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[SOLVED]Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 12 Mar 2015, 18:07
by Octo
Used to play spring on windows alot. Now I'm on a linux laptop and having a hard time finding the right way to install. I've tried following the instructions on the site but those haven't helped. Currently I have the springlobby installed from the software center but that is 2 versions behind so thats no good. Any help would be very much appreciated

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 12 Mar 2015, 18:38
by Jools
What Linux distribution? Can't you just type "sudo apt-get install spring"?

Or have you seen this: https://springrts.com/wiki/Ubuntu_install ?

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 12 Mar 2015, 19:23
by qray
Static binary for spring (see download link in release post on start page)
-> independent of what your distro offers and how fast it updates
-> easy: extract, point springlobby under preferences->spring to the right files, done

For springlobby
-> easy: take one from a repository (older lobbies usually work also good)
-> harder: compile it yourself if you want/need a newer one.

EDIT: forgot one step in static binary

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 13 Mar 2015, 19:40
by Octo
Jools wrote:What Linux distribution? Can't you just type "sudo apt-get install spring"?

Or have you seen this: https://springrts.com/wiki/Ubuntu_install ?
Okay yes, I have the Ubuntu software center one installed and it works, but it's on version 96 , and am trying to work on the "Updating to newer releases" section on the page you linked. I'm just confused on what it means by "Go to System-Administration..."

I'm looking in system settings, there is a "System" Section, but I don't see anything relating to administration.. Or am i looking in the wrong section all together?

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 13 Mar 2015, 20:23
by Funkencool
You can head here http://weblobby.springrts.com/ and get weblobby. It's cross platform and will automatically download engines/games/maps as you need them.

( some one else let me know if ZK split has changed any of this )

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 13 Mar 2015, 21:33
by Forboding Angel
on linux, use weblobby. any other method will make you want to scoop your eyeballs out with a spoon.

Use the portable builds here, not the site. Browsers declared war on java a long time ago, making accessing weblobby with a browser rather difficult:

https://415a950abc581c17904719844496567 ... JXR1pRV2M/

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 13 Mar 2015, 21:42
by Forboding Angel
Ugh, I'm stupid... the most idiot proof way to play spring on linux? Install Evolution RTS on steam. Once in the lobby, remove the multiplayer battle filter. Everything will "Just work" from that point.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/291150/

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 13 Mar 2015, 22:49
by Funkencool
Forboding Angel wrote:Use the portable builds here, not the site. Browsers declared war on java a long time ago, making accessing weblobby with a browser rather difficult:
Yeah it was always a pain dealing with Java; but, http://weblobby.springrts.com/ is just a portal to the downloads and github page now, with some screen shots. I'm not actually sure the java version is hosted anywhere anymore.

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 14 Mar 2015, 01:14
by Octo
Forboding Angel wrote:Ugh, I'm stupid... the most idiot proof way to play spring on linux? Install Evolution RTS on steam. Once in the lobby, remove the multiplayer battle filter. Everything will "Just work" from that point.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/291150/
wow, that does look idiot proof. Would I still be able to drop game/map files into the folder like normal?

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 14 Mar 2015, 01:33
by Octo
I just installed via steam, I can't join or start any single or multiplayer games. I'm pressing the joing/start button and nothing happens. Any Ideas?

Also, I tried downloading from

https://415a950abc581c17904719844496567 ... JXR1pRV2M/

and this one can't seem to download maps or other files. I'm starting to wonder if linux players exist..

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 14 Mar 2015, 03:33
by qray
Octo wrote:I'm starting to wonder if linux players exist..
Yes, quite a lot of them (including me and most of my friends :wink:)
But I can't comment on the steam approach since I never tried it.
Octo wrote:Okay yes, I have the Ubuntu software center one installed and it works, but it's on version 96 , and am trying to work on the "Updating to newer releases" section on the page you linked. I'm just confused on what it means by "Go to System-Administration..."

I'm looking in system settings, there is a "System" Section, but I don't see anything relating to administration.. Or am i looking in the wrong section all together?
The "ppa:spring/ppa" is a short address for an extra repository (software source), not maintained by Ubuntu itself but by volunteers, where you can get more up-to-date spring versions.
Depending on which package manager / software center you use (*), the section to add it might be called "package sources", "software sources" or similar (either in top menu or under "preferences", "settings" or so). There you choose "add" and enter the address given above. This allows your package manager / software center to install spring and springlobby from there. It chooses automatically the newest versions available in any source when updating/installing.

Side note (which hopefully does not confuse you):
As I said above: I find it convenient to download for spring itself the static binary (32 or 64 bit, depending on your installation). Might come from the fact, that I am always very slow updating my ubuntu installation (still being on 12.04 ATM and updates for older version might come slow/never).
For this, unpack the file of the static binary in a directory of your choice and point your lobby (for springlobby under preferences->spring) to use the spring executable and libunitsync.so from the directory where you extracted it to.
Since I never used weblooby I can't comment on where to find this setting there...


(*) I might not be up-to-date on current standard :wink:

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 14 Mar 2015, 04:03
by Forboding Angel
Octo wrote:I just installed via steam, I can't join or start any single or multiplayer games. I'm pressing the joing/start button and nothing happens. Any Ideas?

Also, I tried downloading from

https://415a950abc581c17904719844496567 ... JXR1pRV2M/

and this one can't seem to download maps or other files. I'm starting to wonder if linux players exist..
Can't join? Could you please pastebin your weblobby.log for me/weblobby guys (settings tab pastebin weblobby.log).

I have never had this happen to any linux users that I am aware of, so please let me know. Also, what is your username in the lobby.

Yes you can place games/maps in the normal places and weblobby will find them. When you install via rapid it will place those files in evo_data though (this is so that when you uninstall it with steam it deletes all the stuff you've downloaded and therefore it cleans up after itself).

If there are any issues with the linux builds I need to know asap. Last check they were working perfectly fine.

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 14 Mar 2015, 22:59
by Octo
qray wrote:
Octo wrote:I'm starting to wonder if linux players exist..
Yes, quite a lot of them (including me and most of my friends :wink:)
But I can't comment on the steam approach since I never tried it.
Octo wrote:Okay yes, I have the Ubuntu software center one installed and it works, but it's on version 96 , and am trying to work on the "Updating to newer releases" section on the page you linked. I'm just confused on what it means by "Go to System-Administration..."

I'm looking in system settings, there is a "System" Section, but I don't see anything relating to administration.. Or am i looking in the wrong section all together?
The "ppa:spring/ppa" is a short address for an extra repository (software source), not maintained by Ubuntu itself but by volunteers, where you can get more up-to-date spring versions.
Depending on which package manager / software center you use (*), the section to add it might be called "package sources", "software sources" or similar (either in top menu or under "preferences", "settings" or so). There you choose "add" and enter the address given above. This allows your package manager / software center to install spring and springlobby from there. It chooses automatically the newest versions available in any source when updating/installing.

Side note (which hopefully does not confuse you):
As I said above: I find it convenient to download for spring itself the static binary (32 or 64 bit, depending on your installation). Might come from the fact, that I am always very slow updating my ubuntu installation (still being on 12.04 ATM and updates for older version might come slow/never).
For this, unpack the file of the static binary in a directory of your choice and point your lobby (for springlobby under preferences->spring) to use the spring executable and libunitsync.so from the directory where you extracted it to.
Since I never used weblooby I can't comment on where to find this setting there...


(*) I might not be up-to-date on current standard :wink:

hurah It works. I needed to search a little to find how to add it, but basically you go in terminal and

sudo add-apt-repositroy ppa:spring/ppa
sudo apt-get update

and it works. Thanks everyone!

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 15 Mar 2015, 00:36
by enetheru
Forboding Angel wrote:hurah It works. I needed to search a little to find how to add it, but basically you go in terminal and

sudo add-apt-repositroy ppa:spring/ppa
sudo apt-get update

and it works. Thanks everyone!
8) I was too late, literally about to post those exact commands for you.

Re: Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 25 Apr 2015, 00:19
by Jammer
Forboding Angel wrote: Can't join? Could you please pastebin your weblobby.log for me/weblobby guys (settings tab pastebin weblobby.log).

I have never had this happen to any linux users that I am aware of, so please let me know. Also, what is your username in the lobby.

Yes you can place games/maps in the normal places and weblobby will find them. When you install via rapid it will place those files in evo_data though (this is so that when you uninstall it with steam it deletes all the stuff you've downloaded and therefore it cleans up after itself).

If there are any issues with the linux builds I need to know asap. Last check they were working perfectly fine.
I had the same problem. Also failed to download the Balanced Annihilation game - came up with an error message, although Download showed 100% there was nothing in the games folder. I was able to download and copy into the games folder, but neither game will launch (neither Evolution nor BA)

http://paste.springfiles.com/view/3e9116b1

Re: [SOLVED]Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 25 Apr 2015, 02:00
by Forboding Angel
Games folder is old and busted, Rapid = new hotness (rapid uses pool and packages). If it says 100%, the the game has been downloaded.

Evo comes preinstalled though, so it's something with your local setup.

Re: [SOLVED]Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 25 Apr 2015, 03:31
by Jammer
Hmm, i deleted the BA files from games and tried again, this time it worked but the map failed to download properly

"Download" shows 100%, but 0% in game room:
http://i.imgur.com/V6QcTG0.png

I restarted the weblobby and tried again, and it worked the this time, but this dropdown to select maps never loads (stuck at "Loading maps, please wait..."):
http://i.imgur.com/6q9BAeV.png

Trying to run the executable evo_data/weblobby/engine/98.0/spring from a terminal let me know I was missing libSDL2-2.0.so.0 (and i couldn't find it anywhere in the evo directories) so I installed it with apt and it seems to be working now :)

Re: [SOLVED]Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 26 Apr 2015, 10:27
by abma
(just for the completeness)

for playing (+using springlobby) the instructions from springlobby should be used:

https://github.com/springlobby/springlo ... all#Ubuntu

the instructions for just installing the engine are basicly useless when you want to play. springlobby will download static builds of spring the same as weblobby.

Re: [SOLVED]Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 28 Apr 2015, 23:35
by Jammer
Where do the files end up? /opt or somewhere else? I'd prefer to have things installed to another drive other than my system/home drive (which is easy with Steam since I can specify a steam directory on that drive and everything goes there). I'm not sure how to effect that with apt, there's a stack overflow thread that says the install directory for packages is hard coded :\

Re: [SOLVED]Most idiot proof way to install and play on linux?

Posted: 28 Apr 2015, 23:55
by abma
Jammer wrote:Where do the files end up? /opt or somewhere else?
from the spring ppa? they should go to /usr