Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

I had a response to this prepared and then lost it through a combination of cosmic rays and t.m.o. shenanigans.

You make a good point regarding the dual-purpose nature of the game. Those wanting to play super melee only don't need the 3do content. I'll definitely leave the 3do media as an optional package. What i'm trying to decide is whether to put the default required content in a separate package than the executable.

If it is really true that App Manager removes automatically dependencies that were pulled in during the install of the dependent app then i can't see any more good reasons not to separate them. I can't test whether this actually works as it should because App Manager doesn't work right in my SDK, so i have to use dpackage or apt to install.

Regarding network play: it compiles with network options enabled, but i am not in a position to test whether those options work. If someone could report on that, it would be helpful.

Here's the plan to get this into extras:
(1) release another update of the altstart package that includes the executable with joystick support enabled. Let the wii mote users test it (had one request for this). If Joystick support doesn't cause any problems, then...

(2) release an updated uqm and new uqm-content package that replaces the current uqm and uqm-altstart packages. These would put everything into /opt/uqm, and uqm-content would not be visible in App Manager (only a dependency of uqm).

(3) if those work properly, submit it to testing. Also provide the uqm-3do content in an optional (App Manager-visible) package.

Some things still to test: what happens on the N900s when uqm is put in the background? Does it come back up ok? It does on the SDK. What's the power draw like with it in the background? To actually get into extras, an app is supposed to behave responsibly when in the background. I don't know what that means in the context of a game, but i suspect that this could be an issue for uqm because i haven't modified the multithreaded game code. Does anyone actually expect an old DOS game to behave in a chivalrous fashion in the background? Maybe this is a non-issue.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

I can confirm that App Manager removes automatically unneeded depencies which are not in user/ category.


Plan sounds good.

I didn't test backgrounding but if it works in SDK you can assume it works in device too. Power draw in background is about the same as in foreground unless you do something about it.

At minimum sound should be muted when focus is lost. Then you could try to halt the as much as possible. With SDL library runnig it's not possible achieve good power saving. If you'd like to do very good power saving, you should look at hildon-games-wrapper

This is very good question. Most games suck at powersaving, mostly because it's very hard to do with SDL.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

There is an update for uqm available (uqm-0.6.7-0maemo). Please uninstall the uqm-altstart package first, and it wouldn't hurt to uninstall the previous version first, either.

This release separates the content package (uqm-data) from the binary package, puts everything into /opt/uqm/, and adds all the fixes discovered through the uqm-altstart releases. It also updates the upstream source code to today's svn, which is tagged as 0.6.7 and includes a patch i submitted that will make uqm pause and go into a lower-power sleep mode automatically when it loses fullscreen focus.

The content package is a dependency and should install automatically when uqm is installed. It should also automatically uninstall when uqm is removed using app manager.

Also in the repo is uqm-3do-data. This optional package will add the dialogue voiceovers and music from the 3do Star Control 2 release.

Testing
* New in this release is enabled joystick support. I don't know if this will work with the wii mote and any other game controller solutions. Please test and report.

* Also in need of testing is network play and power consumption, especially when "minimized" to the task switcher (ctrl-backspace).

* I've observed that the color palette is wrong in the SDK. This is easy to see with the syreen ship, which is blue instead of red, and the starbase captain, who is blue instead of peach. Is this the case on the N900? Tester screenshots confirm this is just a SDK problem.

This release may be promoted as a testing candidate once i get some feedback on these points.

Thanks to screenshots from a tester, i was able to cross off the color palette issue as being SDK-specific. The remaining features to be tested are not essential for enjoyment or functioning of the game, so i have promoted it to extras-testing.

Please vote it up unless you find a problem. In that case, please post about it here!

Let's get this on the list of games for the end users getting their N900s.

PS I'll also be promoting the uqm-3do-data package as soon as m.o and midgard overcome their fail enough to not time out with php errors.

One more note on the new release. If you installed uqm previously and changed any settings, your own ~/.uqm/flight.cfg config file will be overriding the keymap defaults, which were bad in the previous uqm version. Please delete the ~/.uqm directory and its contents to revert to the default settings.

UQM has 4 out of 10 needed karma (tester reports): extras-testing page! If you have an N900, please take a few minutes to install it and test it and vote.

UQM now has its own bug tracker. It's the new official place to report issues or make feature requests, but if you find it too intimidating, feel free to discuss it here.

I'm interested to hear feedback on adding a "grannie" option that will reduce the game melee speed by 20% to compensate for the limited controls. It's straightforward to do but would take a bit of work. Upstream developers have no interest in it, so unless maemo users have use for it, i'll not implement it.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Might be too much of a bother, but have you considered alternate input methods ? I was thinking along the lines of what the Quake3 port does. You could use accelerometers for orientation, the proximity sensor for thrust and the keyboard for fire/alternate (or prox for fire and kdb for thrust).

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Yeah, i have considered it. At one point i was looking into wrapping the accelerometer readings into a generic joystick device (for multiple projects), but i decided to put all device-specific things on hold until i have a device to test with. That includes optimizations and controls.

Furthermore, UQM has fairly simple controls that are not very fine-grained, so i'm not sure how useful something as analog as a tilt interface would work.

In any case, i'm open to specific suggestions, but am not likely to make changes until i can try them for myself OR get a lot of similar feedback from the community.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

I know it's not fine-grained, but I don't think it's an issue. Just say a tilt over 15 degrees left is Left, over 15 degrees right is Right. If all you miss is a tester, let me know, I have a loaner so I can try it out (or do minor code fixes if I ran into problems that do not require the understanding of further UQM code)

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Im expecting my n900 through this week and I have bookmarked this thread for when it arrives..

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Tried this, since Star Control 2 is one my all time favorites. The keymapping was not good for my scandinavic keyboard. For those who don't know it - up and down keys are fn+left / fn+right. I wasn't able to move on the main menu. Enter worked and I was able to create a new game. In the game I was able to move the spaceship left/right, but not able to accelerate. Space took me to the menu and I was able there to move up/down.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

I had similar problems last night when trying this out. It seems that fn button is not recognized at all in the game and that is why default arrow key up/down is impossible with scandinavian key layout.

I managed to solve the problem by manually editing the key config files in uqm installation folder. Easiest way is to just edit the menu.keys in uqm/content folder and change up/down to something else. After that you can access the in game key config which is more convenient to use. Editing requires root shell so be careful not to mess up the device.

BTW, it's really awesome to have SC2 ported to maemo. I used to play the super melee with my current desktop machine also.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Sorry guys, i haven't been checking Talk as much since the rabid hordes of new users showed up and overran the place. ;) Unfortunately i just pushed out an update without seeing your comments, but i did adjust the default mapping so it may work for you.

The best way to help out (because (a) i don't yet have an N900 or any NIT and (b) i won't have a Scandinavian one) would be to create a bug report (if one doesn't already exist) on the uqm bugtracker and then upload your flight.cfg file (located in ~/.uqm/) as a comment/attachment to the report. Alternatively, tell me what the codes are in the keymapping page of setup for each action. There is room to create a few different custom maps, so i can provide options for those with peculiar keymaps.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Now for the original reason i'm here: a new version!

Warning: Software in extras-testing and extras-devel may be unstable.
See the wiki for a description of the maemo repositories and this post for specific comments on testing.

uqm-0.6.7-0maemo2 should be in extras-devel momentarily. It has some optimistic and rather untestable (by me) changes to allow for accelerometer control. Feedback is greatly appreciated! Note: If you have at any time made changes to your control settings, the custom flight.cfg file will override the new defaults. If you would like to try the new defaults, select the new menu option "Revert Defaults" in the control configuration menu.

If you're not feeling quite that adventurous, you can still help out by enabling extras-testing and trying uqm-0.6.7-0maemo, which now has 8 out of 10 necessary positive tester reports. Two more and it will be promoted from extras-testing to extras!

Here's the changelog:

uqm (0.6.7-0maemo2) unstable; urgency=low

* New default control bindings. Fixes: MB#6369
* Default bindings use accelemymote to control directions.
* Installs udev rules file to make uinput part of group users.
* Chgrps /dev/input/uinput to users on install.
* Accelemymote actually checks accelerometer instead of dummy file. ;)

-- Flandry Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:15:56 -0500

uqm (0.6.7-0maemo1) unstable; urgency=low

* This includes (and tries to run by default) an experimental accelerometer joystick driver
called accelemymote. Note that this will fail without fixing udev rule. See readme.DEBIAN
* Added "Revert to default" option in control config menu.
* Lander discovery font color has been changed to a light green color to
increase visibility. (Thanks pupnik for reporting.)
* Bugtracker field added to control file as per requirements
XSBC-Bugtracker: https://bugs.maemo.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=UQM
* Slight alteration to short description on account of OCD (game is intra-, not intergalactic!)

-- Flandry Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:11:56 -0500

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

I just upgraded UQM on my N900 and hit the "Revert to default" option under the control settings.

However, in both skirmish and single player story mode, the accelerometer doesn't seem to control my ship's direction. It's still tied to the arrow keys...

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Thanks for testing. First of all, can you confirm that the default control profile that you were reverted to was "N900 Tilt"?

It sounds like any of a number of aspects of installation i couldn't test on scratchbox failed. FYI: the arrow keys are also mapped to the directions for that profile as a fall back just for such an occasion. ;)

Could you please run
/opt/uqm/accelemymote
from the command line and tell me what it says? Also, the output of
ls -l /dev/input/uinput
?

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

yes, the game displays "N900 Tilt".

Here's the output from your requested commands:
$ /opt/uqm/accelemymote
accelemymote V0.01
Trying to access accelerometer ...
opened accelerometer at /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-3/3-001d/coord.
Uinput device node (at /dev/input/uinput) has the wrong permissions.
I'd blame udev. Your options are to fix the udev rules and reboot or chgrp/chown/chmod the device node.


~ $ ls -l /dev/input/uinput
crw-rw---- 1 root root 10, 223 Dec 31 1969 /dev/input/uinput

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Thanks. Ok, so the post install script failed to change the group of uinput. That's probably because it didn't have sufficient privileges.

Unfortunately, that's not the biggest problem. I worked through this with a tester on irc and came to the awful realization that fremantle doesn't include the joydev kernel module. I assumed it would be in there because of people attaching gamepads via USB to previous NITs, but apparently as near as i can tell it has always been missing.

So, unless i'm missing something, this is going to take a rather involved work-around, or new, hackish approach.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Also, changing ownership and/or access rights directly on stuff in /dev is BAD. I'm no udev expert, but there has to be a better way. Kernel modules (if they are part of the mainline) are not THAT big of an issue, we had dm_loop stuff in Diablo, for example.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Fremantle only?

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

The chgrp was only to prevent the user from needing to reboot; the next reboot would accomplish the same result (via a udev rule), so i don't see it as a problem. Having uinput node as root:root isn't very useful.

There must be a better way to do it, like replugging uinput, but is calling modprobe or whatever any better than a chgrp? Anyway, i'm open to suggestions. Everything i could find on the web about setting up drivers to use uinput simply said to reboot...

In other news, a kind soul on irc compiled the joydev kernel module for the vanilla fremantle kernel. This is probably the answer to this problem; the challenge is figuring out how to get the autobuilder to spit it out.

In the meantime, if a tester would be willing to install the module directly, it's attached in the bug report. This is not for casual users! Installing this is akin to carrying baggage from unknown people onto an aeroplane.

To summarize the current situation, uqm should work with accelerometer control after installing uqm-0.6.7-0maemo2, installing the joydev kernel module, and restarting your N900.

I need someone to verify that.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Might be my udev noobity, but doesn't HUP-ing udevd, 'udevadm control --reload_rules' or some equivalent work ?

I have some experience with that, was it just a matter of CONFIG_INPUT_JOYDEV or were some modifications made to the code ?

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

I'm more of a udev noob than you because i had completely forgotten about those options. ;) Still, i thought udev was supposed to refresh the rules on a regular basis anyway so i'm not sure what's going on. I'll replace the chgrp with udevadm control --reload_rules.

It's just the vanilla source right now, but it might make sense to move the functionality into the module since it''s needed anyway.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Hm, I would suggest keeping the kernel module clean - there might be other apps that need it, and would also make it more difficult to update on new kernel iterations. Long story short, if you need it I can try to make an extras-devel package for it tomorrow (I need to update dm_loop anyway). If somebody else is already working on this, let me know so we don't trip over each other.

That seems reasonable. If you already have the mechanism for creating kernel module packages on the autobuilder figured out, i'd very much appreciate a joydev one in extras-devel. This last update has eaten a lot more time than i had expected. :)

Yeah, sorry. The previous port should still work on Diablo though. The tilt control isn't really going to be a useful addition for earlier devices anyway. :)

attila77: I'm going to push an update to the autobuilder before heading off for work and list "joydev" as a dependency, so please call the package that if you upload it.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Released! (extras)
uqm-0.6.7-0maemo

For those who didn't notice yet, uqm hit downloads (extras repository) not long ago. It is still showing up on the front page because it is the most recent upload, and has had 25 downloads in the few hours it's been listed, and a very nice comment. I used the occasion to report the new port on the official UQM forum. Thank you to everyone who tested and please enjoy the game!

3DO Content Package
For those who would like to add-on the 3DO voiceovers and music, i'm sorry to say that the package is stuck in -devel due to a bug in the promoter scripts. The music in particular is quite excellent, and i recommend you grab this package (uqm-3do-data) whenever it hits extras. Alternatively, you can download and install the .deb directly (it has no dependencies) or temporarily enable extras-devel to install it.

Next Version (extras-devel)
uqm-0.6.7-0maemo3

Attila is working on the kernel module necessary for uqm-0.6.7-0maemo3 to install so you brave testers can tell me how the tilt (accelerometer) control works. Keep your eye on the maemo3 version page to see when it's ready to go.

Key bindings
 

Is there ant way of changing the key bindings? I have the Norwegian version of the N900, which does not have the UP or DOWN arrow keys.

Thanks.

Re: Key bindings
 

Yeah i couldn't imagine they would possibly release a version of the phone without full arrow keys, so i didn't expect to need a workaround. A new version will have alternatives, but for the version in extras you'll have to either use an external keyboard to select the configuration menu and remap keys from within the game, or load up the uqm.key file in /opt/uqm/content/ and change the mapping there (it should be fairly straightforward what to do). See the posts on the previous page about this.

Re: Key bindings
 

Thanks again. I'll try the uqm.key method for now.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

You can change the mapping for tour keyboard in Setting.
Setting---> Text input----> Hardware keyboard layout , then choice your language . I have a french keyborad and i must choice US-QWERTY keyboard to play game like SuperTux or UrquanMaster

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Thats a pretty good quick fix, thanks :D

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

If someone makes working bindings for scandinavic keys, please share them here. I tried to bind the 'ä'-key to up, but it doesn't work.

I think the optimal would be these:

left = .
down = left
right = right
up = ä

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Thanks Soleil. That's probably the best workaround for now.

I could release an alternative config file to install, but if it doesn't work to bind 'a' to "up" in-game, i don't think binding it in the config file is going to work, either. I have no idea why 'a' wouldn't bind in-game, though.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

@Flandry, it wasn't the normal "a"-key, but scandinavic "ä", which is a with two dots above it. I couldn't make the in-game bounding since the arrows are not working. I was trying editing the uqm.key file manually.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

I know that SDL's keyboard event generator has problems with unicode characters; it may be that there's no way to make it see that "a umlaut" key. However, if you can change the binding for the arrows to something else and then use the in-game key binder to see what (if any) key code it detects for the "a umlaut", i'll make the alt config for nordic users to download.

Dunno what Nokia is thinking releasing a mobile computer without directional arrows.

Edit: This was filed as Bug 6623. Out-of-the-box resolution will probably have to wait until the tilt-control version makes it to extras. I can release a version with two letters mapped to up and down as well as the arrows, but i'd rather focus on getting tilt control working and through testing. Soleil's workaround sounds usable to me.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Is there a tutorial for installing this game?

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Go to the uqm download page in your N900's browser and click the big "Install" button (or click this:http://static.maemo.org/style_maemo2...on_install.png). Let it install the package.

If you have an N900 without up and down arrow keys (French, German, Finnish, ....), go into N900 Settings---> Text input----> Hardware keyboard layout , and choose US-QWERTY (or English, Nederlands if that's not available).
Go to your application loader and click the icon that looks like this http://static.maemo.org/static/e/e7c...a968a_uqm_icon.

Play. :D

If you have no up and down arrow keys, when you are done playing, go back into Settings and reset the keyboard to your native language.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

The 3DO content package is now in extras-testing. If you have an N900 and are playing uqm, please consider installing the uqm-3do-data package, testing that it meets the QA requirements and then voting it up.

It's over 100 MB, so make sure you're on wifi before grabbing it!

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

The music is *totally* worth it, folks. Do not miss-out!

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

I cannot choose US (QWERTY) on my French N900, only european keyboards (but sadly not UK's Qwerty either..)

There should really be a way to set keys for this game.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Hmm, that's not good. Soleil said he has a French keyboard, so i don't know what the difference is between your N900s. There must be some European layout that has full arrow keys, right? If you discover one, please let me know so i can revise the instructions.

There is a way to set keys for the game, but the current control mapping uses up and down arrows to navigate to that menu. There's also the option of modifying the configuration file. If you want to do that, copy the default mapping to your own config file like this:
cp /opt/uqm/content/uqm.key ~/.uqm/flight.cfg
and then edit the ~/.uqm/flight.cfg file in a text editor

As i mentioned before in this thread, i'm willing to make alternative control configuration files available as a more satisfying fix for users, but that requires someone with one of the defective keyboards to share with me a working configuration.

The tilt control acts as a generic joystick, so it will be a working default when that version is ready for extras.

Re: UrQuan Masters!
 

Fortunately, I found that the "English, Nederlands" keyboard has functional arrow keys, so you can add it to your tutorial.

As for the config file, I'll try to make one myself once I have time (not now sorry :/)