Linux *BETA* Demo

[theidiotthatisme]

theidiotthatisme: I am 110% sure this is a driver issue since there the exact same tile set and rendering code looks fine on a number of other platforms and video cards. There may be nothing I can do about it.

But I am glad you are enjoying the game. Thanks!

Hey not a problem, I figured it as much, but at least with Intel drivers aren't "as much" of a worry. Either way, it's definitely looking great! I dont even think I would have noticed if it weren't already posted on the forum.

And yes, the game is awesome

[KhaaL]

Heya

Running the game on ubuntu 7.10, and had no problems whatsoever. My only advice is to cut the spaces in the filename

Some suggestions:
It would help navigating the main character with intelligent pathfinding
a key to highlight items (and npcs) of intrest
ability to run when not in combat in order to travel faster.


Good job on the game!

[acoustibop]

Well, FWIW I've just spent 1/2 hour or so playing the demo and it's running perfectly. I'm running Gutsy on a machine with an AMD 3200+, a Radeon 9800 XT with the current 7.11 fglrx driver and 1GB RAM. I see no tiles! No sound problems, either.

The only thing that doesn't work is when I click on the Purchase the Full Game link - the game closes and that's it.

I agree with the ideas about the configuration/saves folder being ~/.Eschalon... and removing spaces from the filename (and folder names). It might be a nice idea to include an icon in the package, for use in launchers.

[janfsd]

Hi, it works for me but I don't get any sound Tried it in fullscreen and windowed mode. Don't know what's the problem. Running on Ubuntu 7.10 32-bit

[BasiliskWrangler]

Hi, it works for me but I don't get any sound Tried it in fullscreen and windowed mode. Don't know what's the problem. Running on Ubuntu 7.10 32-bit

Please check back in a day or two- I'm going to have an updated demo using OpenAL sound. That may (or may not) fix your problems.

[janfsd]

Strangely the sound works now, closed and started it several times, and is working without problems.

[Janusz11]

Unfortunately, I haven't had the time lately to try the demo out. Hope I'll find some this weekend. I only fired up to check, if it is running at all at my machine. And out of the box the game runs fine (Zenwalk 4.8 here).

My only grip is that I don't have sound on my S/PDIF but only analog output. But that's not really a problem of the game but rather a "Linux problem" I guess, as I experienced it before, and Using OpenAL may help already. I have to admit, though, that I never tried to really solve it before, because if I play games, I play them on Windows. However, I can confirm that I'm able to define the sound driver (for example for DosBox) and have sound routed to my S/PDIF (via SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa). Maybe there's a similar way to do it for this game.

Well, let's see.

Some suggestions:
It would help navigating the main character with intelligent pathfinding
ability to run when not in combat in order to travel faster.

I absolutely second that!

[Per]

I just remembered a possible cause for the tiling problem. I used to have a similar problem, but I solved it by specifying GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE as the clamping mode. This was with C++ though, and I have no idea how to do it Blitz.

In C++ it's like this anyway:

Code: Select all

glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE);
glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE);

[saskwach]

System:
Debian Sid
Linux 2.6.22-3-k7 (for the moment)
AMD Athlon TBird 1.4GHz
nVidia GeForce FX 5200 2-headed setup using nVidia's binary blob driver
AMD 760 Chipset
1 GB RAM

The game runs and plays fine. When I click help in the startup screen, the terminal that launched Eschalon displays "Please refer to the help.html file located in the installation folder."

Purchase full game link closes the program with
"Stopping Sound
Stoping Crickets
Endfing Graphics
Here we are...one last notify
Open the URL..."
and no open url.

I've tried playing windowed and full screen (full screen shows up on the correct monitor) and so far haven't found anything that even works poorly, let alone doesn't work.

With Graphics Detail Level "High" and all the sounds on I get performance ratings of
4-5 windowed, underground
8-12 windowed, forest
4-5 full screen at 800x600, underground
8-10 full screen, forest

To the people with ATi video cards, I have to think that's the problem. I've never had Radeon drivers that weren't terrible.

[acoustibop]

Well, saskwach, as I said, I'm using an ATI 9800 XT with the current 7.11 fglrx driver and the demo runs perfectly for me (no tile edges visible, no sound problems). The only 'problem' I have is that, like you, clicking the 'Buy Now' link closes the game and doesn't launch the URL. It could be, of course, that this is intended, since you can't buy the Linux version yet.

[Janusz11]

Okay, I can confirm, the game runs fine out of the box. I had no problems concerning graphic or sound whatsoever (except of course the "problem" I described above).

Sys. Specs.:
* AMD Athlon 2400+
* 512 MB DDR Dual Channel mode
* nVidia GeForce 7600GS 256 MB (driver version 100.14.19)
* nForce2 onboard sound (ALSA)
* Zenwalk 4.8 GNU/Linux

However, I found two bugs:

* After I loaded a game that I had just saved I was in the middle of an ocean in the nowhere. After loading again I was just where I saved the game.

* After loading that said saved game for two or three times I wasn't able to read spells anymore, therefore I couldn't add them to my spell-inventory and cast them anymore.

Other than that the game is just great- fantastic job, Basilisk!

[Svartalf]

Okay, here is a link to the BETA demo for the Linux version of Eschalon: Book I.

Great! I look forward to trying out the game...

Most important! Some people (including myself) have discovered that having Compiz/Beryl active can cause some gameplay glitches. I am recommending people disable glitzy desktop effects, especially if you are experiencing problems. Note that some people claim the demo runs perfectly with Compiz, so let us know what you find.

Will do. I suspect it has less to do with Compiz and more to do with specifics on the systems. Not all configurations are "good" ones for Compiz right at the moment...

Known Issues:
- The Help button on the launcher doesn't do anything.
- Some ATI hardware may run the game with small graphic artifacts such as seams between the tiles. This is a driver issue. Always ensure you are running the latest drivers for your ATI hardware.

It should be noted that the LATEST (and for the last TWO revisions...) drivers have an issue with a serious memory leak on some GPU models, particularly with R500 series chips. Stating to always ensure you're using the latest drivers right at the moment, especially with AMD's problems right now, is a BAD idea on Linux, actually. Your mileage may vary- you should use the latest STABLE drivers for your ATI hardware...

NVidia's drivers are currently relatively safe, though as are the Open Source ones.

Dependencies:
libstdc++.so.5

As a software developer and a game porter, I can tell you that this is a serious problem.

That particular library is sunsetted and is only there for legacy support on most modern distributions. In the case of a proprietary app, you're better off dynamically linking glibc (which you have to in order to have dynamic shared object support work right in the first place...) and statically linking libstdc++ if you need a particular version of it. It'll add a little size to your game, but as long as you're not handing instances across to libraries expecting and using the other libstdc++ it will just work fine.

There's other tips and tricks to making a commercial title for Linux- I'd be more than happy to share them with you.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Thanks for your input Svartalf. Yes, I will take any more suggestions you may have on preparing the release version of Eschalon/Linux.

As for requiring libstdc++.so.5, this is a compiler requirement. I would very much like to see this updated as well, but it won't be until the developer of Blitz changes the compiler's dependency on it.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Everyone: I'm still working on getting the demo updated. I've got the OpenAL support working, and the saved game folder hidden, Still tying to get the OpenURL function working. Give me another day or two.

[saintlexical]

Everything works fine on my setup and I'm using Compiz-fusion. The only bugs I've encountered so far have already been mentioned (loading a saved game puts me in the water occasionally, graphical artefacts left when quitting from full screen). Everything else is fine including sound and purchase full game URL loading.

One thing that was strange is that the game doesn't disable the screensaver when in windowed mode (I haven't played long enough in full-screen).

Any idea when the full Linux version will be out? I'm dying to play more but can't! Does the full version support higher resolutions?