Newbie guide to installation on Ubuntu.

[Induane]

Ubuntu Installation Guide

* This is a simple guide for people running Ubuntu who want a quick nice way of getting this game running on your systems.



The first step is to open a terminal window. 

Applications ---> Accessories ---> Terminal

You should now have a terminal window open.

Lets start by downloading the installer. Copy and paste the following command into the terminal window. (right clicking in the terminal window will give you a menu with the option to paste. The normal Ctrl + V doesn't work. (Its Ctrl + Shift + V if you want to use the shortcut).

There are two binaries available for linux. One is for those who have a 32 bit processor or whom have a 64 bit processor but are only running a 32 bit distro.  The other is for people with 64 bit capable processors who are running  a 64 bit distro.  The difference is significant enough that if you download the wrong one then it won't work so be sure to grab the right installer!

You can check to see what your distro is by entering the following command into the terminal if you are unsure:

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uname -a
If you are running a 32 bit distro the output will be something like:

Command:

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brant@Ragnarok:~$ uname -a
Output:
2.6.22-14-386
Note the part I highlighted in red.  This is the important part of the line and indicates you are on a 32 bit distro. 

If you are running a 64 bit distro the output will be something like:

Command:

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brant@Ragnarok:~$ uname -a
Output:
2.6.22-14-x86_64
Again, note the portion in red.  This is an indication that you are running a 64 bit distro.

Download the proper 32 or 64 bit version from the ps website

Once it downloads, enter this next command.  It makes the installer executable:

For 32 bit (most users):

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chmod a+x PlaneShift-v0.4.02-x86.run
For 64 bit:

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chmod a+x PlaneShift-v0.4.02-x64.run
When you hit enter there will be no output.  If you type:

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ls PlaneShift-*
Then it should show up in green text (this means its set to executable).

Now we want to launch the installer.  Most people want it to create menu icons so it must be run as root.

For 32 bit users:

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sudo ./PlaneShift-v0.4.02-x86.run
For 64 bit users:

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sudo ./PlaneShift-v0.4.02-x64.run
One you hit enter it should wait for a bit and then you will see the PlaneShift splash screen.  After a time you should get a dialog box like this:



As you can probably tell I speak English, so I just hit the OK button. 

This brings you to a nice new screen, the welcome screen:



I just hit Forward here.

Now we are greeted with a EULA.  Just make sure to select I accept:



And hit Forward.

Now we get to the installation directory section.  I prefer installing in /opt, which happens to be the default.



Since we don't need to change anything, I just hit Forward.

The next page is just a list of information about the release and some requirements.



Just hit Forward.

The screen we are now presented with asks about a system wide install.  This basically means that it puts some scripts in your path so that if you are at a command prompt anywhere you can just enter

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planeshift and it will start.  I find this handy from time to time.  The initial screen looks like this:



Change the option from no to yes so that it looks like this:



And go ahead and hit the Forward button!

The next screen asks about your windowmanager.  If you are on Kubuntu then it is probably KDE, if you are on Ubuntu it is probably Gnome.  The initial screen looks like this:



If you are on KDE then leave this option as is.  If you are not then change to Gnome as in the following screen:



Now hit Forward to move to the next step of the installation.

Now we have the option of installing Menu Items.  I prefer this as it makes things a bit nicer.  The initial screen looks like this:



But change the option to yes so that it looks like the next screen here:



Then hit Forward.  The next screen asks whether you want desktop icons.



Change it to yes if you want it, however I already have menu icons so I don't need desktop icons so I just leave this screen set to "No".

The next screen asks about manually setting permissions on the installed files however I find that the default values are pretty sane and work just fine.



I just leave this option set to "No" and hit Forward.

The next screen informs us that we are ready to install!



Just hit forward and the copying of files will commence!

Look the files are copying!! Yay!!



When it finishes you should finally be greeted with this screen:



Thats a good sign   Just hit "Finish" to close the installer.  You should now be ready to launch PlaneShift.  It will be located in:

Applications -----> Games -----> PlaneShift Client

Also installed to the menus are:

PlaneShift Setup - Configure Options (including fullscreen)
PlaneShift Updater - Keep your version up to date
PlaneShift Uninstaller - Remove PlaneShift

Troubleshooting:

If you run into an error when launching the client it could be due to permissions.  Some Ubuntu installs do not have a game group by default.  If you see an error like the following one you can fix it pretty easily:



The fix is simple.  Open a Terminal window again:

Applications ---> Accessories ---> Terminal

Now chown the directory:

* Note: be sure to change your_username_here to your own username, for instance mine says "brant:users" since my login name is brant.

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sudo chown -R your_username_here:users /opt/PlaneShift/
This should eliminate the error.

There have been reports of the menu items not working correctly and not launching the applications correctly.  If you cannot launch via the menu then open a terminal as described above and enter one of the following commands depending on what you want to launch:

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/opt/PlaneShift/psclient      Launches PlaneShift itself.

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/opt/PlaneShift/pssetup      Launches PlaneShift's setup application.

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/opt/PlaneShift/psupdater   Launches PlaneShift's updater.

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/opt/PlaneShift/uninstall      Begins the uninstall process. May need to be run with sudo.

One possibility to fixing this issue instead of using the command line to launch the program is to change the permissions on the .desktop file itself.  The following command should do the trick on all 4 launchers at once.

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sudo chmod a+rx /usr/share/applications/planeshift*.desktop

I hope this helps a few people out! Questions, comments, etc are welcome.

[Esserfin]

I hope this helps a few people out! Questions, comments, etc are welcome.

Nice guide but, as I said in the installer feedback thread, on my 6.06LTS the installer exits after the language selection with no words.

[Induane]

I think that 6.06 is too old to use the compiled binary since its compiled on much newer glibc.

You can try compiling from scratch.  I have a build guide for Ubuntu Dapper found here:

http://vaalnor.mine.nu/psdoc/?q=node/14

Let me know if you have any issues with it.

[Esserfin]

I think that 6.06 is too old to use the compiled binary since its compiled on much newer glibc.

The 6.06 is not so new for sure but still officially supported

You can try compiling from scratch.  I have a build guide for Ubuntu Dapper found here:
http://vaalnor.mine.nu/psdoc/?q=node/14
Let me know if you have any issues with it.

Thanks for the link I'll give it a try

EDIT: Yikes, files that needs to be expanded in the root, tons of packages to install. I'm sorry but I prefer to keep my installation as much clean as possible. Pity. If I'll find a machine I can use I'll install the 6.06 there and I'll try.

[Induane]

Thats pretty much how its done. That package is pretty safe though.  If you are really freaked out about it you might look into stow or something.  For me I just keep a copy of the package around so I can browse it for what files it installs and remove them when I need to.

[ThomPhoenix]

I installed PS succesfully on Ubuntu Hardy 64 bit. However, I needed to set correct permissions for the shorcuts on the desktop and the files afterwards to run it. PSupdater worked fine. Pssetup flickered all the time. Psclient flickered too, but switching to fullscreen fixed that issue.

It's like the windows behind the PS windows want to go in front of it, and that looks like flickering. Any idea how to fix that?

edit:
After a reboot the shortcuts were pretty big, like 5 times the normal size. I can't resize them. Any clue on that too?

[Induane]

The 6.06 is not so new for sure but still officially supported

I meant supported by the official PS binary


@ThomPhoenix
I think you can resize shortcut icons by right clicking and choosing 'resize"    - there is also a reset to normal size option.

As for the flickering are you using an intel card?

[ThomPhoenix]

Induane: That's the problem, it thinks the normal size is the enlarged one. And I tried the resize option, but somehow I can't make it smaller, just bigger.

I have an Ati X1250, using Fglrx.

_{edit: My desktop has an X800, not my laptop}

[Induane]

I have an ati card in my laptop, I'll give the upgrade to hardy a try and see if I can replicate any of this.  I think the "normal' icon size can be set in gconf-editor or something but I'll have to poke around.  I'll let you know if I dig up something.

[Esserfin]

If you are really freaked out about it you might look into stow or something.

I have VirtualBox installed so I'll try to build the client there scheduled for the next weekend if I'll have free time.
*Crosses fingers thinking that something will happen for sure breaking his dream of free time*

Thanks for your time.

[Induane]

Do let me know how it goes and if you run into any issues.  I don't have any dapper boxes left except my work servers and my home server, none of which have X installed so its hard to compile and test on - <3 headless units..

Anyways I tried some improvements to the guide to make it make better sense and such, do let me know if you run into any issues.

[koko]

Hi, im a complete newbie to linux (1 day and counting) so thought that this guide would be prefect for me but i didnt get very far

this is what i did...

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wget -c http://download.xordan.com/PlaneShift-v0.4.00-x86.bin
no problem there, downloaded fine

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chmod a+x PlaneShift-v0.4.00-x86.bin
ls PlaneShift-v0.4.00-x86.bin
yup still ok, text was green as you said it should be 

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sudo ./PlaneShift-v0.4.00-x86.bin
oh dear nothing happens, i left it for ages and nowt happens
i dont know if its something i did or didnt do and i wouldnt know where to start.

my processor is a "AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+" if that makes any difference

any help / advice great recieved and appreciated.

[Caarrie]

try it with http://download.xordan.com/PlaneShift-v0.4.00-x64.bin

[Induane]

Might work if you used a 64 bit install cd, most newbies aren't running 64bit distro's

btw images in the guide are down until later today.  My battery backups only hold out so long and they are working on the power lines downtown.

[Esserfin]

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sudo ./PlaneShift-v0.4.00-x86.binoh dear nothing happens, i left it for ages and nowt happens
i dont know if its something i did or didnt do and i wouldnt know where to start.

Uhmm ...no password request by sudo? Try to run it without it (enter the directory where the PS .bin is located and type ./PlaneShift-v0.4.00-x86.bin). The processor is fine, no issues for it
The difference will be that you'll not be able to install it systemwide but you can still install it in your home dir (ex : /home/koko/PlaneShift).