End of the official Mac OS X port

[pyth1978]

Hi,

First of all, I as a avid player of openTTD on the mac would hate to see the native port go. I know my way around programming on the mac, but I'm unfamiliar with the openTTD code base other than checking it out of svn, applying patches and compiling. While I certainly don't have the time to fully maintain a port, I'm certainly willing to actively fix bugs and deprecation issues and test these. For the moment I don't have access to a 10.6 box, but I hope that will change soon.

Dirkjan

[Ammler]

A free alternative for intel macs might be www.virtualbox.org. (There you could install a linux.)

[Tygernoot]

That's pretty much the same solution as installing vmware to load a windows or Linux image

But it's a good alternative to having a native port, except for those 'stuck' on PPC.

**edit** sorry, just reread and saw the 'free' alternative

[dpaanlka]

Well this just ruined my night. I've ben playing some version of TTD since I picked up my first retail boxed copy off a shelf at a computer store in 1994. It is my instantaneous answer when asked "what is your favourite game of all time?"

I switched to Macs completely about 7 years ago and, unfortunately, this would be where my loyalty resides. I'd really hate to lose my all-time favourite game and very much hope you guys can find a solution to keep up with the Mac OS X builds, even though I realize it's not "your job" and you have to make whatever decision you have to make.

Here's hoping for a turn of this tide!

[arikover]

I run OTTD on my PowerBook G4 (MacOS 10.4), I never had any problems with any builds (nightlies or RC or whatever). I have to say that this game is fantastic and that you guys did an awesome work, specially with the Mac version if it was that complicated.

I had a couple of questions :

- Will there still be a MacOSX port for MacOSX prior to Snow Leopard, or will you stop the entire MacOSX port?

- If the MacOS port is completely stopped, would installing Linux on my Mac allow me to continue play the game?

[Gremnon]

I run OTTD on my PowerBook G4 (MacOS 10.4), I never had any problems with any builds (nightlies or RC or whatever). I have to say that this game is fantastic and that you guys did an awesome work, specially with the Mac version if it was that complicated.

I had a couple of questions :

- Will there still be a MacOSX port for MacOSX prior to Snow Leopard, or will you stop the entire MacOSX port?

- If the MacOS port is completely stopped, would installing Linux on my Mac allow me to continue play the game?

Yes to the second, that's the only question I can answer. I run it on Ubuntu Linux, and I've installed stables on a few other distros too, the stables, at least, never fail to work, and the nightlies fail only when I muck around tinkering with patches.

[thgergo]

wine does the job very well, on linux platforms, prehaps it works with macosx too. I use windows version of OTTD even on my ubuntu becouse the native OTTD lacks of the copy-and-paste function. And its not slower, I couldn-t see any significant loss in speed. The biggest difference for me in both versions is the exit screen, one wants to go back windows, and the second to unix, both behaves identical as the should. Its worth to try it on macosx too.
darwine might do better results.

[I4ko]

I do not see the real trouble here.
0.7.2 runs fine under snow leopard (10.6 and 10.6.1) on both intel and nvidia video card on both desktops and portables (even a hackintosh). I have played more than 300 hours under snow leopard with new ais and limited newgrfs. The game runs smooth and fine.
I do not see any immediate problem for any real fan of the game. We could still run 0.7.2. and wait for a developer.

My system (a mini running 10.6.1 currently) is up 24/7 on two ISP connections and has the latest xcode on it and I'm not using it for about 16 hours a day. But as you have said this is hardly a convenient way to test builds. I do have some linux dev experience, but no experience at all with os x specifics.

Anyway I have seen a similar thread in the VLC forums. The were also concerned that SDL based video output will break with 10.6, yet even 2 yer old version of vlc runs fine. They do not have an active os x devs as well. Perhaps the people that do the builds could have a word with the videolan people on how they manage it.

[Rubidium]

I do not see the real trouble here.
0.7.2 runs fine under snow leopard (10.6 and 10.6.1) on both intel and nvidia video card on both desktops and portables (even a hackintosh).

Indeed OpenTTD works fine for me on my laptop. but not on my iMac. Both run 10.6.1.

As I said, it might work for (some on) 10.6, but it will not for all. As no effort has been taken to get it to work for all people on 10.6 it is not officially supported. We actually know that it does not work for all, so why 'claim' it works for all by saying it is supported?

The were also concerned that SDL based video output will break with 10.6, yet even 2 yer old version of vlc runs fine. They do not have an active os x devs as well. Perhaps the people that do the builds could have a word with the videolan people on how they manage it.

Arnan's report and your report make it clear that 10.6 changes things that are not noticed by all. As OpenTTD works fine for you, i.e. no changes are needed, that is likely the case for SDL too; it's quite likely that SDL does not work on Arnan's iMac. As a result going to SDL does not solve the problem at all.

Changing the video backend in any way does not solve the problem of not having an OS X developer.

[I4ko]

Arnan,

How did you get snow leopard on your machine - clean install or upgrade? What is your regular update procedure - incremental or combo update?

My boxes are all upgrades (except for the hackintosh) but it's hardware is virtually identical to the old plastic macbooks.

Rubidium

what is the area that the os x port is having troubles, is it just the I/O - screen and sound drivers, or in some other areas as well?

[Heimdall]

I have been a fan of Transport Tycoon since it first came out and more recently OTTD. When I replaced my PC with a Mac just over a year ago I straightaway downloaded the Mac version of OTTD and have used it regularly since.

Therefore I was quite disappointed to read the probability that the current version would soon no longer be available for the Mac. However, having read this thread I can quite understand why this is probably inevitable.

Once I thought about this a bit further I don't think this is a big problem, certainly for anyone who has an Intel based Mac.

The simplest solution is to run the the win32 version of OTTD under 'Darwine' (Wine). I have been running the Win32 version 0.7.3 in this way for the last few days and it works just fine. In fact I can't tell the difference, I run it at 1680 x1050 resolution on my 20" iMac and it works perfectly. The only give away is the log out screen that says return to Windows instead of OS X. Darwine is a free download and I found it simple to install.

Alternatively as others have suggested but I don't think quite quite so convenient is the free 'Virtual Box' with either Windows or Linux.(Alternatively there is VMWare or Parallels virtual environments both of which require the purchase of a licence.)

In conclusion I don't see dropping the Mac version a big issue and personally I would rather see developer time focused on game features than porting to and supporting other systems when alternatives are readily available.

[jdeagles]

If you're after OS X Server hardware, we have 2 recently decommissioned PPC XServe's you'd be more than welcome to, which are good through to OSX 10.5, I think. We're in Liverpool, UK, where's the data centre? I'm sorry to say I can't help with the maintenance though. I wish I could

[Michi_cc]

The next nightly (if it actually compiles) will incorporate various patches related to OS X. Ideally, you should notice almost no difference, but there's a chance it will crash or otherwise behave strangely. Please make proper bug reports in this case.

Notable changes:

• A new music player using CoreAudio only.
• Paste support for edit boxes.
• Proper crashlog support.

A full change log is available. (The commits tagged with [OSX].)

-- Michael Lutz

[thetzar]

I just want to throw in my two bits of support. I've fairly recently moved form a Windows box to a Mac Pro as my primary machine, and I've been playing OpenTTD for years. I would miss is very dearly. Please don't take it away from me.

I would be very willing to contribute to a fund for mac hardware, if that's what someone needs.

[Gremnon]

I just want to throw in my two bits of support. I've fairly recently moved form a Windows box to a Mac Pro as my primary machine, and I've been playing OpenTTD for years. I would miss is very dearly. Please don't take it away from me.

I would be very willing to contribute to a fund for mac hardware, if that's what someone needs.

Hardware isn't the only issue, someone who knows XCode well enough is needed too.
I think it's XCode anyway, and there's probably other things needed too.

[planetmaker]

Hardware isn't the only issue, someone who knows XCode well enough is needed too.
I think it's XCode anyway, and there's probably other things needed too.

That's not what he claimed. But it is ONE issue which would be nice seen solving wrt the compile farm.

Sorry to be harsh, but please don't speculate wildly, if you've no clue what you're talking about. XCode is to mac what MSVC is to windows. It's a tool but no pre-requisite to whatsoever. It simply needs a person with knowledge of OSX API(s) who at the same time has time at hands and means to test what s/he wrote.

[Gremnon]

It's alright, I know I don't fully understand it, I apologise for my mistake. Not knowing exactly what I'm trying to talk about isn't helpful.

[andysine]

Hi all,

I don't often stumble around this area of the forums, but I just wanted to give my thanks to the (small?) number of individuals who have maintained the OS X port over the years.

I can't remember how long ago it was, but I do remember vividly the day I went searching for TTD on the internet, not long after I got my new mac. I also remember my excitement in finding the OTTD project and at how it bought back the memories from playing TTD when I was younger.

I am quite saddened by this news, but can appreciate the reasons behind it.

Really hope you find a solution!*

Andy
*I've got an old G4 iBook that I'd gladly donate (although I understand this isn't really what you're looking for).

[Tygernoot]

Have you already tried looking for a developer on the Mac community forums?

E.g. http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=73

It might be a good idea to simply advertise a bit. Perhaps some mac developer will get all nostalgic hearing about OpenTTD and immediately offer his services

It's worth a shot...

[orudge]

Following a series of unfortunate events, I now have a brand new MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard on it. (That's not unfortunate; my old laptop dying and taking the hard disk with it is a bit less fortunate however.) Anyway, people will know how busy I am, but in theory I might be able to poke around with OpenTTD on Snow Leopard from time to time.

0.7.3 seems to work fine for me, at any rate.