Hey folks! I've been reading through the forums here on manual installation, and I've noticed a lot of us newbies are having the same problems because you awesome admin folk can't possibly understand how stupid we are.
That's a compliment--you people know what you're doing, and we are SO far below your level that your explanations kind of go over our heads. Maybe I'm speaking for just for me. But I notice other people complaining that they, similarly, don't seem to know what's going on.
So. PLEASE, to save time for yourselves, so you can focus on the people with real problems instead of troubleshooting newbs--
Is there a way you can write a really, really simple set of instructions on manual installation only--like written for someone with an IQ of 2.5 and a half (see what I did there)? I read all the documentation in that link up on the top of the page. Yes. It's fairly easy--compared to Wineskin and Crossover, anyway--to install and get help for a supported program. You've also got some great tips on writing scripts. But there's no dummy-directions on how to just run and troubleshoot a manual installation of a non-listed program.
Before you fault me for lack of research, let me assure you, it is lack of brains, not lack of research, that is my problem. I've been reading through the forums, and it's like trying to read Klingon. I don't know which libraries to install for my game (which no one else has tried to run ever apparently). I don't know what to click. I can't even ask for help because I really don't even know where to start! And I see other people in a similar bind, people who are probably missing basic steps. I think if you had a really easy checklist pinned at the top of this forum page, it would really cut down on the number of stupid questions you guys are getting from us. By easy checklist, I mean something more simple than you can even imagine right now, something like this:
Directions For Six-Year-Old Minds
1. Open PlayOnMac by clicking on its icon in your Applications folder.
2. Click on + button to install a new program.
3. Click on a "install non-listed program" link.
4. A thing will pop up asking you to select libraries to install. Here is an index of what the libraries listed do to help you decide what libraries you might need for your program. (I looked through the script documentation that lists what other libraries do, but it didn't seem to explain what the libraries on that long scary intimidating checklist of POL_ things do. When I look at that checklist, I am not only lost, I am transplanted to another universe where the people communicate only a language of pain and suffering and I miss my Mommy. I can feel the life draining out of my face. My skin starts to melt. I get AIDS instantly. You know what I mean: That list is anathema to dumb people like me. An index, all in one place, of what the dlls are and which ones to guess with, what software they've been useful with, which ones to try for what kinds of programs, OH MAN that would be like superman in a world free of kryptonite. Oh man if you pinned it to the top of this page I might just turn into Charzard.)
5. ...Click browse button to browse to your EXE and install it? Run the Steam Installer from within the program first? I don't know, at this point I don't know what comes next. I can't get beyond the libraries step. How do I install a non-supported Steam game? How do I get PlayOnMac to install the right libraries, and open Steam, and then make the game stuff happen? I know you can't just install games from within Steam inside PlayOnMac, because that just doesn't work. I know you have to install some libraries first. I know somehow you have to get Steam to run within PlayOnMac's installation program, during the "install non-listed program" step, instead of just running Steam within PlayOnMac and trying to use Steam's own downloader for the game--but I don't know how to make that happen. Do you see my ignorance here? Just general, stupid ignorance, not even specific stuff. I'm not lost on the wrong path, I haven't even started on it yet because I'm standing in front of the mountain named "how to install Steam dur" and "holy shit so many dll POL acronym things". I can't even submit an admin help request because I need a remedial course in thinking first.
Do you know what I mean? Directions for manual install for idiots, a directory of what the POL_ things mean, and a checklist of stupid troubleshoots would save you a ton of time. "First, before you whine, check that you have this, this, this, and this installed, and that you've tried this, this, and this. Have you checked that your computer is on? That round thing isn't a cup-holder, it's a CD tray." That kind of thing. I'm talking super, super, super simple. Like lobotomy level simple. One hour typing that up will save you many days with dummies like me, and you will be able to cure the POL-AIDS I've contracted, and rescue little Billy from the Universe of Pain, and also bring back Superman from the dead. If that makes sense. Thank-you.
Also, do forgive me, but if that list of manual install tips for dummies somehow already exists somehow, please punch me and direct me to it (and I will show you just how dumb a person can be and still get into medical school). I just want to play Super Wagon Train Adventure without bothering you. I know I can do it myself. I just don't know where to start.
P.S. Sorry for not including a tag, this is just neither an [issue] per se nor a [test], just a suggestion and cry of confusion as to where to start. Thanks!
Edited by petrepan
