Linux version? Options

[bojster]

Hello.

First of all, I'd like to say that I love Fish Fillets, but I was only able to play it because it was released as GPL and ported to other operating systems as Fish Fillets NG. Hell, i like it so much that I even translated it into Polish...
I love what you guys did, it is the best puzzle game I have ever played. Thus, I would very much like to buy FF2, to show my appreciation, and of course to have more fun solving the puzzles (though I don't like the gfx very much, FF1 had much better one, but it's not the most important I guess). The problem is, the demo doesn't work under Wine, so I suspect the final version won't, either. And here we come to my main question: will there be an official Linux version? Or do you plan to release it as GPL in a few years so that other people might port it? Or - why not - maybe you could contact the guys who ported FF1 and ask if they'd be willing to make a port for FF2 as well (commercially)... Looking forward for a response.

Best regards,
bojster

[Fish Sticks]

I would also like to see a Linux port. I first discovered the game due to it being released under the GPL. Personally I think that the graphics look better in this game, then the original. They're simply more modern.

Anyway, I second the idea of contacting the Fish Fillets: Next Generation developers. I'm sure that they will be willing help out.

[Free Gamer]

Please, a Linux version would make a lot of people happy.

Perhaps considering opening up the engine (read: the engine, not the media) as GPL so that people can port it. It will generate publicity for the game. Add in a level editor and you'll get a lot of buzz!

Anyway, think about it. PLEASE!

[timonator]

I would really, really like a Linux port of fish fillets 2.
I really enjoy fish fillets NG, even though I'm not really good at it
it's mind-blowing puzzles are a huge lot of fun and the story line (or at least what i got from it in the first three levels) is nice as well!

If you don't want to port FF2 yourself, you should ask the people who ported the other Fish Fillets, as suggested above.
Otherwise it would be extremely nice of you if you'd GPL the sourcecode (not the game data, levels, sounds, etc) of FF2 (now or later).

You can find many examples of games that have lived much longer because they had opensourced engines:
Descent 1 and 2 had their engine sourcecode released and now there are three or four projects still working on them.
Descent: Freespace 2 had its sourcecode released and a community project emerged that ported and enhanced it and now there is a really good stand-alone battlestar galactica themed game that uses its engine.
Quake 1, 2 and 3 had their sources released. From a modified Quake1 engine (darkplaces) games were created such as Nexuiz. I don't know much about the Quake 3 engine, tho.
Doom 1 and 2 still exist as well.
Jagged Alliance 2 still lives on through community projects.

Many of the games that had their engines opensourced seem to just not die!
Please consider this option for your own game

also: i'll buy the game as soon as a port is available

[Abu Yoav]

The problem is, the demo doesn't work under Wine,

Actually, wine has a voting system: users vote for the (currently nonworking) games they want to see working. I voted for FF2. Perhaps if enough people would, this will be fixed soon.

Oh, great game, of course :-).

[lynx]

we are deeply sorry, but releasing game as open source is not planned now, maybe in few years..

[Abu Yoav]

The problem is, the demo doesn't work under Wine

I have yet to try this, but now it does seem to work, with a few hacks. Take a look at comment #14 in
http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8298

If anyone can write a simple how-to, then that would be very helpful...

[sunwukong]

The demo works for me under Wine 0.9.42. You also need ie4linux (ie6) installed.

I. Fake FAT partition:

1. Create an image file:

CODE

dd if=/dev/zero of=fake.img bs=512 count=1440

2. Attach it to a loop device (/dev/loop0, for example):

CODE

losetup /dev/loop0 fake.img

3. Format it to FAT filesystem:

CODE

mkfs -t vfat /dev/loop0

4. Link the c: drive to the new device (note the double colon after 'c'):

CODE

ln -s /dev/loop0 ~/.ies4linux/ie6/dosdevices/c::

5. You can detach the loop device now

CODE

losetup -d /dev/loop0

II. Setup Wine

1. Configure Wine to emulate a Wndows XP or 2000 (ie4linux uses 98 as default):

CODE

WINEPREFIX=~/.ies4linux/ie6 winecfg

2. You have to download the windows version of crypt32.dll and put it in the Fish Fillets directory or ~/.ies4linux/ie6/drive_c/windows/system32/ .

3. Crypt32.dll also needs another dll, depending on the version it may be the msoss.dll or the msasn1.dll (the error messages should tell you, or just download both); put this dll into the same directory, too.

III. Create some startup scripts:

1. The main script:

CODE

cat > fillets << END
#!/bin/bash
su -c 'sh before-playing'
WINEPREFIX=~/.ies4linux/ie6 WINEDLLOVERRIDES="crypt32=n" wine Fillets2.exe
su -c 'sh after-playing'
END
chmod +x fillets

2. Helper script #1:

CODE

cat > before-playing << END
/sbin/losetup /dev/loop0 fake.img
mount -o umask=0 /dev/loop0 /mnt
chmod 777 /dev/loop0
END

3. Helper script #2:

CODE

cat > after-playing << END
chmod 640 /dev/loop0
umount /mnt
/sbin/losetup -d /dev/loop0
END

IV. Done

You can start the game with ./fillets (it will ask for root password before and after playing).

(based 90% on the wine bug report pages)

====================

By the way, I have bought the game and received a registration code, but I cannot enter it under Linux.

The problem is that the Softwrap protection uses the function EnumServicesStatusA to determine if there is a connected network service, but this function is still a stub under Wine, so it seems there is none, resulting in a "This page cannot be displayed" error. (The connection doesn't have any real problems, I can access any page under IE6, it just seems like there is no network service).

Any suggestions are welcome.