How-To: Compile and Install the Battle for Wesnoth 1.4.3 on Debian Lenny

Note: This tutorial may also work in Ubuntu and other Debian-based distributions.

The last stable version of Wesnoth is 1.4.3, a maintenance release for the 1.4.x branch. This new branch features great improvements over the older stable, 1.2.8, like a whole bunch of new graphics, speed improvements, UI redesign to be more easier and intuitive, transparency effects, and many other.

In order to compile it, you will first need to install the necessary dependencies:

apt-get install libsdl1.2-dev libsdl-image1.2-dev libsdl-mixer1.2-dev libsdl-net1.2-dev pyste

The pyste package is required to get rid of this annoying error: configure: error: Could not find Boost headers version >= 1.33.

Next, download the source code from the official Wesnoth website. After you uncompress it, change the current working directory to wesnoth-1.4.3 and do the usual to compile:

./configure
make
make install

Wesnoth 1.4.3 - usual screen after starting the game

Wesnoth tutorial

Note: This tutorial also applies to the older 1.4.x versions.

Updated: Jun 11, 2008 (Created: Jun 11, 2008)

Gaming Tips on Linux - A Compilation

I gathered these tips over the time, and most of them were very useful to me.

Fix sound in Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
This is a known issue due to the old, unmaintained sound system used by Enemy Territory. Follow the instructions here: http://nullkey.ath.cx/~stuff/et-sdl-sound/

Sound in Unreal Tournament 2004
Sometimes after you close the game, the sound in other applications will cease to work, because the UT2004 process is still running. To quit it, either use quit from the UT2004 console (I noticed this always kills the process correctly), or type:

kill -9 $(pidof ut2004-bin)

You can make an alias for this command, like kut (for 'kill ut'), see how to create aliases here.

Start a Quake 3 server
Here's a 'standard' command:

/usr/local/games/ioquake3/ioq3ded.i386 +set fs_game baseq3 +set net_IP [IP] +set dedicated 2 +set com_hunkmegs 128 +exec server.cfg &

Make sure to replace the path to the dedicated server binary in case yours is different, and also, instead of [IP] fill in your IP address.

Start an Urban Terror server
Urban Terror is a pretty realistic standalone First Person Shooter (formerly Quake 3 mod) which carries you in battles in maps inspired from various locations of the globe. To start a server, use:

/usr/local/games/ioquake3/ioq3ded.i386 +set fs_game q3ut4 +set net_IP [IP] +set dedicated 2 +set com_hunkmegs 256 +exec server.cfg &

This assumes you already have Quake 3 installed. If not, you may start a server anyway, see the guide on the official homepage. The same as the above, replace the path to the dedicated binary and [IP] with your IP.

Note: This list is open for additions, so if you have any please leave a comment or send me an email (see the About post).

Updated: June 09, 2008 (Created: June 09, 2008)

Quake 3: A True Classic Never Dies

I started to play Quake 3 soon after its source code was licensed under the GPL. I must admit, I didn't play it from the beginning, and I'm at best a good player, but I always enjoyed playing online some classic mode.

Introduction
Quake 3 was released in December 1999, and ever since, it is one of the most played online FPS games. It's actually one of the most played FPS games from all time. It is very alert and benefits from lots of maps and mods, making it probably the most played games ever, together with Unreal Tournament.

The servers are not that crowded, at least not as they used to be, but, considering it's almost 9 years old and still active, it's one of the games which will never die, which will always have both new and older, nostalgic players.



The best move id Software (the company who developed it) was to release the source code under the GPL. This rapidly allowed several projects to use it and modify it, and it gave birth to a whole bunch of new games.

There are several popular games based on the Quake 3 engine, to mention just a few: Urban Terror, AlienArena, OpenArena, Tremulous. All of them are native for Linux.

Gameplay
It features 4 default modes, Free for All (FFA), Team Deathmatch (TDM), Deathmatch (DM) and Capture the Flag (CTF). Many more are available, and the most two popular are Excessive and FreezeDT. Excessive usually features all the weapons (or only the Railgun) with very increased power and the ability to jump higher many times. It's a good mode once you master it, but I don't like it because it seems only 'spamming' to me. In FreezeDT you freeze an opponent when you shoot him, and once your team freezes all the players in the other team, you'll win a round. Friendly frozen teammates can be brought to life if another player in the same team stays close enough for a certain amount of time.

Quake 3 was intended for online multiplayer games, but the single player is competitive too. The AI is smart enough and can offer a good enough single player experience.

Playing online

Single player in Capture the Flag

It's very fast: most players say it has a faster pace than Unreal Tournament, which is well known for its dodges and jumps which can make a skilled player dance inside a vast area in a matter of seconds. It features 10 weapons carefully chosen.



Conclusion
Another favourite on my list. The only problem I've got was lack of servers with classic modes (the Excessive servers are usually full, but I don't really enjoy this mode that much). A true classic, which really doesn't look like it's going to leave us too soon.

Edit: Quake 3 is no longer updated, but since it has been licensed under the GPL, a project called ioQuake3 took the source and started to clean out bugs. ioQuake3 is practically Quake 3 with updates to date. You can get it from the official ioQuake3 website.

Updated: June 10, 2008 (Created: June 09, 2008)

One of My Favourites: Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

Updated: June 07, 2008 (Created May 31, 2008)

An ET review from a medium-skilled player who enjoys the game

Introduction
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (or ET for short) is a FPS (First Person Shooter) game, native for Linux, which borrows concepts from Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and uses the Quake 3 engine. The idea initially was to develop it as a new commercial RtCW mod, but, ultimately, it was released as a free standalone, multiplayer game, after the developers abandoned the development of the single player part of the game.

Gameplay
It was released in May 2003, and ever since, it is one of the most played online games. It features several modes like Jaymod or No Quarter, and 6 default maps playable in two available campaigns, the Central Europe campaign (including Wurzburg Radar, Fueldump, Railgun) and the South Africa campaign (including Siwa Wasis, Seawall Battery, Goldrush). Each campaign puts two forces face to face, Allies and Axis, and each team has to accomplish certain objectives (or keep the other team not to) in order to win.

Battery Recharged (click to enlarge)

Each team benefits of 5 types of classes (Soldier, Medic, Engineer, Covert Ops, Field Ops) and each class has its own special features. For example the Covert Ops can steal enemy uniforms, or the medic can heal and revive friendly players.

The good thing about the class types is that this way you will have to take a different approach for each of them. For example, the medic will let soldiers go into the middle of the battle, and supply them with health packs and revive them when it's the case, keeping out of enemy fire if possible. Don't mind the frags: you receive experience for objectives you accomplish, including healing friendly players.

Online playing
The online playing experience is awesome: weapons which need real skill in order to be used at full potential, grenades of all kinds (a new weapon introduced in Jaymod is the Cocktail Molotov). You can find servers with active players nearly at any time, and most of them have a system to never reset the experience points (not a very good idea if you ask me, but some players like it that way).

Many more maps and skins are available for download, and usually all the major modes include some interesting new feature. The game does not receive updates any more, but the available modes are in constant development and improvement.

Siwa Oasis - a true classic (click to enlarge)

Particular aspect: trickjumps
It is also known for its videos and demonstrations of the so-called 'trickjumps', which can be mastered only by practising and playing for a long time. One famous example would be a bug in the Oasis map, where you could jump over a wall using trickjump, despite the fact that the developers never intended to have it that way. There are servers dedicated only to trickjumps, running maps specially designed for it. Mastering trickjumps is a way of getting respected by other players and be regarded as a highly skilled player. Of course, trickjumps are not everything: you have to be a useful team-mate and struggle to be part of a team. If you ask me, I never liked those players who only play as medics and usually heal no one but themselves, making points while their team loses (medics in new versions of Jaymod cannot use healthpacks any more, so this is no longer an issue if you play Jaymod).

The Paris Bastille map (click to enlarge)

The well-known, commercial game Enemy Territory: Quake Wars borrows lots of concepts from ET.

Documentation and support
Enemy Territory is no longer updated, but the mods for it are, which keeps the game evolving constantly. There is plenty of documentation and websites dedicated to ET on the Internet, like the following:

Enemy Territory - Planet Wolfenstein
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory Strategy Guide
Enemy Territory at Jolt.co.uk
ET and RtCW at Jolt.co.uk

Conclusion
The best thing about ET is that it's free and the second is that it easily competes with any commercial online FPS game. Overall, this is one of my all-time favourite games: it offers a great online playing feeling, the multiplayer part is complete and can keep you playing it for hours.

A Visual Tour of ET: Quake Wars Demo 1.4

Updated: June 01, 2008

From the moment it was released, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars for Linux received great support, including updates for the Linux demo version. The demo includes one map, Valley, and provides single and multiplayer games on the available demo servers, but the persistent stats system is not available. I took the following screenshots at 1280x1024, with all the quality settings set to high and no antialiasing. The demo version is the latest, 1.4, and the graphics are purely stunning.


Resolution and quality settings


Main window



Screenshots from the Valley map




Realistic water effects


Demo servers



All screenshots were taken using default TGA format and converted to lossless PNG.

Update: You can read a review of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (the game from which ETQW borrows most of its concepts) here.

The Battle for Wesnoth 1.4.2 Review

It's been a while since I made the Battle for Wesnoth 1.2.8 Review, and now the brand new 1.4.2 release is out. What are the new features? What changed or improved since the last stable version? I will try to review most of the new features in the last Wesnoth release, as well as including some in-game screenshots.

What's new?
The first thing you'll notice when starting the game is a new background image, somewhat nicer than the older one. The tips now have different sources, like 'Handbook of Tactical Analysis Volume II' or quotes from well-known Wesnothian characters. The game interface is visibly faster and more responsive, which is one good improvement over 1.2.8, where you had to wait a considerable amount of time even on fast CPUs when entering multiplayer or starting a new single player game. It also benefits from sounds each time a button is pressed, with the possibility to turn this feature off.

Other highlights include: beautiful transparency effects for in-game messages, like the dialogues in campaigns; new sounds and songs; new and revised maps (the map formerly known as Meteor Lake is called now Fallenstar Lake); some units are now animated, creating a more dynamic experience; several units benefit from new artwork. The campaign number now increased to 13, so, except the classic ones like Heir to the Throne or The Rise of Wesnoth, new official campaigns are now available like Son of the Black-Eye or Descend into Darkness.

New background image

Another notable change is the way the map is scrolled now: it seems like it uses an algorithm for acceleration, creating a smoother scroll effect.

Isar's Cross 2vs2

Multiplayer
The multiplayer window offers the Preferences dialog so you can change options without the need to disconnect from the server. The amount of players doubled now (probably because both 1.2.8 and 1.3.x development branch players merged on the single 1.4 server) and you can find opponents at any given time.

Connected to the multiplayer server - notice the large number of players

Conclusion
If I gave Wesnoth 1.2.8 ten points out of ten, then I'd have to give this new release eleven out of ten, at least. It's getting better and better with each new version. I can say Wesnoth stands as a remarkable piece of art in the gaming world.

Updated: June 01, 2008 (Created: Jun 01, 2008)

The Battle for Wesnoth 1.2.8 Review

Updated: May 24, 2008

Introduction
The Battle for Wesnoth is a TBS (Turn-Based Strategy) game available for Linux, Windows and Mac. This review is based on the stable version 1.2.8 for Linux. It has a huge active community and it is in constant development, with new features added in each new version. A stable version is included in the Debian and Ubuntu repositories, and probably other distributions include it too, since it's licensed under the GPL. Great artwork, great music, does not need a powerful and expensive video card since it's 2D; you can run it in fullscreen mode or window mode.

Gameplay
The game provides six standard factions, and each faction has its own units to recruit, with different traits, attack types, and special abilities. For example Rebels have the Shaman, which heals adjacent units, or the Wose, which can hide and stay undetected in the forest. The Undead have the Ghost, which can heal a number of hit points equal with the damage inflicted to the opponent. The list goes on for every faction. The AI is powerful enough to provide a decent single player game, and you can always play the official campaigns or custom ones downloaded through the in-game menu. There are six official campaigns, which can be played at different difficulty levels, some of them being destined to newcomers and others to medium or advanced players. Newbies can first try the tutorial, which teaches the player the basic skills to understand and play the game. You can download new campaigns, factions and maps from the official server through the in-game menu.

Online playing is cool, except for a few annoying players which set countless labels on the entire map (if you play the game you know what I'm talking about). The best way to avoid these or players who quit often is to make a few friends on the official server, then only play with them. This will ensure a great, undisturbed game. There are always active players on the official server, so usually you will be able to join a game at any time. Forum members often organise tournaments between skilled (or not necessarily) players.

The only thing it does not have are persistent stats, as there is no option to register a nickname yet. I remember a forum thread about this, but I can't recall if there are plans to do a stats system (I'll come back with more info on this as soon as I get to read that thread again).

Don't forget to use one of Wesnoth's strong points: the help system. I always considered that a good software program, no matter if it's an office application, music player or multiplayer game, must provide good offline help and documentation. Wesnoth's help explains everything you need to know to play it well; also read the tips provided by the 'Tome of Wesnoth' each time you start the game.

Community and development
The forums are very active and include hundreds of good strategy guides, more artwork and campaigns. You can also download a lot of new campaigns and map packs using the in-game menu. New versions are released on a regular basis. This game always gives me a feeling like it's developing as I play it (you know, you don't feel like when you play some 3-4 years old game which is abandoned by its developers and no patches or updates are provided anymore because they only focus on the '2008' version of that game). A new development version is released very often (around 2 weeks), and a new stable version is made available once in several months.

Conclusion
Being native for Linux and licensed under the GPL, The Battle for Wesnoth is probably the perfect game for a TBS player running Linux. In my opinion, this game is purely superb. If I am to give a note, it's definitely 10 points out of 10. Great game!