HOWTO: Running old Loki games...

swanson · Last edited by swanson on Sun Oct 16, 2005 11:28 am; edited 2 times in total

Now appearing on the Gentoo Wiki http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Running_Old_Loki_Games

The Problem

Unknown changes in glibc 2.3 cause problems for these old games resulting in a segmentation fault when trying to run them, the suspect is threading. Using the static binaries can be problematic as the libraries compiled into them are old and have bugs. Workarounds such as using LD_ASSUME_KERNEL and/or pre-loading an old libsmpeg library only sometimes work and the movies may be blank or have to be disabled.

The Solution

The solution is to use an old verion of glibc such as 2.2.5. However all the other libraries used by the game must also be compiled against an old version of glibc.

I have compiled the libraries used by the Loki games I own and provided them for others to run their old games too. Other than glibc 2.2.5 which was the last (security) release from Debian, all the libraries included here are the latest versions available at this time that I built based on the current Gentoo ebuilds. Further details on library versions at bottom.

http://www.swanson.ukfsn.org/loki/loki_compat_libs-1.0.tar.bz2 13 October 2005 2.3Mb GPG Sig

To use the old glibc libraries set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable to the directory these libraries are located. Additionally prepend the game binary to run the game with the old ld-linux.so.2 dynamic linker/loader (as the one with glibc 2.3 does not include the GLIBC_2.2, GLIBC_2.2.1 or GLIBC_2.2.3 profiles used with glibc 2.2.5 for some reason).

The Games

Assuming the games are updated to the last available patch (patching problems are not covered here yet) then to run them use the following instructions. Note that I run the dynamic binaries where available.

Civilisation: Call To Power
To run use the following command;
$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/Loki_Compat/ /path/Loki_Compat/ld-linux.so.2 /path/CivCTP/civctp.dynamic

Descent 3
To run using glibc 2.3 first create a symbolic link for a file;
$ cd /path/Descent3
$ ln -s ppics.hog PPics.Hog
Then run the game using the following command;
$ LD_PRELOAD=/path/Loki_Compat/libstdc++-3-libc6.2-2-2.10.0.so:/path/Loki_Compat/libsmpeg-0.4.so.0.1.3 /path/Descent3/descent3.dynamic

Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns
To run use the following command;
$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/Loki_Compat/ /path/Loki_Compat/ld-linux.so.2 /path/Kohan/kohan.dynamic

MindRover
No workarounds are required as it is compatible with glibc 2.3.

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Contributed
Compatible with glibc 2.3 but needs to use smpeg compiled with GCC 2.93 for sound.
$ LD_PRELOAD=/path/Loki_Compat/libstdc++-3-libc6.2-2-2.10.0.so:/path/Loki_Compat/libsmpeg-0.4.so.0.1.3 /path/AlphaCentauri/smacx.dynamic

Sim City 3000
To run use the following command;
$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/Loki_Compat/ /path/Loki_Compat/ld-linux.so.2 /path/SimCity3000/sc3u.dynamic

Unreal Tournament
No workarounds are required as it is compatible with glibc 2.3. However ensure it uses the newer system SDL library. First move the old library out of the way;
$ cd /path/UnrealTournament/System
$ mv libSDL-1.1.so.0 libSDL-1.1.so.0.orig
Then either create a link from the game directory to the system SDL library;
$ cd /path/UnrealTournament/System
$ ln -s /usr/lib/libSDL-1.2.so.0 libSDL-1.1.so.0
Or create the link in the system;
$ cd /usr/lib
$ ln -s libSDL-1.2.so.0 libSDL-1.1.so.0

Other Games
Unfortunately I do not own any other Loki games to verify what additional libraries they may need (and my other games are newer and work fine). Let me know by running the ldd command on their binaries and I'll compile the required libraries and add the instructions here.

The Libraries

GLIBC 2.2.5
libc-2.2.5.so ... ...
From the last Debian Woody 3.0 glibc (security) release which was libc6_2.2.5-11.8_i386.deb. Only the files in the /lib directory are required. (Trying to upgrade from Gentoo 1.2 which has glibc 2.2.5 is tricky!)

XORG 6.8.2
libX11.so.6.2 libXext.so.6.4 libGL.so.1.2
Built on Debian 3.0 using GCC 2.95.4 with CFLAGS "-O2 -march=i686" and based on the Gentoo xorg-x11-6.8.2-r4 ebuild and patches.

ALSA 1.0.9
libasound.so.2.0.0
Built on Debian 3.0 using GCC 2.95.4 with CFLAGS "-O2 -march=i686" and based on the Gentoo alsa-lib-1.0.9 ebuild.

SDL 1.2.9
libSDL-1.2.so.0.7.2
Built on Debian 3.0 using GCC 2.95.4 with CFLAGS "-O2 -march=i686" and based on the Gentoo libsdl-1.2.9-r1 ebuild and patches but without esd or arts support.

SMPEG 0.4.4
libsmpeg-0.4.so.0.1.3
Built on Debian 3.0 using GCC 2.95.4 with CFLAGS "-O2 -march=i686" and based on the Gentoo smpeg-0.4.4-r7 ebuild and patches.

SDL-MIXER 1.2.6
libSDL_mixer-1.2.so.0.2.4
Built on Debian 3.0 using GCC 2.95.4 with CFLAGS "-O2 -march=i686" and based on the Gentoo sdl-mixer-1.2.6 ebuild but without ogg support.

FREETYPE 1.3.1
libttf.so.2.2.0
Built on Debian 3.0 using GCC 2.95.4 with CFLAGS "-O2 -march=i686" and based on the Gentoo freetype-1.3.1-r4 ebuild.

OPENAL 0.0
libopenal-0.0.so
Taken from Unreal Tournament patched to 436. Although the OpenAL CVS was tagged for 0.0 I do not know the status of it. The libopenal-0.0.so included with patch 1.06a for Soldier Of Fortune may possibly be newer with a fix for small wav files but the Unreal Tournament one works for my games.

Links
Other than various information found on forums via Google and general browsing;
Linux Gamers FAQ
http://members.shaw.ca/dan.mckay/LokiInst.html
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~kgs3c/kohanlinux.html
Gentoo Bug 71044 Not used
Gentoo Ebuild sys-libs/lib-compat-loki Not used
_________________
Alan.

bmichaelsen · Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:15 am Post subject:

Is this info already on te gentoo-wiki?
If not, please put it there!
http://gentoo-wiki.com/Main_Page
_________________
etc-proposals, your friendly config file updater!

swanson · Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 1:38 am Post subject:

Hmm, even though I occassionally use the Gentoo Wiki I'd entirely forgotten about it! :oops:

Page now created.
_________________
Alan.

john_who · n00b Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Posts: 28

Thanks for this useful resource. It helped to solve my problem with sound missing in Sid Meier Alpha Centauri http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-383737.html
I succesfully used the command:

swanson · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:13 pm Post subject:

Glad it helped you out. I've added SMAC instructions to this post and to the wiki.

After I writing this I was thinking of buying some more Loki games just for testing.... :wink:

Probably SMAC as well as Heavy Metal: FAKK 2 and Myth 2: Soulblighter so should add them in a week or two.
_________________
Alan.

spdmnd · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 21

I tried this on two of my all-time favourite linux games, namely Sin and Shogo, both ported to Linux by Hyperion.
Sin segfaults with newer libraries (smpeg and probably others), Shogo runs but is nearly unplayable because the mouse acts too sensitive. Also I have a feeling it's running a little too fast.

Here's the result for Sin with the Loki_Compat libs:

swanson · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 12:31 pm Post subject:

Checking the Linux Game Tome entry for Shogo someone wrote that if the game plays too fast then you can add the following to your autoexec.cfg file (possibly under ~/.hyperion/shogo/ or the game directory) to fix it and then you probably won't need to use the libraries.

UncleOwen · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 3:18 pm Post subject:

Some of these games are in portage. You should report your problems (+solution in this case) on bugs.gentoo.org

spdmnd · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 21

Ok, the "MaxFPS" "30" entry makes Shogo enjoyable again, many thanks.

I tested SiN with LD_PRELOAD and smpeg-0.4.1 from my Game CD, however it resulted in quite the same error, only the last two lines differ:

swanson · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:48 pm Post subject:

UncleOwen · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:17 pm Post subject:

spdmnd · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 21

swanson · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:31 pm Post subject:

Excellent, I'll add this to the HOWTO even though they're not Loki games but I just want to check a couple of things first.

For Shogo, was there an autoexec.cfg file in the game directory or only one created under the ~/.hyperion/shogo/ directory?

For the SiN problem, what graphics card and drivers are you using? Nvidia proprietry, Ati proprietry or an open source driver from Xorg?
_________________
Alan.

spdmnd · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 21

The Shogo autoexec.cfg is located in ~/.hyperion/Shogo/ , simply appending "MaxFPS" "30" does the trick.
I'm using a GeForce FX 5900XT with Nvidia proprietry drivers (1.0.7676).

bigfam · Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 1:54 am Post subject:

tribes2 seems to work fine with gcc 3.3

i really wish the server list was better for tribes2, shame theres only 1 good server and its always full

alienjon · Veteran Joined: 09 Feb 2005 Posts: 1498

Hey swanson. Thanks a lot for putting all of this together. I have finally been able to get Sim City 3000 to run on my computer, though it runs choppy (very choppy depending on what resolution I run the game at). Is there anything I can do to help make the game run smoother?

Also, I have just recently purchased and tried installing Myth 2 on my machine and am still getting errors. For sake of repitition I'll just post the link to the forum post I made for the the issue: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-399450-highlight-.html

I also purchased Heavy Metal 2 from ebay, but it hasn't come in yet. I'll let you all know how that goes.

swanson · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 3:13 am Post subject:

For Sim City 3000 the resolution isn't probably going to be the (major) problem. It's more likely to be that you're screen is set to 32bpp and the game will be continually converting all the images from 16bpp to 32bpp which can take a lot of CPU. However I run with the screen set to 32bpp and don't notice it on my AMD Athlon XP 2500+.

I've just bought Myth 2 and am currently trying to get it fully working. Problem is cutscenes, they play but Myth 2 seg faults when any cutscene ends regardless of the mix of libraries used. Very frustrating. Work around is to delete or move the cutscenes out the way. Also can't get the OpenGL support working either. I'll update the Wiki once I find a solution or give up (second option more likely). Oh yeah, update it with the newest 1.3e patch myth2-1.3e-unified-x86.run as indicated in this forum post.
_________________
Alan.

alienjon · Veteran Joined: 09 Feb 2005 Posts: 1498

Ok, I patched myth2 (which was a big part of my problem with even getting it to start) and now I think I have the same problem you do where the game crashes at the end of its cutscenes. Should I just remove the movie files or is there any other file I need to goof with (like a config file)?

Also, for SC3U, how do I set the default to be 16bpp? I tried running it simply in a windowed mode and I get the same horrid quality. Is there a command-line option that I have to set, because I don't see any mention of it in the settings menu in-game nor any info on the readme files.

swanson · Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 8:19 am Post subject:

For Myth2 either delete the cutscenes directory entirely saving space or rename the directory so the game can't find the cutscenes to play while allowing you to still play them manually if you want.

For the 32bpp versus 16bpp screen depth I'm referring to the X server setup not the game. Unfortunately it isn't currently possible to change the screen depth while X is running, only the resolution. Your basic choices are to define "DefaultDepth 16" in the Screen section of xorg.conf and restart X or to start X with the "-bpp 16" option appended to the command. Starting a second X server on vt8 just to run SC3K could also be done. I won't cover that here.
_________________
Alan.

alienjon · Veteran Joined: 09 Feb 2005 Posts: 1498

Ok, Myth 2 was also running pretty poorly but I figured out that when I upgraded my ATI drivers (actually it probably wasn't that per se, but some config thing I did around that point) my xorg.conf got changed so that my agp wasn't working properly. That has since been fixed and Sim City 3000 is now working where I think it should be. I haven't had the chance to try Myth 2 yet, but I'm expecting positive results.

alienjon · Veteran Joined: 09 Feb 2005 Posts: 1498

Myth 2 is running great! I also did a quick ebay search and found Heavy Gear 2 and picked up a copy as well (it actually runs fine without the libraries). My next project is Heretic 2. I have some 'special' problems with this game which includes applying three different patches, none of which seem to want to work. I found a post (http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-2866489.html#2866489 that looked upon the issue, but it was a while ago. Looks like someone tried to make an e-build for the game but I can't get it to even digest. I have a feeling that it might be simpler than I'm currently thinking it is. Anyone had any luck with it, by chance?

Update:

I wanted to mention that heavy gear 2 does have a patch that is needed. Since it is in portage, if anyone else wants to install it I would suggest doing it that way since all the patches and dependencies will be taken care of.