Linux Bugs, Quirks, and Thanks!

[nikdog]

Finally, nearly 25 years later. I finished Single Player. Why I never did sometime back 1998-2004, I will never know.

Anyway, a couple of quirks along the way. Using 227j on GNU/Linux, the 64-bit Binary immediately outputs:

Code: Select all

[PID] illegal hardware instruction (core dumped)  ./UnrealLinux.bin
[zsh exit code:] 132

Was it built with the AVX-512 Instruction Set? I doubt that's the issue, but it doesn't work.... for me. So I just used the 32-bit Binary.

Possible Usefulless System Info:

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% uname -srmo
Linux 6.2.13-arch1-1 x86_64 GNU/Linux

% lscpu
...
Model name:            Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K
...
Flags:               fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflushdts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm cpuid_fault epb pti tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase smep erms xsaveopt dtherm ida arat pln pts

Launching the 32-bit Binary always opens with, "WARNING: Not using preference directory". UT99 has the Environment Variable "UT_PREFS=" to set that, but I could not figure out what Unreal was looking for or expecting. If anything. I've also observed UT99 469c will create ~/.utpg by default, and use that for System/UnrealTournament.ini, other System/*.ini, and Cache; Whereas Unreal 227j will create ~/.Unreal, but use the Game Directory for everything.

Since I installed the Game to /opt, I wanted to set it up to use User Specific Preferences in Good Practice. Even though I am the only, and probably always will be the only, User on my System. Since I couldn't find the Preference Environment Variable (and didn't stop to ask), I tried setting "SavePath=" & "CachePath=" in UnrealLinux.ini to $HOME/.Unreal/Save & $HOME/.Unreal/Cache respectively. Game would launch, but didn't seem to be able to follow that Path. Tried replacing $HOME with ~, same thing.

Which reminded me, this was originally a Windows Application. And not just a Windows Application, but a Windows 9x Application. (Well really a Win32 Application designed for the Win 9x Environment, but semantics.) IE it was built in the days of the Single-User Environment still prevailing. Of course it can't follow Environment Variables for Paths. That being said, in it's current state, it is creating .Unreal in $HOME. I get the impression porting Unreal to Linux probably borrowed things from UT99 Linux, which does have Preferences for a Multi-User Environment implemented, but maybe that functionality wasn't fully implemented when code was borrowed for Unreal? No idea. Just speculating at this point, and all I can ask, is there a way to specify the Preference Directory for Unreal 227j? For now I just made the Save directory 777 instead of 775.

Final Issue, Potential Lighting Bug in Mothership Lab or Mothership Core (can't remember which it was). There was a Stairway that was activated by a Floor Button, both the Stairway and the Button were Black. At first I thought it was a Texture Load Error, but I shined the Flashlight on it and that illuminated the Textures as if I were in a Dark Room. The Environment Lighting was not effecting the Objects for whatever reason, but the Flashlight's Square Spot Light did. Not sure if this is a Unreal 227j bug, Unreal HD Textures bug, or just some weird quirk with my System.

Outside of that, Thank you to Everyone involved in keeping this Game Engine Alive.