Running On Linux?

[The Rob]

Hello!

I just downloaded the demo, unfortunately I cannot get it running. Is there any way I can get it to work on Ubuntu Heron? I have WINE if that helps! I installed it okay with WINE, but when I try to start the demo, a little message appears on the taskbar that says "Starting Episode 1", then it vanishes after a moment.

Help!

[tremby]

same deal. i ran it from the commandline and some error output appears, so i posted a bug on the Wine website. it's at http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14856

hopefully someone who knows their stuff will come along and fix things. i've seen the same error before when Windows programs try to load Safedisc copy protection, but i shouldn't think that's used by this game (especially the demo). could be wrong.

[Strong Ad]

I'm actually pretty sure that SBCG4AP is PC/Wii only. And by PC, I mean a Windows machine.

In fact, look here:

http://www.telltalegames.com/store/sbcg4ap

System Requirements:
• OS: Windows XP / Vista • Processor: 1.5GHz • RAM: 256MB (512MB recommended) • Video card: 32MB 3D-accelerated video card (64MB recommended) • DirectX 9

[mikew]

There's this thread (scroll down to downloadable version): http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/...ead.php?t=4544

Strong Bad is more or less the same engine/activation as Sam & Max so that might work. The game does require Windows because of all the non-game stuff (such as purchasing and activating the game) is done with embedded IE, which I suspect is the main hurdle to getting it running in a non-Windows enviornment.

[raptor]

Originally Posted by Strong Ad

I'm actually pretty sure that SBCG4AP is PC/Wii only. And by PC, I mean a Windows machine.

They're trying to "cheat the system" so to speak by using WINE to run Windows applications on Linux.

It's my experience that new games tend not to work with WINE right away. If it can't be done now, then maybe in the next release or two. I'll have to look more into it for myself later when I have time.

[demonfoo]

Originally Posted by raptor

They're trying to "cheat the system" so to speak by using WINE to run Windows applications on Linux.

Why's it "cheat[ing] the system" to not want to have to buy and run Windows just to play games? I don't own any copies of Windows, but I enjoy Telltale's games - all my machines run Linux or Mac OS X. I know it's not supported, and Telltale's support staff is of course within their rights to say "well, we only support XP and Vista, you're on your own with anything else", but it's worth a shot.

[demonfoo]

Originally Posted by tremby

same deal. i ran it from the commandline and some error output appears, so i posted a bug on the Wine website. it's at http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14856

hopefully someone who knows their stuff will come along and fix things. i've seen the same error before when Windows programs try to load Safedisc copy protection, but i shouldn't think that's used by this game (especially the demo). could be wrong.

The patch mentioned in the bug you linked resolved the startup issue for me - now the game starts, but I'm (so far) not getting any sound. I'll have to play with Wine's audio settings, maybe one of them will make it happy...

[Will]

Both the audio and the video systems have changed pretty drastically since SM. That doesn't mean it won't work where SM did, but you might have to do some more tricksy things to get it figured out. I have faith though!

[demonfoo]

It looks like the new audio subsystem is trying to invoke DirectSound (I think?) via an OLE call:

errle:CoGetClassObject class {bcde0395-e52f-467c-8e3d-c4579291692e} not registered
errle:CoGetClassObject class {bcde0395-e52f-467c-8e3d-c4579291692e} not registered
errle:create_server class {bcde0395-e52f-467c-8e3d-c4579291692e} not registered
errle:CoGetClassObject no class object {bcde0395-e52f-467c-8e3d-c4579291692e} could be created for context 0x7
errle:CoGetClassObject class {bcde0395-e52f-467c-8e3d-c4579291692e} not registered
errle:CoGetClassObject class {bcde0395-e52f-467c-8e3d-c4579291692e} not registered
errle:create_server class {bcde0395-e52f-467c-8e3d-c4579291692e} not registered
errle:CoGetClassObject no class object {bcde0395-e52f-467c-8e3d-c4579291692e} could be created for context 0x7

and Wine doesn't know that particular class/mechanism, so audio's getting disabled. It's looking like we may have to wait till Wine implements this particular class for sound to work... however, the graphics seem fine on my system, for what it's worth (with an nVidia 8600GT, running Ubuntu hardy on AMD64).

[demonfoo]

I take it back - if you run 'winecfg' and have wine emulate Windows XP instead of Vista, the audio seems to work perfectly - guess it assumes if that class isn't present on (what it thinks is) Windows Vista, it assumes audio is broken.

Edit: Okay, since I'm sure people will ask... here's what I've found I need to do to get the game (demo or full version) to run:

• First, get and install the current ies4linux, as described in the posting on getting the Sam and Max games going.
• Now run 'cp -a ~/.ies4linux/ie6 ~/.wine_sbcg4ap'.
• Download the Homestar Ruiner installer from the Telltale website.
• Run 'env WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.wine_sbcg4ap WINEDLLOVERRIDES="rpcrt4,ole32,d3d8,d3d9=b" wine ./SBCG4AP_Homestar_Ruiner_setup.exe' from the directory where you downloaded the installer to. When the installer asks if you want to run the DirectX updater, make sure you say yes; this actually installs a DLL that's required for the game to work later.
• Run 'env WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.wine_sbcg4ap winecfg'. Select "Windows XP" as the Windows version. Select the Audio tab; it'll throw up a box saying you need to edit the audio settings, and that it will select defaults for you. Check them, make sure they make sense, then click Apply, then OK.
• Edit the launcher items for SBCG4AP, so that they include 'WINEDLLOVERRIDES="rpcrt4,ole32,d3d8,d3d9=b"' before calling wine. Also, you may want to change them to something like 'wine explorer /desktop=1024x768,SBCG4AP_ep1' instead of just 'wine'; this seems to work better for running the game.
• Start one of the launcher icons, and enter your My Telltale login information (if this is your first time running the game).
• Click on the green area at right about the level of Strong Bad's feet; unfortunately the image that should be there doesn't appear. The game itself should now launch.
• You should now be playing SBCG4AP Episode 1 - Homestar Ruiner!

Edit 2: Oh yeah, and you need a recent version of wine (I'm running version 1.1.2) with the patch at http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=15366 - it'll crash as mentioned before if the patch isn't built in.

Edit 3: In case you're wondering why I set up a separate WINEPREFIX, it's so that other games (like Sam and Max) will continue to work, since they only work in Windows Vista compat mode.

[smashy]

lot of thx for the howto , he work fine now i can get full game cheer

[tremby]

demonfoo, to install the patch, i need to compile from source, right? i checked out the latest from git just now and am compiling it as is to make sure it works... then i'll try and figure out how to apply the patch. any pointers?

thanks for the howto -- looks pretty comprehensive apart from the patching business.

[demonfoo]

Originally Posted by tremby

demonfoo, to install the patch, i need to compile from source, right? i checked out the latest from git just now and am compiling it as is to make sure it works... then i'll try and figure out how to apply the patch. any pointers?

I actually used the released 1.1.2 source for Ubuntu; to patch the source, you can do:

wget -O ~/wine-mountmgr-fix.patch 'http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=15366'
cd [wine source dir]
patch -p1 < ~/wine-mountmgr-fix.patch

then build as usual. I don't know if the current development tree will build currently, or if there are any regressions, so I'd definitely suggest using the 1.1.2 source - I know it works. What distribution are you using? I may be able to build you a package of 1.1.2 with the patch if you want.

[tremby]

32 bit Hardy. ok, i'll cancel the current build and get the source from the Wine Ubuntu repo. i'll write down each step, so the howto can be a little fuller.

[tremby]

1
uninstall any existing version of Wine by running

sudo apt-get remove wine

2
add the WineHQ repository to your package manager by running the following two commands:

wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

(from http://www.winehq.org/site/download-deb)

3
enable the source repository. to do this, load its config file with a text editor:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

and uncomment the second line (remove the # so it begins deb-src). then save it and close the editor.

4
update your package manager's package lists by running

sudo apt-get update

5
install Wine's build dependencies by running

wget http://kegel.com/wine/hardy.sh -O- | sudo sh

(the script at that address has a list of the dependencies -- information at http://wiki.winehq.org/Recommended_Packages)

6
fetch the Wine source code by running

apt-get source wine

the source will be downloaded to a subdirectory of your current position, so i ran the above in my ~/apps directory, where i keep source for various things i compile manually.

7
move to the source code's directory by running

cd wine-*

8
get and apply the patch by running

wget 'http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=15366' -O- | patch -p1

9
configure, build and install Wine by running

tools/wineinstall

it'll take a while to configure and then you'll be asked whether you want to switch to root in order to install. answer yes. then it'll take bloody ages to compile.

it took 1h37 to compile on my Eee PC 1000 (Intel Atom at 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM) running 32-bit Ubuntu Hardy Heron.

[demonfoo]

I'm building a deb for hardy/i386 now in a chroot on my workstation; my workstation is a Core2 Duo system, so it'll probably be a lot faster than your little Eee PC will. I'll link you to it when it's done, so if by chance it's going to take a really long time, you won't be saddled with an extra-long wait.

[tremby]

it's a race!

[demonfoo]

Okay, the packages can be downloaded at http://newcastle.devrandom.net/~demon/wine/ - just grab the deb and install it, and you should be good to go.

[tremby]

you win the race! do i just need the non-dev one?

[demonfoo]

Yeah, I just uploaded both for completeness' sake, but unless you plan on building apps with Winelib (I'm guessing no ) then don't worry about wine-dev.