Except for a very, very few PC executable files not meant to be run on a Mac, I can download and use ALL of the files that are marked "PC Only" in the Free Stuff and Marketplace sections of Renderosity...even though I'm just a lowly Mac user. Please, you PC people, I love your contributions but please, please get a clue! Mac people CAN and DO use the files you contribute to these sections all of the time. HERE'S WHAT TO DO... 1) Mark your contributions appropriately as "Mac/PC" 2) In the Read Me file, tell the Mac people to use the free utilities (like Aladdin's "Stuffit Expander" and Martin Christgau's "Poser Maconverter" to decompress the files and convert them to Macintosh format. 3) In the Read Me file, list the full directory path for where the files are supposed to go inside the Runtime folder (it's exactly the same on a Mac as on a PC except that Mac people don't need the .rsr files). 4) In the Read Me file, tell the Mac users that you're PC-based and can't support the Mac platform. It's okay...we'll understand. 5) If you need a Mac person to beta test your contributions, just ask. I for one am always willing to beta test the latest hot products. Why segregate the graphics-oriented people who happen to use Macintosh computers? Jeez! Can't we all just get along? :-)

Sorry bub...if ya don't own a MAC, ya don't know what it takes to convert the files. Don't take it so personal. We just don't want a bunch o' people knockin on our inboxes askin' how to convert the files to MAC, when we don't know how. (Not really meant to sound angry, just felt like typin' that way hehe) :) ~EA

Nothin' taken personal. If you don't know because you don't own a Mac then just follow my advice in the first message. Revise your Read Me files as I stated, then you'll be able to offer your free contributions and products ($$$4U) to both the PC AND Mac communities. If you don't want Mac people bugging you, then say so in your Read Me. That's all. We'll understand. A win-win situation. Mac people use your products and you get their money. :-)

I usually mark my own stuff as PC/Mac if I know that all the files can be used on a MAC. In the readme, I know you can unzip the critter to the Poser Directory and it'll all drop off where it is supposed to go. However, if I'm not sure, then I'll mark it PC Only until a MAC user can tell me differently. 'sides, neither MAC or Windows folks have a thing on us *ix guys for specialization requirements. (Had Poser running on Linux w/ WINE for awhile... it's full directory path was /usr/local/WINE/c/Poser4/ - and it still unzipped freebies properly. read PNG's like a mofo; just couldn't get it to read .rsr files for some odd reason. It ran about as stable as the San Andreas Fault on a bad day, though. :) /P

oops - damn HTML bit me. /P

Pengie: How stable is Poser under WINE? Is it really buggie, or can you run with little problems? I ram 3DSMax through WINE for a while, but it was too buggie for me. You aren't totally alone, at least not with Linix. You start talkin Solaris and full-blown Unix, and I'm history. :)

I got it to install, and I got approximately one render out of it. afterwards, it began to simply die and take WINE with it, leaving orphaned and zombied processes strewn all about the place. In the meanwhile, most buttons and options would evaporate from the desktop until your mouse passed over 'em (you had to remember where everything was if you wanted to get at it... no custom stuff in that setup :/ )

There is good news on two fronts, though. www.codeweavers.org (or was it .com? it's one of 'em) has come up with some damned good wine-clones that can run all of MS Office in Linux.

The second bit o' good news is Lindows - it looks like Windows, smells like Windows, tastes like Windows, but it doesn't crash and suck resources and cavort with virii like Windows. It'll even run most Windows programs... I'm waiting for its release at the end of the year - it's at www.lindows.com

/P

Cool, I'll have to check that out.

In all the time that I've been here, I've only seen a few people creating (needlessly, I might add) .exe files for their Poser pieces. The 57 Chevy is an excellent example -- there's no reason why it couldn't have been make into a zip file, which a Mac can interpret with Stuffit. No biggie, since I was able to open it on a PC and then transfer it... but is the .exe really necessary?

I use to do .exe files, because I had a really nice looking set up designed for it. Hay, I'm an artist, and as such I tend to make everything in one form of art or another. I no longer do this because of requests from Mac users to purchace my stuff. But I feel there is a loss to the whole package as a result. As a sort of payback, you should see the Textures...in an editor,lol. I wonder how many people who own my products have even seen whats on some of the textures...lol (Oops...I wasn't supposed to mention that last part...forget I said anything...)

...require thats so different from a PC? I only ask because Ive downloaded MAC stuff in the past for Poser and it works okay on a PC

dkal, Unfortunately your suggestions just adds to preparing and documenting of an item, which is what I found to be the most tedious part of offering free stuff. I thought that marking a file "PC Only" would make it clear enough that I don't have a Mac, that I don't know if Mac users will have any problems with the stuff, and as far support goes a Mac user is on their own. Much easier to do than your recommendations. Chris Cox p.s. I though that "Can't we all just get along?" sounded incredible insincere after just having been told to get a clue.

I'm PC, not Mac, but I like .exe just as little - every time I get free stuff in an .exe I am forced to start up my virus checker and go thru the file first, and even then I don't like it, since the file can do anything it likes with my system once I run it and all I can do is watch. I put up with .exe from DAZ (have no choice) but otherwise, I DON'T LIKE THEM! Avoid them at all costs, it's unnecessary to use them. Zip is way better. Then I control what happens on my PC. It's like Flash-only sites - cute but irritating.

I personally would never use a freebee that was in an exe file. Better safe than sorry. btw, Im aware of mac's ability to open zips and being able to convert them..but I still mark mine as windows only so that I dont have to answer mac questions. I dont know how to use mac convert so not really interested in telling people how. I do however now include a section in the readme about it so that people who dont know about it, at least have a name of a program to look at. The only time I use exe is on my cds because it just looks so cool to have things install with that professional look. I just finished writing a program that does both tho..its an exe that can run automatically(has to have vb extensions installed tho...), but it automatically reads multiple zip files and extracts them. The purpose being that a windows user has the cool interface, but doesnt leave the mac people out because the zip files are there to be easily read by them.

Been wanting to say this for ever so long and have been biting my tongue but the darn thing is getting toooooo sore. If folks don't like the way I package my FREE stuff... TOUGH .... Its FREE, for crying out loud and I won't be dictated to how to offer my FREE stuff. And if this message means no one wants my FREE stuff anymore... so be it as I already have all my FREE stuff anyway... Helen who is having a 'Hissy Fit' Now can we speak items for SALE... How would you like it wrapped and what colour bow would you like..? Yes when it comes to actually selling stuff I will bend over backwards while reciteing a sonnet from Shakespeare. Helen who thinks customers have every right to expect to get most of what they ask for. Footnote... can you tell I have had way to much chocolate. :) I am not really upset.. Just want to point out the people who give stuff away for free should and I feel do have the right to do so without being told HOW.

I know absolutely NOTHING about Mac. I've only used a PC. I wouldn't even know how to make something for both PC and Mac. I've always been mystified why there has to be more than one platform in the first place. I think all computers should be compatible, but since that's never going to happen, I guess there will always be this problem. I apologize if all the freebies on my website are in PC only. It's not intended as an affront to Mac users. I simply know nothing about Mac or how to make my things work on a Mac. Melanie

To those answering along the lines of I dont know how to use mac convert so not really interested in telling people how Perhaps you might ask so you could learn and then be able to tell them? It's really not that difficult, and I see no reason in pissing off part of your audience for no reason other than laziness.

Thanks dkal for the advice and the info. I, for one, and glad to know such things.

I would be more than happy to release in both formats natively but I do not have access to a MAC to test or convert. I did however just release the 57'Chevy in a .sit but I don't know what conversions it will take for a MAC user to get it working. Brycetech, I understand your fear of .Exe files but any of my Freestuff will be in a self installing zip executable (If you don't want to run it just right click and say open in WinZip). Everytime I have released anything in the past in .zip format I have recieved hundreds of emails asking why it didn't work. It has always been because they didn't get the files in their proper locations that they needed to be to work. With well over 1000 downloads of the 57' Chevy on just the first day I have not recieved a single "it doesn't work" or "where does such&such file go?"

Helen - you've had wayyyyy too much chocolate, I can hear that. As a devout chocaholic myself, I know the problem.... But I don't really see why you get so mad? I'm not being unthankful for free stuff, on the contrary - it's what keeps me inspired by these wonderful forums. I've got thousands of freebies on my hard disks. I am very thankful for all the freebies, believe me. But it occurred to me that maybe people just don't think about this kind of stuff, y'know, the virus risk and such. The risks are tangible - after all, this PC is my livelihood, if it crashed because someone had unwittingly sent me a packaged virus, I'd lose a lot, not least faith in freebies. Yeah, backup, sure, but if it wasn't done in the last few days it's a loooong way back. So the easy way to avoid trouble is, don't double click on an unknown .exe. Simple. Dudley - thanks for the head-up - I never thought of that, right-clicking on the file to open it in Winzip. Missed that one completely! Jeez, and I've been using Winzip since way back when. You saved me a lot of hassles. :] FishNose

I understand your fear of .Exe files but any of my Freestuff will be in a self installing zip executable And if it had been just a simple zip, not an .exe zip, then the Mac people would have no problem with it. I mean, c'mon, folks, the folder structure of Poser isn't that difficult (and, I hasten to add, if you find it so, now is a good time to figure it out because it won't get any easier in the future): a geometry file goes in a geometry folder. A .pp2 goes in a prop folder. A texture goes in a texture folder. That's gonna be the same whether it's Mac or PC. The sole difference is that Maconverter recodes the files and combines them with the .rsr files, but they still go in the same place in the library. I have close to 5000 Poser files of various sorts right now. Only a few were Mac-based. And only a scant few of the PC ones gave me grief.

I love the idea of the exe that can open seperate zip files. This is the best of both worlds. Keeps eveyone happy:-) Also why limit yourself to just one operating system, its always good to learn a little about the other guys side of things. Just because Windows PCs are on top at this time is no guarantee that they will be in a few years. If there is one thing i have learned after 35 plus years around computational devices is that things can change radically in a very short time. RonGC

Actually several MAC people informed me that the self installing zip I created can easily be opened with Stuffit Expander. However, I have posted a .sit version for MAC users as well and PC users can use that one with the Windows version of Stuffit Expander if they so desire. When thousands of people download your stuff it is a given that a certain percentage will be newbie's and may not know where to put everything.

Actually several MAC people informed me that the self installing zip I created can easily be opened with Stuffit Expander I would dearly love to know who these people were. This was an .exe, and Stuffit (at least the version I have, which is about as close to current as you can get) ignores it altogether. And yes, the newbies may not know where to put everything; that's the purpose of a read-me.

I know, I found it strange too, but the '57 Chevy executable DID indeed unstuff even if it was labelled as being an .exe file. Duddly says it's a "zip executable" which sounds very much like a Stuffit "self extracting archive" on the Mac. So I guess Stuffit Expander can recognize and decompress them. News to me! And, Duddly . . . T H A N K S F O R T H E C H E V Y ! The red one is my childhood dream car! Love it. Love it. Love it. :-)

Wow. That would indeed be a first for me as well. If that's the case, then go for it. I found it just as simple to open it on my PC, let it create a Runtime, zip that up, then transfer it to the Mac for proper installation.

I'm a Mac user for the most part, but occasionally use a PC. Since virtually all the hundreds of Free Stuff items I've downloaded work well on my Mac, whether labeled Mac/PC or PC Only, as other Mac users have noted, this whole thing is a minor issue. The only folks that might be confused by the "PC Only" tag are Poser newbies using Macs. For the sake of those newbies, perhaps near the head of the Free Stuff section it might be helpful to add a brief note stating that most zipped files labeled "PC Only" work fine with Macs when expanded with Stuffit and then converted with MacConverter. Links can be placed there to sites that provide these free utilities. PC users who create Free Stuff shouldn't have to worry about compatibility issues. They've already donated their time and talent to making the contributions.

iw as able to open dudley's chevy with stuffit 6.0. I don't know why I dragged it onto stuffit but when I did it opened the file no problems then I converted the files as usual. I will say this though... If I had been paying attention I would have ignored the file knowing it was an .exe file. And thanks to dudley the chevy model is a great addition to the poser props.

BTW: Yes it does expand with stuff it, tried it to see. And another thing, I have D/L'd things that are PC Only that I HAD to use stuff it to open it or I couldn't...go figure

Stuffit is probably the most versatile archiver there is. There is very little that it cant open. makes me wonder why everyone isnt using it. Didnt know about its ability to open the exe files :-) a nice bonus..

The 57' chevy file is just a self extracting zip, not a program install exe. I mainly use the self extractor because of the pop up window that puts in the default directory for Poser4 making it easier to install. If PC users are freaked to let it execute they can just right click on it and say open with Winzip and on PC & MAC it can be opened in Stuffit Expander.