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Loki selecting beta-testers again
Faizout writes "Lokisoft is once again selecting beta-testers, this time for `Myth II: Soulblighter'. There are a few spots that are already taken; some of the people are those who failed to make it onto the beta-test list for Civ:CTP. "
I hope they're going to support Linux in general,
instead of just the x86 variety. If they support
Linux 68k, then I'll buy a copy.
Tip to the Linux beta-testers: Don't really rush
the wights with your dwarves. That's what your
berserkers are for. Your dwarves are for rushing
the fetch. Hope this helps.
I don't know if I am the only one having these problems so I'll post here and see what y'all think.
/. effect)
I bought CivCTP from the Loki booth at Linux Expo this year. I was pretty excited but the excitement ended shortly after I got the wrapping off the box.
There were no installation instructions. Oh sure I figured it out myself in short order but really there should have been some kind of sheet or card telling you how to install the product. That was problem #1.
Problem #2, nearly 400MB got copied to my hard disk. Is that really necessary? This is a CD ROM game; why can't I play it off the CD ROM?
Problem #3: The install script has a flaky parser. If you put a trailing slash on the install path, the result is that the install script tries to use a double slash (DOH)
Problem #4: None of the symbolic links placed all over my filesystem worked. They weren't flagged as executable by the script (DOH!) This was just plain sloppy of Loki, IMO.
Problem #5: Start the game up, no sound. Seems this requires OSS sound drivers to run. It says so on the fine print on the box so I can't be too mad at Loki for that. Had to recompile my kernel though.
Problem #6: I can't play the game under KDE or Gnome. Even with the panel hidden, enough of it is still there to sufficiently block a good bit of the game. I started X with no window manager in order to play the game.
Problem #7: This is the big one. After many hours of gameplay, the game burps. Segmentation fault. This has happened to me three times in a row. Seems to happen after many hours of play, but I haven't been watching memory or anything to know if there is a leak.
For reference, my system is based on a Cyrix M2 233MHz CPU, 64MB SDRAM, Adaptec AHA2940UW SCSI controller with 1.5GB of hard disk. Sound card is a Sound Blaster AWE64 "Value". Network card is Intel Etherexpress 100B. Video is S3/ViRGE PCI with 4MB. OS is Red Hat 6.0 with out-of-the-box kernel source recompiled for OSS support.
I tried going to Loki's web site to see if there were any patches to fix this but their site was dead (it was before this story was posted so it wasn't
Just thought I'd point out that the M68k's didn't stop at 040.. They're up to at least 060, but I don't know how that stacks up to a Pentium or anything else..
However, I'm not sure that the M68k market is big enough investing games on (Alpha is probably popular enough, PPC might be, etc.. ARM probably won't happen since it doesn't have a math coprocessor..)
It seems to indicate that they'll be picking from the pool of applicants for the civ:ctp beta. I'm guessing that if you didn't sign up for civ:ctp you won't get on :(
ObUPSBull - they came to my building on thursday, it's now almost a week later... WTF is my Civ:ctp??? Darn you to heck UPS! To Phil with you!
Even though linux is in many ways more efficient than Windows or MacOS, keep in mind that the system requirements for any of these games that are being worked on will be very similar to the originals. MythII, or any new game for that matter, won't run on a 68k machine.
If you want to play an immersive 3D game (which is about all that's being made anymore) make sure you're running a relatively new system with plenty of RAM and preferably a 3D accelerator. I, for one, have always thought that it was great that linux runs so well on older platforms. They make great file servers, firewalls, workstations, etc., but don't expect to be able to run everything you want unless the harware's up to the task.
Will you be offering support for PPC and Alpha platforms?
The release CD contains i386 binaries and data files. In the next few weeks we will post PPC and Alpha binaries for download from our website. Those binaries will work with the data files on the release CD.
The PPC version will remain 'beta' and unsupported until LinuxPPC reaches version 5.0, as 5.0 is required for thread support. To play Civ:CTP on a Mac, you'll need to buy the Linux version of the game, download the PPC binary (about 8MB right now) and install LinuxPPC 5.0 beta.
cristiana
the guys at Bungie did a real good job of abstracting away from those same APIs
Given that Bungie does their stuff Mac/Win hybrid as it is, I'd guess they've got their own API set already. Loki would just have to port that set, and given their work with Civ:CTP, I'd guess that much of the work was effectively already done.
--
The Future: Some assembly required; batteries not included.
Dagnabbit, they don't even have their long over announced patch for Civ:CTP out. I'd like to be able to play network games with glibc 2.1 as well as play with windows users.
I hope so, I'd have a blast with this- I went without this game because I forsook buying Windows games.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
So I think they're more like Id in the cross-platform regard...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
On sound... :)
Why did you assume that you wouldn't need sound drivers? Why did you recompile your kernel? Running 'sndconfig' is much simpler.
Double slashes in the install path should not "break" anything.
Try setting the GNOME panel to autohide, it will only take up a few pixels on one side of your screen. Or use Window Maker!
I've looked at there site... now the only question remaining is... "How do I sign up" ...
any pointers are welcome
"The clay can become a bear, but not while it lays cold and wet on the riverbank." -Orson Scott Card, Children of the m
Bungie Software started as a Macintosh geared software company and only started porting their games to Windows (to the best of my knowledge) with Marathon 2. As far as i know, Bungie still releases all of their games to the Macintosh first. I am sure there is more information at www.bungie.com.
sum fine
Does anybody really play network games of Civilization? I just got my copy last week and I'm still playing my first game. The year is 1905 and I've got a city in space, a city undersea, and I'm using my rail launcher to send fusion tanks to all corners of the world to wipe out my enemies' archers, cannons, knights, and cavalry. It's taken at least 10-15 hours of gameplay to reach this point on the easiest level.
If I were playing against some real competition instead of the "Cheiftan" level computer it would take at least 24-48 hours of continuous play to finish the game. How do you get people to play for that long? And how do you keep people playing once their civilization becomes a lost cause?
I'd be surprised if network games ever got past the renaissance.
My serial port trackball doesn't work well with CivCTP for Linux. It works fine with all other X software I've used, but with CivCTP it jitters and shakes. It also jumps randomly when I click which makes it a little tough to play a game without an "undo". Does anyone know why/how Civ would screw up mouse tracking?
They didn't include autosave in the game? Not to knock on the original writers, but damn... even Civ I had autosave!
~luge
IAAL,BIANLY
If you'd read the website, it's quite clear that the game is available online. (Not to mention at LinuxExpo, which is where mine is from.) It is difficult to build up distribution channels for a small company, especially when most retailers are still scared of Linux products. Id is a big damn company with a solid reputation- it could package John Carmack's used toilet paper and have it on the shelf tomorrow. Smaller companies like Lokisoft need more time. Besides, if you can't be bothered to order it online, then it really shouldn't matter that much to you aynway.
IAAL,BIANLY
I haven't installed RedHat 6.0 yet, although as ... Therefore I'm
I'll be putting it on a Sparc I wont be playing
Civ:CTP on it even when I do
assuming that RedHat 6.0 has glibc 2.1 and no
'legacy' 2.0 C libs.
However, I noticed on LokiSoft's site that there
are known problems with the game on glibc 2.1
machines. This will be fixed in the 1.1 patch.
Chris Wareham
I am one of the programmers working on the Myth II port here at Loki, so I can tell you the game is pretty much fully playable right now. We have it working in a X11 window and full 3D acceleration using Glide, all the sound and I hope to get the multiplayer support to work by the end of the week.
;-)
It was already cross-platform so it was quite easy to get it to compile and run on Linux. That's why we're already able to play the game after only about 3 weeks of work.
Stéphane Peter
Codehost, Inc.
Autosave is in the 1.1 patch. Or at least is is for the Windows version..
Last I heard, Linux was a multi-user OS. Ok, you might be running it as a desktop, but that doesn't mean other systems don't have more than one user, some of whom might want to use the CD for purposes other than playing a game.
I agree it should be optional, but at least there is a good reason for not running from the CD.
Why is it that many people who claim to support standards have such atrocious spelling and grammar?
i've also had problems with this program horking after a couple of hours.. usually at a time when the game just starts getting good.. ie. cities are finally built up to a decent size and taken over a few other civilizations.. I *seriously* hope that the patch will address this.. it gets quite annoying to have to start over from the beginning..
now where's that autosave feature?
I'm running pII 333, 128Meg ram, Western Digital 8.4G, Matrox g200, Sb 16 VORTEX (using 4-front sound drivers) RH 6.0, kernel 2.2.7
-- 100% MS-Free as of 4-4-1999, 11:47:38 PST. "The lapdance is always better when the stripper is cryin'" Free Kevin,
I know Myth I (and I think the sequel) were released for Macs too. That means that Bungie had to have it at least somewhat abstracted, unless they're masochists.
:) Well, its good to see that Loki is picking up steam. I was real pleased with Civ:CTP when it arrived on my doorstep. It actually surprised me that Linux turned out to be a superb platform for gaming, on par with Mickeysoft's slue of games. Lets hope they do as good a job with Myth II as they did with Civ, and not try to rush it.
Bowie J. Poag
Really cool. Loki is doing one heck of a great job on converting WIN9x games to linux....Civ:CTP plays great!
I'm highly disappointed in Loki that I still can't get Civ:CTP on the shelf. I don't want to hear the excuses. Quake for Linux is on the shelf right now. Loki is getting into the bad habit of announcing things way too early so that they get the press, and then when they end up having problems releasing, we're expected to say "Oh, hey, we understand, you were rushed." You rushed it yourselves, Loki. Don't, next time.
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
Thats a pretty quick turn around from announcing they would be doing a port to looking for beta testers (I take this to mean having something close to running.) I guess this either means that those guys at Loki have a pretty complete linux version of the mickeysoft APIs and/or that the guys at Bungie did a real good job of abstracting away from those same APIs. Maybe they should donate a little expertise to the wine project.
Matt
Bungie *did* do all of their development work on the MacOS when they were still a small company doing Mac-only games. Since they've expanded dramatically and gone multi-platform (Marathon 2: Durandal was ported to Windows, but was done at a later time; Myth was their first game released for Windows and MacOS simultaneously), their development machines have become varied as well. I think they still like Macs better though. :)
Perhaps with enough support they will include Linux in their development cycle, and we won't have to wait for Linux ports to be made (well, my main machine is MacOS so I don't have to wait, but you get my point...). Carmack has obviously seen the light, with the (almost unheard of) 3-platform upcoming release of Q3A, and it is time that other game developers follow this trend. Are there currently any other major developers that include Linux as a viable gaming platform?
Daniel
-----
Daniel Whelan
President - Ophelan Enterprises
Editor - Dualism.org
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Editor - Dualism.org
President - Ophelan.com