Interview with SMR for Mac OSX developers

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The developers from Feral Interactive were kind enough to answer some of my questions. Both gamers and map makers should enjoy their responses!

In SMR for Mac can tunnel & bridge prices be configured on a per
map basis?
Overall, the Mac functionality in-game is the same as for the PC version of the game, so
you can’t customise any aspect of the Mac game that you couldn’t in the PC version. This
means you can’t configure tunnel and bridge prices on a per-map basis.

What made you decide to port SMR?
We’re big strategy fans here at Feral, and in recent years we’ve released business
simulation games such as Tropico 3 and The Movies as well as RTS and turn-based
strategy games like Empire: Total War and Rome: Total War. We ported Sid Meier’s
Pirates! to the Mac in 2008, and it did well, so Sid Meier’s Railroads! was a logical choice.
On a more personal level, there’s something really timeless about the game, it really
captures the joy of playing with train sets. On top of that it has the business simulator
edge, which as you know is highly addictive!

Do you have a favorite map?
I think everyone who worked on it has their favourite maps. Because we’re based in
London we are particularly fond of Great Britain, it’s like a fantasy of what it would be like if
our rail networks ran on time…

Have you tried any custom maps?
We did test a number of custom maps and found a number of bugs in the
PC scenario editor which caused crashes. Although we don’t support the editor officially (it
was also unsupported on the PC), we did fix a number of bugs to help modders
who decide to use the editor.

Did you ever figure out how to make a train go in a circular route?
Some things are a mystery to even us. Maybe Sid Meier knows?

As you know back in 2006 SMR was very crash prone, now in 2012
with SMR for Mac what would you say about stability?
The Mac is based on the final PC patched version, so everything that was fixed in that
version is fixed in the Mac version. In addition, we also fixed a number of logic bugs and
crashes on the Mac version.

No software is ever perfect (apart from perhaps “Hello World” written in BASIC), but Sid
Meier’s Railroads! on the Mac is very stable and fun to play. If users do find a crash, they
should contact our support team and we can add the details to our bug tracking system for
a potential future patch.

Have you added any maps to SMR for Mac?
We didn’t create any new maps, but we did include the “Lapland” map, which as we’re
sure you know, features the delivery of cookies across the frozen wastes of Father
Christmas’ homeland.

What was the most fun aspect of developing SMR for Mac?
Testing the multiplayer! Our QA team all work in the same room, so when they tested
four-player online multiplayer we could hear their shouts of delight… or despair. We also
learned a lot about the history of the railroads, particularly the documentation team, who
spent many happy hours proof-reading the manual. They now win the “transport” round of
every pub quiz.

Are there any easter eggs for us to find?
There aren’t any Easter Eggs, but we did fix some issues that were present in the PC
version, especially when it came to modding and custom scenarios.

Are there any other interesting features in the Mac version?
Definitely!

The first thing is that it supports Apple’s Game Center, which is Apple’s online gaming
platform that was released on Macs this summer as a feature of OS X 10.8 Mountain
Lion (though it had been around on iOS for a bit longer). Because it was released not
long afterwards, Railroads! would have been one of the first games to use Game Center’s
features as an online matching service. Additionally, we added new, Mac-specific features
that we add to all our games, such as automatically-filed screenshots and a custom front-
end panel. In Railroads!, this panel lets you customise your iTunes options and control
whether the Terrain Editor is displayed in game, for example.

Probably the most interesting feature is the music though; due to licensing issues we
were unable to use the original music for the game, which meant we had to record our
own! That means that almost all the music you hear in game was written and recorded
especially for the Mac version. It’s now high-quality stereo recordings instead of the low-bit
rate mono recordings in the original release.

We also created a dedicated area for the Mac version of the game on our support site,
where we list FAQs for the game and will list any future patched. We also created a
minisite that contains a potted history of the Railroad Tycoon series.

Does SMR for Mac alter SMR’s asset loading behaviour?
No, to maintain compatibility between the versions (for modding etc) the engine code is the
same.

Does SMR for Mac support more than 4GB of RAM?
The game is a 32bit title (like almost all games and applications). If an application is 32bit,
it can only address 4GB of RAM for its own exclusive use. However, as the OS is 64bit
(as are the OS libraries) then the 4GB can be used exclusively by the application while the
rest of the OS and the graphics drivers (etc) use their own memory allocation, which is not
part of that 4GB limit.

It is very rare that a game needs more than 4GB of allocated memory, and rewriting the
entire game engine in 64 bit was not feasible due to the limited benefit it would have.

I want to thank Feral Interactive for taking the time to answer my questions and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading their responses.

Arabia

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Map Maker:
Download: Arabia v2

A 15×15 map of the Arabian Peninsula. The time frame is 1930 to 2012 beginning with the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia. This map includes new buildings, goods, and industries including pipe, dates, import goods, pilgrims, palaces, and holy shrines. Cars and locomotives have been re-skinned to look more like those on the Saudi Railway Org. Event notices include photos of some of the most modern buildings in the world, especially in Mecca and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, UAE. Mysterious Arabic music has been added to give the game a local mood. Credits go to many others including Jancsika, Karsten, Lowell, Slider38, and especially Bobby and Rodea for map components and beta testing.

The regional economy is based on oil exports. In the game, oil production is increased by delivery of pipe to oil wells. Oil exports produce gold; gold delivered to a palace yields currency, currency can be delivered to yield pipe and import goods. Late in the game, pilgrims are to be transported from all over the region to Mecca and Medina. The game is intended for experienced players and with AI.

New a copy of SMR for Mac from Feral Interactive

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[p]Feral Interactive is hosting a very punny* contest over at facebook: https://www.facebook.com/feralinteractive[/p]

[p]To win all you have to do is come up with the best railroading pun.[/p]

[p]Even if you are not a Mac I’d suggest checking out the competition. The current entries already had me rolling* (stock) with laughter. [/p]

[p]I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with once this contest rolls into the station*.[/p]

[p]*I’m not very good at puns.[/p]

How to add custom maps to SMR for Mac

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Adding a custom map to SMR for Mac requires finding the UserMaps folder into which you must un-zip the custom map. Sid Meier’s Railroads! must be run at least once so it may create the UserMaps folder.

Feral Interactive’s support FAQ provides instructions for finding the UserMaps folder:

Custom maps, created using the terrain editor, are stored in your Preferences folder. To find them, follow these steps:

  1. After creating and saving your map in Sid Meier’s Railroads!, exit the game.
  2. Relaunch the game by double-clicking on the Sid Meier’s Railroads! Application icon while holding the Command (⌘) key. The Sid Meier’s Railroads! pre-game Options window will appear.
  3. Select the Advanced tab and click on the Open Preferences Folder button. A new finder window will open showing the Sid Meier’s Railroads! folder contents on your computer’s hard drive.
  4. Open the UserMaps folder to view a list of folders, each containing data for one of your saved custom maps.

— from http://support.feralinteractive.com/en/mac-games/railroads/faqs/share_maps/

Once you have the UserMaps folder open you must delete any other downloaded custom maps before installing a new custom map. Maps you have created yourself with the map editor do not need to be deleted, only delete maps you have downloaded from smrsimple.

Next unzip the downloaded map into the UserMaps folder. Now launch SMR and start a new game. At the map selection screen you may have to scroll through all the maps to find your new map.