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sniffnoySo as it turns out there there isn't going to be a Linux version of VVVVVV after all because... well, go read why not. But the Windows version reportedly works well under Wine, right? $15 does seem a bit much, but I figure, I can afford it, so, why not give it a try?
Well hey guess what. The game failed to work at all. Opening it just resulted in an apparently invisible window; the only reason I say "an apparently invisible window" rather than "nothing opened" is because positioning the mouse over the appropriate region on the screen would cause the mouse to not work right.
OK, is there an entry on WineHQ for VVVVVV by any chance? Nope. Google doesn't turn up anything obvious either.
Then I have the thought: Hey, my version of Wine is out of date. I generally just update programs when the Ubuntu package manager detects updates, and the Ubuntu package manager's latest version is 0.9.59. Latest stable release is 1.0.1, latest development release is 1.1.37. Well, I figure, there's potentially large differenes between 0.x and 1.x, right? So let's go ahead and update that.
Latest stable release seems to only be available as source, but that's not really a problem. Except when I actually try to compile the thing it requires various development libraries I don't have. So, open up package manager, install those... of course then it turns out I'm still missing things needed for it to handle... lots of pretty important things, which I basically just hoped wouldn't be necessary right now.
Well after maybe half an hour or so of compiling it reports failure. Trying again just results in a quick run through of lots of "Hey, this is compiled already" messages before reporting the same failure. And I couldn't even get it to redo the configuration[0], not even after running "make uninstall" despite the fact that after the first failure I went and installed some of those libraries for things I was missing.
So at this point I just said "screw it" and reinstalled Wine from the package manager.
So, how can I actually play this game, and also avoid just having paid $15 for nothing? Here are the possibilities I see:
1. Forget stability, just install 1.1.37 and probably it'll work under that (ADDENDUM: The Wine website seems to recommend going with the latest development version in general...)
2. Wait for the patch, which is supposed to make the game more Wine-friendly (to compensate for the lack of a Linux version), e.g. making the game start up in windowed mode, and hope that's sufficient to make it work with 0.9.59
3. Find some resource that tells me how to get 1.0.1 to work and hope that's sufficient
4. Find some resource that allows me to fix things with the current version
5. There's nothing I can do because the problem involves ridiculous interactions specific to this computer!
Yeah... I'm going to try just installing 1.1.37... I'd try just waiting for the patch but I'm getting impatient here...
ADDENDUM: Well, part of this is what I get for not reading the FAQ - they have a list of recommended packages to install first before attempting to compile Wine... maybe I should try that again, then...
LATER ADDENDUM: So why the hell didn't I first try this on the downloadable demo? Gah, that was dumb. I successfully installed 1.01 and it didn't work. I tried installing 1.1.37 (actually 1.1.36 for some reason?) and that hasn't worked either. The hell?
-Harry
[0] ADDENDUM: OK, so one way to do that, which I've now tried, is just deleting the installation directory entirely and reexpanding the archive...
Well hey guess what. The game failed to work at all. Opening it just resulted in an apparently invisible window; the only reason I say "an apparently invisible window" rather than "nothing opened" is because positioning the mouse over the appropriate region on the screen would cause the mouse to not work right.
OK, is there an entry on WineHQ for VVVVVV by any chance? Nope. Google doesn't turn up anything obvious either.
Then I have the thought: Hey, my version of Wine is out of date. I generally just update programs when the Ubuntu package manager detects updates, and the Ubuntu package manager's latest version is 0.9.59. Latest stable release is 1.0.1, latest development release is 1.1.37. Well, I figure, there's potentially large differenes between 0.x and 1.x, right? So let's go ahead and update that.
Latest stable release seems to only be available as source, but that's not really a problem. Except when I actually try to compile the thing it requires various development libraries I don't have. So, open up package manager, install those... of course then it turns out I'm still missing things needed for it to handle... lots of pretty important things, which I basically just hoped wouldn't be necessary right now.
Well after maybe half an hour or so of compiling it reports failure. Trying again just results in a quick run through of lots of "Hey, this is compiled already" messages before reporting the same failure. And I couldn't even get it to redo the configuration[0], not even after running "make uninstall" despite the fact that after the first failure I went and installed some of those libraries for things I was missing.
So at this point I just said "screw it" and reinstalled Wine from the package manager.
So, how can I actually play this game, and also avoid just having paid $15 for nothing? Here are the possibilities I see:
1. Forget stability, just install 1.1.37 and probably it'll work under that (ADDENDUM: The Wine website seems to recommend going with the latest development version in general...)
2. Wait for the patch, which is supposed to make the game more Wine-friendly (to compensate for the lack of a Linux version), e.g. making the game start up in windowed mode, and hope that's sufficient to make it work with 0.9.59
3. Find some resource that tells me how to get 1.0.1 to work and hope that's sufficient
4. Find some resource that allows me to fix things with the current version
5. There's nothing I can do because the problem involves ridiculous interactions specific to this computer!
Yeah... I'm going to try just installing 1.1.37... I'd try just waiting for the patch but I'm getting impatient here...
ADDENDUM: Well, part of this is what I get for not reading the FAQ - they have a list of recommended packages to install first before attempting to compile Wine... maybe I should try that again, then...
LATER ADDENDUM: So why the hell didn't I first try this on the downloadable demo? Gah, that was dumb. I successfully installed 1.01 and it didn't work. I tried installing 1.1.37 (actually 1.1.36 for some reason?) and that hasn't worked either. The hell?
-Harry
[0] ADDENDUM: OK, so one way to do that, which I've now tried, is just deleting the installation directory entirely and reexpanding the archive...
no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 05:17 pm (UTC)deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt karmic main
(replacing karmic with whatever Ubuntu version you're using.)
Then sudo apt-get update, then sudo apt-get full-upgrade.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 05:24 pm (UTC)http://www.winehq.org/download/deb
Looks like all you need to do is
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
And then update and full-upgrade.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 07:51 pm (UTC)Well I guess it was probably never the version that was the problem. Gah. A configuration problem? Is there some way I can force the program to start in windowed mode or something? I don't see such in winecfg. Turning on a virtual desktop didn't help...
no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 07:55 pm (UTC)Also, if your computer is recent and you have a WinXP CD sitting around, I would try running it in a VM.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 09:06 pm (UTC)Ah... that's a good point. It didn't even occur to me that might be the problem.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-24 05:17 am (UTC)It doesn't work yet
Date: 2010-01-24 04:58 pm (UTC)There's a post here, though, that explains how to get it working from the mac version if you don't want to wait!
http://distractionware.com/forum/index.php?topic=50.msg594#msg594
Re: It doesn't work yet
Date: 2010-01-24 06:32 pm (UTC)(BTW it would be nice if you put some sort of handle on your post so you can be distinguished from other anonymous people.)