I am still a little confused by what you are saying here. There are several things.

1. You say you would like to use ASTAP, right?  Then I don't understand why you are downloading index files?  ASTAP uses its own database files.  The Astrometry index files are for the Internal StellarSolver solver or the local astrometry.net solver.  Is ASTAP all set up appropriately with its databases installed?  Did you select to use ASTAP in the StellarSolver options?  Did you maybe want to try a different solving method?

2. You said you are getting no stars in the simulator images?  Did you re-download the GSC data files after you wiped out the data directory?  The downloader is in the Startup Wizard.  GSC is too big to distribute with KStars in the DMG and not everybody wants it.

3. There is definitely support in the forums.  I try to help all that I can do, I have had quite a lot more work this year with a full time teaching job where everything has changed due to the pandemic.  I try my best to fix all the Mac bugs that I can and help out folks in the forum.  There are plenty of other people more than willing to help as well.  We are all volunteers and we believe in the project.  I know it has greatly improved my astrophotography in the last several years and many others can say the same.  Sometimes though, it does take some patience, especially when working with a beta.  We really need more people to extensively test the Mac betas and let me know if there is anything wrong with the build so that I can fix it.  Some people do it, but I think we need more.

Thanks,

Rob

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