New to Linux -- Not Clear On How to Install UFO AI

[TC]

And now I've taken a big step backward.

I solved the "silhouette" problem yesterday by turning off GLSL shaders. With that fixed, I was able to start playing the game. However, a couple of turns into my first mission, I encountered a critical problem -- I couldn't finish the round. Clicking the Finish Round button and typing "e" did nothing. Searching this forum, I found only one mention of this bug: http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php?topic=4904.0

It occurred to me that if I'm going to be encountering bugs like that one, I should probably be using the latest stable version of the game instead of the development version. So, I did some research and learned how to get version 2.3. I compiled it and installed it. When I run the game, however, it crashes. The splash screen appears for about 4 seconds, then shuts down. This happens in Safe Mode as well. If anyone has any suggestions about how to debug this, please let me know.

TC i might know why you have sound or graphic problems.

1) Pls check steps how to install Pulseaudio (a simple google search will bring it up). You will need more help after setting it up bcs it does not work by default and you have to configure some things that someone new to linux will not know how to handle unless he is a very careful researcher-reader on how-to 's

2) Install latest graphic drivers either Nvidia or ATI. Even ubuntu's repository default current nvidia binaries have issues and it took me 3 hours to realise that on my desktop build until i re-installed properly over the ubuntu's repository binaries (including dev files) the latest from nvidia.com. After that everything runs smooth now, including ufoai.

Thanks, Tzzimy, for the advice. I'm dreading the prospect of messing with my audio or graphic drivers, but I know I'll probably have to do so eventually. I'll look you up on IRC if I need help.

I think that the best solution right now for Ubuntu users that do not want/do not know how to compile the game is to install wine (is in the repositories) and then download and install the windows version.

That's a good suggestion, Edsepulv. I may try it. However, part of my goal is to become proficient with Linux, so I'm going to keep working on getting the Ubuntu version to work.


-TC

[TC]

Now that I understand the install process better, I decided to start over and proceed very carefully. I compiled 3 versions of the game: 2.4-dev, 2.3, and 2.2.1.

2.4-dev
------------
Version 2.4-dev mostly works, but has a bug which makes it unplayable. Whenever one of my soldiers gets injured in combat mode, I immediately drop out of combat mode and return to the world map. It is as if I've been returned to the moment before combat started, except that I must re-instruct my dropship to enter the target site.

2.3
------------
Version 2.3 doesn't work at all. The splash screen appears for about four seconds, then closes. I found a file called ufoconsole.log which gets updated every time I try to run this version. It says: "2010/07/22 23:16:23 FS_RemoveFile: remove /home/tc/.ufoai/2.3/base/keys.cfg". Of course, I have no idea what that means. If anyone has a theory that can explain why 2.2.1 and 2.4-dev startup correctly, but 2.3 crashes after four seconds, I would love to hear it.

2.2.1
------------
Version 2.2.1 works perfectly. I've played several missions and I haven't found anything wrong with it. Am I missing anything important if I continue to play this version and give up on versions 2.3 & 2.4?


-TC

[Alienator]

TC, what you describe is pretty much what I get, also using Kubuntu 10.04, but much less sever for the dev version. I get the "can't end turn" bug (very rare), but when I 'retry' the mission it works fine. I had a few occasions in the middle of a mission of dropping out of combat into geoscape, just as if the mission has not started. Not necessarily associated with injury.

Very rough estimate I would say these things happen once for every 8-10 missions. Annoying, but still playable. I also could not get 2.3 to work.

[TC]

TC, what you describe is pretty much what I get, also using Kubuntu 10.04, but much less sever for the dev version. I get the "can't end turn" bug (very rare), but when I 'retry' the mission it works fine. I had a few occasions in the middle of a mission of dropping out of combat into geoscape, just as if the mission has not started. Not necessarily associated with injury.

Very rough estimate I would say these things happen once for every 8-10 missions. Annoying, but still playable. I also could not get 2.3 to work.

Alienator,

I may have had a run of bad luck yesterday -- the game works much better today. I experimented for about an hour, and I didn't encounter any bugs. I could not recreate the "Crash on Injury" bug which I reported yesterday. So, maybe version 2.4-dev is playable after all.

In any case, it's good to know I'm not the only one encountering these errors. It makes me feel like less of a dummy.


-TC

[TC]

I finally got version 2.3 working.

I was playing version 2.4-dev, and it kept getting buggier. The "Dropping Out of Combat" bug was rare when I started the game, but now occurs on almost every mission. So, I made another effort to get 2.3 working, and I finally succeeded. I'm not sure what made it work. When I compiled it before, I always skipped the "make install" step because I was using "make deb" instead. This time, I did "make install" and now the game works. It doesn't make sense to me, but that's what happened.

So, we can stop the clock now. I see that my first post was on July 14. That means it only took 12 days for me to install UFO AI. Not bad. Thanks for the help from everyone.


-TC

[Alienator]

When I compiled it before, I always skipped the "make install" step because I was using "make deb" instead. This time, I did "make install" and now the game works. It doesn't make sense to me, but that's what happened.

I guess something in the deb packaging was wrong. The only problem with "make install" is that it installs files without tracking them as part of a deb package. Makes removing/upgrading software a little messier, but not a big problem. I prefer to install as debs as much as possible, but nothing prevents doing it the old way of placing files in random directories...

Enjoy