New to Linux

[diddy33]

Hello all, i know ALOT of people here use linux so this is probably a great spot to start. .
windows itself has crashed on my computer so i deceided to install linux, as of right now i'm using ubuntu jaunty. is this probably the best thing for a completly new person to linux?

as for after the installation, what should be the first things i do? are there programs i need to have installed? i've found multiple forums trying to install nwn and so far i've been unsuccessful. i know i've installed ushield i think it's called, and also wine, but i'm still not getting anywhere. .

any suggestions?

[Chernobyl_Glow]

i like wine. merlot, chianti, shiraz, cabernet and pinot noir. in order of preference.



- glow -

[diddy33]

i'm so new to linux and all this i read the first 2 or 3 before i realized you were messing with me. . i was like huh they really sticking with that fancy alcohol idea huh? lol

[VagaStorm]

so i deceided to install linux

I feal warm inside

I wrote theese tips a while back on the hns forums

Basic guide to running nwn on linux:

The easiest is to have copy the files from a windows install instead of runing a linux install. Then you extract the linux clien(download from nwn.bioware.com), and patch.

Then you need to open a schell(terminal) and go to your nwn folder, mine is /home/vagastorm/games/nwn/ you enter a directory by typing cd directory_to_enter . T

Then type ./fixinstall (this taks a litle while). After that you run ./nwn but you are likely to still get some errors since newer distros have some newer files than the ones made for nwn, most likely it will say missing libfd_something.something.so.

Open a new terminal so you dont have to go back and forth. In the second terminal type "su -" in ubuntu you must use "sudo su -" and your pw. You are now root. Go to /us/lib/ you are likely to find the missing files just that if nwn whant it with 0.9.so you will have 1.1.so on the end of it(this might differ slightly depending on your distro). You can find em by typing ls the_start_of_the_missing_file, then tap or duble tap the TAB key(not sure if its called that in english, but is used to set tex indet and is located aboce caps lock). If you dont have the files there, youe the packagemanager in your distro to install it.To let nwn find the files it needs type "ln -s the_exsisting_file.so the_file_nwn_is_looking_for.so" this creates a dynamic link to the existing file, so that when nwn looks for the trick it needs, it finds the newer file. Type ./nwn agen in the other teminal and repeat the proces. I think its 4 or 5 files.

Extra tips:
To alow windoed mode, you need:
Code:
FullScreen=0
AllowWindowedMode=1

in nwn.ini.

If your mouse is crappy, there is a fix that can be downloaded from: http://home.woh.rr.com/nwmovies/ it must be set up, I can help you withh this or send you the ones I have compiled.

If you whant to switch between windowed ad non windowed mode, this is not posible with the SDL library that comes with nwn.(SDL is like directdraw for linux). I have downloaded it and made some alterations to it, I can send you the files I have that alows switching if that is interesting.

Linux tip:
I use a seperate partition for /home/ this way if I mess up(I do all the time since I "have" to test evrything new, I can just reinstall on the / partition, and evry thing in /home/vagastorm/ is preserved, including my gamefiles and other settings. (vagastorm is my username).

I recomend disableing desktop effects while running nwn. Just becaus you can, its not a good idea to run the game on a rotating cube Smile

[diddy33]

lol, i was lucky enough to not be able to just transfer from my windows. for some reason windows crashed on me and it was a total loss. i think something in my bios went wrong, but when i installed ubuntu it seems to be fixed now. . that's enough for me to say enough with windows lol. so once i actually become more familiar with linux and all it's variations i'll probably migrate my other 2 computers to it. i'm honestly impressed just by what i see so far, and my computer seems to be running WAY faster then with windows. .

i'm still in the process of having to install nwn on linux, right now i'm at work, i left it trying to update so hopefully when i get home the download is done and maybe just a few clicks and i'll be up again on that computer. . my lucky probably not. . i've tried to install nwn about 3 different times so far on it with no luck. but i seen a forum where i'm going to have to hold ctr+h to see these hidden folders and see if i can clean it up. . i may just wipe it again and re-install just to be on the safe side. . not sure yet.

[Lokey]

It depends on which nwn you have. I think the last one had a pretty good linux install script (look for a linux folder on the dvd). Check the nwn1 linux forums, I know there's details on how to get most of the versions up and running. Actually check that first because there's something messed up differently in each different release lol.

So first things first, is all your hardware is working? Ubuntu is pretty good on a wide range of hardware, but make sure you can see all your components and they're working as expected. (Especially that you have vid drivers and sound architecture supports your soundcard, so everything doesn't have to be emulated. Oh, and ALSA is sweet...none of the three soundcards I've owned had win drivers that came close to what Linux can do with them...a turtle beach and 2 creatives.)

At least Ubuntu forums are the gold standard if you get stuck

Note: nwn.ini is not used in linux. Most other things are the same. So make sure everything else is working as expected and let us know which nwn media you have.

The good news: nothing on nwn linux is worse than win, and a few things are better.

[Alkapwn]

The easiest way i've found is to:
Clean working install with 1.69 upgrade on Windows machine. Copy whole folder to 8gbusb key xfer it to linux directory (I keep one of these on me usually. You can slam it into almost any windows machine and "Hello NS!")
extract linux binaries http://nwdownloads.bioware.com/neverwin ... otu.tar.gz ,
extract latest linux update http://files.bioware.com/neverwinternig ... xp2.tar.gz .
Follow these md5check instructions and chown http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic ... 6&forum=72
If present, remove patch.key, data/patch.bif, xp1patch.key, and data/xp1patch.bif.
Shell in to directory : cd /{nwn path}
> ./fixinstall

Then email me your serials

Don't let those complicated forums freak you out its super easy. Us linux guys covet the knowledge so we make it look hard so people will pay us more money. Honestly its way easier to admin rhel/solaris/unix then any clunky microsoft implementation. I'm sure you'll grow to love Linux diddy. Good move

[diddy33]

i've been able to install nwn now and can run the game, the only problem is the video driver. . i have a ATI x1650 pro which is no longer supported by ATI and their linux patches. . so i have to get a legacy patch, which i can't seem to install correctly. .

i can run the game but it likes to flicker on me, and every once in a while exit full screen mode and bring me back to the desktop (i have to minimize the open it again to bring it back to full screen mode). also it seems like all of the indoor textures are showing as white. . no real texture just plain white. . i've ran into this so far in all of the shops so far. .

so if you've installed the legacy driver before let me know how because i can't seem to get it working i've crashed the computer about 3 times now, all together i've reinstalled about 10 times between ubuntu juanty and opensuse 11.1. i prefer opensuse but i can't get the game running on that one because i keep getting a shared library error. .

[Lokey]

Never used SUSE (scary gecko!) or ATI vid. Aren't there open source projects for ATI vid somewhere to try? Interior v. exterior...I'd suspect effects (fog) rendering over texture, but can't be of much help here.

The shared library is a sometimes appearing issue iirc. I think you just need to sim-link to a miles sound module somewhere (nwn using headers that predate Debian stable--i.e. older than dirt).

[diddy33]

Never used SUSE (scary gecko!) or ATI vid. Aren't there open source projects for ATI vid somewhere to try? Interior v. exterior...I'd suspect effects (fog) rendering over texture, but can't be of much help here.

The shared library is a sometimes appearing issue iirc. I think you just need to sim-link to a miles sound module somewhere (nwn using headers that predate Debian stable--i.e. older than dirt).

yeah ok, not sure if you understood correctly when i said new to linux, but i'm really new to linux lol. . i've always used windows, and rarely ever had to do anything in the command prompt. . the only coding that i'm familiar with is vba but that doesn't help me much here lol.

[Amoenotep]

just shoot yourself now...its nice, but a headache.

[Lokey]

You've been missing out, you can make win OSs do lots of useful things through command line they're cranky about doing through gui.

Search specific error messages in linux forums and bio linux forums. Error messages aren't like in windows, they tell you useful and specific things. I don't know anything else about the sound issue except it cropped up on one of my various installs and took a net search and a few minutes to figure out.

Oh, also check freenode irc for a #your OS channel.

[Alkapwn]

Huzzahz 4 linux logfiles!!!

[dethonlegs]

I've been running NWN on Linux for a while and it's been great! I've used the native client on a previous install but found it quite a hassle to sort out - not to mention the additional 1gb download.

Recently I went from XP to Kubuntu 9.04 64bit (again.....) and tried running it under wine from a straight copy of my windows nwn folder. To my suprise it worked flawlessly. FPS was just as good as native windows and I didn't need to download a thing. The best part is that NWN under wine has crashed once in 6 months. This is a nice change compared to the random crashes on XP that seemed to happen every few days.