Problem with Flare+Desura+Arch Linux 64bit
Hi everyone :)
I discovered the game through Desura and I had some issues. I posted this on the Desura page and I've been told to head here, so here I am :)
Copypasting what I've wrote on Desura already:
I'm on Arch Linux x64, I tried to get it to work by installing the various 32bit libraries (any chanches for a native 64bit build?)... Anyway, I managed to launch it, but only if I go to command line, cd to the install directory (/opt/desura/common/Flare) and execute './flare' from there. Trying to launch from Desura, it complains about a missing libjpeg.so.62 (which actually exists, and I have no clue where it's searching it). Trying to launch the game via command line using the full path from anywhere outside of the Flare directory results in a "Error during ModManager::loadModList() -- couldn't open mods/mods.txt" error.
I hope this can be fixed, because I had no luck with the Arch linux AUR package either (the download keeps getting interrupted halfway and can't be resumed).
So, that's it. It looks like a problem with paths, I think? Since it seems related to what the current directory is when the game executable is launched...
The AUR packages are outdated, but I've made one that downloads the 0.17 tag from the Github repo (via git, so it should be more reliable): https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=63241
If you still want to attempt to get the Desura version working, you could try making a symbolic link at /usr/local/share/games/flare/mods/ that points to the flare mods folder inside your Desura folder.
> a native 64bit build
Building flare is relatively easy as there are only a few dependencies. So in case you have some experience with the shell you may try to compile it yourself:
(quoting random parts of the Readme https://github.com/clintbellanger/flare-game)
pacman -S --asdeps sdl sdl_image sdl_mixer libogg libvorbis hicolor-icon-theme python sdl_ttf git cmake
git clone https://github.com/clintbellanger/flare-game.git
cd flare-game
cmake .
make
./flare
I know that, but I was talking about a native 64bit version distributed on Desura, I can't add that myself ^^
Thanks, but I think that symlink won't work to launch on Desura. Launching from Desura has a different error, like I wrote above, it can't find libjpeg.so.62. I would have placed a symlink to it already, but I have no idea where. The error you refer to happens when I try to launch manually from command line but my current dir is not the one Flare is installed to.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the PKGBUILD, I'll try that :) I'd have preferred to manage the game from within Desura, but that will do too :)
I assume libjpeg is used by SDL_image, even though we don't actually use jpegs anywhere in the game. Is there a way to initialize SDL_image without requring the components we don't use?
I don't know much about how the Desura linux build is packaged. If anyone has ideas on what could be causing that issue, I can pass word to the guy who handles the Desura builds.
@clint You should use absolute filenames rather than relative ones, this should fix the issue on unloadable config files.
And for the .so file, try setting the LD_LIBRARY_PATH env variable to the directory where the .so file is located. Im pretty this is not necessary if the .so file is installed in the standard location (/usr/lib i think).
On systems like Linux, the data files are expected to be in:
/usr/local/share/flare
Specifically:
/usr/local/share/flare/mods/
It's using the XDG standard. It only looks in the local folder as a final option: https://github.com/clintbellanger/flare-engine/wiki/Directories
My bad did not read the wiki :P. Suggestion for config files, why not create default ones if not found.
Maybe it would be a good idea to give Flare a launch flag that forces mods to only be loaded from ./
That way, we can make sure the Desura copy is looking in the right place. Plus, it'll be nice for devs and portable copies, as they won't acciendentally load data from an existing installation.
@raniejade for user-level config files we do create them if they're missing. For game data some things have internal defaults, but we typically can't write files (e.g. it's usually forbidden to write to /usr/local/share except when installing).
During Beta we'll definitely make a sweep through all of that to clean it up, especially adding better error messages. E.g. the one that is "mods/mods.txt not found" should also say something like "this probably means that all of the game data isn't installed in the expected location: /usr/local/share/flare/"
@clint thats good. Gonna browse the source if I have the time, so I can have a grasp around the architecture.
Oh, it makes sense that it doesn't work then, because Desura builds are installed inside of the Desura dirs (specifically /opt/desura/common/ in case of the Archlinux build of Desura).
It is in /usr/lib
Not only that, there's even a copy of it inside of Desura (/opt/desura/lib/libjpeg.so.62)
(I guess it was included with some other game, since I think games on Desura can be shipped with some libraries).
By the way, the new PKGBUILD is broken as well... I tried it last night then I had to turn off the computer and I forgot to save the error, though. It was something on the lines of flare-rpg directory that does not exist I think. I think it's the step when it cds in the source dir, but I had no time to look into it though.
@rockettiger
Sorry about the PKGBUILD. I had copied from the other flare PKGBUILD and didn't change $_gitname. I've uploaded a fixed version to AUR (same link as before).
@dorkster thanks a lot, now it works :)