Linux Support

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Revision as of 07:11, 4 July 2020 by Nosamu (talk | contribs) (Clarified release dates and which build is the latest)
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Linux support in Flashpoint is currently experimental due to a lack of maintainers. This page describes the current state of our Linux support.

Release

These are experimental packages for specific Linux distros. They are outdated - please use the latest package instead! If you can help update these packages, please visit the Discord server and join #development-chat.

You must install the Flashpoint Infinity - Linux upgrade package from the Launcher home screen. Future Infinity upgrades will be distributed through these packages - You will be prompted on the home screen, never forced.

Installation procedure

This procedure is valid as of February 10th, 2020.

When installing flashpoint-bin.deb, the Launcher may not get the Linux upgrade package due to:

  • Server protocol error (using HTTPS instead of HTTP). This is a temporary problem that will be fixed in the future.
  • Invalid Flashpoint folder (the Launcher should ask for it when accepting the upgrade on the first run). It may happen the Launcher does not do that.

In order to have a valid Flashpoint folder, please follow this procedure:

  1. In any part of the disk, create an empty folder. In this guide, fpbase will be used. This will become the Flashpoint folder.
  2. Inside fpbase, create the folder Data.
  3. Inside Data, create the folder Platforms.
  4. In the Launcher configuration, set the Flashpoint folder to fpbase. The box color should now be green. Upgrades may now be downloaded.

If the Linux upgrades download fails (by either getting stuck at an ellipsis or giving an SSL error), please follow this procedure:

  1. Go to /opt/flashpoint and open the file upgrade.json with a text editor.
  2. Under the sources key, there will be a URL starting with https://bluepload.unstable.life. Change the https part to http, then save the file.
  3. If the Launcher is open, close it and reopen it. The download should now be possible.

This problem may also happen with the Other technologies and Screenshot upgrades. For those cases, follow this procedure:

  1. Ensure the Linux upgrade package has been installed. (There would be two download options at the main screen instead of one).
  2. Go to fpbase/Data (where fpbase is the Flashpoint folder set in the Launcher configuration) and open the file upgrade.json
  3. Change all instances of https to http (there should be two).
  4. If the Launcher is open, close and reopen it. The download should now be possible.

Latest Package

Download: https://bluepload.unstable.life/flashpoint81infinitylinux.7z

  • This is the latest experimental package of Flashpoint Infinity for Linux, created on July 4, 2020. Currently everything is going through Wine.

Installation instructions:

  1. Download and extract the .7z file.
  2. Install PHP and the 32-bit version of Wine if you do not have them. See Wine installation instructions below.
  3. Change to the Launcher folder and run the flashpoint-launcher binary

Previous link

  1. Still needed if you want to make some of the platforms native

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eai0nFWe0XNc8WbsIg-koOzLc7jk_b_k/view?usp=sharing

Changelog:

2020-07-04:

  • Updated to Flashpoint 8.1 Infinity
  • Updated to Flashpoint Launcher 9.0.2

2019-09-28:

  • 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

2019-09-18:

  • 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

2019-07-21 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
  • Fix startUnity.sh, since it modifies K-Meleon's config, which is no longer necessary
  • AMF support for games like Neon Rider for the community levels

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/.

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.

Supported Platforms

  • 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 by XDG_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.
  • GoBit Plugin: Supported through Wine.

Unsupported Platforms

  • Silverlight: 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: 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: 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: 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.

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.

You may choose to use the native versions, in which case tick the platform under Native Platforms in Config.

If you wish to play games that rely on Wine, be sure to install the 32-bit version of Wine. There are links below to distro specific install guides:

Next Version

WIP Changelog:

  • New Launcher features from Master
    • Splash Screen while loading (no half loaded XMLs when browsing anymore)
    • Search Overhaul
    • Background Services in Developer (Restart/stop/start the Router on the fly)
  • Non-Flash technologies provided via an upgrade package.
  • Removed 'Use Wine' option, effectively enabled by default, use 'Native Platforms' to use native execs instead.
  • Partial ActiveX support, requires heavy testing. ThwartPoker, Butterfly Escape, Big City Adventure, Astro Avengers 2 and HamsterBall do not work yet.
  • Updated startJava.sh to support multiple command-line parameters: replace "$1" with "$@" on line 8
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