Problems running GE 1.3.0 on Slackware Linux 10.0

[Homeschool Mom]

Hi,

I just found GE and am trying it out. Everything that I've tried in Windows works perfectly. However, when I try the same things in Linux, the program crashes.

So, step by step, here is the problem:

First thing that happens when I run in the shell:

bash-3.00$ gameEditor
open /dev/sequencer: No such device

I don't know if this message is normal or not -- Program opens and runs.

Then in GE, I add one actor -- works fine. I add an animation(ex. frontview.bmp (1 frame) for same actor -- still works fine.
Then I add a second animation for actor (ex. rightwalk.bmp (2 frames -2 H, 1 V) go into game mode and it crashes the whole program. It completely closes out.

This is error listed in shell --

*** glibc detected *** double free or corruption (fasttop): 0x084a2758 ***
Aborted
bash-3.00$


When I try to reload game from last save, it just hangs there forever and does nothing. I have to physically shut down the game with xkill.

I am assuming the I have an incompatibility problem with this version of glibc -- (glibc-2.3.4-i486-1) that I use. But I don't know. Any suggestions would be nice. If I can't use the Linux part then I can't see spending the money to buy the proVerison. I must say I like the idea of being able to do all of my editing in Linux if I can get it to work and then I would only need windows for the compile part if I can't get it to run under Wine.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cathy

p.s. The tutorials don't work in the Linux version either, but I can live without that.

[makslane]

open /dev/sequencer: No such device

You can play midi files in your system?

I add an animation(ex. frontview.bmp (1 frame) for same actor -- still works fine.
Then I add a second animation for actor (ex. rightwalk.bmp (2 frames -2 H, 1 V) go into game mode and it crashes the whole program. It completely closes out.

I can't repeat this error here. Can you send me the ged and data files with this error?

[Homeschool Mom]

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me.

1. In regards to the following:

open /dev/sequencer: No such device

No, I can't actually play midi files right now. I have a player but my sound card can't convert in linux. Not a big deal, I can live without. I haven't even attempted any sound effects with your program yet.

2. Regarding the crashing problem, I can send you the file just let me know where to send it. If I can add attachments to the forum, I haven't figured that out yet. However, I can email it to you. I also tried to replicate this on my son's computer. He runs Linux 10.0 as well, but doesn't have any extra things added on. Just a basic install. The program works fine on his computer and doesn't crash.

******

I consulted my husband. I guess my son's computer isn't a basic install. He says the main difference between my son's computer and my computer is that the audio is set up differently. Apparently, my son's computer is optimized for sound (husband writes computer programs for music composition on that computer) and mine hasn't been fiddled with yet. I don't really do much music on my computer other play some CDs once in awhile. Sometimes, I play some mp3s. I hadn't even noticed that I couldn't play midi files. It wasn't important.

My husband says it's possible the problem may be related to sound, but can't say for sure. (Here I thought it might be a graphics problem.)

By the way, I did try it with the .bmp files that came with GE and they crash as soon as I add a second animation as well.

So, I can send you a crashed file with my .bmps and the .bmps that I used or I can send you a crashed file with your .bmps. Let me know which you would like and where to send them.

Cathy

[Homeschool Mom]

The crash actually happens while I'm trying to save it after adding the second animation. Going in to game mode actually does work. The system crashes during save.

Cathy

[Homeschool Mom]

My husband optimized my drivers for my sound card. Now I don't get that beginning message about

" open /dev/sequencer: No such device"

However, I still crash the program during save after adding an animation. I still get the same error.

*** glibc detected *** double free or corruption (fasttop): 0x084a2758 ***
Aborted

the difference being what the actual numbers are each time, but still same basic error.

Let me know if I should send the files to your "markslane@game-editor.com" email or some other email.

Cathy

[makslane]

Please, send to this email!

[Homeschool Mom]

Hi,

I sent the file. Name is: spriteDogGame.ged

Let me know if you have any trouble getting it.

Cathy

[makslane]

I didn't receive. What's email subject? (I need the data files too)

[Homeschool Mom]

Hi,

I've sent another email with all of the files. I've done some investigating. I think the problem is that GameEditor is changing the permissions on the bitmaps that I need to change the frame rates on. I still have to try using the multiple file option to see if I can get around this.

Anyway, I found this out when I went to attach the picture files to my email. The email couldn't read it to attach because the permissions had been changed to forbidden. This only occured to the files that I changed a frame rate on when adding the animation.

So, tested out this theory and redid the whole game. Everything worked fine. I could add any bmps that I wanted as long as I didn't reset the frame rate. Once I reset the frame rate, the program crashes.

So, the files I sent you are the latest ones and not the original one I sent you. Now that I can consistently reproduce this and tell you exactly when the program crashes, hopefully you can fix it.

I had to go into superuser mode to reset the permissions in order to send you the files.

Here is a list of the files sent:

spriteDog.ged
spriteDog.ged.undo
spriteDog.ged.undo.tmp
spriteDogLeft.bmp
spriteDogRight.bmp
spriteDogLeftwalk.bmp -- this is the one that had all of the permisions reset.
spriteDogFront.bmp
******
spriteDogRightwalk.bmp -- this one didn't get add this time but is also one that kept getting permisions set.

I will let you know if I have any problems getting around this problem by using multiple files instead of one file for the walking animations.

Cathy

[Homeschool Mom]

I sent the email from the following address:

catherinejwebber@twcny.rr.com

I'm trying to switch everything over to my new address, but haven't been able to send emails from there yet via my mail program.

You can reply to the above address or the one that I registered with if you need anything more.

cathy

[Homeschool Mom]

Okay,

I think I have everything set now. I accidently added an r to you email and sent to markslane instead of makslane. Just resent everything. However, here is what I have found out in the meantime.

I've been playing with this program a little more now that I know what the problem is. Here are my observations.

1. If I start a new game and the animations are not in the data directory, then your program
changes the file permissions on the bitmap files when it copies the bitmaps over to the data directory during its save operation. Sometimes, these files are still readable. However, most times the files' permisions have been changed so that everything is forbidden. Once forbidden, then your program cannot use the files because it doesn't have permission and just locks up.

2. If I start out with the files in the data directory where it wants to save everything, then it doesn't have to copy any files over and no permissions are changed. The program works as it is supposed to.

3. My husband looked at the files on my son's computer since we thought everything was working fine. The permisions on those files had been changed as well. It just happened that the permissions were still readable. We were able to recreate this problem on that computer (running slackware linux 10.1) as well. Now that we know exactly what to look for, we find that this problem is easily recreated.

4. If we delete the files that were copied over into the data directory that your program creates, and then we insert the original files, then your program is able to load the game file that I was working on, using the original files that I just copied over. Before that it would hang up because it was trying to read bitmap files whose permissions were scrambled.

I don't have a screen capture program to show you what the permissions look like. However, the files the original files have their permissions set to everyone (me, user, & group) to be able to both read and write the files. Once your program is finished, the permissions are changed to something else. Sometimes these are readable, sometimes not. Sometimes the boxes in the permissions list under "Special" (which I'm not even sure what they do) are marked, which also creates problems with readability.

The changes to the files seem to be totally random as far as what permissions are marked which is why I could reproduce the same results, but not always with the exact number of added animations. However, if you add enough animalions eventually some file will get marked forbidden and everything locks up. It's just that sometimes it will occur immediately and sometimes you have to add more animations.

I'm not sure what it is that your program is doing, but I would guess there is something it does that works under Windows, but not under linux that is creating the problem. I wish I could send you the files that are marked forbidden, but I have to reset the permissions just to send you the files.

I hope this helps. Mostly I can use the program, if I start out with all files in a "data" directory first instead of letting your program create the directory and then copy the files there.

Cathy

[makslane]

Thank you! I will look this issues.

[Joat_Mone]

Try running it as root. I was having the exact same problem with the newest version of GameEditor, and when I ran it as root, it worked fine. I'm using a small version of Linux, so it doesnt have all the bells and whistles as some of the bigger distros.

At a bash prompt type in : sudo ./<whatever the gamename is>