Hi,

I recently found an old Mac copy of Star Trek Voyager : Elite Force at my Uncle's house, and I remembered how good of a game it was. So I put the disc in, dragged the two apps to my Applications folder, and was ready to play it.

However, I have two of those striked-out circles on the icons, and when I try and run them it tells me that "This app cannot be run in OS X" or something like that. So I googled around for answers, and it seems I have to install them under something called Classic.

What's this, and where can I download it from?

(Yes, yes, I know that is utterly stupid, but I have no idea. Remember, I'm a Mac newb. )

Thanks a lot!

Classic is essentially the old OS 9, running inside OS X.
You could try updating the game Clicky - the update seems to mention OS X 10.1 compatibility, but you're on 10.4, IIRC, and a lot's changed. Thankfully though, 10.4 is the last version to support Classic - it was dropped with 10.5.

To run Classic mode under OS X, you need to install OS 9.2.2. I think, if you can track down your 10.4 install disc, it's an optional install. But I couldn't swear to that.
Ah... actually Apple have a page on it - Clicky.

I hope that's filled in some of the gaps.

Cheers again Prof.

I think I have a spare HDD out of my G3 with 9.2 on it. I wonder if I install it using that, then drag it to my G4's HDD and patch it? Could that work?

Thanks dude, you've been a real help.

You shouldn't need to go to such lengths - the safest route is going to be the install from the 10.4 install disc.
You could, I suppose, try dragging the OS 9 System Folder from your G3's HD into your 10.4 drive, but you'd need to research where the folder should sit.

As I say, safest bet is to go with the 10.4 install disc.
But who knows? Maybe a drag n drop might work - I've just read a successful story from someone who did that on a G4 Powerbook...

I don't think I can do it the 10.4 way. Mine aren't the official discs for the G4, I got them with the G4 when I bought it. They're like retail discs which Apple sell to the public. BTW, on my G3 HDD, if I open it and browse to the folder Mac OS (or whatever it's called), it has a similar structure to the OSX System folder. I might try that.

Isn't it OS9 that's free and open source now? If it is, I might as well just "do it that way" if you get me.

Thanks again.

Weird. There's a not bad tutorial here - clicky.



IIRC, you need to stick the OS 9 system folder in a folder called 'Classic Support' or something at the root level. Not entirely certain - maybe a 10.4 user can confirm this?

No, they haven't freed up OS 9 yet, for some reason. I think the earlier OS's are still available on the Apple site though. Not much use for you though!

Have you had a good nose through your 10.4 install disc? It might be hidden on there somewhere.

EDIT:

The Apple support page on 'Reinstalling OS 9' might also be of help - Clicky

You put the folder 'System folder' on the top level of your hard drive. You said you have it on your G3, drag and drop usually works fine, it doesn't need to be installed. However if that doesn't work for any reason, PM me and I'll stick a working copy on my FTP for you.

Hi,

I've dragged the folder across, and after the three weeks it took to copy it, it still doesn't work. I followed the guide that Prof gave me too, and that didn't work.

Could you FTP me up please, and then explain to me how the hell I get it to work? I'm running 10.4.11 on a Powermac 500mhz G4, with 1.5gb RAM and a Radeon 9500 Pro.

Thanks a lot!

Once you've copied the "System Folder" across to the top level of your hard drive, open System Preferences > Classic and make sure you tell it where the "System Folder" is - it should pick it up, but sometimes you have to tell it if it wasn't installed as part of the OS X system.

Then click the "Start" button to launch Classic. It may tell you that some items need to be updated within the "System Folder", click "Yes" or "OK" (can't remember which!). After it launches, you should be able to use OS 9 applications - although not all are compatible with Classic.

Your mac can also be booted in 0S9 as well, in which all apps should work. I don't know whether you'll be able to boot from the system folder I've sent you as it might need extra drivers, but it might be worth a try.

I've put that on my HDD, and it starts up.

But as soon as the little jigsaw-piece looking things go off at the bottom of the window, it closes, and I still can't open my app. :/

Have I done something wrong?

Cheers.

It might be that the app isn't classic compatible. Can you download some other classic apps to try and see if they work?

Ok, been a while since I posted in here so I think I should.

Turned out that the app had been ported to Intel using Cider or something. It works fine on my hackintosh, so that seals it for me.

Cheers for all the help anyway guys, and thanks Tombolt for providing the classic folder. I did end up using it to play the PPC version of ST Voyager which I aquired.

Damn I missed all the fun. OS 9 oh those were the days! Glad you got it working on your hackintosh.