n3wt0n!

These are further instructions to the Ubuntu Community documentation on Doom 3 (and Resurrection of Evil). Where those instructions deal with installing from the retail CDs which you’d be hard-pressed to find any more, my instructions are how to install from an existing Steam installation.

The Steam version of Doom 3 most likely exists within a Windows partition on your computer, but I don’t see why you couldn’t install Steam/Doom3 via Wine and copy the files over from that.

First, download the Doom 3 Linux installer from id software (~20MB). As of the time of this writing, the file name is doom3-linux-1.3.1.1304.x86.run.

Next, run the installer.

sudo sh doom3-linux-1.3.1.1304.x86.run

I left all options default, installing to /usr/local/games/doom3, which is why you need to run as sudo.

The game won’t run yet. We still have to copy the retail files over to the installation directory. So mount the Windows partition so we have access to those files.

The files we’re interested in are located in

Steam/steamapps/common/doom\ 3/base

and if you have the expansion

Steam/steamapps/common/doom\ 3/d3xp

and the CD-Keys (doomkey and xpkey) found in

Steam/steamapps/common/doom 3/base

To install Doom 3, navigate to the doom\ 3/base directory and copy each of

pak000.pk4
pak001.pk4
pak002.pk4
pak003.pk4
pak004.pk4

into

/usr/local/games/doom3/base

and if you are also installing Resurrection of Evil you’ll want to navigate to doom\ 3/d3xp and copy

pak000.pk4

into

/usr/local/games/doom3/d3xp

That’s it. To launch the game you can type

doom3

from the command line, and to launch Resurrection of Evil you type

doom3 +set fs_game d3xp

But wait! There’s more! A common complaint at this point is that the Steam CD-Key does not work. Doom 3 expects 18 characters, but the Steam provided CD Key contains only 16 characters.

Easy solution.

Copy doomkey, and xpkey if you have it, from the Doom 3 Steam directory into your local doom3 home directory

~/.doom3/base

Done!

I propose that when counting the “Linux sales” of a game to reduce the Windows sales of that title by the same amount.

I can’t speak for everyone, but when I purchase a game for Linux (usually via digital download) like these great games which are on sale right now:

• $10 – Machinarium and Samorost2 + soundtracks + art
• $X – Irukanji and Bullet Candy

when I’m offered links to the Linux version and to the Windows version, I download from the Linux link first but I always download the Windows version immediately after.

I’m uncertain how many people are out there who do the same thing, but I propose reducing the Windows count by a certain amount all the same.

I even bought a Windows netbook (and later returned it) with the intent of wiping Win and replacing with Linux.

This tip refers to VirtualBox 3.0.8 and Ubuntu 9.04.

If you’re anything like me, you might have need of a WinXP install within Ubuntu. In my case, it’s convenient to have a VirtualBox of Windows running for immediate testing of websites (as I build them) so that I can test the sites functionality and appearance within Internet Explorer.

Unfortunately, the default settings of a guest WinXP install don’t allow for networking “out of the box”. But it’s an easy fix!

First, make sure the virtual machine is not already running. Turn it off if it is.

Next, highlight the WinXP virtual machine within the Sun VirtualBox main screen. Click Settings. Select Network. Change the Adapter Type to Intel PRO/1000 T Server (bunchanumbers) then OK and start the virtual machine.

When you boot into the Windows guest, the network should now work.

World of Goo celebrated it’s first birthday earlier this week. To honor the birthday, 2D Boy, the game’s developers, have priced the game at whatever you want to pay. But you have to act quick as the sale runs out October 19.

Significantly, there is a .deb installer for the game. It runs very well on my old laptop running Ubuntu 9.04.

Back to the topic at hand, can you change the resolution of the game? How about running the game inside a window rather than fullscreen?

Yes you can, and yes you can. Here’s how.

Find the config.txt for the game in

/opt/WorldOfGoo/properties/

You could edit that config.txt if you like, but it’s recommended you copy it to your $HOME directory.

cp /opt/WorldOfGoo/properties/config.txt ~/.WorldOfGoo/

Now you don’t have to sudo the file to edit it. Open up the config.txt that you placed in $HOME/.WorldOfGoo/ (I like to use scite).

scite ~/.WorldOfGoo/config.txt

Starting around line 20 is the Graphics Display area. It looks something like:

<!-- Graphics display -->
 <param name="screen_width" value="800" />
 <param name="screen_height" value="600" />
 <param name="color_depth" value="0" />
 <param name="fullscreen" value="false" />
 <param name="ui_inset" value="10" />

Change the screen_width and screen_height values to whatever you desire. Likewise with the fullscreen option. My config shows I run the game in 800 by 600 resolution in a window.

Next time you launch the game, the settings will have taken effect.