Oldunreal 227 Linux FAQ
How do I install Unreal in Linux?
First you need to download the latest patch, but due to legal limitations (I'm not officially allowed to use a Linux specific installer) you must rely on the windows .exe patch Then there are 2 ways:
1. If you want to use Linux only, you need to run the installer from CD and then the patch with Wine to install it. 2. Install it in Windows and copy the directory over.
After installing (or copying it over) you can run it native without Wine f.e. in console with ./UnrealLinux.bin in the System directory (or create a shortcut to start it from somewhere else). UCC is also existing and fully functional except font import. So you can start a Server like in Windows with "./UCCLinux.bin server ...". If you start it from console you can enter any command like in the windows version, but directly in the console window.
On which distributions is Unreal 227 running on?
For the moment I have reports that it is running on:
OpenSuSE 11.0,11.1,11.2
Slackware 12.X, 13.0 (but maybe artsd needs to be killed if using OSS for sound or Unreal needs to be started up without sound with the -nosound option)
Archlinux (last update 18.05.2009)
Problems are reported on:
Ubuntu (not sure which release)
On which graphic card is Unreal running on?
NVidia:
Currently all cards seem to run fine with NVidia drivers installed. Tested and working with: GeForce 4 Ti4200, Geforce 5900XT, Geforce 8400M GS, Geforce 9800 GT, Geforce 9800 GTX
ATI:
Should run fine, however no concrete reports yet.
Intel:
integrated Chipset like GM965 seems to cause severe problems with OpenGL. More testing required.
Unreal segfaults at startup
Currently the following reasons are known:
A messed up ini:
remove or rename UnrealLinux.ini and let Unreal create new one
Try to start Unreal with -nosound option to confirm. Then check the section Oldunreal_227_Linux_FAQ#Sound_issues for solutions.
On some distributions needed dependencies for libSDL are missing, so please make sure to have the packages "svgalib-bin", "libsvga", and "libsdl-gfx" installed.
If you get something like that:
XDM authorization key matches an existing client!
Error: Caught a C++ exception in main()!
Developer Backtrace:
Try make "xhost +"(without quotes) before launching Unreal.
...
Signal: SIGSEGV [segmentation fault]
Aborting.
Another reason for segfaults at startup could be that the requested fullscreen resolution is higher than your monitor supports (you switched your monitor maybe or took over the UnrealLinux.ini from another system).
How do I access Advanced Options?
its not available for Linux users. You need to edit the UnrealLinux.ini instead. But all options possible options are already added and commented with a semicolon (;) you just need to change the commented lines.
Open your UnrealLinux.ini and change the following lines in section [Engine.Engine]:
Console=UBrowser.UBrowserConsole
;Console=UMenu.UnrealConsole
into
;Console=UBrowser.UBrowserConsole
Console=UMenu.UnrealConsole
Is there no UED for Linux?
Old UED is built in visual basic and UED2 is completely based on Windows. A complete rebuild of UED2 in QT or GTK would be necessary to port it. So not planned at the moment. However, UED2 is running in wine and 227f's version does support OpenGL for the viewports, so it should be possible to run UED2 completely. Reports are welcome.
Does 227 need wine to run?
No, 227f is having a complete native port. Wine is not needed to run it. But since there is no Linux installer yet with permission from EPIC wine is needed to install the base game and the patch itself. After installing it wine is no longer needed and the game can be run with UnrealLinux.bin
My system / distro / graphics card driver seems to have problems with OpenGL or graphics are messed up
Try SDLSoftDrv instead:
;GameRenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice
GameRenderDevice=SDLSoftDrv.SDLSoftwareRenderDevice
;GameRenderDevice=SDLGLDrv.SDLGLRenderDevice
SDLGLDrv can be tried also, but its an old and not very advanced renderer. Its just left in there for testing purposes.
!!! To use it you need to add -NoForceSDLDrv at startup. !!!
Please note that SDLSoftDrv and SDLGLDrv are NOT supporting S3TC highres textures!
Sound issues
If you have any problems, try first to change the sound output to OpenAL (or if you set it up first to OpenAL then try FMOD).
in Section [Engine.Engine]
;AudioDevice=FMODAudioDrv.FMODAudioDevice
AudioDevice=ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem
Default is FMOD.
227 is offering OpenAL and FMOD for sound output. 227f uses OSS for output, in 227g there are specific options to chose between ALSA,OSS,ESD (and maybe more), the available devices can be seen in UnrealLinux.bin.log and set up accordingly in UnrealLinux.ini then. If there is no sound or segfaults at startup then check if maybe a daemon like artsd is blocking the output at /dev/dsp. This should only happen with OSS (default until 227g), try using ALSA.
If your Unreal segfaults at startup because of sound you can set "ProbeDevicesOnly" in UnrealLinux.ini to determine the available devices in a failsafe way.
FMOD: Sound starts but stops after a few seconds playing
Lower number of channels.
OpenAL uses FMOD for music output and if using OSS it can be that OpenAL is blocking /dev/dsp for FMOD then. This seems to be system specific and the only recommendation is: if possible use ALSA.
I don't have EAX/EFX effects / the environment ambients like "Underwater etc" do not work!
Sorry, OpenAL Linux did not support EFX effects like in Windows in 227f. 227g is having an equal implementation. OpenAL does not match exactly the echo/reverb model of the previous versions but it offers 112 ambient presets which are used for zones like "Underwaterzone", "Slimezone" etc. and some replacement for the echoes.
If you want an exact matching reverb you have to use FMOD.