renaming .dat files & FileJuicer output Qs

[a_muses 39]

Hi fellow Mac-ers,

So far I've had general success running FileJuicer to get the .dat and .SC4xxxx files out of those durned Windows installer files, but am wondering about re-naming the .dat files. Generally I delete the "Install" and "Juice" parts of the file name, and that hasn't caused any problems, as far as I can tell.

But what I would like to know is if I can rename the .dat files safely so they are easier to find in my Plugins folder, i.e., BSCMEGAPROPSJRJ into BSC_MEGA_PROPS_JRJ or whatnot. (I'm slowly installing the CAM, and keeping track of dependencies has become my biggest issue now.)

Also, does anyone know if I need to keep the "[478921]-12" type file endings on the .dat files? They're uuugly.

And, finally, how do the rest of you organize BAT downloads? Do you keep the png files, and so on?

[Freiluft 6]

I use Wine instead of FileJuicer. It runs the regular installer directly in tasteful Windows beige -- the only problem is you have to direct the install to your SC4 Plugins rather than the fake Windows directory structure Wine sets up, but the file names remain the same and you don't end up with folders full of little graphic files that are only just part of the install program anyway. For instance, I've been trying to get rid of static landmark files I never use for various plopable buildings I do use, but since Juicer mangles the file names, I don't know which file to move elsewhere without re-downloading the file set for the building. I have no idea why FileJuicer does this -- perhaps it has something to do with some ancient character limit in file names.

Wine only works with Intel Macs, but most of the PowerPC's are breathing their last anyway.

My folder is organized simply: all the dependencies, textures, etc. are in their own folders directly in the plugin folder, buildings and other custom goodies are arranged into folders R, C, I, civic, and traffic. Things like NAM and x-ports need to be directly in the plugin folder rather than nested somewhere.

[a_muses 39]

Thanks for the tips, Freiluft. I've had no luck figuring out Wine ever since I managed to use it to install DosBox a few years ago to run SC2000. Can you point me to a good walkthrough for the installation and setup?

[Freiluft 6]

http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/

This is what I use. As I recall, it took a bit of fiddling about at first, but eventually, a double click and this app simply opens the .exe as if it were a native Mac app, except, of course, for the beige.