LINUXGAMES

Christoph Reichenbach sent in the following:

People who had a closer look at the FreeSCI web page recently might have noticed that we released 0.6.1, and immediately pulled it a few days after. The reason for this was a licencing issue (elaborated on a little bit more on the FreeSCI web page) that we have now resolved. The improvements in the stable and unstable versions are (approximately) the following:

0.3.4c (vs. 0.3.4a/b):

* Removed libxft dependency for plain xlib+RENDER driver
* Win32 timer fix (Walter van Niftrik)
* Reverted fmopl to Tatsuyuki Satoh’s version to avoid licencing trouble

0.6.1b (vs. 0.6.0):

* Lots of bug fixes
* Implemented new sound subsystem with support for real-time PCM mixing (feedback and help on this one are particularly welcome!)
* Per-resource palette configurations to allow some degree of game graphics customisation
* Preliminary(!) SCI1 game support
* Variable port offset support for SCI01/SCI1 games (must be adjusted manually for SCI0/SCI01 games ATM)

Note that 0.6.1b is still fairly unstable; while we have no concrete proof for this yet, it seems unlikely that any games can be completed with this branch at the moment. People interested in actually playing games are therefore advised to stick with the stable releases.

FreeSCI 0.3.4c Download: [ linuxgames.com ]

GAV, a remake of the DOS game Arcade Volleyball, after a long hibernate has been updated. Version 0.8.0 changes include the following:

• *FINAL* patch for stuck on the net problem
• patch for ball passing over the net bug
• collision mechanisms improved
• sound support added (sounds can be found in theme packages)
• Players classes hierarchy re-designed
• AI Player improved

Download: [ GAV 0.8.0 ]

Battle for Wesnoth, a fantasy turn-based strategy game, has been updated to release 0.7.2. Changes include the following items:

• Fixed attack miscalculation for offensive units which ignored time of day.
• Fixed active player not recieveing labels and messages immidiately while it was his/her turn.
• Fixed networking problems which caused out-of-syncs.
• View mode to show possible enemy moves.
• Improved multiplayer chatting.
• Graphics improvements.
• Scenario and unit balancing.

Download: [ Battle for Wesnoth 0.7.2 ]

ALTAR interactive has released the source code of the puzzle game, Fish Fillets under the GPL license. Fish Fillets is strictly a puzzle game. The goal in every of the seventy levels is always the same: find a safe way out. The fish utter witty remarks about their surroundings, the various inhabitants of their underwater realm quarrel among themselves or comment on the efforts of your fish.

LinuxWorld has posted an article titled The Growing Market for Linux Games by Jay Swackhammer. The author puts forth a case that “[t]here is more Linux-game-buying demand out there than some people would like you to think”, citing the number of games available, the presence of Linux gamers on the various online forums, smooth installations of 3D hardware drivers, and the ease of supporting Linux end users.

Editorial comment: An opposing view can be read on Curmudgeon Gamer.

A new version of the venerable flight simulation FlightGear was released late last month. The changelog can be found here; major new features include an autopilot overhaul and the ability to fetch and match real-world weather conditions.

FlightGear 0.9.4 Download: [ flightgear.org ]

I made a news post! That’s the joke.

I’m lazy this year. To make up for it, this will be a “What are you playing right now?” post. Feel free to list open source or commercial titles, or even projects you’re developing that haven’t been mentioned here in a while (or ever).

My list:

• Unreal Tournament 2004 – Assault and Onslaught
• Neverwinter Nights – Shadowrealm Genesis PW Server

Wow that’s lengthy. I still have to get around to beating Uplink and Kohan someday also.

Finally, here’s a LG flashback to 1998 courtesy of the Internet Archive.

Ryan “icculus” Gordon updated his.planfile concerning an updated Linux AMD64 UT2004 build:

Linux/amd64 retail people should use this build for now:
http://icculus.org/~icculus/tmp/ut2004-linux-amd64-03222004.tar.bz2

This fixes the following things over retail:

• Network compatibility is fixed.
• Using WebAdmin doesn’t crash your server.
• Dynamic lighting works.
• VoIP crash fixed.
• Probably other things.

This is ONLY for 64-bit Linux. If you don’t have an Opteron/Athlon64 witha 64-bit version of Linux, you can’t use this! If you aren’t sure: youcan’t!

Linux (amd64 or x86) clients are seeing the KIntersect crash. I’m stilllooking into it. The above binary doesn’t fix it.

Also, Epic’s DrSiNannouncedthe release of UTSecure2K4 1.10, their official security mutator for servers:

This version should close all known uscript holes in the game. If anyone outthere finds a way to bypass it feel free to email me how. I have alsopublished an update to the master server that should accept UTSecure andAnti-TCC as part of the default packages.

UTSecure2K4 1.10 Download: [ epicgames.com]

DrSiN also notes stats tracking will be down until they determine what’scausing load spikes on the master server. However, they have re-enabled thescript which generates the free dedicated server-only cdkey:

http://unreal.epicgames.com/ut2004server/cdkey.php

You can download the 777MB server package from Atari here.