PhilosophiX: It looks like your machine is on the very fringe of meeting the minimal requirements, so slow performance is pretty much guaranteed no matter how much you tweak the system
Altefcat: Hmm, I have no idea what that error implies. The programming language I use (Blitz) really doesn't give a lot of options for graphics mode- I just simply activate the graphics and it should work. Do you have Ubuntu fully updated? You also may want to try alternate video drivers. I know in my Ubuntu there are several variations of nVidia drivers I can choose- some work, some don't.
Per: Good idea, I would like everyone to post their system specs at least once. I can try to update my first post with known good/bad configurations and solutions to fixing problems.
Thanks everyone!
Linux *BETA* Demo
-
BasiliskWrangler
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3825
- Joined: July 6th, 2006, 10:31 am
- Location: The Grid
- Contact:
-
PhilosophiX
- Marshall
- Posts: 144
- Joined: September 16th, 2007, 4:13 am
Thats the thing, I dual boot linux/windows, same machine but on windows it runs fine.
For windows; perhaps the speed isn't as consistently fast as it would be on a fast machine, ie walking about forests is a tad slower than walking about in dungeons - but the changes aren't that noticeable and never enough to be off putting.
The table didn't display so well so I put it in a code box.
By contrast on Linux, the speed in the dungeon is playable, the speed overland absolutely without question unplayable.
I will do what I can to troubleshoot... I suppose it could be drivers, probably is, I don't know the first thing about linux drivers, it just picked them itself and it worked! haha but I will try and play about with it.
For windows; perhaps the speed isn't as consistently fast as it would be on a fast machine, ie walking about forests is a tad slower than walking about in dungeons - but the changes aren't that noticeable and never enough to be off putting.
The table didn't display so well so I put it in a code box.
Code: Select all
-------- | Linux | Windows
Dungeon- | 25-27 | 8-12
Overland | 30-45 | 10-20
I will do what I can to troubleshoot... I suppose it could be drivers, probably is, I don't know the first thing about linux drivers, it just picked them itself and it worked! haha but I will try and play about with it.
Last edited by PhilosophiX on December 10th, 2007, 11:14 am, edited 2 times in total.
What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not that capability and god-like reason to fust in us unused.
-
BasiliskWrangler
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3825
- Joined: July 6th, 2006, 10:31 am
- Location: The Grid
- Contact:
-
PhilosophiX
- Marshall
- Posts: 144
- Joined: September 16th, 2007, 4:13 am
The game runs nice and fast, but I've had a couple of other problems. I couldn't use full-screen mode (probably because of my video card drivers). I also couldn't click on anything in the character creation or level up screens. I had to select a pre-made character to start the game and then had to press escape at the level up screen and just got a couple of hit points. I'm not sure what this could be caused by.
Specs:
Athlon 64 3000+
2.5 GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 All-in-Wonder
Ubuntu 7.10 (not the 64-bit version, I'd have to reinstall and it would be a disaster)
I have exams now, so I won't be playing much (at all), but it's great to have a commercial rpg for linux.
Specs:
Athlon 64 3000+
2.5 GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 All-in-Wonder
Ubuntu 7.10 (not the 64-bit version, I'd have to reinstall and it would be a disaster)
I have exams now, so I won't be playing much (at all), but it's great to have a commercial rpg for linux.
I am running on Ubuntu 7.10.
Had to grab the libstdc++5 (apt-get install apt-get install libstdc++5)
Decided to start playing in windowed mode.
Start Window is lower left corner (did not find how to move it)
Main window also appear LL corner but managed to move it.
Now I have some fonts issue in the Skill list from the character creation.
And also the first message appears all garbled.
Then I try to come to the forum (Alt-Tab to Firefox already running) and the application just died on me.
Nothing at all in the process list. And a ps -elf | grep give no Eschalon process at all.
Anyway back to a new character
Had to grab the libstdc++5 (apt-get install apt-get install libstdc++5)
Decided to start playing in windowed mode.
Start Window is lower left corner (did not find how to move it)
Main window also appear LL corner but managed to move it.
Now I have some fonts issue in the Skill list from the character creation.
And also the first message appears all garbled.
Then I try to come to the forum (Alt-Tab to Firefox already running) and the application just died on me.
Nothing at all in the process list. And a ps -elf | grep give no Eschalon process at all.
Anyway back to a new character
Gardez suffisament d'humour pour ne pas perdre l'esprit au nom de la raison.
Ama la realidad que construyes y ni aun la muerte detendra tu paso.
Ama la realidad que construyes y ni aun la muerte detendra tu paso.
This time closed all windows from desktop.
Add a launch icon on the toolbar
Start the application.
Start Menu is on lower right corner now
Play in Full Screen
No issue at creation time with fonts.
First message is ok.
I can still the tiles (been already reported I think). What happens is exactly like the Tab which shows the blue grid and coordinates but without the blue lines.
Seems the tiles do not match exactly (or they are drawn a little apart)
I also have my Network Icon (I have a wifi network enabled) that kind of flashes behind the application. It appears just behind the torch icon.
(standard position for the network icon btw,)
Also I have easily snowy squares that are drawn. Most of the time this goes along with the fonts being all garbled.
I can generally solve that by clicking the Save icon. and return to the application. Else a real save will fix the screen issue. Will try to provide a screenshot if needed.
Still this is the Eschalon I know, no speed issue, et least nothing worse than Windows (same hardware exactly as I switch 2 HD on this laptop one XP the other ubuntu 7.10). Sounds is great. Game is very good. Only thing is this drawing issue which makes it not realeasable so far.
I may have encountered also a bug with the darkness penalty.
Was bashing the door upstairs the inn, so resting quite a lot and was disturbed by a bat. I was my back to the door the bat just right of me. I had no penalty and for the bat I was heavily concealed by darkness !!!
Sounds strange for me.
Will give it another try..
Add a launch icon on the toolbar
Start the application.
Start Menu is on lower right corner now
Play in Full Screen
No issue at creation time with fonts.
First message is ok.
I can still the tiles (been already reported I think). What happens is exactly like the Tab which shows the blue grid and coordinates but without the blue lines.
Seems the tiles do not match exactly (or they are drawn a little apart)
I also have my Network Icon (I have a wifi network enabled) that kind of flashes behind the application. It appears just behind the torch icon.
(standard position for the network icon btw,)
Also I have easily snowy squares that are drawn. Most of the time this goes along with the fonts being all garbled.
I can generally solve that by clicking the Save icon. and return to the application. Else a real save will fix the screen issue. Will try to provide a screenshot if needed.
Still this is the Eschalon I know, no speed issue, et least nothing worse than Windows (same hardware exactly as I switch 2 HD on this laptop one XP the other ubuntu 7.10). Sounds is great. Game is very good. Only thing is this drawing issue which makes it not realeasable so far.
I may have encountered also a bug with the darkness penalty.
Was bashing the door upstairs the inn, so resting quite a lot and was disturbed by a bat. I was my back to the door the bat just right of me. I had no penalty and for the bat I was heavily concealed by darkness !!!
Sounds strange for me.
Will give it another try..
Gardez suffisament d'humour pour ne pas perdre l'esprit au nom de la raison.
Ama la realidad que construyes y ni aun la muerte detendra tu paso.
Ama la realidad que construyes y ni aun la muerte detendra tu paso.
Some strange findings.
First I confirm the bug on Buy the full version link. Each time I do that it crash the application, returning to the desktop. It leaves a Eschalon Book I process in the background and you have to kill it else the new version you will run will have no sound.
Now the strange thing. I can only resotre a save game when I have a window open on the desktop !!
To clarify, I have my launcher on the toolbar, firefox minimized on the status bar, I launch eschalon the application Launcher appears Top Left (I have the impression it tries to draw on the first empty space, exactly as if it was trying to stay on the same ""level"" of the other windows, it will not appears in front for example)
Start the game in full screen. Try restore a saved game. Crash the application. (did the test at least 3 times)
Now open the System monitor, start the application from the launcher, Start window appears on the right side of the System Monitor. Go FS. Restore a saved game. It works !!
However, the bad thing is that as soon as I have a window already open on the desktop, I have snowy patches (BIG ones, the size of the open window) that makes the application unplayable.
It would look like to me as if the application does not know whether displaying at the same ""level"" as the other windows or in front of them.
Does that make any sense ?
one last try in windowed mode before I go to sleep.
First I confirm the bug on Buy the full version link. Each time I do that it crash the application, returning to the desktop. It leaves a Eschalon Book I process in the background and you have to kill it else the new version you will run will have no sound.
Now the strange thing. I can only resotre a save game when I have a window open on the desktop !!
To clarify, I have my launcher on the toolbar, firefox minimized on the status bar, I launch eschalon the application Launcher appears Top Left (I have the impression it tries to draw on the first empty space, exactly as if it was trying to stay on the same ""level"" of the other windows, it will not appears in front for example)
Start the game in full screen. Try restore a saved game. Crash the application. (did the test at least 3 times)
Now open the System monitor, start the application from the launcher, Start window appears on the right side of the System Monitor. Go FS. Restore a saved game. It works !!
However, the bad thing is that as soon as I have a window already open on the desktop, I have snowy patches (BIG ones, the size of the open window) that makes the application unplayable.
It would look like to me as if the application does not know whether displaying at the same ""level"" as the other windows or in front of them.
Does that make any sense ?
one last try in windowed mode before I go to sleep.
Gardez suffisament d'humour pour ne pas perdre l'esprit au nom de la raison.
Ama la realidad que construyes y ni aun la muerte detendra tu paso.
Ama la realidad que construyes y ni aun la muerte detendra tu paso.
System Specs:
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz
RAM: 1GB
GFX: Nvidia 7800 GS w/256MB RAM using Nvidia binary drivers version 100.14.19
SND: Creative Soundblaster Live 5.1 using ALSA drivers version 1.0.15
OS: Gentoo Linux using gentoo-sources-2.6.23-r2 kernel
Performance reading standing on the sewer grate just southwest of "The Owl's Roost Tavern" in Aridell:
Compiz Fusion Enabled, Full Screen 32-bit: 11-12
Compiz Fusion Enabled, Windowed 32-bit: 4-5
Compiz Fusion Disabled, Full Screen 32-bit: 4-5
Compiz Fusion Disabled, Windowed 32-bit: 4-5
Performance reading standing in the middle of the second room in "A Dank Cellar" in Elderhollow:
Compiz Fusion Enabled, Full Screen 32-bit: 9-10
Compiz Fusion Enabled, Windowed 32-bit: 1-2
Compiz Fusion Disabled, Full Screen 32-bit: 1-2
Compiz Fusion Disabled, Windowed 32-bit: 1-2
Notes:
-Worked extremely well here! Downloaded it, unpacked it, and ran it. No problems whatsoever. Just beautiful! Excellent work, BW!
-As can be seen from the benchmarks here, using Compiz Fusion and playing the game is generally a bad thing for performance...but on my setup, *only* in Full Screen mode. When running the game with Compiz Fusion enabled and in Full Screen mode, the opening animation was a little jittery as well as the scrolling backdrop at the main menu. Neither of those cases exhibited problems with Compiz Fusion disabled in Full Screen mode.
-Pressing the "Help" button from the launcher echos:
to the terminal I used to launch the game.
-Pressing the "Purchase the Full Game" item in the main menu echos:
to the terminal I used to launch the game, then I had to issue a "kill" command to stop the game. I tried it several times and the result was the same, both with Firefox running and without.
-No gaps between the tiles...graphically, everything is spot on!
-Audio is perfect...sound and music are beautiful!
-No problems clicking on buttons or selecting menu items.
Thank you so much for realeasing this beta, BW, hopefully it will give everyone an idea of what they might need to do to get their machines ready to handle the game. There are several very good suggestions in this topic that would be great in a FAQ for the Linux version. I haven't much time at the moment to play the game, but I wanted to get a post up about my initial experiences running Eschalon. More to follow after I spend some time with it! This game ROCKS!
Thanks for supporting Linux!
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz
RAM: 1GB
GFX: Nvidia 7800 GS w/256MB RAM using Nvidia binary drivers version 100.14.19
SND: Creative Soundblaster Live 5.1 using ALSA drivers version 1.0.15
OS: Gentoo Linux using gentoo-sources-2.6.23-r2 kernel
Performance reading standing on the sewer grate just southwest of "The Owl's Roost Tavern" in Aridell:
Compiz Fusion Enabled, Full Screen 32-bit: 11-12
Compiz Fusion Enabled, Windowed 32-bit: 4-5
Compiz Fusion Disabled, Full Screen 32-bit: 4-5
Compiz Fusion Disabled, Windowed 32-bit: 4-5
Performance reading standing in the middle of the second room in "A Dank Cellar" in Elderhollow:
Compiz Fusion Enabled, Full Screen 32-bit: 9-10
Compiz Fusion Enabled, Windowed 32-bit: 1-2
Compiz Fusion Disabled, Full Screen 32-bit: 1-2
Compiz Fusion Disabled, Windowed 32-bit: 1-2
Notes:
-Worked extremely well here! Downloaded it, unpacked it, and ran it. No problems whatsoever. Just beautiful! Excellent work, BW!
-As can be seen from the benchmarks here, using Compiz Fusion and playing the game is generally a bad thing for performance...but on my setup, *only* in Full Screen mode. When running the game with Compiz Fusion enabled and in Full Screen mode, the opening animation was a little jittery as well as the scrolling backdrop at the main menu. Neither of those cases exhibited problems with Compiz Fusion disabled in Full Screen mode.
-Pressing the "Help" button from the launcher echos:
Code: Select all
Please refer to the help.html file located in the installation folder.-Pressing the "Purchase the Full Game" item in the main menu echos:
Code: Select all
Stopping Sound
Stoping Crickets
Endfing Graphics
Here we are...one last notify
Open the URL...-No gaps between the tiles...graphically, everything is spot on!
-Audio is perfect...sound and music are beautiful!
-No problems clicking on buttons or selecting menu items.
Thank you so much for realeasing this beta, BW, hopefully it will give everyone an idea of what they might need to do to get their machines ready to handle the game. There are several very good suggestions in this topic that would be great in a FAQ for the Linux version. I haven't much time at the moment to play the game, but I wanted to get a post up about my initial experiences running Eschalon. More to follow after I spend some time with it! This game ROCKS!
Thanks for supporting Linux!\/iratoxe
Ubuntu -- An African word meaning "Gentoo is too hard for me".
Ubuntu -- An African word meaning "Gentoo is too hard for me".
-
waltshooter
- Apprentice
- Posts: 24
- Joined: November 7th, 2007, 11:46 pm
-
BasiliskWrangler
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3825
- Joined: July 6th, 2006, 10:31 am
- Location: The Grid
- Contact:
This Linux beta test is very helpful, but also very discouraging. There are two conclusions that I am drawing here:
1) The BlitzMax development language on Linux doesn't appear to be very stable, or...
2) There are so many different variants of Linux out there that properly supporting them all would be prohibitive and probably impossible.
When one person reports flawless game operation, and another reports crashing when drinking a potion, then it may be beyond my ability to fix. For example, the code base for drinking a potion is the exact same on Windows, Mac and Linux. I would imagine that the same function has been run flawlessly 100,000 times on all three platforms, yet if one person reports that their system crashed while doing it, then I have to figure out why. What is it about waltshooter's system that differs from other peoples, and how do we fix it?
It's easy enough to say to everyone: update your system! Make sure you are using the latest video and sound drivers! Maybe for now that is good enough...but my concern is that Eschalon may never be stable enough for wide release on Linux.
Well, please keep testing everyone. Your reports are helping, and maybe we can find some common issues/solutions to put in a Linux-specific support doc (like viratoxe suggested) that would bring us closer to a stable release.
1) The BlitzMax development language on Linux doesn't appear to be very stable, or...
2) There are so many different variants of Linux out there that properly supporting them all would be prohibitive and probably impossible.
When one person reports flawless game operation, and another reports crashing when drinking a potion, then it may be beyond my ability to fix. For example, the code base for drinking a potion is the exact same on Windows, Mac and Linux. I would imagine that the same function has been run flawlessly 100,000 times on all three platforms, yet if one person reports that their system crashed while doing it, then I have to figure out why. What is it about waltshooter's system that differs from other peoples, and how do we fix it?
It's easy enough to say to everyone: update your system! Make sure you are using the latest video and sound drivers! Maybe for now that is good enough...but my concern is that Eschalon may never be stable enough for wide release on Linux.
Well, please keep testing everyone. Your reports are helping, and maybe we can find some common issues/solutions to put in a Linux-specific support doc (like viratoxe suggested) that would bring us closer to a stable release.
Such is the curse of trying to support Linux......Literally a million different system combinations. Linux's greatest asset, namely it's sheer openness, is also it's greatest downfall. Even drivers have many versions and derivatives and all that good geeky stuff. OS X baby, a solid *nix base without a lot of hassle*.
You may have to simply support a limited linux base such as Ubuntu 7.10 or something like that.
*Note: Some people like hassle.
You may have to simply support a limited linux base such as Ubuntu 7.10 or something like that.
*Note: Some people like hassle.
BW, do not despair
Probably all this comes down to a single root cause. IMO looks like the way the game handles drawing itself may have a flaw. It looks the window is not drawn independent of the rest of the windows already drawn on the screen.
What would be the cost to make sure Windowed version is able to minimize, move etc etc....
Also does that fact that some system the tiles do not overlap properly ring a bells ?
May be you can give a debug version that would print some trace info for you in a file ?
Or maybe we can provide you with truss output (not sure all Linux platform will have a truss like in Solaris) that would help...
What I can say is that if I can help debug your game so there is a good commercial RPG under Linux, I will do it...
Probably all this comes down to a single root cause. IMO looks like the way the game handles drawing itself may have a flaw. It looks the window is not drawn independent of the rest of the windows already drawn on the screen.
What would be the cost to make sure Windowed version is able to minimize, move etc etc....
Also does that fact that some system the tiles do not overlap properly ring a bells ?
May be you can give a debug version that would print some trace info for you in a file ?
Or maybe we can provide you with truss output (not sure all Linux platform will have a truss like in Solaris) that would help...
What I can say is that if I can help debug your game so there is a good commercial RPG under Linux, I will do it...
Gardez suffisament d'humour pour ne pas perdre l'esprit au nom de la raison.
Ama la realidad que construyes y ni aun la muerte detendra tu paso.
Ama la realidad que construyes y ni aun la muerte detendra tu paso.
-
waltshooter
- Apprentice
- Posts: 24
- Joined: November 7th, 2007, 11:46 pm
Okay, I figured out it wasn't drinking the potion. It seems I get the same crash whenever I'm in a certain area, so it may be location. It also may be my video setting (32 bit color), since I get a "waterfall" of pixels across the screen just before the crash.
I'll try with a lower video setting, and avoiding that location for a while, and let you know what happens.
EDIT: Lower video setting didn't help. It appears to be a problem in certain locations, of which I found 2 (so far).
The first is the ruin w/ the 2 gunpowder barrels. When I stand near enough the chest to open it, the crash occurs. Usually after I open the chest, gets what's inside, and try to move away.
The second is in the basement/dungeon nearby, when I approach the room at the end of the hallway on the left.
And this isn't a bug, so much as a question: Why does it seem some people don't care if you take stuff from their chests, but others do? It would be nice if there was some sort of "warning" (IE; "Are you sure you want to steal this?") so the player knows if it's gonna count as theft, or if someone can see them.
I'll try with a lower video setting, and avoiding that location for a while, and let you know what happens.
EDIT: Lower video setting didn't help. It appears to be a problem in certain locations, of which I found 2 (so far).
The first is the ruin w/ the 2 gunpowder barrels. When I stand near enough the chest to open it, the crash occurs. Usually after I open the chest, gets what's inside, and try to move away.
The second is in the basement/dungeon nearby, when I approach the room at the end of the hallway on the left.
And this isn't a bug, so much as a question: Why does it seem some people don't care if you take stuff from their chests, but others do? It would be nice if there was some sort of "warning" (IE; "Are you sure you want to steal this?") so the player knows if it's gonna count as theft, or if someone can see them.