38 replies to this topic

[Steve]

A Mac installer for the BiG World Project can be downloaded from:
http://home.comcast....stall-tools.zip

Also in the archive are all the utility programs needed to load mods.  All mods in the BiG World Project (including BGT) are supported except those that modify BGMain.exe, the Windows game program.  Directions for running it can be found in the Readme.txt file.

[Leonardo Watson]

Congratulations! That's absolute fantastic! As a Mac user, that's just the tool I'm always waiting for. I can hardly wait for using it.

You may better move your Mac installer for the BiG World Project to the BiG World Project download section.

I will send you the German readme later by PM.

[Steve]

I didn't know that there were any non-English Mac BG2, so I didn't do anything with Textpacks. I've put up a new version of Install-tools with preliminary support for Textpacks (I can't test it) and the German Readme file.

[Eric P.]

Hello,

Today I ran Big World Installer.sh for the first time. It asked me to drop first the Installpack, and then the Fixpack, onto the Terminal window, which I did. Then, the following error message appeared:

/BGII - SoA/Install-tools/Big World Installer.sh: line 190: syntax error near unexpected token `"BiG World Trimpack.bat"'
/BGII - SoA/Install-tools/Big World Installer.sh: line 190: `    BiG_packs+=("BiG World Trimpack.bat")'

How can I fix this, so I can run the tool? My Mac is a G4 PPC Quicksilver running Max OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger).

Thanks,
Eric

[Eric P.]

There's also a problem with Install-mod.sh in the latest version of Install-tools. When I launch it in the Terminal, an error mentions something wrong with line 500.

Thanks,
Eric

[Steve]

The version of Bash that comes with 10.4 must be pretty old. I replaced all x+=(...) with x[${#x[*]}]=... so the Install-tools should (hopefully) work with it.

New version of Install-tools here: http://home.comcast....stall-tools.zip

[Eric P.]

The version of Bash that comes with 10.4 must be pretty old. I replaced all x+=(...) with x[${#x[*]}]=... so the Install-tools should (hopefully) work with it.

New version of Install-tools here: http://home.comcast....stall-tools.zip

That wouldn't surprise me, as Tiger is a bit "mature" by now, and won't see any further development, but it's the highest OS my machine can handle unless or until I upgrade the CPU...or buy a newer machine.

Thanks!
Eric

[Eric P.]

Well, that latest version of Install-tools didn't help, as the version of Install-mod.sh doesn't work. Hoping for a fix sometime soon, as I'm now unable to install anything at all.

- E

[Eric P.]

Well, that latest version of Install-tools didn't help, as the version of Install-mod.sh doesn't work. Hoping for a fix sometime soon, as I'm now unable to install anything at all.

- E

Got the latest Install-Tools now. Not sure if I should try running the BWS, though, as I'm having major issues trying to install BGT-WeiDU.

- E

[Leonardo Watson]

Finally I had time to test your tools and wanted to add detailed instructions to my guide if all went fine. However I was not able to install BWP on my Mac.
I was able to convert all .BAT and .TP2 files to Mac forms with Install-mod.sh, but I was not able to install BWP with Big World Installer.sh.
I wanted to test it intensively and post the results. Maybe I was misreading your instructions. When I was prompted to "drop the mods you want to add" I dropped some archives onto the Terminal window. It was not explained but I thought I had to do so. Only ten or twelve mods I could add this way at one time. Your tool went on to work and accepted .rar and .zip files. With some other mods there comes a message like "aTweaks_v311.exe is not in a known archive format"

But then strange things happened. For some reason not only the BG Mods had been copied into the BWPmods subfolder but also my entire Applications folder (from a very different directory).
I don't know what was going wrong. However that seems too dangerous for me. I aborted testing your tools although I was rejoiced at being able to play BWP on my Mac. Sorry.

[Eric P.]

Finally I had time to test your tools and wanted to add detailed instructions to my guide if all went fine. However I was not able to install BWP on my Mac.
I was able to convert all .BAT and .TP2 files to Mac forms with Install-mod.sh, but I was not able to install BWP with Big World Installer.sh.
I wanted to test it intensively and post the results. Maybe I was misreading your instructions. When I was prompted to "drop the mods you want to add" I dropped some archives onto the Terminal window. It was not explained but I thought I had to do so. Only ten or twelve mods I could add this way at one time. Your tool went on to work and accepted .rar and .zip files. With some other mods there comes a message like "aTweaks_v311.exe is not in a known archive format"

But then strange things happened. For some reason not only the BG Mods had been copied into the BWPmods subfolder but also my entire Applications folder (from a very different directory).
I don't know what was going wrong. However that seems too dangerous for me. I aborted testing your tools although I was rejoiced at being able to play BWP on my Mac. Sorry.

My experience has been that, under Mac OS X, we must first extract a mod archive, place the resulting extracted mod folder in the BGII game folder, then drop that extracted mod folder (not the archive; the archive doesn't even need to be present in the BGII folder) onto the Terminal window where Install-mod.sh is running, in order for that tool to place needed files in the BGII folder. When Install-mod.sh then asks (after fixing broken mod files) if I want to install the mod, I always say no, then I install the mod manually...but I always do things the hard way

I notice that Install-mod.sh always correctly detects my BG folder, so I believer this tool functions exactly as it should.

Just some info for everyone.

Happy modding,
Eric

[Steve]

...
I wanted to test it intensively and post the results. Maybe I was misreading your instructions. When I was prompted to "drop the mods you want to add" I dropped some archives onto the Terminal window. It was not explained but I thought I had to do so. Only ten or twelve mods I could add this way at one time.

The Terminal input buffer has a 1024-byte limit (about 12 lines) after which it will ignore any more and play the system error sound until a RETURN. I don't know how to explain that clearly to the masses and I assumed most people would add mods one at a time.

...
Your tool went on to work and accepted .rar and .zip files. With some other mods there comes a message like "aTweaks_v311.exe is not in a known archive format"

It accepts both archives and folders. Folders allows new patches (or any change) to be applied before running the installer.

I use the 'file' program to decide what .EXE files are. Mine says aTweaks is a RAR self-extracting archive and will use unrar to extract it. I'm curious what 'file .../aTweaks_v311.exe' would say on your system.

...
But then strange things happened. For some reason not only the BG Mods had been copied into the BWPmods subfolder but also my entire Applications folder (from a very different directory).

This is definitely weird. I'll look at the installer and see if I can find something.

[Leonardo Watson]

I am very inexperienced in working with terminal and started completely naive. So I run into a lot of problems. But it is better to discover all possible pitfalls before other users walk into.

The first problem I had with converting Fixpack, Textpack and Installpack with Big World Installer.sh.
I downloaded them from the internet and unpacked them as usual by double-clicking. By default my Mac unpacks the content without any folder that contains them. So I have for example the folder "BiG World Fixpack" and the files "BiG World Fixpack.bat" and "BiG World Fixpack read me.txt". This is a provided behavior with the installation on a windows PC.

However, the Big World Installer.sh does not accept them in this form. Only when I unpacked them with Stuffit Expander the files and the folder are enclosed in a folder. In this form they are accepted by the Big World Installer.sh.

This is the reason why I dragged the mod archives onto the Big World Installer.sh terminal window. At this time I had not tried Stuffit Expander.

Maybe there is a different behavior dependend on the MacOSX version we use. I use the most recent version 10.6.4 "Snow Leopard". With former operation systems Apple used Stuffit Expander by default. But someday Apple replaced it by their own program. So if anyone doesn't have Stuffit Expander on his/her computer, he/she possibly get the same result as me.

I assumed most people would add mods one at a time

When I want to do a full install with about 350 mods am I expected to drag them every individual onto Big World Installer.sh? You can't be serious!

I use the 'file' program to decide what .EXE files are. Mine says aTweaks is a RAR self-extracting archive and will use unrar to extract it. I'm curious what 'file .../aTweaks_v311.exe' would say on your system.

I got messages like this:

./AllisonV18.exe is not in a known archive format.
./alternatives-v7.exe is not in a known archive format.
./amber-v2.6.exe is not in a known archive format.
./angelo-v4.exe is not in a known archive format.
./Ascension-WeiDU-v1.4.24.exe is not in a known archive format.
./aTweaks_v311.exe is not in a known archive format.

[Eric P.]

I am very inexperienced in working with terminal and started completely naive. So I run into a lot of problems. But it is better to discover all possible pitfalls before other users walk into.

The first problem I had with converting Fixpack, Textpack and Installpack with Big World Installer.sh.
I downloaded them from the internet and unpacked them as usual by double-clicking. By default my Mac unpacks the content without any folder that contains them. So I have for example the folder "BiG World Fixpack" and the files "BiG World Fixpack.bat" and "BiG World Fixpack read me.txt". This is a provided behavior with the installation on a windows PC.

However, the Big World Installer.sh does not accept them in this form. Only when I unpacked them with Stuffit Expander the files and the folder are enclosed in a folder. In this form they are accepted by the Big World Installer.sh.

This is the reason why I dragged the mod archives onto the Big World Installer.sh terminal window. At this time I had not tried Stuffit Expander.

Maybe there is a different behavior dependend on the MacOSX version we use. I use the most recent version 10.6.4 "Snow Leopard". With former operation systems Apple used Stuffit Expander by default. But someday Apple replaced it by their own program. So if anyone doesn't have Stuffit Expander on his/her computer, he/she possibly get the same result as me.

I assumed most people would add mods one at a time

When I want to do a full install with about 350 mods am I expected to drag them every individual onto Big World Installer.sh? You can't be serious!

I use the 'file' program to decide what .EXE files are. Mine says aTweaks is a RAR self-extracting archive and will use unrar to extract it. I'm curious what 'file .../aTweaks_v311.exe' would say on your system.

I got messages like this:

./AllisonV18.exe is not in a known archive format.
./alternatives-v7.exe is not in a known archive format.
./amber-v2.6.exe is not in a known archive format.
./angelo-v4.exe is not in a known archive format.
./Ascension-WeiDU-v1.4.24.exe is not in a known archive format.
./aTweaks_v311.exe is not in a known archive format.

I will stick my nose in here...because it's very large Every Mac should have StuffIt, because it's a very nice and useful package! I always use it to extract .rar archives that I download. In the rare case where I download an .exe archive, I use UnrarX to attempt to extract, and that only after having created a folder for it, and placing the archive inside. Sometimes UnrarX extacts the files and reports that all are OK, while other times it reports that there are no files to extract. If the latter is the case, I then try 7zX to extract the files. If that fails, that means that there is simply no way to use the archive.

I see the most success when I use StuffIt to extract downloaded archives. If the archive is a .zip file, though, that's as simple as a double-click to extract, because Mac OS X has its own tool for zipping and unzipping files...but one may still use StuffIt in that case.

When you use Install-mod.sh, I'm fairly sure it's required to first extract the archive, then drag the folder that contains all the mod contents onto the Terminal window. Then, Install-mod.sh will tell you that it's fixing broken files, and finally it asks if you want to install the mod (I always answer "no" at that point).

I install mods one at a time, partially so I can test mods I haven't used before, and partially because I'm still hesitant to try the Mac version of BWS *L*

Of the mods listed above, I don't use aTweaks, but I do use all the rest of them, and I've never experienced any problems with them, from downloading to extracting to installing to playing. All good

All this on my venarable G4 PPC Quicksilver Mac, running Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger).

Happy modding,
Eric

[Steve]

...By default my Mac unpacks the content without any folder that contains them.
...However, the Big World Installer.sh does not accept them in this form. Only when I unpacked them with Stuffit Expander the files and the folder are enclosed in a folder.

This is the only way for the installer to know which files are in the mod. Hopefully most people will just give it the mod archive.

...Maybe there is a different behavior dependend on the MacOSX version we use. I use the most recent version 10.6.4 "Snow Leopard". With former operation systems Apple used Stuffit Expander by default. But someday Apple replaced it by their own program. So if anyone doesn't have Stuffit Expander on his/her computer, he/she possibly get the same result as me.

My machine is running 10.5 and the default for it is to create surrounding directories. Which de-archiver are you using?

When I want to do a full install with about 350 mods am I expected to drag them every individual onto Big World Installer.sh? You can't be serious!

That does sound a little harsh. I'll change the installer to accept a directory of mods.

I got messages like this:

./AllisonV18.exe is not in a known archive format.
./alternatives-v7.exe is not in a known archive format.
./amber-v2.6.exe is not in a known archive format.
./angelo-v4.exe is not in a known archive format.
./Ascension-WeiDU-v1.4.24.exe is not in a known archive format.
./aTweaks_v311.exe is not in a known archive format.

Open Terminal, it's in Applications/Utilities. Type:
file drag-n-drop-the-above-files-then-press-RETURN
Let me know what it says.

[Leonardo Watson]

I am carefully preparing a new test.

I tried again to unpack all my archives. This time I moved them into a new created folder, selected all of them and double-clicked them. All .zip files had been opened by the on-board Archive Utility.app v10.6 (to found at /System/Library/CoreServices). The .rar filed had been opened by Stuffit Expander. This time all the files are in surrounding directories. I don't know what went wrong before.

Most of the .exe files I could extract with Stuffit Expander (with surrounding folder) without these mods:

AllisonV18.exe
ImpAsylumV93.exe
RItemPackV2.exe
SolaufeinFlirtPackV1.exe
spitems.exe
SuperFirkv14.exe

I got the message from Stuffit that the file format cannot be recognized. How can I unpack them?

However a problem occurs with the .7z format that cannot be opened by Stuffit Expander. I used 7zX.app 1.7.1 to open these files. The archives are unpacked WITHOUT surrounding directories. That concerns 26 mods. That means that I have to create a folder for each one of them, and place the archives inside? Is there any way to automatize this step?

And what's about the following mods. They come with their own installer and cannot be unpacked correctly with a de-archive program already on a windows PC. How to unpack them on a Mac?

Assassinations_v8.exe
BanterPackV12.exe
BoM_Item_pack.exe
CespyAudioV1.exe
Cloakwood_V4.exe
D0QuestPack_v23.exe
D0Tweak_v20.exe
dearniseV3.exe
DungeonCrawl_v5.exe
GharethNPC.exe
Goo_V6.exe
JZ-v3.exe
KelseyNPCv21.exe
KelseyTOBV22.exe
Keto-SOAv3.exe
KitanyaSoAv6-22.exe
LuxleySoA-v1-1.exe
Nathaniel-v4-2.exe
NeJ2v42b.exe
NeJ2v602.exe
NPCFlirtV102.exe
RE_v4.exe
sarahtob-v3.exe
Shed_'s Mods 1.03.exe
Tiax_v1.exe
TOD-v3.3.exe
TurnaboutV1.exe
UnfinishedBusiness-v19.exe
Xan_v9.exe
XanBG1Friend_v6.exe
XanBG2Voice_v2.exe
Yikari-v1.7.exe


Some mods at Gibberlings3 are already offered in a Mac format. Should I use these Mac specific archives or makes it no difference which one I use because they will be converted anyway by your tool. What happens, if your tool tries to convert one of the Mac specific files again. Is there any trouble?


By the way: Have you ever managed to install BG1 on MacOSX (without OS9). This means to unpack the archive from CD1? The manually full install by copying the content of the data files and movies files from the CD2 -CD6 could also be finished on the MacOSX.

[Eric P.]

If you're installing for Mac OS X, then always choose whatever Mac versions of mods are available to download (yes, it makes a difference). Some of the mods listed in the above post have archives in .rar format, so those should be downloaded instead of the .exe versions (avoid .exe downloads on a Mac whenever possible, since results are inconsistent, and some files will simply not be usable at all). D0 Quest Pack, and Kitanya's Mac version are downloadable as .zip files. Dungeon Crawl is downloadable as a .rar.

Where does Allison v.18 come from? I have v.15, and the link to this mod at PPG is broken. SarahToB should be v.3.1. Unfinished Business is v.18 for Mac, and is downloadable as a .zip. I'm not familiar with the rest of the mods listed, as I don't use them.

Hope this helps!
- Eric

[Steve]

...I tried again to unpack all my archives.

Why? Both Install-mod and BWInstaller do this automatically except for Nullsoft archives. They use the commandline programs unzip, unrar and 7za (from the p7zip project) to unpack the mods. The Unarchiver can unpack most Nullsoft archives but I'm uncomfortable about including it with Install-tools.

Most of the .exe files I could extract with Stuffit Expander (with surrounding folder) without these mods:

AllisonV18.exe -- Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
ImpAsylumV93.exe -- Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
RItemPackV2.exe -- Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
SolaufeinFlirtPackV1.exe -- Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
spitems.exe -- UPX compressed; 7za and Stuffit Expander v14 can unpack it
SuperFirkv14.exe -- UPX compressed; 7za and Stuffit Expander v14 can unpack it

I don't know what UPX is but p7zip will unpack them OK. P7zip can also unpack some Nullsoft archives but there's no commandline program that I know of that can unpack all. If there is no Mac version of these mods you'll need to manually unpack them with The Unarchiver. If worse comes to worst, you'll need to copy them from a Windows machine; I use a virtual machine running Win-98 on my Mac to do it.

However a problem occurs with the .7z format that cannot be opened by Stuffit Expander. I used 7zX.app 1.7.1 to open these files. The archives are unpacked WITHOUT surrounding directories. That concerns 26 mods. That means that I have to create a folder for each one of them, and place the archives inside? Is there any way to automatize this step?

For 7-zip files, I use The Unarchiver. I dumped 7zX for just this reason.

And what's about the following mods. They come with their own installer and cannot be unpacked correctly with a de-archive program already on a windows PC. How to unpack them on a Mac?

Assassinations_v8.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it or use the Mac version
BanterPackV12.exe - Nullsoft archive; instead use the BWLinklist link BanterPacksV12_plain.zip
BoM_Item_pack.exe - RAR archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
CespyAudioV1.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver does NOT work
Cloakwood_V4.exe - Nullsoft archive; instead use the BWLinklist link Cloakwood4_plain.zip
D0QuestPack_v23.exe - Nullsoft archive; use this instead: http://home.comcast....D0QuestPack.rar
D0Tweak_v20.exe - Nullsoft archive; use this instead: http://home.comcast....r18/D0Tweak.rar
dearniseV3.exe - Nullsoft archive; use the Mac version
DungeonCrawl_v5.exe - Nullsoft archive; use the Mac version
GharethNPC.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
Goo_V6.exe - Nullsoft archive; instead use the BWlinklist link Goo_v6plain.zip
JZ-v3.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
KelseyNPCv21.exe - Nullsoft archive; use the Mac version
KelseyTOBV22.exe - Nullsoft archive; use the Mac version
Keto-SOAv3.exe - Nullsoft archive; use the older Mac v2
KitanyaSoAv6-22.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
LuxleySoA-v1-1.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
Nathaniel-v4-2.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
NeJ2v42b.exe - UPX compressed; Stuffit Expander v14 can unpack it
NeJ2v602.exe - RAR archive; Stuffit Expander v14 can unpack it
NPCFlirtV102.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it or use Mac version
RE_v4.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it or use Mac version
sarahtob-v3.exe - RAR archive; Stuffit Expander v14 can unpack it or use Mac version
Shed_'s Mods 1.03.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
Tiax_v1.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it or use Mac version
TOD-v3.3.exe - RAR archive; Stuffit Expander v14 can unpack it
TurnaboutV1.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver unpacks it incorrectly
UnfinishedBusiness-v19.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it or use Mac version
Xan_v9.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it or use Mac version
XanBG1Friend_v6.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it or use Mac version
XanBG2Voice_v2.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it
Yikari-v1.7.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it

I included some logic with my installers to handle different "styles" of distribution. For example, Pocket Plane Group packs their Windows mods in a ZIP file that contains a README and a Nullsoft archive of the mod.

Some mods at Gibberlings3 are already offered in a Mac format. Should I use these Mac specific archives or makes it no difference which one I use because they will be converted anyway by your tool. What happens, if your tool tries to convert one of the Mac specific files again. Is there any trouble?

Thanks to the diligent efforts of Eric P., I've made Mac versions supported. The problem is, these versions are made on Windows and without any testing so most are broken in some way. Install-mod can fix some of the problems but not all, so I would use the Windows version unless there is some reason not to.

By the way: Have you ever managed to install BG1 on MacOSX (without OS9). This means to unpack the archive from CD1? The manually full install by copying the content of the data files and movies files from the CD2 -CD6 could also be finished on the MacOSX.

I guess you mean TotSC; it's a drag-n-drop install on the Mac from CD6. Then you could manually move the data and movies from CD1-5 or, what I do, use BG1Tutu Assistant to do it.

[Leonardo Watson]

Currently I'm installing BWP on my Mac for the first time. That's a phantastic tool you made! My previous problems came in large part from using your tool wrongly - yes, one can do so! (not the right directory and whatnot) Until now most looks fine. Some mods are skipped. I have to look into it when installation is finished.

I'm using my out of date install.bat v9.2 for testing. In the most recent v9.3 I have splitted the install.bat. Some functions are now stored in the new "BiG World Installpack" folder. Also the Smoothpack I have moved into this folder. For that reason Big World Installer.sh cannot find it. Please check whether your tool will work with v9.3

For the upcoming v9.4 I also change the install part of my install.bat considerably. I cannot describe it. Await a preview in about one week.

The following mods cannot be unpacked also they have Mac installers:
Ashes of Embers Installer.pkg
Indira NPC Installer.pkg
Kelsey NPC Installer.pkg
Kelsey TOB Installer.pkg
error message:
The following install step failed
: Run preflight script for xxx

NPCFlirtV102.exe - Nullsoft archive; The Unarchiver can unpack it or use Mac version

I could neither unpack it by using The Unarchiver (error at decrunch (whatever this means)) nor could I find a Mac version.

I guess you mean TotSC; it's a drag-n-drop install on the Mac from CD6. Then you could manually move the data and movies from CD1-5

Are you sure? It sounds like a good idea, but doing so, 110 files in the override are missing from CD1.

My machine is running 10.5

PowerPC or Intel?

[Steve]

For the upcoming v9.4 I also change the install part of my install.bat considerably. I cannot describe it. Await a preview in about one week.

I'll await the new version then.

The following mods cannot be unpacked also they have Mac installers:

I can't support .pkg installer versions of mods.
Ashes of Embers Installer.pkg - The Unarchiver can unpack the PC version
Indira NPC Installer.pkg - Use the BWLinklist link IndiraNPC_v10_4_BGT
Kelsey NPC Installer.pkg - The Unarchiver unpacks the PC versions incorrectly
Kelsey TOB Installer.pkg / I'll have to think of something

NPCFlirtV102.exe - Nullsoft archive; error at decrunch (whatever this means)

You're right, I don't know what I was looking at.

>> I guess you mean TotSC; it's a drag-n-drop install on the Mac from CD6.
Are you sure? It sounds like a good idea, but doing so, 110 files in the override are missing from CD1.

Yes. The missing override files probably are in TotSC's .BIF files. I'm guessing that on the PC TotSC was installed into the BG1 directory; on the Mac, it completely replaces it.

>> My machine is running 10.5
PowerPC or Intel?

PowerPC G5 dual 2.7GHz.

One thing I should mention about BGT, none of the Mac BG1 movies will play in BG2 because they are in Quicktime format. Perhaps an archive with the PC BG1 movies can be made available.