Ambrosia Software Web Board: Playing Cythera in SheepShaver - Ambrosia Software Web Board

I know my brother was trying to get EV to work in SheepShaver, but he gave up o.0

When I next have time, I'll try to go through the instructions and reorganize and explain more. Right now, it's late.

Edit: I forgot to mention: I know that if you skimmed over this post, you think it looks long and foreboding. Don't worry, though. It may look really difficult, but I assure you it's actually just a few easy steps made to look really lengthy because they try to answer any questions that may arise. /Edit

Okay, I've taken a look at Sinclair's directions, and I'm reposting them with the correct numbering and restored links. I think that if you just follow them, you'll be perfectly fine. However, if there was a specific area that you can't figure out or that doesn't seem to be working properly go ahead and post it, and I'll see what I can do. Selax would probably remember better, though.

Anyways on to the directions:

• Create a folder for all the SheepShaver data to go into. I would suggest something easy to type, like "Sheepshaver" in your home directory. For the purposes of this, I'll assume that you chose /Users/username/Sheepshaver.
  
• Create a new folder entitled "Share" in the "Sheepshaver" folder (for later). Note from me: I think that this step is non-essential, but you may want to do it anyway, in case.
  
• Get a Mac ROM. The one in your Classic system folder may work (I've been told it should, but mine didn't). I would suggest downloading a ROM update from Apple and using TomeViewer to extract the ROM. (TomeViewer is a Classic app itself.) However you obtain the ROM, name it "ROM" and place it inside the "Sheepshaver" folder.
  
• Download SheepShaver. (You want the "MacOS X Universal Binary" near the bottom of the page.)
  
• Decompress SheepShaver and put it where you want. I would suggest keeping it seperate from the "Sheepshaver" folder created above, and naming the application folder "SheepShaver-May06" (or whatever date the release was). All of the releases for a while have been numbered 2.3, so the only way to tell them apart is the date.
  
• Open "SheepShaverGUI.app".
  
• Here you need to create a hard drive on which to install SheepShaver. To create a SheepShaver hard drive press "Create..." in the window that appears. Change the size to something usable; I would suggest 400-600 MB. Navigate to your "Sheepshaver" folder and name the drive something like "os9HD". Press "OK"; it will take a few moments to create the drive (the program hasn't frozen).
  
• Change the "Unix Root" to /Users/username/Sheepshaver/Share (or wherever your "Sheepshaver" folder is). <--Another note: I don't remember the purpose of this step, but again, it can't hurt to do it anyways.
  
• In the "Graphics/Sound" tab, make sure that Window mode is selected (fullscreen will freeze!) with a refresh rate of 60hz. Change the width/height to either 640x480, 800x600, or 1024x768, depending on your screen size. I would recommend you use a standard 4:3 resolution (one of the three I listed). Make sure "QuickDraw Acceleration" is on, and "Disable Sound" is off (don't worry about the Output and Mixer devices, they aren't used on OS X).
  
• In "Keyboard/Mouse", turn off "Use Raw Keycodes" and set "Mouse Wheel Function" to your liking if you have a mouse wheel (which isn't recognized by OS 9 so SheepShaver has to do something else to pretend).
  
• In "Serial/Network", make sure "slirp" is the Ethernet interface.
  
• In "Memory/Misc", set the RAM size to something reasonable given your computer. 128MB should be more than fine. Change the ROM path to /Users/username/Sheepshaver/ROM (or wherever your
  "Sheepshaver" folder is). Turn off "Ignore Illegal Memory Accesses" and turn on "Don't Use CPU when idle".
  
• Press "Start" at the bottom. SheepShaver itself should start now, and you will be told that it crashed. The crash report is bogus; just press "Close" or "Cancel" or whatever and SheepShaver will be fine (this will happen every time you launch it). If you get a disk with a blinking question mark, you're good so far. Now, quit SheepShaver (you may have to force quit).
  
• With SheepShaver still off, insert your OS 9 install disk, then launch "SheepShaver.app" form your Sheepshaver folder. It should boot from the CD. On startup, Sheepshaver will ask you to initialize your Hard Disk—this is not initialization of your OS 9 install disk, but of the "os9HD" you created specifically for the purpose of installing Sheepshaver on it. Once you've initialized the disk you may run the OS 9 installer.
  
• Use Special -> Shutdown to always shut down SheepShaver (just like a real Mac). After the install, shut down and remove the CD. Run "SheepShaver.app" again. (Again it will claim that it has crashed, but as previously stated, this is nothing and you can click "cancel". It will do that everytime you start Sheepshaver)
  
• Open the "Sound" (not "Moniters and Sound") control panel and set the output correctly so you can hear sound. Sound and networking should both work; you're good to go!

Now your SheepShaver is installed and fully functional. Please note that it does not require OS 9. You can use anything from 7.5.

To install Cythera:

• If you have the CD for Cythera, all you need to do is insert the CD and install it in Sheepshaver from there. You can skip all the other steps.
  
• If you do not have a CD, as was my case, there is a very simple method of file transfer between OS X and Sheepshaver. Read on. . .
  
• In the SheepShaverGUI application, choose to create another Hard Drive. It doesn't need much space on it, just enough to transfer any files that you need. You can call it "Shared" or whatever you like and save to the same folder as your ROM and "os9HD" (the "Sheepshaver" folder)
  
• Now open Sheepshaver again. It will ask to format the "Shared" drive that you just created. Let it do so. Shut down Sheepshaver when that is done.
  
• Now navigate to your "Sheepshaver" folder. Inside, it should have both the original os9HD and the new Shared hd (or whatever you named it). Please note: I do not mean the "Share" folder, as I said that is non-essential and I don't use it. Right-click or File > Get Info on the Shared hd.
  
• Under name and extension, add the end ".iso" (without quotes). Close the Info window. OS X will ask if you want to add the extention or not. Click "yes" or whichever button keeps the extention.
  
• OS X now sees the Shared hd as a mount-able disk image. Open it and place a copy of Cythera and the files with it inside the mounted disk image. Now eject the disk image
  
• Return to "Get Info", under name and extention, remove ".iso" from the end. OS X will ask if you are sure you to remove it; yes you do.
  
• Now open SheepShaver again.
  
• You should see the Shared hd as a Hard Drive on the desktop. Open it and drag Cythera into your os9HD. Cythera is now installed in SheepShaver.

You can use that method to transfer anything you want to from OS X to SheepShaver. Just be sure that you remove the .iso extention each time before you open sheepshaver

Well, there you have it. If you have a specific question or are stuck on a specific number, just ask.

This post has been edited by The Wizard: 05 November 2006 - 12:35 AM

So, pretty much I am screwed if I don't have Classic...

I have classic Cythera running under SheepShaver on Gentoo Linux (hardware is amd64, and the Mac OS installed is 9.0.4). It works well enough, certainly playable. There have been some stability issues, but not so bad as to make it unplayably frustrating - just enough to recall to mind my father's motto: "You haven't done a thing until you've done a save." Also the comment about not letting Cythera switch to 256 colors is important

For my 1000th post, I am posting here. How ironic it is, coming to these boards because all of the OS9 Ambrosia classics (mostly Cythera), and yet at this time I am unable to play them. I want to thank the Cythera community for the fun, and I hope to see more new faces as well as old ones. I am planning on being here at least for the next four years (I am only a freshman in highschool) and continue having fun.

Percinator, on Nov 5 2006, 06:05 AM, said:

Well, if you have another computer with classic, you could take the Rom off of there.

Percinator, on Nov 5 2006, 08:23 PM, said:

Percinator, I'm touched.

I'm just posting to confirm that it is possible to beat Cythera playing it on SheepShaver.
The crashes are pretty annoying though. I haven't figured out what causes them, unfortunatly, but about every ten or fifteen minutes on average it crashed. Sometimes it would go nearly an hour without crashing, other times it would crash repeatedly in a short interval. I advise you to make backup copies of your game frequently, as there was one instance of file corruption. (Because my backup was a bit old, this caused me to forget that I had already Honored Jinrai... figuring out that was a "fun" use of time.)
Also, messing with the automap (scrolling and dragging it around) too much seems to provoke crashes.
It seems to be possible to enable SheepShaver's JIT translator, also. That makes things quite a bit snappier. (And doesn't seem to impact stability - it seemed to crash just as much without the JIT translator. But then I didn't play much without the JIT translator so it may have been a fluke. Your milage may vary.)

In summary, you can play Cythera in SheepShaver but the stability issue makes it hard to "get in the mood" and enjoy the game.

The Wizard, on Nov 12 2006, 07:54 PM, said:

Good thinking. It is actually ironic because I have Cythera registered on our "family" laptop, and I have Classic on it, also. The computer itself is running 10.3.9, and it runs Cythera smoothly. The only problem is, I am not allowed to use that computer for games. I never use it for anything, actually, because I have this laptop issued from school.

So, has anyone tried this on an Intel-Mac?

Not yet, but I've just tracked down a v1.6 ROM file, so I'll give you an update in a few days. Biggest issue, for me, is that Cythera will probably look so tiny on a 20" screen.

Either it'll be pixelated or you'll have more space.

And eye strain from squinting.

The Wizard, on Nov 5 2006, 06:31 PM, said:

You don't have to keep changing the file extension if you create the drive image with it in the first place, or delete the old reference and re-add it with the .iso extension. SheepShaver doesn't care what extension the image file has.

Well, I can now report that, aside from some slightly jumpy music and corrupted cursors, Cythera runs very well in SheepShaver on an Intel Mac. I estimate that performance is a fair bit better than the 100 MHz PowerBook 5300cs I was using back when I first played the game.

cache22, on Jan 19 2007, 12:05 AM, said:

Hmm, that's interesting: I'll have to try that.

Thank you, cache. Although I'm inclined to doubt that I'll be getting an intel Mac anytime soon, that is quite a relief.

cache22, on Jan 19 2007, 12:05 AM, said:

So you mean create the drive under the name "Shared.iso" in the first place? I thought for sure that Sheepshaver would corrupt it or something if I tried that, but if it works, forget my italiced warning!

cache22, on Jan 19 2007, 12:05 AM, said:

Thank you for trying it out! That gives me rekindled hope for playing Cythera in the future.

cache22, on Feb 6 2007, 05:28 PM, said:

(Topic: Welcome to the Cythera Web Board, but I decided to discuss the option here.)

I think this would be a good idea; should the SheepShaver users try to formulate such a set?

I second the motion!

Great! That means you volunteered, right?

No, I don't use SheepShaver. I restart my computer into OS 9.0.4 O-O

Be careful what you say here; the rest of us may be reduced to killing you (or maybe something less drastic, like putting you in a pickle barrel) out of jealousy

Have just discovered I run Cythera in OS9. To prevent it crashing, switch to 254 colours. Cythera's only crashed on me once, and that was right after I'd saved and was just about to quit. How lucky is that?

This post has been edited by CrazyChick: 10 February 2007 - 04:36 PM

So, what about better SheepShaver guidelines? Suggestions?


On an unrelated note, SheepShaver and Cythera don't seem to like X-Chat in the background for some reason, at least not on my computer.

I don't want to know. I don't want to know.

What parts of the current guidelines are particularly problematic?