Calling all mac users out there, with the help of Borg and others, I am working on a mac version of Borg's Virtual Seed Tray utility for Plant Tycoon. If you'd like to help, maybe beta test or even code, the more the merrier (to an extent) I'm doing the whole program in Xcode 3.1, using Cocoa objective-C.

I would like to help... perhaps as a beta tester.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I've been wishing for a Mac version of that wonderful addition to PT. Unfortunately, don't know too much about coding, but have done some beta testing and would be more than happy to help with that. Feel free to let me know what I can do.

Because I'm having to basically start from scratch, my first Virtual Seed Tray won't have all the cool things that Borg's windows version currently has. One thing I discovered today is that I have the ability to localize my program (that means I can make all the words into multiple languages) I know there is at least 1 person here where English isn't the first language, but I was wondering if I should incorporate other languages into my program?

I think that it's a good idea because of those others who aren't registered.

I'll beta test.

Ok, here is a VERY alpha version. Again, I'm having to do this from scratch so bare (or is that bear? ugh English is such a horrid language) with me. Really what I have so far does almost nothing. Here's what it does do:
- checks if plant tycoon is running, if it is running, disable anything that would make problems (pops up alert whenever you hit a button)
- loads save game information and populates list to choose from
- under "Tools" you can now view both Flowers and Foliage pictures just like in Borg's windows version (working on Print function)

That's really all this version does, I'm finished with the "About" option under the Virtual Seed Tray menu, and the Help is there but completely empty.
oh, and here's the website heh

http://homepage.mac.com/ninjapenguin/vst.zip

Nice of you to consider other languages, but it seems if someone is comfortable enough with English to play the game, they'd be ok with the VST in English too.

I downloaded your VST, copied all my backup files, etc., but unfortunately, the program won't open. I'm thinking you're probably using osx 10.4 or higher, in which case, for now, I won't be of any help unfortunately. I'm running 10.3.9. I've been considering upgrading, but am afraid it would mess up more than it would fix on my 'puter.

Hello,
I was so excited to see that there is a VST for Mac, but to be honest with you, I actually have no idea at all what it does or how it works. Does it allow me to keep all seeds as if I had an additional tray in the game? And how do I use it? All it shows me is numbers and letters and nothing seems to work and people here are talking about backup-files and i am confused!!!

Forgive me if I'm dumb, but I seem to be missing something. Any help would be highly appreciated! Thx in advance!
(btw: I'm using Mac OSX 10.5.5)

Hello Dotti! Welcome!

You may look in Forums List » The Guides » Plant Tycoon Guide » SPOILERS Updated Virtual Seed Tray by Borg, there is a tutorial. It's for PC but I think it works the same!!

Thank you for your quick reply Laurence, but I'm sorry, it doesn't help me at all. When I run VST, I do not see any seed names. All I see is VST #1, etc. on the left side, PT #1 etc. on the right sight. And there are not all buttons available that can be seen in the WinApplication.
:-(

I haven't kept up with the progress of this utility for Mac, but (according to Ninja Penguin's last post), "Really what I have so far does almost nothing." Since the author lives in Africa and has lost his Internet connection for now, he may not respond quickly.

Anyway, thx for your attempts to help me so far. I'm gonna keep on trying. Maybe I'll find out more...
And actually, all this googling and reading about Macs will probably make me more familiar with my Macbook. I'm virtually a virgin as to what concerns it. I just got it recently!

I'm back (fingers crossed) I'm really sorry; I shouldn't have posted that link as it really doesn't do anything. Sort of something you'd put up on your refrigerator to look at.
status for mac VST:
- stopped work on having multi-language support (for time being)
- discovered I was linking to i386 10.5.5 ONLY (bad Ninja bad!)
- might have a WORKING program by January.

again, hope my internet lasts.

How is the MAC version coming? Thought I would check to see if it was out there..

Thanks!!

Hello, I have played Plant Tycoon on my old Windows PC and have accomplished significant progress (349 out of 500-something species). However, I used it with Virtual Seed Tray for Windows, and the data is stored in a .vst file with my PT data. Is there any way to copy my data over to my new Mac and continue using my VST data with the Virtual Seed Tray for Mac? I would love to complete my game, but don't know if I can. Running Windows is not an option. Thank you in advance!

I will definitely beta test BTW.

The primary difficulty here is that, like all of the game mods and utilities, VST is fan-created and not supported by LDW. The original creator of the VST (Borg) relied on the .NET framework, due to the programming environment that he uses. He's using his own computer and the tools that he has available (if you do a little reading in some of his posts, you can get more of the background). He has no Mac and no ability to modify VST to be more easily ported to Mac.

Others, including NP, have looked at creating a Mac version, but have run into obstacles and/or circumstances that caused them to abandon the work. I highly doubt that anyone in our current community here will take up and finish the project.

You could probably use VST (the parts that don't interact with the game) in an emulator, as long as you are using an Intel Mac (since Windows computers and Intel Macs are the same Endian and can both read and write the savegame files correctly). Files created on a Windows computer are not compatible with Power PC Macs. If you opt for this approach, you do have the issue of making sure that you're being careful with how you handle the savegame files to prevent total data loss, however.

Another solution is to use either Boot Camp (a free, built-in dual-boot solution for Intel Macs) or a virtualization product (such as Fusion or Parallels) to run the Windows version of Plant Tycoon along with VST in a 'native' Windows environment. I do all of my development work, as well as most of my testing, on a MacBook Pro running VMware Fusion. It's a very elegant way to run Windows and Mac OS X "side by side" (in a manner of speaking). It's a magnificent way to "have it all!" and doesn't require advanced juggling skills in this situation.

Thank you. My question is, if I use Crossover or Darwine (emulators), where do I have to put the files in order for VST to see them? Do I have to run both PT and VST in the emulator, or just VST? The virtualization will not work as I have no interest in purchasing Windows. (I have an Intel Mac, so the files should work.) Do you know of any sites the need for a Mac VST could be sent to (eg people who port Windows apps to Mac)? There has to be some way to get it to work.

I was just offering some suggestions. We just don't get involved in fan-written utilities, since we have no knowledge of how they were developed. You might try looking around for Mac development groups to see if you could find some interest in helping you with this.

I also can't be much help with the emulators, either, since I don't use them and don't know the extent of their file access on the Mac. The VST reads and writes to the Plant Tycoon savegame files, as well as its own .vst files, so you would need to manage file access for both the VST and Plant Tycoon if you want to make it work.

i have taken up the gauntlet and am continuing work on a VST for mac, but in the mean time you might want to check out Mono which will let you run the Windows version of VST on your mac (worked for mine just fine)

Ok; after some greatly needed achievements (mostly just me having more free time) I think I might have a working version of VST ready for testing by sunday. Before I continue, I'd just like to say that whoever tries my program; PLEASE make backups of your save games before! For Macs, you can find them:
/Users/WHATYOURNAMEIS/Library/Preferences/LDW/Plant Tycoon/FILES
if you need more information; just PM me.

Hurray! Thanks for your great work NP! I am really looking forward to trying this out!

Ninja, can you tell me how to use Mono to run the windows version of VST on my mac? I have an Intel iMac running OS 10.5.x. Thanks for any advice you can give.

*sigh* due to silly things that have taken over all of my free time (I have a new understanding and respect for all teachers) I honestly don't see myself finishing the VST for the Mac platform. Before I leave everyone in the dry, I'll be posting a zip file with everything I've done up to now (including all the source code and scanned notes I've made) if anyone cares to attempt this project. I hate admitting defeat but I just can't seem to find the time to work on this anymore

Ok, here's a zip file (5.1 MB) containing all I've done on the virtual seed tray for mac application.

VST project source