Linux Support

[Meal Worms]

The Linux version of Osmos is now available!

http://www.hemispheregames.com/2010/04/ ... s-release/

Please post to this thread if you have any technical issues or Linux-specific question/comments.

Thanks!
Dave

[mimox]

Sorry, I originally posted a and b in the linux beta forum:

a) sound shuttering and slowdown: sometimes Osmos produces some cracking noises and the game slower down considerably (lower framerate etc). I am using PulseAudio:

...
Found 2 devices:
Device 0: PulseAudio Software (3: OPENAL DEFAULT)
Device 1: ALSA Software
Pass 1: no valid device was specified (-1)
Pass 2: no valid device was specified (-1)
Pass 3: attempting device 0: "PulseAudio Software"...

b) game just froze... no notifications etc, no idea what caused it. I could alt-tab out of the game and kill it on the terminal

c) a segfault:

...
Loading pre-splash sounds
Loading post-splash sounds
./Osmos: line 15: 4667 Segmentation fault (core dumped) $BIN $@

[cmn]

Is there a way to set the in-game resolution to something else besides the detected desktop resolution?
The reason why I'm asking is that I have a two-headed desktop using Xinerama and Osmos uses the highest detected resolution, which is 3200x1200 i.e. both heads, which makes playing a bit uncomfortable.

[Meal Worms]

Thanks for your comments folks.

@ mimox: Any way you can nail a repro for these issues? Can you determine a particular gameplay state/action that cuases the sound crackle to occur reliably? Do you experience the trouble if you use the ALSA device instead of PulseAudio? Also, can you please verify that your sound drivers are up-to-date?

@ cmn: In the case of dual-mon, Osmos should run true-fullscreen on the primary monitor only. Are you observing something different?

Thanks!
Dave

[mimox]

Meal Worms, I *think* it crackles more if there is a lot going on on screen, e.g. many blobs moving/growing/shrinking. Which may also explain why I didn't really notice during beta, as the demo levels are not as busy as some of the full version levels.

How can I force ALSA mode?

As for drivers, I'm running a 2.6.32 kernel, so ALSA should be fairly recent. PA version is 0.9.21.

Btw, after playing 3+ hours, the game froze 4 times now.

[cmn]

@ cmn: In the case of dual-mon, Osmos should run true-fullscreen on the primary monitor only. Are you observing something different?

Yes. I have 2 1600x1200 displays in Xinerama mode. When I start Osmos, my WM minimizes the window. If I click the icon to view the window it's on the secondary monitor. I think the problem stems from the fullscreen resolution that Osmos detects/uses. The startup log says:
Using fullscreen mode: 3200 x 1200
That's why I asked if there's a way to change the default resolution.
I found out that I can play Osmos on the primary monitor when I click "Toggle Fullscreen" in "Visual Options", move the window over to the primary monitor and then use Alt+Enter to go back to fullscreen instead of using the in-game "Toggle Fullscreen" option.

[Meal Worms]

@ mimox: Thanks for the details. You can force a specific sound device by inspecting the contents of your Osmos.log to see what sound devices are listed there, then setting the soundDevice parameter in Config.cfg to the device you'd like. See the Osmos FAQ for details.

@ cmn: The Linux version of Osmos will never actually change your video mode. When Osmos switches to fullscreen, it uses the current resolution of the primary screen. So yes -- the best workaround is to run the game windowed and simply maximize it to a single display.

I wasn't aware of the existence of Xinerama (chalk up one point for my Linux n00b-ness).

Cheers folks,
Dave

[mimox]

Setting the sound to ALSA makes things a lot worse... the crackling noises are already there before the menu comes up.

[Meal Worms]

Hi mimox,

Does toggling music streaming change anything (via the streamMusic parameter in the Osmos config)?

Sounds like your sound support might be out of whack. Can you please verify your sound and motherboard drivers are up-to-date? Also, can you post your machine/HW/Distro specs?

Thanks,
Dave

[mimox]

>> Does toggling music streaming change anything
no

>> Can you please verify your sound and motherboard drivers are up-to-date?
as up-to-date as kernel 2.6.32.11 can be...

>> machine/HW/Distro specs
Core2Duo 6600 (2.4Ghz), GeForce 7950. Not 100% sure about the sound hw, but it is using the snd_hda_intel module and works fine with other apps and games. Distribution is Fedora 12 (i686)