Linux Gamers' FAQ

Current topics

About the Linux Gamers' FAQ (return)

Q: What is the Linux Gamers' FAQ about anyway?

A: We will try to answer the most commonly asked questions here, so you can get on to playing games in Linux.
Thanks to icculus (http://www.icculus.org/) for hosting this FAQ. We'd also like to thank icculus for coding the gamelist.

Q: Who is producing this?

A: zakk@timedoctor.org
A: msphil@icculus.org
A: icculus@icculus.org
A: vogon@icculus.org
A: vi@sh.nu
A: ashridah@icculus.org
A: warp@mercury.d2dc.net (Resume)
A: dave@allaboutgames.co.uk
A: eskild@mandriva.org
A: michal.spada@linuxexpres.cz
A: lightkey@holarse.net
A: If you'd like to contribute as well, either mail your diff(s) to zakk (zakk@timedoctor.org), or e-mail zakk for access and use subversion (svn co svn://svn.icculus.org/lgfaq/trunk/ lgfaq) to contribute. You can also contribute or complain about stuff via the bugzilla interface (https://bugzilla.icculus.org). When contributing please add yourself to the above list.
A: If you don't have the time to contribute, and would like to contribute with gifts, send them to icculus.org (http://www.icculus.org/sysinfo/donations.html). Or buy a TuxGames game through the links provided in the LGFAQ. Any TuxGames links on these pages give 5% of any purchase price on the games to the lead editor, to fund his tuxgames gaming habit. Hopefully in the future when more often contributors come on, and the Linux Gamers' FAQ makes the lead editor the world's richest man, we'll be able to afford to set up an office and actually pay people to do this, or so this editor dreams.

Q: Where is the latest version of this FAQ?

A: http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/

Q: Is there a mailing list for the Linux Gamers' FAQ?

A: Yes, send a blank e-mail to lgfaq-subscribe@icculus.org to subscribe.

Q: Som Čech/Slovák a namiesto hodín anglického jazyka som hral(a) hry. Existuje nejaký preklad týchto stránok?

A: Áno, slovenský preklad nájdete na http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/sk/

Q: What happened to the other translations?

A: They were too outdated, feel free to check out the SVN and submit updates for them directly to zakk (zakk@timedoctor.org).

Native Ports (return)

Q: Just who does port commercial games to Linux, anyway?

A: For some time now, a few companies have been nice enough to port their games in-house and often release binaries for free, some companies not only release native ports, but also release source! Other companies, known as porting houses exist solely to port games to Linux. Usually boxed with the hope that they can be sold at retail.

Q: Okay, what developers have ported their own games?

A: id software (http://www.idsoftware.com/) over the years has released ports (and in some cases source) for it's various titles. You can find their ports and some source available on ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/. A number of enhanced ports are available from the game list.
A: Epic (http://www.epicgames.com/) of Unreal Tournament fame did the original work on porting Unreal Tournament, before handing off to Loki. Daniel Vogel, who worked on Unreal Tournament at Loki, now works at Epic. Epic has also hired icculus.org's own Ryan C. Gordon to work on Unreal Tournament 2003, for which a demo is available. Unreal Tournament 2003 also shipped with a Linux client, making it one of the few games to ship with a Linux version on the release cd! Unreal Tournament 2004 also has a demo available, and shipped with a Linux client (32/64bit) installer on the first disc!
A: Crack.com (whom no-longer owns that domain) released source to Abuse, currently you can find an excellent port of Abuse at: http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~trandor/abuse/
A: Creature Labs (http://www.creaturelabs.com/) has ported Creatures 3 Docking Station and Creatures 3: Internet Edition to Linux. Linux Game Publishing controls distribution of the Linux version.
A: BlackHoleSun (http://www.blackholesun.com/) has released a number of games for Linux.
A: Mountain King Studios (http://www.mking.com/) has done a port of Raptor: Call of the Shadows.
A: Introversion Software (http://www.introversion.co.uk/) has their port of Uplink on the same cd as the Windows version, and their port of Darwinia is available as a free download.
A: Vicarious Visions (http://www.vvisions.com/) released Terminus with binaries for Linux in the box. Currently, Terminus Point (http://www.TerminusPoint.com/) releases updates.
A: Pom Pom (http://www.pompomgames.com) has done a port of their arcade-style shooter Space Tripper, and their Mutant Storm.
A: MP Entertainment (http://www.hopkinsfbi.com) released their adventure game Hopkins FBI on Linux.
A: Sunspire Studios (http://www.sunspirestudios.com/) have taken over TuxRacer in a commercial fashion.
A: Pyrogon (http://www.pyrogon.com/) hired icculus.org's icculus, and later EonGames' David Hedbor to port their games.
A: eGenesis (http://www.egenesis.com) has ported their Massively Multiplayer game, A Tale in the Desert to Linux.
A: Bioware (http://www.bioware.com) ported Neverwinter Nights to Linux.
A: Chronic Logic (http://www.chroniclogic.com/) ported their own TripTych and Pontifex II.
A: EA LA hired icculus to port their Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, a boxed copy of which is available from TuxGames (http://www.tuxgames.com/) with a copy of the port. An installer is available from http://www.icculus.org/~ravage/mohaa/.
A: Croteam (http://www.croteam.com/) let icculus port Serious Sam The First Encounter, and more recently, the Second Encounter. Later they even ported Serious Sam 2 in-house.
A: S2Games (http://www.s2games.com/) ported their own Savage: The Battle for Newerth. The Linux version of which is even on the same CD-Rom as the Windows version, way to go! They also ported the upcoming sequel Savage 2: A Tortured Soul.
A: Mindware Studios (http://www.mindwarestudios.com/) ported their stealth action game Cold War; the port was subsequently published by Linux Game Publishing.

Q: And what porting houses release commercial ports for Linux?

A: Loki Software (http://www.lokigames.com/).
A: Hyperion Entertainment (http://www.hyperion-entertainment.biz/).
A: Tribsoft (http://www.tribsoft.com/).
A: Linux Game Publishing (http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/).
A: Eon Games (http://eongames.com/).
A: Runesoft (http://www.rune-soft.com/), but bear in mind that Runesoft is primarily Mac OS oriented, so expect their Linux ports to come with Mac-specific manuals, etc.

Q: I heard Loki is dead, is this true?

A: Yes, as of February, 2002, Loki ceased to exist. Currently, you can find Loki's open source projects hosted on http://www.icculus.org/. For support, see the external resources. Note that as of August 7th, 2005, Loki Update still works. MindRover, for instance, got picked up by LinuxGamePublishing, so users will be able to buy a new patch (and support) for $4.80 (USD) from their website (http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/). Rune's native Linux version seems to have been re-released by it's developer HumanHead: http://www.humanhead.com/headstore.htm#headgames.

Q: Can I get a list of commercial games?

A: Sure, http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/gamelist.php?license=commercial

Q: What about the source releases, where are they covered?

A: We try to list the good source ports for commercial games in the above URL as well.

Acquiring Commercial, Packaged Games (return)

Q: Where can I find commercial games for Linux?

A: There are many online stores where you can find commercial games, http://www.tuxgames.com/ for instance provides a wide selection to gamers in Europe and the United States. For commercial games ported by a specific company, please see the following questions.

Q: Where can I find Loki Software's Games?

A: http://www.lokigames.com/ provides a reseller list:
http://www.lokigames.com/orders/resellers.php3

Q: What architectures have Loki Software's Game been ported to?

A: A list is available at http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/lokiarchs.html.

Q: Where can I find Tribsoft's games?

A: Unfortunately, tribsoft.com is no longer owned by the porting company.

Q: Where can I find Hyperion Entertainment's games?

A: Hyperion's site (http://www.hyperion-entertainment.biz/) doesn't appear to have a reseller list, so basically you are limited to online stores like http://www.tuxgames.com/.

Q: Where can I find BlackHoleSun's games?

A: BlackHoleSun is no longer taking orders over the internet. They recommend that you go to http://www.tuxgames.com/.

Q: Where can I find Linux Game Publishing's Games?

A: Linux Game Publishing maintains a reseller list: http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/resellers.php?

Q: Where can I get Introversion's games?

A: For Uplink, Introversion maintains a reseller list here: http://www.introversion.co.uk/uplink/resellers.html.
A: For Darwinia, Introversion sells directly online: http://www.darwinia.co.uk/store/index.html.

Q: Where can I find MP Entertainment games?

A: http://www.hopkinsfbi.com/linux_distri.htm is MP Entertainment's reseller list.

Q: Where can I find Runesoft games?

A: You can find Runesoft's reseller list here: http://www.rune-soft.com/englisch/partner.htm.

Availability of Binaries (return)

Q: Why do you keep recommending online Linux retailers for games, which are for Windows but have Linux binaries?

A: When you buy a game from an online Linux retailer, the money shows up as a Linux sale. When you buy from Electronics Boutique, the money shows up as a Windows sale. If you want more games for Linux, buy Windows games that only have binaries available from an online Linux retailer.

Q: I have Quake III Arena and/or the add-on pack, Team Arena for Windows, can I procure binaries/patches so as to play my non-Linux Quake III game in Linux?

A: You can get a Quake III installer from ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/.
A: If you buy Team Arena from TuxGames, then you get an extra CD with the relevant binaries already included in the box.
A: Or you can go the open-source route with http://www.ioquake3.org/

Q: I have Quake 4 for Windows; can I get an installer for this?

A: Yes, there are in-depth instructions for getting Quake 4 set up on Linux at http://zerowing.idsoftware.com/linux/quake4/.

Q: I have Return to Castle Wolfenstein for Windows; can I procure binaries/patches for this game to play in Linux?

A: Yes, you can download the binaries from ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/, or via bittorrent from http://zerowing.idsoftware.com:6969/.
A: You could also purchase a copy with the binaries included from tuxgames (http://www.tuxgames.com/).

Q: I have Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, for Windows, can I get a Linux version?

A: Yes, since Activison chose to release the multiplayer portion of the game for free, you can get it from http://games.activision.com/games/wolfenstein/.

Q: I have Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for Windows; can I get an installer for this?

A: Yes, you can get an installer from http://www.icculus.org/~ravage/mohaa/. Please be aware that there are known bugs with the Linux binaries.
A: If you buy Medal of Honor: Allied Assault from TuxGames, then you get an extra CD with the relevant binaries already included in the box.

Q: I have Unreal Tournament for Windows; can I get an installer for this?

A: Yes, Epic hired Loki to maintain a Linux port. It is available from:
http://www.lokigames.com/products/ut/updates.php3.

Q: I have Unreal Tournament 2003, for Windows; can I get an installer for this?

A: Yes, it is on the third CD, please read the installation notes here before installing the game.

Q: I have Unreal Tournament 2004 for Windows; can I get an installer for this?

A: Yes, it is on the first DVD, and for the CD version it is on the first CD. Please read the Unreal Tournament 2003 installation notes as well, as they partially apply.

Q: I have Darwinia for Windows; can I get an installer for this?

A: Yes, you can download the installer from http://www.darwinia.co.uk/support/linux.html.

Q: I have Doom 3 for Windows; can I get an installer for this?

A: Yes, there are in-depth instructions for getting Doom 3 set up on Linux at http://zerowing.idsoftware.com/linux/doom/. As of version 1.3 of the Linux binaries the expansion - Resurrection of Evil - has been supported on Linux.

Q: I have America's Army for Windows, is there a Linux installer/download?

A: Yes, http://www.americasarmy.com/downloads/.

Q: I have Neverwinter Nights for Windows, can I get an installer for this?

A: Yes, http://icculus.org/~ravage/nwn/. This page also has installers for both expansion packs, though you will still have to manually patch up using the newer Neverwinter Nights binaries from http://nwn.bioware.com/.

Q: I have Tribes 2 for Windows, there is a Loki logo on the box, doesn't this mean it has the Linux version (or that I am entitled to it?)

A: No. The logo was there as Dynamix's way of saying thank-you to Loki, not as meaning there is any Linux client available for those who purchase the Windows copy. However there is a Linux dedicated server available for the purchasers for Windows copies on Loki's ftp (ftp://ftp.planetmirror.com/pub/lokigames/).

Q: I have X game for Windows which was/will be ported by Y porting house, can I download binaries/installers?

A: Unless specifically stated otherwise by Y porting house, no.
In most cases Y porting house has to pay Z developer for the right to port X game, and most likely royalties for each packaged copy as well. So, by releasing binaries they would be greatly losing money. Especially seeing as how bandwidth, programmers, PR, shelf-space, and looking respectable to the outside world costs lots of cash, this isn't a viable method.

Commonly Misunderstood Topics (return)

Q: What if I have a question that is not answered here?

A: First off, check that it's really not answered here. Just because your graphics card doesn't work in Unreal Tournament doesn't mean searching on this page for "Unreal Tournament" will yield the answer. If your game is throwing an error about XQueryDeviceState, have you looked at the rest of the FAQ to see if it is referenced with respect to any other game? If your joystick doesn't work in Heavy Gear 2, that doesn't mean that an answer to a question about Descent 3 won't fix it. You're using Linux. A certain degree of self-help and lateral thinking never goes amiss. If that means that you need to read the whole of this FAQ, consider everything that doesn't answer your specific Question to be a learning experience.

Q: Do these porting houses provide any support for Windows copies of games, ported or otherwise?

A: In most cases they don't provide support for Windows copies of games. Loki did however provide support for Unreal Tournament on Linux, although only Windows CDs are available for purchase.

Q: Do the id game source releases mean that it is okay to download the pak files, wads, and such?

A: No, the pak files, wads, and such are still available for purchase. The source releases and GPL'ing of the Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II, Quake, and Quake II engines does not negate purchasing a copy of the game data which contains all the art, sound and map files.

A: This goes for the 3D Realms Rise of the Triad, Duke Nukem 3D, and Shadow Warrior source code releases as well as many other games listed in the game list. If a game is in the game list and marked commercial, even though the source is available, that means that the data files still need to be legally obtained.

Q: What of other source releases?

A: The only release we are aware of which also freed the relevant art, sound, and such, is the Abuse release. You can find these data files included with a source port for Linux on the Abuse-sdl website (http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~trandor/abuse/).

Q: Since Loki is out of business, am I legally/morally allowed to distribute or use warez versions of their games?

A: Nope, don't do this. It's that simple. Warez, of any kind, is wrong.

Q: Why isn't the Half-Life client ported to Linux?

A: Sierra/Valve decides who gets to touch their code, and decided against letting anyone port the client. Besides this, if it were released as a commercial boxed game, the people releasing it would _probably_ be putting the nail in their own coffins, as the game already works at an average level in some windows emulation software.

Q: Do any of the porting houses sell Windows versions of games?

A: No.

Q: Will any of my boxed Linux games work in Windows?

A: No. With one notable exception, the Quake III tin boxes Loki sold can be made to work.

Q: Should I piss off the lead programmer by sending streams of e-mail demanding to be on the beta or I won't buy the product?

A: No.

Q: Do any of my x86 binary-only/loki_setup-ified Linux games work on ps2linux/OS X/AIX/Alpha/etc?

A: No.

Q: This site icculus does so many cool ports!

A: Perhaps you misunderstood. Icculus is a person, not all the things on icculus.org are his.

Q: I read in Ryan Gordon's .plan, or heard on IRC, or heard from holarse, that he was working on a client of ...

A: It's like christmas. If you expect not to get a client, you might get a pleasant surprise. If you expect one, then Santa Claus's shadow armies will attack you with blunt objects.

Q: So, for the sake of argument, say I've done everything described here, my machine locked up. Is there anything you recommend I do instead of just pushing the magic button, given that I don't like fscks and corrupt files and stuff?

A: First off, try hitting ctrl+alt+backspace, then ctrl+alt+del half a second later. If you hear a beep, then your machine will be rebooting shortly, and you should wander off and leave it for a while.
A: If that doesn't work, you can probably use the Magic SysRq button. Technically, you should read /usr/src/linux/Documentation/sysrq.txt, but a brief, catch-all solution is as follows: hold alt, and then hold down SysRq as well. If you don't have a SysRq key, it's the prt screen button. After that, while still holding those two keys, push "s". Then wait a moment (disk activity here is considered a good thing.) Still holding alt and SysRq, push "u". Wait a moment [disk activity here is also good]. Then push "b". Read the file named above to find out what all this is about.

Q: I heard from my Aunt Tillie that Unreal Tournament, or Pong, or Doom 3 uses a Direct X wrapper, what evil!

A: Your Aunt Tillie was wrong. No OpenGL games we are aware of, outside of any games that rely on windows emulators (wine, etc) to run use Direct X wrappers. Not Unreal Tournament 2004, not Unreal Tournament 2003, nothing native.

Non-Commercial, Free Software (at least the source code part, not necessarily the pretty data bits) (return)

Q: Where can I find freeware/GPL'd games?

A: http://www.freshmeat.net/
A: http://www.happypenguin.org/
A: http://www.linuxgames.com/
A: In our Linux game list: http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/gamelist.php?license=free
A: Many of the library sites mentioned below list what games use their libraries.

Installation Queries (return)

Q: How do I install this .bin or .run file?

A: Try sh file.bin or sh file.run
A: If that doesn't work, you need to give it execute access and then run it: chmod +x file.bin;./file.bin
A: If you still have problems then you may have mounted the media the installer is on with the user option, which implies the noexec. That option, as you may have already guessed, implies that no files will be executable. Adjust your /etc/fstab with the exec,user options, in that order.

Q: I'm using {random loki_setup based installer}, and it's telling me the "installation doesn't support glibc-2.1" or something

A: Just type the following before running setup.sh [or the installer]: export SETUP_LIBC=glibc-2.1.

Q: I've just downloaded an installer, and when I run it, it says "/bin/sh: bad interpreter: permission denied"

A: Try re-downloading the file with a download utility. Like downloader for x: http://www.krasu.ru/soft/chuchelo/. Browsers sometimes see the installer's first couple lines of text and assume the rest is just English too.
A: Also, try running chmod +x on the file.

Q: I've just downloaded a loki_setup'ified installer, and it says "Error in MD5 checksums"!

A: Download the file again, possibly from another host, or using another program to download. This occurs when the file is corrupt.

Q: I keep getting some error about a tail when I'm trying to install something!

A: In the terminal before running the setup:
export _POSIX2_VERSION=199209

Q: What is this error I'm getting now about a trap or Updatetrap?

A: Run the setup with /bin/bash setupname.bin or setupname.run instead of /bin/sh

Q: Why can't I run this installer on amd64?

A: In the terminal, run the setup with the 32bit fake-out like so:
linux32 something.sh

Q: I'm running some distro that has a very new glibc (debian, slackware beta, red hat 9, et cetera), and it is having problems with loki_setup, what should I do?

A: You can run the setup with --keep to preserve the files. Then you can compile your own copy of loki_setup (http://www.icculus.org/loki_setup/) and replace setup and/or setup.gtk, then run setup.sh.

Q: I'm running one of the above distros, and now I'm getting some kind of error about loki_patch when I try to upgrade a game.

A: Download and use Loki Patch Fix to be able to use older patches.

Q: This installer that came with Heretic 2/Myth 2 doesn't seem to be working! ~or~ I want to play this Loki game on a different architecture!

A: Most of the time this kind of problem will pop up when the software on the CD is outdated to current developments in distributions and other software. In any case, you can download new installers for Heretic 2 and Myth 2 (and other architectures) from Loki's ftp site (ftp://ftp.planetmirror.com/pub/lokigames/).

Q: Why doesn't Unreal Tournament seem to be installing properly with the installer provided by Loki?

A: There are many different versions of Unreal Tournament, most likely, you have the wrong installer for the version you are using. The 'Best of Infogrames' and 'Totally Unreal' versions of the game aren't supported at all. While you can install using a plain Unreal Tournament retail CD (you'll note the CD is blue, as is the jewel case). Or, from a Game of The Year edition CD (red cd, red jewel case).
A: The CD that came with your creative card may work if you get /really/ heavy on it, but it's actually unlikely. It doesn't simply install & work. At the moment, you can get a pack with Unreal Tournament, Unreal, and Return to Na Pali for about 20 bucks; at least two of those will run in Linux...

Q: Unreal Tournament still won't install, can I specify the CD directory?

A: Yes, if you want to install Unreal Tournament remotely, or the installer doesn't find your CD-ROM drive properly, export the environment variable SETUP_CDROM before running the setup installer. For example: 

$export SETUP_CDROM=/path/to/cdrom
$sh ut-install-436.run

Q: Even after specifying the CD path, Unreal Tournament still won't install, because it can't find the CD!

A: First of all, make sure the Joliet extensions are enabled in your kernel since the Unreal Tournament CD was burned using the Joliet extensions for the long filenames, and that you are using the correct installer for your CD. A quick test is to mount the Unreal Tournament CD and list the files on it. If the filenames are all 8 characters or less, and contain tildes (~), then you do not have the Joliet extensions enabled. You will need to recompile your kernel and/or modules to enable the Joliet extensions.
A: If you are running SuperMount or an auto-mounter, you may need to manually un-mount and re-mount the CD prior to pressing "Retry". You may also need to kill the associated daemons, to prevent them from confusing the CD detection.

Q: I've just bought Unreal Tournament 2003, and I can't get it to install. The installer on the third disk asks me to insert the "PLAY" disk, but no matter which disk I try, they all fail. What's wrong?

A: The Linux installer asks for the wrong disc names. This was the results of an unfortunate miscommunication right before the disc went gold. The installer will ask for "play disc", "disc 1", "disc 2". What it should ask for is "disc 1", "disc 2", "disc 3". This is obnoxious, but it is not fatal, as the text is just used in the user interface, and is not used in detecting the disc. Just put in the disc it wants, not the one it asks for. :)
A: Note that, perhaps most importantly, the other questions about the original Unreal Tournament apply. Especially with regard to joilet support. When you mount disc 3 to look for the installer, you should see linux_installer.sh, not linux_in.sh. The option you want in the kernel configuration is under "Filesystems". Enable "ISO 9660 CDROM file system support" and then "Microsoft Joliet CDROM extensions". If there is a "Rock Ridge extensions" option, enable that too.
A: Do not sit on the mount point, or you won't be able to switch discs. So if you do this (or something like it): 

mount -t iso9660 -r /dev/cdrom /mnt
cd /mnt
./linux_installer.sh

You won't be able to unmout the disc when the installer asks for the next disc in the series, since your shell is still sitting in the mountpoint. It will work better if you do something more like this: 

mount -t iso9660 -r /dev/cdrom /mnt
cd /somewhere/else
/mnt/linux_installer.sh

The installer copies itself to $TMPDIR before running, so it shouldn't be sitting on the mountpoint. If this still isn't working, copy the installer yourself, to make sure it is not blocking your unmount: 

mount -t iso9660 -r /dev/cdrom /mnt
cp /mnt/linux_installer.sh $HOME
umount /mnt [this is making sure the disc is unmountable]
$HOME/linux_installer.sh

A: Are you using Mandrake? If so, you will probably need to disable supermount for your CDROM/DVDROM drive, since it appears to be interfering with the installer's ability to detect the CDROM properly. To turn it off, run drakconf, go to "Mount Points" -> DVD (or CDROM) -> Options -> uncheck supermount.
Save your changes, make sure the CDs are completely unmounted, and then try the installer again. You'll need to manually mount the cdroms, insert disk 3, run the installer, and it should work fine now.
Other distributions will need to use their way of turning off supermount, although we don't know of any others that use it by default.
A: If you get a bunch of errors to the console for each file installed, talking about different devices in your /etc/fstab, they can (usually) be ignored. If they are causing trouble, temporarily comment those lines out of fstab. (If that makes you nervous, the SETUP_CDROM environment variable described below accomplishes this better.)
A: If you have multiple CD drives, and the installer is continuously grinding the one you're not currently installing off, then tells you "mount: no media" or similar, just stuff one of the other Unreal Tournament 2003 CDs into that drive. The installer will even pick up on that and save you a disk change later.
A: If you are SURE you've got the correct disc mounted and the installer seems to disagree, export the environment SETUP_CDROM before running the installer, and you might be able to fool it (this is untested): 

export SETUP_CDROM=/where/i/mounted/the/cdrom
/where/i/mounted/the/cdrom/linux_installer.sh

The installer doesn't care if it's really a CD, so if you get really desperate, you can copy it to your hard drive or mount an ISO on a loop back device, etc. The installer just looks for files in a directory tree to decide if the CD-ROM is mounted. If you've got multiple CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives, mount a disc in each and export SETUP_CDROM_CD1, SETUP_CDROM_CD2, and SETUP_CDROM_CD3, and the installer will go directly to those locations for the needed files.
A: The installer will seem to install some stuff very fast, and then really slow down, taking a long time for individual files. This is normal. Files that are compressed into Epic's "uz2" format take a long time to uncompress. This is the bulk of the installer's work. This game takes a LONG time to install (you are, after all, uncompressing about 2.5 gigs worth of data).
A: Read this.
A: If none of the above works, consider e-mailing our mailing list after subscribing as described above.

Q: I see some errors when installing Unreal Tournament 2004 about announcer voice files!

A: These are harmless, they were listed twice in the installer, once with the incorrect names, once with the correct names. So they definitely get installed, unless you have more serious problems.

Q: Why can't I move or shoot in Unreal Tournament 2004 after installing the bonus pack, and the latest patch?

A: A non-working User.ini was regrettably included in the Editor's Choice Edition Bonus Pack. You should remove it from your system-wide ut2004/System directory, and then remove the local one from your ~/.ut2004/System/ directory.

Q: I can't umount a CD! It's telling me "device in use" or some such garbage?

A: You need to find out which processes have files open on the CD. Use fuser -m /mnt/cdrom or a similar command [as root] to find what processes have files open on the CD. Often times people will, as a regular user, mount the CD and change to that (the mounted cd) directory, then su to root. The shell that ran the su command is it still on the CD, so you won't be able to umount it. Until you exit the superuser shell and move the user back off the mount point.

Q: Is there any way to install the original Unreal on Linux, if I have Unreal Tournament installed?

A: Chunky has built an installer for exactly this task, which can be found on his web page here: http://icculus.org/~chunky/ut/unreal/. It is also available from tuxgames: http://www.tuxgames.com/details.cgi?gameref=87

Q: I bought Darwinia on Steam before I knew there was a Linux version. Is there any way to run it in Linux?

A: Yes. Thanks to Darwinia not using Steam for anything but content delivery, it is possible to run a copy of Darwinia from Steam on Linux. First you have to locate the content directory on Windows. This will probably be C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\[account name]\Darwinia\. Then you need to download and run the Linux Darwinia installer from http://www.darwinia.co.uk/support/linux.html. Be sure to not have "copy CD data" selected in the installer. Once the binaries have been installed, copy the ".dat" files from your Steam content directory into the lib/ subdirectory of your Darwinia directory. You should now be able to launch Darwinia.
Note: Introversion Software will not support Linux users who run Darwinia from Steam in this way, due to potential compatibility issues.

Q: How do I install .umod files in Linux?

A: http://umodpack.sourceforge.net/

Q: How exactly do I install the Linux variant of Quake III when I have the windows CD?

A: First, download the point release from ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/. Run it with something like sh q3pointrelease_131.run.
Then, simply copy pak0.pk3 off the CD into /usr/local/games/quake3/baseq3
A: If you'd like an open-source variant, there is http://www.ioquake3.org/

Q: How do I install Quake III/Return to Castle Wolfenstein modifications?

A: Simply uncompress Quake III mods into their own directory under ~/.q3a/.
A: If you want to install Quake III mods system-wide, you can uncompress them into /usr/local/games/quake3/.
A: Return to Castle Wolfenstein similarly uses ~/.wolf/ and /usr/local/games/wolfenstein/ by default.

Q: How do I install custom mods and maps for Myth 2?

A: Unzip the mod and/or map in a temporary area, then, copying only the map file, place it in your ~/.loki/myth2/plugins/. Don't put anything but your map and mod files in this directory.

Q: How do I install custom mods and maps for Unreal Tournament 2004?

A: It is a rather convoluted process to install modifications for Unreal Tournament 2004, so we will cover maps first. Unzip the map zip file to your ~/.ut2004/Maps/ directory.
A: To install modifications in plain zip files, with directories in them (unzip -l SomeMod.zip reports SomeMod/bunchoffilesetcetera): 

cd ~/.ut2004
unzip /path/to/SomeMod.zip

A: To install modifications in the ut4mod format (unzip -l SomeMod.zip reports SomeMod.ut4mod): 

unzip SomeMod.zip
cd ~/.ut2004/
su -
[insert your root password when prompted]
cd /usr/local/games/ut2004/System [change that to your Unreal Tournament 2004 path, if it isn't installed to the default]
./ucc-bin umodunpack -x /path/to/SomeMod.ut24mod
cp ~/.ut2004/SomeMod/KarmaData /usr/local/games/ut2004/KarmaData
cp -R ~/.ut2004/SomeMod /home/myusername/.ut2004/SomeMod
chown -R myusername:users /home/myusername/.ut2004/SomeMod
exit

If you want to list the contents of the file, rather than extract it, change the "-x" to "-l".
A: After installing either kind of modification, you then launch the mod via this command: ut2004 -mod=SomeMod where SomeMod is the same as the directory it installed to.

Q: How do I install custom mods for Darwinia?

A: Unarchive the mods into your ~/.darwinia/full/mods directory.

Q: All right, I've downloaded games now some won't compile/run, is there something I'm missing?

A: There are several popular libraries which are often required by most free Linux games, Simple DirectMedia Layer (http://www.libsdl.org/), PLIB (http://plib.sourceforge.net/), ClanLIB (http://www.clanlib.org/), OpenAL (http://www.openal.org/), and Allegro (http://alleg.sourceforge.net).
A: You might not have your XFree86 development headers. Some distributions neglect to install these by default and you will need to locate them for the exact version you are using, or replace the X version that came with your distro.

Q: I just installed some 3D game and when I click on the icon nothing happens!

A: Please run that game from the terminal. Many games install into /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/games/gamename. One or the other should get you something to run with ./gamename

Q: When compiling some game, I get something about gz_open!

A: Some Linux distributions have old versions of zlib installed as /usr/X11R6/lib/libz.a, and a newer version at:
/usr/lib/libz.a
If you find your system to have these two libz.a files, remove or move /usr/X11R6/lib/libz.a
A: You may also need to delete /usr/X11R6/include/zlib.h

Q: I'm getting an error at compile-time about gzgets even though the types all look just fine to me?

A: Some distributions and/or installs of X have a /very/ old /usr/X11R6/include/zlib.h [about 1.0.4]. Remove or move it.

Kernel Queries (return)

Q: I'm experiencing strange lockups with my nForce 2 motherboard!

A: You might try disabling, acpi, apic, and/or lapic.
A: There is a lot of documentation related to this problem available here: http://atlas.et.tudelft.nl/verwei90/nforce2/index.html
A: Newer Linux kernels have The Official Way to deal with this in them already, (2.6.6+, 2.4.26+)

Video Queries (return)

Q: What is the definitive way to know if OpenGL is working or not?

A: At a console type the following: glxinfo | grep direct if it replies with direct rendering: Yes. Then OpenGL should be working.

Q: What cards does DRI support (What Drivers should I use for my Card)?

A: To answer that, you'll have to check out http://dri.sourceforge.net/
A: You also want to avoid using DRI with an nVidia card. For nVidia cards, use the drivers from their official website at http://www.nvidia.com/.
A: If you have an ATi Radeon 8500 or any newer model there are drivers available from ATi: http:/www.ati.com/
A: If you've got a Kyro II from PowerVR, visit this page for drivers: http://www.powervr.com/Downloads.asp
A: If you're using Gentoo, you'll want to make sure you use the nVidia drivers from their portage system, so emerge nvidia-glx, and emerge nvidia-kernel. Gentoo tends to not work with the nvidia package from nvidia.com. Debian-ites can run the nvidia.com package or use their distributions package system, for varying means to the end of hopefully working drivers.

Q: Where is the friendly documentation for nVidia cards?

A: For the current drivers (8762), the README is here: ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-8762/README/index.html. The AMD64 README is here: ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/1.0-8762/README/index.html.

Q: I'm playing X game, and it's so small, just this little part of my screen!

A: Most likely, you don't have the default resolution for that game defined in your XF86Config/xorg.conf engage $EDITOR.

Q: Is anywhere to get a sample XF86Config to start my nVidia TwinView adventures?

A: Yes, Primer has generously created one: http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/files/XF86Config-twinview. See his site (http://www.sh.nu/nvidia/) for more of that kind of thing.

Q: I'm using nVidia TwinView and I want to use one monitor in full screen for a game and leave the other monitor available for other apps. Is this possible?

A: Yes. The principle is pretty easy. Basically you want to run all your games in windowed mode in the same resolution as one of the monitors, presuming your hardware can support the resolution and still have a playable game. If not, there's still a way. The first way can be done like this: Start the game and select to run it in "windowed mode". Sometimes this means "full screen: no" in the game's menu. Once you see the game in a window, make your window manager remove the window dressing (This means the title bar and sides surrounding the window). Once this is done, move the window into place, and tell your window manager to "remember" where it goes. You may be scratching your head wondering how you can grab a window with no title bar! Well, as an example, let's see how this can be done using Enlightenment:
Step 1) Remove the window dressings: hold down ALT and right click the window, a menu will pop up. Go to "Set border style" and select borderless.
Step 2) Move the window: Hold down ALT and left click/drag the window into possition.
Step 3) Remember the settings: Hold down ALT and right click on the window. Select "Remember" and choose to remember the location and border style.
Voilá! Next time you start that game, it'll be right where you left it! Of course, there are some issues with all this. First, if you don't use E, you'll have to figure out how to do the above steps using your window manager. Also, some games tend to "capture" the mouse. You'll have to figure out how to release the mouse to do some of these steps. For Quake III engine games, simply drop down the console (~), and for loki games, use CTRL-g. The second way involves changing the resolution of the monitor you'll be playing the game in. Everything is the same as above, but the only difference is that you'll have to configure X to setup the resolution in question, then change to that resolution once the game starts. You can even script the resolution change by using xvidtune.

Q: I'm having problems setting up my DRI-supported card, is there anywhere I can get a sample XF86Config?

A: Yes, http://dri.sourceforge.net/res.phtml

Q: My 3DFx card doesn't seem to be working in general, I'm not sure why...

A: Are you running at 16bpp? All the Voodoo cards below the Voodoo 4 need to run in 16bpp for 3D acceleration. To change this edit your XF86Confg(-4) like so: 

Section "Screen"
...
DefaultColorDepth 16
...
EndSection

Q: My 3DFx card doesn't seem to be working with a variety of games since I upgraded my distribution and/or my XFree86 version, why is that?

A: Most likely the problem you're having is that a variety of games (Myth 2, Unreal Tournament, et cetera) were set for use with Glide2x, which is no longer available in XFree86 4.x. Usually, you can just switch to the opengl rendering for whichever game. Instructions for doing so with Unreal Tournament can be found here.

Q: I have a DRI supported card, in some games I see slowdowns in certain areas, or corrupted graphics...

Q: I'm playing certain games and I get effects like pieces of screen not being refreshed like when you noclip outside a wall in Quake III...

A: Most likely, your problem is with multitexturing. Multitexturing can be disabled in most games, you'll have to investigate on your own to find out how for your particular game(s), however.

Q: Using DRI, I get these errors about "libGL error: failed to open DRM: Operation not permitted", what does that mean?

A: It means the permissions are wrong, simply add this section to your XF86Config(-4): 

 Section "DRI"
      Mode     0666
 EndSection

Q: I have an nVidia card, and I'm getting an error about libGL.so not being available

A: Some distros don't include /usr/lib in /etc/ld.so.conf. This means that where nVidia put their libraries by default doesn't actually make them available. Edit /etc/ld.so.conf and make sure it has _at least_ 

/usr/local/lib
/usr/lib
/lib
/usr/X11R6/lib

in /etc/ld.so.conf, and run /sbin/ldconfig

Q: My nVidia graphics card keeps locking the entire machine up, and I have to ssh in to reboot

A: First, do you have the latest drivers?
A: Next, try disabling AGP in your BIOS, or setting it to a slower speed. If you have a VIA chipset, 4x is very unlikely to work.
A: For those running KDE, try disabling Anti-Aliased fonts. Or try commenting out the loading of the freetype support in your XF86Config.
A: You could try going back to an older version of the drivers. Counter-intuitive, but some people have more success with older ones.
A: Check your /etc/X11/XF86Config(-4). There is one included with the nVidia driver distribution. Chunky has put his up as a simple example here: http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/XF86Config
A: [Thanks, Johan Schuring], If you're using Mandrake and you're getting errors about "extension glx not found", or if you try to run any accellerated app and it says "suitable visual not found" or something, you may need to change the line 

Load "glx"

to read 

Load "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.so"

Q: I've done everything you have said, but my nVidia drivers still aren't loading properly, and although it works, it doesn't do GL at speed or anything

A: Check that you've given your NV card an IRQ (this should only be a problem for people with pci cards). If you haven't there will be a message when the nvidia module loads, but you'll probably not see it as it goes past too quicklky.

Q: I'm experiencing strange crashes in a variety of games, which nothing else seems to fix. Sometimes it is while changing resolutions...

A: First, check for updates. They may be beta, but sometimes they fix problems like this. That includes Tribes 2 on Loki's FTP mirror (ftp://david.hedbor.org/).
A: You might try doing this in a terminal before running your game (from the same terminal):
export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so
A: If your crashes are random and with Athlon hardware (as in, not always when you start a GL game, but sometime whilst you're playing) try passing the mem=nopentium option to your kernel while booting from your favourite boot loader. If that helps things out, you can add it to your /etc/lilo.conf file as append="mem=nopentium". Make sure to re-run lilo -v after adding it, this will check for problems with the lilo configuration file. Also note that this may be worked around in the latest stable kernels.

Q: The nvidia driver has really slow 2D! What can I do?

A: X makes use of Memory Type Range Register (AKA "mtrr", check out /usr/src/linux/Documentation/mtrr.txt for more info). To see if you have mtrr enabled in the kernel, do: cat /proc/mtrr. If you don't have that file, you don't have mtrr. Re-compile your kernel with this option enabled. It's in "Processor Type and Feature" in the kernel config. You want this feature. There is a known issue with version 1-0.4191 of the nvidia drivers where 2D is just slow. It is not related to mtrr. 2d performance appears to be much better with version 1.0-4349.

Q: I'm having other problems with my nVidia graphics card, is there anything else I can try?

A: Did you compile your own kernel? Do you have a VIA chipset? Make sure you compiled in support for it. There are some explicit workarounds that need to be enabled.
A: Make sure your video card has an IRQ assigned to it. This is set in the BIOS, and the option is ordinarily called "Assing IRQ to VGA". Once in Linux, lspci -v will show if your card has an IRQ. Don't rely on cat /proc/interrupts! The IRQ won't show up for your video card there unless a driver is using it, which won't be the case unless it's already setup properly.
A: Make sure nvidia has been installed and is loaded. Use lsmod | grep nvidia to see if it's loaded. If not, try loading it manually with insmod nvidia.
A: Unresolved symbols when compiling/installing nvidia. You must use the kernel source tree that compiled your kernel If you are compiling the kernel module (nvidia) from source tarball or source rpm. If you compile your own kernel, you probably have it in /usr/src/linux, and will be ok, presuming that's the tree that compiled your running kernel. If you use a kernel from a distro, make sure you have the kernel source packages installed for that particular kernel. (i.e. if you use RedHat, install the kernel-source and kernel-headers packages from the RedHat CD-ROM)

Q: Some game crashed and I can't switch back to my normal resolution using CTRL ALT +/-

A: You'll need to run xvidtune -unlock.

Q: Some game crashed and I can't seem to do anything.

A: Try the keys CTRL ALT Backspace all at once to kill your X server, if this doesn't work your best bet is to ssh in from another one of your boxes, and either reboot, or try something else.

Q: Can I use OpenGL with Myth 2?

A: With the latest patch, yes.

Q: How do I turn on OpenGL fog in Heavy Gear 2?

A: hg2 -g for the true OpenGL fogging. If your driver does not support this, you will need to start it with the vertex-fogging hack, hg2 -x.

Q: I try to start either Quake III, or Return to Castle Wolfenstein}, and I get an error about libMesaVoodooGL-something-something-something

A: Just start the respective binary with the +seta r_gldriver /usr/lib/libGL.so (if you're an nVidia user) or +seta r_gldriver /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so (elsewise). You should only have to do that once.

Q: How do I run Quake 4 in a widescreen mode?

A: Open ~/.quake4/q4base/Quake4Config.cfg in your favorite editor. Change the variables seta r_aspectRatio "1" to one of 0 for 4:3, 1 for 16:9, or 2 for 16:10.
Next change your custom resolution to fit the desired aspect ratio, for instance the lead editor's monitor is 16:10, so he uses: seta r_customHeight "1050"
seta r_customWidth "1680"
Finally, change r_mode to "-1". Then the game should start up in your widescreen resolution.

Q: Some OpenGL game is running really slowly...

A: Your game is probably using the wrong library for OpenGL. The instructions above for Quake III/Return to Castle Wolfenstein about libmesavoodoo-something-something-something apply here
For Unreal Tournament, edit your config file and make sure the OpenGL library points to the right one
Loki games usually take a parameter to point to the correct libGL to use. Run "game --help" to find out what it is. Check out any config files you can find stored in locations mentioned in the Game Queries section.
A: If you're running a non-nvidia card, make sure that X says "direct rendering enabled" in the log (/var/log/XFree86.0.log). If it doesn't, make sure you're loading the dri module in /etc/X11/XF86Config
A: For anything else, and what is actually the better, cleaner solution, anyway, you need to get rid of the incorrect libraries on your system. Run the command ldd sproingies [or any other trivial openGL app, eg gears], and look for which libGL is being used. If it's not the correct one [as described above], then you want to get rid of it, as it's probably not helping your cause.
A: You may be using an ATi card, for whatever reason, ATi has not yet released drivers capable of much in Linux (speed-wise, or feature-wise). Look to replace your ATi card, or continue assuring yourself that one-day, ATi will decide to spend real money on Linux. As yet the DRI drivers for ATi cards are out of date, and possibly even worse than the propietary ATi drivers.

Q: My menus in Unreal Tournament look wrong, maybe even with black boxes where th text should be, how can I fix this?

A: Some faulty OpenGL implementations cause this. You'll need to edit your ~/.loki/ut/System/UnrealTournament.ini. Look for the line in the RenderDevice sections that says UsePalette. Change the value from 1 to 0.

Q: Unreal Tournament crashes on my DRI supported card when I press ESC to bypass the opening movie.

A: You can try setting SDL_VIDEO_X11_DGAMOUSE=0 in a console before running Unreal Tournament like so: 

export SDL_VIDEO_X11_DGAMOUSE=0
ut

Q: How do I change Unreal Tournament's renderer after installing?

A: Note: It is recommended that you use the OpenGL rederer, and not the SDLGL one. The OpenGL one continued development long after the SDLGL one ceased being worked on, and as such is both faster and more reliable.
A: Edit your ~/.loki/ut/System/UnrealTournament.ini.
A: For the SDLGL renderer: 

[Engine.Engine]
GameRenderDevice=SDLGLDrv.SDLGLRenderDevice
WindowedRenderDevice=SDLGLDrv.SDLGLRenderDevice
RenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.SDLGLRenderDevice

A: For the OpenGL renderer: 

[Engine.Engine]
GameRenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice
WindowedRenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice
RenderDevice=OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice

A: For the Glide renderer (Voodoo 1/2/3 cards in XFree86 3): 

[Engine.Engine]
GameRenderDevice=GlideDrv.GlideRenderDevice
WindowedRenderDevice=GlideDrv.GlideRenderDevice
RenderDevice=GlideDrv.GlideRenderDevice

A: For the Software renderer: 

[Engine.Engine]
GameRenderDevice=SDLSoftDrv.SDLSoftwareRenderDevice
WindowedRenderDevice=SDLSoftDrv.SDLSoftwareRenderDevice
RenderDevice=SDLSoftDrv.SDLSoftwareRenderDevice

Q: Unreal Tournament 2003 (or 2004) runs very, very slowly!

A: Is your video card using AGP? Are you sure?
A: Look in your ~/.ut2003/System/UT2003.log (or ~/.ut2004/System/UT2004.log) for the line:
WARNING: Couldn't allocate AGP memory - turning off support forGL_NV_vertex_array_range
to get the definitive check for AGP.

Q: OK, I appear to not have AGP/it's still slow.

A: Try changing your AGP system from NVAGP, to AGPGART, or vice-versa. See the nVidia documentation for details.
A: The OpenGL rendering in Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 is very cpu-limited.
A: Are the quality or resolution settings too high? Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 is a very new game, with very new requirements. Most people who are used to playing older games at 1280x1024, or other, high resolutions, will note that Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 is much slower at this resolution.

Q: How do I see what frame rate I'm getting in Unreal Tournament 2003/2004?

A: Drop down the console with `(tick mark under the tilde), type stat fps.

Q: How do I take a screenshot in Unreal Tournament 2003/2004?

A: Press the F9 key.

Q: I'm getting this message in Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 about Xlib: extension "XiG-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD" and something about a hull!

A: Don't panic, both of these messages, and the one about ALC_EXT_capture, are harmless.

Q: I have a Radeon card. Why won't Unreal Tournament 2003 run?

A: Unreal Tournament 2003 makes extensive use of Savage Texture compression (colloquially, S3TC). Since your drivers don't support S3TC, you should upgrade your drivers, the newest ones should support S3TC.
A: Xi Graphics (http://www.xig.com/), has drivers for the Radeon which support S3TC. Beware, these cost money, and none of the LGFAQ authors/editors have tested them.
A: The latest version of Unreal Tournament 2003 has a software path for dealing with S3TC. Expect it to look poor for the moment, but if the DRI developers fix it later, it should be playable on boxes with fast CPUs.

Q: I have a very old TNT or TNT2 card that I recently purchased at bargain basement prices, surely, this card will work with Unreal Tournament 2003?

A: No, your card does not support S3TC, although the nvidia drivers do. See the answers above and below, not that it matters since this card is really too slow for modern engines.

Q: Whenever I run Unreal Tournament 2003 I get the message "OpenGL renderer relies on DXTC/S3TC support." and it exits. What is this?

A: This is, again, a lack of driver support. You need S3TC in your OpenGL drivers before the game will work. Note that in a newer patch there is a software path for handling S3TC, but it will be much slower.

Q: Unreal Tournament 2003/4 exits with a message about DRI and GL_EXT_bgra or glDrawRangeElements, what does this mean?

A: If you're using the nvidia drivers, but glxinfo reports the correct information, and still getting this, you have mesa libraries laying around, and need to exterminate them. SDL looks for libGL in a different place than glxinfo. Note that Quake III does not use SDL, so it might still work, and has nothing to do with Unreal Tournament 2003/2004.

Q: Why doesn't my Unreal Engine 2 game have detailed shadows or my name on the Hellbender license plate?

A: As of patch 3369 for Unreal Tournament 2004, this functionality has been added. Expect other Unreal Engine 2 games to follow. To enable the functionality you'll need to use the latest nvidia/ati drivers and set "UseRenderTargets=True" in the "[OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]" section of your UT2004.ini. To get realistic shadows, you also have to set "bPlayerShadows=True" and "bBlobShadow=False" in the "[UnrealGame.UnrealPawn]" section of your User.ini.

Q: nvagp or agpgart? Which is better when using the nvidia driver?

A: This usually boils down to a question of stability. In the early days of the nvidia driver, nvagp was more stable, but sometimes slower. Also, some times nvagp didn't support a particular chipset, so it was either agpgart or nothing. Nowadays, it's commonly presumed that agpgart is a bit faster than nvagp, but nvagp is more stable. This is really something of a gamble, and depends on your hardware. Try agpgart first. If it works, great! If your box proves to be unstable with it, use nvagp. If it continues to be unstable, you may have to disable agp altogether.

Q: Why can't I use a framebuffer for my console and the nVidia driver at the same time?

A: Basically, the framebuffer console, with your happy pretty bootsplash, and small fonts and whatnot is a driver that uses your nVidia card. The X (x.org, xfree86, natx) nVidia driver is, the more obvious driver that provides you with working 3D, and some neat 2D stuff (twinview, and whatnot) also uses your card. If the two are used at once, they will both attempt to talk to your video card, and this is a conflict. The nvidia install script won't even let you install the driver if you have the framebuffer driver rivafb compiled into your kernel. You can sort-of get away with the framebuffer driver vesafb, but you are likely to run into problems later. Even the NVIDIA README says that you can't use the kernel framebuffer and the nVidia driver.

To sum it all up:
Framebuffer == driver
nVidia things == driver
Two drivers == conflict.
Conflict == war!

Disabling the kernel frame buffer involves either changing your kernel configuration (Console Drivers - Frame Buffer Support section), disabling it within your boot loader (append="video=rivafb:off" for lilo, grub users just add video=rivafb:off), or preventing the module from ever loading via your distributions documentation regarding module loading. If it is compiled as a module that is (lsmod, look for rivafbor vesafb.)

Q: How do I see my frame rate in Quake III while playing the game?

A: Drop down the console with ` and type /cg_draw fps 1.

Q: How do I see my frame rate in Return to Castle Wolfenstein while playing the game?

A: Drop down the console with ` and type /toggle cg_drawfps. Once you're tired of looking at the frame rate, use the same command to turn the fps display off again.

Q: How do I enable full screen in FreeSpace 2?

A: Edit your FreeSpace2.ini/FreeSpace2Demo.ini adding the following to the [Default] section:
Fullscreen=1

Q: How do I switch to 1024x768 in FreeSpace 2?

A: Edit your FreeSpace2.ini/FreeSpace2Demo.ini editing the following in the [Default] section:
Videocard=OpenGL (640x480)
to
Videocard=OpenGL (1024x768)

Q: How do I get a different resolution in Tribes 2, than what's in the menus?

A: Edit your ~/.loki/tribes2/base/prefs/ClientPrefs.cs. Look for: $pref::Video::resolution

Q: How do I overclock my nVidia card in Linux?

A: The nvclock utility provides that functionality. http://www.linuxhardware.org/nvclock/

Q: My desktop is at resolution YYYxZZZ, and my games are refusing to run properly in any other resolution?

A: You need to add the resolutions you want to run the game at to /etc/X11/XF86Config's screen section: 

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen AGP"
    Device      "GFII GTS"
    Monitor     "Chuntex"
    DefaultColorDepth 24
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Q: How do I set environment variables, so I can enable fun effects on my nVidia card?

A: export ENVVARNAME=VALUE, so, for Full Scene Anti-Aliasing you might export __GL_FSAA_MODE=4 before running your game. See the nVidia documentation for a list of options.

Q: Is there a simple, GUI method of changing nVidia options, like anti-aliasing?

A: Yes, nVidia provides for this in their GPL'd nvidia-settings (source: ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-settings/) program. It is included with the nVidia drivers, and a user-guide is also provided (ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/nvidia-settings-user-guide.txt .)

Q: How do I force Side-Band-Addressing and Fast-Writes to enable with the nVidia drivers?

A: First note that these options can decrease system stability. Then, if you are ready to bump up your frame rates about 0.00000002%, load the nvidia.o module with the options NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1, and NVreg_EnableAGPFW=1 like so:
modprobe nvidia NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1 NVreg_EnableAGPFW=1

Q: Neverwinter Nights doesn't seem to run on my non-nvidia card?

A: Gothmog of A from the BioWare forums has made a workaround patch for ATI users to try. You can download it here: http://mschoder.bei.t-online.de/nwnati.tar.gz. Note that you shouldn't require the xdelta patch with the latest client released from BioWare. Users have reported success with this patch on TNT2, Matrox 450 and Voodoo5 cards.

Q: Neverwinter Nights isn't windowed, how do I make it so?

A: Edit your nwn.ini, change FullScreen=1 to Fullscreen=0 and add a line after that: AllowWindowedMode=1. Note that despite the fact that the game will be windowed, you must have the resolution defined in your X configuration file.

Q: Darwinia screenshots taken with "p" come out black. Why?

A: This happens when you run Darwinia at the same resolution as your desktop. No known workarounds exist at present, other than changing your game or desktop resolution.

Audio Queries (return)

Q: How do I figure out what sound card/chipset(s) I have?

A: Usually this means running cat /proc/pci | less and/or cat /proc/isapnp (depending which bus your sound hardware is on).

Q: How do I get my Crystal 4232 sound card/chipset to work?

A: modprobe cs4232 io=0x534 irq=5 dma=1 dma2=0 note that, although this works for one of the authors, you may need to adjust the settings.

Q: How do I get my Sound Blaster Live to work?

A: modprobe emu10k1. Please also see http://opensource.creative.com/.

Q: I'm running Y SDL game that's using SDL for audio, is there any way I can specify my DSP?

A: Yes, export SDL_PATH_DSP=/dev/dsp. For no sound set it to /dev/null.

Q: How can I specify what driver (oss...alsa) to use with these SDL games?

A: export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=dsp, other relevant options are:

Q: How can I tell OpenAL based games what driver (oss...alsa) to use?

A: Replace driver with one of the below options echo "(define devices '(driver))" > ~/.openalrc

Q: I'm running Gnome or KDE and my audio works with some things, but rarely works with games...

A: Most likely, your desktop environment is set up to run a sound server. In the case of Gnome, it's usually esound (killall -9 esd). In KDE, it is usually artsd (killall -9 artsd). Both of these can be disabled from inside the environment. In Gnome you can disable it inside the gnomecc program. In KDE you can open KDE Control Center -> Sound -> Sound Server -> uncheck "Start aRts soundserver at KDE startup", and restart.

Q: In Unreal Tournament, I get some generally scary effects with latency & other things, even though I'm not running arts or esd.

A: Build the latest CVS of OpenAL (http://www.openal.org/), or, if that's too scary for you, follow the next answer (which will yield a lower sould quality if you've got a descent OpenAL setup):
A: [Thanks, Adam Kirchhoff] Are you using the commercial OSS drivers? There's a "feature" of the non-commercial ones and ALSA that means you may get strange effects. Unreal Tournament has a generic audio driver that should fix this for you. In the section: 

[Engine.Engine]

of your config file, change the line 

AudioDevice=ALAudio.ALAudioSubsystem

to say: 

AudioDevice=Audio.GenericAudioSubsystem

Q: My Aureal sound card isn't working with x or y game, is there anywhere I can go for help/updated drivers?

A: Yes, http://aureal.sourceforge.net/
A: You might also try adding this to your ~/.openalrc: (define native-use-select #f)
A: If none of the other suggestions work, try using this hacked driver source tarball: http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/files/q3auhack.tar.gz

Q: Uplink (with the 1.2 patch) isn't giving me any sound!

A: Upgrade to the latest version, it should be fine (and not require esd).

Q: Now Uplink's sound is choppy, what gives?

A: You'll need to renice X and Uplink. First, ps auxw | grep X to find out the proccess ID of X, then renice 10 <pid of X>. Next, ps auxw | grep uplink to find out the PID of Uplink, then renice 10 <pid of uplink>.

Q: With my Sound Blaster Live! under Red Hat 7.3 the latest Uplink patch puts out static!

A: You can probably fix this with new drivers: http://sourceforge.net/projects/emu10k1/.

Q: Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 is giving terrible sound, or none at all!

A: Try this:
echo "(define devices '(sdl))" > ~/.openalrc

Q: How do I enable Text-to-Speech in Unreal Tournament 2004?

A: Try following these instructions:

  1. install festival (http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/, gentoo users can just emerge festival)
  2. install speechd (http://www.speechio.org/speechd.html, again, gentoo users can just emerge speechd)
  3. Make speechd run.
  4. Edit your ~/.ut2004demo/System/UT2004.ini, look for the [SDLDrv.SDLClient] section, and add TextToSpeechFile=/dev/speech.
  5. Run Unreal Tournament 2004.
  6. Enable TTS via the in-game options.
  7. ???
  8. Profit!!

Q: Text-to-Speech is making Unreal Tournament 2004 hang at start!

A: Either speechd isn't running, or your /etc/hosts has 127.0.0.1 pointing at your hostname and not localhost. 127.0.0.1 should only point to localhost.

Q: How do I enable Voice over IP in Unreal Tournament 2004?

A: With ALSA, create a ~/.openalrc, and then follow these instructions:

You may need to tweak the in and out device lines some for your specific setup, on a Live! Value with a surround setup you might use (define alsa-out-device "surround40:0,0") and (define alsa-in-device "hw:0,0").

Q: Quake engine games exit, and I see an error about mmap!

A: Your sound card/chipset + driver combination doesn't support this needed feature. However, if you use KDE/arts you may be able to bypass this with the -m switch to the artsdsp wrapper.
A: Or switch to the open-source Quake III port here at icculus.org: http://www.ioquake3.org/

Q: How do I disable sound in Quake III?

A: quake3 +s_initsound 0

Q: I get no sound in Quake III, and I'm using ALSA!

A: echo "quake3.x86 0 0 direct" > /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/oss
A: Note that this also works for any other game that doesn't support ALSA and needs mmap'd audio, just change the binary name (quake3.x86 with, for instance, et.x86, for Enemy Territory.)
A: Or switch to the open-source Quake III port here at icculus.org: http://www.ioquake3.org/

Q: Is EAX, or any other proprietary 3D sound stuff supported in Linux?

A: No. Nobody has picked up the ball on getting EAX supported. Neither ALSA, nor OSS (free or otherwise), support EAX or any other proprietary 3D sound stuff.

Q: Is there anything like {Roger Wilco, BattleCom, That nasty MS thing} for Linux?

A: There's a new teamspeak linux client out at http://www.teamspeak.org/
A: Yes, But unfortunately you'll have to convince your windows-using friends to use the same software; none of the above are cross-platform. All the programs here are, though.
OpenPhone/ophone (http://www.openphone.org/)
Robust Audio Tool, AKA rat (http://www-mice.cs.ucl.ac.uk/multimedia/software/rat/)
Speak Freely for windows (http://www.speakfreely.org/), and it's Unix counterpart (http://www.fourmilab.ch/speakfree/unix/)
www.Voxilla.com; a site for the very much more enthused among you

Input Queries (return)

Q: How do I enable the gameport on my es1370?

A: Either modprobe the module with the joystick=1 option, or select the tick box for joystick loading in the kernel configuration. Note that in the latest kernel series (2.6.0) you don't need to specify the option. It should just work.

Q: How do I enable the gameport on my es1371?

A: Modprobe the module with joystick=0x200, where 0x200 is the address of the gameport. Legal values are: 0x200, 0x208, 0x210, and 0x218.

Q: How do convince the analog driver that I've got a gameport joystick not a USB one?

A: Pass the analog module the "js=gameport" option.

Q: My joystick works, but is uncalibrated/etc

A: You need to use the program "jscal" to calibrate it. If you don't already have it installed, you need to get the CVS of it. If it asks for a password, just hit enter. Simply: 

export CVSROOT=:pserver:anonymous@cvs1.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/linuxconsole
cvs login
cvs -z3 co ruby
cd ruby/utils
make

If that is more complex than you would like, there are some binaries available: http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/files/jsutils.tar.gz, but they haven't been tested.
That done, you need to "jscal /dev/js0". Do what it says and you should have your joystick configured properly.

Q: Everything else on my joystick works, but the hat seems strange; when I push the hat up, it's up. When I push the hat down, it does nothing. When it's centered, it's down.

A: The hat's strange behaviour is caused by it being an axis, not four buttons. You can calibrate it as above (recommended), or for the brave, you can modify your kernel as described in http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/coolie.txt to change the hat's behaviour so it seems like 4 buttons

Q: In Descent 3, the hat doesn't do anything at all.

A: That's because you're trying to use the hat in a button-like way, make sure that you're altering the "Move up or Down Axis", and not trying to alter the "Move up" as pushing up, and "Move down" as pushing down.

Q: Does this Pl