Linux Support
Linux support in Flashpoint is currently experimental due to a lack of maintainers. This page describes the current state of our Linux support.
Latest Package
Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eai0nFWe0XNc8WbsIg-koOzLc7jk_b_k/view?usp=sharing
- This is the latest experimental package of Flashpoint Infinity for Linux, created on September 28, 2019.
Installation instructions:
- Download and extract the .tar.gz file.
- Install PHP and Wine if you do not have them. You'll need to follow distro-specific instructions if you have Ubuntu or Debian.
- Run the Flashpoint shortcut.
- Click the Config tab and check the "Use Wine" box if unchecked.
Changelog:
September 28:
- Updated to Flashpoint 6.3
- Bundled WIP Launcher with better Multi-Platform Support
- Proper linux argument escaping (Supersonic RC works now, yay!)
- SPR games automatically use port 22500 (Hacky, may be removed later)
- Wine will always (and only) be used for running .exe files (even if use Wine is turned off in Config)
- .bat files will always run their .sh equivalents (even if use Wine is turned on in Config)
- Windows execs are mapped to native execs (if existing), so Windows game XMLs should work out the box. (See execs.json)
- Can mark a platform as 'native' in Config, will force native execs to be used instead of Windows execs even if use Wine is turned on.
- If no native execs are available (like Shockwave) then it will fallback to running the Windows exec with Wine.
- Added native Basilisk support files
- Updated SPR files
- Updated router.php
September 18:
- Added new SPR version (see update-spr.sh) and Shockwave XMLs
- Added interim Launcher hack to make Shockwave games that use SPR work properly
- Made the save manager scripts use a valid interpreter (/bin/sh)
- TODO: they still need further work/testing
July 21 and prior:
- Configure Flash games to run using the Windows player, flashplayer_32_sa.exe
- The Linux flash player suffers from too many graphical glitches
- Requires Wine to be installed and enabled to play
- Updated JDK to version 8u212
- startJava.sh instructions and script updated
- Made startJava.sh executable
- Added support for Authorware Platform
- Adds Linux versions of the Save Manager scripts
- Adds a "Flashpoint" shortcut (replacing the Windows version)
- Adds Flashpoint 6.2 games
- Removed the game logos, as in Flashpoint Infinity 6.2 for Windows
- Removed the Wineprefix because it was not used
To-Do List
- Test Unity 2.x and 3.x games
- Test the GoBit Plugin games for Flashpoint 6.3
Technologies
Currently, only Flashpoint Infinity is available for Linux. Like its Windows counterpart, it uses router.php as a proxy server. But unlike Windows, Linux provides native ways to set per-application proxy settings, so no equivalent to the Flashpoint Redirector is used. On Windows, the HTTP system proxy is set to localhost:8888, and the Redirector forwards traffic to port 22500 if it originates from one of Flashpoint's applications. On Linux, each application is simply told to use localhost:22500 as a proxy server. For example, before Flashpoint Launcher opens the Flash projector, it sets the http_proxy environment variable to http://localhost:22500/.
When Flashpoint is updated, each Platform XML must be updated. The XMLs are located in Flashpoint's Data/Platforms folder. The initial download of Flashpoint Infinity for Windows only supports Flash games, but Flashpoint Infinity for Linux includes all of its supported web game technologies in the initial download. Thus the Other Technologies upgrade is not used. The Logos & Screenshots upgrade works the same way on Linux as on Windows, though.
The Flashpoint FAQ contains a list of all web game technologies ("Platforms") supported in the Windows version of Flashpoint. The Linux version currently supports a subset of these platforms. This is explained in detail below.
- Flash: Supported through Wine by default. Although a Linux Flash Projector exists, it suffers from graphical glitches on many systems. If you'd like to try your luck with the native projector, then either turn off use Wine, or tick it as a 'Native Platform' on the Config page.
- Shockwave: supported through Wine.
- HTML5: Supported natively through the Basilisk browser. To update Basilisk, download it from here and extract it such that the executable is located at
FPSoftware/Basilisk-Portable/linux/basilisk. By default, Basilisk will store its configuration in the location defined byXDG_CONFIG_DIR, so Flashpoint uses a shell script to set the configuration location. A pre-configured copy of Basilisk, along with the shell script, is packaged and also available here. This text file describes Basilisk's configuration. - Java Applets: Supported natively using the JDK.
- Unity Web Player: Supported through Wine. Unity 2.x and 3.x games may not work; this needs further testing.
- PopCap Plugin: Supported through Wine.
- Authorware Web Player: Supported through Wine.
- Silverlight: Not supported. In the past, Pipelight allowed Linux users to use Silverlight, but the repository is no longer available for most Linux distros. Moonlight was another option, but is also no longer available. Attempts to use Silverlight in K-Meleon using Wine have failed.
- 3DVIA Player: Not supported. A previous tester received this error, which crashed K-Meleon:
Error: Access was denied while trying to open files in your profile directory. We need another tester to help us narrow this down. - 3D Groove GX: Not supported. When the http_proxy variable is set, Groove Player downloads but fails to load the file. Maybe the registry method described here would work better, but this needs to be tested. Two of our testers received the following set of errors: 1 2 3
- ActiveX: Not supported. The most promising method so far was to install Internet Explorer 8 and each ActiveX plugin into the Wine prefix, but this needs considerable work.
- GoBit Plugin: Not tested yet. To get started, simply download the GoBit Games Plugin support pack and follow the instructions in the included Readme.
Launcher Issues
A lot of work has been done to allow Flashpoint Launcher to support Linux, but there's a lot of room for improvement. This Trello post outlines some potential improvements.
Wine
Most games rely on technology only available on Windows. A lot of these however can be run through Wine. If there is no native executable, or you have the Native Platform option unticked for the game's platform then the launcher will run it through Wine.
If you use wish to play games that rely on Wine then make sure it installed. There are links below to distro specific install guides: