[LINUX] Installing/running RS2 Help!

[12345678]

Hello all,

I know most of you probably have limited to no experience with Linux, but I'm hoping maybe one or two of you guys might be able to help me out.

So here's the situation:

• Running a decent laptop computer, perfectly capable of running RTW
• Using 64bit Ubuntu 10.10 Linux OS
• Steam versions of Gold and ALX, vanilla runs fine *
• RS installation as per instructions, no problems. Launcher has some glitches, but game can be started without launcher anyway. Startup and main menu are both okay. But then:
• Depending on the modfolder, I am able to play the one but not the other. Example: I can play "Battles Only," but I cannot play "Play_Rome"
• Using failing modfolders I can still access the main menu, but once I load the campaign it crashes to desktop, no message.

Surprise surprise; I don't want to play "Battles Only," no, I want to play Rome. Anyone knows what to do to fix this? Possibly a bad installation? I tried three times now, installing over ALX failed badly, installing over Gold got me the above results.

Thanks in advance!



* I do have a small problem in vanilla, namely on the campaign and battle map the mouse pointer seems to hit a barrier preventing me from accessing the lower part of screen, which I obviously need to access the UI. Changing and reverting resolution settings solves this, but I have to do this every time I start the game. If any one of you has a clue what's going on here, please don't be shy to comment

[Hellhound1]

Im guessing you're using Wine?

As you're probably aware, Linux isnt the most fun for playing windows games

Battes only is the default campaign. When this loads, you know the system is unable to load the modfoldered campaigns (battles only is literally the roman campaign from RTW shrunk to stop you using the campaign options i believe)
Thats why the steam versions work, because theres no modfolder.

So (im no wine expert - i dual boot between windows for games and linux for real stuff) im guessing the system isnt actually loading the correct campaign.

NOW - you mentioned to launcher is buggy. Guess what loads the correct modfolders? The launcher. it uses BASIC, a windows based programming language.

(This, btw, is entirely a guess based on my knowledge of how RS2 works, i may be way out here on some bits)
So you'd need a linux programmed launcher. OR a way of emulating the launcher.

Hope that explained it

[12345678]

Yea forgot to mention, I'm using wine.

You really think the game is unable to load any modfolder at all? Because when I tried to install it over the Alexander game, I didn't get past the title screen. My BI install allowed me to get into the main menu, which to me is a sign that it is definitely able to load at least a part of it.

On the launcher: I see what you're getting at, but you are not entirely right. In the launcher one can change some settings that can also be changed without the launcher (by moving files, editing preferences etc). Loading the modfolders itself can also be done without the launcher, by means of editing the launch options in steam (or directly changing the launch options of the .exe), to make it load a modfolder by default.

I have come up with something that might explain what is going wrong myself. As a Linux user, you probably know that if there is a folder called "Data" and a folder called "data," they are recognized as two different folders because the one starts with a capital letter. In Windows (if I remember correctly, it's been a long time!) these folders would be recognized as one folder. It could be possible that some files were installed in different folders that were actually meant to be in the same folder. I'm going to do a new install soon and see if this is indeed the case. Results will be posted.

PS: I stole your sig to help spread the word, hope you don't mind

[12345678]

Reinstall gave some interesting results. Managed to get the launcher working, no need to change the launch options in Steam anymore.

Interestingly, I was able to launch the Cimbri modfolder, but still not the Rome folder. I haven't tried other modfolders though.

Strange thing is, when trying the Rome modfolder, the loading bar progresses almost all the way to the end, but just before reaching the end the game crashes.

In trying to understand what is going on, I would like to know
1) if it is possible to copy the contents of the Rome modfolder into the main folder, making the default campaign (Battles Only) the actual Rome modfolder, hopefully eliminating the problem
2) what exactly the launcher does. Does it just automatically change the .exe launch options, does it run the .bat files, does it move stuff around between data folders? Can I do this myself without using the launcher, eliminating the problem if the launcher is causing it?

[Hellhound1]

1) Yes, it is.

However, this ties up with question 2

2) the launcher moves files from the selected modfolder and put them in /data, making them the active files. Now, the command used in the launcher is more of a script than a real .exe, so im not sure how well it works on linux.
This overwrites whatever is in /data.

So if you copied it all into data, you'd lose it everytime you played a different faction.

	FileCopy( @ScriptDir & "\..\data\_IMPORTANT_STUFF\Single_Player\export_descr_unit.txt", @ScriptDir & "\..\data\export_descr_unit.txt", 1 )
FileCopy( @ScriptDir & "\..\data\_IMPORTANT_STUFF\Single_Player\Rome.lnt", @ScriptDir & "\..\data\menu\Rome.lnt", 1 )
FileCopy( @ScriptDir & "\..\data\_IMPORTANT_STUFF\Single_Player\menu_english.txt", @ScriptDir & "\..\data\text\menu_english.txt", 1 )
FileCopy( @ScriptDir & "\..\data\_IMPORTANT_STUFF\Single_Player\descr_rebel_factions.txt", @ScriptDir & "\..\data\descr_rebel_factions.txt", 1 )
FileCopy( @ScriptDir & "\..\data\_IMPORTANT_STUFF\Single_Player\descr_mount.txt", @ScriptDir & "\..\data\descr_mount.txt", 1 )

Those are the files you need to copy from play_rome/data/important stuff/single player
to data/important stuff/single player.

[12345678]

Thanks for the info!

I think I found what's wrong. In the Play_Cimbri/data folder there's only a couple of files and folders that replace those in BI/data. This works properly, because I already managed to get the Cimbri campaign working. In the Play_Rome/data folder there's a lot more files and folders, including one named UI. In the BI/data this folder is in lower case: ui. So I probably need to rename all folders with capital letters to lower case.

[Hellhound1]

Yeah, like you said, windows isnt case sensitive.

Give it a shot, see what happens and if it doesnt work ill see about making a linux launcher.

[12345678]

I DID IT !!!!!



I renamed ALL files and folders and the game loads fine! And performance is even better than in Windows I can now even alt-tab!

Anyway, thanks Hellhound for all the help. I would give you rep, but I probably don't have enough posts yet.

[Hellhound1]

Nice one, well done!
Would you mind copying it for me, zipping it up and uploading it here? I wanna try and make a linux-friendly one, and best way for me to do it is to see what you've got there.

Cheers.

[12345678]

You mean sending you all the game files? Don't think so

I will explain what exactly I did, so you can follow my steps if you want.

1) Install RTW Gold (with wine)
2) Install RS into empty folder (with wine)
3) Merge them
4) Extract patch into empty folder, then merge as well
5) Download Métamorphose, a Linux bulk file and folder renamer
6) Rename all files to lowercase characters with Metamorphose. Folders have to be renamed manually, because even though Metamorphose can change file names in subdirectories, it cannot change folder names in subdirectories. Don't forget to also auto-rename the extensions (e.g. from .TGA to .tga).
7) During the rename process you will find a couple of duplicate files and folders, you will have to manually rename and choose which files to delete and which to keep.
8) Play around with preferences, ingame settings, launcher settings, and wine settings. For wine I recommend a virtual desktop and "allow directx apps to stop mouse leaving screen." Once properly configured, you should be able to launch any modfolder through the launcher. You don't need to make any changes to the launcher itself.

[Hellhound1]

Haha nah i meant just the play_rome files

But cheers for the list.