Whilst having a hunt through some things that I had placed in storage a couple of years ago (and then forgot about) I happened across my original CD of Serious Sam - The First Encounter.
As this is one of the games where Loki games provided a proper Linux installer for it I thought I'd give it a bit of a blast.
Problem 1 - Tracking down the installer.
This should have been easy - ie. go to the Croteam website and download the installer, right?
Nope. They had some archived patches for a Linux installation, but not the damn installer - or if the do have it they've hidden it well.
I eventually tracked down the installer here:
Loki Installers for Linux Games
Problem 2 - Installation
So far, so good. Apart from the fact that the installer doesn't work (at least, not without some effort).
So here is a quick rundown on how to get the installer working.
First, move the installer into its own directory:
mkdir ssam
mv serious.sam.tfe_1.05beta3-english-2.run ssam
cd ssam
chmod +x serious.sam.tfe_1.05beta3-english-2.run
Make sure the original Windows CD is in your drive. And if you want you can try and run the installer.
./serious.sam.tfe_1.05beta3-english-2.run
If you are lucky it might work. If so then go, play, enjoy. See you later.
However, you may well find that you see the following:
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing Serious Sam: The First Encounter 1.05beta3-english-2 Installer.............................
after which you are back at the terminal prompt.
If this is the case, then you can try the following, which worked for me.
./serious.sam.tfe_1.05beta3-english-2.run --tar xvf
sudo ./setup.data/bin/Linux/x86/setup
And that should be it. The installer should run and you can choose where to install it and finally play the game!
Sunday 17 October 2010
Thursday 8 July 2010
They're Baaaaack......
The last time I wrote about SCO was when they lost the Novell case - and had their initial request for a retrial denied. As I said at the time "SCO have approximately one month to decide on their next course of action - assuming, of course, that they don't slide into Chapter 7 bancruptcy in the meantime."
Well, here we are, just under one month later and yes, they're going to try and appeal. The timing of this (leaving it as late as humanly possible - and also just before the next bankruptcy hearing) has been well noted.
To be honest I'm not surprised that they have appealed. In fact, I don't see that they've got an awful lot of choice at this point. SCO's future - such as it is - depends on them winning the court cases, and at the present time the ongoing court cases are the only thing realistically keeping them from sliding from Chapter 10 into Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
In a perfect world I can't see the appeal succeeding. I don't believe that the evidence, facts or the witness testimonies were in their favour. Personally I think that the courts were pretty darn lenient with them all the way through (in fact I thought that it was verging on the unfair towards Novell) so I can't see them having any grounds for a retrail other than the fact that they lost when they believe they should have won.
However this isn't a perfect world, so anything could happen. I'm not sure how long the appeals process takes - although judging by SCO's recent financial reports the bigger question is whether the Bankruptcy court is going to allow them the opportunity for one more throw of the dice before deciding to wind things up.
Stay tuned folks, it ain't over (quite) yet.
Well, here we are, just under one month later and yes, they're going to try and appeal. The timing of this (leaving it as late as humanly possible - and also just before the next bankruptcy hearing) has been well noted.
To be honest I'm not surprised that they have appealed. In fact, I don't see that they've got an awful lot of choice at this point. SCO's future - such as it is - depends on them winning the court cases, and at the present time the ongoing court cases are the only thing realistically keeping them from sliding from Chapter 10 into Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
In a perfect world I can't see the appeal succeeding. I don't believe that the evidence, facts or the witness testimonies were in their favour. Personally I think that the courts were pretty darn lenient with them all the way through (in fact I thought that it was verging on the unfair towards Novell) so I can't see them having any grounds for a retrail other than the fact that they lost when they believe they should have won.
However this isn't a perfect world, so anything could happen. I'm not sure how long the appeals process takes - although judging by SCO's recent financial reports the bigger question is whether the Bankruptcy court is going to allow them the opportunity for one more throw of the dice before deciding to wind things up.
Stay tuned folks, it ain't over (quite) yet.
Wednesday 16 June 2010
Return to Retrovaders - Part 3
Now that I've finished the translation framework for RetroVaders, it is time to move on to the next bit - graphics. The main sprite set (which I like, I must admit) is still a bit too close to the original Space Invaders graphics. I've adapted them slightly so that although they are still recognisable they are (hopefully) different enough to differentiate the game from the arcade original.
I've also replaced the "RetroVaders" backdrop with a new version, and made that the default. So, by default, the game now looks like this:
You can, of course, make it look like the original via the options menu.
Speaking of the options menu, another "usability" adaption is that when the game is launched for the first time, it now starts in the options menu (in windowed mode). Subsequent launches will open at the main screen with whatever options you have chosen.
The next release is (likely) to be RetroVaders 2.00 - and probably will be the final major release - unless someone supplies some alternative translations.
So what is left to do? Apart from testing the game, I've also got the Linux and Mac OS X ports to do, the translations to complete (German and Finnish still to add, maybe French too), and some tweaking of game elements; although nothing too major.
Update: The Finnish translation has been added, so that only leaves the German one to do. It actually only took around quarter of an hour to add the translation in. The language framework (although it was a bit of a bugger to sort out initially) has indeed made life much easier for me.
I've also replaced the "RetroVaders" backdrop with a new version, and made that the default. So, by default, the game now looks like this:
You can, of course, make it look like the original via the options menu.Speaking of the options menu, another "usability" adaption is that when the game is launched for the first time, it now starts in the options menu (in windowed mode). Subsequent launches will open at the main screen with whatever options you have chosen.
The next release is (likely) to be RetroVaders 2.00 - and probably will be the final major release - unless someone supplies some alternative translations.
So what is left to do? Apart from testing the game, I've also got the Linux and Mac OS X ports to do, the translations to complete (German and Finnish still to add, maybe French too), and some tweaking of game elements; although nothing too major.
Update: The Finnish translation has been added, so that only leaves the German one to do. It actually only took around quarter of an hour to add the translation in. The language framework (although it was a bit of a bugger to sort out initially) has indeed made life much easier for me.
Saturday 12 June 2010
Return to Retrovaders - Part 2
Keeping with the theme of accessibility - language support is something that has been on my list of features that I'd like to add.
Sadly, however, my grasp of languages other than English is very limited indeed, but not to be deterred I made a start - and stripped out the menu text from the game - which came to a stonking 24 words - and posted a request for translations on the RetroRemakes forum.
So thanks to the kind assistance of Ordvana, I'm now well on the way to adding Finnish and Russian (!) translations to the game. As it turns out it is just as well that I'm only translating the menus, as BlitzMax doesn't support non-English languages that well. This leaves me with creating bitmapped versions of the Russian text (and probably for the Finnish text too).
As the Russian one is going to take the most work I'm starting with that - and hopefully by the end of today should have the main menu working in both English and Russian, and be able to make a start on the Options menu.
This means that instead of "Start Game" - the Russian version will display "Начать игру", instead of "Options" we'll show "Опции" and so on.
So if you are reading this, and would like RetroVaders in your native language then get in touch!
Update: The main menu now works in both Russian and English. I can use regular text, graphics or a mix of both for the menus - which should make adding other languages much easier.
Sadly, however, my grasp of languages other than English is very limited indeed, but not to be deterred I made a start - and stripped out the menu text from the game - which came to a stonking 24 words - and posted a request for translations on the RetroRemakes forum.
So thanks to the kind assistance of Ordvana, I'm now well on the way to adding Finnish and Russian (!) translations to the game. As it turns out it is just as well that I'm only translating the menus, as BlitzMax doesn't support non-English languages that well. This leaves me with creating bitmapped versions of the Russian text (and probably for the Finnish text too).
As the Russian one is going to take the most work I'm starting with that - and hopefully by the end of today should have the main menu working in both English and Russian, and be able to make a start on the Options menu.This means that instead of "Start Game" - the Russian version will display "Начать игру", instead of "Options" we'll show "Опции" and so on.
So if you are reading this, and would like RetroVaders in your native language then get in touch!
Update: The main menu now works in both Russian and English. I can use regular text, graphics or a mix of both for the menus - which should make adding other languages much easier.
Friday 11 June 2010
That's All Folks! (for SCO at any rate)
It's official - SCO is toast, the request for a retrial has been DENIED.
From the article on Groklaw:
Judge Ted Stewart has ruled for Novell and against SCO. Novell's claim for declaratory judgment is granted; SCO's claims for specific performance and breach of the implied covenant of good fair and fair dealings are denied. Also SCO's motion for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial: denied. SCO is entitled to waive, at its sole discretion, claims against IBM, Sequent and other SVRX licensees.
From the article on Groklaw:
Judge Ted Stewart has ruled for Novell and against SCO. Novell's claim for declaratory judgment is granted; SCO's claims for specific performance and breach of the implied covenant of good fair and fair dealings are denied. Also SCO's motion for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial: denied. SCO is entitled to waive, at its sole discretion, claims against IBM, Sequent and other SVRX licensees.
CASE CLOSED!
So after six years and God only knows how many man-hours of dealing with their spurious claims they have lost. Again. Although there have been quite a few "face-palm" moments which have had me muttering "stop pandering to the damned litigious munchkins" through gritted teeth, it looks as if Judge Stewart has been making sure that when this is over there is no room for SCO to try and appeal the decision.
From the Final Judgement itself:
This matter came before the Court for trial on March 8, 2010, through March 26, 2010. Based on the Jury Verdict and the Court’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Final Judgment is entered as follows:
1. Judgment is entered in favor of Novell and against SCO on SCO’s claim for slander of title pursuant to the Jury Verdict.
2. Judgment is entered in favor of Novell and against SCO on SCO’s claim for specific performance pursuant to the Court’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.
3. Judgment is entered in favor of Novell and against SCO on Novell’s claim for declaratory relief pursuant to the Court’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. Specifically, the Court declares:
a. Under § 4.16(b) of the APA, Novell is entitled, at its sole discretion, to direct SCO to waive its purported claims against IBM, Sequent and other SVRX licensees;4. Judgment is entered in favor of Novell and against SCO on SCO’s claim for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing pursuant to the Court’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. The Clerk of the Court is directed to close this case forthwith.b. Under § 4.16(b) of the APA, Novell is entitled to waive on SCO’s behalf SCO’s purported claims against IBM, Sequent and other SVRX licensees, when SCO refuses to act as directed by Novell; and
c. SCO is obligated to recognize Novell’s waiver of SCO’s purported claims against IBM and Sequent.
SO ORDERED.
DATED June 10, 2010.
BY THE COURT:
____[signature]_____________
TED STEWART
United States District Judge
SCO can, of course, still try and appeal - but given the wording of the final judgement their chances of victory (not to mention the company surviving long enought to get to court) are somewhere between slim and none. This also nails the lid on the coffin of their other court cases.
SCO have approximately one month to decide on their next course of action - assuming, of course, that they don't slide into Chapter 7 bancruptcy in the meantime.
Thank you PJ for keeping us informed, amused and well-armed against the common enemy ;-)
Wednesday 9 June 2010
Return to RetroVaders
Over the past couple of weeks RetroVaders has had some extra love sent its way. The long awaited (hey, someone may have been waiting!) update 1.35 for Windows has finally seen the light of day - removing the 320x240 resolution to prevent crashing on modern versions of Windows.
Although there have been some "unofficial" downloads for this version, it is now available properly at the main site.
I've also been looking at some additional tweaks that will affect all versions of the game (not just Windows) in the next version. This includes removing the 320x240 default screenmode for ALL versions of the game. This has now been replaced with a 640x480 full graphical border, with the game playing in the middle (just like on the old arcade cabinets).
Some other (minor) bug fixes are through as well (such as preventing impossible screen scaling modes from being selected).
This is all minor stuff really. The major point of the 1.36 release is going to be a "One Switch" mode for the game. "What is that," you may ask? Essentially it allows the entire game to be controlled with a single switch. For disabled players this can mean the difference between being able to play a game and just being able to watch someone else playing it.
A good resource for more information about One Switch gaming is OneSwitch.org.uk which has a wealth of information about games for disabled players, and how to adapt your games to their needs.
Anyway, back to RetroVaders. At the moment when the game is in "One Switch" mode (retrovaders.exe /oneswitch) the space bar or left mouse click is the switch. In game, the switch toggles between three states:
Move Left
Move Right
Stop and shoot
After asking for a bit of advice on RetroRemakes I may also add alternative control schemes, such as:
Move Left
Shoot
Move Right
Shoot
Getting the game playable with one switch is one thing. Getting the in game menus working was another challenge entirely. In the end I've settled for the game automatically cycling through the menu options, with the switch selecting. I've set a two-second delay between each menu move to make it easier for those with slower reflexes to select the right option.
There are still a couple of things that I'd like to add to the game to make it more accessible, but we're heading in the right direction!
Although there have been some "unofficial" downloads for this version, it is now available properly at the main site.
I've also been looking at some additional tweaks that will affect all versions of the game (not just Windows) in the next version. This includes removing the 320x240 default screenmode for ALL versions of the game. This has now been replaced with a 640x480 full graphical border, with the game playing in the middle (just like on the old arcade cabinets).
Some other (minor) bug fixes are through as well (such as preventing impossible screen scaling modes from being selected).
This is all minor stuff really. The major point of the 1.36 release is going to be a "One Switch" mode for the game. "What is that," you may ask? Essentially it allows the entire game to be controlled with a single switch. For disabled players this can mean the difference between being able to play a game and just being able to watch someone else playing it.A good resource for more information about One Switch gaming is OneSwitch.org.uk which has a wealth of information about games for disabled players, and how to adapt your games to their needs.
Anyway, back to RetroVaders. At the moment when the game is in "One Switch" mode (retrovaders.exe /oneswitch) the space bar or left mouse click is the switch. In game, the switch toggles between three states:
Move Left
Move Right
Stop and shoot
After asking for a bit of advice on RetroRemakes I may also add alternative control schemes, such as:
Move Left
Shoot
Move Right
Shoot
Getting the game playable with one switch is one thing. Getting the in game menus working was another challenge entirely. In the end I've settled for the game automatically cycling through the menu options, with the switch selecting. I've set a two-second delay between each menu move to make it easier for those with slower reflexes to select the right option.
There are still a couple of things that I'd like to add to the game to make it more accessible, but we're heading in the right direction!
Tuesday 18 May 2010
Yet Another Linux vs Windows comparison: USB Bluetooth Adapter
OK, so you probably know the drill by now. We're going to plug a random device into our PC (dual booting between Windows XP and Ubuntu 10.04) and let's see what happens...
Excited? Thought not!
Still, onwards and upwards. This time is the turn of a cheap and cheerful USB Bluetooth adapter - sourced from our local PoundWorld store for the princely sum of £1. Yes, one single solitary pound! Bargain or what?
A LiveWire Bluetooth USB Dongle, Yesterday
Starting with Ubuntu, let's plug in and see how we go. Installation was straight forward - a few seconds after plugging the adapter in, a Bluetooth icon appeared on the status bar. Clicking on the icon gives us the option to "Set up device". One short scan later I'd added my phone, had clicked "Browse files on device" (also from the Bluetooth menu) and was copying my photos onto my PC. Nice.
Now for XP. After plugging the device in drivers were automatically installed, including a modem driver to allow me to access the internet using the mobile (in the event that my broadband had died). Of course, being Windows XP a reboot was required before the adapter was ready for action.
Once it was installed a Bluetooth icon appeared on the menu, and much like on Linux it only took a couple of clicks to link to my phone. Now, this is where the Windows XP Bluetooth misses out a bit - there was an option to Send a file, another to Receive a file (and options to connect to a Bluetooth network) but nothing to browse the files on the mobile. Hopefully this is something that will have been improved on for Vista / Windows 7. Luckily, having a Nokia phone meant that I could download the rather nifty Nokia PC Suite - which is an rather nice tool for connecting and synchronising with your mobile phone.
When all is said and done there really isn't much to choose between the two, although Ubuntu does win out by doing a little more "out of the box".
Not bad for a little £1 adapter.
Excited? Thought not!
Still, onwards and upwards. This time is the turn of a cheap and cheerful USB Bluetooth adapter - sourced from our local PoundWorld store for the princely sum of £1. Yes, one single solitary pound! Bargain or what?
A LiveWire Bluetooth USB Dongle, Yesterday
Starting with Ubuntu, let's plug in and see how we go. Installation was straight forward - a few seconds after plugging the adapter in, a Bluetooth icon appeared on the status bar. Clicking on the icon gives us the option to "Set up device". One short scan later I'd added my phone, had clicked "Browse files on device" (also from the Bluetooth menu) and was copying my photos onto my PC. Nice.
Now for XP. After plugging the device in drivers were automatically installed, including a modem driver to allow me to access the internet using the mobile (in the event that my broadband had died). Of course, being Windows XP a reboot was required before the adapter was ready for action.
Once it was installed a Bluetooth icon appeared on the menu, and much like on Linux it only took a couple of clicks to link to my phone. Now, this is where the Windows XP Bluetooth misses out a bit - there was an option to Send a file, another to Receive a file (and options to connect to a Bluetooth network) but nothing to browse the files on the mobile. Hopefully this is something that will have been improved on for Vista / Windows 7. Luckily, having a Nokia phone meant that I could download the rather nifty Nokia PC Suite - which is an rather nice tool for connecting and synchronising with your mobile phone.
When all is said and done there really isn't much to choose between the two, although Ubuntu does win out by doing a little more "out of the box".
Not bad for a little £1 adapter.
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Court decides: Novell owns Unix Copyrights, not SCO
It finally happened. After seven long years SCO had their day in court (well, two weeks to be exact) and the jury has returned a unanimous verdict: Novell did not sell the UNIX copyrights to SCO, and the now legendary Amendment 2 did not transfer the copyrights either.
This also blew SCO's slander of title claims out of the water (if SCO didn't own the copyrights and Novell did then there is no slander).
This had a dramatic effect on SCO's share prices, which over the past year had crept up to around 70 cents plunged back down to 10 cents on the news of the jury's decision.
So does this mean that it's all over? It's still too soon to tell. One thing is certain - things aren't looking too rosy for SCO at the moment...
This also blew SCO's slander of title claims out of the water (if SCO didn't own the copyrights and Novell did then there is no slander).
This had a dramatic effect on SCO's share prices, which over the past year had crept up to around 70 cents plunged back down to 10 cents on the news of the jury's decision.
So does this mean that it's all over? It's still too soon to tell. One thing is certain - things aren't looking too rosy for SCO at the moment...
Wednesday 3 February 2010
The Other "Chaos Caverns II"
It has been a busy couple of months (the lack of blog posts may have given you a hint) but hopefully I'll be able to get back into the swing of things a bit more.
So what has been happening on the programming front? Well, there hangs a tale.
I've been developing "Chaos Caverns II" - which is coming together rather nicely, new code base, higher resolution graphics, new features, plenty of programming work to keep me interested. However prior to this I'd started re-writing the original "Chaos Caverns" to make it into a flip-screen arcade adventure - along the lines of Jet Set Willy (Matthew Smith's follow up to Manic Miner - the game which inspired Chaos Caverns in the first place).
I'd got it to the point that it actually worked as a five screen demo in which you could walk left to right through the screens, and items collected didn't re-appear if you left and re-entered the screen. It was an interesting "first try" but I didn't think I'd be taking it much further, especially when it became obvious that the new code would bring many benefits. The only downside to the new code is that although it had a lot of new graphics, an awful lot more need to be added to give it enough variety to make a full game (especially compared to the original one).
So inbetween adding the missing bits to the new Chaos Caverns II (and tinkering around with some other code for potential games) not much was really getting done.
Time Passes...
A couple of weeks ago I read on Retro Remakes that some lovely person had been selling CDs of remakes (namely those made by Retro Spec) and had asked them to stop it. Out of curiosity I checked his listings and found that he was also selling Chaos Caverns (and renaming the damn thing as "Manic Miner - Chaos Caverns"). Wonderful - I don't think!
After asking Ebay to remove the listing (which they did) - he relisted the item again - claiming that he had permission to post it. To cut a long story short (which included me editing my YouTube video of Chaos Caverns which he was showing as part of the listing to include some informative captions) he agreed not to sell the game - and even admitted that his alledged permission to sell Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy didn't entitle him to sell my little tribute to it).
As part of this I decided that a quick update of Chaos Caverns was in order to allow me to embed the copyright (and distribution) details in a more obvious and up-front way. At this point I discovered that when I'd been updating the code I'd neglected to back up the original unchanged version - and the new code was not compatible with the original levels.
Whilst checking through the code to see if I could de-update it to get the original levels working again I had a bit of a play with it and started "tweaking" a couple of things. Then a few more. Then a lot more. Before I knew it I'd changed the way the player jumps (it now works more like Manic Miner), added vertical movement between screens, made some new maps, added some new baddies, discovered (and fixed) some long-standing bugs, and basically made an awful lot of progress towards making it into a full game.
By the looks of things I'll probably end up releasing the old one as "Chaos Caverns 2" - and using the new platform engine as either "Chaos Caverns 3" or (more likely) as something else entirely.
Next stop - adding proper DirectX scaling support into the code and changing the screenmode defaults to something supported by modern graphics cards.
So what has been happening on the programming front? Well, there hangs a tale.
I've been developing "Chaos Caverns II" - which is coming together rather nicely, new code base, higher resolution graphics, new features, plenty of programming work to keep me interested. However prior to this I'd started re-writing the original "Chaos Caverns" to make it into a flip-screen arcade adventure - along the lines of Jet Set Willy (Matthew Smith's follow up to Manic Miner - the game which inspired Chaos Caverns in the first place).
I'd got it to the point that it actually worked as a five screen demo in which you could walk left to right through the screens, and items collected didn't re-appear if you left and re-entered the screen. It was an interesting "first try" but I didn't think I'd be taking it much further, especially when it became obvious that the new code would bring many benefits. The only downside to the new code is that although it had a lot of new graphics, an awful lot more need to be added to give it enough variety to make a full game (especially compared to the original one).
So inbetween adding the missing bits to the new Chaos Caverns II (and tinkering around with some other code for potential games) not much was really getting done.
Time Passes...
A couple of weeks ago I read on Retro Remakes that some lovely person had been selling CDs of remakes (namely those made by Retro Spec) and had asked them to stop it. Out of curiosity I checked his listings and found that he was also selling Chaos Caverns (and renaming the damn thing as "Manic Miner - Chaos Caverns"). Wonderful - I don't think!
After asking Ebay to remove the listing (which they did) - he relisted the item again - claiming that he had permission to post it. To cut a long story short (which included me editing my YouTube video of Chaos Caverns which he was showing as part of the listing to include some informative captions) he agreed not to sell the game - and even admitted that his alledged permission to sell Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy didn't entitle him to sell my little tribute to it).
As part of this I decided that a quick update of Chaos Caverns was in order to allow me to embed the copyright (and distribution) details in a more obvious and up-front way. At this point I discovered that when I'd been updating the code I'd neglected to back up the original unchanged version - and the new code was not compatible with the original levels.
Whilst checking through the code to see if I could de-update it to get the original levels working again I had a bit of a play with it and started "tweaking" a couple of things. Then a few more. Then a lot more. Before I knew it I'd changed the way the player jumps (it now works more like Manic Miner), added vertical movement between screens, made some new maps, added some new baddies, discovered (and fixed) some long-standing bugs, and basically made an awful lot of progress towards making it into a full game.
More importantly I've also had some ideas of things that I'll need to change in the "real" Chaos Caverns II which should add some greater flexibility to the level designs.
By the looks of things I'll probably end up releasing the old one as "Chaos Caverns 2" - and using the new platform engine as either "Chaos Caverns 3" or (more likely) as something else entirely.
Next stop - adding proper DirectX scaling support into the code and changing the screenmode defaults to something supported by modern graphics cards.
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