OpenJK doesn't run Jedi Academy Demo release

[HEXcube]

OpenJK fails to run the Single Player Demo release for Jedi Academy. The demo release contains just one assets0.pk3 file. Upon starting, OpenJK complains about menu file not found: ui/menus.txt, and stops. BSzili from AROS Exec found the reason: http://aros-exec.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=88128 .
The problem arises coz OpenJK is unable to find ui/ingame.txt and ui/menus.txt files in assets0.pk3. The Demo uses ui/demo_ingame.txt and ui/demo_menus.txt instead. As a temporary fix, I created another pk3 file with the aforementioned files renamed as ui/ingame.txt and ui/menus.txt. After that, OpenJK was able to run the Demo fine.
I think this should be fixed in OpenJK itself without needing fixes or workaround pk3s. BSzili thought so too, but was unable to report the bug or fix it due to some unknown reason. So, I'm reporting the bug now.

[xycaleth]

Firstly, it's great to see OpenJK being talked about on another forum 👍

Regarding the issue, I'm not entirely sure whether this is a problem with OpenJK. Rather, it's a deliberate decision by Raven to not support the demo assets in the retail version of Jedi Academy. If we were to allow demo assets in OpenJK, how do you think would be best to enable this support? I don't think demo assets should be loaded by default - maybe a cvar (e.g. com_demo) at start up to say whether we want to be running demo assets or not?

[ensiform]

The demo support was gutted because the engines require full assets as they were based on the full release.

I'm inclined to say its unsupported on purpose at this point.

Even ioquake3 doesn't actually work on the demo version of q3 anymore AFAIK. Despite what their readme says.

[ensiform]

This can also be noticed in the fact that you can't run jk2 1.02 with the final release etc.

[HEXcube]

@ensiform and @xycaleth , thanks for the quick response guys.

The demo support was gutted because the engines require full assets as they were based on the full release.

In my testing, OpenJK does run fine on the single assets0.pk3 without requiring assets from the full release. I didn't notice any errors or anything missing. The Demo is basically a stripped down version of the full version, i.e it has only 2 Single Player levels - "Mercenery Activity - Tatooine" and "Cult Sightings - Chandrilla" and has no Multi Player. It appears the Demo is fully compatible with the full release except for the two renamed files.

[ensiform]

I wouldn't be opposed to someone making a patch/pull request for it. But continued support will not necessarily be tested or sanctioned.

[ensiform]

Save file compatibility will probably also not be maintained either.

[HEXcube]

@ensiform Thanks for considering Demo support. Like you said, it may not be practical to offer full support for the Demo, but still it's a good idea to let it run as far as it can.

[shinyquagsire23]

@ensiform I think that would be fair enough, having OpenJK at least able to boot the demo files would be nice for demonstration purposes. No point in bothering with save files or maintenance though.

[a-detiste]

If you want to leave assets0.pk3 untouched, creating assets1.pk3 with only ui/demo_ingame.txt and ui/demo_menus.txt renamed to ui/ingame.txt and ui/menus.txt also works.
(Info-Zip creates a 943 bytes zip here)

having OpenJK at least able to boot the demo files would be nice for demonstration purposes

this is well the purpose of a demo after all 😄 , it is there only to play a few minutes before deciding to invest 10$/10€ on this game

@smcv

[smcv]

It's possible to run the demo, but when I tried the Chandrilla level, I spawned with no weapons other than the lightsaber, and no Force powers (which makes this level impossible since it requires Force Push).

[smcv]

creating assets1.pk3 with only ui/demo_ingame.txt and ui/demo_menus.txt renamed to ui/ingame.txt and ui/menus.txt also works

It's sufficient to put those files in a ui directory next to assets0.pk3: they don't need to be zipped.