LDP
/
LDP
mirror of https://github.com/tLDP/LDP
0
1
Fork 0
Code Releases Activity

updated

This commit is contained in:
gferg 2002-02-19 20:01:49 +00:00
parent 35c1d98e9a
commit faf07f077d
3 changed files with 106 additions and 36 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

2
LDP/howto/docbook/HOWTO-INDEX/appsSect.sgml
View File

@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ Describes the basics of IRC and respective applications for Linux. </Para>
Linux-Gamers-HOWTO</ULink>,
<CiteTitle>The Linux Gamers' HOWTO</CiteTitle>
</Para><Para>
<CiteTitle>Updated: January 2002</CiteTitle>.
<CiteTitle>Updated: February 2002</CiteTitle>.
A stepping stone to get the most common problems
resolved and to give people the knowledge to begin thinking
intelligently about what is going on with their games. </Para>

2
LDP/howto/docbook/HOWTO-INDEX/howtoChap.sgml
View File

@ -1332,7 +1332,7 @@ guide. </Para>
Linux-Gamers-HOWTO</ULink>,
<CiteTitle>The Linux Gamers' HOWTO</CiteTitle>
</Para><Para>
<CiteTitle>Updated: January 2002</CiteTitle>.
<CiteTitle>Updated: February 2002</CiteTitle>.
A stepping stone to get the most common problems
resolved and to give people the knowledge to begin thinking
intelligently about what is going on with their games. </Para>

138
LDP/howto/docbook/Linux-Gamers-HOWTO.sgml
View File

@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
</affiliation>
</author>
<pubdate>v.0.9.8, 2002-01-28</pubdate>
<pubdate>v.0.9.9, 2002-02-19</pubdate>
<copyright>
<year>2001</year>
@ -102,7 +102,7 @@
<sect2 id="acknowledgements"><title>Acknowledgements</title>
<para> Thanks to Mike Phillips who commented extensively on the howto. Thanks to Dmitry
Samoyloff, <email>dsamoyloff@mail.ru</email>, for translating this document into Russian.
Samoyloff, <email>dsamoyloff@yandex.ru</email>, for translating this document into Russian.
It blew my mind when he told me that he was translating my words to Russian. </para>
</sect2>
@ -329,7 +329,7 @@
<sect2><title>Role Playing Game (aka RPG)</title>
<sect2 id="rpg"><title>Role Playing Game (aka RPG)</title>
<para> Anyone who has played games like Dungeons & Dragons or Call of Cthulhu knows
exactly what an RPG is. You play a character, sometimes more than one, characterized by
@ -352,6 +352,12 @@
commercial RPGs on Linux. If you don't count all the rogue variants, there also seems to
deficiency of open source RPGs as well. </para>
<para> While the insanely popular Ultima series, written by Richard Garriot (aka Lord
British) for Origin, was not the first RPG, it popularized and propelled the RPG genre
into mainstream. Ultima I was released in 1987 and was the game that launched 9
(depending on how you want to count them) very popular sequels, finishing with Ultima IX:
Ascension. You can play Ultima VII under Linux with Exult. </para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
@ -635,6 +641,34 @@
</sect2>
<sect2><title>What is DirectX?</title>
<para> DirectX is a bunch of multimedia (2d and 3d graphics, sound, animation) API's for
Microsoft's Windows OS, first developed by MS in 1995. Direct3D is to MS Windows as SDL is
to Linux, except that Direct3D proprietary, closed source, very high level and only meant to
compile and be used under Windows under the x86 architecture, whereas SDL is open source,
lower level and extremely portable to other platforms. As of February 2002, the most recent
version of DirectX is 8.1. The component of DirectX which is responsible for 3D graphics is
called Direct3D. </para>
<para> We mention it here because it is a competing technology to open technologies like SDL
and OpenGL/OpenAL. Many games have, historically, been unportable to Linux because they
have been written in Direct3D. However, recently there have been Direct3D ports to Linux
like Loki Software's Heavy Gear II. Also, Direct3D is important to people who play Windows
games under Linux via wine, winex or one of the virtual machines like vmware. In
particular, the whole point of winex is to provide better support for Direct3D which isn't
very developed under plain wine. </para>
<para> A company named realtechVR started an open source project called the "DirectX Port"
&lt<systemitem role="url">http://www.v3x.net/directx</systemitem>&gt; which, like wine,
provides a Direct3D emulation layer that implements Direct3D calls. The project was focused
on the BeOS platform, but is now focused on MacOS and Linux. The DirectX Port is open
source and you can get their latest cvs from their sourceforge page at <systemitem
role="url">http://sourceforge.net/projects/dxglwrap</systemitem>&gt;. </para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
@ -810,12 +844,11 @@ you. </para>
<sect1><title>XFree86 and You</title>
<para> If you're going to game under X, it's crucial that you know a bit
about X. I think the "X Window User HOWTO", and especially "man
XF86Config" should be *required* reading. Don't short change yourself.
Read them. They have an extremely high "information to space" ratio.
Many problems can be fixed easily if you know your way around the
XF86Config (or XF86Config-4) file. </para>
<para> If you're going to game under X, it's crucial that you know a bit about X. The "X
Window User HOWTO", and especially "man XF86Config" are <emphasis>required</emphasis> reading.
Don't short change yourself; read them. They have an extremely high "information to space"
ratio. Many problems can be fixed easily if you know your way around
<filename>XF86Config</filename> (or <filename>XF86Config-4</filename>). </para>
@ -824,20 +857,18 @@ you. </para>
<sect3><title>Probeonly</title>
<para> There are many ways to get information about your X system. A
popular method is using probeonly. From a console (and without X
already running), type: </para>
<para> One of the best diagnostic tools and sources of information about your X system is
<command>probeonly</command> output. To use it, kill X if it's already running and from a
console, type: </para>
<screen>
X -probeonly 2> X.out
</screen>
<para> Yes, that's a single dash; so much for standards. The output
of X goes to stderr, so we have to redirect stderr with "2>" to a file
named X.out. This file pretty much has everything there is to know
about X. Go ahead and look at it. It's chock full of useful
information. It's crucial that you know the difference between the
different the various markers: </para>
<para> Yes, that's a single dash; so much for standards. The output of X goes to stderr,
so we have to redirect stderr with "2>" to a file named X.out. This file will have almost
everything there is to know about your X system. It's crucial that you know the
difference between the various markers you'll see in probeonly output: </para>
<screen>
(--) probed (**) from config file (==) default setting
@ -845,8 +876,7 @@ you. </para>
(WW) warning (EE) error (??) unknown.
</screen>
<para> Here's an example of what useful information I can glean from my
output: </para>
<para> Here's an example of some information I gleaned from my output: </para>
<para>I'm running at 16 bpp color:</para>
@ -862,26 +892,16 @@ you. </para>
(--) TDFX(0): VideoRAM: 32768 kByte Mapping 65536 kByte
</screen>
<para> As I said, it's all here. Sometimes it's hard to find what you're looking for.
Also, if X is already running, you'll have to kill it first, and sometimes you don't want
to have to do this. There are other ways of getting information about X, but I don't
think any of them have the wealth of knowledge that this method gives. We'll cover them
shortly. </para>
<para> On Debian (and perhaps other distros?) the output of startx goes to the file
<filename>/var/log/Xfree86.0.log</filename>, so you don't have to do the "-probeonly"
business. </para>
</sect3>
<!-- here -->
<sect3><title>Getting info about your setup: xvidtune</title>
<para> xvidtune is your friend when your X screen is shifted a little
bit too far to the right, or if the vertical length is too small to fit
on your monitor. However, it's a great diagnostic tool also. It'll
give you: </para>
<para> <application>xvidtune</application> is your friend when your X screen is shifted a
little bit too far to the right, or if the vertical length is too small to fit on your
monitor. However, it's a great diagnostic tool also. It'll give you: </para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>the hsync/vsync range specified in your XF86Config file
@ -2102,6 +2122,56 @@ you. </para>
<sect1><title>Interpreters</title>
<sect2><title>Lucasarts SCUMM Engine</title>
<para> Lucasarts wrote an engine for point and click adventures named SCUMM (Script
Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion). They wrote many graphical adventures using SCUMM,
like their famous Monkey Island series (all three). Ludvig Strigeus
<email>strigeus@users.sourceforge.net</email> was able to reverse engineer the SCUMM
format and write an interpreter for SCUMM based games that compiles under Linux and Win32
named scummvm &lt;<systemitem role="url">http://scummvm.sourceforge.net/</systemitem>&gt;.
Their website is very good, and chock full of any kind of information about SCUMM and
playing these games under scummvm.</para>
<para> A compatibility page is maintained at the scummvm website. FWIW, I've been able to
finish many of the games that are listed as 90% done with no problems. scummvm is rock
solid, and allows you to purchase SCUMM based Lucas Arts games, copy the data files to
your hard drive and play them under Linux. As of February 2002, I've been following
their cvs, and this project is undergoing constant development. Kudos to the scummvm
team. </para>
</sect2>
<sect2><title>Ultima 7</title>
<para> Ultima 7 is actually 2 games: part I (The Black Gate) and part II (Serpent Island)
which uses a slightly enhanced version of The Black Gate's engine. In addition, an addon
disk was released to both part I (The Forge Of Virtue) and part II (The Silver Seed).
</para>
<para> A team of people developed <application>Exult</application> &lt;<systemitem
role="url">http://exult.sourceforge.net/</systemitem>&gt; which is an open source
interpreter that will run both parts of Ultima 7 and their addon disks. Exult is written
in C++ using SDL, so it will compile on any platform that can compile SDL programs. It
also features some enhancements over the original versions of the Ultima VII engine.
You'll need to purchase a copy of Ultima 7 to play. The developers have no plans on
extending Exult to interpret the other Ultimas since the engines changed so radically
between releases. </para>
<para> The Exult team has also been hard at work creating a map editor, Exult Studio, and
a script compiler that will let users create their own RPG in the Ultima style. </para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1><title>Websites</title>