SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

About unsupported SheepShaver configurations, like COI (Chubby Bunny), SheepShaver Wrapper, etc.

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StephenBEinbinder
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SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by StephenBEinbinder »

The good news is that I got Sheepshaver Wrapper to launch in Big Sur. The bad news is that it doesn't work when I log in as a root user. No matter what I do, I keep getting the error message: Not authorized to send Apple events to System Events. (-1743). The message contains an edit button and an OK button. If I click the edit button I get a Sheepshaver Wrapper script, which I don't have a clue what to do with. In order to play a decades-old Mac game from a CD Rom, I need to launch Sheepshaver as a root user. At least that's the way it was using El Capitan or Sierra. Are there any ideas out there or am I plain out of luck?
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by Cat_7 »

Hi,

The usual way around this is to create a disk image from the CD and add that to the volumes list.

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adespoton
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by adespoton »

The easiest way to do this is to use Disk Utility to create a CDR image. You can also do it with dd from the terminal, or with hdiutil from the terminal.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

Eh, Cat_7 and adespoton, note that "StephenBEinbinder" is using SheepShaver Wrapper, not a regular SheepShaver setup.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by adespoton »

d'oh. The issue appears to be that in the Privacy System Preferences, the application is not authorized to use System Events. This will need to be done to get the wrapper working.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by StephenBEinbinder »

Please pardon my ignorance, but I open System Preferences/Privacy. Then what should I do? Unlock the lock, open Full Disk Access, then check sshd-keygen-wrapper? BTW I thought Sheepshaver Wrapper would be easier to install than the regular Sheepshaver.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by adespoton »

StephenBEinbinder wrote: Wed Jun 02, 2021 8:24 pm Please pardon my ignorance, but I open System Preferences/Privacy. Then what should I do? Unlock the lock, open Full Disk Access, then check sshd-keygen-wrapper? BTW I thought Sheepshaver Wrapper would be easier to install than the regular Sheepshaver.
The Wrapper makes certain things easier, such as networking, printing, installing an OS, and file transfer, as that's already pre-configured for you. But macOS penalizes apps that attempt to automate the host OS.

So what you need to do is go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Automation, click the lock to authenticate, and find the appropriate app (sshd-keygen-wrapper doesn't sound correct here, wouldn't it be SheepShaver Wrapper.app or Mac OS 9.app or similar?) and check the "System Events" checkbox. After that, the app can control system events, which allows the wrapper to do file transfer, printing, etc.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by StephenBEinbinder »

That doesn't work. Neither does my own latest shot in the dark. I still get the same error message. It seems impossible to upload images to this forum, so here's the script I get:

Applescript ^ <No selected element>
-- Self-contained Sheepshaver Wrapper
-- Revised for Sierra and later versions
-- Script by Edward Mendelson http://wpdos.org
-- 6 Feb 2019: 64-bit SheepShaver
-- 8 March 2019 rebuilt script, simplified
-- 17 Aug 2019 added Catalina feature (later removed)

-- never change anything below these lines!
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

property msgTitle : "SheepShaver Wrapper"
property sizeList : {"1949186", "1948761", "1945746"} -- known good ROM file sizes

global sheepApp, sheepPath, macSystem, macPath
global unixPosixPath
global ssRunning, questionIcon
global thisApp
global existingUnix
global cdPosix, doCD, noCDPath, prefsPath
global myPlist

****
End of script. Whew! Now are there any ideas?
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by Cat_7 »

Hi,

If you want images to show up here, you need to upload them somewhere and then link to them in your posts.

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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

You started this thread with this:
The good news is that I got Sheepshaver Wrapper to launch in Big Sur. The bad news is that it doesn't work when I log in as a root user. No matter what I do, I keep getting the error message: Not authorized to send Apple events to System Events. (-1743).
Why do you want to run this app while logged in as root user?
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by Cat_7 »

Eh, because the OP wants to use a real cd rom?

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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by StephenBEinbinder »

Ronald and Cat_7, I want to run Sheepshaver Wrapper as a root user because that's the only way S.W. can read a CD Rom. Like I said in my initial post, at least that's the way it was under El Capitan and Sierra. I have a CD Rom Mac game from 1994.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by adespoton »

StephenBEinbinder wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 8:26 pm Ronald and Cat_7, I want to run Sheepshaver Wrapper as a root user because that's the only way S.W. can read a CD Rom. Like I said in my initial post, at least that's the way it was under El Capitan and Sierra. I have a CD Rom Mac game from 1994.
Didn't we already recommend making an image of the CD ROM? It'll be faster than using the real thing, you can store it on local storage, and you don't have to worry about scratching it or losing it.

Personally, I've imaged all my CDs, and I can just spin them up as needed in SheepShaver or BII without having to dig out the discs.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by emendelson »

I'm the person who wrote the SheepShaver Wrapper, which is written in AppleScript. The internets tell me that you can't run an AppleScript as root.

So, if you insist on trying this, you'll need a standalone SheepShaver setup, not the SheepShaver Wrapper. Anyway, as Adespoton says, you'll be a lot better off using CD images rather than trying to launch physical discs.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by StephenBEinbinder »

Well, I'm halfway there. I got standalone Sheepshaver to work in the root directory, but it now ignores my physical disk. Also, I'm stuck with an empty Untitled directory in root sheepshaver. In my regular personal directory, Disk Utility won't let me create an image. I get this error:

Creating disk image from “Return To Zork” (disk3s1s2)

Operation failed with status 1: Operation not permitted

Operation failed…
***
Probably because that's proprietary software?
However, I did create a disk image from a downloaded version. But that version is somewhat compromised, giving me only sound but no video from mp4s throughout the game.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by adespoton »

StephenBEinbinder wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:31 pm Well, I'm halfway there. I got standalone Sheepshaver to work in the root directory, but it now ignores my physical disk. Also, I'm stuck with an empty Untitled directory in root sheepshaver. In my regular personal directory, Disk Utility won't let me create an image. I get this error:

Creating disk image from “Return To Zork” (disk3s1s2)

Operation failed with status 1: Operation not permitted

Operation failed…
***
Probably because that's proprietary software?
However, I did create a disk image from a downloaded version. But that version is somewhat compromised, giving me only sound but no video from mp4s throughout the game.
As emendelson said, the wrapper he wrote is in AppleScript, which isn't "root" compatible. If you want to use the original CD, you'll have to set up SheepShaver from scratch without the AppleScript wrapper.

However, if you're not getting video on the MP4s, that's likely a SheepShaver issue; SheepShaver doesn't support hardware video acceleration, and can run into problems with complex video in software mode. Running from CD won't fix this. Possibly it'll work in QEMU-PPC; it may be a bit slow and stuttery though.

Not sure about the "operation not permitted" bit; it's likely because "Return To Zork" is an HFS mixed-mode CD, and modern Disk Utility doesn't support HFS partitions. Using Toast or 'dd' to image it instead should result in a working image.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

1. The latest macOS version in which Disk Utility can create a disk image from such older CD-ROMs is macOS 10.14 (Mojave).

A workaround for creating a disk image from only the HFS partition is here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10709
That method is fine for MacOS installation CDs, but it may not result in a useable disk image for the game.

The easiest solution: Get hold of a Mac with Mojave or earlier installed and create the disk image there with Disk Utility. Choose DVD/CD master for the image format. (And create disk images from all your important older CDs.)

2. About how to set up a regular SheepShaver configuration see the manual here: https://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/sh ... os_x_setup
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by StephenBEinbinder »

Okay. Here's an update. I'm so close with making the disk image, which does work from the root directory, sort of. In the root directory, with the disk utility, I made several attempts to make a disk image from my E-bay bought copy of the Mac version of Return to Zork. When I returned to my own personal directory, Sheepshaver only recognized the disk image as an empty audio CD. Then I tried the read/write format. Sheepshaver finally recognized the game in that format. There's one glitch. I can't save and restore the games. Maybe because I used the no encryption option? Maybe I need to experiment further. If the encryptions don't work, there's still the Terminal method you suggested, which I haven't tried yet.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by adespoton »

StephenBEinbinder wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 7:43 pm Okay. Here's an update. I'm so close with making the disk image, which does work from the root directory, sort of. In the root directory, with the disk utility, I made several attempts to make a disk image from my E-bay bought copy of the Mac version of Return to Zork. When I returned to my own personal directory, Sheepshaver only recognized the disk image as an empty audio CD. Then I tried the read/write format. Sheepshaver finally recognized the game in that format. There's one glitch. I can't save and restore the games. Maybe because I used the no encryption option? Maybe I need to experiment further. If the encryptions don't work, there's still the Terminal method you suggested, which I haven't tried yet.
If you're using Disk Utility to image CDs, you need to save as CDR "DVD/CD Master" format.

If you use the Encrpytion option, it compresses and encrypts the image, so it's going to be unreadable by SheepShaver.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by StephenBEinbinder »

No, I tried the CDR DVD/CD Master format and Sheepshaver thought it was a blank audio CD.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

Why struggle to try and create a disk image from the CD when that image file can simply be downloaded from Macintosh Garden?
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by StephenBEinbinder »

Ronald, if you meant from here https://macintoshgarden.org/games/return-zork, that doesn't work. Really. I tried downloading all 3 options, then when I tried to open any of them with the default Mac File Opener, I got this error message: "'Mac File Opener' will damage your computer. You should move it to the Trash." Then when I tried opening those downloads with Stuffit Expander, I got this error message: Expansion failed. Not a valid archive.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

I could expand all three archives with "The Unarchiver". The resulting ReturnToZork.img from the first archive appears indeed broken. The resulting RTZ_MPG_CD.cdr from the second download can be mounted fine in SheepShaver, also the resulting Ret2Zork.toast from the third download can be mounted fine in SheepShaver. The RTZ_MPG_CD.cdr image is a disk image of only the RTZ CD. The Ret2Zork.toast image contains much more than just RTZ.
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by adespoton »

There's a copy or six on archive.org as well :)
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Re: SheepShaver Wrapper on macOS Big Sur

Post by StephenBEinbinder »

Yeah, Ronald, I already have The RTZ_MPG_CD.cdr image and The Ret2Zork.toast one. The RTZ_MPG_CD.cdr image has the .mpg files (not .mp4s as I erroneously stated earlier) which only play sound but not video. The Ret2Zork.toast one uses .mmv files which play both video and sound on Sheepshaver. But I can't save my game in the toast version. It saves zero-byte snapshots.
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