computer cluster. The owner of the account then logs back in a day or two later to find several megs of hate mail and uuencoded core dumps in their mail spool. If you feel that you absolutely have to share your witty, concise flame on the complete superiority of the Mac above all other gaming platforms, take it to comp.sys.mac.advocacy, where it will be appreciated. ------------------------------ Subject: 1. Where can I find Mac games available for anonymous ftp? The 3 major sites for ftp'ing Mac software are sumex-aim.stanford.edu, mac.archive.umich.edu, and wuarchive.wustl.edu, which is a mirror site of the first two. (A mirror site is a site that contains an exact copy of the contents of another site, in the hopes of diverting some traffic away from the more popular site. Wuarchive is updated daily; other mirror sites are usually 1 to 3 days behind the "mother" site.) Other mirror sites of sumex and umich exist at grind.isca.uiowa.edu (North America), archie.au (Australia) and nic.switch.ch (Switzerland). It's more polite and generally faster to connect to a site that's on the same continent you are. Bruce Grubb periodically posts a comprehensive list of Mac ftp sites to comp.sys.mac.games. It is available via ftp at sumex as and at umich as . (The name will reflect the current version, which may be later than 3.91.) ------------------------------ Subject: 2. What does .hqx mean? What about .cpt and .sit? Files ending in .hqx are binary files which have been converted to BinHex format so that they can be transmitted as ASCII text files via the Internet. There are various utilities that will BinHex and de-BinHex files, among them Compact Pro and StuffIt (see below). Some Mac ftp clients such as Fetch will automatically de-BinHex files when you download them. Files ending in .cpt have been compressed by Compact Pro; files ending in .sit have been compressed by StuffIt. Compact Pro by Bill Goodman and StuffIt Lite from Aladdin Systems are shareware; they can be ftp'd from any of the major Mac ftp sites, and the registration fee for each is $25. StuffIt Expander is a nifty free utility from Aladdin Systems that will uncompress StuffIt, Compact Pro, and Applelink archives. It will also decode BinHex 4.0 files without requiring you to first strip the headers. It's available at sumex as and at umich as ------------------------------ Subject: 3. Where else can I get Mac games? Well, you could buy them. Most software stores have a section for Mac games, but you can usually get better prices, a better selection, and a better return policy from mailorder sources. Each issue of MacWorld and MacUser contains many, many ads for mailorder companies, between which they occasionally sandwich articles. The phone numbers for the biggest sources in the USA are: MacConnection: 1-800-800-3333 MacWarehouse: 1-800-255-6227 MacZone: 1-800-248-0800 Computer Outfitters: 1-800-249-0009 (formerly Mac's Place) If you call them and ask nicely, they'll be happy to send you a complete catalog. NOTE: Mailorder sources are NOT the most reliable source of information about release dates for games. Games are often advertised in their catalogs, usually with preliminary screenshots, months before they are actually available. Also, the sales clerks generally have no idea when the game will be released. If they tell you it'll be available in "two weeks," that could mean two weeks, two months, or a year from next Tuesday. Local Mac User Groups are another source for games; often shareware and freeware games are distributed on disk at meetings or are available for downloading on their bulletin boards. Contact your local MUG for details. If you can't find a game anywhere else, you can always order it from the company directly. ------------------------------ Subject: 4. What's the Patchlist/GPHL? Could somebody please repost it? The Patchlist is a list of fixes that the legal owners of certain games can apply to the programs to bypass the irritating copy protection schemes. Anthony Chan used to maintain it; Geoffrey Peters now maintains it and periodically posts the latest version to comp.sys.mac.games. To get a copy, just send email to either af_chan@postoffice.utas.edu.au or geoff@apanix.apana.org.au with a subject along the lines of "Please send me the GPHL," not just "Patchlist." You can also ask Geoff to add you to a mailing list so that you receive new versions of the GPHL automagically. Geoff and Anthony have lives, and fairly busy ones at that, so don't be too impatient if your Patchlist doesn't arrive immediately. It may take up to 2 or 3 weeks before they have a chance to send you a copy. If you have gopher, you can find the latest version by gophering to gwis.circ.gwu.edu and looking in Student Organisations -> Sports/Hobby/Rec -> GWU Gamer's Society. WWW users can find it at . ------------------------------ Subject: 5. What's ResEdit? How do I get it? ResEdit is a utility from Apple that lets you edit the resources of Mac files. (Hence the name.) You will need it if you want to patch games or extract beep sounds. You can severely damage your software this way, so you really shouldn't use it unless you more or less know what you're doing. (And even if you do, it's a good idea to use it on a copy of the file.) ResEdit can be ftp'd from . ------------------------------ Subject: 6. I'm completely stuck in this game I'm playing. Where can I get a walkthru? Solutions and hints for many popular games are available via anonymous ftp at and . There's also a large solution site at , but you will need gunzip or MacGzip to uncompress these files. (Gunzip is available from the GNU archives at prep.ai.mit.edu; MacGzip is available in .) If you can't find an answer there, post your question--chances are *somebody* on comp.sys.mac.games has gotten farther than you! If someone posts a question for which you also want the answer, instead of posting "Send me the answer too!" send email to the original poster and ask him or her to relay the answer to you. ------------------------------ Subject: 7. What's an easter egg? An easter egg--the kind you find in Mac games, anyway--is any sort of hidden surprise (hence the name) that occurs when an unlikely set of conditions are met. For example, when the system clock is set to December 25, Maelstrom displays Christmas ornaments in the title screen. Another example is the very large literal easter egg suspended over a remote lake in F/A-18. A list of Macintosh and Newton easter eggs compiled by Brian Kendig can be found at sumex in . Of course, if the programmer didn't put it in on purpose, it's not an easter egg, it's a "feature." ------------------------------ Subject: 8. How do I fix the bug in Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis? There is indeed a bug in Indy Atlantis. On the Team Path, when you land the balloon on the "X" in the desert, the game hangs. A patch for this bug is available via anonymous ftp at umich in and at sumex in . It can also be obtained directly from LucasArts at: LucasArts Entertainment P.O. Box 10307 San Rafael, CA 94912 Phone (tech support only): (415) 721-3333 Fax: (415) 721-3482 ------------------------------ Subject: 9. I just saw this really great game called "X-Wing" on the PC. When is it coming out for the Mac? Don't hold your breath. LucasArts insists that there is no Mac version of X-Wing in development and that there are no plans to start one. Much of the code in X-Wing is dependent upon the IBM PC processor. Recently there have been hints that there may be a Mac port of X-Wing under development, but it definitely had not yet reached the coding stage as of July 1994. X-Wing will run under SoftWindows on the PowerMac, but it's so glacially slow that it's unplayable, and there's no sound. Hopefully this will improve with the SoftWindows 486 emulator, which is expected in early 1995. LucasArts has, however, released a Star Wars-based game called Rebel Assault, which is available for the Mac on CD-ROM only. ------------------------------ Subject: 10. I just saw this really great game called "DOOM" on the PC. When is it coming out for the Mac? You can finger help@idsoftware.com for the current status of the Mac version of DOOM. This is what it says as of 11 August 94: "MAC: We have found a team to do this. There is no release date. No development has begun. We just got some Power PCs to test the beta version on. It should be here soon. Please do NOT ask to test this. There is no more info on this at this time." Discussion of the Mac port of DOOM, and comparisons of DOOM to similar Mac games such as Pathways into Darkness, Sensory Overload, Marathon, and Wolfenstein 3-D are appropriate in comp.sys.mac.games, although I think we're all getting rather sick of the subject. Discussion of DOOM gameplay does not belong in comp.sys.mac.games until there is a Mac version of the game. Try rec.games.computer.doom.playing instead. ------------------------------ Subject: 11. I've done some programming on other machines, and I'd like to write a game on my Mac. How do I start? To quote the Public Domain Mac Programming FAQ Answer sheet, you'll need "a Mac, a lot of time, and a few hundred $." Programming on the Mac is not for the faint of heart. Get the Programming FAQ via ftp from and read it; any questions it doesn't answer are probably best asked in comp.sys.mac.programmer or rec.games.programmer. And good luck! ------------------------------ Subject: 12. I've written this terrific game for the Mac. How do I get it out to the major ftp sites? Do NOT post binaries to comp.sys.mac.games. The best way to release your game to the csm.gamers is to make it available at an ftp site and then post an announcement about it to comp.sys.mac.games with the site name and path. You might want to offer to email it to people who don't have ftp access. For the best way to send your game to sumex and umich, see below: [The rest of this answer was shamelessly stolen from L.H.Wood's Screensaver FAQ, with permission.] If you want to spread good Mac shareware or freeware to the world, giving millions of people, including me, the chance to see it, simply email a binhexed copy of the compacted or stuffited archive to: which will distribute it to ftp archives across the world, including the big ones - info-mac, umich, their many mirrors, and comp.binaries.mac. Remember to add a text description of the contents before that long binhex column! Don't send self-extracting archives (SEAs) - Compact Pro, Stuffit Expander and Stuffit Lite are readily available from these ftp archives, and we all know how to use them. Dial-up access to ftp sites is on the increase and SEAs run up others' phone bills unnecessarily. ------------------------------ Subject: 13. What's "IMG"/"Inside Mac Games"? IMG is Inside Mac Games, a monthly magazine dedicated to Macintosh Computer Games. A Free Preview Edition is uploaded monthly to sumex in . (It's also uploaded to AOL, Compu$erve, and GEnie.) ------------------------------ Subject: 14. Are there any freeware chess games for the Mac? An unauthorized port of Gnuchess is available at umich . There's also "Chess Set!", a shareware chess stack for Hypercard, available at . Steve Bushell's freeware "Chess++" is available at . ------------------------------ Subject: 15. Are there any shareware mahjong games for the Mac? Sort of. Shanghai II and its shareware clone Gunshy are excellent games, but they are not actually mahjong, although Shanghai does use mahjong tiles. Rumor has it that there is a commerical version of japanese mahjong that is only available in Japan. There is a freeware mahjong program called "Macjong 0.20a", but it is reputedly buggy and incomplete. It is available at umich in . ------------------------------ Subject: 16. Where can I find Unlimited Adventures updates and modules? There is a large collection of freeware and shareware UA modules at (the mac modules' names end in .sit). Updates are in . ------------------------------ Subject: 17. I always loved playing [Pacman, Star Wars, Frogger, etc.] at the arcade. Is there a Mac version? Probably. John W. Komp maintains a list of Mac versions of various 80's arcade games, send email with the subject "Mac Arcade List Please" to him at . ------------------------------ Subject: 18. What games will fail to run on my [AV Mac, PowerMac, bizarrely configured Mac]? How do I fix them? Brian Lev maintains a "Broken Games List" of games that break on AV and PowerMacs and any known fixes. To get a copy of the list, send email to lev@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov with the subject "Broken Games List Please" or ftp it from . ------------------------------ Subject: 19. What joystick should I buy for my Mac? It depends on what games you want to use the joysticks with. The Thrustmaster is generally considered to be the best joystick for flight simulators, but it's rather pricey at about $115, and it's not ideal for other games. The Gravis MouseStick II has some problems, but it works well with many games, and it's only about $50. The Flightstick Pro is also popular at about $90. (These average prices were determined through exhaustive research, which is to say, I called MacConnection and MacWarehouse for the prices. This doesn't constitute any kind of endorsement from the FAQ maintainer, who doesn't even own a joystick.) ------------------------------ Subject: 20. Is there a FAQ for [FA-18, Sim City 2000, Civilization, Pathways into Darkness, Spaceward Ho!,...] There are FAQ's for many of the more popular Macintosh games. Try looking in the info or games directories at the major ftp sites. Another good place to look if you have WWW access is Dave Stanworth's Games Domain, at . Some are available directly from the maintainer: Civilization FAQ: Send email to with the subject "Civ FAQ please", ftp it from , or go to on WWW. F/A-18 Hornet FAQ: Anon ftp it from or . Pathways into Darkness FAQ: Send email to with the subject "PID FAQ please". There are also "Pathways into Cheating" and "PID Basic Survival Guide" documents available in . Sim City 2000 FAQ: Send email to Kevin Endo at with the subject "SC2K FAQ please" or ftp it from . Spaceward Ho! FAQ: Send email to with the subject 'SPHO FAQ' (without the quotes, all uppercase), or anon ftp it from . It's also available as a Web page at . ------------------------------ Subject: Credits This document is copyright 1994 by Christina Schulman. Suggestions and additions to this FAQ have been contributed by: Anthony Chan John W. Komp Hidetaka Mizohata Bill Rausch Ingemar Ragnemalm Jeff Strobel Dave Stanworth Sherman Uitzetter L.H. Wood Thanks, guys!