Need more 'free space' for CIV IV???

Question

I just bought CIV 4 for Mac. It is a single HD disk, and I cannot install it. I get an error message saying I have insufficient free space to play the game. Whuuuut?? This is a brand new computer and I haven't installed anything on it yet but a few pix. Ay adivice??? I love this gam and am worried about all of the patch problems...if I ever get it installed, that is. ALso, I am not a techie, and I hope this isn't just some problem that makes all of you giggle....

Answer 1

Took me a while to figure out what CIV IV was, and to find the specifications and product reviews for the Mac version. Sounds as if you may be confusing storage and memory.
Roughly speaking, everything you mentioned "having" on your PC was stored statically on its Hard Drive Disk, not in its memory. Memory is used for dynamic operations, and for very short term storage. Storage is easy, but data must be accurately stored, and that's where memory comes in.
Memory is used to access, process, check, and distribute the data that is stored on the HDD. The way the game was written, it needs a large amount of memory to put the game's data onto the HDD in large chunks.
That's where you're at - trying to copy your game off of the DVD and onto your HDD. The game is on a DVD, not a CD, so it's holding a lot more data than most of the CDs you've probably dealt with in the past. Since that game appears to be complex, its demands for memory are huge - first to install the game, but then even more so to run the game.
When you open the blue Apple menu (top left) and select "About This Mac," underneath you should see:
"Processor 2 GHz Intel Core2 Duo"
"Memory ________"
To run your game, it should show either
"2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM" or
"3 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM"
If you then click the "More Info..." button, System Profiler will open and disclose the details of your computer's configuration. On the left you'll see main categories such as Hardware - Network - Software. Clicking on "Hardware" will show you an "Overview" of the installed hardware.
On the left, one of the subcategories of Hardware is "Memory," which when selected, will show the specifics of your installed memory, also referred to as RAM. Your iMac can hold two separate DIMMs. With details following, they will be listed as:
DIMM0
DIMM1
Once you have System Profiler open, to get more information about System Profiler, open the Help menu at the very top of your display and you'll see that you can open System Profiler Help.