Installer for Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

[medfreeman]

Xod edit: for ref, the game is here

Hi,

is there actually a way to download a custom wine version (let's say with specific patches for a game to work) and copy it to the right folder, then telling lutris to use this specific version for the game ?

ie:

runner: wine
game:
  prefix: $GAMEDIR
  version: custom
files:
- game-installer: http://site.com/gamesetup.exe
- wine-archive: http://site.com/wine-custom.tar.gz
installer:
- task:
- extract:
    file: wine-archive
    dst: $WINEDIR/
- task:
    name: wineexec
    executable: game-installer
    prefix: $GAMEDIR
    description: Installing Game

[Letiliel]

Yes but it would be better to host it on Lutris. (Propose your build to Strider. The build we currently use, I grabbed it from PoL)
Then it can be used in a script with:

wine:
  version: 1.7.27

[medfreeman]

sure, i didn't know you planned to host different wine versions too. Nice !

[Letiliel]

I just reviewed my code, it's actually not fully working (it will only download our default build if it can't find the version set in the game's config) but it's nearly there.

[medfreeman]

ok so i reopen for now. thanks

[strycore]

Yes it's planned but we currenlty have only one version of wine, which one do you want first? Then I'm not sure that the current code can handle that (correctly interpret the "version: 1.x.x" part). Well actually I'm quite sure it's unhandled ;)
We'll make this a priority (we're spliting what was supposed to be Lutris 0.3.6 into 2 releases: 0.3.6 and 0.3.7) so this could be shipped quite soon (and I really want a working Rogue Squadron installer in Lutris ;))
In other words: anything that helps making Rogue Squadron work == top priority for us :p

[Letiliel]

Then I'm not sure that the current code can handle that (correctly interpret the "version: 1.x.x" part). Well actually I'm quite sure it's unhandled ;)

No no it's implemented ! It just needs a little work in wine.install() to support versions other than DEFAULT_WINE. I'll try and do that now, should be quick.

Edit: committed in next

[medfreeman]

Yes it's planned but we currenlty have only one version of wine, which one do you want first?

I'll just make a few and see which combination works better, then i'll send you the links to the patches. i think 1.7.27 with CSMT (i'll look for other D3D patches too).

and I really want a working Rogue Squadron installer in Lutris ;)

:)

I just reviewed my code, it's actually not fully working (it will only download our default build if it can't find the version set in the game's config) but it's nearly there.

It seems to work in master (the selection part)
Edit : It doesn't work in master

Edit: committed in next

I'll try when when we have a specific build to test

I fixed my scripts for the game btw :
https://github.com/medfreeman/lutris
https://lutris.net/games/star-wars-rogue-squadron/
if i understand correctly the differences in syntax between local version and online.
You have to test it with the patch i just made (it works without but if you don't put the cd it obviously doesn't)
#117

Edit : The 2 versions works correctly, both local and on the game page
But i don't understand why it's mandatory to add :

---
  -

to the local versions. Ok it supports multiple versions in one script, and that's a good thing, but it's a pain to edit this to make it work with the site, and it doesn't make creating scripts easier.
Took me an hour to figure it out with verbose mode..
Also does the site override the additional keys (runner and name) if i let them in the script ?

In other words: anything that helps making Rogue Squadron work == top priority for us :p

i think i won't rest until..

Thanks

[medfreeman]

Hey,

Yes it's planned but we currenlty have only one version of wine, which one do you want first?

I'd settle for lastest development version 1.7.28, works good to me, perfectly playable with nGlide 1.02, even if not as responsive as 1.03, which has the problem with crash after end of missions.
You can take it from POL i think.
The idea with CSMT patches didn't play well with the game, worked a bit faster for a moment but a lot of crashes happened.
We'll have to wait for 1.04 to have something really perfect, but i think it could be made available in this state though.

There's also the camera bug, especially when flying fast for a long time, i'll report it to nGlide forums.
It is fixed by pressing F1 and then it's gone even when going back to another camera.

Edit: committed in next

When matter with cdrom is settled, i'll try wine version selection

In other words: anything that helps making Rogue Squadron work == top priority for us :p

I get good progress on the installer, there's a few things to fix but it should be good in a week i hope
That would be the last thing missing

Best

[strycore]

I did some testing, really great job, I've finally managed to play it with the X360 controller (force feedback included :)
Some stuff I noted:

• When I set the game to the monitor's resolution, the ingame menus are really glitchy
• With Lutris, I couldn't configure the joystick controls (it kept registering button 1), with PoL no problem. This may be due to Wine's version. I'll upload 1.7.28 on our server soon.
• I'm not sure what you're referring to with the camera bug but I think this may be due to the way the two thumbs axises are handled on the X360 controller. I had some weird stuff going on with the default controls and when I deleted the Brake/Trust mapping (using only the buttons), it played far better. The RT and LT axis cause problems in a lot of games, which may be solved with xboxdrv (the simplest solution is to set the triggers-as-buttons option)
• Couldn't get the game to install by mounting an iso with the mount command, I could use the original installer but then the game would keep asking for the CD when trying to launch it… With gcdemu, no problem.

[medfreeman]

I did some testing, really great job, I've finally managed to play it with the X360 controller (force feedback included :)

Nice to hear !

When I set the game to the monitor's resolution, the ingame menus are really glitchy

I think that won't happen with 1.7.28. It seems that 'strict draw ordering' has moved from 'X11Drv' wine registry section to 'Direct3D'. That's what's needed to remove the menu glitches, so the lastest revision of the game installer will have this 'bug' with older wine versions.

With Lutris, I couldn't configure the joystick controls (it kept registering button 1), with PoL no problem. This may be due to Wine's version. I'll upload 1.7.28 on our server soon.

That's why the 'win98' compatibility is here for, solely for making the joystick work.
Perhaps it's not correctly applied to lutris' wine version, but i think i tested this, or perhaps you need the lastest wine version.
In fact without the compatibility, the mouse takes over the joystick and always registers 'button 1'.
For testing (on ubuntu) you can add the wine ppa, install wine1.7, and your system wine version should be 1.7.27 or 1.7.28. But i think the POL version has patches applied, because it showed better performance than the 'standard' one.

I'm not sure what you're referring to with the camera bug but I think this may be due to the way the two thumbs axises are handled on the X360 controller. I had some weird stuff going on with the default controls and when I deleted the Brake/Trust mapping (using only the buttons), it played far better. The RT and LT axis cause problems in a lot of games, which may be solved with xboxdrv (the simplest solution is to set the triggers-as-buttons option)

Yes it's related to ship acceleration, camera somehow loses track of the ship. But it happens with my button-only gamepad too. This bug is known, but doesn't always happen, is fixed by changing camera (F1) and reverting back to the original if needed.

Couldn't get the game to install by mounting an iso with the mount command, I could use the original installer but then the game would keep asking for the CD when trying to launch it… With gcdemu, no problem.

It's because of the volume name (in my case) not showing (and perhaps not properly stored in the iso) on the drive with the mount command. also works with gcdemu

P.S: Quentin PÂRIS from POL pretty much says that 'repackaging' installer is not legal. I wonder since my installer doesn't include any game file (except icon and patch and doesn't contain any crack). Perhaps the installer should download the 1.21 update in spite of embedding it, and it would be okay ? What do you think about this ?

[strycore]

That's some good news! I've uploaded wine 1.7.28 on the server and will try again with lutris tomorrow. I'm not sure everything had been applied correctly, like the win98 mode.

Also Quentin doesn't allow a lot of things that we don't have any problem with. If a game needs a nocd patch or an alternate installer then sure, we'll provide it. The only thing that we won't do is giving away the whole game especially if LucasArts still hold the trademark (they still do, I checked) or the game can be purchased (I don't think it can). The game is 16 years old and Factor 5 is now defunct, no one will care.
Lutris is all about games preservation and while we do not promote piracy, the priority is making the games available and playable.

[Letiliel]

The Wine version is incorrectly set in the game: section instead of wine:,
And setting the Windows version with the regedit key doesn't seem to work anymore, it has to be done with winetricks <version>,
I fixed both things in the scripts on the website.

But it didn't help with anything for me, I'm still having the problem with the mouse taking over the joystick.
I will investigate the differences with the PoL script.

Oh and a suggestion: if it's possible to make your custom installer (mostly) unattended, it would be very cool! :)

Edit: I forgot to mention that the CD recognition didn't work for me, I fixed this in 476efb5

[Letiliel]

Actually none of your regedit tasks are working as you are escaping the backslashes in the reg paths.

Edit: so in fact, changing the windows version from the registry does work!

[Letiliel]

I did a lot of tests and have a lot of things to report :)

• The last versions of your custom setup have a regression somehow. The game's input issue is fixed when using the setup file from the PoL script, not with your last versions.
• Was there a reason for StrictDrawOrdering ? It's impacting performance massively and disabling it doesn't seem to have a negative effect for me.
• The disabled Managed introduces a very problematic issue when shutting down the game with Alt-F4 (or normal quit sometimes): the game graphics stay over the desktop, obscuring it, leaving little other option than rebooting.
• DLL override for dsound is useless, it's already set by winetricks dsound
• I removed all other registry settings except Version=win98 and the game runs as fine for me.

PS: I'll modify the thread's title since the original issue is solved

[medfreeman]

Actually none of your regedit tasks are working as you are escaping the backslashes in the reg paths.

Yeah i understood approximately at the same time )

The last versions of your custom setup have a regression somehow. The game's input issue is fixed when using the setup file from the PoL script, not with your last versions.

Same. I was a bit too fast.. Actually the last versions fixed the issue for windows (7 x64 on my machine), but broke it for wine. The last (0.95, published just now) works on both (provided you use win98 compatibility on wine).

Was there a reason for StrictDrawOrdering ? It's impacting performance massively and disabling it doesn't seem to have a negative effect for me.

Are you sure of this ? I'll re-test carefully because if i don't set it the menu is really broken, full of glitches appear on screen..

The disabled Managed introduces a very problematic issue when shutting down the game with Alt-F4 (or normal quit sometimes): the game graphics stay over the desktop, obscuring it, leaving little other option than rebooting.

Actually on ubuntu 14.04 i tend to have the same problem when managed is on, i'll re-check.

DLL override for dsound is useless, it's already set by winetricks dsound

I think you're right, i'm accustomed to POL and i have to state this manually

I removed all other registry settings except Version=win98 and the game runs as fine for me.

nice to hear ! i'll test right now !

Oh and a suggestion: if it's possible to make your custom installer (mostly) unattended, it would be very cool! :)

why not, that's not actually complicated to do.. i'll try to do this

[medfreeman]

All right ! it's perfect ! but please use last version 0.95, that makes the game work with the 1.0 cds too !
I think i needed strict draw because of managed, or something like that !
You can also remove nGlide 1.03 version.
Thanks !

[medfreeman]

The game is configured to 1.7.13 for now. I think it's normal since there's no 1.7.28 on the server ? I'm not sure the difference in performances is really big, we'll see..
Oh btw your next branch seems promising, nice additions !

[medfreeman]

I think i'll re-embed the update inside the installer for those who have the old cd, gamefront link is not really reliable right now, link was down.

[Letiliel]

The last (0.95, published just now) works on both (provided you use win98 compatibility on wine).

I just tried with 0.96, but it's not fixed and it doesn't preconfigure the joystick like your old version. I have a v1.3 CD and I verified that the windows version was set to win98.

The game is configured to 1.7.13 for now. I think it's normal since there's no 1.7.28 on the server ?

No it's just that the Wine version setting was re-put in the game: section instead of wine:. It's a runner setting.

Oh btw your next branch seems promising, nice additions !

Thanks ! Have you tested your installer with it ? It would be nice if you could, @strycore had a crash seemingly due to my changes on insert-cd but he wasn't able to reproduce it when trying to analyse it.

Also does the site override the additional keys (runner and name) if i let them in the script ?

Replying to this old question: I don't know. :)
And yeah, we should fix the local scripts parsing to make it like the online one.

@medfreeman, I've seen that Quentin was concerned about security regarding your non-official binary. Not really concerned myself as Rogue Squadron is not a place of choice if you wanted to do harm... but why don't you open up your code ? I have to admit that keeping it closed doesn't infuse trust.

@strycore, woah those screenshots look really stretched ! you don't notice that ? It doesn't bother me on some games but here the ships being naturally quite flat already, I cannot not notice it. In your second screenshot in particular.

[medfreeman]

I just tried with 0.96, but it's not fixed and it doesn't preconfigure the joystick like your old version. I have a v1.3 CD and I verified that the windows version was set to win98.

It works for me on both wine and windows, it think i'll make a detailed report with the version of the game, version of the installer, version of wine, branch of lutris, and perhaps pol, so we can compare.

No it's just that the Wine version setting was re-put in the game: section instead of wine:. It's a runner setting.

Noted.

Thanks ! Have you tested your installer with it ? It would be nice if you could, @strycore had a crash seemingly due to my changes on insert-cd but he wasn't able to reproduce it when trying to analyse it.

I only tested with it in fact. Works perfect !

@medfreeman, I've seen that Quentin was concerned about security regarding your non-official binary. Not really concerned myself as Rogue Squadron is not a place of choice if you wanted to do harm... but why don't you open up your code ? I have to admit that keeping it closed doesn't infuse trust.

I thought it was a more general remark ! Didn't think he would let me use it in the script even if it was open ! Basically, after saying that i have not a problem at all with opening the code... i'd say that i've done it this way to avoid the whole 'providing means to make a cracked installer or something', given it is not really legal to 'repackage', even if it's not really the case. I've done it the same way as Markus Egger with his installer, freeware, not open, and a few disclaimers at the bottom of the page.. And i have to provide the links to the nsis plugins used, or put them in the repository because there's a few and one of them needs a little fix before compiling. I also have to comment it better and update the readme (i'm being lazy). But i'll try to do this tonight or during the week !

Thanks !

Edit : The whole 'has to be on an official ftp' becomes kinda moot when you can't find the actual binary anywhere reliable (e.g. the game's update), where the link is straight (not a redirection or javascript triggered limited dl). But i understand the concerns.

[medfreeman]

Je mettrai la source demain soir à disposition.

un peu hors-sujet mais pas complètement : https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2014/09/30/dolphin-progress-report-september-2014/
bientôt peut-être !!

[medfreeman]

I just published the source code https://github.com/medfreeman/RogueSquadron3DInstaller. I'll try to make test reports on windows, pol, and lutris today.
Best

[Letiliel]

Thanks for opening it up. :)

[strycore]

Awesome work everyone!

[medfreeman]

Thanks ! Do you actually think it's ok in this state ? I didn't really got time these last days to improve it.

[Letiliel]

Sadly for me it's not yet playable. I still have the input bug with the current custom installer. Which is not the case with the older version used on PoL, I verified again. So what's the regression between those two ?

Other issue : randomly every four or five installs, I get a "could not find the CD" from your installer.

Notes about the script:

• You can remove the hard-coded wine version since we're going to publish Lutris 0.3.6 soon with Wine 1.7.28 by default.
• You're using GAMEDIR without "$", which works, right. But we're using the dollar sign in all other scripts, so let's keep it consistent :). (And btw, I think we should prefix with dollar sign all the file IDs too. Again for consistency, and readability.)

[strycore]

I get a "could not find the CD" from your installer.

Are you using gCDemu to mount an ISO image (or have a real CD) ? That's the only I managed to get the installer to recognize the CD.

without "$", which works, right.

I have no idea why this works. It shouldn't.

[Letiliel]

I'm using gCDEmu and the ISO is recognized by the Lutris installer, it's medfreeman's Win installer that has this detection issue.

[medfreeman]

Sadly for me it's not yet playable. I still have the input bug with the current custom installer. Which is not the case with the older version used on PoL, I verified again. So what's the regression between those two ?

There shouldn't be, since nothing changed concerning the joystick (for wine) between these two versions. But i'll check the changes and try to see if there's something. Do you happen to have the 'Luke' profile already created when you launch the game on lutris ? If yes, that my means my installer doesn't always properly detects wine, and so thinks it's running on Windows.

Background : It is known that this bug exists on windows (and it's pretty random), and no compatibility mode changes that. However i read somewhere that if you have the issue, you should try to create 4 player profiles and use the fourth one, and the bug disappears. That actually happened to me and this workaround worked a few times after installing the game. Even if you delete the 3 first profiles. So i thought let's include the fourth profile in the installer and copy it to the game when we're not running on wine (that's the default profile named Luke if you try the installer on Windows, file is assets/profile/Player_03.sav). However sometimes that doesn't work (i have the bug back), but having the fourth profile helps (even if the 3 first are not present), because you have just to create a new one (the 5th) and the bug disappears. For now i never had the issue on Wine, but perhaps it was luck (an external factor we don't know about). Perhaps it depends on the controller used.

Other issue : randomly every four or five installs, I get a "could not find the CD" from your installer.

I only use gCDEmu for now, and never had the issue. I'll receive the original by mail during this week (french version). But the cdrom plugin i use for detection is pretty old and i'm not sure it is really reliable. I'll replace it by a more standard method using Nsis GetDrives, and hopefully it'll disappear.

You can remove the hard-coded wine version since we're going to publish Lutris 0.3.6 soon with Wine 1.7.28 by default.
You're using GAMEDIR without "$", which works, right. But we're using the dollar sign in all other scripts, so let's keep it consistent :). (And btw, I think we should prefix with dollar sign all the file IDs too. Again for consistency, and readability.)

Ok, i'll make these changes later this evening

without "$", which works, right.
I have no idea why this works. It shouldn't.

https://github.com/lutris/lutris/blob/master/lutris/installer.py l.418 :

def _substitute(self, template_string):
        """ Replace path aliases with real paths """
        replacements = {
            "GAMEDIR": self.target_path,
            "CACHE": settings.CACHE_DIR,
            "HOME": os.path.expanduser("~"),
            "DISC": self.game_disc
        }
        replacements.update(self.game_files)
        return substitute(template_string, replacements)

It's because of this right ?

[Letiliel]

I don't get the Luke profile preset in the last version of your installer. I have it with the older installer. So that's it I guess, I need this 4th profile on Wine. My controller is an Xbox 360 wireless pad.

[medfreeman]

Ok. So that's a bit random, and that means we can perhaps remove win98 compatiiblity too since i thought it made the joystick work.
I'll also try to check the contents of a 'working' profile and one that doesn't to see if there's a difference. Probably not, since a profile seems to work one time and not the other time. If it's dependent on the controller too, perhaps an ID is stored somewhere and i can automate this with the installer editing the profile. I'll check the existing profile editing tools to see what's stored where. I'll also check the profile fixer thing that exists to see if that closes the issue or not.
I'll get back to you in a few days, because i'm really overbooked till the end of the month.
Thanks

[Letiliel]

Ok thanks, I'm awaiting your progress. :)

On a different topic, I was wondering why you moved the insert_disc() directive from an installer: task to a pre-installer command ? I can't see a good reason for this and it's preventing to ask for multiple disks in the same installer (which will happen on some occasions).

[medfreeman]

I didn't realize it completely at the time. I was thinking it's a prerequisite, so should happen before doing anything else.

I was internally refering to one of petch comments on a POL script saying :

Rationale: if the user realizes that (s)he doesn't have the game, or download fails for some reason, etc, the install script would not have created an empty virtual drive (that the user may not even notice until (s)he opens the configuration window)

Now i understand that putting it in a an installer task doesn't conflict with this approach, since the tasks are done in order right ? I got sucked in installer.py and forgot totally about other parts of the code, since i'm new to your code.

BTW when is the wine prefix created ? before tasks or not ? because if yes i think petch comment could be relevant to this case too.

Ok i'll redo this correctly using your changes start of next month if you want.

[Letiliel]

Ok, it's not a problem but I'll revert it for the time being I think. We've discussed this with Strycore on IRC and came up with an intermediate decision: we should reference the disks in the Files section and ask the user for them in the Installer part.

And yes, the tasks are done in order. And the Wine prefix is created when any of the wineexec, winetricks, set_regedit or create_prefix tasks is called. It's not created at the beginning like in PoL.

[medfreeman]

Hi, i'll be available to do all these things next week. Thanks

[medfreeman]

Ok, i'm restarting work on this (RS3D).
Removed dependency to cd-rom plugin, now just using getdrives and a system call to get drive volume label. Added 3dfx registry keys when nGlide is already installed (doesn't really apply to lutris / wine since it's prefix specific).
Concerning the joystick, the game has to be run through the launcher for the joystick id to be set in the registry. It wouldn't work with your older wine (the launcher wouldn't run), but since you have updated it in the meantime, i hope it'll work now. So i'll try with the launcher, the 'Luke' profile and no win98 compatibility.
Concerning the insert_disc function, i'm sure i'll get to it in a few days, for now i have a lot of things to do for my work.
Thanks !

[Letiliel]

It sounds good.
I've already moved back insert_disc as an installer task, you just have to update your script.

[strycore]

I'll get Rogue Squadron on GOG and use this as a final test on whether this issue can be closed, alright?

[medfreeman]

Sure. I'm sorry i didn't continue the work on it. I'm sure i'll do it one day though, but as always schedule is tight.
For reference i bought it on gog.com the day it went out, and it suffers from exactly the same issues as the original version on my computer (Win7 x64).
I'll guess when i'll restart the work on this i'll make an option for the gog.com version.
I think i'll get the incentive when nGlide 1.04 will come out.

Oh btw your ultimate goal will soon come to light, as rogue leader and rebel strike just became (fully?) playable on dolphin since last week.
However my CPU is too weak (core 2 duo 2x3Ghz) for this.

Best

[strycore]

Well the current installer works pretty well already, that why I wanted to close this issue but there's always room for improvement sure. If you want to leave this open for further discussion on the progress made, I have absolutely no problem with that (I'll just remove the 0.3.7 milestone).

Oh btw your ultimate goal will soon come to light, as rogue leader and rebel strike just became (fully?) playable on dolphin since last week.

Awesome! I tried Rogue Leader something like two or three weeks ago and it didn't run at all. I'll give it another try with the newer builds

[medfreeman]

If you don't mind, i'd like to close it when the issue with joysticks is closed for good, and the script is ok.
I'll try this week-end, but i tend to be a bit unpredictable..

[strycore]

Ok, no problem.
I tried Rogue Leader, works really well ! (except from some issues with the music, even with LLE audio)

[strycore]

@medfreeman I made an installer for nglide 1.03 which works well enough. Did you make any progress for the GOG version?