Playing old games on OS X version 10.5.3

Hi DanLawrence;

From Apple there is no way to get Classic on an Intel Mac with 10.5.

There is a hack called SheepShaver that claims to be able to do this. There are some questions as to it's legality.

Allan

Hi DanLawrence;

You can find out more information about it at http://sheepshaver.cebix.net/

Personally I would not mess with it. It is really a hack. If you don't want to mess up your Mac I would forget about it. Apple position on OS 9 is that it is dead.

I would recommend checking out the newer games instead.

Got the same problem. Just got my macbook, first time mac user, thought I'd break away from the pc norm. Anyway, bought one of my favourite games, a bit of an oldie but the box clearly noted "mac compatible". Try to install it and I get this "classic environment" error. Being a mac noob I have no idea what this means, I guess this thread has kinda helped in at least explaining what it all means. Basically requires an earlier version of Mac OS to play. Seems theres no solution to this...****

I've emailed blizzard see if there is any solution they're aware of. If there is I'll post. Otherwise, I'll consider myself lucky I still have a pc desktop.

How can mac's OSX 10.5.5 not support games that it are considered mac compatible. I bought lots of games for my mac a couple years ago and tried to install them on my macbook and I just keep getting error messages. There has to be some way to get them to work.

Hi Billch797;

When Apple came out with OS X, they implemented an emulator for OS 9 called Classic because that was the only software available then. With the release of OS X 10.5, aka Leopard, support for Classic was dropped. In addition with the release Mac that use the Intel processor, which you MacBook is one, the hardware no longer supports Classic. Hence games that require Classic are not supported any longer from Apple.

Allan

I have several games that were for a MacPlus that no longer run, it is the same thing - there is more to being "mac compatible" than just a stamp on a box. You need to make sure the hardware (memory, video, etc), processor architecture (Intel/PPC), and OS (OS 9/OSX 10.x) that the games need (were written for) are available. Usually the requirements are listed on the packaging somewhere.

What are the games, anyway? Maybe someone has an alternative.

U know, I'm a noob with Mac, thats actually my first Mac, but it seems i found the solution, at least for starcraft. First, u have to download "Starcraft Mac OS X Installer", type starcraft in searchbar on apple website, find there updates, there is a link for this installer. After that, u just have to launch this installer, but be sure that your Starcraft CD is inside. Well... thats it )))) enjoy

See my FAQs*:

http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html

http://www.macmaps.com/macgamepages.html

As you'll see any old games that require Classic essentially require an operating system that hasn't been updated since 2001.

Booting into Mac OS 9 gives you full driver support of Classic applications.
Using Classic only gives you partial support of Classic applications.
10.5 eliminates Classic, but still supports booting into 9 if you have a pre-2003 Mac (the 1 to 1.25 Ghz MDD G4 with no Firewire 800 which was available in 2003 and later new was really a pre-2003 Mac) that is 867 Mhz or faster.

PowerPC Macs released 2003 and later could only use Classic when booting into 10.4.11 or earlier. A Firewire hard drive or second partition allows you to have 10.4.11 or earlier simultaneously installed with 10.5 on the same Mac allowing you to use those older software titles.

2006 and later Macs use the Intel CPU, and they can't boot into 9, nor can they use Classic.

You can find used and refurbished Macs*:

http://www.macmaps.com/usedrefurbished.html

which will allow you to run older games if they haven't been upgraded to current compatibility.

The irony is, 2006 and later Macs have better hardware support for all Windows and Linux operating systems than older Macs, thus allowing you to run in virtualization Windows or Linux at native speeds, and giving you full compatibility with Windows and Linux games which was only possible through emulation before.

- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

is the game diablo 2? cuz if it is...you can download the OSX installer (as long as you have ur discs still) at this web site:

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=20758

hope it helps

Message was edited by: Brian Kern

A few other things about Sheepshaver is you need a copy of a Classic OS in order to run it, and it only runs 9.0.4 or earlier.

Hi ktbugrl;

Not from Apple.

Allan

Awesome, thank you. Works like a charm. I was so disappointed to thinking I wasn't going to be able to play such a classic game.