The Drunken Lizard Pub

BasiliskWrangler wrote:It is fixed.

This happens to be a really nasty little problem with Linux and BlitzMax- the system cannot read filenames with capital letters. The script for entering Westwillow calls for the game to load "Westwillow" (notice the capital 'W'). So, this command fails for practically everyone using Linux, but not Mac or Win.

Odd. I`d have expected it to be the other way around. Linux tends to be very unfussy about case-sensitivity.

Tyranthraxus wrote:

BasiliskWrangler wrote:It is fixed.

This happens to be a really nasty little problem with Linux and BlitzMax- the system cannot read filenames with capital letters. The script for entering Westwillow calls for the game to load "Westwillow" (notice the capital 'W'). So, this command fails for practically everyone using Linux, but not Mac or Win.

Odd. I`d have expected it to be the other way around. Linux tends to be very unfussy about case-sensitivity.

Yeah, I don't know why this is either. The first time I tried to compile Book 1 on Linux the damn thing crashed constantly. After hours of searching for answers, I discovered that all file names had to be lower-case, and all internal references to file names had to be lower-case as well.

In this bug, it turns out that while the filename is, in fact, lower-case, the script asks for the map filename "Westwillow" and that is all it takes to bring down the house.

BasiliskWrangler wrote:

Tyranthraxus wrote:

BasiliskWrangler wrote:It is fixed.

This happens to be a really nasty little problem with Linux and BlitzMax- the system cannot read filenames with capital letters. The script for entering Westwillow calls for the game to load "Westwillow" (notice the capital 'W'). So, this command fails for practically everyone using Linux, but not Mac or Win.

Odd. I`d have expected it to be the other way around. Linux tends to be very unfussy about case-sensitivity.

Yeah, I don't know why this is either. The first time I tried to compile Book 1 on Linux the damn thing crashed constantly. After hours of searching for answers, I discovered that all file names had to be lower-case, and all internal references to file names had to be lower-case as well.

In this bug, it turns out that while the filename is, in fact, lower-case, the script asks for the map filename "Westwillow" and that is all it takes to bring down the house.

Yeah that's kind of weird. Linux, as well as other Unix-like systems, are case-sensitive. Unlike in Windows where Westwillow=westwillow=WeStWiLlOw in Linux Westwillow!=westwillow. Kind of weird that Blitzmax asks for Westwillow despite the fact that the file is called westwillow.

Anyway thank you BW for fixing the issue and don't worry about when you churn out 1.04 with the fix for us. You have already churned out updates at a much faster rate than the vast majority of big time studios with 20x the manpower you have at your disposal. We all appreciate all the hard work into putting out this excellent product and thank you for supporting alternative operating systems.

I had an idea for how to work around this issue. I think it should even work for people who have already visited the map in question without having to reset the map. Since the problem is with case sensitivity, it should be possible to work around it by running Book II from a case-insensitive filesystem. Try this:
Then copy your Book II install into the eschalon_fs directory and run it from there.

Note that I haven't tried this yet (I will this evening) so no guarantees. It's possible that the game unpacks the map files somewhere other than the install directory, in which case you'd have to figure out where that is and replace that location with a VFAT mount.

BasiliskWrangler wrote:

Tyranthraxus wrote:

BasiliskWrangler wrote:It is fixed.

This happens to be a really nasty little problem with Linux and BlitzMax- the system cannot read filenames with capital letters. The script for entering Westwillow calls for the game to load "Westwillow" (notice the capital 'W'). So, this command fails for practically everyone using Linux, but not Mac or Win.

Odd. I`d have expected it to be the other way around. Linux tends to be very unfussy about case-sensitivity.

Yeah, I don't know why this is either. The first time I tried to compile Book 1 on Linux the damn thing crashed constantly. After hours of searching for answers, I discovered that all file names had to be lower-case, and all internal references to file names had to be lower-case as well.

In this bug, it turns out that while the filename is, in fact, lower-case, the script asks for the map filename "Westwillow" and that is all it takes to bring down the house.

Is BlitzMax from the same stable as the venerable Blitz Basic on the Amiga?
If so, it looks like they`ve forgotten some important conventions since those days.

According to this post: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3818 version 1.04, which is supposed to fix this problem, will only be released in the end of June Is there really no way to let (some of the) Linux folks enter the area earlier on?

My fix above didn't work :(

I ran the game through strace, and I can see it trying to read Westwillow.map from inside the tmp directory of the saved game folder. Unfortunately, there's no westwillow.map there either, so making it case insensitive doesn't help. I don't know enough about how the game works to know where that file is supposed to come from.

Of course, I could just unzip a copy out of the main game data file if I knew the encryption password :)

Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way. I think not being able to enter Westwillow is a bonus quest thrown in just for us Linux users.

SpottedShroom wrote:Of course, I could just unzip a copy out of the main game data file if I knew the encryption password

Well, do you think it would work if BW was kind enough to post a link just to the map file for us so that we could copy it into the tmp folder before running the game (every time, if it's necessary)?

Now that the 1.04a BETA is out can BW or someone else post a howto on resetting map files so I can attempt to enter Westwillow?

Thanks in advance.

The map files just before entering Westwillow should be "ironpool_dam_lower.*" - They're in your savegame folder... so just delete the ones from your most recent save and you should be good to go. If there are any named "Westwillow.*" I'd go ahead and delete those too, but they shouldn't exist yet.

Thanks CB I'll give it a whirl.

Edit: It worked. I'm now standing on the outskirts of Westwillow. Thanks again.

Alas, deleting the lower dam files didn't work for me. I tried all directions - "Turn back. Your fate awaits elsewhere".

(1.04a beta)