Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
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From: neilg@fraser.sfu.ca (Neil K. Guy)
Subject: Re: Play PC game on a Mac?
Message-ID: <neilg.758681945@sfu.ca>
Sender: news@sfu.ca
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
References: <arabella-140194095558@slip-a-3.ots.utexas.edu>
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 1994 00:59:05 GMT
Lines: 34

arabella@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Arabella Clauson) writes:

>I wonder if it might be possible to play a PC interactive fiction game on
>my Mac.  What do I need to do?  Is there some method I can use to tranfer
>it to a Mac format?  Please help.  Thanks.

 That depends entirely on the game you want to play. Most software
written to run under DOS, including most games, will *not* run under
an ordinary Macintosh. This is because the two operating systems - DOS
and the Mac OS - are utterly incompatible.

 Now it *is* possible to run most DOS software on a Macintosh, but you
need extra hardware or software to do it. For instance, you could buy
a copy of SoftPC for your Macintosh that makes the Mac pretend to be a
DOS box. Or you could buy an add-in card for your Mac if it has slots
that will essentially turn your Mac into two computers in one case.
Or, if you have the new 601 PC Compatible, which is the first and so
far only computer from Apple that can run DOS software, you could just
stick your favourite PC game into the drive.

 There is one other possibility. Some games, notably most of the older
text adventures published by Infocom, Inc., and all the games written
using TADS, the Text Adventure Development System, have what are
called portable game files. This means that you simply pick up a copy
of a program from your Mac that decodes the game files and lets you
play them. There are such programs, called interpreters, that let you
run Infocom programs and TADS programs on a Macintosh.

 So the upshot of all this is that you'll have to check the game you
want to play and see if it's: a) designed to run on the PC only or b)
is a portable game file that can be run on different computers with
the appropriate software.

 - Neil K.
