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Bioware Releases Neverwinter Nights Linux Client Beta
valedaemon writes "Well, I thought that the world would end before this day dawned, but Bioware has finally made good on its promise of a Linux client for Neverwinter Nights. You still need a Windows installation in order to copy the game data, but the good news is that the downloadable is only 4.4 MB. I could write more, but why? Go play!"
Server browsing and chat are disabled in this beta.
Now I never have to boot Windows again!!!
if you dont want to login to their site. download direct from here
And now the fun begins! I've been toying with it somewhat in WinDOS so far. If you liked Baldur's Gate et al then this is for you! (OpenGL required)
Clickety Click
You still need a Windows installation in order to copy the game data, but the good news is that the downloadable is only 4.4 MB
This begs the point, why even bother with a linux version at all? Its nice that Bioware did make the game playable on Linux, but shelling out for a copy of windows to be able to play it seems counter-productive. Second, why didn't Bioware make a linux installer for the game files. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to have a hard-drive based installer that looks to the CD for the data.
At any rate, Bioware did make good on their promise to support Linux and Linux gamers should be grateful.
First of all, good work Bioware on finally get something into our hands. I hope that what they have gone through can serve as a lesson to others planning to release a game accross multiple platforms. Be sure that the tools you are using exist on each platform. *One* of the longest delays was due to the Video and Sound engine (I believe it was the Miles engine) not be supported in Linux (but then it finally was...it is a long story). This is why we need API's like OpenGL, OpenAL, SDL and the likes. It makes things a lot easier to release on a multiple platforms.
I also hope Bioware has learned to keep their mouth shut if they don't know when something will be done. They lied to the community more than once about the state of the Linux client and that made many very mad...so...wise up!
Unstable Apps: Our Android Apps Don't Suck
Wow, never would have thought this would happen at all.
Isn't this one of the signs of the Apocalypse?
You still need a Windows installation in order to copy the game data, but the good news is that the downloadable is only 4.4 MB.
Do you actually need to have windows installed, or can you just copy the files from some other installation, or maybe from the game CD? I no longer use unlicensed software, and I refuse to pay for Windows. That does limit my options somewhat.
(Score: -1, Stupid)
Spending Friday night, Saturday morning and afternoon trying to get OpenGL hardware acceleration working. And all Sunday calling around to my Windows using friends begging for a copy of NWN :)
Now we know the definition of "shortly"
"shortly after" - 6 months.
if u dont have a windows install, u can extract the data from ur cds with these toolz: http://icculus.org/~ravage/nwn/nwn_linux_installer .run
http://members.cox.net/monteslu/nwn_data_installer .run
their may be issues since the stuff extracted from the cds arent patched up to 1.29, but i cant say for sure. reply with info and/or tips if u have any
> "I allege that SCO is full of it" -Linus
Gone were the tactical combats with different party members complementing each other, which I had so loved in Baldur's Gate and other titles.
NWN is nothing more than a 3d diablo hack'n'slash clickfest as it stands now. The storyline isn't bad but the game as a whole is nothing I'll ever play again or buy sequels to.
Why oh why did they give up the winning formula from the earlier titles!?
sig sig sputnik
Or would this be so much more interesting if it read: "windows NWN install disks still required".
Not to troll, and kudos to the dev for doing this, but I mean this still relies on someone having paid the MS tax to play the game.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
Wonderful. Now the flame wars can really start. At least I'll be happily playing through the campaign again :-)
Or, perhaps the game developers could just refrain from promising to deliver what they can't.
Crazy thought..I know....
Step 1. Install the windoze version on a windoze box.
/path/to/mounted/nwn/directory
step 2. Update the windoze version to 1.29. 18meg download - and it's ssssllllloooowwwww.
step 3. Copy a pile of files over to your linux box. It would have been nice for them to include a script to do this for me.
e.g. 'getnwn
I'll write my own. Hmm, maybe I can just install the Linux client into the mounted windows directory and save me the trouble.
step 4. Install SDL if you don't already have it.
step 5. Install the NWN Linux client.
step 6. Profit!
Started this message when the update to 1.29 was at 8%. Finished this message at 58%. Damn slow.
-- Will program for bandwidth
Anyone have any benchmarks comparing the frame rate to the windows version? or even a it feels faster / slower?
ROFLMAO!
... @80KBps
... @65KBps
... @40KBps
... @10KBps
I entered the cave.
*use lantern*
The lantern lights a path and you see linuxNWN.tar.gz
*download linuxNWN.tar.gz*
You hath established connection and are downloading linuxNWN.tar.gz at 88KBps
*wistle dixie*
10%
*wistles*
35%
*wistles faster*
52%
*curse thy slashdot*
You have cursed at the slashdot administrators.
*grin*
A firey elementa of CowboyNeal appears before you.
*grovel*
CowboyNeal demands, "Why hath though cursed me through these halls, lest though die from thy vile dead?"
*kiss feet, explain the echoing of words on slashdot as being construed by the kobolds, trolls, and gnomes in the walls of this dungeon, and the stress from the occasional double post*
CowboyNeal forgives, leaving warning: "You hath finish thy download at a mere 10KBps, and henceforth I will shut up further seeds from download of thy file by SLASHDOT AFFECT!"
*praise cowboyneal for sparring thy download*
99.999999%
*shake off tarantulas, swap file with *NULL, run through hall, jump over chasm, run away from ball*
Phew, you are panting. You arrive at a lake; a strange man is sitting on a hydrofoil plane and is fishing...
*play game*
You die of a poison dart
Ok, you got me there...my fingers out typed my brain. Bioware...
From the client download page (get the link from head post): You will need to get the Neverwinter Nights game resouces from an existing Windows installation of the 1.29 build of Neverwinter Nights. Why must it be this way, you ask? It is because there is no feasable way to get the game resources from the InstallShield cabinet files on the Windows version CDs.
What a bunch of idiots... These retards take almost a full year after the release to come up with the Linux client (that they told everyone would be ready for shipping with the cds), and then this. Why should anyone put money in such a half-assed effort like this? Guess what, in the end few Linux users will buy this crap, and those morons will go: "told ya, shouldn't have invested time in the Linux market, Linux is not there yet."
*sigh* bastards....
'beg the question' is not synonymous with 'raise the question'
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Linux clients for all their new games, pending publisher(or whose ever above them) allowing. I would like to see that new Star Wars game they are making for linux. Well hopefully things go well for them. I hope that Linux gaming is just not a fad but a reality for gamers. Most people I've asked don't use Linux because there aren't enough games to play. Maybe it will close the bridge.
They told the same lie as every other game company, namely that the game was finished when they shipped it. I stopped believing that one a few years ago, and "the Linux client is almost done" didn't sound much different to me.
Been there, done that, and the game is even WORSE in multiplayer. Boooooring.
"everyone" says that MP is what NWN is about. They're wrong as far as I am concerened. I've played BG1+ToSC, BG2+ToB, IWD1+HoW and IWD2 with friends, and we've never had such fun with NWN. We tried it. Played into the second chapter.. and it was just so incredibly boring.
I don't like saying that, but it's the truth. I've player BG/IWD/PS:T for _months_ _effective_ time, but NWN had me tired after a few days. It's all so bland, bland, bland.
Though I'm actually hopeful that the coming expansions might but the Game back in NWN.
Personally, I think there's a market for a new Infinity Engine. The problem with IE is that it's hell to work with -- the scripting was written by someone with no prior experience (or a diabolical sadistic humor) -- and the use of classic 2d-animation for characters and items was a mistake from the beginning, and the way multiplayer got hacked in... anyway, over the years the engine got almost impossible to work with, as more and more cruft collected.
However, the concept works and will work in the future! It just needs to be done right for once. NWN ("Aurora engine") isn't the improved IE, it's something else completely. Some like it that way, but I and many with me still prefer the older kind of IE gameplay.
lionheart might be it, but somehow... I don't know, I doubt it.
I think the next great innovation may come out of from an independent developer, one who grew up with the IE games and wants to do it right. There was a fork in the road, and the sign said "3D, action and spiffy effects" in one direction, and "storytelling, interaction and AI" on the other. Bioware went one way, I want to explore the other.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
It's actually rather doubtful that you will be "blowing" any karma at all, because quite honestly I do not believe any moderators care about your unsupported, unwarranted, childish rantings.
Are you saying that consumers do not have a right to express their wants, opinions, and wishes to a company, or more than likely a company with whom these customers already have an existing business relationship? It very much appears that this is what you are saying.
Are you some how seriously disadvantaged by this release? Are you hurt by it?
No? Well, perhaps you should inform the developers , producers, and publisher how very concerned you are for them, and how certain you are that they have made a horrible decision.
I'm sure they will be tremendously grateful not only for your appreciation of their effort, but also for your humble willingness to impart to them your unspeakable wisdom.
You sir, truly are a god among men.
Not at all. Bioware promised (at least initially) a simultaneous release of the windows/linux/mac versions. Many people placed pre-orders based on this information. Then, on the week of the release, Bioware makes a statement to the effect "oh by the way, we don't have the linux/mac versions done yet. But they will be soon."
Fast-forward to 9 months later....the linux beta version just gets released....no Mac version in site.
To sum up...I am not demanding the game developers support my tiny platform; however, don't promise me a version for my platform, and then screw-the-pooch (elegant, I know) by utterly failing to deliver (mac version, thank you).
From the Bioware page:
You will have to purchase a copy of the game to get a valid Neverwinter Nights CD-Key. Of course, with this purchase you also get a lovely Neverwinter Nights mapkin, a spiral-bound game manual, and three plastic-coated aluminum-reinforced W1nd0z3 brand coasters.
Heh. Think they know who thier audience is, or what?
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
Click Direct Connect and enter "lmp.dyndns.org" or 216.58.114.38.
NOTE: This is a Windows server if that matters to you.
Seems to work for me. I just followed the instructions and copied the files from my NTFS partition, extracted the tarball, ran the "fixnwn" script, and the dang thing works! Loaded my save game and everything.
Neverwinter Nights works with:
[X] Debian Woody 3.0
Clickety Click
The unofficial Linux game data Installer is a start, but the bioware site says to copy the files from a patched windoze install.
:(
Linux still gets treated 2nd class
Baldur's Gate etc was not that great for modding. Hey if you just got NwN for the "smallish stock module" then you are missing out. There are thousands of new modules made by aspiring Dungeon Masters out there now, and this is just the start. Not happy with the stock, well make your own! I agree that BG I / ToTSC / II / ToB are really great, but NwN is a rather ambitious undertaking in that you can make your own adventures, and even DM them if you want. Even still, I like the stock module. I like zooming in and watching my warrior hack those monsters to bits in full OpenGL splendor, and be sure to enable "Special Violence Mode" for extra fun!
Clickety Click
Now that's the way to get more developers to release products for linux. Make fun of those that do.
I currently have no clever signature witicism to add here.
Actually, no, .cab files used by InstallShield are not -microsoft- .cab files, so cabextract will not work.
.cab with the same settings) and I'll whip a native linux installer up for you :)
That said, I could probably whip up an extractor for it pretty quickly. Except I don't own a copy of NWN, and have no idea what InstallShield version/settings they are using.
There is absolutely no reason that this can't be done. Hey BioWare, send me a copy (heck, send me a sample
You need the data files for Neverwinter Nights. Windows itself is not needed, but getting those files without Windows might be tricky. The easiest source is to copy the files from an existing installation of the Windows version. You can try to get them off the game CD, but they're in proprietary InstallShield cab files. There are tools that claim to be able to extract from those files, but I don't know how well they'll work in this case. Wine might be willing to run the installer.
Search 2010 Gen Con events
who the hell is Kathleen Fent? With a name like that, I'm sure the entire red army has visited her orifices.
Ahem... Kathleen Fent is CmdrTaco's wife.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
--Aristotle
That was truly elegant sarcasm. By all means, please create an account and remain a part of the /. community.
I am not at all hurt by people requesting a Linux version or Bioware offering one. I was merely offering my opinion that such a vocal, but small subgroup of geeks should not have so much sway in an industry by stint of their complaints alone.
Craenor
Of course, it was shot already with the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, but there's always time before and after games.
Any my wife will be away for the weekend, so there's nothing to worry about there.
Oops, forgot I have to watch the kids. Oh well, they're 6 and 2 - that's old enough to fend for yourself, right?
I made one a few days ago in preparation for this: http://members.cox.net/monteslu/nwn_data_installer .html
ravage also made one :
http://icculus.org/~ravage/nwn
"If they have both, tell them we use Linux. And if they have that, tell them the computers are down." -Dave Chapelle
We all as consumers have a choice...
However, some of us, as linux zealots/advocates/users, have a limited choice of games we are able to use/enjoy/whatever...
You are only Bioware's customer if you purchased the game. If you purchased the game because they said they were developing a Linux client, good for you... They did what they said they would do... Did they say there were going to make it easy? Did they say that a Linux installer would be released?
Look at the box for your NWN cd's... I don't imagine you'll find 'Linux' under supported operating systems, regardless of what you read on Bioware's website...
I personally, was eagerly awaiting release of the linux client so that I could stay in my SuSE distro more than my WinXP installation. I applaud Bioware's efforts to release a Linux client, as my friends and I enjoyed playing multiplayer on my Slackware server using the dedicated Linux server.
Instead of bashing Bioware for a less than perfect Linux implementation, how about applauding them for bothering to support linux at all?
Are you typing from a cell phone or something?
r .run http://members.cox.net/monteslu/nwn_data_installer .run
Here's an english translation:
"If you don't have a Windows install, you can extract the data from your CDs with these tools:
http://icculus.org/~ravage/nwn/nwn_linux_installe
There may be issues since the stuff extracted from the CDs isn't patched up to 1.29, but I can't say for sure. Reply with info and/or tips if you have any."
Anyone try using either of these two methods for the install? They're both getting better as time goes on (naturally winex's improvements will eventually make it into wine). Supposedly winex 3.0 has much better install shield support. I managed to get it as far as writing the files in an install of Undying, but didn't have space left on the only drive it would let me select and after that I haven't managed to get it to go that far again.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Tactics are everything when you're playing against a DM. Now, if we could only stop the insane amnesiac dwarf from running headlong into every fight...
You see your friend laying on the ground, laptop in hand.
:wq!*
* 8VVvv8*vvVV8888VVv
.__ .__ .__v vvVVVV8vvvv888vvvVVv
*greet*
Your greeting is not received.
*observe friend*
Your friend is not concious.
*dive into water, swim to shore, meander towards friend*
Your friend has a file that is only 99.9999999999% complete.
*append EOF*
The file does not allow append.
*append EOF
A false god jumps out of the jungle, as a poison dart strikes your shoulder.
*run from Microsoft^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HPalladium tribe*
You black-out and die from over-exertion of the likes your attrophied body is not accustomed...a bird swoops down, plucks out your eyeball; the poison kills the bird.
..__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _
L--aa-a-a-aa--a-aaaa-a-a-aaL
l---Here is *BSD Troll-----l
l---died from a MS CEO-----l
l--aaa-aa-a-aa-a-a-aa-aaa--l
VVvvVVvv
l__ __ __. __
l--aa-a-a-a-a-a-a--a-a-a-a-l
l---Here is Alpha Troll----l
l---died from old age------l
l--aa-aa-aa-aa-a-aa-a-a-a--l
www**88
-SlashdotTroll (because slashdot doesn't like me logging in and posting more than 2 times every 24 hours)
Looks like there's no difference between Linux and Windows users after all.
Have you heard of this strange thing called "Apple?" A majority of games are ported to that peticular platform. For the sake of argument we'll ignore Linux this time. Did you know that Apple isn't Microsoft, and yet many developers, including your mal-quoted Blizzard corelease games for this seperate platform? The ignorance behind your post is more shocking than the post itself! I can name other platforms too: Gamecube, Playstation, Dreamcast, and (oh my!) Xbox (which isn't technically marketed as a 'PC'). Did you realize that developers some how manage to release their products on these platforms? I guess not.
At a time like this, I am reminded of an old addage: It is better to keep one's mouth shut, and let others think one is stupid, rather than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Have a pleasant day!
Just played a little Pools of Radiance mod (my personal favorite mod) and it looks and works great for me. Stock Mandrake 9.1rc2 install, and I only had NWN version .27 not .29
and I can't fix it because my posts in the right place are rejected. Sigh.
Out of all my NWN gaming friends, about half will use the Linux version (ie, about 2-3 of them :) ). Still, even though they use windows now, an increasing number of gamers are looking to install Linux. Thanks to WineX (I still think this is good, but they shouldn't advertise games with native ports) and NWN Linux version, one of them is going to be interested in completing the wipe of Windows.
It's exactly these ports that will create a new market. Obviously a gaming company wouldn't be interested in having a 50/50 split between Linux and Windows, because then they have to develop two ports. But Bioware has been nice to give us a native port, which later on may result in it being a necessity rather than a kind gesture.
Oh, and by the way, I don't wine about "Dirty evil EA how dare they not give us a native client!" I know why they don't. Instead it's much closer to "Could you please make a Linux client? We would really, really, love that".
Nethack announces they are going release a linux client!
Gee, the meaning isn't to play the game?
You mean it's really to push some lame geek ethics theory?
Oh. Well, it's also morally incorrect to write with your left hand. So writing is pointless if it's done with the left hand. Totally pointless. All those left handed authors are just devil spawn who don't see the light.
Just wanted to let you know.
Did you just argue that my point was invalid because Apple was a viable gaming platform?
ROFL!
Craenor
I was watching one of my employees play this game at work one morning and all I noticed were glitches and bugs. The one that I loved the most I had him take a screenshot of... check it out here. I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it. Think they'll fix these sort of things in the linux version?
Actually, no, it's not meaningless to release it in Binary with no source. Yes, Open Sourcing the game would be cool, but it's a commercial product and they have reasons for keeping a reign on the client software. There are known compatibility issues between clients and servers of different revs. Open source would make that issue alone a nightmare. Never mind the potential for cheating.
Nope. Sorry. While there's a coolness factor in playing with the source, it won't make the game better for the majority of players.
Never attribute to malice what can as easily be the result of incompetence...
My guess is that they were waiting for some tools from Borland on the linux side.
Bioware's engine was written with Borland C++ Builder on Windows and they needed to use Kylix 3 which allows them to compile C/C++ code as well as Delphi.
Disclaimer: I worked on the first couple of versions of Kylix when I used to work at Borland. That said, I just want to say it really is a great development environment and you should check it out if you haven't yet. They have an Enterprise Trial and an Open Edition which can be downloaded here.
--
Karma: Positive --- Seems I haven't screwed up yet!
Bet this
Is money all you care about???
But seriously, wow, I've been waiting almost a year for this (okay, maybe more like 9 months or so). I'm pretty happy that it's here now, since this expands the number of games I can play in Linux without having to reboot back into Windows. w00t! Although, honestly, is there even a reason I should play it in Linux rather than Windows (other than me being too lazy to reboot)? Since it's a beta it's rather crippled, and at this rate, I'm not sure it'll EVER run "as well" as the Windows version. I'm not too convinced with my Linux Q3A and RtCW (Punkbuster and performance are not up to par in Linux compared to Windows). We shall see.
Duh! the Install shield cabs are properitary even Bioware can't use issue a patch to get in without a.) paying another license fee to Install Sheild [who are scrounging for money after msi] or b.) violating DMCA by publishing an installer for their own game!
There's a post on NWN's linux forum from someone running it successfully under slack. Go for it!
"Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
Lots of people are complaining that this is too late, and that they should have released a linux client with the box, and so on, and so forth..
But the fact is, the game wasn't done when it came out. You can hardly blame them for not having a linux client ready when nothing else was, either. It was very obviously pushed out the door incomplete.
For instance, the HUGE faction bug was just fixed, last week. I bought the game the day it came out, and have barely played it due to this bug. Now that it's fixed (along with a host of other problems, and new content, like rats, that should have been in there from the beginning) the game is where it should have been when it was released.
I'm not blaming the developers, of course, as that's the state of the industry. Games are pushed out before they're ready all the time. This is just another instance of that, and it's admirable that they're still working hard on a Linux client that they will probably see very few sales as a result of (most people who are going to play it on Linux probably already own it).
-palp
Actually, I just want a game that I can play without having to reboot to a windows partition.
And I want a game that'll play in ten years time. Loads of my old favourites now pretty much refuse to work happily with win2k or above(which soon will be the oldest supported release, and you'll need a current version of DX to play the latest games, which won't install on your older windows machine).
I use Linux (StarOffice, Mozilla and Evolution on Mandrake, Red Hat or Debian, whichever is my favourite flavour at the time..) for most of my needs, and have windows exclusively to run games.
I'd really like to not have to pay for a Windows license, just to play a game.
Companies porting these days to Linux isn't out of the goodness of their hearts.. It's because they've heard of Linux. As have a good many other people, and they realise that the numbers are growing.
If they build the tools for cross platform development now, if Linux does really take off, they they're ahead of the competition by already having tools to get the next games out for less cost (the engine is good for a couple of years and a few game releases on it).
Given the choice of a windows, or a Linux install, I'd take the linux one any day of the week.
If I'm offered both on the same disk set, I'd praise the company highly for not trying to gouge by selling the same thing on two different formats (like the RIAA).
It's not about M$, and not about being philanthropic. It's about watching where the market seems to be going.. Which is rather heartening!
Wow!!!
:)
Its working great here! (my system stats: p4 2.0G 512Mb gentoo linux kernel 2.4.20-gentoo-r1, GeForce 4600TI, SB Live)
I tested campaign, multi-player coop, ramped up the video options.. The only thing I DIDNT test was custom content..
Its all working great! NWN in Linux!!
Woo Hoo!!
There is but a single bug I have found and that is with the mouse control.
Im going to send in a bug report - its probally not a big deal to fix..
Fantastic job BioWare!! You have seriously pushed forward into new territory in the world of Linux gaming!!
-- NeTMoNGeR
It makes sense to have Linux servers for most network games - linux clients are often a spin-off these.
Go here for an installer for Linux, so you don't need an existing Windows Intall: http://icculus.org/~ravage/nwn/
CAn anyone confirm whether it works fine under FreeBSD ?
Your point is invalid, yes, because people make games for the Apple platform. I'm sorry you feel so embarrassed and harrassed that you need to resort to obscenities.
Obscenities?
Umm...maybe you are new to the internet. ROFL stands for Rolling on the Floor Laughing.
I'll be happy to answer any other internet questions you may have as well.
I'll just run right out and buy a Windows verson so I can get the data files. Then copy all the data files to a linux dir and then install the beta. This is great, I can get the beta running just by getting the windows version... (scratches head).... So I can buy it again when the fullblown Linux client is out?
Sure, I can waste the money on two versions of the same game. I don't think they get it. The object is to make a Linux client so I don't have to do this crap...
Oh well, no NWN for me.
Not to be too much of a troll, but I count a Windows 2000 box among the ones sitting in my bedroom. I finished this game last year.
:D) development by buying alt-os versions of games when they are released. But I, like almost every non-fundamentalist Linux user, have access to a Windows box and am not going to wait around for a year to play a game I want to play on the OS of my choice.
I'm glad they finally got a Linux client out, but Bioware really dropped the ball on this one. If they bitch about a lack of Linux sales like id did with Quake3, I'm going to be supremely disappointed (this is, of course, assuming that NWN doesn't suck like Q3 did, which it doesn't).
I like to support Linux (and *BSD
So thanks, Bioware. You haven't really done anything for me, but at least you kept your promise.
Game... blouses.
There is one good reason. Linux has truly piss-poor support for binaries. A Windows binary will keep working for years. A Linux binary will be broken within two or three years.
Try running installing Immortals of Kohan and running the updater with glibc 2.3 installed. Segfault!
To be fair, this is really a Linux issue, not a NWN issue, but it still means that you may not be able to play the game in a few years.
May we never see th
Just wanted to point out to everyone (it's been mentioned before in some replys, but what the heck) that there are *TWO* unofficial Linux data installers available here and here. All you need are your installation CDs. No Windows partition required.
After installing the data, you're then going to need some form of Wine (the latest Wine worked for me). You then add the following to the end of ~/.wine/system.reg:
[Software//Bioware//NWN//Neverwinter] 1048122278
"Location"="X://nwn"
With drive X (or what have you) set up to point to wherever the nwn data directory is.
Finally you download and run the standalone patch using Wine.
-Colin
I applaud Bioware for their effort. They have given an ok first showing. They could have and really should have done a lot better, but the incompetance I've seen there isn't any worse than I've seen anywhere else. I think both the bosses and the programmers at Bioware need to be forced to read and pass a comprehension test on The Mythical Man Month, since it appears that they made every classic mistake the book warns about, of course so does virtually every other company that has someone write software for any reason, so I can't condemn them too much.
We want to play nice with anyone that tries to bring games to Linux. After all, it's a risk for them. Their marketers are telling them that Linux just doesn't have that much market share, so there's little reason to support it. If other companies are watching this, and believe me they are, whether or not they decide to support Linux will be determined by what happens to those that have gone before. If the expierence is negative, they will be less likely to support Linux in the long run.
[1] It is handy to be able to export a display etc, but doesn't that add a whole lot ov overhead? It seems to me that it would give much better performance to have a local only X server, for the average desktop machine. Of course include the regular one, but why waste those system resoruces.
There is a civil war coming in the United States. Remember which side has most of the guns
if bioware had launched this straight out of the box, the game would have sold huge, due to the largely untapped "linux dork" gamer market, i personally know of people (okay, just one) who would have bought the game if it had a linux client in the box, hell even a mac client. it is still a big deal, but not a monumentous deal, but on the other hand, if the client is not being released until now, maybe it completely sucked ass when the game was released and is just now playable. who knows, all that matters is you can play nwn in linux now, yay.
I hate sigs.
Blaah this, blaah that, yada yada yada, etc, etc... Will somebody comment the client? Did you try it? Does it work? How many times it crashed on you? You know, the stuff that matters...
--
BigW!
The Sig, the sig
Obviously, the intent of Bioware is not only to release their game, but to make available the game engine to other development studios. Just as id software has made a pile of money letting other companies make first person shooters that use the Quake series of game engines, Bioware will attempt to do the same for RPG games. The Linux and Mac ports of the game engine will actually make the engine more attractive to potential licensees. So even if they have no new NWN sales because of the Linux port, it is still valuable to them.
My other first post is car post.
First off, there are features missing. Some will be enabled in future builds, as this is beta1. Don't sweat those.
Second, you don't actually need windows installed, all you need is access to the game resources.
From the instructions here
2. Copy the following files from a Windows installation of Neverwinter Nights (updated to 1.29) into a directory called, for example, 'nwn':
ambient/*
[snip long list of directories]
dialog.tlk
dialogF.tlk (French, German, Italian, and Spanish)
If you are using ftp to transfer the files, be sure to transfer them in binary mode.
Note the last statment in step 2. You don't need NWN installed on the windows partition of the machine you're using. It only needs to be installed on a machine you can get to. For that matter, I would bet that that machine doesn't even need to be anywhere near up to the task of running NWN. Install it, update it, and use ftp. Bioware is actually suggesting that you get them from another machine.
Other options would include:
Grabbing the files from someone who has them and a burner. You might have to get creative and use several cd's as well as creative use of zip, and then be careful to put things where they're supposed to be, but there is no reason it wouldn't work.
Even an old machine with win95osr1 should be able to handle the install, and update scripts. The game doesn't actually have to work on that machine, it only has to install and update.
Third, this is still a beta. From the old Linux update page (Before the beta client was released):
Neverwinter Nights Linux Client Installation:
There are 2 things you will need for the Neverwinter Nights Linux Client, aside from the Linux Client executable:
- the game resources
- a CD-Key
You will need to get the Neverwinter Nights game resouces from one of two locations. You can either get them from an existing Windows installation of the English 1.27 build of Neverwinter Nights, or from a Neverwinter Nights Linux Game Resource download that will be available from several mirror sites. Either way, instructions will be provided with the downloads. Why must it be this way, you ask? It is because there is no feasable way to get the game resources from the InstallShield cabinet files on the Windows version CDs.
Read that carefully. There apparently will be resource files for download, they just don't appear to be ready yet. It does make me wonder though, if the Stand alone server can work for getting the resources. I tend to doubt it.
This all said, it would be better to have some sort of installer. As others have posted that such things are possible, and some have claimed to have done it, I suspect that some of the legal issues may have surrounded this specifically, and the necessity to create a click through EULA that can't be bypassed, which would be nearly impossible to do given the nature of the tools available to Linux. Such things give IP Lawyers a terrific case of the vapors, and yes I know that such things are legally ambiguious at best. Don't tell me, tell the lawyer.
There is a civil war coming in the United States. Remember which side has most of the guns
Most of the complaints I heard weren't that Bioware didn't give a Linux client, rather that they promised a Linux client and took forever to deliver. Many of those I engaged in flamewars with on the Bioware site insisted that the entire linux client was a fabrication. This is what pissed them off. I told them that the vast majority of software developers are incompetent, and have no idea how to produce software effectively. They felt they had been lied to. Most stated that they would rather get told to get stuffed straight up than to be told that there wold be a Linux client, then not get one.
There is a civil war coming in the United States. Remember which side has most of the guns
between files that don't actually exist (patch.key), to libmss not being installed correctly, to libSDL crashing horribly, i still have yet to see it run.
You need to transfer files from a fully updated install, remember to run fixinstall, and run it as the user you installed it as, from the directory it's installed in. Patch.key iirc shows up after 1.28.
Also try updating SDL.
From the Bioware forums, ati cards seemed to be a bit of a problem too, I didn't find anyone who had made one work.
That said, it worked pretty well for me with only a few minor issues.
Check on the Bioware site. There is a forum devoted to the Linux client, and several threads with ideas and tips for getting it to work.
What I know:
Mouse speed seems to be a bit strange.
Ati Cards seem to have problems.
It runs like molasses with 16 bit color, 24 bit is good though, some report faster than windows, mine was a bit slower however.
Gentoo and Debian users seemed to have more trouble than others.
There is a civil war coming in the United States. Remember which side has most of the guns
Good job. These reactions will encourage other game companies to do their best in supporting a gaming platform that's in minority.
Oh...
Fuck you for cleaning your room and not keeping track of your stuff.
And Bioware shouldn't be fucked for the copy protection. They have nothing to say about it, only Infogrames. I'm sure Bioware complained about it as well, since they also had CD breaking and becoming coasters too... I guess they finally got an approval from their publisher to remove it in a patch.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Nobody is expecting anyone to expend any resources "just because of", people are expecting because Bioware promised lots of before release of game that it would be there.
Expecting promises to be fullfilled is not really stupid dreaming now is it?
You deserve the flamemods.
Why the hell not? It won't hurt anybody if you make a copy of one. Oh wait...
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
Not in the least.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
--Aristotle
I said "wait, it'll be worth it." I, of course, did not wait bacuase I wanted to play immediately. When I said "wait," I didn't realize (and to be fair, neither did Bioware) that it would take this freaking long for the Linux NWN client to see daylight.
;)
But now, you finally can see that I was right. NWN is a killer game, loads of fun. And this next paragraph will contain a bug help and a spoiler, so stop reading now if you don't want to know.
There is an "unresolved" bug in chapter 2e, the pinnacle of the host tower, sometimes if the bug takes hold you cannot complete the adventure. Luckily there is a fix. Make sure you have at least version 1.26 of the client (in Windows--naturally this should have been fixed by now for the Linux client), but if that doesn't work search the NWN forums using the words HOST TOWER BUG, searching back nearly a year. The "cure" is in there. (It hit me hard too, so I know what I'm talking about.) Oh, and don't get attached to Aribeth...
There might be some sound issues as well according to some other posts I've read.
DRI is also apparently broken in the version of Debian Unstable that some people are using.
For the most part it seems that nVidia users are flying high, while ATI users are encountering many problems (though a few people seem to have gotten their ATI cards to work...) Then again, the Windows client has also caused problems for certain ATI users.
Shame there is no toolset, but you can apparently get it to run under WINE.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Yeah, I know this sounds crazy, but I just tried it on FreeBSD under Linux emulation. The reason is that I have NWN installed on the Winders partition of my dual boot FreeBSD/Win2K workstation, so it was easiest to try.
/compat/linux/lib/libGLU.so.3 to /compat/linux/lib/libGLU.so.1, NWN looked like it was starting and then X dumped core. I didn't bother examining the core file, though next time I will. (Yes, I also followed Bioware's instructions.)
Well, after installing SDL & OpenGL for the Linux compatibilitly layer, and making a link from
Guess it doesn't work, yet on FreeBSD with linux compatibility. Maybe, I'll try again tomorrow and make sure that I have OpenGL set up correctly on the FreeBSD side of things. I may not have it all working just right.
BTW, the Linux server seems to work just fine on FreeBSD with the linux compatibility stuff installed.
Now, what I really want is a Linux version of the Aurora Toolset. If I could work on modules on my laptop, that would be schweet!
Just be sure to wear the gold uniform when you beam down -- you know what happens when you wear the red one.
... odd. I have glibc 2.3 installed, and well, the updater runs just fine. Must be something on your system, then. DK
Damn people! I'm trying to read the forums there :P
DK
but, why port over the worst game, NWN?
NWN has been said to be "like BG2, but without the fun".
That said, I think it'd have been much better for them to have ported over BG2 SoA/ToB and BG1.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
Maybe when BW reimburses me for the money I lost from buying the game on launch day (since they had ZERO communication with the large-ish linux presence on their boards at the time stating they hadn't even started on the client port [and they hadn't]) and then selling it on ebay some half a year later.
They're a bunch of putzes. Anybody who hasn't followed their message boards every day for the past nine months really has no idea the depth of their incompetence. We won't be seeing any other linux ports from them one way or another, and I for one could care less.
Microsoft assumes that you don't have the source to what you want to run. As a result, they ship all the major versions of their libraries -- MFCXX.DLL. DirectX is backwards compatible, and application vendors generally ship copies of what libraries they need.
That same set of assumptions isn't true for the Linux world. Grab binary program foo that "works on Red Hat" and try and run it on another distro, and see what happens. Or wait until the current library version is no longer around, and a new one is in its place. Look at a couple of places that distribute binary-format software for Linux -- they'll have four, five, in the case of NVidia, over fifteen different copies of their software.
And you often can't statically link because of GPL restrictions, so *that's* out...
May we never see th
I've purchased Shadowbane for the Mac, it took 18 hours (consistently) to get their website to register my key, and low and behold the game sucks. Hard. Really hard, actually.
Regardless, they got my $50ish, and BioWare/MacPlay didn't and won't.
Of course, at this point, Ubisoft won't get a penny out of my in the future either.
Here's to hoping Babbage's honors their refund policy on MMORPGs...