Linux Unreal Tournament Available 97
James wrote in to tell us that Unreal Tournament for Linux is now available. Of course you need a 3d card to make it all work, but still, I hear a great sucking sound that is the productivity of all workers. Download here.
UT for Linux (Score:1)
3dfx is the cause (Score:1)
The 3dfx/Glide architecture causes this particular lockup problem, not Unreal. The guy who ported the current Glide drivers to Linux is working all by his lonesome, without much (any?) help from 3dfx.
Also, the earlier 3dfx cards (dunno about the Voodoo3) take over the entire screen, "hiding" the X display. That's why the machine appears to lock up if the application dies. It's not really locked up, it's just that the now-idle 3dfx is still in control of the CRT.
As for nicely catching the segfaults, it's not always possible for the signal handler to clean everything up properly. If you then say, "well, properly written software shouldn't generate segfaults", I'd respond, "tell that to 3dfx!"
Re:Upgrade (Score:1)
1. You can still get AT boards that support the K6-X, Celeron, and PII/PIII CPUS, if you mail order.
2. If you buy a VIA MVP3 (??) board and a K6-2 or K6-III processor, you can set it to run the memory bus at 66 MHz while the CPU and cache is running at 100 MHz. This will allow you to keep using your old SIMMS, albeit with some performance loss. Check out the AT factor FIC boards - there should be something available that can use your existing memory. An AT Super7 board with VIA chipset and K6-2 450 processor should run you about $200.
3. You can get a Celeron (66MHz bus) processor with an AT BX motherboard like the ASUS P2B-B that will use your existing case and memory. If you search around the mail order places you should be able to get a 433MHz Celeron with a P2B-B board for $220 or so.
After you spend the $200-250 for a new MB and CPU, you'll have to get a new graphics card. The V3 3000 cards offer the best bang for the buck in 16 bit color, but you'll probably want to buy a TNT2 card if you plan on staying with one card for more than a year.
Overall, you can expect to pay $350-400 or so for a decent new MB, CPU and graphics card that can use your existing case, memory, peripherals, etc. That should bring you up to what is slightly below the current state of the art and will probably work acceptably for another two years.
Fix it yourself then, (WAS Re:demo 384? ) (Score:1)
From this information it should be easy to write a shell script that *always* returns you to your X session. The mouse stuff may be a little trickier, but in my experience, running a program that grabs the mouse, and exiting normally will release the mouse.
With respect to the sound - I have never experienced this - the kernel should close /dev/dsp when a program dies. I would experiment with unloading the sound modules. (Or, they may be busy?).
Btw, if he is using an X callback mecanism to read keyboard input, it should be easy to create a small library that catches certain keyboard events, and iconizes the windows - and gives control to the X session. Check out "qk_HackLib" for the way it is done with svgalib and Quake 1.
In short; hack it ;-)
Re:Wow (Score:2)
This seems to be because Epic cant program their way out of a paper bag in GL.
so there's no way to forcefully get sound back? (Score:1)
So if something won't let go of your sound card there really is no recourse?
Re:It 'aint there...but (Score:1)
You probably downloaded the old 334 server. The new version is 348 (the server _should_ be there now).
> (The server I did download kept crashing with 'Illegal Instruction'. Any ideas?)
Do you have a Cyrix chip? It doesn't work on Cyrix chips. I had the same problem.
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
Re:What are you complaining for? (Score:1)
Come on. Whatever happened to choices? I personally believe that UT is much more enjoyable than Q3. But that's just _my_ personal opinion. Sure Q3 has a larger user base than Unreal, id has a huge following, but why should that matter? Windows has a larger user base than Linux, but you don't see us running Windows, do you?
It's all about choices. Epic Games has provided the Linux gaming community with another excellent choice, and they should be commended and encouraged to continue this trend in the future.
Re:A brief comparative review of UT (Score:1)
Oddly enough, this is the complete opposite from the experience that I've had with UT. Admittedly I have a cable modem, but UT is almost smooth as butter on low ping servers, whereas in Q3 players kept disappearing and reappearing, etc... I found Q3 to be a pretty lousy network play experience.
Note that I _do_ think Q3 is a good game, there are a few things in Q3 that I like better than their counterparts in UT, but overall I prefer UT.
Re:Upgrade (Score:1)
Upgrade (Score:1)
Um, sounds unlikely to me (Score:2)
If you mean re-implementing the Glide functions so they call GL, this is slow and in violation of 3dfx's copyrights on Glide (Creative provided the same thing under Windows and got their butts sued). This is also not such a trivial thing to do
Care to provide more details?
Just the README.... (Score:2)
Re:3dfx is the cause (Score:1)
if you're that worried about it hogging your display after it dies, put the 3dfx on a separate monitor.
as for people whinging about bugs, why don't you give the developers a chance. i'd be willing to bet that most people complaining about it being "NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR LINUX USERS" have never written a line of code in their life, nor have they the mindset to do so. i know *I* certainly don't have the skills to come up with a game of this calibre.
Re:Upgrade (Score:2)
a K6-III/400 (2x MB multiplier setting is translated
to a 6x by the chip) and a V3-2000 PCI might prolong your PC's life for about $150 total.
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
--Dan
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
--Dan
It's not the bandwidth. (Score:1)
Client side I'm only on a 400mhz K6-2, so it's lighter then a lot of games out on that end.
--Dan
A Great Port (Score:1)
Re:Does anybody else see this trend as unfortunate (Score:1)
Are you condemning me back to Windows again?
Get Lost, Linux is for everybody who wants to use and extend it.
Hurray for Unreal Tournament in Linux. Now all I need is support for NVidia cards so I can go out and buy a GeForce.
DOH...Re:That's the OLD version of the server (Score:1)
it's on the warzone ftp server (Score:3)
ftp://ftp.warz one.com/pub/ut/demo/UTDemo-338-Linux-x86-Server.t
Re:Um, sounds unlikely to me (Score:2)
This is not in violation of 3dfx copyright. All Creative did was implement glide API, in the same way that WINE implements win32 API. You are right that this is not a trivial thing to do.
I wonder what happened to that lawsuit though. Creative has the resources to defend itself of this ridiculous lawsuit. Does anyone know what happened?
Re:Question... (Score:1)
I'll switch iff: (Score:2)
Re:Does anybody else see this trend as unfortunate (Score:2)
The kernel (the one, true linux) is open. What this means is that you can have things that are very important to servers (journaled file system, SMP, etc) or leave them out for workstations. Linux is even reasonable on embedded systems, as you can pick and choose what to put in.
Then there's the operating system, GNU/Linux. You can pick different distributions, and configure them to what you want to do. Want a workstation? How about Mandrake. A server? How about Red Hat configured for Network Server.
Linux is all about choices, and it can pull off if anything can. There should be a big difference between the linux machine you set up at home to type papers on and the linux machine that is serving your corporate web site.
--
Linux software? (Score:1)
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
Re:Thanks a Million (Score:1)
download version 348 only! (Score:1)
Only get the 348 version client and server. The older one (338) server was out a month ago, so that is why many places have it.
Guaranteed stability? (Score:1)
It's beta software. Give the guys a break.
Re: (Score:1)
No, that's the client. (Score:1)
I think people are not being fair. This was probably one of Brandon's first shots at programming under Linux. It took id several years to get it right for crying out loud.
And I'm suddenly looking forward to XFree86 v4 more than ever.
Oh, and thanks haven, for not taking any time to understand just what you were reading.
This is NOT funny. (Score:2)
Any dead sound app has a tendency to lock
It looks like Brandon was trying to be positive and give helpful suggestions. Instead you slagged him over his wording. This is poor form, and this is NOT the way to attract developers to Linux.
Do you want your world domination guys? If so, then this is not the way to do it. Fill out bug reports. We do it for other dev software, this is no different. For those of you lucky enough to have 3DFX cards. For those who don't, keep pushing for XFree86 4.0
Oh, and id has pretty much said the same thing so don't take Epic to task on it.
Games will attract more users to Linux. Make no doubt about it. Apple pushed the Mac as a gaming solution again for a reason. I spend a great deal of my time booted into Win95 just for these games without ports. If we could only get a couple of these killer apps (games), then this could be the push we need to really get the ball rolling.
Oh, and what exactly are you doing thinking about running the CLIENT on a SERVER? It's the client that has problems (understandably, it's ^x times more complex than the server).
And finally, moderators, please... Moderate the post overrated at least.
Linux client is waiting on mirrors (Score:1)
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
Re:Um, sounds unlikely to me (Score:1)
Yes, it's glide-only now under Linux but it was the same under Windows for the first version of the demo as well. I would expected OpenGL to follow soon.
That's the OLD version of the server (Score:1)
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
But at this stage of the game, we need to encourage Epic, not blast them. I don't know squat about sound coding or anything under Linux, but perhaps someone can offer Epic some pointers to some info so these could be fixed.
Re:How to make your Linux box server only (Score:1)
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:2)
Of course, if things aren't set up to allow you to telnet into the box (or login via a serial connection), then the on/off switch is your only solution...
First Thoughts (Score:1)
The port itself is impressive -- they must have implemented their own font libraries, etc., because it looks exactly like the windows version. Everything is in there... count this as a real win for us Linux folks
Re:What are you complaining for? (Score:1)
Re:Upgrade (Score:1)
'link coming soon' (Score:4)
:P
Re:'link coming soon' (Score:2)
Working link
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/planetquake/planetunrea
A brief comparative review of UT (Score:2)
Having said that, there are drawbacks to the game. The big weakness at the moment is network play... I went to play a few games of CTF, domination, and FFA, and found most of the servers (even those with good pings) to be almost unplayable. The only thing I can liken this to is playing quake][ over 28.8, which is pretty rough. 384k DSL should easily be able to handle most network games, but the speed that was so overpowering in quake3 was not to be found in UT. I realize that this is a very early build, but I think that the network code needs alot of optimizing, since this is supposed to be the primary focus of this game.
Overall, I'd give the game a 7/10, a potentially great game with alot of nice features, but with room for improvement.
----
Dave
"I love chess! It is like ballet only with more explosions!"
Re:Does anybody else see this trend as unfortunate (Score:4)
If you want a lean, mean server, don't install the goodies. Skip KDE, skip Gnome. Hell, even skip all of X unless you absolutely need the graphical config tools. If you want to play, however, put it all on your box.
You don't even need separate, specialized distributions to do this. Using RedHat (just as an example), and a bit of know-how as to which packages do what, it should be trivial to set your box up as a web/ftp server with not much else, or as a Gnome desktop workstation, or both. The only way bloat really comes into the picture here is that eventually we're going to need 2, 3, or more install CDs to hold all the different packages that are available.
Similarly, the Linux kernel can be "bloated" to your liking or made quite minimalistic, depending on how you compile it (or what modules you load).
Personally, I like this type of "Linux bloat" where you can pick and choose what you want (and don't) much better than the typical MS bloat where gui and thousands of other "options" are there, regardless of whether you want them.
Choice is good!
Re:Um, sounds unlikely to me (Score:2)
So it was not the implementation of the API per se, but rather, they had illegally used information they possessed to create it.
Correct me, if I'm wrong though. It's the only way I'll learn...
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
whatever man...
Re:Guaranteed stability? (Score:1)
demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:2)
... Usually Linux UT will safely catch nasty things like segmentation faults
| USUALLY?!?!?! |
... you'll experience something like a hang
| something like a hang?!?!?!? |
... When an unprotected crash like this happens chances are your audio device will be left open and busy
| so if it does crash I have to reboot to
kill off the UT audio processes?!?! |
... If you get a nice happy crash
| I've never been happy with anycrash.
Thats just funny |
These people have no idea what the standards are for Linux software. These warnings are unacceptable. This is the sort of stuff you would find in a Windows 9x disclaimer (if microsoft were forced to write one). There is no way I would load this on my Linux server. I must have guaranteed stability. That is why I run Linux.
This should come from the stuff-to-play-in-3-years-when-it-doesn't-kill-you
Re:How to make your Linux box server only (Score:1)
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
And remember that this is a company used to working with micro$oft.
It 'aint there...but (Score:1)
However, I did manage to download the server from somewhere, and the page says that the server isn't available yet.
(The server I did download kept crashing with 'Illegal Instruction'. Any ideas?)
Re:'link coming soon' (Score:1)
my latest hardware. Damn.
(I work for API)
Glide wrappers (Score:1)
Glide wrappers do not in general violate 3dfx's copyright. Cloning an API is completely legal. Good thing, or we'd have no WINE, or Samba, or Ghostscript, or Linux.
When 3dfx's lawyers started threatening authors of various Glide wrappers, their claim was not copyright violation. It was that the authors had used the Glide SDK and violated its EULA.
(The Creative situation is different, because Creative used to be a big customer of 3dfx, so there are all kinds of agreements between the two. The case is still pending.)
A reverse-engineered Glide wrapper, using no licensed 3dfx docs or code, would be completely legal. However, 3dfx would be sure to file a frivolous lawsuit against the author anyway. Who's got the guts to stand up to a big company in court and fight for what's right? (Paging Phil Z...)
3dfx's persecution of Glide wrapper authors is completely unacceptable. If MS went after WINE or Samba, or Adobe went after Ghostscript, the outcry would be immediate. Boycott 3dfx already, people. The principle is way more important than silly brand loyalty.
I agree that writing a good Glide wrapper is non-trivial. See http://www.soundblaster.com/hotgraphics/unified/g
Re:Does anybody else see this trend as unfortunate (Score:1)
When was the last time you looked at Windows 2000?
It is nothing but 98+NT.
I agree with the previous comments that remind us that Linux is fully customizable unlike the 'one size fits all' Windows.
Which way now? Down.
Dude. UT was developed on NT. (Score:1)
UT was developed on NT dude.
Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart
brandon@epicgames.com
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:2)
Re:First Thoughts (Score:2)
After that I can move on to located slow elements and speeding them up.
The Linux gaming community really needs to start approaching hardware vendors about better driver support. Specifically NVidia. Even with that said, I doubt Linux games will really hit their prime until XFree86 4.0.
The best thing you guys can do is email your thoughts and bug reports to utlinuxbugs@epicgames.com.
Client Linux file right here! (Score:2)
Here's the client file!
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
That's why it's so much better than NT, the OS never crashes, right?
No application can take down the OS, right?
Does anybody else see this trend as unfortunate? (Score:2)
The thing I like best about Linux is that it's a top notch, reasonably stable server and development platform. That's what I use it for primarily. Sure, it'd be nice not to have to reboot or have a second computer to play games, but am I the only person here who believes in "the right tool for the right job"? I want my server and desktop OSes seperate, for fear of bloat.
I guess if it comes down to having to compile stuff out of kernels, I'm probably going to evaluate other OSes, (maybe BSD?) for my server OS and use Linux as my desktop OS. That wouldn't be such a bad thing. But, do we really want to trade the server space to fight the desktop war?
Just a thought...
There is support for Nvidia cards, just not GForce (Score:1)
What are you complaining for? (Score:1)
I know here at my shop we waste as much time playing UT on our LAN as we can possibly get away with. It is truly an excelent game.
Of course it has flaws, both the Windows and Linux version. But I am eternally grateful that Linux is recieving not just a passing thought of a port, but an actual, full fledged, shrink-wrapped release of a major game.
Green Marine, if you read
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
Re:demo 384? should be pre.0.0.0.1 (Score:1)
if the UT server actually "crashes" the system in any way, this would not be acceptable because, try as i may, all of my linux servers are never free of important tasks of some kind or another and, frankly, i find it hard to believe that this is asking for much.
if the program kills itself for no apparant reason or does not perform acceptably; this i can deal with -- (i have dealt with netscape for years!)
thanks, haven, for the reality check
-abf.
Re:copyrights (Score:1)
if WINE is in any violation of any MS copyright, then i would have to assume that MS is in violation for both DOS (UNIX) and Windows (Macintosh)
i think you might find that this is the real reason that there are no lawsuits here
-abf.
No Mesa (Score:1)
I've been playing UT under Win98 for a couple weeks now with my G400. It's a great game, and a nice balance between the "I know where the bad guy is" and the online slaughter I usually find myself in.
Re:No Mesa (yet) (Score:1)
Re:Upgrade (Score:1)
At least if you don't stay too far back in the upgrade pipeline, you can usually do incremental upgrades -- always getting *decent* performance, if not the best. If you wait too long, then yes you will have to replace half your system and empty your wallet.
My words of *wisdom* -- get the best AGP video card you can afford, the second-best processor on the market (the first is always ridiculously overpriced and not worth it in price/performance), and at least 128M of memory.
That's my $0.02. (flame away boys!)
Re: help to programmatically exit the paper bag (Score:1)
main()
{
FILE*fp=fopen("/dev/paper.bag.containing.epic", "rw");
}
Wow (Score:1)
Every game now in OpenGL should have no problem being ported to Linux
YES! No games in Linux? HaH! Think again! Linux: The gaming platform of tomorow! We will be able to do anything...
Ah, this is just great.
Re:No Mesa (Well...) (Score:1)
Re:Um, sounds unlikely to me (Score:1)
Right?