Return to Castle Wolfenstein Test for Linux

jon_c writes: "Id has just released Return to Castle Wolfenstein for Linux multiplayer client test, download here for the full version, or here if you've already installed the windows version."

Comments

A little too much

[SilentChris]

Hmm. Shouldn't this be under "Quake III"? Two articles about the test demo in a little less than a week? What's next? One when the Mac version comes out?

Re:A little too much

[xwred1]

Well, I'd consider this news story to be a bit more important than the one about the general test release, due to all of the political and financial issues surrounding commercial Linux games.

As it is, the Linux port of Wolfenstein is just going to be a free unsupported thing, like Quake 1 and Quake 2 for Linux were.

Re:A little too much

[bconway]

Speaking of Quake III, the engine for this is based on (or utilizes directly) the Quake III engine. Anyone know what would happen if I dropped my Quake III config file directly into the Wolfenstein test? I have a pretty tweaked setup for Q3 at this point, so it'd save me a lot of time. I'll probably try it anyways, but I was curious if anyone had already done so.

Re:A little too much

[tshak]

Wolfconfig.cfg:
// generated by quake, do not modify

:-)

Re:A little too much

[bconway]

Depends. The basics like movement and firing would work, but you'd be missing some commands, and have some that didn't work - use the ingame menu to set those.

Yeah, the basics all look the same. It crashed and burned on some of the vm and other settings, so I just went through and configured again by hand. It's not a big deal.

BTW, don't expect to be strafe jumping or anything...

Yeah, I've played the Windows test, great stuff.

Re:A little too much

[Stephen Samuel]

My thought is that the best thing to do would be to append your file to the Wolfenstein file. That way any settings that are new to Wolfenstein would get set to the defaults, but your own settings will override the settings in the first half of the file.

Mirrors?

[x-empt]

Well, what an idiot...... "LETS POST A LINK DIRECTLY TO THE MAIN FTP ON SLASHDOT!"

Maybe someone kind enough to share might want to mirror the linux release. This is crazy that jon_c posted a direct link and michael approved it.

Maybe next time posting the game to freenet first would be a good idea. Freenet is now a stable enough network to handle a /. load IF more people would utilize it.

Re:Mirrors?

[NonSequor]

It's rather simple, he could have posted a link to a web page with the link on it or he could have posted the direct link. Either way, everyone is going to follow the link. Either way the ftp server gets slashdotted. It doesn't really make any difference.

MIRROR

[backtick]

Go kill this one, too. I have my copy :-)

ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/idstuff/wolf/l
inux/wolfmptest-0.7.16-1.x86.run

GET IT HERE

The link might work if slashcode doesn't kill the html by breaking the line *sigh*

Taliban Modules

[Alien54]

You realize, of course, that we are going to need to have a first person shooter based on Afghanistan, hunting done the Taliban in their caves, hunting for Bin Laden, and do not shoot the innocent civilians and refugees.

Who wants to bet someone is working on this even as we speak?

Re:MIRROR

[chabotc]

Sweet, 100kbyte/sec comming from cdrom.com. Thnx for the mirror link.

wonder if cdrom.com can now break there previous trafic record (there the holder of the title 'max trafic in a day right?)

The original

[Migelikor1]

All the hubbub has sent me back to Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny, the best ID software games ever. I miss those wonderful grid-based levels, with their unflinching portrayal of Nazis at their evil utmost, and your good old american Joe going out to kill 'em. I reccomend digging up a copy of Wolfenstein 3D, First Encounter though it's not available for linux, if you want to feel some serious nostalgia.

Wolf3D (Original) on Linux

[CrusadeR]

There is a Linux port (the Wolfenstein source was released into the public domain a while back):

http://wolfgl.sourceforge.net/

It works rather well (I ordered the commemorative edition of Wolf3D Activision released a few years back) with both the original Wolfenstein 3-D and the sequel, Spear of Destiny.

Re:MIRROR

[tshak]

wonder if cdrom.com can now break there previous trafic record ([they're] the holder of the title 'max trafic in a day right?)


I think that fileplanet.com has them beat. They claim to have done over 20TB of traffic in less than one week.

Note: DISABLE LIBSAFE BEFORE PLAYING

[bconway]

If you're like me and have added libsafe to /etc/ld.so.preload to watch for buffer overflow attempts (an awesome package, I might add), you'll get the following when trying to connect to a game or host your own, which of course exits the game:

Libsafe violation detected on [machinename] at Sun Sep 23 00:25:03 2001
Libsafe version 2.0
Detected an attempt to write across stack boundary.
Terminating /usr/local/games/wolfenstein/wolf.x86.
uid=0 euid=0 pid=10151
Call stack:
0x4001b465
0x4001b61e
Overflow caused by memcpy()

Re:Note: DISABLE LIBSAFE BEFORE PLAYING

[Jeffrey Baker]

i don't mean to pry, but it looks like you ran the game as root. for the love of mike, don't do that.

Re:Note: DISABLE LIBSAFE BEFORE PLAYING

[An Ominous Coward]

Mod people whom you disagree with as trolls, flamebait, or offtopic? You will be meta-moderated accordingly.

Did you know that if you metamod more than two items as unfair then your entire submission is thrown out and your karma is penalized? Given that a LOT of people down-mod stuff they disagree with instead of just responding, metamod is now completely useless.

Re:Note: DISABLE LIBSAFE BEFORE PLAYING

[kindbud]

Did you know that I don't give a flying fuck how the karma system works?

Re:Sheesh

[JesseL]

FWIW my download seems okay. The md5 checksum of my download is:

66ea2ce2c05f96e3103d620cd73c8028

Re:Sheesh

[dead_penguin]

Matching that checksum will only show other people that their download is identical to yours. If you're concerned about someone having uploaded a file to an ftp server that has some form of a trojan embedded, you really need the md5 from the original distributor. Of course you need some way of verifying that the sum you get there is actually *from* there, but that might be just a tad neurotic for a game demo!

Re:MIRROR

[bconway]

File Planet isn't a single machine, it's dozens in a multitude of locations. Cdrom.com, which at the time was a lowly, single PPro 200MMX running FreeBSD still holds the record, which I believe was achieved during a previous RedHat release.

Re:MIRROR

[Jeffrey Baker]

There is no such cpu as a 200 MHz Pentium Pro with MMX.

Another d/l site.

[pjbass]

Hope that for everyone who didn't get it from id software's ftp site that this link works: http://www.3ddownloads.com/?file_id=152201. That should get you three ftp sites to grab the full version.

Cheers!!
/pj

I prefer the *real* original Wolfenstein

[Ukab the Great]

8 bit graphics, chests of cannonballs that end the entire game, and the occasional bottle of Schnapps. Who could ask for more?

http://www.theunderdogs.org/game.php?name=Castle +W olfenstein

gamevoice & linux?

[DrSkwid]

Hi,

Linux gaming. Well it's coming along nicely. It's great that Id & Activision have the foresight and altruism to even bother doing this. I applaud them for that, it's almost brave!

RTCW is a great game & I can't wait for the full version, I've been enjoying it all week.

But I have to ask "Is there anything like the Microsoft Sidewinder Gamevoice for Linux?"

I don't mean the voice-over-ip part. I mean the voice control part. You see, seeing as there are 33 or so radio commands in the game it's a fantastic leap forward to be able to strap your headset mike on and operate them via voice.

Instead of typing v 2 1 to call for a medic all I have to do is say "medic", or "cover me" or any of the 33 commands. If I want to change weapons I say "knife" or "pistol" or "grenade" instead of fumbling around for the 1 2 or 4 key.

So is there any voice control software that would easily slot into a Linux setup to do this kind of work? Naturally it hurts to give Microsoft some $ but you can't warez the usb device!

I know what you mean...

[Wee]

When they first released the Windows version, I rebooted to Windows (first time in months) to try it out. It was awesome. I thought I wouldn't get anything done. Then Windows crashed. I tried again, and Windows crashed. After 10-15 crashes I decided not to bother anymore. Productivity was restored.?

I even installed a spare 2GB SCSI drive just for Win98. I haven't booted Windows since like February. I think. I thought I'd be consumed by RtCW, and I was for a while. Then Windows crashed. It kept crashing. I got frustrated and yanked the drive out of my box. Problem is that I decided to try and get SiN working on my GeForce2. I spent much more time with WINE than I did with RtCW, which is probably good since I learned something.

I have grave fears that I might not get nearly as much off-hours learning and personal development done now that they have a Linux version. I was just getting bored with Tribes2, and figured that I could play with Tomcat. I don't think I'll get very far with that now...

-B

After three hours of playing...

[Nailer]

First things first: all users need write access to your install dir . Saving individual settings to home dirs hasn't been implemented yet.

Linux wise, its the standard loki install. This util is still too stupid to ask for your root password, so substitute users first. Works happily with Mesa or NVidia/SGIs OpenGL implementation. No KDE / GNOME icons but I'm sure they'll be there in the non-alphas.

The game also occasionally started unusually slow. It was running at my desktop res - 1600 x 1200, and needed to be set down to 640 x 480 on my GeForce2MX (tho apparently these requirements will go down, and one of the weapons has a tendency to increase lag dramatically, which might account for my lack of frames). The game uses a lot of polygons, especially for the outside areas in this demo. The maps feel a little like Quake 3 Team Arena - wide open natural spaces with buildings thrown around them. The map in this demo has a lot of fotifications, including mounted weapons one can take control of.

Gameplay wise: Feels a lot like Unreal Tournament's Assault mode. This multiplayer test is a team game where the allies must storm an Axis beachfront, find some documents, and take them to a radioo room. There's different roles, Lieutenant, Soldier, Medic, and Engineer.

The Engineer has TNT to can blow up walls, can disable other peoples TNT, and has pliers which I think might cut through the barbed wire.

The medic hands out medikits. When you die on Wolf, you lay on the ground and be wounded. You can either sit there and wit for a medic from your team, or die immediately and respawn when the next `reinforcement' interval comes up.

The Soldier has a much wider range of weapons than the other two, including a massive gattling gun and the worlds first realistic video game flamethrower.

Neither I, nor anyone else, played Lieutenant.

Work a laugh: There's no swatikas, and the Allies flag is a US one. They're bowing down to the censorship idiots and offending those who actually fought at the same time. Oh well, its just a game...

Re:After three hours of playing...

[JatTDB]

Lieutenants are great...tossing a smoke grenade to call an airstrike is a great diversionary tactic, especially in smaller games.

As to swastikas, there are some very small ones on some of the crates inside the base. Sure, there's no huge banners with em hanging around, but this is a front-line defense base, not Hitler's dining hall.

Re:After three hours of playing...

[Nailer]

"This util is still too stupid to ask for your root password, so substitute users first. "
It's open source, submit a patch.

When I'm paying for the game, I shouldn't have to :). But anyway, there already is one - gnome-auth. When I suggested Loki use it they said something along the lines of `that's nice dear'.

The GF2MX hits it's invisible FPS wall at 800x600. I know this because I have one. Not a problem with the game at all.

Yes, but I never set the game to run at 1600 x 1200. By default most 3D games (including Wolf3D, but only sometimes) run at 640 x 480 and make you up the res yourself. At 1600 x 1200 its so slow its almost difficult to lower the resolution in the menu. A problem with the game.

Kingpin had a good flamethrower - its effects were almost as good as Wolfs. But the crispy burning shader and the residual flames are unsurpassed in Wolf.

Re:After three hours of playing...

[Nailer]

Submit a patch, or don't bitch.

That's ridiculous. No. I can't be bothered. When I'm going to pay for a game which includes the installer, I shouldn't have to go improve the software myself.

The `don't bitch' attitude is laughable. If the people who write and advocate Open Source software in comparison to proprietary software don't expect users to make the same comparison, then something is very wrong.

Re:After three hours of playing...

[theoddone33]

First of all, you didn't pay for the Wolfenstein test, although I realize that your complaint goes a bit farther than just that thing.

Perhaps no one else has found the feature you request useful. That is the deal with open source. If you want a feature that no one else does, you can add it and everything will be just dandy. You can even get someone else to do it for you if you are persuasive enough.

Anyhow, the comparison to commercial software falls down a little bit on this specific issue. I'd hexedit a commercial program before I gave it my root password.

Re:After three hours of playing...

[Nailer]

Yes, but I will pay for it (if its published as a Linux version), and moe to the point I have paid for around ten Loki games where this installer is used. If I pay for something I want a quality product or the support to make it one, whether its open source, closed source or otherwise.

If nobodies found that feature useful, then how come nearly every every GNOME or KDE administrative app has this feature and the few that don't have it in their bug database? Games are for desktop users. Telling someone to open a terminal and substutute users does not inspire confidence in Linux as a desktop system.

Finally, you don't mean commercial software, acccording to logic, any dictionary, the FSF or the OSI. You mean closed source, non free, orproprietary. Whether comething is commercial or not has no bearing on whether it is Open Source or otherwise. For someone that seems so enthusiastic about OSS / FS its surprising that not only do you not seem to understand this on your own but you've never read the FSF misleading words list which illustrates this point. Red Hat Linux's installer and Zope and to a large extent PHP are commercial applications, despite having their source code licensed under OSD compliant licenses.

And finally: you are a perfect example of a slashdot slashdot troll, replying aggressively to an accurate criticism of an open source application with a rant about the benefits of open source despite the fact that you audience is aware mof them and that you have very little understandoing of open source / free software or the reality of business.

excellent

[Ender Ryan]

This is so excellent, continued support of gaming on Linux despite the fact that there is absolutely no money to be made with it.

Although, this port was done by one guy at id, and in just a few days from start to finish, so maybe this particular linux port will generate a better than negative revenue stream.

Hopefully they will release a Linux version of the final product, and hopefully they will have a way to gauge how many people use it, and hopefully everyone who uses Linux and plays these kinds of games will buy it. hint hint, please drop a little money in support of gaming on Linux if you care about it at all ; )

The moderators must be playing

[Refried Beans]

Wow, 10 hours later and there still aren't any posts +3 or higher. I guess the moderators are too busy playing the game. Way to go id!

Re:Linux version is only a demo...

[Adnans]

You can't actually *do* anything in it... it's locked into 'spectator mode'. This isn't made clear in the article (you do get to watch all the windows users killing each other though).

Bullshit. You can play just fine. I suggest you read the docs, and maybe TRY it yourself.

I wasn't impressed anyway... it's just counterstrike by another name, except it's stupidly CPU hungry - certainly my Dual Proc 800 + Geforce couldn't handle it without grinding to a halt every few seconds.

Looks like you have configuration problems. My single CPU Atlon 900 + Geforce2MX400 works just fine at 800x600 on TVout.

-adnans

Re:Anti-German Propaganda

[tjansen]

Actually the original Castle Wolfenstein has been forbidden in germany. Not because you shoot germans or general violence, but because of the display of Nazi-symbols which was considered as glorifying them. Don't ask why shooting Nazis means gloriying them, or why Indiana Jones 3 has been shown in german cinemas, there is no logic behind it.

Re:MIRROR

[cobar]

It was a PPro 200 w/ 1 gig ram originally. They said it had power to spare handling 1800 users.

Later, the machine was replaced with a Xeon 450 on a dual board with only 1 cpu and 4 gigs of ram. At that point, the user limit was raised to 5000, though later revised down to 3500 - possibly to reduce bandwidth usage. And it's running David Greenman's modified version of wu-ftpd, which is pretty amazing for that he could squeeze that kind of performance out of it.

Will there be a version for MacOS and/or LinuxPPC?

[green pizza]

I see a version for Windows and a version for Linux/x86, but no version for MAC or LinuxPPC. Curious.

Any learning is good

[Wee]

I don't mind learning. I'd rather spend an extra hour and get some results I know can help me than throw my hands up in despair at the first sign of trouble (and hope some other nice programmer some place will fix it for me). WINE is worth it to me. If I can get it set such that I can play a game I would have to dual boot for otherwise, then a little investment now pays off many times later. I just don't like to dual boot, and I've invested quite a bit in Linux. Playing other games besides my Linux ports (T2, HG2, SC3K, SoF) would be cool, so I try.

But if you're suggesting that I run Windows all the time, then I'd rather "waste" my time playing with Linux. I'm all for the right tool for the job. I'm just not sure what job Windows is right for. Secretarial work, maybe. Whatever it is... I can't take Windows. You don't learn very much trying to get Explorer not to crash.

-B