
Frequently Asked Questions about the LiNUX version:   by A'rpi/Astral
===================================================

last updated: 12.12.1999  changes: OpenGL drivers, nosound, libc6, email.

Q: Does it work without sound card?
A: Yes, but syncing may be wrong.

Q: It starts but soon exits without doing something.
A: Check the filenames. Maybe they changed to uppercase while extracting
   archive or because some re-packing at the ftp site where you get from.
   You must rename them to lower case... or get the correct version from 
   our ftp site. 
   If the filenames are OK, and still not works, please send us the output
   of the demo. Start it as follow:
      ./demo-lnx &> debug.log
   Send the file 'debug.log' and the problem description to us. We'll help!

Q: It says "Can't load library libc.so.6". What did I wrong?
A: You must have libc6 (glibc2 or 2.1) system. Upgrade now!

Q: It says "Can't load library libGL.so". What did I wrong?
A: Maybe you don't have OpenGL driver installed. 
   Don't forget to make symlinks if you use MESA:
     cd /usr/X11/lib
     ln -s libMesaGL.so libGL.so
     ldconfig

Q: Where can I find OpenGL driver for linux?
A: It depends on your hardware. A good startpoint is the MESA homepage at
     http://www.mesa3d.org,  there are links to other drivers too.
   MESA is basicly a software driver, but it supports 3dfx cards as well.
   - 3dfx/Voodoo cards:
     You have 2 choices:
     1. Use MESA 3.x + Glide 2.x combination. It works only fullscreen,
        but it's very fast.
     2. 3dfx released beta evrsion of their DRI driver for Xwindow 4.0.
        It's very experimental, but our code works well with it.
        Check driver section at www.3dfx.com.
   - Matrox G200/G400:
     Check the GLX project's page at http://glx.on.openprojects.net
     I suggest using snapshot version of GLX and Mesa. The stable
     versions are very old.
   - nVidia cards (Riva 128/TNT/TNT2)
     1. You can find nVidia Riva 128/TNT/TNT2 driver at
        ftp://ftp1.detonator.nvidia.com/pub/drivers/english/
	It's old, and very slow. Supports only 16bpp :-(
	nVidia is working on a better driver now, at least they say...
     2.	Check the GLX project's page at http://glx.on.openprojects.net
        The open GLX driver also supports TNT. It's slow too...
     I hope they'll release something good for geForce soon.
   - other cards:
     You'd better dropping them away... buy a G400 or Voodoo3.
     GLX project started developing Mach64 driver, but it's long time to finish.
     There is requirement writting driver for S3 Virge/Savage, and i740,
     but no programming info available for these. :-(

Q: Why is linux version much slower than windows version on Riva TNT?
A: There is some problem with the linux nVidia driver:
   - it doesn't support DMA, so communication between CPU and the card 
     is done by very slow port I/O commands.
   - it can't do direct rendering, so all commands is going throw the
     local TCP/IP network according the GLX standard. It's very slow...
   You'd better change to G400 or Voodoo3 if you use linux.

Q: The linux version runs about 1-2 fps on Riva TNT! Why???
A: Don't forget to change color depth to 16bpp, otherwise you will
   get very slow software rendering!!!
   
Q: Why is the final version faster than party version?
A: Because we developed, optimized the engine after the party.
   
Q: Why is the linux version much bigger than the windows version?
A: Linux version has many libs built-in. Winver uses DLLs. See libs.txt

Q: How can I change screen resolution?
A: You have to change Xserver's resolution before running the demo.
   The best resolution is 640x480 16bpp, but it works in 1280x1024 too.

Q: I have secondary soundcard at /dev/dsp1. Can I use it?
A: Not yet :(
   If you really want, you could temporary rename /dev/dsp to /dev/dsp.tmp
   and rename/symlink /dev/dsp1 to /dev/dsp:
     mv /dev/dsp /dev/dsp.tmp
     mv /dev/dsp1 /dev/dsp
     ./demo
     mv /dev/dsp /dev/dsp1
     mv /dev/dsp.tmp /dev/dsp

Q: Do you plan writting it to other platforms?
A: Yes. The source is near platform-independent now. I'm working on the
   SGI/IRIX version, and we want to port engine to all platforms which
   supports OpenGL hardware. If you have access such machines, please
   contact me.

Q: Do you continue developing the engine?
A: Yes, we want. We have many plans, for example shadows, volumetric
   lighting, layered fog, support other modellers as 3DS MAX, Detailer,
   Lightwave. If you want help developing MAX or LW loader, contact us!

Q: We (xyz team) want to make demo(s) using Astral's demo system.
A: It's possible. Contact us to get developing tools, including
   file packer, script system docs etc. You MUST give credits for us.
   If you get money for it, we want some in ratio of work.

Q: I'm a talented scener. Can I join your team?
A: Maybe. Contact us, and send some samples of your work.
   We need 3D modellers, keyframers and 2D graphicians, but some
   good coder or musician also can help a lot.

Q: We want to buy the whole demo system.
A: Contact us. It's for sale for a good price.


Send your questions to arpi@scene.hu, with Subject: FAQ

