Ambrosia Software Web Board: Fellow Cythera Players, I need an advice! - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Alright, I've been playing Cythera eversince I was a little boy, 5 or 6 years old, back then, of course, I didn't have a clue what was going on in the game, I just explored and got killed by either wolflizards, ruffians, polyps, the works. But then, I rediscovered the game, when I was twelve, and started playing it, and of course, I got all hooked up and beat the game at least 3 or 4 times with different characters, with different ways to do the thing, with different backstorys, the works. Hell, I think I still even have that fanfiction sequel on my computer
But then, I made a big, big mistake, I upgraded my computer and BANG! Classic programs aren't supported anymore! My God, the endless swearing and horrid pictures, that I couldn't play the best RPG game ever again, came into my mind!
But now, I've got myself together, and have decided to get this game up and running with one way, or another. And there are several ways to do it in my mind. I'd just like to ask your opinions about these different ways:

1. Trying to find a "Mac OS Classic Emulator" of somesort. You can never know what you can find on the internet.

2. Downgrading my computer to the level, where classic programs were still supported. Hey! It's the best game ever! It's worth it and I'm desperate

3. Getting my hands on an old Mac, and use it only to play classic games. Well, that would be the easiest way, but not the most affordable way, and I'm bankrupt.

Now, please help a friend out and help me decide, which way would be the best to get Cythera back. Of course, if you have any better ideas to share, please do!

Cheers!

Welcome!

Option 3 is totally the best Idea, or partitioning your drive & having one part be for os9/Cythera.

besides that, Sheepshaver has been used, we have a guide to installing it right here on the Cythera board: link

feel free to stick around & join the Team Stories! ^_^

First of all, welcome to the webboard! :D *Confetti*

Second, a fanfic sequel? :o That sounds totally awesome! Notice our sister-subforum, the Cythera Chronicles board. If you can find that fanfic, I really really want to read it! :D And I doubt I'm the only one who would be interested, so please post it on the Chronicles forum!

Third, I don't know what advice to give. I know Sely and Wizzy have had some amount of success with Sheepshaver, though personally I've never tried it. I'd say that would be the first thing to try. But downgrading's cool too ^_^

Good luck!

Hello, Reumos! Welcome to the Cythera webboard.

To answer your question, I would say option 1 is the easiest and by far the cheapest, being free. Sheepshaver is the best Mac OS 8/9 emulator out there. Scroll down on the page linked above to download the recommended version for your computer (If you just bought a new Mac, you'll want the one best for Intel Macs, but if you upgraded an older one, you'll want the one best for PPC Macs).

Next, I strongly recommend you do a google search for a sheepshaver tutorial. There are some very good tutorials out there that will walk you through step by step and help you as you go. By some method, get a ROM file and place it in the same folder as the Sheepshaver application.

When you open Sheepshaver, you'll be presented with a floppy disk icon and a blinking question mark. Ignore that and go to the menu bar to Sheepshaver -> Preferences. In the preferences, look through the tabs and change your settings to how you want them; most options you can probably leave on the default. The important thing to change here is to tell it the location of the ROM file. Also, under Volumes in the Setup tab, click create and make a disk image with as much space as you want; I'd recommend around 400 MB if you are just going to use a few classic games. Name it whatever you want with the ending ".iso" (Mac HD.iso, for example). Save it to the same folder as the ROM and the Boot Image.

Now you'll need a Mac OS 8 or 9 install disk. Alternatively, you can find ready-made boot images on the internet. Again, I suggest searching for a sheepshaver tutorial. Quit Sheepshaver and re-launch it with your install disks in the computer. Otherwise, add a boot image under the volumes in the preferences. Once you have it installed or have a boot image, you'll be greeted by the Mac OS 9 loading screen upon startup. When it is loaded, it will probably ask you to Initialize a disk. If the disk it asks to initialize is the same size as the one you just created (400 MB in the above example), click initialize. Otherwise, click cancel and it should work fine. Go to Special -> Shut Down and Sheepshaver will quit. Go to the folder that contains Sheepshaver, the ROM, Boot Image, etc. and double click on the disk image you just made (Name.iso), and it should open in Mac OS X. Drag your Cythera file into it and eject it. NOTE: It is important to make sure that you eject Name.iso in Mac OS X before you launch Sheepshaver and quit Sheepshaver before mounting it in Mac OS X. Now when you open Sheepshaver, you should be able to play Cythera! If it asks you to initialize a disk again, click cancel.

Whew! That was longer than I intended for it to be. Regardless of the length of this post, it is actually very easy to setup sheepshaver, download 3 things, go through Sheepshaver prefs, and drag Cythera into your Sheepshaver hard disk once you have mounted it on OS X. You can use that same method when you want to transfer files back and forth between Sheepshaver and OS X; they have a "shared" folder, but I've never used it.

Edit: Removed links to tutorials that have been deemed too helpful . But I will stress that a google search for a sheepshaver tutorial can help you here.

This post has been edited by The Wizard: 19 July 2009 - 08:10 PM

Posting links to ROM files isn't exactly legal... I'd remove the links to be on the safe side, Wizard.

You need to post in the TS, Illy!

Very well, I have edited the post. The only link now is to Emaculation's website. And BW is right: you need to join the TS, Mack.

Welcome to the Cythera Web Board, Reumos .

I endorse Wizard's suggestion of using SheepShaver. I find that it runs Cythera very well on OS X.