- I keep getting killed. Why is is so difficult?
- Can I listen to my own music?
- How well will it work with my video card?
- The game runs very slowly. Why?
- I have a Voodoo3, and can run Quake, etc., but it exits with an error message.
- How do I set up hardware acceleration in Linux?
- I am using the Linux NVIDIA drivers, but things aren't working properly. Can you help?
- It crashes if I try to run it on Windows NT. Why?
- I cannot adjust the music or sound volume on Windows. Why?
- How can I donate to the project?
Q: I keep getting killed. Why is is so difficult?
A: Quitcher whinin', you ninny! It's supposed to be hard! Seriously, the game is intended to be a 15 minute adrenaline rush/mental cleanser. Frequent doses of explosions (even your own) can be very therapeutic.
Q: Can I listen to my own music?
A: Yes! It supports 3 different types of background music:
- default WAV loop
- CD tracks. If CDROM playback is enabled, track 1 on the CD will be played for level 1, track 2 for level 2, etc.
- User-selectable PlayList (Linux only). Depending on how the OpenAL library was configured, WAV, MP3 and/or Ogg/Vorbis tracks can be used for background music.
- NOTE: For Playlist and CDROM, you can skip to the next song during a game by pressing the "N" key.
Q: How well will it work with my video card?
A: This is a loaded question, but in general, the game should run well on a wide range of OpenGL hardware. It is intended to run at 50fps, and has been tested successfully on machines ranging from a 266MHz laptop with a 4MB RagePro chip to a dual 800 with a GeForce2.
Q: The game runs very slowly. Why?
A: It absolutely requires hardware acceleration - it will not run at acceptable speeds with software OpenGL. If the OpenGL 'Vendor' string printed out during start-up is 'Brian Paul', you're definitely running in software. See question 7.
Q: I have a Voodoo3, and can run Quake, etc. But it exits with the error message about the X server not being configured for GLX. Why?
A: By default, SDL wants a GLX enabled X server. The game runs fine with the XFree4/DRI Voodoo drivers, but the old fullscreen Glide/Mesa hack for the XFree3.3.x is not recognized as valid. Some people have been able to run it with this setup, some have not. I believe there is a configure option when building SDL that will allow use of the XFree3.3.x/Glide/Mesa.
Q: How do I set up hardware acceleration in Linux?
A: There are several options, depending on what video card you have (roughly in order of installation difficulty):
- Utah GLX + XFree3.3.x - ATI RagePro, Matrox G200/400, and some others. Installation is usually painless.
- NVIDIA GLX + XFree4 - NVIDIA cards. If you follow the install instructions carefully, you are far less likely to have problems.
- DRI + XFree4 - 3dfx, ATI, Matrox, et. al. Some distributions are shipping DRI enabled XF4 drivers, so installation is a non-issue. 3dfx also provides fairly pain-free installation RPMs for their Voodoo line. However, installing from source is a major ordeal, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing.
Q: I am using the Linux NVIDIA drivers, but things aren't working properly. Can you help?
A: Most of the problems associated with the NVIDIA drivers can be attributed to an improper install. Unfortunately, most distributions are not following the Linux OpenGL ABI very well (if at all). This makes it virtually impossible for 3rd party vendors to provide easy-to-install drivers. First, carefully read the NVIDIA Linux FAQ, then verify the following:
- Do a 'locate libGL.so'. Verify that every libGL.so* on your system is the NVIDIA lib (in /usr/lib) or a symbolic link to the NVIDIA lib.
- In /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/, there should not be a libGLcore.a or a libglx.a file (although there will be libglx.so* files)
- Mandrake 7.2 has added yet another wrinkle to NVIDIA installation hassles with their libGLwrapper. Go to /usr/X11R6/lib and get rid of libGLwrapper.so* (and libGL.so* files if they are there, although you'll want to leave libGLU.so* alone).
- If you are still having problems, disable AGP in your XF86Config.
- This stuff (exept the new Mandrake libGLwrapper) is all covered in the NVIDIA FAQ.
- You can go to the #nvidia channel at irc.openprojects.net if you need additional help.
Q: The game crashes if I try to run it on Windows NT. Why?
A: The Windows OpenAL implementation still needs a lot of work. At the current time, Windows NT is not well (if at all) supported by OpenAL, although Windows 95, 98 and 2000 seem to work OK. You can play it on NT with sound disabled by using the '-na' command line option.
Q: I cannot adjust the music or sound volume on Windows. Why?
A: The Windows OpenAL implementation still needs a lot of work. Hopefully this will be fixed in the near future.
Q: How can I donate to the project?
A: Since the project is essentially dormant, the best way to donate to the project is with code or translations, or pay someone you know to contribute code/translations.
The most recently active developer does not have a paypal account or credit card and his time is too limited to work on Chromium BSU much, short of merging patches perhaps.
If you want to donate to the original developer, who has long since abandoned Chromium BSU, please email Mark B. Allan <mallanmba@yahoo.com> to find out how.