Playing Old Infocom Games on MAC
the sock
masterpieces CD and noticed it had both PC and MAC versions of the
game, so loaded the mac versions onto my new computer. Went to play
and got this message:
"You can't open the application because the classic environment is no
longer supported"
Is there something I can download that would let me play these games
on my new computer or am I S.O.L?
thanks
Andrew Plotkin
> Just got a new MAC after years of PC. Found my old Infocom
> masterpieces CD and noticed it had both PC and MAC versions of the
> game, so loaded the mac versions onto my new computer. Went to play
> and got this message:
>
> "You can't open the application because the classic environment is no
> longer supported"
Copy the Mac application files to your hard drive, add a ".z5" suffix
to each filename, and open them with Zoom or some other modern Mac
interpreter.
Or copy the data files from the PC directory, and rename the ".DAT"
suffix to ".z5".
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
wamb...@sbcglobal.net
I have the same situation as the first poster (new Mac, wanted to play
Infocom games from my Masterpieces CD), so I obtained Zoom and most of
the games are working great. Two question though:
1. Is there a way to make the fonts bigger in the game windows, or
change font style and color? When I try to make changes with the Font
menu, nothing happens.
2. Is it possible to play the "newer" batch of games like Arthur,
Journey, Shogun and Zork Zero? When I add the .z5 suffix to the end of
those file names, they still won't play in Zoom. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Walt
Erik Temple
I've never had any trouble changing the fonts in Zoom (haven't tried
changing the color), so it should certainly be possible. I'm not sure
why changing the preferences has no effect for you.
Games like Arthur and Shogun were written in version 6, rather than
version 5. If you change the z5 suffix to z6, Zoom should play them for
you. But be sure you've got the appropriate blorb file (with graphics,
etc.) in the same folder as the Z6 file.
--Erik
Adam Thornton
wamb...@aol.com <wamb...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>2. Is it possible to play the "newer" batch of games like Arthur,
>Journey, Shogun and Zork Zero? When I add the .z5 suffix to the end of
>those file names, they still won't play in Zoom. Any suggestions?
Those four are all z6, I think. Will Spatterlight play those?
Adam
Erik Temple
No, Spatterlight doesn't read Z6 files. Zoom plays them nicely, though.
--Erik
wamb...@sbcglobal.net
> > wambo...@aol.com <wambo...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> >> 2. Is it possible to play the "newer" batch of games like Arthur,
> >> Journey, Shogun and Zork Zero? When I add the .z5 suffix to the end of
> >> those file names, they still won't play in Zoom. Any suggestions?
>
> > Those four are all z6, I think. Will Spatterlight play those?
>
> > Adam
>
> No, Spatterlight doesn't read Z6 files. Zoom plays them nicely, though.
>
> --Erik
Hmm..thanks for the suggestions, I still can't change the font size or
color. I'm trying it both with a story file open and without,
Also, I tried adding a ".z6" suffix to my Zork Zero game file, but I
get a message "The document "Zork Zero.z6" cannot be opened". The
files currently in the Zork Zero folder are:
CPIC.DATA
PIC.DATA
STORY.DATA
ZORK ZERO.z6
I don't know what to try next.
Erik Temple
> Also, I tried adding a ".z6" suffix to my Zork Zero game file, but I
> get a message "The document "Zork Zero.z6" cannot be opened". The
> files currently in the Zork Zero folder are:
> CPIC.DATA
> PIC.DATA
> STORY.DATA
> ZORK ZERO.z6
>
> I don't know what to try next.
Looks like you don't have the blorb files. You can download them here:
http://ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXinfocomXmediaXblorb.html
Put them in the appropriate folder (with the Z6 file), and you should be
good to go. I just tested my Zork Zero Z6 with the blorb from the site
and it opened right up.
Also, you might want to check the Zoom site to be sure that you're using
the latest version. Zoom has been able to play Z6 for awhile now, but if
you have an especially old version...
Hope this works for you.
--Erik
Erik Temple
> Put them in the appropriate folder (with the Z6 file), and you should be
> good to go. I just tested my Zork Zero Z6 with the blorb from the site
> and it opened right up.
Oh yes, also make sure that they are named the same, e.g.:
ZorkZero.z6
ZorkZero.blb
There should be one blorb file corresponding to one Z6 file.
--Erik
wamb...@sbcglobal.net
Ok I figured out the font issue. I went into the Preferences and
found font settings there. When I changed the fonts, it works.
Still having problems with the z6 games. I downloaded all the blorb
files, put them in the folders with the game files, but I'm still
getting the "cannot be opened" error message on all of the z6 games. I
have the current version of Zoom (1.1.4.1).
Erik Temple
I've replied to you off-list with a last-ditch attempt at resolving this...
--Erik
Charles Richmond
> Here, the sock <sock...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Just got a new MAC after years of PC. Found my old Infocom
>> masterpieces CD and noticed it had both PC and MAC versions of the
>> game, so loaded the mac versions onto my new computer. Went to play
>> and got this message:
>>
>> "You can't open the application because the classic environment is no
>> longer supported"
>
> Copy the Mac application files to your hard drive, add a ".z5" suffix
> to each filename, and open them with Zoom or some other modern Mac
> interpreter.
>
> Or copy the data files from the PC directory, and rename the ".DAT"
> suffix to ".z5".
>
How come these will *not* just work with the Classic OS 9
environment??? The last time I used my CD (actually an Activision
CD) on my 1995 68k Mac running 7.5, it worked. All my *other* 7.5
programs run great under the Classic OS 9 environment.
--
+----------------------------------------+
| Charles and Francis Richmond |
| |
| plano dot net at aquaporin4 dot com |
+----------------------------------------+
Andrew Plotkin
> Andrew Plotkin wrote:
> > Here, the sock <sock...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> Just got a new MAC after years of PC. Found my old Infocom
> >> masterpieces CD and noticed it had both PC and MAC versions of the
> >> game, so loaded the mac versions onto my new computer. Went to play
> >> and got this message:
> >>
> >> "You can't open the application because the classic environment is no
> >> longer supported"
> >
> > Copy the Mac application files to your hard drive, add a ".z5" suffix
> > to each filename, and open them with Zoom or some other modern Mac
> > interpreter.
> >
> > Or copy the data files from the PC directory, and rename the ".DAT"
> > suffix to ".z5".
> >
>
> How come these will *not* just work with the Classic OS 9
> environment???
As for as I know, they will -- on a Mac which supports Classic. Intel
Macs don't, and Apple dropped Classic from OSX 10.5 in any case.
Doug McIntyre
It might be possible by running up a PPC emulator for Classic on a
newer Mac. Like Chubby Bunny (setup for you already) or straightup
SheepShaver (more work).
Adam Thornton
Charles Richmond <fri...@tx.rr.com> wrote:
>How come these will *not* just work with the Classic OS 9
>environment??? The last time I used my CD (actually an Activision
>CD) on my 1995 68k Mac running 7.5, it worked. All my *other* 7.5
>programs run great under the Classic OS 9 environment.
Snow Leopard ain't got no Classic no more.
Adam
Charles Richmond
Damn!!! That was a *stupid* thing to do!!! I rely on several of my
old 68k programs. Good thing I have a PPC Mac G5 running Mac OS/X
10.4 !!!
Autymn D. C.
ocsýmòròn: http://wiktionary.org/wiki/nice
wamb...@sbcglobal.net
I appreciate all the help I've been receiving on getting the Infocom
games to work for me in Zoom, but I have another question, so i
thought I would throw it out to the group. I'm still having a little
trouble with the z6 games (Zork Zero, Arthur, Shogun and Journey). The
games start just fine, with all the graphic elements intact. However,
as I start typing commands and the screen fills up with text, there's
something weird going on when the text reaches the bottom of the game
window. The text window does not become scrollable at all, like I
would expect it to as more and more text appears. Instead, all new
text and new commands I type keep "overprinting" on the same line, at
the very bottom of the window. This is happening with all 4 of the z6
games (but not with any of the z5 games). Does anyone have any
suggestions for me? Im' so close to getting these z6 games to work!
Thanks!
jeremydb
I am seeing the same in Zoom when I play my copies of Arthur or Zork
Zero, and I don't remember this being an issue in the past, so it
might be a bug which crept into a recent release.
Jeremy
Boluc Papuccuoglu
To play Z6 games on Linux, I run Windows Frotz over Wine. It means I
don't get subpixel smoothing for the text (as opposed playing z5-z8
over Gargoyle), but the screen layout has been pretty accurate to what
I recall from playing those games natively in the 1990's so far. I
seem to remember Wine is available on Mac, so unless you have
reservations about Wine itself, you can give that a go.
Boluc
Nathan
<bolucPERIODpapuccuo...@REMOVETHISaknet.com.tr> wrote:
> To play Z6 games on Linux, I run Windows Frotz over Wine.
I use xfrotz.
wamb...@sbcglobal.net
appreciate it. I've tried a few things that were mentioned by people
in the group but I'm still unable to get the z6 games to display
properly. FYI: I'm running version 1.1.4 of Zoom and I have the proper
blorb files installed. Thanks!
Sam Carmean
<604ca2ed-dbf7-4063...@l33g2000vbi.googlegroups.com>,
<"wamb...@sbcglobal.net"> wrote:
I find that this can happen depending on the "z-code interpreter"
setting in Preferences. Have you tried changing that to different
values to see if there's one that works correctly for you? (On Mac OS
X, "3 - Macintosh" seems to be a good choice.)
Sam
wamb...@sbcglobal.net
the Preferences/Game window (both settings for "Glulx Interpreter"
combined with every setting for "Z-Code Interpreter"). I did notice
some minor differences in how the game window looked, but I still
encountered the same problem every time (type "bunching up" at the
bottom of the screen instead of scrolling down). I didn't try changing
the "Revision" setting. There is a "Z" there now, and I don't know
what I would change it to.
On Oct 26, 12:44 pm, Sam Carmean <s...@netset.corn> wrote:
> In article
> <604ca2ed-dbf7-4063-98df-c50472713...@l33g2000vbi.googlegroups.com>,