True Combat: Elite - Mac F.A.Q.
Here is a list of common problems/questions associated with True Combat: Elite for the Mac. This guide is designed to hopefully give answers that will help you get your game back on. This FAQ will be continually updated, so please keep checking back.

Updated January 2007

Before we begin...
Please ensure that you already have Wolfenstein Enemy Territory 2.60 installed. Many people have made the mistake that TC:E is a stand alone game - it is not, it is a modification for Enemy Territory and therefore requires core components of the host application in order to play.


What are the system requirements for True Combat Elite Mac?
Team Terminator recommends the following:

Minimum

• 800Mhz PowerPC G4
• 512Mb System Ram
• 64Mb VRAM
• 750Mb HD space (450Mb if W:ET is already installed)
• Mac OS X 10.3x

Recommended

• 1.5Ghz PowerPC G4/G5 (Intel not supported)
• 1Gb System Ram
• 128Mb VRAM
• 750Mb HD space (450Mb if W:ET is already installed)
• Mac OS X 10.4x

Let us introduce you to the config file
In some cases you might be required to edit your 'config' file. This file contains a plethora of information such as user, graphics and network settings, yet it offers the ability for some serious tweaking, more so than the in-game user interface allows. Editing the config can be done by opening the file in TextEdit.app. The path to your config file is:

~/Library/Application Support/Wolfenstein ET/tcetest/Profiles/YourName/ and look for your etconfig.cfg (~ denotes the user library)


Having problems with the installer?
Here's how the Mac installer works:
If your W:ET folder resides in the default Applications folder, then the installer will automatically place TC:E into the right place, so you should have:

/Applications/Wolfenstein Enemy Territory/tcetest/

There will also be a launcher located in /Applications after installation. If this is not the case, then you have chosen to customize the installation process by possibly selecting a different destination at the last part of the installation process, by default you just select your Hard Drive icon and click on 'go'.

If your W:ET installation is on another drive for example:

/Volumes/Games/Wolfenstein Enemy Territory/

Then you'll need to select the directory/drive that W:ET resides on, DO NOT select the actual W:ET folder, otherwise it will not work.

For those having errors with the installer, download the generic .zip file and extract the 'tcetest' folder to your Wolfenstein ET directory. Within the tcetest folder you should find a file called "qagame_mac.bundle", you need to copy this to the Wolfenstein application. Here's how to do it; locate the Wolfenstein Enemy Territory.app, right/control click on it to 'show package contents', this will open another window, go into the contents/resources folder and drop the "qagame_mac.bundle" that we located earlier into here - you will be asked to replace the version that is already in there, so do it. Now close all the windows and begin playing TC:E. If you do not have a launcher for TC:E, then consider creating one with one of the following methods below.


The title screen isn't showing
You must install from the dmg, not the zip (unless you have followed the above instructions regarding installation from the zip file). If it still happens, remember to delete your ~/Library/Application Support/Wolfenstein ET/tcetest after the first installation.


Hunk allocation memory errors
Consider a more appropriate com_hunkMegs setting for your machine - usually you would turn this up above the default 192 Mb, but if your machine doesn't have enough ram, try turning it down.

This can be done by editing your config and changing the line which says:

seta com_hunkMegs "192"

or by appending +set com_hunkMegs "your number in these quotes" to the command you use to run ET.

Keep in mind that zoneMegs and soundMegs are both taken from the hunk, so if it isn't enough to cover them, things will go horribly wrong.

If for some reason you're still getting memory errors, try increasing the zonemegs allocation. It is advisable to do this through a startup parameter rather than editing a config file because the zone memory is allocated before the etconfig.cfg and command line cvars are parsed.

The current mac launcher is set to:

This should be more than adequate for most users, but for those having the HunkMeg error increasing the ZoneMegs should over come any errors.

Mac users may want to use a new startup parameter. Go to the terminal and enter:
and then save to your desktop as a unix executable, make sure to save with the "execute this command" enabled, and paste the above code into the box making sure "execute in a shell" is checked.

Alternatively use Applescript Script Editor and enter:
and then save it as an Application to your desktop. (You can copy and paste the icon from the official launcher if so desired by using the "get info" command)

If your copy of Wolfenstein is not in the default Applications folder, then you will have to change the file path accordingly for both of these methods.


How can I switch off letterbox configuration?
Aspect ratio and field of view options have been added to version 0.49b which now renders this section obsolete

True Combat: Elite uses a more proportionally correct viewport than previous versions, and not everyone likes that. So far none of the hacks people have suggested produce anything like satisfactory results - (If you want to try and deform that to fill a monitor of a different aspect ratio it will look very wrong).

For Mac users with widescreen monitors try the following - we will use a 20" widescreen with a 1680x1050px resolution as an example:

Whilst in game go to the console ~ and enter:
r_mode -1
r_customheight 1050
r_customwidth 1680
vid_restart
This can also be added to the config, but don't add the vid_restart command


I get invalid pak/pk3 errors! What shall I do?
Please post any info you have on this one, as it seems to cover various problems.

Possible reasons/solutions for these errors:

1. You may be trying to join a server running a different version (ie 0.48 - many of the big servers still are running .48 )

2. Auto-downloading should be disabled.

3. Make sure the map you want to connect to begins with obj_, do not connect to anything beginning with dem_


Multi Processor Support Deprecated
If you have a dual processor/dual core mac, try enabling the symmetric multi processing support within W:ET for a performance boost.

seta r_smp "1"

It appears that Intel mac users see no benefit with this option enabled, possibly its a Rosetta limitation? Some PPC users have reported crashes when enabling SMP support, so be careful. It is advisable NOT to enable SMP as it is deemed far too unstable


Sometimes the game is laggy
If you have a broadband connection make sure that you have the correct rate.

seta rate "25000"


The game runs poorly on my Intel Mac
For now W:ET is a PowerPC (PPC) only application. Therefore TC:E might not run all that well on your brand new Intel Mac, however, your mileage may vary due to different machine configurations. Obviously the game will run, but unfortunately it relies on Apple's Rosetta translation software to convert PPC code to run on the x86 Intel architecture. Doing this degrades performance quite considerably as the game is effectively being run under emulation. Until a Universal Binary of W:ET appears, Intel Mac owners have two options: either put up with degraded performance, or use boot camp to install Windows onto your Mac and download the PC version of TC:E


The TC:E Launcher gives me an "invalid path error"
If you get this then go to ~/Library/Preferences/ and delete the "wolfensteinetpath.ini" and restart the launcher.


Empty CD Key error
Players who are getting "Empty CD Key" messages trying to connect to PunkBuster ET Servers may attempt a manual CDKey registration.

Press the tilde key (the ~ key) to bring down the game console from any game screen and enter the following command (without quotes): "/pb_cdkeyreg".

You should see a message stating that a Registration Request was sent to the GuidAuth Master Server. After a few seconds (perhaps up to 30 seconds) you should see a message stating that the CDKey Registration was successful. After that, there should be no more messages about an Empty CDKey when trying to join a PB Server.


If it all goes wrong...
If you're at the end of your tether and none of the above solutions work, then a complete removal of all W:ET AND TC:E components will be necessary. First delete your Wolfenstein Enemy Territory folder in the Applications folder, then go to ~/Library/Application Support/ and delete the Wolfenstein Enemy Territory folder. Now go to ~/Library/Preferences/ and locate and delete all references to Wolfenstein and True Combat. Next go to /Library/Receipts/ and delete any references to Wolfenstein and True Combat. Now launch Disk Utility.app and repair permissions on your drive. Once you have done this, reinstall Wolfenstein ET 2.60 and Punkbuster, launch the game and then quit it, now install TC:E and hopefully you'll be good to go. Don't forget to turn off automatic dowloading in the game's preferences, otherwise you might accidentally end up connecting to an old 0.48 server and messing up your install with invalid .pak files.

That's all for now, please feel free to post solutions, do not post questions - they will not be answered, use the support forum for that.

Thanks to Bansai for allowing me to borrow parts for the FAQ

A few people i have talked to (including myself) have run into this problem, when I installed the game on a iBook...it made its own Wolfenstien ET folder that housed the tcetest folder. So when I went to start up TC..it opened up WET. So i simple moved it out to the ~/Library/Application/Wolfenstien/ and it worked.

You can add it, delete it...or discuss it if you wish.

Snoop
True Combat 4 Mac