Mac Issue - Cannot access Options Menu

[Sifaradia]

Hi -

I have a mac issue I was hoping to get some help on.  First, I'm running the latest update/install as per the instructions found on www.codez4mac on my:

MacBook Pro
Mac OS X 10.5.8
2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1067 MHz DDR3 Memory
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 9400M

The issue is I cannot access any options menu at all - you know, where you get to set the level of graphics, sound, music, etc.  I click on the button throughout the game and I get nothing.  Is this a common Mac thing?  I would LOVE to be able to turn off the music.

I haven't even BEGUN TO ACTUALLY PLAY either.  A couple of years ago I took a Sims hiatus because I discovered this site only after having started my neighborhood in Sims 2 and after installing all the CC, mods, sims, etc. I was interested in, I borked my neighborhood to the extent that to continue I would have had to reinstall EVERYTHING.  It all became too much of a PITA so I quit for a while.  Now I've decided to give Sims 3 a try but am trying to sort out most (if not all) of my CC, mods, sims, etc. BEFORE starting to play.  

I know I will probably have some other Mac issues, but there doesn't seem to be a Mac thread here other than the how to framework one which as far as I see, I've done correctly.  The only questions I have re that is whether I can organize my CC in the "Packages" folder into subfolders, i.e. "hair", "furniture", "clothes" or will this screw up the game's ability to "see" the content?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[nanacake]

This post here explains how to modify resource.cfg (use Text edit to open it) to read your subfolders in /mods/
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,16851.msg490910.html#msg490910

Try modifying title of the thread to "Can not access options menu - (Mac User)" so more people will view this.

[Sigmund]

Hmm. This is definitely a strange issue. I play TS3 on my macbook and have always been able to access the options just fine. Do you still have this problem without any CC?

[LVRugger]

To answer your first question, I play on a Mac and have never had this issue. Other ones, yes, but I have never had a problem with the Options menu.

As to subfolders, I used Motoki's script to install my framework. I have subfolders for hair, clothes, build mode, buy mode and others. Several of those folders are sub-foldered themselves for clarity. All work fine.

[Sifaradia]

I have the problem without any CC or mods.  That's the first thing I checked before posting.  The only thing I can think of is that it's, er...um...not exactly a store-bought copy I'm playing with?  Which is why I linked the codez4mac forum from whence I got my "borrowed" version.  I thought perhaps someone else here could be using a pirated "borrowed", version or have done so in the past (or have heard of this being a problem with pirated versions) and could tell me this is the reason.

Thanks, LVRugger for the advice re the framework.  Do any of you know if there is a mods compatibility checker for macs?  I've seen there is one for PCs.  I understand the Highlander concept as it applies to core mods but some of the mods I'm interested in, I can't tell if they're core or not, or they would conflict with others.

[LVRugger]

Your source is probably the problem. Find another source and rearr.

I don't know of any compatibility-checker for the Mac. There are not a ton of core mods out there - Awesome and Gabriel are the ones I see the most. I just install and see if it works. Haven't had any issues yet.

[Sifaradia]

Ok - So I managed to screw up my neighborhood BEFORE I even started playing the damn game.  After placing all my lots, I saw two things: no lot button would show up empty when trying to move in sims, when going to select a family mode, no buttons would show up at all, and most empty lots - lots with no residential buildings placed yet - had residents - random sims just living there, with household incomes and all.  All I did was install CC, including lots and some sims from MTS and mods, mostly from here.

So... I dumped everything including game files, reinstalled from the same iso just to see, made absolutely sure (this time) little snitch was running whilst playing, ran the game for the first time without any mods or cc of any kind, created the framework using Marhis' script (not manually like last time) and it all seems to be working brilliantly.

Have no idea what all that was about - if anyone knows of any known scenarios that could have done this that would be great to know so I can avoid in the future.  

[nanacake]

if anyone knows of any known scenarios that could have done this that would be great to know so I can avoid in the future. 

All I did was install CC, including lots and some sims from MTS

This. Glad you got it to work. I'm not sure what you should do about installing .sims3pack though on mac. If possible maybe run them with 3viewer on windows and send the files to the mac with a flash drive or something.The launcher is really to be avoided, especially if you Arr'd the game. I know little snitch can block internet but the launcher also does not distinguish crap downloads at all, plus makes a huge bloat in unnecessary files. You should research/ learn about folder structures on Mac if you're going to continue using tons of CC so you can do things manually.

[Sifaradia]

Actually, I spoke too soon.  The weird game glitches that happened before are still gone - I have access to the options menu (turned off music THANK GOD), can choose families, etc., but now I'm creating my sims and some, not all which is the confusing part, of my CAS CC that I installed manually (not sims3packs) is not showing up.  Oddly enough, all the sims3packs CC obviously installed through the launcher shows up fine.  I did use 3viewer which works on macs to look at the files but I couldn't figure out how to remove the package file from the sims3packs, if you know what I mean.  Maybe it doesn't do this?

I did research about the framework and how to do it manually - this is how I did it the first time and all the CC did show up before, and the script I used this time created the framework exactly how I thought it would so it's just plain weird that some things show in game and some do not given that they're all in the correct folder and they did show up before.