ATI drivers in Linux and ATITD

[snwod]

Hello everyone. :)

I'm running ATITD on SUSE Linux 10.0. I just loaded up the ATI drivers, but now when I try to start ATITD all I get is a black screen (the Sax2 box that the game is played in) where the eGenesis Tree should be. The game is running, though, cause I can hear the music and I see the activity with my internet.

My video card is an ATI Radeon 9200 SE (crappy, yeah, I know).

Any ideas what the problem is?

I can't really play the game under the default MESA drivers that SUSE loads up after the install cause ATITD just taxes the system too much (low frame rate and such).

[Pluribus]

Actually, this one is probably easy... Sorry it took so long to notice it... The audio library is braindead and blocks if it cant open /dev/dsp... You probably have artsd or esd running.

[snwod]

Actually, this one is probably easy... Sorry it took so long to notice it... The audio library is braindead and blocks if it cant open /dev/dsp... You probably have artsd or esd running.

Thanks for the reply, Pluribus. However, I have no idea what you mean! :sad3:

I looked in my running processes box and I didn't see either of those processes. I started it up and was confronted with the black box again. This time I just entered my user name tabbed and then entered my password...doing it blind. After a few seconds, I could see the game-screen, but when I moved there was a lot image copying (i.e. the mountain tops would multiply across the top of the screen making it impossible to see anything) and I didn't have any of the dialogue boxes (for chatting and whatnot).

Any ideas now?

[Pluribus]

Sorry, to make it a little clearer... The totally black screen is usually that something else is holding on to the audio... try starting the client with the -nosound optin to see if that gets you alive.

[snwod]

OK. I tried the nosound thing. And it worked. There was no sound. :)

But, sound isn't really the problem. The problem is that the box in which I play the game is blank. I have to type in my name and password blind. Then when I do see things, there's the graphics problem mentioned above.

It might just be a problem with my crappy video card. When I play the game in Windows I get problems after about 20 minutes of gameplay or quicker if there are lots of people around. I guess a new video card is in order. :uhoh2:

[Pluribus]

Sorry for some reason, my head tied into black window only at startup, your saying, you the game works, (audio plays, you can login etc, but you cant really see any video...

You detailed your video card, (which will default to the lowest level of functionality the game has, but should work) Can you detail the rest of the system? Note: Are you sure that you indeed using the ATI binary drivers? (Login to ATITD using you current setup and once you get into the game wait 1 minute and exist out, then email pluribus@pluribus.org a copy of the egenesis.bug file that your client created.)

If you DO intend to get a new video card, I HIGHLY reccomend using an nvidia card thier drivers are head and shoulders above ATI's on linux...

[snwod]

Hey Pluribus. I really appreciate the help. I will send you the bug-report soon.

I am using the current ATI drivers. When I run the fglrxinfo, I get the ATI drivers, rather than the generic Mesa ones that SUSE loads automatically.

I'm pretty sure, though, that I'm going to get a new card. I've been looking at the Nvidia Geforce 6600GT. That should give me enough juice for ATITD. :D Also, I have heard that Nvidia drivers are much better for Linux, so that will be a plus too.

I'll go generate the bug now.