Caster has gone Gold!

[Svartalf]

If you jet on over to Caster's Website (http://www.casterthegame.com), you can download the demo right now and the price for purchase has went down to $4.99.

What is Caster?

If you're not aware, there's an indie title that just got game of the month from one of the main Indie online review sites. It's Caster. It's an episodic 3rd person shooter that places you in the role of a novice member of the Caster clan. This means you're capable of healing the damaged land and helping reclaim it from buglike monsters, the Flanx, that have damaged it. You start out somewhat weak, but build in power as you go along.

[Kano]

Not really my kind of game, but at least it runs on Linux ;)

[Svartalf]

Not really my kind of game, but at least it runs on Linux ;)

Yep. And soon there'll be more that run on it. :D

[L33F3R]

just bought. Great game! would have paid $20 easily for it.

[Kano]

@Svartalf

Do you have got connections to help

http://zeroballistics.com/

To get a publisher? I want an extended version of that game, still only a demo out there, but very cool game...

[xav1r]

So, I would like to support Linux as a gaming platform, and Im very interested in this indie game, so, which source should I buy it from? Caster is available on Steam and Impulse, but I assume those are the windows-only versions of it. So, which store buy from me would count as a "linux-sale". It's sort of dumb that this has to be this way, I think every store should just sell the system independent "assets" and just download a linux binary blob with your registered key or something like that. But I'll work with what's already there. :)

[Svartalf]

So, which store buy from me would count as a "linux-sale".

You can buy it direct from Elecorn's Caster site (http://www.casterthegame.com). :D

It's sort of dumb that this has to be this way, I think every store should just sell the system independent "assets" and just download a linux binary blob with your registered key or something like that. But I'll work with what's already there. :)

It's dumb, but then the industry's NOT framed in by people like us... ;)

[Svartalf]

@Svartalf

Do you have got connections to help

http://zeroballistics.com/

To get a publisher? I want an extended version of that game, still only a demo out there, but very cool game...

I'll look into what I can help out with. No promises, but there might be something I can accomplish. :D

[Kano]

That would be really cool. Btw. there is a board for that game too:

http://quanticode.com/forum/phpBB3/

Somebody even created a custom level for it without any editor available.

[xav1r]

That would be really cool. Btw. there is a board for that game too:

http://quanticode.com/forum/phpBB3/

Somebody even created a custom level for it without any editor available.

Damn, what did they use? A hex editor?

[Kano]

http://quanticode.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=123

[Kano]

Back to caster, after i heard about problems with the Linux port, i played the game a bit longer to verify those. And they are definitely there when you shoot at enemies together with some other aspects which are not yet solved. To see it better i want a fps counter, so how to enable that? Also i have got xbox gamepads and that games not allow me to select the axis it should use. It defaults to axis 0 to 3, that might be correct for most pads, but i need axis 0/1 and 3/4. You see that even from this output:

jscal /dev/input/js0
Joystick has 8 axes and 10 buttons.
Correction for axis 0 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 1 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 2 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 127, 127, 4227330, 4227330
Correction for axis 3 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 4 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 5 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 127, 127, 4227330, 4227330
Correction for axis 6 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 0, 0, 536870912, 536870912
Correction for axis 7 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 0, 0, 536870912, 536870912

The analog pads show a precision of 16. Funnyly wine + windows demo runs absolutely smooth, just the Linux port has performance issues ;)

[sobkas]

Back to caster, after i heard about problems with the Linux port, i played the game a bit longer to verify those. And they are definitely there when you shoot at enemies together with some other aspects which are not yet solved. To see it better i want a fps counter, so how to enable that? Also i have got xbox gamepads and that games not allow me to select the axis it should use. It defaults to axis 0 to 3, that might be correct for most pads, but i need axis 0/1 and 3/4. You see that even from this output:

jscal /dev/input/js0
Joystick has 8 axes and 10 buttons.
Correction for axis 0 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 1 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 2 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 127, 127, 4227330, 4227330
Correction for axis 3 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 4 is broken line, precision is 16.
Coeficients are: -128, 128, 16513, 16513
Correction for axis 5 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 127, 127, 4227330, 4227330
Correction for axis 6 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 0, 0, 536870912, 536870912
Correction for axis 7 is broken line, precision is 0.
Coeficients are: 0, 0, 536870912, 536870912

The analog pads show a precision of 16. Funnyly wine + windows demo runs absolutely smooth, just the Linux port has performance issues ;)
Can you post output of this fine command:
jscal -q /dev/input/js0

[Kano]

jscal -q /dev/input/js0
jscal: error getting button map: Invalid argument

Btw. music does not work correctly with wine correcty, just disable it and use amarok ;) I still don't know how to dive in the water. Next thing which is better with wine: you can use alt-tab to switch to the desktop without closing the game.

[sobkas]

jscal -q /dev/input/js0
jscal: error getting button map: Invalid argument

Btw. music does not work correctly with wine correcty, just disable it and use amarok ;) I still don't know how to dive in the water. Next thing which is better with wine: you can use alt-tab to switch to the desktop without closing the game.

As I tough, jscal fails. I had a hacked version of it that didn't fail on this bug(just commented out some returns). I will try to find it(for now I have only binary version). Unfortunately now I can't search for it, maybe tomorrow.

Under linux you can actually remap joystick axes and buttons.
To do this you need output of jscal -q /dev/input/js0
like this (mine as example):
jscal -u 7,0,1,2,3,5,16,17,12,288,289,290,291,292,293,294,2 95,296,297,298,299 /dev/input/js0

first number is number of axes
then come actual axes
ninth number is number of buttons(after axes)
and after that buttons itself.

To swap axes you need to swap appropriate numbers and run command.

In this example I swap 4th and 5th axis.

jscal -u 7,0,1,2,5,3,16,17,12,288,289,290,291,292,293,294,2 95,296,297,298,299 /dev/input/js0

For some strange reason for SDL you must set SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE to point to joystick device file or remap won't affect app.

[Kano]

jscal -q /dev/input/js0
jscal: error getting button map: Invalid argument
jscal -u 8,0,1,2,3,4,5,16,17,10,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 /dev/input/js0

The problem seem to be the 0s which are invalid.

[SolidSteel144]

If only Steam were to nativly work on GNU/Linux. Buying/installing games and keeping them updated would be so easy.

[Svartalf]

Back to caster, after i heard about problems with the Linux port, i played the game a bit longer to verify those. And they are definitely there when you shoot at enemies together with some other aspects which are not yet solved. To see it better i want a fps counter, so how to enable that?

I'll look into getting it turned on. It's not rendering as best as I can tell- and we had only one tester that showed with the problem and we thought we had it squared. It looks to be something that it trips over and stalls parts of the engine one events. I'm trying to get it found and fixed so we don't have issues for people.



Also i have got xbox gamepads and that games not allow me to select the axis it should use. It defaults to axis 0 to 3, that might be correct for most pads, but i need axis 0/1 and 3/4. You see that even from this output:


Unfortunately, I'm stuck with the stuff that SDL provides there. I'll look into providing some overrides in the setup.ini for the next pass at this.


The analog pads show a precision of 16. Funnyly wine + windows demo runs absolutely smooth, just the Linux port has performance issues ;)

It runs smoothly on either WINE or Linux on most machines, we're getting bit by varying things right at the moment.

[Kano]

@SolidSteel144

Steam works perfectly with wine. No tricks needed at all. But that game is extra easy, when you diff the dirs between the demo versions you will find out what i mean.

@Svartalf

I think a Q9300 @ 3 GHz together with a Nvidia 8800 GTS 512 should be enough for that little game... Used my own Lenny based distro btw. 64 bit variant.

Did anybody find way to enable the level editor mentioned in:

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dd65d5tr_33gxfnrxgb&hl=en

The --scene option works with the .bin file but ctrl+l does nothing.

[Svartalf]

I think a Q9300 @ 3 GHz together with a Nvidia 8800 GTS 512 should be enough for that little game... Used my own Lenny based distro btw. 64 bit variant.

My Q9500 pastes it. My E4500 and E5500 desktops don't trip over it either. The machine I have that seems to be able to do it on demand is my T5200 based laptop- and I'd not thought of testing on it during the beta cycle. It's not a performance issue as best as I can tell- it's something in the timings that is causing it to off into the rough on me. I'm chasing it down right now. Hoping to have a fix for the people encountering the issue (not everybody is- but enough of them are that it's priority one over anything other than the day-job and the like right at the moment...)


Did anybody find way to enable the level editor mentioned in:

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dd65d5tr_33gxfnrxgb&hl=en

The --scene option works with the .bin file but ctrl+l does nothing.

I'll check to see if it's enabled right. :D

[SolidSteel144]

@SolidSteel144

Steam works perfectly with wine. No tricks needed at all. But that game is extra easy, when you diff the dirs between the demo versions you will find out what i mean.
I really wouldn't say that. There are many things that don't work right. Fonts are messed up sometimes, mouse cursor is a little off, Steam Community in-game, etc.

[sobkas]

jscal -q /dev/input/js0
jscal: error getting button map: Invalid argument
jscal -u 8,0,1,2,3,4,5,16,17,10,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 /dev/input/js0

The problem seem to be the 0s which are invalid.

What kernel version?
I have tested 2.6.29 and didn't saw my bug again.
I will test 2.6.26 and unpatched version.
On 2.6.26 I was able to reproduce your problem with 0s and I believe that hack worked on kernel 2.6.28-rcsomething.
As I said before I don't see that problem on 2.6.29 even with unpatched version.
Can you try this version?

[Kano]

2.6.30-rc6 used here.

[Kano]

@SolidSteel144

Well i can play Half-Life with it, you just need Nvidia graphics cards or you lost in most cases.

[sobkas]

jscal -q /dev/input/js0
jscal: error getting button map: Invalid argument
jscal -u 8,0,1,2,3,4,5,16,17,10,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 /dev/input/js0

The problem seem to be the 0s which are invalid.

I just wrote horrible hack for jscal to ignore buttons:
http://pastebin.ca/1427568

After patching it command:
jscal -u 8,0,1,3,4,5,16,17,2,-1 /dev/input/js0
should do the trick, but if there is still problem with camera movement(up-down is left-right) this command might help:
jscal -u 8,0,1,4,3,5,16,17,2,-1 /dev/input/js0

Just remember to set SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE to your js device.
"SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE=/dev/input/js0 ./caster.bin"

[Kano]

Your patch is really interesting, now it is possilbe to execute it. It works with:

./jscal -u 8,0,1,4,3,2,5,16,17,-1 /dev/input/js0

./jscal -c /dev/input/js0

Would be nice when the calibration settings would be exchanged as well to skip the -c step. I have to run the game like:

SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE=/dev/input/js0 ./caster-demo.bin

Without SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE override the games uses the values without jscal it seems. But the game is more or less unplayable for me using a pad.

[sobkas]

Your patch is really interesting, now it is possilbe to execute it. It works with:

./jscal -u 8,0,1,4,3,2,5,16,17,-1 /dev/input/js0

./jscal -c /dev/input/js0

Would be nice when the calibration settings would be exchanged as well to skip the -c step.

jscal -p /dev/input/js0 will print active calibration settings.
jscal -s 7,1,0,112,142,5534751,5534751,1,0,112,142,5534751, 5534751,1,0,112,142,5534751,5534751,1,0,112,142,55 34751,5534751,1,0,112,142,5534751,5534751,1,0,0,0, 536870912,536870912,1,0,0,0,536870912,536870912 /dev/input/js0

I have to run the game like:

SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE=/dev/input/js0 ./caster-demo.bin

Without SDL_JOYSTICK_DEVICE override the games uses the values without jscal it seems.
It's SDL problem, it chooses event device before js one.

[Kano]

Could you fix that directly in jscal -u command?

[sobkas]

Could you fix that directly in jscal -u command?

Can you try:
http://www.pastebin.ca/1429321
New patch with corrected -q option.
Now -u will also remap calibration settings.
For -u -1 is replaced by 0
edit:
Newer version2:
http://www.pastebin.ca/1429802

[Kano]

Well done! Now i can use the pad without extra calibration. It is just very hard to play with it. With mouse aiming it is much easier.

[Kano]

Used the 2nd patch to create an updated joystick package for Kanotix now. Works fine. Thank you!

[sobkas]

Used the 2nd patch to create an updated joystick package for Kanotix now. Works fine. Thank you!
You know that patch might still need some work?
Did you tough about pushing it to upstream, because right now I'm filling bug in debian bts:#529865.
And where I can find your new package to examine it?

[Svartalf]

Used the 2nd patch to create an updated joystick package for Kanotix now. Works fine. Thank you!

Heh... We probably ought to propagate this a wide and far now it's in Kanotix. :D

[Kano]

@sobkas

I can update it when it does not work for others. You could add a description too. Currently it is called like you, look:

http://kanotix.com/files/excalibur/updates/joystick/

I do not fill out debian bug reports, i contact dev usually directly if needed. The debian response time is too slow for me, therefore i put all needed updates directly in my repository, also my new system is based on lenny, hard to get updates in there...

[sobkas]

@sobkas

I can update it when it does not work for others. You could add a description too. Currently it is called like you, look:

http://kanotix.com/files/excalibur/updates/joystick/

"
Remapping axes (-u) will move their calibration settings with them.
Printing current mappings might sometimes encounter problems while getting button configuration. In this case buttons number is set to 0 and the faulty reading is ignored. Remapping function support this workaround.
"
This is the best thing I can write right now.

I do not fill out debian bug reports, i contact dev usually directly if needed. The debian response time is too slow for me, therefore i put all needed updates directly in my repository, also my new system is based on lenny, hard to get updates in there...
It's already there.
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=529865 and joystick package development is pretty slow so same version is in lenny and sid.

[dashcloud]

I recently bought Caster, and it's pretty nice- runs well on my Intel 945 chip except for some brutal slowdowns- which make at least The Beaten Path unfinishable for me.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the cool terrain-deforming capabilities- it reminds me of the feature from Red Faction.

There's a (bug?) that can get you stuck on Treacherous Tower if you don't have a high enough (4+ I believe) super jump. If you jump down to the bottom to collect the energy sphere, it can end up being too steep to get back up.

Other than that, it's a fine game that runs surprisingly well.

[Kano]

Well wine does not work on intel i guess, but if you have got Win, then dl you could try the Win demo + replace the data dir by the Linux one. It works the other way too, just some gfx gliches, i guess the Linux engine is older. Using nvidia gfx wine works fine.

[Svartalf]

I recently bought Caster, and it's pretty nice- runs well on my Intel 945 chip except for some brutal slowdowns- which make at least The Beaten Path unfinishable for me.

The slowdowns problem is being checked into right now. I may have an answer in hand, but I won't say until it's been fully vetted. (Probably will be a thumbs up/thumbs down decision made on it tomorrow and we'll have it in your hands to see if the known issue there is resolved...)



There's a (bug?) that can get you stuck on Treacherous Tower if you don't have a high enough (4+ I believe) super jump. If you jump down to the bottom to collect the energy sphere, it can end up being too steep to get back up.

I'll check into that. Might need to have a bit of the terrain adjusted for people. He's working on Chapter 2 right now, so if there's an issue there, he can probably tune it a bit better.

[L33F3R]

might want to look at threading it aswell. All things said, on my Q6600 it rapes CPU4 100%. I also get slowdowns quite frequently.

[Svartalf]

might want to look at threading it aswell. All things said, on my Q6600 it rapes CPU4 100%. I also get slowdowns quite frequently.

Heh... We think we found it. It was something in the potential collision set computation that caused people to trip right off the L2 under some cases (depending on system activity in the background, etc...) and bog it down like it was doing. It didn't show on my main desktop because I've got 12Mb of L2 on it and the other machines are pared down a bit so I wouldn't see it except on my laptop. We're looking for a few other nice n' nasty issues of the same caliber lurking before pushing an update out. I expect something to be pushed out to the public in a couple of days or so.

[Svartalf]

Oh, by the by... When we've got this rough start behind us, I'm expecting to do quite a few more deals like this. We're actually getting results even I didn't expect here. We honestly need to get GoG or Gamersgate on the same page with this potential userbase or come up with a Linux specific store. Seriously.

[L33F3R]

Oh, by the by... When we've got this rough start behind us, I'm expecting to do quite a few more deals like this. We're actually getting results even I didn't expect here. We honestly need to get GoG or Gamersgate on the same page with this potential userbase or come up with a Linux specific store. Seriously.

cut out the middleman and setup a proper store of your own. Id rather see you get more money then some joe blow.

[dashcloud]

Svartalf: Sorry for not mentioning this with the first group of issues, but the word shield is typo'd on the screen when you get the Orbital weapon. (Which is also in the Unbeaten Path level).

Good luck with this and your other deals!

[Svartalf]

cut out the middleman and setup a proper store of your own. Id rather see you get more money then some joe blow.

Easier said than done. Most of the profits would be eaten up getting set up for this game. I'm working towards better answers, but I've got to get the ventures I've got on my plate done or flying before I can front the needed cash myself.

[Svartalf]

Svartalf: Sorry for not mentioning this with the first group of issues, but the word shield is typo'd on the screen when you get the Orbital weapon. (Which is also in the Unbeaten Path level).

Good luck with this and your other deals!

I'll let Mike know. :D

And, thanks!

[Zhick]

Oh, by the by... When we've got this rough start behind us, I'm expecting to do quite a few more deals like this. We're actually getting results even I didn't expect here.
Great to hear.

Unfortunately the demo segfaults for me using fglrx 9.3 ... but worked fine with mesa, except for slowness (strictly software rasterized, because Gentoo sucks at multilib...).
ATM I think it's a problem with my setup, because I get similar segfaults with Regnum and also got some segfaults in Penny Arcade's Rain-Slick. As soon as I've figured this out I'll buy it, even though it seems not to be my kind of game. But at 4.99$ it's good value I guess. :)

[RobbieAB]

cut out the middleman and setup a proper store of your own. Id rather see you get more money then some joe blow.

The flip side to this is the benefit of having another party playing: We are clearly making enough money for a mostly windows site to be interested in dealing with the hassle that comes with providing Linux downloads.

I'm not saying the hassle is great, but there is some, even if it is sorting out which platform people are downloading a game for. The objective is to show the big games studios there is money in linux games, how better than by making money for someone?

[sobkas]

I can update it when it does not work for others.

I think it needs update. If someone sets buttons number in -u to 0 it will set all buttons mappings to 0. Fixed patch below:
http://www.pastebin.ca/1433257

[L33F3R]

Easier said than done. Most of the profits would be eaten up getting set up for this game. I'm working towards better answers, but I've got to get the ventures I've got on my plate done or flying before I can front the needed cash myself.

looks like a job for L33F3R :p

[djack]

Great news that the slowdown issue is being addressed.

Caster is one of the few games playable on my system as I have a dual screen nVidia set-up. The number of games that can't figure out how to determine the size of a single screen and turn the other off makes me cry, instead they turn off the scond screen and show only half the display on the primary screen. (xrandr solves this but wrecks mu desktop) - happily, Caster behaves sensibly.

[Kano]

Where are the updated binaries? The demo link did not change yet.

[djack]

Where are the updated binaries? The demo link did not change yet.

AFAIK, they haven't been released yet. I don't think it will be long to wait though.

[Svartalf]

Where are the updated binaries? The demo link did not change yet.

We're making one last verification pass with the beta testers- we'd rather have that one deep sixed with whatever we do as an update so we're not pushing out a constant stream of bugfixes on it.

It should be out here shortly- it's showing up decently right at the moment. :D

[Kano]

Just give em to me, as you can guess i find lots of problems ;)

[Kjella]

We're making one last verification pass with the beta testers- we'd rather have that one deep sixed with whatever we do as an update so we're not pushing out a constant stream of bugfixes on it.

Good to hear it's being fixed, was just about to post a WTF comment as the slowdowns were just horrible on hardware that's capable of much, much more. Not really my fav game anyway, what's with all the clipping errors where half the guy disappears into the ground? Oh well.

[DeepDayze]

Congrats on a completed Linux port!

Here's to many more games being ported to Linux :D

Even though I am not really a gamer, I'll consider buying a copy when it is ready, to support the cause :)

Just give em to me, as you can guess i find lots of problems ;)

haha why not include a demo copy with Kanotix :)

[Kano]

If there would be i386/amd64 deb packages i could add them to my repo. Building images with that game would be easy then.

[Svartalf]

Good to hear it's being fixed, was just about to post a WTF comment as the slowdowns were just horrible on hardware that's capable of much, much more. Not really my fav game anyway, what's with all the clipping errors where half the guy disappears into the ground? Oh well.

Heh... It was something that couldn't have been caught except out in the field. Linux machines tend to have more activity at the L2 cache level than the other popular OSes- because we're able to do more and end up doing it.... There was something that wasn't being noticed on the other platforms because the calculation process in question, while not wrong was doing more than intended and causing us to pop out of L2 on the game during the slowdown periods. The slowdowns would happen for some and not others.

As for the the clipping errors...it's difficult, actually, to get "clipping" right in many cases.

Most games either resort to linear, largely "flat" surfaces to minimize the risk of a PVS calculation error, or you use fairly high vertex count geometry and things like octrees to offset the damage of having to sift through the morass there. Since neither are in play here, it's possible that a clipping error might occur.

Could you do me the favor of telling me under what conditions that you've found this problem so I can look at it with Mike and fix it- especially since with something like 20-30 people testing this game and they've not reported the problem you describe?

[Kjella]

Could you do me the favor of telling me under what conditions that you've found this problem so I can look at it with Mike and fix it- especially since with something like 20-30 people testing this game and they've not reported the problem you describe?

I haven't compared to the Windows version so might be as good as it gets, but I found that when jumping towards steep surfaces like e.g. trying to get up the superjump wall in the tutorial, the avatar will end up quite a bit inside the wall and looks very silly. It doesn't affect gameplay so it's not that big a deal but it's definately part of what puts it in the 5$ category IMO.

[Svartalf]

I haven't compared to the Windows version so might be as good as it gets, but I found that when jumping towards steep surfaces like e.g. trying to get up the superjump wall in the tutorial, the avatar will end up quite a bit inside the wall and looks very silly. It doesn't affect gameplay so it's not that big a deal but it's definately part of what puts it in the 5$ category IMO.

Okay... I'll check into it for Mike. Once the update's done, perhaps you should check it again. I'm going to verify that this evening even. :D

Thanks for the problem description. Seriously. I want it to be worth a bit more than the $5 category you've placed it in, the truth be known. Having something easily worth $10 or so that's very popular on Linux helps the gaming position immensely.

[Kano]

After looking at your problem description that reminded me of an error that lead to 100% cpu usage with a dbase app compiled with xHarbour. Basically they used busy waiting without any sleeps, that caused the extreme cpu usage. It was not that extreme with older kernels but new ones showed it. I usually do not fix compiler bugs, but it was relatively easy to locate this one. I do not write dbase apps, just somebody showed me that problem and i found a hack around it.

[Kano]

@Svartalf

So found the demo 1.1 update. Seems to run really smooth now. Can you tell us how to enable a framecounter?

Btw. it does not seem that there is a ingame editor in the demo, did you enable it for the full version?

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dd65d5tr_33gxfnrxgb&hl=en

[Svartalf]

@Svartalf

So found the demo 1.1 update. Seems to run really smooth now. Can you tell us how to enable a framecounter?


Currently only in the developer version of the binary. I'll forward a request to Mike on that one.


Btw. it does not seem that there is a ingame editor in the demo, did you enable it for the full version?

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dd65d5tr_33gxfnrxgb&hl=en

The Google doc mentions the in-game, but unfortunately Mike's only enabled it in the developer edition. That may change over time, but for now...

[Kano]

Is the Windows binary the developer version? Would be stupid when somebody already bought the Linux one...

[Svartalf]

Is the Windows binary the developer version? Would be stupid when somebody already bought the Linux one...

No... It's one built for debug right at the moment... ;)

[Kano]

From the Win demo:

strings caster.exe |grep FPS
>"Caster". FPS: %.2f FPS (perf): %.2f Swap Time: %.2f

So it is build for debug then? How to enable it there?

[Svartalf]

>"Caster". FPS: %.2f FPS (perf): %.2f Swap Time: %.2f

So it is build for debug then? How to enable it there?

I was referring to the editor. I'm not wholly sure how to turn on perf counting from the Windows or Linux side (Didn't need to- used BuGLe to get framecounts, etc. as I was verifying GL code, etc...); I'll check into it when I get home and get back with you on that one.

[Raven3x7]

I just picked this up. Do i still need to update the game using the demo, or is the full game binary up to date by now?

[Svartalf]

I just picked this up. Do i still need to update the game using the demo, or is the full game binary up to date by now?

If you just bought, it should be the version with the performance problem fixes in it. If you encounter slowdowns, you might need to download the update. If so, I can point you in the right direction shortly. Just let me know.

[Kano]

Any update for the FPS code?

[Raven3x7]

If you just bought, it should be the version with the performance problem fixes in it. If you encounter slowdowns, you might need to download the update. If so, I can point you in the right direction shortly. Just let me know.

**Edit
Well after some tinkering i did get everything to work. Seems to run fine on fglrx.

Well i bought it on tuesday iirc. It's version 1.1 according to the installer. Anyway i'm trying to install it on the 64bit version of archlinux but i seem to be missing some 32bit library the installer needs. Any idea which one?

[Svartalf]

Well i bought it on tuesday iirc. It's version 1.1 according to the installer. Anyway i'm trying to install it on the 64bit version of archlinux but i seem to be missing some 32bit library the installer needs. Any idea which one?

Heh... There's quite few. This is a dump of the libs used by caster.

frank@zaphod:~/caster$ ldd caster.bin
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xb80aa000)
libSDL-1.2.so.0 => ./libs/libSDL-1.2.so.0 (0xb8014000)
libSDL_mixer-1.2.so.0 => ./libs/libSDL_mixer-1.2.so.0 (0xb7f9b000)
libSDL_sound-1.0.so.1 => ./libs/libSDL_sound-1.0.so.1 (0xb7f58000)
libSDL_image-1.2.so.0 => ./libs/libSDL_image-1.2.so.0 (0xb7f3d000)
libpthread.so.0 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7f02000)
libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 (0xb7e13000)
libGL.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGL.so.1 (0xb7d59000)
libGLU.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGLU.so.1 (0xb7ce6000)
libGLEW.so.1.5 => ./libs/libGLEW.so.1.5 (0xb7ca5000)
libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0xb7c96000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6 (0xb7b33000)
libm.so.6 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libm.so.6 (0xb7b0d000)
libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0xb7a1d000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libdl.so.2 (0xb7a19000)
libvorbisfile.so.3 => ./libs/libvorbisfile.so.3 (0xb7a11000)
libpng12.so.0 => /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 (0xb79eb000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb80ab000)
libxcb.so.1 => /usr/lib/libxcb.so.1 (0xb79d1000)
libGLcore.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGLcore.so.1 (0xb6ab8000)
libnvidia-tls.so.1 => /usr/lib/tls/libnvidia-tls.so.1 (0xb6ab6000)
libXext.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXext.so.6 (0xb6aa6000)
libvorbis.so.0 => ./libs/libvorbis.so.0 (0xb6a7d000)
libz.so.1 => /lib/libz.so.1 (0xb6a67000)
libXau.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXau.so.6 (0xb6a62000)
libXdmcp.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6 (0xb6a5d000)
libogg.so.0 => ./libs/libogg.so.0 (0xb6a58000)


It's my suggestion that you follow Arch's faq on 32-bit within 64-bit and install ALL of the compatibility libs. If you're willing to go through the contortions, the above list should be a good guide- but keep in mind, nobody on 64-bits has really had any major issues with the game once they put the whole suite of 32-bit compat support on. :D

[Svartalf]

Any update for the FPS code?

The only way to currently get at it is through the debug version. You can get a solid FPS count through BuGLe as it works correctly and it's probably a good way to get FPS on just about any game out there. I'll see if there's any impact with adding it in "proper" for the second episode release.

[Raven3x7]

Heh... There's quite few. This is a dump of the libs used by caster.


Thx. I did already install all the libs 32bit libs in the community repo and the game works fine now