Since my laptop has died, I have been using the desktop that Samantha and I had been using as a multimedia server in our room. Over the course of several days, I have changed it into something that is a bit more functional for working. As such, it has also been moved out into the living room.

I am very glad that I am able to do everything I need to on this desktop without having to be chained to Microsoft and their operating system. In fact, I’ve even been able to get more done - Linux just feels better and does not interrupt my work flow.

After many days and sleepless nights, I have reinstalled Windows XP back on to my laptop, all in the name of gaming (and music creation). The funniest part of this is that my legal copy of Windows is no longer valid, due to the fact that I have reinstalled too many times. I’d like to call that on Microsoft’s part

In any case, I needed a clean install of Windows on here, as per the three month refresher cycle it seems to need when under intensive use. I would love to get rid of Windows entirely from my computers. But I am forced to submit to their shit-for-code OS because they are unfortunately the commonplace and there are a few programs that I use/games that I play that simply refuse to run on any other OS. That or I cannot find a decent replacement. In this case, however, there is only one single program that I cannot use, and that would be Ableton Live.

Unless I want to move to Mac, I am stuck with Windows (and I have been contemplating getting a Mac lately). Until I have the money though, I will be sticking to my PC. Of course, it’s a toss-up because you can’t tweak and upgrade a Mac like you can a PC, and I love… no, adore the freedom modifying a computer entails.

I suppose the best way for me to do this would to make my gaming rig Windows and my work/art terminal a fancy Mac.

It pisses me off that software that I own, that I have bought, is no longer “genuine”. Between that and Vista, I’m thoroughly done with learning anything Microsoft. Windows XP is the last of the line for me. And I will no longer own a legitimate copy, it seems.

These last few days have been somewhat annoying. In the span of one week I have installed Ubuntu, configured it and had all but system-wide SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) working. I was able to play Unreal Tournament with my girlfriend and cousin, albeit with some minor issues, as I wrote about last time. This was great until I wanted to play some 2D games, such as Falcon’s Eye, Widelands, or use my NES/SNES emulators (gfceu and snes9express respectively). So, in my quest to get SDL working, I ended up hosing it entirely and needed to reinstall. I downloaded Ubuntu 7.10 64-bit, burned it, and installed it.

Last night I got everything set up faster than when I was running the 32-bit client. Sound was flawless, didn’t have to tweak with any drivers for hours on end. Wireless was just like usual but I have had to reinstall it so much that it was a breeze - almost muscle memory by now. SDL works. But guess what?

The MESA drives for my ATi card won’t let go, even when I install the proprietary drivers. I followed four different paths to get it working, none of which worked. Today I spent most of the morning taking care of my sick girlfriend and playing SNES roms with her. My game of choice: Secret of Mana. Hers? Illusions of Gaia.

I play Unreal Tournament GOTY (Game of the Year) with my lady Amoureux, and switching Dral (my laptop) to Ubuntu 7.10 posed a problem: I knew UT worked in Linux, but had never tried on a Debian-based install.

My first problem was that I didn’t have my discs available, as they’re in storage. After a few (six+) hours of searching the Internet and mainly the Ubuntu Forums, I had pretty much resigned myself to the fate of waiting until I could get a hold of my discs. However, I am not one to give up so easily, so I decided to do something that people didn’t seem to think of doing when they have problems with their cd install; install by using an existing playable copy.

The first step is to download the Linux binaries. There are two choices: Standard UT and UT GOTY. These are binaries to install version 436. To install from disc all you have to do is follow the instructions given by the binary of your choice.

Once you download your binary, right click on it and go to Properties, then Permissions. Check the “Allow executing file as program” and click close, then double click the .run file and press “Run in Terminal”.

I left everything as default (had to uncheck and recheck symbolic link for ‘Begin Install’ to open), and clicked Begin. When prompted for disc one, I opened a new terminal and went to the install directory, and copied the ut folder to ut-tmp. There may have been a .loki folder created in your home directory (/home/username/.loki) but it seems to be a hit or miss, so I am not going to back it up here; instead I am going to make it later.

tlm@Dral:~$ cd /usr/local/games
tlm@Dral:/usr/local/games$ cp -r ut ut-tmp

I hit ‘No’ and then ‘Exit’. This deleted everything in the ut folder. Do not do anything to the ut-tmp just yet.

Now we need to grab the files from a Windows install. For speed, I copied c:\UnrealTournament to an external hard drive and then plugged it in to Dral. If you are doing it networked, make sure you have Samba installed. Copy everything but the System folder.

From external HDD:
tlm@Dral:~$ cd /media/disk/UnrealTournament
tlm@Dral:/media/disk/UnrealTournament$ ls
Help Maps Music Sounds System Textures Web
tlm@Dral:/media/disk/UnrealTournament$ cp -r Help /usr/local/games/ut/Help && cp -r Maps /usr/local/games/ut/Maps && cp -r Music /usr/local/games/ut/Music && cp -r Sounds /usr/local/games/ut/Sounds && cp -r Textures /usr/local/games/ut/Textures && cp -r Web /usr/local/games/ut/Web

Then only .u files from System to System.

tlm@Dral:/media/disk/UnrealTournament/System$ mkdir /usr/local/games/ut/System
tlm@Dral:/media/disk/UnrealTournament$ cp System/*.u /usr/local/games/ut/System

Now we can move the temp files into the ut folder.

tlm@Dral:/media/disk/UnrealTournament/System$ cd /usr/local/games
tlm@Dral:/usr/local/games$ cp -r ut-tmp/* ut

Run Unreal Tournament by going into ut and typing ‘./ut’ - if that does not work then go to System and type ‘./ut-bin’.

For networked install you’d just browse to the computer hosting the files.

tlm@Dral:cd smb://jane/Documents/UnrealTournament

From there you would do the steps outlined above.

When it is run, it creates a folder in your home directory, .loki (/home/user/.loki) - this is where your UnrealTournament.ini and User.ini files are, which is where your preferences are saved when you edit them in-game. It is also where you will need to modify to change game preferences.

Everything works, and upon loading it a second time, notice that it is moving way too fast to play. There is a setting to reduce game speed inside the game but this will not work well for networked games. The way I am currently slowing the game down is by using this script. Before downloading this you should rename your original ut script to ut.original or anything else, so you don’t override it, and don’t forget to enable the ability to run as a program. The gripe I have with this way is that I can see a heart-beat like stutter, which can get annoying. I also have sound issues, which I have found no fix for yet. The sound issue only seemed to happen after changing the resolution from 640×480 to 1280×800, and doesn’t change no matter what I do anymore.

During the time I was reading about various UT related problems, I stumbled across UTGLR, an enhanced OpenGL renderer, which I use and love. I found a compiled .so file over at BeyondUnreal’s forum.

If you want to use it, save the OpenGLDrv.so in your ut/System folder. You may want to back up your existing one just in case this does not work for you. I copy/pasted his OpenGLDrv settings over my own in my UnrealTournament.ini, changing GammaOffset=0.500000 to GammaOffset=0.100000. While we are in the .ini file, we will also want to go to Engine.Engine and change all three SDLGLDrv.SDLGLRenderDevice to OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice

As it stands right now, UnrealTournament works and is almost playable.

Useful Resources:
-Bonus Packs
– “UT Bonus Pack 1″:http://official.beyondunreal.com/dl.php/official/ut/utbonuspack.zip
– “UT Bonus Pack 2″:http://official.beyondunreal.com/dl.php/official/ut/utbonuspack2.zip
– “UT Bonus Pack 3″:http://official.beyondunreal.com/dl.php/official/ut/utinoxxpacknoumod.zip
– “UT Bonus Pack 4″:http://official.beyondunreal.com/dl.php/official/ut/utbonuspack4.zip
“How To: play Unreal Tournament GOTY in Edgy“