Installing Network Addon Mod (NAM) for Mac

[EdLondon 0]

Hi all

I have been playing SC4 on the Mac since it was ported over. I recently learned about the NAM on here and am very excited about it. But I can't seem to install it. I downloaded the Mac installer from here http://www.moddb.com/mods/network-addon-mod/downloads/network-addon-mod-version-35-mac but the installer freezes after opening.

The machine I am using is a 2012 Retina MacBook Pro running OSX Sierra.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

Ed

[matias93 7,535]

While currently nobody on the NAM team uses MacOS, maybe @Tarkus or @rsc204 would be able to help you a bit with this.

[rsc204 21,808]

The simplest way to install the Mac version of the NAM is to use Windows, assuming you have access to a machine with it. Run the regular Windows installer, it will install two folders "Network Addon Mod" and "z___NAM", copy those over to your plugins folder on the Mac and everything will work.

If the Mac installer is giving you trouble, it's hard for us to help, because none of the team use Macs. It's simply a Wineskin wrapper that should enable the Windows installer to be run under MacOS. But there are plenty of compatibility and security headaches that are the result of constant changes within MacOS that can trip you up.

[EdLondon 0]

Aha OK many thanks. I will have to borrow a Windows computer haha.

[vedervardigt 15]

You have probably fixed this by now but... I had a similar problem yesterday installing NAM 36, where the installer quit after loading to 100%. This was a path finding issue because I opened the installer directly from the dmg. I just had to copy the installer outside the dmg and all worked fine.

[Chlard 0]

On 8/28/2017 at 11:44 PM, rsc204 said:

The simplest way to install the Mac version of the NAM is to use Windows, assuming you have access to a machine with it. Run the regular Windows installer, it will install two folders "Network Addon Mod" and "z___NAM", copy those over to your plugins folder on the Mac and everything will work.

If the Mac installer is giving you trouble, it's hard for us to help, because none of the team use Macs. It's simply a Wineskin wrapper that should enable the Windows installer to be run under MacOS. But there are plenty of compatibility and security headaches that are the result of constant changes within MacOS that can trip you up.

Thank you for your advice. I got the NAM working just fine by your method. But how about the Traffic Simulator? I installed and copied the simulator folder from "Program Files (x86)" as well. But where should I paste it on my mac, and how would I run it. Or would I have to "fresh install" using FileJuicer (which I have no idea what to expect)? Thank you in advance!

On 9/15/2017 at 6:11 PM, vedervardigt said:

You have probably fixed this by now but... I had a similar problem yesterday installing NAM 36, where the installer quit after loading to 100%. This was a path finding issue because I opened the installer directly from the dmg. I just had to copy the installer outside the dmg and all worked fine.

I copied the installer to my Desktop as well. But it didn't work, but I used rsc204's method and got it working fine and dandy! 

[rsc204 21,808]

It's much the same, only the TSCT gets installed by default to Program Files (x86)\Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool. Just take the entire folder and copy it to your Mac, note this can be pretty much anywhere and shouldn't be inside your SC4 Plugins folder. It's a Java application so all should work just fine on your Mac, provided you have Java installed.

Whilst I am thinking about it, one last folder is installed by the NAM which may also be useful, Documents\SimCity 4\NAM Auxiliary Files. Here you will find all the NAM documentation, along with the Controller Compiler tool, which most users won't typically need to be messing with.

[Lost-In-Sofia 20]

3 hours ago, rsc204 said:

It's much the same, only the TSCT gets installed by default to Program Files (x86)\Traffic Simulator Configuration Tool. Just take the entire folder and copy it to your Mac, note this can be pretty much anywhere and shouldn't be inside your SC4 Plugins folder. It's a Java application so all should work just fine on your Mac, provided you have Java installed.

Whilst I am thinking about it, one last folder is installed by the NAM which may also be useful, Documents\SimCity 4\NAM Auxiliary Files. Here you will find all the NAM documentation, along with the Controller Compiler tool, which most users won't typically need to be messing with.

Thank you for your response. (I changed my account after I recall my username, hehe.) Noted.

Edited: I copied the folder, go in, and stunned... I don't know which programs to run.

By the way, I found that while I was trying to install SC4 Mapper (mac version), it won't open (the app version). So I dug deeper and found something about "Wine" app. Downloaded it, and some time has passed, I finally got my SC4 Mapper to work, via Wine (and found a lot of things about Mac Library folders). Is this the way mac users usually create new regions? And should I note something else that would break my game (or most importantly, my computer)? Cheers to you rsc204!

Oh, another point, I haven't found the Auxiliary Files in any folders. It doesn't even matter anyway... right? 

[rsc204 21,808]

12 hours ago, Lost-In-Sofia said:

I don't know which programs to run.

TSCT.JAR

.JAR being an application which runs using Java.

12 hours ago, Lost-In-Sofia said:

I finally got my SC4 Mapper to work, via Wine (and found a lot of things about Mac Library folders). Is this the way mac users usually create new regions? And should I note something else that would break my game (or most importantly, my computer)?

Wine is simply a way to get Windows-designed apps to run under Linux, which MacOS is based upon. Since most of the 3rd party game tools are Windows apps, it's a useful thing to know how to setup. SC4 Mapper is probably the easiest tool to turn a downloaded map into a working region in SC4.

As with most such tools, there really isn't much chance of causing problems with your computer. After all, you aren't really installing anything that affects the system itself, the region is just files which will either work if done correctly, or simply won't if not. The real key is making sure the regions are saved in the correct folder where SC4 will see them when started.

The Mac versions of SC4 have always been a little underwhelming compared to the Windows releases. Lacking bug fixes and support that the Windows versions had, most notably the EP1 and NiteLight fixes, the latter of which is needed for night lights to appear for custom downloaded buildings. As such, there is an argument for running the Windows version, usually under Wine, rather than the Mac version. But this requires having access to a Windows copy of the game in addition to the knowledge of how to set it up. If you run BootCamp, its probably easier still to use that to run SC4 natively off the Windows partition. Of course it really depends on how much you care about having the extra fixes, the Mac game is certainly playable, just a little flawed.

12 hours ago, Lost-In-Sofia said:

I haven't found the Auxiliary Files in any folders. It doesn't even matter anyway... right?

Bear in mind, if the directories I noted in my previous post are on the machine NAM was installed upon, i.e. the Windows computer. You would have to manually copy them onto your mac to use them.

The readme files are probably useful, but it really depends on whether or not you can work things out to use the NAM features without it. The custom controller is usually made automatically as part of the install process, unless you wanted to modify that somehow (usually more developmentally focused), you probably don't need it.

[Lord_Zod 5]

On September 15, 2017 at 4:11 AM, vedervardigt said:

You have probably fixed this by now but... I had a similar problem yesterday installing NAM 36, where the installer quit after loading to 100%. This was a path finding issue because I opened the installer directly from the dmg. I just had to copy the installer outside the dmg and all worked fine.

100% worked for me, thanks

[Identitor 3]

Hi,

I was able to install NAM 36 on High Sierra with the download for Mac.

If you downloaded the file, open the DMG file. Move NAM36MacWrapper to the desktop.

Open the contents of the file (right mouseclick)

Doubleclick Wineskin

Select Set Screen Options

Un-mark Auto Detect GPU Info for Direct3D

Klick Done

Close all windows.

Start NAM36MacWrapper.

Now it would be enable to install NAM.

Success

 

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

Hiya, @Identitor. Welcome to Simtropolis.

That's a great first post which looks like it contains some useful, needed information. (I'm not a Mac user so I'm clueless with this aspect of SC4.) It'll be great if you can keep an eye on this particular forum and add your knowledge when the occasional questions pop up.  

[InfiniteCities 6]

Hello! I have a bit of an update to this with my experience of spending the past two hours attempting to get the NAM to work

The process I used is very similar to @Identitor 's. 

1) Download latest NAM for MacOS

2) Open .dmg and read included readme for tips and advice

3) Drag the NAM wrapper to the desktop

4) Right click/2 finger click (if you are using a Macbook Trackpad) and click "Show Package Contents"

5) Open Wineskin

6) Click "Set Screen Options"

7) There will be 3 boxes checked here, "Use Mac Driver instead of X11", "Decorate Windows", and "Auto Detect GPU for Direct3D", Click on "Use Mac Driver instead of X11" and "Auto Detect GPU for Direct3D" to deselect them 

8) Click Done

9) Close out of all windows pertaining to NAM Wrapper

10) Start NAM Wrapper, folllow prompts and select installation

~there may be an issue here where the installer gets stuck stating that there is a file needing to be deleted. If this happens, delete that file and restart the wrapper~

11) Make sure that all of the files ended up where they needed to go to for whichever version you are using, then start SC4 and test

12) Enjoy

[skyjuice 12]

On 2018-03-31 at 9:00 PM, InfiniteCities said:

Hello! I have a bit of an update to this with my experience of spending the past two hours attempting to get the NAM to work

The process I used is very similar to @Identitor 's. 

1) Download latest NAM for MacOS

2) Open .dmg and read included readme for tips and advice

3) Drag the NAM wrapper to the desktop

4) Right click/2 finger click (if you are using a Macbook Trackpad) and click "Show Package Contents"

5) Open Wineskin

6) Click "Set Screen Options"

7) There will be 3 boxes checked here, "Use Mac Driver instead of X11", "Decorate Windows", and "Auto Detect GPU for Direct3D", Click on "Use Mac Driver instead of X11" and "Auto Detect GPU for Direct3D" to deselect them 

8) Click Done

9) Close out of all windows pertaining to NAM Wrapper

10) Start NAM Wrapper, folllow prompts and select installation

~there may be an issue here where the installer gets stuck stating that there is a file needing to be deleted. If this happens, delete that file and restart the wrapper~

11) Make sure that all of the files ended up where they needed to go to for whichever version you are using, then start SC4 and test

12) Enjoy

Thank You.

[mon4lis4 3]

On 3/31/2018 at 3:00 PM, InfiniteCities said:

Hello! I have a bit of an update to this with my experience of spending the past two hours attempting to get the NAM to work

The process I used is very similar to @Identitor 's. 

1) Download latest NAM for MacOS

2) Open .dmg and read included readme for tips and advice

3) Drag the NAM wrapper to the desktop

4) Right click/2 finger click (if you are using a Macbook Trackpad) and click "Show Package Contents"

5) Open Wineskin

6) Click "Set Screen Options"

7) There will be 3 boxes checked here, "Use Mac Driver instead of X11", "Decorate Windows", and "Auto Detect GPU for Direct3D", Click on "Use Mac Driver instead of X11" and "Auto Detect GPU for Direct3D" to deselect them 

8) Click Done

9) Close out of all windows pertaining to NAM Wrapper

10) Start NAM Wrapper, folllow prompts and select installation

~there may be an issue here where the installer gets stuck stating that there is a file needing to be deleted. If this happens, delete that file and restart the wrapper~

11) Make sure that all of the files ended up where they needed to go to for whichever version you are using, then start SC4 and test

12) Enjoy

Thanks this worked well. The installer got hung up early using the standard installation process. If you have this issue select "custom installation" and run it through that. Keep the default path. You can select the standard options preset on the next page. It will be the exact same installation but it avoids the glitch that hangs it up. 

 

I did this on the latest version of High Sierra, released a few days ago I believe. 

[Ronditreta 0]

On 31/03/2018 at 4:00 PM, InfiniteCities said:

Hello! I have a bit of an update to this with my experience of spending the past two hours attempting to get the NAM to work

The process I used is very similar to @Identitor 's. 

1) Download latest NAM for MacOS

2) Open .dmg and read included readme for tips and advice

3) Drag the NAM wrapper to the desktop

4) Right click/2 finger click (if you are using a Macbook Trackpad) and click "Show Package Contents"

5) Open Wineskin

6) Click "Set Screen Options"

7) There will be 3 boxes checked here, "Use Mac Driver instead of X11", "Decorate Windows", and "Auto Detect GPU for Direct3D", Click on "Use Mac Driver instead of X11" and "Auto Detect GPU for Direct3D" to deselect them 

8) Click Done

9) Close out of all windows pertaining to NAM Wrapper

10) Start NAM Wrapper, folllow prompts and select installation

~there may be an issue here where the installer gets stuck stating that there is a file needing to be deleted. If this happens, delete that file and restart the wrapper~

11) Make sure that all of the files ended up where they needed to go to for whichever version you are using, then start SC4 and test

12) Enjoy

this should be more visible

[Tougal_Wilson 2]

Hi,

Thank you! Just wanted to let you know that this was incredibly helpful, and got me up and running with NAM36 on my 2012 Macbook Air running Mojave, and my 2010 MacMini running High Sierra (yes, yes I know! I'm saving up for upgrades!). I'm using the Steam version (on offer for less than a fiver! bargain!)

I'm super newbie coming back to the franchise after last playing SC2000 as a kid, and not that tech-y, so a step by step guide like this was invaluable. Thanks! Some observations of my own in case any other similarly bewildered SC4/NAM wannabies happen to come this way: 

• Having successfully installed the NAM according to InfiniteCities' and Mon4lisa4's instructions I had the crash-to-desktop problem experienced by a few people whenever I open a city from the region map.
• I tried the messing about with JDatPacker to no avail (not really sure what I'm doing - it's too complex for me!)
• But I found that just removing the "SimCity 4/Plugins/MassTransit Lots/High Speed Rail Stations" subfolder eliminated the problem.

I'm sure I've lost some gameplay options by doing this, but for someone who's brand new to the game and just wants a few more curvy road, traffic and mass transit options to play with it's good enough for me. I might revisit again to try a proper fix some time if the lack of high speed rail options proves to be a deal breaker. 

Anyway, thanks again for the install guide. My SC4 journey begins!

 

[Tarkus 6,932]

By the way, NAM 37 just released as well.  The installer's cross-platform, so you'll have a much easier time getting it installed on your Mac.

-Tarkus

[rsc204 21,808]

On 03/07/2020 at 1:23 PM, Tougal_Wilson said:

• But I found that just removing the "SimCity 4/Plugins/MassTransit Lots/High Speed Rail Stations" subfolder eliminated the problem.

There are some Lots in there (only two HSR ones), that only started causing problems after the recent x64 upgrade of the SC4 App. Those have since been fixed and work fine with NAM37.

On 03/07/2020 at 1:23 PM, Tougal_Wilson said:

• I tried the messing about with JDatPacker to no avail (not really sure what I'm doing - it's too complex for me!)

When you run the program, it asks you to input two paths:

• Source Directory
  Browse to your SC4 Plugins folder, then select the folder you want to pack (in the case of NAM 37, Network Addon Mod).
• Target Directory
  Tell the application where to save the newly packed file, one or more DAT files containing the contents of what would otherwise be many files. It really doesn't matter what you use here, so long as you can find the file thereafter. Probably best to use the Plugins folder though.

Once you've set those, click Start and it should create the new DAT files. You can then safely move the original unpacked folder and use the new DAT files instead.

It's really important for Mac users to DATPack if playing with mods. Once you go beyond a particular number of files/folders in Plugins, it causes problems including CTDs playing the game. It's why we recommend all Mac users to do this for the NAM.