Add-on Missions for the Dark Forces game, are also often called add-on levels, home-made levels, home-brew levels, etc. They are additional missions for the Dark Forces game, that are made by exceptionally intelligent and talented game users! :-)
Q: Will the Dark Forces PC add-on missions run on a Mac?
YES THEY WILL: All of them can be converted to run on a Mac.
Where can I get them? There are numerous Add-On Missions already available and more coming out every day. If you are not familiar with WWWeb browsing, you can find many of the PC missions in the AOL Software Libraries. Some are:
You can also find other information on DF by doint a software search: Go To: Software Search: Check "Games" & type in "Dark Forces". There are numerous places on the internet where you can get files and missions. SEE THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT FOR A LIST OF OTHER INTERNET SITES FOR DARK FORCES MATERIALS:
Q: Ive done everything and I can't get the add-on levels or patches to play on my Mac!
Yoda: Always with you it cannot be done.
Luke: I'm trying...
Yoda: No...try not...do! There is no try.
Luke: I don't believe it....
Yoda: That is why you fail!
Yoda: Concentrate, feel the force flow...
PC add-on missions have to be converted to be run on a Mac, this is easy to do and is explained below. A level that has already been converted to run on a Mac will have an icon that looks like a page with the head of a Storm Trooper on it.
Converting Custom-made levels of Dark Forces to run on a MAC:
1. If the file is compressed, decompress it (unstuff/unzip/expand/inflate it). DO NOT USE THE AOL DECOMPRESSOR, TO DO SO WILL CORRUPT THE FILES. To make sure this doesn't happen accidentally, go to your AOL "Downloading Preferences", that's under the "Set Preferences" command under the "Members" pull-down menu. Now, turn off "Auto-Expand Files".
Use "Stuffit Lite" or "Stuffit Deluxe" (for .sit files), use "UnZip" or "ZipIt" (for .zip files) If the decompressor you use has this option, make sure the "Convert CR/LFs" or "add/strip linefeeds" box is unchecked, or it could corrupt the files.
2. Most PC add on missions include a .TXT file, a .GOB file, and a .BAT file. The .BAT file is for PC's only, it is not needed for the Mac version, the .TXT file contains a written description of the mission and can usually be opened and read with most text editors (SimpleText). Find the .GOB file, you will need to convert it.
CONVERTING THE GOB:
The easy way: After you've decompressed the file, as per the above instructions, use "GOBtyper" to convert it. GOBtyper was created by Brian H. Mckendrick (BhmSTX@aol.com), he describes it as follows: "This is just a little something I whipped up 'cause I got sick of using ResEdit to convert PC .GOBs. All you have to do drag the .GOB file to it and drop." Presto, its converted, watch the little storm trooper face appear on the icon!
The harder way: Use a file utility such as "ResEdit" to change the TYPE of the .GOB file (from TEXT*) to "DATA" and the CREATOR (from PCXT*) to "dRfO" (the last character is the letter O, not zero). When you've done this a Storm trooper head should appear on the .GOB icon.
3. Move the .GOB file into the same folder as your Dark Forces application. Do not move it into the Dark Forces Data folder, or the game will crash when you try to start the level.
4. Double-click on the .GOB file or drag & drop it on the Dark Forces application to start Dark Forces and play the custom-made level.
Q. I converted the .GOB according to instructions but the mission still won't load; my computer freezes up/crashes/freaks out/says I need more memory, what's wrong?
Mac users have encountered various problems loading DF add-on missions, they can be overcome. The problems appear to be a result of:
Lack of RAM; File Corruption; or the Location of the add-on mission.
1) LACK OF RAM: 8 MB is sometimes marginal but you can usually make it work. Some missions run fine without more RAM, try loading it first, if it runs fine, play it! However, if the add on levels freeze up on loading (shortly after the progress bar appears), or crash during game play, its a pretty good indication they need more RAM. You can free up more RAM by decreasing the amount used by the System Software. To do that you have to remove all non-essential Extensions and Control Panels from their folders in the System Folder. I've freed up over 6.4 MB for the game, which has allowed me to play every add-on mission that I've tried.
How to free up more RAM: You can decrease the amount of RAM that your system software uses by doing the following.
A. In Extensions Manager Control Panel: (Note: this does not show all of your Control Panels and Extensions) Turn off all Control Panels and most of the Extensions; I left only the following extensions on, believing that they are necessary for Dark Forces: Apple CD-ROM, Foreign File Access, QuickTime, Sound Manager & Thread Manager.
B. Open your Extensions Folder, take out all non-essential extensions and put them in a separate folder. Save them, you'll need to replace them later when you are done playing. Most of them do not show up in the Extensions Manager. Its not always easy to figure out what they are for. If in doubt, leave it in.
3. Restart.
After doing all of this I got the System 7.5 memory allocation down to 1,847 K RAM, leaving 6,315 K available for Dark Forces.
The mission still won't load?: Try this. Load the original Dark Forces game: Open up the preferences and do the following to reduce the memory demanded at Startup, you can change it back later after the game has started playing:
Turned Music Off
Screen size: Teensy
Screen Detail: Low resolution Small.
Ship Detail: Solid
Quit Dark Forces and put the .GOB in the folder with the Dark Forces Application and double click on it (or drag & drop it on the application) to load it up. After the .GOB has loaded you can go back into the Preferences and increase the screen size and the levels usually play fine.
2) File Corruption: Some levels still may not load if the file has been corrupted. On these the startup load seemed fine, but instead of the Mission loading, it takes you to the Mission Selection Screen and all you can get is the original missions. Note: the add on missions usually come with a Text file that says which original mission the add-on replaces. Usually its the first mission. In which case the name of that new mission should appear in the selection screen as Mission 1. If you don't get a new mission its a pretty good indication that the .GOB is corrupted.
File corruption appears to happen when the compression software used adds Carriage Return or Line Feed (CR/LF) symbols to each line in the file.. The America On Line (AOL) compressor does this, so its extremely important that you do not use it to decompress any .GOB files that you download. You can turn it off in your AOL Preferences menu. Generally, the safest way to decompress a mission is using UnZip (freeware).
Peter Creath's WWWeb page advises:
"Unzip them with anything other than StuffIt Expander(*tm). Expander will unzip the files, but it by default converts MS-DOS CR/LF to CR, which will corrupt binary files quite handily, rendering the GOBs often unuseable. "
TDalton's WWWeb page instructions for converting levels advises: "Use Stuffit Lite or Stuffit Deluxe and choose "Unzip" from the "Translate" menu to unzip the files. Make sure the "Convert CR/LFs" box is unchecked".
Before you throw away any corrupted missions, you might want to try "ZipIt 1.3.4". It was designed to deal with the differences between PC files and Mac Files. One of the features of this shareware application might allow you to replace the linefeeds; if the corruption is a Carriage Return/Line Feed problem. So instead of throwing them away, down load this shareware and try it out.
ZipIt also has numerous advantages over UnZip, in addition to being a safe way to unzip DF add-on levels. It also allows you to Zip files and create archives to store lots of stuff (Dark Forces Add On Levels) on your hard drive while taking up less space. You can also create self expanding archives. You can assign a password to an archive so no one else can open it (encryption), and it has many other features.
3) Location of the Add-On Mission: Sometimes they will not load unless the DF application is on the Main level of your Hard Drive and the Add On level is outside the DF folder, next to it instead of in the same folder.
Q: Can I use the UnZip 2.0 instead of Stuffit Deluxe to unstuff a XXXXXXXX.SIT file?
UnZip and ZipIt will only open .ZIP archives.
Stuffit (Lite and deluxe & the AOL compressor) are all made by Aladdin and will open .SIT and .ZIP archives. So , to decompress a Mission.SIT we have to use Stuffit.
Q: If so, is there some kind of special setting that it (UnZip) needs?
Not that I'm aware of. Its real basic. UnZips only
Q: If not, is the Stuffit Deluxe available as Shareware or is it only commercially available? StuffIt Lite & ZipIt are Shareware, UnZip is FreeWare, both are available from AOL, StuffIt Deluxe is commercial only.
Q: The DF Fan Club newsletter (Crow Calls) and stuff you sent me will not work. My computer says the application that created it is missing; and/or would you like to use SimpleText to open it, I hit OK and it says the document is to large. Do you know what I can do to fix this problem?
Reading PC.TXT on a Mac: Most computer users use PC's, so most of the Add-on Levels and documents sent out by the DFFC were created on a PC with PC software. The bad news is that some of it will never work on a Mac, unless its a PowerPC, and you have the application. The good news is SimpleText will read most PC.TXT documents, but it is limited to a maximum size document it can open (32K).
Try opening it using other word processing software that you have on your computer. Microsoft Word or ClarisWorks will open much larger PC text documents, as will BBEditLite (shareware).
If your Mac has "MacLink", "Mac Easy Open" or "PC Exchange" it may be able to help you convert the document using other software you already have.
Q: Do these editors, add-on levels, etc. function on a PowerPC? Will Dfuse work on a Macintosh?
The add-on missions levels will run on a Mac if converted properly. I am not aware of any reason the editors wouldn't all work on a Mac-PowerPC. But the PC editors will not run on an earlier Mac. I attended the debut of the PowerPC at the Motorola Plant here in Austin, TX. (they make the chips), where they very strongly emphasized that a PowerPC would run ANY AND ALL PC or Mac software.
Unfortunately, I had already purchased a new Performa 630 CD, so I can't test out the editors. But I don't expect you'll encounter any difficulty on a PowerPC that you wouldn't on a PC. And a Mac is still easier to use!!!
Q: Can I make add-on levels on a Macintosh computer.
Yes, all of the files that have to be created in order to make a new mission can be typed up as plain TEXT documents. However, creating all of the files in TEXT is a daunting task. I made one mission this way, not as a great game playing mission, but purely as a demonstration that it can be done. It is called Apple.GOB and is available in the Mac Software library, and includes, tutorials and explanations of how to make add-on missions.
Fortunatly, the Force gave us Brad Oliver, who is creating an editor for Macintosh computers. Here is his description of Dark Forces Level Editor V0.96:
" This program represents my continuing effort towards creating a full-fledged Dark Forces editor. Yves Borckmans has graciously allowed me access to his source code so I'm attempting to piece together a Mac-friendly version of his PC level editor, DFUSE. I've also been peeking at the source code to the DOOM editor DEU to pick up some tips and possibly speed improvements. I'm shooting for an interface based on the Marathon editor, Phorte, but that's farther in the future.
You will always be able to find the latest version of this package on my Dark Forces page at http://www.primenet.com/~bradman/darkforces.html ."
He has successfully worked most of the bugs out of DFLE V0.96, so it is a very usable tool for creating LEV and O files for an add-on mission. I used it to make the add-on mission titled Easter Attack (Easter.GOB) that was just sent out by the DFFC recently. I also used the the following utilities, GOBviewer, GOBtyper and a text editor (still essential).
Making add-on missions is a complicated but rewarding undertaking. As an Artist & Architect, I rate the experience of making an add-on mission one of the most exciting creative experiences I've had in a long time. To concieve of a small 3 dimensional world, and then to be able to create it and walk around in it was a wonderful experience. However, it you want to learn how to do it, you really need to study the tutorials that I issued with the Apple.GOB discussed above. Numerous other excellent tutorials are available at Tola Dalton's Dark Forces Homepage (http://www.3dg.com/DarkForces/). Dfuse and Windows Dfuse contain excellent tutorials and sample levels used to demonstrate various things. Mac Users can download the editors and read the TEXT tutorials and use the demo's, even though you cannot use the PC mission editors.
Q: Will the light sabres and patches run on a Mac?
YES, but its a little complicated. If the file is compressed (ends in .zip) decompress it, using "UnZip" is the most fool proof way.
Instructions for loading a Patch on a Macintosh.
1) Ungob the "Patch".gob with "GobIt!" or "GOBviewer", they will create a new folder titled "Patch.gob f".
2) Drag all of thes files into the same folder as the Dark Forces application (the red stormtrooper icon)
3) Select all of the files at once, so they are all highlighted.
4) While they are highlighted, drag them all to the Dark Forces Application, so your mouse pointer is over the application, then let go, they should load.
5) To use the sabre select the fist, key 1. The Fett patch replaces various weapons, try them all.
For the Sabre, the files are:
PUNCH1.BM < one of three sabre graphics
PUNCH2.BM < one of three sabre graphics
PUNCH3.BM < one of three sabre graphics
SWING.VOC < one of two sabre sounds
PUNCH.VOC < one of two sabre sounds
For the Boba Fett Patch, the files are:
ASSAULT1.BM
ASSAULT2.BM
ASSAULT3.BM
ASSAULT4.BM
BOBAFETT.WAX
CHOKE.VOC
IGOGGLES.FME
IKEYB.FME
IKEYY.FME
JUMP-1.VOC
KYLEDIE1.VOC
LAND-1.VOC
MASK1.VOC
MASK2.VOC
MISSEXP.WAX
PHASE2.WAX
PISTOL1.BM
PISTOL2.BM
PISTOL3.BM
PLASEXP.WAX
SHIELD1.VOC
TEXT.MSG
In each case the patches I sent out or posted on AOL already had these files extracted from the GOB so you don't need to use GOBIT.
If you downloaded those files and used the AOL decompressor to expand (unzip) them, it probably corrupted them. Download a new copy from the Mac Games software library and get a copy of UnZip (freeware) and use it to expand the files. Then try loading them.
Enjoy the new dimensions these patches give the game.
May the force be with you.
ArchTx
INTERNET LOCATIONS FOR DF LEVELS & INFORMATION
WWW:
PC:
Tola Dalton's Dark Forces Homepage
http://www.3dg.com/DarkForces/
The WPI Dark Forces page
http://www.wpi.edu/~ss/DF_index.html
http://www.afn.org/~afn23942/df.html The DF adventures page
This FAQ is the result of a lot of Mac Users (and some PC users) helping each other figure this stuff out. In particular I would like to thank the following people for thier assistance and information:
