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jdrumstik · Jan 30, 2007, 12:35 PM

so perhaps this is a retarded question, but how do I play classic games in Mac OS X (10.4.8)? I really want to play sim city 2000 but it says "Not compatible with this system"

Download SimCity 2000 for Mac - SimCity 2000 allows the user to build and manage a metropolis - Softpedia

P · Feb 1, 2007, 08:24 AM

Depends on which machine you have. Running SC2 requires running Classic, and running Classic requires a PowerPC-based Mac. If it's an Intel one, it won't work.

jdrumstik · Feb 1, 2007, 12:44 PM

So Mac OS X has no sort of Emulation for Classic? Cause not to be a butt, but WinXP can run proggies in WIN95, 98 and NT modes. Additionally it can emulate DOS, all natively. Works great for playing old games.

And Mac OS X doesn't do this? That is extremely frustrating.

MartiNZ · Feb 1, 2007, 03:34 PM

Mac OS X did, for five years after its initial release, provide in-built emulation of Classic. The huge leap from Power PC processors to the Intel ones in Macs now meant that it was not worth the huge effort (if it would even have been possible) to add in such support, for a system they declared dead 3 or 4 years ago.

On the bright side though, you should be able to pick up a machine to run SC2000 pretty cheaply

.

goMac · Feb 1, 2007, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by jdrumstik

So Mac OS X has no sort of Emulation for Classic? Cause not to be a butt, but WinXP can run proggies in WIN95, 98 and NT modes. Additionally it can emulate DOS, all natively. Works great for playing old games.

And Mac OS X doesn't do this? That is extremely frustrating.

The reason Windows can do this is because all Windows software was always built for Intel compatible processors.

Sim City 2000 was built for Motorola compatible processors, so it will only work on machines with a Motorola compatible processor.

P · Feb 2, 2007, 11:55 AM

Mac OS X includes a form of emulation called transcoding that works for Mac OS X native PowerPC applications. It would have been possible, if not trivial, to let Classic use Rosetta as well. The classic Mac OS also included an emulator for the older 68k processors used in Macs during their first decade - Sim City 2000 is old enough to have been written for those processors. To run SC2K on an Intel-based Mac with Tiger, you would have to emulate a PowerPC processor to run a virtual machine for the Classic Mac OS, and then, inside that virtual machine, run a 68k emulator. Not trivial, although doable.

While Win XP - an OS from 2001, we should note - includes compability boxes to run things as if they were running on Win 95/98/NT 4/2000, that is nowhere near the same thing. That is only a matter of setting some of the defaults so that those programs "feel at home". There is no emulation and no virtual machine involved. A similar feature on the Mac OS X would be to have the ability to run apps as if they were running on 10.3 or 10.2. The only similar function in XP (and NT and 2000) is that there is a VDM, Virtual Dos Machine, for running applications written for MS-DOS. To put it mildly - MS-DOS is somewhat easier to emulate than the classic Mac OS.

For third-party emulators, many free, check out Emuscene.

bluedog · Feb 2, 2007, 09:08 PM

I've tested Sheepshaver with running OS9 in an emulation environment (windowed and NOT really like classic). Its a little bit to get all the components, but if you do a google search you'll find the OSX sheepshaver application. You may need a ROM for the best compatibility and a RETAIL OS9.0 CD to do the installation. You can't use the 9.1 or 9.2 discs or ones. You can do a search and find these all online or ask for someone to sell you their copy.

It should work for most games. Ones that required direct access to the video card may not work or will need to be used in software-rendering, but hey they should run.

Good luck searching!