AGS Ubuntu Linux 2.72 Binaries Released!

Gilbert · Wed 28/03/2007 03:36:31

By testing your game did you mean via the editor (so it's the windows engine)?

Did you try testing it with the native linux binary?

If you're just testing with windows engine using wine, I'll say it's just a setting/emulation issue with wine, in that case it's not related to the Linux binaries (i.e. not belong to this thread).

EvilTypeGuy · Mon 02/04/2007 23:42:07

Make sure you have downloaded and extract the the midi patches file I talk about on this page to your game's directory:

http://drevil.warpcore.org/ags/faq.html

jkohen · Wed 11/04/2007 11:54:33

Libc6 2.5 is entering Debian/unstable today, so the latest AGS for Linux should finally work there as well!

jkohen · Fri 13/04/2007 10:35:27

Quote from: EvilTypeGuy on Mon 02/04/2007 23:42:07
Make sure you have downloaded and extract the the midi patches file I talk about on this page to your game's directory:

http://drevil.warpcore.org/ags/faq.html

Hey Shawn, I'm afraid that the new engine (or maybe it's Allegro?) is looking for the MIDI patches not in the local directory, but in /usr/share/timidity/patches/patches.dat (thanks to strace). Is there a way to revert that behavior to that of the older versions?

I can also confirm that the engine starts on an up-to-date Debian/unstable now :-) Still haven't tried any games, though, but I trust that would work as well.

Also, are you still unable to use the ALSA driver of Allegro? Even with Timidity running as an ALSA MIDI server/client/whatyoumaycallit, AGS won't use that, because it insists on openning /dev/snd/midi*, which don't exist here. Still Timidity run this way seems to be good enough for dosbox and other apps.

Best luck.

Tartalo · Tue 17/04/2007 18:10:48

I have a question. Not sure if I should reply here or create a new post.

While playing with AGT it seemed to me that all games that use ACI engine 2.7x work well with AGS Linux 2.72 and the same goes for 2.6x -> 2.62 and 2.5x -> 2.54

Can I expect this to happen always or I was very lucky until now? (This would simplify part of the project).

Thanks

deadsuperhero · Wed 18/04/2007 04:20:16

Man, it's awesome that I'll be able to run AGS games in Ubuntu.
I just need to install Allegro (and the other required things)
Any chance of being able to download and install this through Ubuntu's "Click and Run" service? This would really help beginners like me.

Tartalo · Wed 18/04/2007 10:33:06

Quote from: Alliance on Wed 18/04/2007 04:20:16
Man, it's awesome that I'll be able to run AGS games in Ubuntu.
I just need to install Allegro (and the other required things)
Any chance of being able to download and install this through Ubuntu's "Click and Run" service? This would really help beginners like me.

Yes, a lot of required things! But you already can play most AGS games, only it's a repetitive process for each game.

If by "this" you mean AGS Linux, I guess it won't be in Ubuntu's repositories for now because CJ's distribution conditions are incompatible with Debian policy, and Ubuntu is only breaking this policy for "important" things. (CJ, go GPL! All your code are belong to us!)

If "this" means AGT Toolkit. I might prepare a deb package in a future, but before that there's quite work to do.

BTW... Anyone knows the answer to my question? Some changes to the installer are waiting to confirm if I can go just with the first two digits of the version and only 3 engines.

Pumaman · Wed 18/04/2007 19:16:27

Quote from: Tartalo on Tue 17/04/2007 18:10:48
While playing with AGT it seemed to me that all games that use ACI engine 2.7x work well with AGS Linux 2.72 and the same goes for 2.6x -> 2.62 and 2.5x -> 2.54

Can I expect this to happen always or I was very lucky until now? (This would simplify part of the project).

Yes, the AGS engine policy is to be backwards compatible within the first level minor version number (ie. 2.62 can run any 2.6x game, 2.72 can run any 2.7x game, etc).

In some cases compatibility is actually better than this, but this should be the minimum to expect.

EvilTypeGuy · Fri 20/04/2007 00:50:29

Quote from: blashyrkh on Fri 13/04/2007 10:35:27
Quote from: EvilTypeGuy on Mon 02/04/2007 23:42:07
Make sure you have downloaded and extract the the midi patches file I talk about on this page to your game's directory:

http://drevil.warpcore.org/ags/faq.html

Hey Shawn, I'm afraid that the new engine (or maybe it's Allegro?) is looking for the MIDI patches not in the local directory, but in /usr/share/timidity/patches/patches.dat (thanks to strace). Is there a way to revert that behavior to that of the older versions?

I can also confirm that the engine starts on an up-to-date Debian/unstable now :-) Still haven't tried any games, though, but I trust that would work as well.

Also, are you still unable to use the ALSA driver of Allegro? Even with Timidity running as an ALSA MIDI server/client/whatyoumaycallit, AGS won't use that, because it insists on openning /dev/snd/midi*, which don't exist here. Still Timidity run this way seems to be good enough for dosbox and other apps.

Best luck.

That has nothing to do with the engine. I suspect that's how the version of Allegro you are using is configured to work. You're the second person I've seen mention this, though I have never seen the behaviour myself.

When I get a chance, I'll look into it.

Thanks.

deadsuperhero · Sat 05/05/2007 06:07:08

Will there be any chance of this being in a .deb package?
I'm still new at Sudo, it would be nice to have an easier way to install AGS games. (As well as the engine)

Timosity · Sun 06/05/2007 05:18:58

Hey Guys, I'm only fairly new to Ubuntu, I'm using Feisty, I haven't used any Linux systems since 1999 so I'm a bit out of practice.

I've been able to run AGS games but can't get the sound to work

To be honest I'm a bit confused about sound in general on my system as I have 2 sound cards and when I load up Ubuntu it is completely random as to which one it chooses, one is a built in SoundMax, the other is a Soundblaster

sound works in general on the system eg. music and video files but not with AGS games

I've followed the instructions from this thread, and put the patches.dat file in the game folder etc

This is the message I get in the terminal, the game runs but no sound

Quote
Adventure Creator v2.72 Interpreter
Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Chris Jones
ACI version 2.72.920
CD-ROM Audio support enabled.
Extended CPU detected.
Checking sound inits.
ALSA lib rawmidi_hw.c:233:(snd_rawmidi_hw_open) open /dev/snd/midiC0D0 failed: No such file or directory
ALSA lib rawmidi_hw.c:233:(snd_rawmidi_hw_open) open /dev/snd/midiC0D0 failed: No such file or directory

Unable to initialize your audio hardware.
[Problem: No supported synth type found]

I guess it has something to do with ALSA and some files not existing, maybe I still have to install some more libraries or something.

I also read something about it not being tested with ALSA

maybe my system isn't using ALSA anyway?

Maybe I should remove my Soundblaster to stop confusing the system.

any advise would be great

Thanks

Edit: sorry, I noticed I was playing a game compiled in AGS 2.62 so I downloaded the 2.62 engine and it works

Oncer · Tue 08/05/2007 19:31:18

About the "patches.dat" problem: Go to /usr/share/doc/liballegro4.2/examples and unpack allegro.cfg.gz as ~/.allegrorc.
Edit it and look for the line "patches =".
Set it to "patches = ." (patches equals dot)
Set the music driver to "Software wavetable" for your game. Make sure the patches.dat is in the same directory as your game.
Should work.

covox · Sun 27/05/2007 04:32:29

Why not bite the bullet and get someone to port all the Allegro bits to SDL?

Allegro is a dinosaur. Regardless of the claims made on the project webpage about portability, the design remains over a decade old with the UNIX port originally made as a cruel practical joke. The numerous inter-UNIX build and runtime problems are testament to this, along with the exponentially worse CPU performance under X11 compared to Win32. While this may have saved bucketloads of time back in the halycon days where the only two platforms were DOS and Windows, things are different now that "multiplatform" means Windows and two types of UNIX.

You probably don't need anyone to harp on about how good SDL is. Almost every closed-source game for UNIX (e.g. Darwinia, Quake 4, Gish, Neverwinter Nights) uses SDL as a backend, and for good reason; it's rock-solid, fast, well documented, and has a brilliantly planned and -stable- API. Plus it's robust enough to work on (nearly) all platforms without fail, even just by dumping the .so libraries in with the binary.

Setting aside the twin issues of "not enough time" and "too much integral code relies on it", would the idea of -experimentally- moving the Linux AGS dependancy off Allegro and onto SDL be considered a good move?

Pumaman · Sun 27/05/2007 11:42:21

The original reason that I didn't use SDL was because it didn't support DOS, whereas Allegro did. However, nowadays I don't see that as an issue because nobody uses DOS any more.
Also, I think at the time you couldn't statically link the SDL binaries into your executable, is this still the case?

But, if the AGS graphics subsystem was to be re-written, I think it would make more sense to port it to Direct3D or OpenGL, since most modern graphics cards are not optimised for 2D.

covox · Sun 27/05/2007 19:55:25

libSDL-dev appears to come decked out with a static library, no problems there 8)

Yeah, projects like SuperTux have shown a lot of potential in the idea of using 3D for accelerated 2D. Of course, one would have to consider the cons, such as locking out devices with only a 2D driver, and weigh them with the benefits, such as guaranteed smooth scrolling.

Also 3D can't pull off a few things taken for granted in 2D, such as raw pixel access to the display, which (depending on how things work behind the curtain) might require a rethink of strategy. It all depends on whether the losses are worth the gain I guess.

Mould Cheeze · Wed 30/05/2007 18:16:56

OK, i installed all the libraries from the first post.
And now I can run AGSSetup, I copied it to the Compiled foldermade my settings and clicked on "Save settings and start game" but nothing happens. When i run the console with "ags game.exe" also nnothing happens. What do I habve to do to make it run?

EvilTypeGuy · Fri 08/06/2007 20:46:08

Quote from: Alliance on Sat 05/05/2007 06:07:08
Will there be any chance of this being in a .deb package?
I'm still new at Sudo, it would be nice to have an easier way to install AGS games. (As well as the engine)

No, since the engine can't really run "generically." Meaning, you pretty much have to have it run from the same directory as the game data at this point. Which in turn means that there isn't much point in packaging it.

Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 27/05/2007 11:42:21
The original reason that I didn't use SDL was because it didn't support DOS, whereas Allegro did. However, nowadays I don't see that as an issue because nobody uses DOS any more.
Also, I think at the time you couldn't statically link the SDL binaries into your executable, is this still the case?

But, if the AGS graphics subsystem was to be re-written, I think it would make more sense to port it to Direct3D or OpenGL, since most modern graphics cards are not optimised for 2D.

SDL still doesn't allow static linking because of the LGPL license.

SDL actually uses DirectX for the backend on Windows and a future version will have an OpenGL backend as well based off David Olfoson's glSDL backend work: http://olofson.net/mixed.html

Quote from: Mould Cheeze on Wed 30/05/2007 18:16:56
OK, i installed all the libraries from the first post.
And now I can run AGSSetup, I copied it to the Compiled foldermade my settings and clicked on "Save settings and start game" but nothing happens. When i run the console with "ags game.exe" also nnothing happens. What do I habve to do to make it run?

As noted in the instructions that come with AGS, you must rename game.exe to ac2game.dat or make a symlink to game.exe as ac2game.dat.

You cannot tell ags which file to use as the game file. It looks for ac2game.dat in the current directory.

http://drevil.warpcore.org/ags/faq.html

Quote from: covox on Sun 27/05/2007 19:55:25
libSDL-dev appears to come decked out with a static library, no problems there 8)

The issue is one of licensing, not technical capability.

From the SDL license page:

http://www.libsdl.org/license-lgpl.php

QuoteTo comply with this license, you must give prominent notice that you use the Simple DirectMedia Layer library, and that it is included under the terms of the LGPL license. You must provide a copy of the LGPL license.
You must also do one of the following:

1. Link with the library as a shared object (e.g. SDL.dll or libSDL.so)
2. Provide the object or source code to your application along with any libraries and custom tools not available with a standard platform development kit. You may also simply provide a written offer, valid for three years, to provide these materials upon request to anyone with a legal copy of your application.

As AGS's source code cannot be released, that means shared link only.

Pumaman · Fri 08/06/2007 21:20:14

I have investigated SDL recently, and in comparison to Allegro it doesn't really seem to have any benefits. They both run off DirectDraw behind the scenes, and SDL doesn't seem to have any advantages that would make porting the code worthwhile.

deadsuperhero · Fri 08/06/2007 21:39:19

Well,
In any case, it'd be great to play AGS games easily, and also make AGS games easily, in Ubuntu. That'd be sweet.

strazer · Fri 08/06/2007 22:34:53

Quote from: EvilTypeGuy on Fri 08/06/2007 20:46:08
No, since the engine can't really run "generically." Meaning, you pretty much have to have it run from the same directory as the game data at this point. Which in turn means that there isn't much point in packaging it.

Quote from: EvilTypeGuy on Fri 08/06/2007 20:46:08You cannot tell ags which file to use as the game file. It looks for ac2game.dat in the current directory.

Are you sure? I put the AGS files into /usr/local/bin and usually run games like this:
$ cd /usr/local/games/ags/6das
$ ags 6das.exe
Works like a charm.
A problem is savegame compatibility, so you have to remember to always play the game with the same AGS version. That's why I have several AGS versions in /usr/local/bin, named ags262, ags271 and so on.