Exult Forum

I'm using Ubuntu 14.01 LTS and have installed Exult 1.5.0 from the PPA. When Exult starts it says it can't find the static data. I copied the game files from the Ultima Collection CD to /usr/local/share/exult/blackgate and /usr/local/share/exult/serpentisle. At first I was using Exult 1.2 from the software center repository but was getting the can't find data files error. I removed that version and the .exult.cfg file and installed the 1.5.0 version. Now I'm getting the can't find static data error. I'm very new to Ubuntu and have been trying to get Exult to run for days now. Getting kind of frustrated but don't want to give up. Any help would be much appriciated.

You need to install the games manually, we do not provide them due to copyright reasons.
See http://exult.info/docs.php#path_config_nix on where to put the games.

Nuke your .exult.cfg gain to make sure *no* previous attempt is causing problems.
Then put the games in /usr/local/share/exult/ and make sure you use the folder names blackgate and serpentisle. Exult *should* find the games now. If not, please copy/paste your terminal output here.

That didn't work however.....I looked at the Ultima Collection CD and came up with this. In the Ultima 7 folder is a folder "static" this is where all the data files are that I copied to /usr/local/share/exult/blackgate. Should I have kept those files in the "static" folder when I copied them? In other words should my directories on Ubuntu look like /usr/local/share/exult/blackgate/static. Also there are four files in the Ultima 7 folder named endgame.exe, intro.exe, mainmenu.exe and u7.exe. Do these need to be copied over and where do they go?

Yes, you should have kept them in the static folder...

Well that explains that problem. Now those other four file..do they need to be copied over? Where do they go if they do? I'll move the data files into the "static" folder tomorrow and let you know what happens. Thanks for your help so far.

We only need the data files.

Well I moved the files into a 'static' folder but the program still says it can't find the static data. Here is a copy of my .exult.cfg file. Don't know if there's something wrong with that.




1




no




0


0


0



320


200




640


480



2


2xSaI


Centre


Bilinear


yes




yes


no


no


no


no



0


normal


original


no



8


double


yes


0


no


no


no




no


yes



yes


gm


no


gm





Once again thanks for your help.

output of your terminal when you start it.

Ok here the output of the terminal.

Exult version 1.5.0svn
Built at: Feb 3 2015 01:42:24
Compile-time options: USE_TIMIDITY_MIDI, USE_FMOPL_MIDI, USE_MT32EMU_MIDI, USE_ALSA_MIDI, HAVE_ZIP_SUPPORT
Compiler: gcc, version: 4.8.2

Platform: Linux version 3.13.0-45-generic
Exult path settings:
Data : /usr/share/games/exult
Digital music : /usr/share/games/exult/music

Looking for 'blackgate' at '/usr/share/games/exult/blackgate'... but it wasn't there.
Looking for 'forgeofvirtue' at '/usr/share/games/exult/forgeofvirtue'... but it wasn't there.
Looking for 'serpentisle' at '/usr/share/games/exult/serpentisle'... but it wasn't there.
Looking for 'silverseed' at '/usr/share/games/exult/silverseed'... but it wasn't there.
Black Gate : not found (/)
Forge of Virtue : not found (/)
Serpent Isle : not found (/)
Silver Seed : not found (/)
Checking rendering support
Windowed
640x480 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
720x400 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
800x600 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
1024x768 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
1152x864 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
1280x1024 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
1920x1080 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
SDL Reports 640x400 16 bpp and 32 bpp windowed surfaces are not OK. Windowed scalers may not work properly.
Creating AudioMixer...
Audio opened using format: 22050 Hz 2 Channels
Timbers Precached: On play only
OGG Vorbis Digital Music: Disabled
Trying: `FMOpl'
Success!
Midi Output: Enabled

I'm a bit on a less sure side now but either usr/local/share gets looked in as well when anything looks at /usr/share or this was changed by the ppa.
ANYWAY you can plainly see it is looking for the games in /usr/share/games/exult. Try to move them there.
If that still doesn't work, please report back the output of the following terminal commands:

cd /usr/share/games/exult
ls
cd /usr/share/games/exult/blackgate
ls
cd /usr/share/games/exult/blackgate/static
ls
cd /usr/share/games/exult/forgeofvirtue
ls
cd /usr/share/games/exult/forgeofvirtue/static
ls
cd /usr/share/games/exult/serpentisle
ls
cd /usr/share/games/exult/serpentisle/static
ls
cd /usr/share/games/exult/silverseed
ls
cd /usr/share/games/exult/silverseed/static
ls

You might need to replace static with uppercases STATIC.

I moved the files over to the usr/local/share directory as you suggested and it ran up to the point when you select 'journey onward'. The game then shuts down.

Here is the output of the terminal when I run the game:

Exult version 1.5.0svn
Built at: Feb 3 2015 01:42:24
Compile-time options: USE_TIMIDITY_MIDI, USE_FMOPL_MIDI, USE_MT32EMU_MIDI, USE_ALSA_MIDI, HAVE_ZIP_SUPPORT
Compiler: gcc, version: 4.8.2

Platform: Linux version 3.13.0-45-generic
Exult path settings:
Data : /usr/share/games/exult
Digital music : /usr/share/games/exult/music

Looking for 'blackgate' at '/usr/share/games/exult/blackgate'... found game with identity 'FORGE'
Looking for 'forgeofvirtue' at '/usr/share/games/exult/forgeofvirtue'... but it wasn't there.
Looking for 'serpentisle' at '/usr/share/games/exult/serpentisle'... found game with identity 'SILVER SEED'
Looking for 'silverseed' at '/usr/share/games/exult/silverseed'... but it wasn't there.
Black Gate : not found (/)
Forge of Virtue : found
exult_bg.flx : found
Serpent Isle : not found (/)
Silver Seed : found
exult_si.flx : found
Checking rendering support
Windowed
640x480 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
720x400 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
800x600 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
1024x768 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
1152x864 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
1280x1024 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
1920x1080 8 bpp ok 16 bpp ok 32 bpp ok
SDL Reports 640x400 16 bpp and 32 bpp windowed surfaces are not OK. Windowed scalers may not work properly.
Creating AudioMixer...
Audio opened using format: 22050 Hz 2 Channels
Timbers Precached: On play only
OGG Vorbis Digital Music: Disabled
Trying: `FMOpl'
Success!
Midi Output: Enabled

Here is the listing of the directories you requested:

stephencb@Inspiron-3847:~$ cd /usr/share/games/exult
stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult$ ls
blackgate exult_si.flx music u7bgintrinsics.data
exult_bg.flx gamedat-setup serpentisle u7siintrinsics.data
exult.flx jmsfx.flx sqsfxbg.flx
exult_iphone.flx jmsisfx.flx sqsfxsi.flx
exultmsg.txt midisfx.flx timidity.cfg

stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult$ cd /usr/share/games/exult/blackgate
stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult/blackgate$ ls
mods static

stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult/blackgate$ cd /usr/share/games/exult/blackgate/static
stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult/blackgate/static$ ls
adlib.adv fonts.vga mt32mus.dat shpdims.dat weapons.dat
adlibmus.dat gumps.vga mt32sfx.dat sprites.vga wgtvol.dat
adlibsfx.dat initgame.dat npcflag.dat test.txt wihh.dat
ammo.dat introadm.dat occlude.dat test.txt~ xform.tbl
armor.dat intropal.dat palettes.flx text.flx xmidi.ad
endgame.dat intrordm.dat pointers.shp tfa.dat xmidi.mt
endscore.xmi introsnd.dat ready.dat u7intro.tim
endshape.flx mainshp.flx sbdig.adv u7speech.spc
equip.dat monsters.dat schedule.dat u7strax.drv
faces.vga mt32mpu.adv shapes.vga u7voice.flx

stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult/blackgate/static$ cd /usr/share/games/exult/forgeofvirtue
bash: cd: /usr/share/games/exult/forgeofvirtue: No such file or directory

stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult/blackgate/static$ cd /usr/share/games/exult/serpentisle
stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult/serpentisle$ ls
mods static

stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult/serpentisle$ cd /usr/share/games/exult/serpentisle/static
stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult/serpentisle/static$ ls
adlib.adv font0000.vga monsters.dat sanctum2.pal text.flx
adlibmus.dat fonts.vga mt32mpu.adv sanctum3.pal tfa.dat
adlibsfx.dat future.pal mt32mus.dat sbdig.adv u72_logo.pal
ammo.dat gumps.vga mt32sfx.dat sbpdig.adv ultima.pal
armor.dat ice2_155.pal occlude.dat schedule.dat weapons.dat
a_send.xmi ice3_155.pal palettes.flx serpdraw.dll wgtvol.dat
a_sintro.xmi ice4b155.pal paperdol.vga serpent.ofx wihh.dat
a_valor.xmi initgame.dat percussy.xmi shapes.vga xform.tbl
avfar.pal intro.dat pointers.shp shpdims.dat xmidi.ad
avfloat.pal lblogo.pal ready.dat sispeech.spc xmidi.mt
avgrab.pal mainmenu.drv r_send.xmi snake1.pal
castle.pal mainmenu.tim r_sintro.xmi snake2.pal
equip.dat mainshp.flx r_valor.xmi snddrvrs.dat
faces.vga modern.pal sanctum1.pal sprites.vga
stephencb@Inspiron-3847:/usr/share/games/exult/serpentisle/static$

There were no directories for Forge of Virtue or Silver Seed

odd, did you "start a new game" first?
If it crashed on starting a new game and then pressing journey onward it seems to indicate that it wasn't able to write its gamedat folder in
$HOME/.exult/gamename/gamedat

Yes I did start a new game. Set up the Avatar name and sex then hit journey onward and the game crashes. I only get the two add on games to play Forge of Virtue and Silver Seed not Blackgate or Serpent Isle. I'm thinking when I get a chance I'll uninstall Exult and delete any directories and the .exult.cfg file then start anew. Maybe that might sort things out and the game will run properly.
Thanks so much for your help getting me this far. I'll post in this thread and let you know how things turned out.

Well it seems the uninstall worked! I removed all the leftover Exult directories and files i could find after the uninstall, rebooted, and reinstalled Exult. This time it asked me where the blackgate and serpent isle files were located. After the install was complete I ran Exult and the game ran with no problems. I only played for a couple of minutes, saved the game and then exited. Later I came back, fired up the game and continued on from the save I made earlier. Things seem to be working fine so far.

Dominus once again thanks for your help in getting this up and running for me.