How so? Steam's been working perfectly for me, I haven't had any glitches or any problems downloading Portal.
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Civ IV on Mac from Steam
- Thread starter Keleko
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How so? Steam's been working perfectly for me, I haven't had any glitches or any problems downloading Portal.
That's a fairly unpleasant way to phrase your email. How about "I bought it prior to May 12, and for some reason I can't download the Mac version. Can you help?" You're acting like when you purchased your civ iv you purchased a license to run it on the mac, which simply isn't true - that's a bonus, and I'm sure they'll get it working.
Portal ran fine. Civ IV simply doesn't run. And given that Civ IV has been ported to Mac for a while, I place the blame on Steam.
It really is the wonkiest thing I've yet run on a Mac - and I'm into open-source and other free software.
I disagree. I am proceeding under the theory I purchased the license to run the game through Steam, and that I should be able to run it under any platform Steam supports.
I originally signed up for Netflix's streaming movie service on a Windows machine. Are you suggesting I open another Netflix account for my Mac?
Regardless, none of this really matters. I assume this decision was made not by Steam, but instead by Civ IV's license holders. I'm more intersted in an official response as to have a definitive answer.
I specifically bought it this past weekend while it was on sale to play it on the Mac. I guess I'd rebuy it at full price (but not the Complete pack) if they'd refund me the original purchase price. What if I bought it Tuesday at full price in anticipation of Wednesday's Mac Steam release knowing that their store servers would be overtaxed on release day?
I think everyone in this thread is going to be disappointed -- you all seem to be forgetting that Aspyr (not the original Civ 4 developers) did the Mac port of the game, and it's sold completely separately from the PC version. This is why the Mac version is significantly more expensive than the PC version, and also why it makes no sense to be able to buy the PC version and then download the Mac version through Steam -- Aspyr doesn't get a dime from somebody buying the PC version, only the Mac version. I think it's unlikely that Steam Play will ever work for Civ 4 the way it does for PC exclusives.
Right now Beyond the Sword for Mac is selling for $35 on Amazon, while the PC version is selling for $10. Neither Aspyr nor 2K Games has any economic incentive to let you buy the cheaper one and then download the more expensive one for free, as opposed to the case of Valve games, where both the PC and the Mac versions end up as revenue for Valve.
Right now Beyond the Sword for Mac is selling for $35 on Amazon, while the PC version is selling for $10. Neither Aspyr nor 2K Games has any economic incentive to let you buy the cheaper one and then download the more expensive one for free, as opposed to the case of Valve games, where both the PC and the Mac versions end up as revenue for Valve.
I understand, but it's specifically listed as a "SteamPlay" game, which according to Valve means you buy it once, play it on both Mac and PC. If they didn't want that (due to different publishers) then they shouldn't market it as such.
Good point but you forgot Steamplay
You raise plenty of plausible reasons as to why it might not be available to Civ IV Windows owners... However, I think you are missing something (or maybe I am) but doesn't the "SteamPlay" logo on selected games - such as CIV 4 - definitively state that these games are to be playable on both Win and Mac.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1265405
You raise plenty of plausible reasons as to why it might not be available to Civ IV Windows owners... However, I think you are missing something (or maybe I am) but doesn't the "SteamPlay" logo on selected games - such as CIV 4 - definitively state that these games are to be playable on both Win and Mac.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1265405
I agree that the situation is confusing -- it just seems to me that the economics and licensing issues prevent this from working. I do think it's clear based on the absence of Civ 4 from the list here that people who bought the PC version of Civ 4 before May 12th will not be able to get the Mac version for free. I'll be surprised if people buying after the 12th will be able to either, but it seems that nobody's been able to definitively say one way or another. I doubt it myself, though.
There is good information about this topic here: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1265355
Basically, it's 2K's (the original PC publisher's) fault.
Basically, it's 2K's (the original PC publisher's) fault.
Steam never stated that EVERY game you buy on steam will be playable on multiple platforms. They were quite clear on this. And at the time you bought it you had no indication that this particular game would be playable on Mac. So your sense of entitlement is misplaced. You bought a game that was only ever promised to run on a PC, and which you had no reasonable basis to believe would be playable on Mac. Sometime after the purchase, Valve indicated that it would also be playable on Mac. Don't pretend you bought the game thinking you could play it on Mac - your sense of entitlement is misplaced.
Unless you specifically wiped your drive and reformatted it as case sensitive, you'll be just fine. Default is HFS+ (Journaled). The case sensitivity was an option introduced a while back for UNIX geeks.
Not sure what the hostility is about. They'll either get it working or not. And if not, the people who have a right to bitch about it are the people who bought Civ AFTER valve told them buying it gave them the right to play on both platforms.
If I ran a donut shop and decided starting today to give away a 13th donut for every dozen you buy, you can't complain if you bought your dozen yesterday and claim you are entitled to a free donut today. We had no contract, you had no right to expect it, and if I decide to give it to you it's a gift, not an obligation.
Can someone point me to where people got the idea that Steam Play automatically applied to everything? I'm pretty sure I read all the press releases and I was never under the impression that it was anything other than opt-in on a per-title basis, though that might be because it obviously doesn't make a lot of sense in cases like these where ports are done separately from the original game.
According to the Steam forums they're working on getting it fixed.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1265445
See post #7.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1265445
See post #7.
No hostility at all. I am agreeing with you. Not only was it unreasonable of me to expect Valve to retroactively grant me cross-platform functionality for my CIV 4 license that I purchased before it was available, but doing so would set a very bad precedent--a true slippery slope. Pretty soon I'll purchase a computer and then have the gall to assume all future firmware and software updates will be provided free of charge. I mean, whenever updates are released, I could always just purchase a new computer, right?
Yes, Steam had *hinted* that Steam Play titles wouldn't require repurchasing across platforms prior to the launch of the Mac client.
http://kotaku.com/5536126/steam-comes-to-macs-wednesday-with-portal-torchlight
What's more, virtually every title that is Steam Play enabled applied retroactively to purchases made prior to May 12. The Civ IV series of games seems to be the lone exception.
Steam is now allowing me to download it. Looks like my existing license is valid for the Mac install now.
Awesome.
They fixed it! Downloading now
Edit: well I spoke to soon. Civ4 crashes as soon as it launches, I dont even see a window for it
At least the download does appear to be fixed. I'm able to download it now, too. Whether it will actually work will have to wait until the download finishes.
That said, the PC version works just fine in Crossover Games through Steam. So consider that an alternative if the Mac version refuses to work.
That said, the PC version works just fine in Crossover Games through Steam. So consider that an alternative if the Mac version refuses to work.
