Mac Mods

Moomintroll

I'm completely ignorant about this, so please don't just polymorph me into a squirrel in disgust.
Here's m'query
There have been tons of great, interesting and amusing mods for the versions of BG and BG2 that we are still playing. As the new release will be multi-platform (mac and PC at any rate) how feasible is it that mods will be available for the mac users, I don't mean all those old mods, I mean ANY non official mod.

catheraaine

I would assume that Mods would be okay on Mac --- Find the right folder and dump/edit your files. You can mod games like The Sims and WoW that run on current Mac, you just have to know how to do it. Once the small handful of Mac players release a mod, they will probably walk you through the process.

Now, the one issue would be the game coming from the Mac App store. I'm not sure how that works as I've never messed around with any apps.

(Also, I just got this MBPro 2 weeks ago, before I did not have the App Store)

mlnevese

That's one of the reasons I'd like to see an internal mod manager integrated in EE. No worries about an OS-oriented tool.

inwe

I think there will be two possible ways of apply mods. One, they could make a folder with the override folder in your Documents folder. Or the other solution is, right click on Baldur's Gate App, select "Show Package Content", and just find the Override folder .
Perhaps, a nicer solution would be adding a link or a "mod manager" in the launcher of the game... we will see

mlnevese

It would be simple if all the mods could be installed by simple override but most need to change the tlk and 2da files of the game. A mod manager would be the better solution imo.

Kenyon

I hope that Gibberlings3 (which supports many OSX mods) will update their most popular modifications to work with BG:EE. Unfortunately, Pocketplane, I think, has far more limited support for OSX. Perhaps the newfound popularity of BG on all these platforms will change that?

Moomintroll

@Kenyon Oh wow, that'd be really great! thanks for pointing that out.
Phalanges crossed on that one.

Brasten

I hate to say this but if it's only through the Mac App store then modding may not be possible. The Mac App Store checks the local file for tampering through its Receipt. Depending on what its checking and how the traditional Mod methods could cause the Mac App Store to report your copy as invalid and just refuse to launch it. Given the way Apple is trying to sandbox eveything, even an override method may not be possible.

The Dev would need to keep such modding in mind and build a system to allow it. A built in mod manager as feature would be the only way I could see it getting past the "guardian" of the Mac App Store.

mlnevese

Is the App store so strict? I've seen programs that erase translations, for instance that didn't stop software updates or invalidate the instalation.

What actually gets me worried is that all updates from App Store seem to be full updates not differential updates. A full software update would destroy any mods installed and revert the game to a vanilla version.

FuzzyPuffin

mlnevese said:

What actually gets me worried is that all updates from App Store seem to be full updates not differential updates. A full software update would destroy any mods installed and revert the game to a vanilla version.

They introduced delta updates with Lion.

Moomintroll

@FuzzyPuffin what does that mean for us?

inwe

The size of the update is just modified files, not the full game

MosesHall

@mlnevese: I may be off in left field about this, but I think the App Store may only look to make sure executable binaries have not been tampered with (since binaries have to be digitally signed this acts kind of like a checksum). It's not like they would run an SHA checksum on every file in the app package. 'Twould be inefficient and too liable to break too many things (like people removing localizations, as pointed out).

In any case, I am sure there will be some ~/Library approach to putting overrides under local control. That's the "correct" Mac OS way of doing things.

The *real* interesting things will be if modding is somehow made possible on a non-jailbroken iOS device.

oldsch00l

Not sure it will work like that but I bought NWN2 on the Mac AppStore for peanuts and recently I tried to install some modules.

I opened the app (show package content) and found the folders I needed (hak, modules, music, etc.). Then I just had to put everything in the right folders like with NWN1. Didn't break anything but of course there's no more updates for NWN2 nowadays...

CamDawg

As @Kenyon mentions above, we made the push at G3 to go multi-platform some years ago--just about everything has an OS X and Linux version (and props to @cmorgan who did a lot of the work). I'm not familiar enough with the app store to know how BGEE will work--if it's just a way to purchase and download then mods should be fine. If it's something stupider and more restrictive (i.e. the iOS app store) then I guess we'll have to see.

Moomintroll

@oldsch00l damnit oldschool! I spent a pretty penny on a hard copy of NWN2 for mac, I wish I'd looked in the appstore first, though my operating system may have been too old then, I don't know.

oldsch00l

@Moomintroll : always search before buying. I made a couple of steals that way ;-)

Phyrax

@oldsch00l: I can't find NWN2 on the Appstore (MacBook version), did you buy it for an iPad?

oldsch00l

@Phyrax : It was on the App Store, there's no iPad version. Apparently it has been removed from the Mac AppStore by Aspyr because their license on the game expired... o_O It's been removed from other online stores too, not just Apple's.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2648615
http://support.aspyr.com/entries/21233386-back-up-your-macapp-copy-of-neverwinter-nights-2

Phyrax

@oldsch00l : Too bad.
Although I read that you need a real graphics card to play the game, and my 2012 cutting-edge MacBook 13" has an integrated one..., so I wouldn't be able to play it anyway.

Oh well, just have to wait until November I guess.

clocknova

What about all of those WeiDU mods that require a custom installer to function? How will those work? And how will they possible work on the iPad version? I'd like to buy both versions of the game, but if I cannot mod the iOS version the same way I have my Mac version modded, then the iOS version will be useless to me.

CamDawg

edit: posted in the wrong thread

BenN

Once the Mac version is released, I'll be interested to see if Mac mod apps such as QNDBG# 1.1.1 (OS X) works with it or not. (QNDBG doesn't work with the current version of OS X, so I have an old Mac running an earlier version of OS X ready & waiting).

I'm also looking forward to trying to install mods like the Sorceror's Place Collection (http://www.gibberlings3.net/spc/) - already tried to do this on the iPad version, to no avail. Wondering if I can successfully play with a Ninja PC in BG:EE!

Eudaemonium

The issue with the iPad version is that it lacks an override directory. In order to mod NPC portraits, for example, you have to place them in your save file, and then they override them, but nowhere else works (and obviously adding a ton of .bmp images to your save kind of magnifies the save size x infinity).