The Adjutant
Dear IMG: I have just read your article on Dust, it was very good. I have been playing Dust off and on for about two weeks and have managed to solve all the puzzles with in a couple of hours. Now, I have been stuck for days and it really annoying. I cannot beat the kid, I have tried everything. If you could tell me how I would really appreciate it. —JH7C via AOL

• Contrary to what you instincts will tell you, this is not a contest of speed. The Kid is far too good for you to beat under normal circumstances. You must use your head and outwit him somehow. When he appears, and begins to address you, it is important to choose your words carefully. 

All your responses must somehow embarrass him. If The Kid retorts with laughter to anything that you say, you did not succeed in shaming him. This is not tricky. During the days leading up to the gunfight, you should have come across plenty of embarrassing anecdotes about your nemesis and his family. Oh, and don’t forget to offer to light his cigar before you face each other off at 20 paces.

Once the scene pans pack and you are shown facing The Kid in the middle of the street, do not hesitate. This ain’t the movies, and besides who in Diamondback will give two bits if you draw first. With the pointer click your hand, the gun and The Kid in rapid succession. You’ll plug him every time.

It Will Run!
Dear IMG: A recent letter in the November Inside Mac Games states that Railroad Tycoon will not run under System 7. I’ve found this to not be the case- not only have I been running it under System 7, but also 7.5.2 on a PowerMac 7500... it works just fine. There has been one updated application, which seems to be labelled Version 1.01. It’s been available from the Internet and Microprose’s BBS for some time.

Unfortunately, Civilization will NOT run on the new PCI PowerMacs. Microprose also is not planning a patch - they made their one fix (v1.1) and they will now ignore the game (and apparently the whole Mac line, since according to tech support, Colonization will be the LAST Mac product MicroProse release, with the possible exception of Transport Tycoon which is really being done by another company). Since Civilization has been considered the best computer game of all time by several magazines, and is certainly one of the best selling, perhaps we can convince Microprose to make one more fix, or at least to release the source to a group of programmers who would keep this great game alive.

Actually, IMHO there’s a need for a company that does nothing but update games that won’t run on new Mac platforms. Too many quality games are lost to new owners, and too many people are bitten by mail-ordering games that won’t work - Vette is still being sold, and it won’t run on any machine that doesn’t support 4-bit graphics, and NO warnings are given in the ads or on the package. And there are plenty of others... — Rich Rubel via Internet

• Despite what you may have heard, MicroProse is not backing down from the Mac market. The plan on introducing Transport Tycoon, X-COM: UFO Defense, Civ-Net, and a host of other games as well on the Macintosh. There’s even word that Civilization 2000 will be ported to the Mac.

Doom Doomed
Dear IMG: Your reviewer left out many important points from the Doom II review that I think should be mentioned. I purchased this game and returned it because I felt that it was of very poor quality.

(1) Where’s the Mac interface? Since when does choosing a menu item change a setting (in this case, resolution), and to get to a specific setting you have to keep choosing the menu item. Have these guys ever heard of dialog boxes?

(2) How about that incredibly intuitive way to set the single or multiplayer preferences: Hold down the “P” or “M” key on startup. Once the game has been launched, there is no way to get to these items. This point alone is downright disgraceful! In fact, the manual does not mention this, but instead refers to a non-existent menu item.

(3) The music was dreadful, and the sounds were low quality. Every Mac user can expect better sound and music than that, and the PowerMac people (and av users) should be able to benefit from 16-bit audio their machines contain.

(4) The graphics, while improved over the PC version, are only 256 color and don’t hold a candle to Marathon. Things are VERY blocky close up.

I was very disappointed. This game could have been so much better, but Lion, in the interest of porting it over directly, didn’t change a thing, and that’s too bad. There were a lot of interface issues that should have been resolved. The gameplay may be good, but I think the technical shortcomings and poor interface give Doom a 2 to 2 1/2 joysticks, not the four that your reviewer provided. — Joel Lingenfelter via AOL

 
How is it Done?
Dear IMG: First of, let me just say how much I love the new look of IMG, especially the 3D game boxes that are featured in the reviews. My question is, how do you do those? —Tony Lernd via AOL

• Using a color scanner we first scan the front of the game box and one of the sides. Using Photoshop we then size the scans to the right size and correct the contrast and brightness. Then, using Strata Studio Pro, the front of the game box is mapped onto the front of a 3-D model of a game box. The same is done with the side. Then the 3-D box is rendered and imported back into Photoshop where they are touched up again and resized for the magazine.

Wad Problems
Dear IMG: What is the problems with Doom Wads. I have Doom II, and despite downloading dozens of Wads from the Internet, the only ones that have worked properly were on your CD. — Damon Creed via Internet

• Make sure you are using wads (DOOM II Levels) that are made for Doom II. DOOM I wads will not work with DOOM II and vice-versa.

Oldies, But Goodies
Dear IMG: I’m writing to ask where I can get an old game called 4D Boxing. I played it once at a friend’s house, but his drive crashed and he didn’t have a backup so I have no source of further information. The game was a 3-D boxing simulator with different camera angles. You could build and improve fighters and fight exhibitions against friends. The version I played was 1.0.

Can I still buy this game? My friend got it at college, so it must be about 2 years old. Thanks. — Joe Gidi via AOL

• Unfortunately, 4D Boxing from Electronic Arts was discontinued a while back. Your best bet is to try to buy a used copy from someone. Check out the AOL Classifieds, the Mac Games forum on AOL, or the popular newsgroup comp.sys.mac.games.marketplace where people sell software.

That’s IT! I Give Up!
Dear IMG: I just want you all to know that I’ve given up on all the other computer game publications, particularly the biggest paper magazine of the bunch. I was in my local bookstore reading the letters page for a popular monthly gaming magazine when I saw a letter flaming the mag for not having enough Mac coverage. The writer went off to name *several* Mac titles that he had not seen reviewed in that magazine. The editor defended the magazine by saying all those games were reviewed and then listed every single issue which those reviews appeared. BUT those were all reviews of the DOS versions! AAAGGGGGHHHH!!! What idiots. From that point on, I decided that magazine was a waste of my time. 

Anyways, the only thing left would be spreading the word about IMG! I wish Apple or Power Computing would bundle IMG with new Macs being sold (like Eric’s Solitaire). The Mac gaming community needs to know about this magazine! — Leslie Shafer via AOL

Virtual Mac
Dear IMG: I was thumbing through a couple of computer catalogs and came across a set of Virtual Reality glasses/helmet for PCs. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a similar product for Macs. I can’t help but think that someday, we might be playing F/A-18 Hornet in VR. Have you heard of any such hardware and/or software support for true VR games? — Ross E. Waite via Internet

• While we’ve heard that a few companies are working on VR helmets for the Mac, none are available just yet. We’ll keep our eyes open though!

QuickTime Follies
Dear IMG: I’m having some problems installing QuickTime 2.1 from the IMG CD. When I drag over the files to my System folder, it says, “You cannot replace the system extension QuickTime, because it is in use.” So, how do I install it?

• Since the System is currently using QuickTime, you can’t replace it by copying 2.1 from the CD-ROM to the System folder. Try this. Open the System Folder and then the Extension folder. Find the QuickTime extensions, then drag them over Trash. But DON’T try to empty the trash. Now go to the IMG CD and drag the QuickTime 2.1 files over to the System folder. Then simply restart. When the desktop appears again, empty the trash to get throw away QuickTime 2.0.

Letters to IMG. If you have a question, problem, comment, suggestion, or idea, just drop us a line. All letters become property of Inside Mac Games. We reserve the right to edit any letters.