I am trying to play "Pax Imperia" and I've downloaded the floppy disk and the CD version but the computer thinks both .dsk files are simple text files for some reason so when I drag them to "stuffit expander" nothing happens.
On a PC I could just right click and change what I use to open a file. What do I do on a mac emulated under BasiliskII?
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2020, May 20 - 8:47pm
#1
Changing file "kind"
Comments
2020, May 21 - 3:28am
#2
Drag the .dsk file over onto a Disk Copy 6 icon. When the DC icon darkens, let the mouse go.
2020, May 21 - 3:30am
#3
Don't drag and drop or double click. Open the application and then use the Open command under File in the drop down menu.
If you know the file type code you can use ResEdit to change it.
2020, May 23 - 3:10am
#4
My favorite way to quickly edit a file type (when its known) is to select the item inside of Greg's Browser. I always install the newer version.
Here's where the magic happens: below an item's name, this file-manager app displays its Creator and File Type. What's not obvious is that when you click on them, they can be edited on the fly. It's a cool swiss-army knife kind of feature, along with another gem: its magic menu; it allows you, among other related things, to stuff and expand items as long as you have the stuffit engine installed, which you can install with either dropstuff or stuffit deluxe. And the about window when the program opens can be turned off in the settings.
2020, May 23 - 3:24am
#5
My "go to" for changing File Creator[s]/Type[s] is Creator Changer 2.8.4
I've used this app consistantly for this single-minded task since the late 1990's.
2020, May 26 - 10:16pm
#6
Being a NeXT user in the early 90s, Greg's Browser has been a staple of my toolkit since the first test version came out 
It has a whole bunch of hidden features that do quickly and simply what I previously had to use a whole bunch of different applications for.
2020, May 27 - 12:50am
#7
I agree, it really does! 
I like to skin my 68k Mac to an macOS-look, so it's paneled windows really help give it a more modern look.
Looking back, I'm sure Apple took ideas straight from that utility during Jobs' active time when OS X was being developed. Oh, wait! Come to think of it, the top buttons also provide a sort of windowed 'dock', which could also have helped bring about the OS X dock!
2020, May 22 - 9:55pm
#10
I have been trying to figure out ResEdit and I think I got it. Just open the file in question (Pax Imperia .dsk files) and create a resource correct? Only I don't know what resource to create for it? One file is 3 floppy disks, the other is a CD and I want to install the game through one or the other. BasiliskII thinks all files are simple text for some reason.
Also I see the app "Disk Copy 6" but there are 9 links. Which one do I need? Since I'm using BasiliskII should I get the 4th?
2020, May 22 - 10:16pm
#11
Grab the 4th DL, "Disk-Copy-633-smi.bin", StuffIt Expander will extract this OK and the "smi" part in the file name means that it will auto mount after double-clicking the smi (self mounting image).
I had assumed that you may already have this installed as it can be included in with an OS install.
Don't worry about using ResEdit just yet. Dragging the .dsk file onto Disk Copy's icon should mount the disk image OK. You can also start Disk Copy up and drag the disk image into DC's window. That should also work.
2020, May 23 - 12:02am
#12
Do not create or edit resources. Unless you know what you're doing, you can easily corrupt an app that way - plus disk images do not usually have a Resource Fork / resources anyway, just a Data Fork.
To change the file type in ResEdit you only need to use the "Get File/Folder Info" command in ResEdit's File menu, not the "Open" command - ResEdit tends to show an Open File window on startup, so you have to Cancel that to be able to use the File menu. FileBuddy is a better, less dangerous app for file type changes.
But as MikeTomTom said, .dsk files don't need StuffIt Deluxe (which is an archiving app, like Zip). They are disk images, so need a disk image app like Disk Copy.
2020, May 22 - 11:41pm
#13
Oh my goodness that worked so beautifully, thank you. I had trouble with the floppy disks because they opened into 3 different folders and I didn't know how to run all three but the CD version downloaded easily.
By the way, I also need a "Stuffit Deluxe" but there are so many I don't know which one to pick. I imagine the newest one that isn't for Power Macintosh since I am still on BasiliskII. So download one of number's 3-7 on this page https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/stuffit-deluxe.
Also I saw this page https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/virtual-dvd-romcd-utility. Is this something I need also?
2020, May 23 - 12:10am
#14
Glad it worked OK for you. Yes, the CD version was a lot easier to use, I thought too. The floppy set is less intuitive, but if you strike similar ones in the future, in this case the three floppy images needed to be all mounted on the desktop, and you double click the archive in the first mounted floppy. It would then present you with a choice of where to install it's contents to and would be able to extract it all from the three mounted disks without further interaction on your part.
No matter, the CD was the way to go 
You can install StuffIt Deluxe if you want to, but it's kind of overkill for anyone who just wants to extract archives on Basilisk II. I recommend just installing StuffIt Expander 5.5 and it's accompanying DropStuff 5.5 (which will allow you to create StuffIt archives if you wish to). Download the top #1 "stuffitexpander_5_5.zip" file and extract it on your host pc/mac then add the extracted iso (Toast) image to the list of mountable disks in the Basilisk II GUI. When you next start up Basilisk, this StuffIt disk image will be mounted on the desktop and you can run the installers directly from that.
Also, the Virtual CD/DVD Utility is certainly a useful addition to any classic Mac OS, so yes I do recommend having it around. You may or may not need to use it frequently but you never know when it may come in handy.