Borderlands for Mac -- Controls? Help?!

[kyleplusitunes]

My special weapon says I need to do use with with Joy L- ... I can not find a keybind for this weapon, and i have no idea how to use it... does anyone have any idea?

[IanAtFeral]

Originally Posted by kyleplusitunes

My special weapon says I need to do use with with Joy L- ... I can not find a keybind for this weapon, and i have no idea how to use it... does anyone have any idea?

Hey Kyle, do you mean the the character-specific action like Lilith's phasewalk and Roland's turret? You get access to that once you reach level 5… once you've got it, you can activate it by pressing one of the left shoulder buttons on your gamepad, or by pressing F on the keyboard.

– Ian

[Barnak]

Hi,

I'm new here, and I'm a Mac user. I'm a n00b Borderlands player and I have some questions about the native Mac version (OS X) :

1. When I start the game, there's a box with very few screen and graphics options. How can I change all the rendering options like shadows, full scene antialiasing, textures rendering quality, FOV, etc ?

2. Is there a configuration text file that can be edited by the user for all the graphical options, as what we have in games like Quake3 ? (my default example, since I'm a Q3 veteran).

3. Is there a console in Borderland, that can be activated inside the game like what we have in Quake3 ?

4. How can I turn ON the frame rate (FPS) in Borderlands (Mac edition) ?

5. Some missions are extremely difficult (for me) and I don't have the time to marvel about the georgous maps, details and graphics. Is there a way to reduce the number of ennemies ? Or is there a way to cheat so I can kill them all at once with a special command, so I can explore the maps without beeing annoyed by all the ennemies ? Making myself invincible (by editing the WillowGame.ini file inside the preferences folder) isn't enough, since there's a huge number of ennemies falling on me on some difficult maps.

[edddeduck]

Originally Posted by Barnak

Hi,

I'm new here, and I'm a Mac user. I'm a n00b Borderlands player and I have some questions about the native Mac version (OS X) :

1. When I start the game, there's a box with very few screen and graphics options. How can I change all the rendering options like shadows, full scene antialiasing, textures rendering quality, FOV, etc ?

Main menu in the game just like the PC.

Originally Posted by Barnak

2. Is there a configuration text file that can be edited by the user for all the graphical options, as what we have in games like Quake3 ? (my default example, since I'm a Q3 veteran).

Inside your save game folder ~/Library/Preferences/Feral Interactive/ you will find a pile of user ini files you can hack away at. However once you start hacking Feral cannot offer support on problems as hacking ini's usually can cause problems

Originally Posted by Barnak

3. Is there a console in Borderland, that can be activated inside the game like what we have in Quake3 ?

No this was disabled by Gearbox on the PC. The Mac version did not have a working console even for Feral testers during development.

Originally Posted by Barnak

4. How can I turn ON the frame rate (FPS) in Borderlands (Mac edition) ?

Poke about the ini settings I am sure you can find the one to edit (Mac and PC ini files are the same).

Originally Posted by Barnak

5. Some missions are extremely difficult (for me) and I don't have the time to marvel about the georgous maps, details and graphics. Is there a way to reduce the number of ennemies ? Or is there a way to cheat so I can kill them all at once with a special command, so I can explore the maps without beeing annoyed by all the ennemies ? Making myself invincible (by editing the WillowGame.ini file inside the preferences folder) isn't enough, since there's a huge number of ennemies falling on me on some difficult maps.

I have placed a save game in the GameData.dmg in your Borderlands folder that has a 100% play through 1 save game means you can start play through 2 from the first mission but you are seriously tooled up. That should help. You might want to rename the player from Edwin (My character is a sniper) No God mode exists in the retail builds.

Edwin

[Barnak]

Thanks a lot for the reply.

I'm not sure I understand your answer to question #5. Could you elaborate a little ?

About the FPS, I don't see any parameters related to that option in any ini file. What should be the command that I have to find ?

[edddeduck]

Originally Posted by Barnak

Thanks a lot for the reply.

I'm not sure I understand your answer to question #5. Could you elaborate a little ?

Sure.

Find a file called BorderlandsData.dmg this is in the Borderlands folder if you bought a standard version from a store or any download version.

This file is found in the "Show Package Contents" /Contents/Resources folder for Mac AppStore versions.

Mount the image by double-clicking on the image. Inside the new volume you will find a folder called data open that folder. Now grab the zip file called "BorderlandsSaves.zip" copy to you desktop and open it. Depending on if you want a Save game with or without DLC select the save game file you want.

Copy the save game replacing the one already created in your save game folder. See point 2 for the location of your own save game folder. When you reload you will have my save game I created when playing through the game during testing.

Edwin

[Barnak]

Thanks, I'll try this later today.

1. But what about showing the FPS in the game ?

2. And what is DLC ?

3. Also, what if I want to replay several saved games without quiting the game ? Is it possible ?
If I rename the file called "Save0001.sav" to "Save0002.sav", can I select it in the game ?

I have a few other questions to improve the game experience :

I'm annoyed by all the logos and useless pictures we get after launching the game. Can I make the configuration so the game launches faster without having to click ? More specifically, I commented out the following commands in the "MacInit/WillowEngine.ini" file :

[FullScreenMovie]
;StartupMovies=2K_logo
;StartupMovies=Gearbox_logo
;StartupMovies=NVidia
;StartupMovies=Loading
SkippableMovies=2K_logo
SkippableMovies=Gearbox_logo
SkippableMovies=Attract
SkippableMovies=NVidia

4. Is it possible to get rid of the other (static) logos too ?

By the way, I've found several small typos in many of the ini files : ;; instead of a single ;, FALSE, TRUE, or false, true instead of False and True. This doesn't help the user to understand how the ini files are working.

[elmateo487]

To answer a little more about your problem with wanting to explore the world, but can't because things are too hard to kill.

It sounds like you are just not doing the quests in your level range, and you are wandering into areas that you shouldn't be in yet. If you want to explore you need to level up and be able to kill things.

I personally played through 1st and 2nd play through, its a great game.

[Barnak]

Originally Posted by elmateo487

To answer a little more about your problem with wanting to explore the world, but can't because things are too hard to kill.

It sounds like you are just not doing the quests in your level range, and you are wandering into areas that you shouldn't be in yet. If you want to explore you need to level up and be able to kill things.

I personally played through 1st and 2nd play through, its a great game.

I'm not sure at which level I'm in right now (about level 6 ?), but I made several missions which let me use the car to go about everywhere. However, I had to cheat a bit after level 3 (I turned ON invincibility by editing one ini file).

The mine map (where you have to collect cristals) is way too hard. There are too much monsters and ennemies there, and it's impossible to just walk around, explore and be marveled at all the map details and wonders. This is pissing me off. Ennemies are too hard to kill, even with some very powerfull weapons, and there are too much monsters and idiots to kill. Also, I don't like the ridiculously huge monster in the "base" map (don't remember its name) : almost impossible to kill, especially if you don't have invincibility turned ON ! This level of difficulty feels like "nightmare" skill in Quake1.

[edddeduck]

Originally Posted by Barnak

I'm not sure at which level I'm in right now (about level 6 ?), but I made several missions which let me use the car to go about everywhere. However, I had to cheat a bit after level 3 (I turned ON invincibility by editing one ini file).

The mine map (where you have to collect cristals) is way too hard. There are too much monsters and ennemies there, and it's impossible to just walk around, explore and be marveled at all the map details and wonders. This is pissing me off. Ennemies are too hard to kill, even with some very powerfull weapons, and there are too much monsters and idiots to kill. Also, I don't like the ridiculously huge monster in the "base" map (don't remember its name) : almost impossible to kill, especially if you don't have invincibility turned ON ! This level of difficulty feels like "nightmare" skill in Quake1.

You are going to areas you should not enter because of your cheating and cannot die. If you play the game and do the recommended missions for your level you will not have trouble, but if you try and go to areas above your current level you will die quickly and your guns will not be powerful enough to kill bad guys.

So to summarise the game is more fun if you don't cheat and play the levels in order.

Edwin

[Barnak]

Is there a way to remove the static logos we get when we launch the game ? (I'm not talking about the bloody splash screen, which should get a progress bar by the way).

What about the FPS count ?

And what are the uses of the file called "WillowCompat.ini" ?

[edddeduck]

Originally Posted by Barnak

Is there a way to remove the static logos we get when we launch the game ? (I'm not talking about the bloody splash screen, which should get a progress bar by the way).

Unlike the PC/Console we made the opening videos skippable just hitting any button skips them all apart from the legal screen (which is in fact a loading screen so it is impossible to skip).

Originally Posted by Barnak

What about the FPS count ?

And what are the uses of the file called "WillowCompat.ini" ?

FPS counter and other ini hacks I would check out this site I have tried most tweaks on this page (some like skipping opening videos come as default on the Mac). The Mac ini preferences are stored in the ~/Library/preferences/Feral Interactive/Borderlands folder.

Edwin

[Barnak]

Ok, my settings are now very good. I now have FPS and a few other things.

Is it possible to make the baddies weaker ? They are way too hard to kill. Even with the best weapon, it takes forever and almost all my ammo just to kill a single ennemy. This is totally insane and the game is getting repetitive and dull because of this.

[Mackilroy]

You won't have any trouble killing enemies if you don't go where you're not supposed to yet. To wit:

Originally Posted by edddeduck

You are going to areas you should not enter because of your cheating and cannot die. If you play the game and do the recommended missions for your level you will not have trouble, but if you try and go to areas above your current level you will die quickly and your guns will not be powerful enough to kill bad guys.

So to summarise the game is more fun if you don't cheat and play the levels in order.

Edwin

[stonyc]

One thing that I like to do when I'm having some trouble with hard enemies is to (with a scoped weapon) scout the area ahead and look for help from the environment to "exploit"... for example, in the Arid Badlands you'll often come across large groups of skags. I'll clear one area, then before moving on to the next area, I'll check my surroundings. If there are skags below the cliff that I'm on for examples, I can snipe at them from relative safety. If they eventually make a run up the hill towards me, I'll switch to a shotgun and blast them as they get close.

Some of the bosses can be beat quite easily in a similar way... without giving too much away, Nine-Toes has a couple pet skags with him... if you jump as high up on the ledges as possible, they won't be able to follow you. Pick them off from behind cover and then deal with Nine-Toes.

With regard to the first crystal caverns mission, get the attention of a monster and then kite them back to the supply vendors at the beginning of the caves. You can hide behind the vendors and pick off the monsters that followed you. Rinse and repeat. If you do that for the first several monsters, I guarantee you'll gain a level or two just from that.

In general, to succeed at this game you need to become really good at getting critical hits. Nothing else that I can say... figure out the weak spot of each monster and hit it. Go for head shots on humans... aim for the mouth on skags when they open them... aim for the eye on lava crabs. What could take hundreds of bullets, might only take a couple if you get critical hits.

Oh, and by the way... if you have access to the car, just run stuff over. You'll kill stuff a lot faster that way.

[Barnak]

Yes, the car is an awesome weapon (love to ride on the krags). But you can't use it everywhere.

So there really are hit points on ennemies ? I'm usually shooting like the good'old Quake3 style.

[IanAtFeral]

Originally Posted by Barnak

So there really are hit points on ennemies ? I'm usually shooting like the good'old Quake3 style.

Hehe, yep! The numbers that fly off represent the damage you're doing.

[stonyc]

Learn something new everyday... was messing around a bit with the Crimson Lance and was going for my usual headshots. Seemed to be working out okay, but then while I had paused the game once, noticed that most of the Lance do not have armor in their "groinal" region. So I thought, "Hey, I'll just try shooting them in the nads..." and what do you know, CRITICAL HITS.

Muahahahaha... I mean... oooof...

[edddeduck]

Originally Posted by stonyc

Muahahahaha... I mean... oooof...

Now that was funny.

[Macmenace]

This is a little off topic but does anyone know if the Windows save files can be used with the Mac version?

I have Borderlands for Steam on my Windows partition and would like to use migrate my old save data.

[edddeduck]

Originally Posted by Macmenace

This is a little off topic but does anyone know if the Windows save files can be used with the Mac version?

I have Borderlands for Steam on my Windows partition and would like to use migrate my old save data.

Yes PC & Mac are 100% compatible, the FAQ tells you the location of your save game file on the Mac.

Edwin

[Macmenace]

Originally Posted by edddeduck

Yes PC & Mac are 100% compatible, the FAQ tells you the location of your save game file on the Mac.

Edwin

That is great; thank you for the swift response!

[stormcell]

Edwin,

You seem to have a great understanding of the game so i hope that you able to help me. I recently beat play through one on my siren (yea!!) but not before i went online and got a quest from someone else for play through two. now i have the problem that i am not able to hand in one quest neither finish the other since they have the same objective. since it is a plot mission i can not advance the storyline. anyways from what i have read i can use willow tree or some game save editor to modify my save file. I have a windows machine i can use to run willow tree but my problem lies in that when i change something I always load the same OLD save data. which leads me to believe i am not changing the right data (or that willow tree does not allow mac edits) can you offer any idea on either where the save data is or how i can fix the problem? (From what i understand its in the .dmg called BorderlandsData -> Data -> BorderlandsSaves.zip, once un-ziped Playthrough1 -> 100% inc DLC -> SaveData -> save001.sav) i am rambling on but... when i open the zip i only see save001.save in both the dlc and retail only even though i have 5-6 character is this normal?

Any advise would be GREAT!!

[ikir]

Originally Posted by Barnak

I'm not sure at which level I'm in right now (about level 6 ?), but I made several missions which let me use the car to go about everywhere. However, I had to cheat a bit after level 3 (I turned ON invincibility by editing one ini file).

The mine map (where you have to collect cristals) is way too hard. There are too much monsters and ennemies there, and it's impossible to just walk around, explore and be marveled at all the map details and wonders. This is pissing me off. Ennemies are too hard to kill, even with some very powerfull weapons, and there are too much monsters and idiots to kill. Also, I don't like the ridiculously huge monster in the "base" map (don't remember its name) : almost impossible to kill, especially if you don't have invincibility turned ON ! This level of difficulty feels like "nightmare" skill in Quake1.

Done without problems and without cheats. Cheats ruins games. Little tactics always win, i died 0 times in these mines.

Also if you need help, you can team up with friends over internet or lan, much more easy with friends naturally.

i just edited the ini file to remove mouse smoothing, that settings is on by default and give you the feels of sluggish and slow performance. I've also write a little tip how to disable mouse smoothing in italian:
http://mac.ikirsector.it/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=67

[edddeduck]

Originally Posted by stormcell

Edwin,

You seem to have a great understanding of the game so i hope that you able to help me. I recently beat play through one on my siren (yea!!) but not before i went online and got a quest from someone else for play through two. now i have the problem that i am not able to hand in one quest neither finish the other since they have the same objective. since it is a plot mission i can not advance the storyline. anyways from what i have read i can use willow tree or some game save editor to modify my save file. I have a windows machine i can use to run willow tree but my problem lies in that when i change something I always load the same OLD save data. which leads me to believe i am not changing the right data (or that willow tree does not allow mac edits) can you offer any idea on either where the save data is or how i can fix the problem? (From what i understand its in the .dmg called BorderlandsData -> Data -> BorderlandsSaves.zip, once un-ziped Playthrough1 -> 100% inc DLC -> SaveData -> save001.sav) i am rambling on but... when i open the zip i only see save001.save in both the dlc and retail only even though i have 5-6 character is this normal?

Any advise would be GREAT!!

Always a good idea to read the FAQ file that comes with the game

Your save game files are in your ~/Library/Preferences/Feral Interactive/Borderlands/Save Games

You can email our support team the save game and we can have a look. I don't think your save game is blocked but the order can get confusing.

Edwin