Universal Linux Launcher for NCSoft Games
By
Ciaviel,
Posted on: 2011-08-08 19:05 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Quote:
diggin'. |
Originally Posted by Papaschtroumpf
no big deal depends on the user. it's too much to ask from my wife or my mom.
I rarely have to install dependencies on windows, although once in as while you run in some program asking you to install .NET or some VC library and you know what? I don't like it either. except people know to blame the developer/packager, not the OS. |
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Bit of both. From what I'd seen so far, the Ubuntu software center was supposed to be where you were going for everything. And I'd searched in there for (for instance) XML;;Simple and whatnot and came up blank. And when that mentions "If you have ActivePerl, then you have these other dependancies" - well, given I'd just seen a whack of messages saying "THis not found, that not found" and they weren't coming up in there, yeah, I did it manually. Then manually found what *those* complained about. |
Originally Posted by Nicodemus
i'm not sure that's what he's saying, but i could be wrong. it sounds like he manually compiled everything because he didn't realize he could just click a few buttons and get what he needed from the repos.
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If there's another manager to run *in addition to* that, (a) it's not immediately obvious and (b) that's something that should be merged into the one software center, frankly (even if it calls it behind the scenes.) Because I found none of it there, and didn't see another manager of any sort.
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| manually installing dependencies in linux is no big deal and no different from installing reqs i need in windows. if anything it's better because it's in one place and easy to queue up what i need, whereas with windows i'm generally running all over the web looking for what i need. |
Now, I'm not saying that's a 100% fair comparison *in this case.* After all, I'm trying to run a non-Linux application in Linux, so there are going to be extra hoops. I expected that. It's just that those hoops led to others to the point of frustration to me.
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| i liked win 7, but now that i switched to Linux full time i hate having to maintain my wife's windows computer. it's so much more hassle than linux. |
Maintenance wise - barring the OS going south for whatever reason - I'd say the two are equal.
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| honestly, i really just think the issue is that people by and large don't understand how to do things on linux and then get mad at it. |
That legacy has been minimized a good bit in the last few years - but it's still there, and still daunting (to the point of frustration and/or just giving up) for me and, moreso, for those less willing to put up with mystic command lines than me.
I *want* to like it. But it has a ways to go - then again, like I said, I'd put it on something to use strictly as a web/email machine, and that's progress. I wouldn't have done THAT before.
Wanted: Origin centric story arcs.
If you've only played an AT once (one set combo) and "hate" it - don't give up. Roll a different combo. It may just be those sets not clicking for you.
perhaps, perhaps. i don't think many of the things you're saying are totally unfounded. there's definitely the history there, for sure.
as someone who couldn't deal with linux in the '90s, i was super happy with the modern friendly approaches founded with, uh, was it pclos? or mepis? one of them i think started the livecd. and then ubuntu. but je_saist is much more knowledgable than i about linux history and developments (and also in general. =)
i guess i consider it "friendly enough," at this point. 
teaching my mom from scratch, with no prior computer knowledge, to use her mac, i was constantly thinking that, with a fresh slate, i bet i could have gotten her using ubuntu. but i had mac mini on hand so i just gave her that and let steve jobs hold her hand the whole way. =)
to your particular issue with the Ubuntu Software Center and the Synaptic Package Manager, this was a choice made by Canonical, the guys who make that distro. not all linux distros work this way. they did this, i believe, to try and present a friendly front-end on one side to help people find programs like "music player" really easily, while keeping it separate from the more "hardcore" nitty-gritty of Synaptic, which will get you those scary computer-y things like XML:simple, and could bork your install if you do it wrong (like accidentally uninstall something important.) so for the future try looking there for the more "serious" stuff.
if you want a more unified package manager, feel free to install another that is perhaps more to your liking, or you can try another distro. i know Kubuntu is moving to Muon next release, and i'm happy about that as i personally prefer Muon as a package manager. but, like all progs (and linux in general), it's your preference. if you don't like how it's done, change it to something you do like. =) make it your own, that's it's key strength, i feel.
as for windows vs linux updating process, it could be a point of preference. all i know is, windows had me restarting after every little thing, and sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. i don't go through this with linux. =) ah, cest la vie.
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Quick heads up, 11.8 is out and seems to be fine on 32 bit systems.|
Originally Posted by Rajani Isa
Admittedly on Windows, but I don't know of anyone (and I've AMD as well) that had 11.6 running right. For me, it was constant "snagging" vs. full rubberbanding, and my cpu usage doubled while running CoH under those drivers.
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(64 bit is still... Erm a little off.)
Nuff Said...
Coolio Wolfus leader of Coolio�s Crusaders on Union.
Tekna Logik leader of Tekna�s Tormentors on Defiant.
Creator of: Coolio's Tech Beacon Replacements
AE arc 402506, 'The Rise and Demise or Otherwise of Tekna Logik...'.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Stormbird
And I'd searched in there for (for instance) XML.Simple and whatnot and came up blank.
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I can't say that I've had the same experiences as Storm...
I think Linux is pretty user friendly.
And I found the script pretty straightforward.
Wine, out of the box, lets you run .exe
Then creating launchers in linux is basically a fancy way of saying 'Command Line' or 'Run...' for you windows users out there.
When the instructions say install dependencies, I don't even have to add additional repositories to find them... most of the dependencies (e.g. wget (which is an accessory), PERL, XDelta, XML.Simple, etc) were on the Package Manager by default.... I'm running 10.04 LTS (Lucid)
As far as windows vs. mac vs. lin
I love how you can customize the Linux Interface... and Compiz effects are soooo much cooler than Win Aero or OSX Mission Control/Launchpad.
At any rate, I digress....
When I got home from work tonight, I see that my Terminal (that I launched last night and went to bed) had aborted the script because the downloaded CoH patch had failed MD5 CheckSum... I'm also questioning the install location of the script itself...
Right now, it's put in:
Code:
/home/myusername/wine/dosdevices/c:/Program Files/City of Heroes/cohlaunch.pl
Code:
perl '/home/myusername/wine/dosdevices/c:/Program Files/City of Heroes/cohlaunch.pl' -live -renderthread 0
It tries to connect to the CoH update server (OK)
Downloads the PatchListManifest.xml (OK)
but then it says...
Code:
Unable to get current version of City of Heroes. Installing from scratch Patching from 0.0.0.0 to 2050.201107131807.1.0 using CityOfHeroes_Main_0.0.0.0To2050.201107131807.1.0
so once it starts, it sends the HTTP request (OK)
then says
Code:
206 Partial Content Length: 4101540820 (3.8G), 3445549180 (3.2G) remaining [application/octet-stream] The sizes do not match (local 656289928) Retrieving.
2 hours remaining, but a steady 500kb/s.
I can understand the partial content size mismatch..
so I downloaded wget, maybe it will help with the resume feature (in the event of disconnection)
I don't understand where it's trying to install the updated version...
Thinking that I can relocate the *.pl file, maybe it will detect my previously installed game content?
*Please advise.
ALSO... *per the previous convo in this thread*
I'm running an nVidia 8800GTS, albeit older driver.
The graphics (when the game is running) look astonishing, even at full Ultra Mode. No rubber banding or chat cursor problems. *shrug.
@p3hndrx
Server(s): Liberty
(50+): Paparazzi., Lady Indica, Tesla's Temptress, Perplexus, Tau anti-Neutrino, Biomechatron
Quote:
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Originally Posted by p3x2k9
ALSO... *per the previous convo in this thread*
I'm running an nVidia 8800GTS, albeit older driver. The graphics (when the game is running) look astonishing, even at full Ultra Mode. No rubber banding or chat cursor problems. *shrug. |
excuse the poor quality screenshot... they were taken from my MacBookPro via VNC...
@p3hndrx
Server(s): Liberty
(50+): Paparazzi., Lady Indica, Tesla's Temptress, Perplexus, Tau anti-Neutrino, Biomechatron
did your shortcut work prior to this?
when i tried to do a shortcut like the way you posted, it tried to install a new version of CoH somewhere else. basically, it wasn't truly running the cohlaunch.pl from the correct directory, it was running it from another directory, even though cohlaunch.pl was in the correct CoH directory. i think it tried to run it from the Desktop directory, but i don't recall.
what i have is a script that launches the perl script correctly, then i have a launcher that points to my script.
my script looks like this:
#!/bin/sh
cd ~/.cxgames/CityofHeroes/drive_c/Program_Files/City_of_Heroes/
exec ./cohlaunch.pl -renderthread 0
# EOF #
this way it makes sure to change to the correct directory first before executing the perl launcher.
then i just have a launcher on my desktop that calls my script, like so:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30531972/cohlauncher.png
the launcher is in the bottom tray.
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What matters for the launcher is not where you've got the script (I've got mine in ~/bin), but what the current working directory is.
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Originally Posted by Nicodemus
did your shortcut work prior to this?
when i tried to do a shortcut like the way you posted, it tried to install a new version of CoH somewhere else. basically, it wasn't truly running the cohlaunch.pl from the correct directory, it was running it from another directory, even though cohlaunch.pl was in the correct CoH directory. i think it tried to run it from the Desktop directory, but i don't recall. |
Quote:
This worked. Totally.|
Originally Posted by Nicodemus
my script looks like this: #!/bin/sh cd ~/.cxgames/CityofHeroes/drive_c/Program_Files/City_of_Heroes/ exec ./cohlaunch.pl -renderthread 0 # EOF # this way it makes sure to change to the correct directory first before executing the perl launcher. |
And it looks good.
Still testing everything out.
and it looks like i have ultramode enabled.
I guess I'm set.
Spectacular.
Thx for your help!
and the awesome script.
@p3hndrx
Server(s): Liberty
(50+): Paparazzi., Lady Indica, Tesla's Temptress, Perplexus, Tau anti-Neutrino, Biomechatron
anytime! glad it worked! =)
I used Mark's perl script without issue until late last night. Today when I try to log in, I get the following error message:
Connecting to cohlive.patcher.ncsoft.com (cohlive.patcher.ncsoft.com)|184.25.109.50|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
The file is already fully retrieved; nothing to do.
junk after document element at line 20, column 0, byte 1002 at /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.10.1/i486-linux-thread-multi/XML/Parser.pm line 187
Looks like someone else is having a similar issue: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...=268043&page=7
Any ideas? I'm not familiar enough with perl to debug it myself. 
Something was borked game-side.
Still trying to work out what the problem is.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...&postcount=127
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...&postcount=325
Still broken for you, as well? Mark over on the wine forums popped in and seemed to know what the issue is.
One of these days I'll actually learn perl and XML...
Quote:
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Originally Posted by je_saist
Something was borked game-side.
Still trying to work out what the problem is. http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...&postcount=127 http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...&postcount=325 |
The new perl-script works like a charm.
If only the servers were up, or am I missing something?
//CX
Update: Mark uploaded version 0.81 which fixes the problem I encountered last night.
http://www.carnildo.com/cohlaunch/index.html
Launching the game works, but logging on doesn't.
Seems to me there is something wierd with the authentication server.
Code:
I'm going to try launching the .exe directly and see what happens...Auth:Connecting to 64.25.36.4:2106 (TCP)... ok (21.01) Auth:Waiting for protocol version... failed (45.00)
Great, I get an error-message saying that I can't run the exe directly and must use the launcher. wtf?
//cx
Solved! Removing
Code:
-auth 64.25.36.4
I too had this problem, despite great success in the past (must be an update)..
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ciaviel
I used Mark's perl script without issue until late last night. Today when I try to log in, I get the following error message:
Connecting to cohlive.patcher.ncsoft.com (cohlive.patcher.ncsoft.com)|184.25.109.50|:80... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK The file is already fully retrieved; nothing to do. junk after document element at line 20, column 0, byte 1002 at /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.10.1/i486-linux-thread-multi/XML/Parser.pm line 187 |
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ciaviel
Update: Mark uploaded version 0.81 which fixes the problem I encountered last night.
http://www.carnildo.com/cohlaunch/index.html |
@p3hndrx
Server(s): Liberty
(50+): Paparazzi., Lady Indica, Tesla's Temptress, Perplexus, Tau anti-Neutrino, Biomechatron
So does anyone know if Mark's perl script works with i21? Getting nervous...
It works with the beta. Nobody will know if it works with i21 until i21 comes out.
I tried to log in the test server, but it shows the "UNNAMED" server and clicking on it eventually gives an error message that it can't contact the SB server
.
Done loading. (14.65)
Connecting to DbServer 192.168.1.11:7000 (UDP) cookie: 0..failed (30.01)
using any of the -auth options doesn't get past the log in screen, claiming there is a problem contacting the auth server.
According to the download page, the "-auth" parameter hasn't been needed since version 0.7 of the launcher.
It's possible that the test server is down right now, as I can't log on either.
Ok, using this method I've managed to get my laptop to a point where I can launch CoH on Ubuntu 11.10 under Crossover Games. I am, however, experiencing a few problems.
The script does not launch the game. It did install the game to an empty directory, and it appears to have fully updated it. I'm not positive that's the case though.
After launching the game manually, I get one of two errors. Either it tells me the login server is down (despite the fact that the current server status page lists all the servers as up) or it lists only an UNNAMED server. I've tried everything I found in this thread to no avail. I suppose I could just keep playing on my desktop, but it'd be nice to be able to play away from home. I installed Ubuntu because my Windows install was getting very sluggish and it was time for a fresh install, but I only have one Windows key and I needed it for my recently repaired desktop.
Any suggestions for getting this to work right? Something I might be doing wrong?
Oh, the error message the script gives says it can't find the directory /cxgames/bin/wine. I find that weird because I downloaded the cxgames version of the script.
@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian
hm, that's odd. i don't actually play anymore but i can try to help.
it seems like the script is working fine, it just can't seem to find your cxgames directory. do you have those directories that it's looking for?
how did you install cxgames? did you use the .bin method? i always use the generic installer, and not the .deb file, because it makes it easier to troubleshoot and update.
so i recommend that.
*edit* also, where did it install CoH?
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I'm not actually sure how I installed cxgames. I did it late the other night. I grabbed whichever file it suggested for my distribution I'm sure. As far as CoH, it's installed in c:/Program Files/City of Heroes on a Windows XP bottle.|
Originally Posted by Nicodemus
hm, that's odd. i don't actually play anymore but i can try to help.
it seems like the script is working fine, it just can't seem to find your cxgames directory. do you have those directories that it's looking for? how did you install cxgames? did you use the .bin method? i always use the generic installer, and not the .deb file, because it makes it easier to troubleshoot and update. so i recommend that. *edit* also, where did it install CoH? |
Also, the cxgames directory defaults to being hidden (.cxgames), so that may be an issue. It took me awhile to figure that out to be able to find the folder I needed. This being my first major experience with linux, I'm not really sure how to "unhide" that directory.
@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian
no big deal depends on the user. it's too much to ask from my wife or my mom.
I rarely have to install dependencies on windows, although once in as while you run in some program asking you to install .NET or some VC library and you know what? I don't like it either. except people know to blame the developer/packager, not the OS.