fallout1-ce
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alexbatalov
[linux] Problem running fallout-ce on Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon
Hello, maybe I'm just too much of a Linux-noob, but I can't get fallout-ce to run on my Linux laptop. I'm using Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon.
- libsdl2-2.0-0 is installed and up to date.
- I have copied over the folder of the windows install, and downloaded the release.tar for the 64-bit version of linux from the release.
- I unpacked the fallout-ce from the tar into the fallout folder I had copied from Windows.
But what now? I cannot seem to run "fallout-ce", which is just a file of unspecified type, and not an executable of any sort (at least none that is recognized). I tried running "./fallout-ce" from the console -> unknown path. I explicitly opened a console in the fallout folder -> unknown command. I seem to be missing something essential. I had no problems to run fallout-ce on my android and even on the vita, but here I'm just stuck. Someone help me please? I know it's strictly not a bug (at least not likely). But I searched for hours but couldn't find anything that would aid me in my struggle. You're my last hope Obi-Wan.
In my experience, if you try to run an executable and get an error like "file not found" or "invalid path" it means that your kernel can't run the executable file. Most common reason for that is trying to run the 32bit version on a 64bit system or vice versa. Worth trying other available releases to see if that's the problem. Beyond that I have no other suggestions.
From the terminal in the fallout folder run "chmod a+x fallout-ce" then you should be able to run "./fallout-ce".
Thank you for the advice! @DeltaR9A2 I have double checked to use the 64 bit version (it's a 64 bit installation and processor, so should be correct). Just to make extra sure, I tried the 32bit one as well, but with the same result. Still I need to correct some of my initial description: I did not get an error message when I last tried to run the 64 version with ./fallout-ce: the reaction was nothing at all. I just get a new line in the console. I take that as a step forward. Still it leaves me wondering what is going on. Is there an error log I could check, in case something goes wrong behind the scenes? @glaucon1984 Thank you as well. If I understand correctly (as I said, I'm relatively new to Linux) this command changes the permissions of fallout-ce to be executable by the current user, right? I did that, and it seems to have worked. But it still didn't solve my problem, fallout-ce unfortunately still does not run.
Update: I have now started to test with a live stick of the Mint 21.1 (based on Ubuntu 22.04). When running ./fallout-ce I at last get at least an error message! It reads:"Could not find the master datfile. Please make sure the FALLOUT CD is in the drive and that you are running FALLOUT from the directory you installed it to." When researching problems with fallout ce I read somewhere that on Linux there is an issue with case-sensitive filenames. So I renamed MASTER.DAT to master.dat (and did the same for all other capitalized filenames). And behold: finally fallout started! Now back to my "old" 20.3 Linux Mint. I assumed the problem waslikely the same, so renamed master.dat and critter.dat to lowercase. Then I opened a console in the folder and ran ./fallout-ce..... and it worked! So happy. The only thing that still is kind of weird is that in Mint 22.04 I can just click on fallout-ce, while on 20.3 Linux asks "which program to use to open the unknown file". So for now I'm only able to run it via the console.... if there is any way to make that a bit more convenient I would be grateful for any tips.
Running binaries from the desktop environment is way outside of the scope of this project, but I guess you can create an item inside your apps menu pointing to the fallout-ce file, and run it like that.
Thank you for the help. Very cool I can now run Fallout on my old laptop on linux without having to resort to Wine. I checked around a bit becaus it just bothered me that I can only run it through the console, and I found this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45329372/ubuntu-recognizes-executable-as-shared-library-and-wont-run-it-by-clicking It seems like for some versions of Ubuntu (which effectively means some versions of Mint as well) you need to set the flag QMAKE_LFLAGS += -no-pie in the project file. Not sure if this makes any sense, I'm not much of a developer. But could be worth considering for the next release?
Side comment: Mint 20 - Ubuntu 20.04 - seemed to have some problems with SDL2. For endless-sky, I could run the appImage, but building from source - tried for an hour updating cmake and installing prerequisites - nope. Then took an evening to go Mint 21 - and the build ran out of the box with no hassles at all.
But I agree the case-sensitivity thing should merit a short mention in the readme. As dos games via ciopfs veteran I knew what was likely the cause, but this project is good enough for a non-specialist audience and a few words extra in the readme are cheap.
