Spring RTS Engine

I've been running Spring in Linux somewhat frequently (relatively since i haven't been playing much).

I use Suse Linux 9.3. It install by default Wine and in the updating tool YOU, it has the option of installing the nVidia/Ati comercial 3D accelerated drivers which are needed to play Spring.

The problems:
- I don't have sound.
- The fonts in game don't look good.
- In the lobby, the text doesn't shows diferent colours (like blue when someone leaves the room).
- The 3D grafics are slightly not as good as in Windows.

The advantages:
- I have much more Frames per second (~140) than in Windows.

A funny thing. I have a mobile Athlon 64, in my laptop, which runs at 1.8 GHz (3000+) but has the possibility to downgrade to up to 800 MHz for lower battery consumption.
Since Linux dinamically changes the clock speed of my CPU, everytime i'm at the lobby, my CPU is at 800 MHz instead of a full speed of 1.8GHz and everyone keeps telling me my CPU is weak or that i'm going to lag games.

If any one needs help putting Spring to run under Linux (like Windows 98/Windows ME users who don't want to spend $ buying Windows XP), ask around here and i or someone else may help.

Woot =)

PauloMorfeo wrote:Since Linux dinamically changes the clock speed of my CPU, everytime i'm at the lobby, my CPU is at 800 MHz instead of a full speed of 1.8GHz and everyone keeps telling me my CPU is weak or that i'm going to lag games.

lolololololol rofl rofl

Well, your reading the Linux mailing list so you know Spring is running somewhat natively on Linux.
Why don't you put a little tutorial in the wiki?

180 FPS!!! wow!

But network play is working correctly in wine?
And you have visible units too?

edit: eh, probably it does otherwise you wouldn't be playing it frequently

I wasn't aware game runs under Linux, which is nice to know. :)
Anyway, for the lobby, you should use RichEdit 3.0 (richedit20.dll file I think) or perhaps even 4.0, which you get with XP SP1. Try googling for it. For the CPU issue, edit this registry location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor\0\~MHz
Also, please paste the string from this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor\0\ProcessorNameString
so that I can improve CPU detecting.

Ya, running spring in wine has quite a few limitations...but mostly the fact that you don't have any sound. The native version should be much faster than the emulated one actually.

I may be switching my last windows machine to linux today...

Spring was the only thing that kept me running Windows.

Tim Blokdijk wrote:Well, your reading the Linux mailing list ...

I am? Doh... The server must be blocking them or something. I do remember signing up for them. Must go check that out.

Min3mat wrote:180 FPS!!! wow!

Actually 140, although with not so good grafics.

But Unreal Tournament, with settings at maximum, runs me in Windows with 70~90 FPS and in Linux reaches peaks of 400+ FPS. Although in Unreal Tournament the diference in the quality of textures is most noticeable.

Zaphod wrote:But network play is working correctly in wine?
And you have visible units too?

edit: eh, probably it does otherwise you wouldn't be playing it frequently

Yes, everything else is working fine. And won my first game, too.
First time i logged in, it even installed me one of those auto-patch things for the lobby.
«server says ...»

Betalord wrote:... For the CPU issue, edit this registry location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\...
...
so that I can improve CPU detecting.

Is that for windows? Cause i don't have that issue in Windows. Windows doesn't changes dinamically the CPU clock.

Tim Blokdijk wrote:...
Why don't you put a little tutorial in the wiki?

I'm really slow with new technologies so, if someone could handle the wicked ... i mean wiki stuff for me and add this text, i would apreciate:
(Although i would like Ace07 or some other Linux freak to, first, check it to make sure the infos are correct)

###

Even though a native Linux port of Spring is almost complete, if, in the meantime, you want to play Spring in Linux using Wine(link to http://winehq.org/), follow these guidelines:

1 - You'll need, of course, Wine installed.
2 - Be sure to have 3D hardware acceleration enabled.
3 - Install Spring or use an already installed Spring in Windows.

1 - You'll need, of course, Wine installed.
This is probably not the most skilled place about installing Wine, so, you're probably better finding help concerning that in the Wine site(link to http://winehq.org/).

2 - Be sure to have 3D hardware acceleration enabled.
Spring is a fully 3D game and will require those. This usually means you have to install the nVidia/Ati comercial drivers. If you're having problems installing these, you'll also probably find better help at they're web sites but you can ask at the Spring forums as well.
To know if you have 3D acceleration working, you can execute in a comand line the comand:
glxinfo
If it shows the line:
direct rendering: yes
You probably have them working.

3 - Install Spring or use an already installed Spring in Windows.
* If you already have Spring installed in Windows, make sure that partition is accessible in Linux, use a comand line to change directory (cd) into it and execute:
wine TASClient.exe
* If you don't have Spring installed yet, install it executing in a comand line where the installer file is located:
wine taspring_0.63b2.exe
(or whatever else the installer might be called)
Then, change directory to where you installed it to, generally:
cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/TASpring
(the comand line only accepts " " spaces in paths if they have an "" before, like: cd Program\ Files)
And, similarly, execute:
wine TASClient.exe

My Linux instalation, Suse Linux 9.3, installed by default Wine and had the option, through the YOU auto-updating tool, to automatically install the comercial drivers. If your distribution also has such options, it can save you much work.

###

onece someone in the Linux world gives the okay on these steps I'd be happy to add them to the wiki

PauloMorfeo wrote:I'm really slow with new technologies so, if someone could handle the wicked ... i mean wiki stuff for me and add this text, i would apreciate:
(Although i would like Ace07 or some other Linux freak to, first, check it to make sure the infos are correct)

You really don't need l33t skill to edit the wiki.
Posting a reply on this forum is harder.

Anyway http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/Linux.
Added a little layout no spellcheck and other stuff it's a wiki after all, we can edit it.

P.S. I don't have the time to confirm it now.
I'm running Linux - your explanation looks right to me.
So I will take your word for it

Tim Blokdijk wrote:...
You really don't need l33t skill to edit the wiki.
Posting a reply on this forum is harder.
...

I guess. But the forum thing, i know how to do while the wicked thing i don't. I'm an extremely rational person who has issues with doing stuff that i'm not entirely sure how to do them and what the exact outcomes will be.

Tim Blokdijk wrote:...
Anyway http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/Linux.
...

Nice!

once someone in the Linux world gives the okay on these steps I'd be happy to add them to the wiki

Booyah! Sure does work! Awesome...
Using Ubuntu Linux. Works Like a charm. No sound though.
Awesome game... can't wait for the port.

And a few more things: I get an error whenever somebody comes or leaves the lobby (if that's what the window that shows when you run TASClient is called).This is extrannoying because is there is a message for every person in there upon connection. "External exception 80000101"

The graphics and fonts seem OK.

The error messages are so frequent and annoying that I'll havto stick to singleplayer.

Update: Multiplayer is manageable once you turn off TASClient. Until you do, the errors are canstant - yes, no pause inbetween AT ALL. So DO shut it down as soon as you enter a game. I didn't see anything wrong with the lobby fonts & colors.

And a few more things: I get an error whenever somebody comes or leaves the lobby (if that's what the window that shows when you run TASClient is called).This is extrannoying because is there is a message for every person in there upon connection. "External exception 80000101"

This is because your wine uses richedit 2.0 and I use 3.0 which comes with windows 2000 and later I believe. Try http://users.sentvid.org/~tomaz/temp/richupd.exe, which includes richedit 3.0 update (don't know how to install it to wine though).

Hmm. Thanks. Unfontunately, I don't know how to fix this. Googling to no avail.

I guess I can disable some advanced stuff if program detects it is running under wine, but I don't know how to detect that. It says under Wine FAQ not to try to detect that at all :) (http://www.winehq.org/site/docs/wine-fa ... ETECT-WINE)