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Request Game: Oolite

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August 24, 2010 - 4:24pm
#1
Darkbee
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Request Game: Oolite

Program: Oolite

Application: Games

License: Open Source (not sure of exact license)

Description: A 3D, space trading/combat "simulator" and a re-imagination of the classic Elite. (The original author of Oolite prefers not to consider it a "remake", and there definitely some enhancements over the original). Its open ended game-play makes for variety of play, you can pilot a huge trading vessel, hunt down hardened criminals as a bounty hunter, or be the hunted yourself, as a pirate menacing trade conveys as they slowly make their way through Space. If you ever loved the original then you'll love this, improved graphics, game-play, equipment, ships and just all around a thoroughly engrossing game. Even if you didn't love the original then you still might like this. It's a pity we can't post screenshots. Takes me back to my misspent youth. Smile

Website: http://www.oolite.org/

Other:Looks like it stores the general settings here: ./oolite.app/GNUstep/Defaults and save games are stored here: ./oolite.app/oolite-saves

This game was requested once before, a long time ago but apparently fell on deaf ears. It's not terribly big, about 36mb installed I think and would make an excellent addition to the games section.

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August 25, 2010 - 6:44pm
Pyromaniac
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alright

so I looked at the app.

upon 1st inspection, it looked kinda easy.

upon 2nd inspection, I couldn't figure out how to play the game, I was left on the "Commander Jameson" part, with no clue what to do (so I read the pdf, which you made right?)

upon 3rd inspection, it runs really slow and jumpy on my 10 year old PC, which is to be expected.

upon 4th inspection, I noticed the batch file. That got me. It seems like it sends parameters to the base app, so that it knows where all the data is, and, which, I'm assuming the installer for the game made. IDK how I'm gonna deal with it in PAL, so I'll probably do an NSIS launcher from scratch. Or I might do PAL with most of the magic being done in the custom code. I'm not sure yet.

From the 40 or so frames I saw while playing for 5 minutes, it looks like a fun game Blum

But don't expect it to be coming out any time soon (maybe within a month from now), since I got a crapload of homework from my 5 AP classes (including computer science :D)

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August 25, 2010 - 7:43pm
(Reply to #2)
BSmitty358
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The batch.

Do you think the batch file would work properly if you converted it to .exe?

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August 25, 2010 - 8:24pm
(Reply to #3)
Chris Morgan
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Batch file

I couldn't bear to have you think that PAL can't do what a batch file can do...

I presume that the batch file you're speaking of is RunOolite.bat (found it in their SVN repository):

@echo off
set BASE=%~dp0
set GNUSTEP_PATH_HANDLING=windows
set GNUSTEP_SYSTEM_ROOT=%BASE%\oolite.app
set GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT=%BASE%\oolite.app
set GNUSTEP_NETWORK_ROOT=%BASE%\oolite.app
set GNUSTEP_USERS_ROOT=%BASE%\oolite.app
set HOMEPATH=%BASE%\oolite.app
"%BASE%\oolite.app\oolite.exe" %1 %2 %3 %4

All that "set" stuff is doing is environment variables. %~dp0 is the drive and path of %0, the script name - the directory that RunOolite.bat is running from.

PAL handles environment variable stuff easily. Assuming RunOolite.bat would be in App\Oolite, and oolite.exe in App\Oolite\oolite.app\oolite.exe, the batch file would turn into is this:

[Launch]
ProgramExecutable=Oolite\oolite.app\oolite.exe

[Environment]
BASE=%PAL:AppDir%\Oolite
GNUSTEP_PATH_HANDLING=windows
GNUSTEP_SYSTEM_ROOT=%BASE%\oolite.app
GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT=%BASE%\oolite.app
GNUSTEP_NETWORK_ROOT=%BASE%\oolite.app
GNUSTEP_USERS_ROOT=%BASE%\oolite.app
HOMEPATH=%BASE%\oolite.app

I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1

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August 26, 2010 - 10:22am
(Reply to #4)
Pyromaniac
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huh

I never thought of that.

It just seems weird that they need to use environmental variables at all Pardon

Thanks though, at least I know it will be a lot easier keeping up with my goal of releasing one app per week...

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August 26, 2010 - 10:24am
(Reply to #5)
Darkbee
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Mac 1st, Windows Later

Would it make a difference if I tell you that it was original coded on Mac OSX and then later ported to Windows and Linux? (probably not but perhaps that might explain some coding/architectural decisions).

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August 30, 2010 - 10:48am
(Reply to #6)
Pyromaniac
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no go, bro

But I don't think that its a problem with the launcher, I think its just a problem that I've run into many times before.

For the sake of simplicity, and because I haven't found a better term, I'll just refer to it as a weird app...

So I copied and pasted, and added custom code into you-know-where for the launcher for the settings and it didn't work. Funny thing is though, that this time, it didn't give error messages that it had given before when it was not run from the batch file (you know how when you run oolite.exe from oolite.app, you get funky error messages, because [I'm assuming] the env-variables ain't set? Well, instead, it just popped up for a half a second, then left. IDK why, but then I noticed stdrr.txt (or something like that) that had been created in the launcher directory. Why? Well, that is my theory of the weird app:

TORCS, EnigmaCS, Seizure Dome, PageBreeze, Podcatcher on a stick (yes the first request app) all seem to act like the launcher is the EXE and tries to find its files in the "launcherDirectory\whatever\*.*" IDK why, but it just is.

Oolite looks like its a weird app too.

I think it has to do with EXEDIR being the top of the process tree, but I can't be positive...

I could just the launcher to copy the files from App\Oolite\appinto the launcherDirectory and delete them on exit, but, unlike PageBreeze or Seizure Dome, I don't know what files it needs to be read from (see PageBreeze or Seizure Dome Portable's source to see what I mean).

I also scoured the manual for a solution and I thought it mighta been WorkingDirectory, but that didn't work for this app or the other ones.

IDK what the problem is... any ideas captain?

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August 30, 2010 - 7:09pm
(Reply to #7)
Chris Morgan
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Working directory

The most likely culprit is the working directory. Try setting [Launch]:WorkingDirectory to %PAL:AppDir%\Oolite.

I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1

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August 30, 2010 - 9:16pm
(Reply to #8)
Pyromaniac
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nope

tried that already. As with all the other "weird apps" it does not work.

EDIT: See ZIP:
https://cid-bc2bf6ecf0522728.office.live.com/viewpermissions.aspx/.Publi...

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November 6, 2010 - 9:56pm
(Reply to #9)
Ambimind
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Yes it is the working dir,

Yes it is the working dir, here is my working launcher.ini:

[Launch]
ProgramExecutable=Oolite\oolite.app\oolite.exe
SingleAppInstance=true
RunAsAdmin=try 
WorkingDirectory=%PAL:AppDir%\Oolite\oolite.app\

V1.74.2 seems to be portable anyway - I can run it from any location on my system and I can access my saved games.

Even though the -1D graphics are not terribly inspiring I was able to learn the purpose/use behind the 'WorkingDir' key: Some applications misinterpret having being launched by PAL to mean that their program directory is %PAL:PortableAppsDir%.

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August 26, 2010 - 12:28am
(Reply to #10)
Darkbee
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Oooh goodie!

Errr, I don't see a batch file Pardon Which version did you try? I know it's contra to general PortableApps wisdom but upon advice of the Oolite site itself I downloaded the latest version 1.74.2. I can tell you that the 1.65 version is the last version that Giles (the original developer) worked on, and that must have been at least 2 years ago, if not more. So I think the new developers kinda keep it around out of respect for his enormous contribution to the game rather than anything else. The 1.74.2 version seems very stable to me and lives up to the claims on oolite.org (it hasn't crashed on me yet, and I know that the early Windows ports did).

You start off in a Space Station, press 1 or F1 to launch. Smile

I think there are some options to tone down the graphics a little bit to try to speed things up. (Press 2 or F2 when docked).

If you're serious about playing this game then I'd do your homework. It can be very frustrating at first but there so much to discover. Smile I'd particularly recommend practicing docking: just leave the space station and don't roll or pitch, just fly away from it a little bit, stop, turn around then try to dock. Practice this until you've got it down, because it's gonna be a while before you can afford a docking computer. Wink

I didn't write the PDF that comes with it today, I did write a PDF a long time ago and it looks like someone took my original and ran with it. (which is actually kinda cool. It's also cool that they gave some credit to me, I must thank them!)

Just as a general comment to all interested, the graphics and sound might be considered somewhat basic by today's standards but Oolite does try to do a good job of faithfully recreating the atmosphere of the original game without introducing too many fancy bells and whistles. The real bells and whistle are in the AI and the way other ships interact with each other and with you, and also in other subtle details. Smile

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August 26, 2010 - 10:27am
(Reply to #11)
Pyromaniac
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I tried the latest stable version

I'm not serious about playing the game, I'll just stick to my 11 year-old Uno game (from 1999). It runs really fast and hardly uses any CPU Smile Great to play while I wait for BIG apps to load. The controls though, don't seem to be in any particular patern, so I think that might make it a little harder to play.

I like the graphics though, except the planet, which looks a little like Google Earth when it stops buffering, like halfway through.

The only thing about it is that it needs some music, or the sound of an engine, or at least something in the background while in flight. Its too quiet.

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August 26, 2010 - 10:45am
(Reply to #12)
Darkbee
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It's not for everybody

Space is very quiet my friend. Wink The original didn't have much sound, partly for atmosphere and partly because the hardware at the time couldn't really handle any sophisticated sound (we're talking 8-bit machines with 4 channel soundchip sound or worse, a 1 channel beep generator! Shock )

I think Oolite will definitely appeal more to fans of the original than not. The original was pretty ground-breaking for its time. These days it doesn't look quite so revolutionary.

Anyway, any attempts to get this portable would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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November 6, 2010 - 9:59pm
(Reply to #13)
Ambimind
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Have you tried running the

Have you tried running the current version from a usb?

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