42 replies to this topic

[RTGRuss]

Hi Guys,

Please see the note from me in the News from the Front forum... The news is very bad for the short term and I wish we didn't have to face this at Christmas time but I'm hopeful we can turn it into a positive down the road.

Take care & best wishes!

Russ

[DessertFox]

RTGRuss, on Dec 23 2009, 07:14 AM, said:

Hi Guys,

Please see the note from me in the News from the Front forum... The news is very bad for the short term and I wish we didn't have to face this at Christmas time but I'm hopeful we can turn it into a positive down the road.

Take care & best wishes!

Russ

Hi Russ,

can't you run this "Mac" as a virtual machine on a new PC?

[Kurassier]

RTGRuss, on Dec 23 2009, 12:14 AM, said:

Hi Guys,

Please see the note from me in the News from the Front forum... The news is very bad for the short term and I wish we didn't have to face this at Christmas time but I'm hopeful we can turn it into a positive down the road.

Take care & best wishes!

Russ

Let me guess, a sponge got caught in the gears......

[RTGRuss]

DessertFox, on Dec 23 2009, 12:54 AM, said:

RTGRuss, on Dec 23 2009, 07:14 AM, said:

Hi Guys,

Please see the note from me in the News from the Front forum... The news is very bad for the short term and I wish we didn't have to face this at Christmas time but I'm hopeful we can turn it into a positive down the road.

Take care & best wishes!

Russ

Hi Russ,

can't you run this "Mac" as a virtual machine on a new PC?

Hmm...it's something I can check into but that's not an area where I have any experience and I'm dealing with a 15 year old Mac/Mac OS (along with ancient backup hardware/software) and a game program in an very old version of Pascal for a Mac (and very fussy to begin with and the original programmer long gone). I also haven't operated in a Mac environment, other than running Victory! which did not require any coding, etc. as long as the hardware held up, for at least 10 years. It's quite possible I could spend a lot of time trying to figure out what I was doing only to run into some sore of insurmountable problem anyway and have to go with Project Victory regardless. I haven't given up yet on options but time is an issue and if I can't come up with a working solution fairly quickly I want to get started on something I know will be successful.

Thanks much for the input,

Russ

[jpd]

DessertFox, on Dec 22 2009, 11:54 PM, said:

RTGRuss, on Dec 23 2009, 07:14 AM, said:

Hi Guys,

Please see the note from me in the News from the Front forum... The news is very bad for the short term and I wish we didn't have to face this at Christmas time but I'm hopeful we can turn it into a positive down the road.

Take care & best wishes!

Russ

Hi Russ,

can't you run this "Mac" as a virtual machine on a new PC?

That's not very likely. Apple has made their OS in such a way that it cannot be installed on generic PC hardware. See the current case of Apple vs. Psystar. And that's assuming a recent version of Apple's OS designed for Intel CPU's. The old Mac's ran on Motorola 68K's, with later models running on IBM PowerPC chips. As far as I know, apart from industrial testing equipment (which is hugely expensive), there aren't virtual machines available that enable a Mac infrastructure based on either the 68K or the PowerPC on Intel hardware.

[dageraad]

As most of us are nerds or semi-nerds there must be some of us with an old MAC. A very old MAC. A former collegue of mine had a kind of "MAC Museum". A lot of old MAC's are gathering dust somewhere in a shed or an attic.

If Russ can figuer out what part of the MAC is failing, maybe it can be replaced.

[Falco]

DessertFox, on Dec 23 2009, 07:54 AM, said:

RTGRuss, on Dec 23 2009, 07:14 AM, said:

Hi Guys,

Please see the note from me in the News from the Front forum... The news is very bad for the short term and I wish we didn't have to face this at Christmas time but I'm hopeful we can turn it into a positive down the road.

Take care & best wishes!

Russ

Hi Russ,

can't you run this "Mac" as a virtual machine on a new PC?

Nice Idea. Google turns up a promising link: http://www.emulators.com/softmac.htm. There are probably others out there, But this one seems compatible with most MAC OS versions. (It supports all versions of Mac OS from the original 1.1g through System 6, System 7, Mac OS 7.5 and 7.6, and Mac OS 8.0 and 8.1.)

[MacFreek]

Hi Russ,

Well, on the positive side: I just became dad two weeks ago, so I can use the extra time :-)

I've been a Mac user for 20 years, and yes, I did write Pascal programs for Apple // and Mac, but I fear those skills are long gone. I also don't have any of my old Macs anymore. However, I do suggest to look at an emulator to keep things running. Your main problem is to transfer all data to the new machine. It helps if you can mail the details of the hardware, especially regarding were the data is stored (SCSI disk? 3.5 inch floppy?)

If that fails, and you still have the last turn results mail, I have another method to determine the winner for each game. I've started writing a replacement Victory program earlier this year, mostly to create automated strategy maps. It's no-where there yet, but at least it is capable to parse VIC files. It's written in Python and I gladly hand you a copy.

Regards,
Freek

[Hamish]

MacFreek, on Dec 23 2009, 09:51 AM, said:

Hi Russ,

Well, on the positive side: I just became dad two weeks ago, so I can use the extra time :-)

I've been a Mac user for 20 years, and yes, I did write Pascal programs for Apple // and Mac, but I fear those skills are long gone. I also don't have any of my old Macs anymore. However, I do suggest to look at an emulator to keep things running. Your main problem is to transfer all data to the new machine. It helps if you can mail the details of the hardware, especially regarding were the data is stored (SCSI disk? 3.5 inch floppy?)

If that fails, and you still have the last turn results mail, I have another method to determine the winner for each game. I've started writing a replacement Victory program earlier this year, mostly to create automated strategy maps. It's no-where there yet, but at least it is capable to parse VIC files. It's written in Python and I gladly hand you a copy.

Regards,
Freek

I was wondering how long it would take for my Mac-loving friend to post here.

Russ, I think the main question is: Can you still get the databases off the old system? If that's impossible, an emulator is only going to help you get new games started, and not complete the existing ones.

[MacFreek]

Out of curiosity, are there other people who have coded Victory software. Beside the old DOS-programs, I'm only aware of VOEP by Hamish for entering orders.

[Falco]

Falco, on Dec 23 2009, 09:36 AM, said:

DessertFox, on Dec 23 2009, 07:54 AM, said:

RTGRuss, on Dec 23 2009, 07:14 AM, said:

Hi Guys,

Please see the note from me in the News from the Front forum... The news is very bad for the short term and I wish we didn't have to face this at Christmas time but I'm hopeful we can turn it into a positive down the road.

Take care & best wishes!

Russ

Hi Russ,

can't you run this "Mac" as a virtual machine on a new PC?

Nice Idea. Google turns up a promising link: http://www.emulators.com/softmac.htm. There are probably others out there, But this one seems compatible with most MAC OS versions. (It supports all versions of Mac OS from the original 1.1g through System 6, System 7, Mac OS 7.5 and 7.6, and Mac OS 8.0 and 8.1.)

After reading some more about the Softmac emulator it seems that it is a definite posibility. You can download version of the Mac OS from apple (sitelink in the SoftMac documentation). So if there is a posiibility to get the mac going again, or the program is available with all data (backups?) this would be an easy way to get things going again. On new and stable hardware with windows XP.

[nfbeerse]

MacFreek, on Dec 23 2009, 09:58 AM, said:

Out of curiosity, are there other people who have coded Victory software. Beside the old DOS-programs, I'm only aware of VOEP by Hamish for entering orders.

I have started coding Victory! several years ago.

During testing I have played some very interesting fun games with a few friends.
I have also used it to get new players into the game

There are currently some small parts missing in my project... mainly the naval combat part.

Norbert

[Spongebob]

Its all a plot to stop me from wining

Seriously though------- OMG------ Everyones life is over, what will it be without a Sponge in their life.

A sad day in deed, Russ its been great.

[Hamish]

Russ, will you be creating a new forum under Game Development for Victory! 2?
Otherwise ideas will pop up all over the place and it will be a mess.

[Gobo]

It would help if you could post the specifications of the machine that you have been using so far, including the MacOS and Pascal version that were used to run the game. I also think it should be possible to create a virtualized version of that machine.

And the question remains if it's possible to get all the data off that machine before it dies completely. I'd be more interested in that than getting end-results of the game I'm in.