Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Mac Daniel's Advice

Mods Bring New Life to Old Games

Korin Hasegawa-John - 2002.07.12

If you're a gamer but don't love spending money (like me), mods are a great way to get new life out of an old game. Mods, short for modifications, are usually free software that customizes the game in some way or another. Most modern games support mods. Mods are also known as plug-ins or skins, but skins are a little different.

The largest collection of mods are available for Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena - not surprising, since these are two of the most popular games ever for the Mac. Many plug-ins are also available for the perennial favorite Escape Velocity and its sequels.

Mods can be divided into several categories:

  1. Cheaters. These are the least fun, in my opinion. They can be fun for about two seconds, until you realize how pointless they are. Cheaters basically allow a player superhuman capabilities. Many games have cheat codes built in, which I'm not going to reveal, since they're more fun if you discover them yourself.
  2. Complete Makeovers. These involve totally redesigning the game, changing physics, modifying weapons, adding weapons, designing new skins, and adding maps, among other things. This sort of mod is the most fun, because it essentially introduces a whole new game.
  3. Added Features. Keeps game play roughly the same, but adds minor details. Useful if you're angry about not being able to carry two miniguns in Unreal, for instance.
  4. Skins. This modifies the way characters and players look, giving you more choices for your player model.

On most new games, installing mods is relatively easy. Before installing a mod, make sure your copy of whatever game is updated to the most recent version. Check the game's website for updates.

Unreal Tournament

You need the nifty little UMOD Installer, available at <http://www.westlakeinteractive.com/download0013.html> and free. Once you have UMOD installer, drag any mod that ends in *.umod onto the installer and it'll be installed. For mods not ending in *.umod, follow instructions that come with the mod.

Quake III

First of all, set your preferences in Stuffit Expander to never convert text files to Macintosh format. Conversion to Macintosh format can corrupt text files. Then follow the instructions of whatever mod you have downloaded.

Marathon Trilogy

Follow instructions meticulously. Things can range from easy as double-clicking to firing up ResEdit and changing filetypes from shp2 to shpÉ. Be warned.

EV and sequels

Make sure your plug-in is compatible with the version you're using. Plug-ins will usually only work with one version of EV, but sometimes they are rewritten to work on subsequent versions.

After you download, just drag the plug-in to the Plug-Ins folder in the main EV folder. Make sure you have the EV Tuner plug-in already in the Plug-Ins folder. Multiple plug-ins can create conflicts, so be warned. Only use one plug-in at a time, unless the other plug-ins are specifically designed to work with the first.

Don't know what mods to pick? Next time we'll look at sources for mods and some of my favorites.

Not sure if you should upgrade your old Mac or replace it? Check the Mac Daniel index to see if we've already addressed your problem.

Recent Mac Daniel columns

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.