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Hi, all-- |
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|
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The short version is that I 'need' to do something to 'fix' the |
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efficiency of installing and running a game (The Elder Scrolls 3: |
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Morrowind), but I'm not quite sure what or how, so I (unfortunately) |
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have to explain the problem at some length in the hopes that someone |
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else will have a better take on it. When (if) you read it, you'll |
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(hopefully) see why I'm writing here rather than somewhere else (because |
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I can't figure out to which of the many other involved parties this mail |
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might be appropriate). |
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|
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The summary: I'm trying to document how to run Morrowind, using an ATI |
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card and the fglrx drivers, with user-created add-on modules, under |
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Linux (for myself, as I love Morrowind, and for a HOW-TO, since I can |
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*run* it now, but I want to write it down to help others and myself in |
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the future). However, oddities of Morrowind, Linux, and Windows programs |
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generally are making this more difficult than it seems to need to be-- |
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one 'oddity' in particular. |
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|
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The obstacle: Well, there are several, such as Linux's case sensitivity, |
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and Windows' lack thereof, and the fact that some module makers pack |
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their archives badly so extraction to the installed game's data folder |
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can be a nightmare-- but those are relatively easily solved (WinRAR and |
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Total Commander, respectively, both of which run adequately under Wine). |
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The immovable object atm seems to be file dates. |
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|
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You see, Morrowind stores its base graphic data in *.bsa files (bethesda |
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softworks archives), and its data (scripts and object locations and the |
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like) in *.esm (elder scrolls master?) files. These files, when |
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installed by the game, of course have a date (which is first of all |
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different depending on how you install, but we'll come to that). |
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|
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The 'problem' is that if one then installs user-created plugins (of |
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which there are several thousand), Morrowind uses the file date to |
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determine whether the plugin's files override the original files found |
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in the *.bsa, and in what order they do so (in the event that Plugin A |
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changes something that Plugin B also changes, the timestamp also |
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determines which change the player finally sees when the game actually |
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starts). |
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|
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Now this is a "normal" Morrowind problem, insofar as it exists under |
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Windows as well (getting your plugins to load in the right order is a |
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horrendous job, which is why there are several tools to help with the |
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process, but it's still horrifying if you want to run more than...oh, |
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two or three plugins. And Morrowind players commonly run a hundred or |
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two hundred, as the game will allow up to 255. Right now I've got 56 |
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listed in my Morrowind.ini, and that's slightly less than half of my |
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'minimum required to set up this game to my preferences' set, nothing |
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said about 'quests, tweaks, and fixes that might be nice to have'). But |
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under Linux, the original install file dates are not the same[1] as they |
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are under Windows, and this adds a possibly unsurmountable level of |
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complexity to the issue. |
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|
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[1] There are two ways to install Morrowind. You can install it under |
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Wine or Cedega using the regular Setup.exe, or you can install it via a |
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script found at Loki Installers for Linux Gamers (http://liflg.org ). |
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|
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If you install with Wine or Cedega, the installed *.bsa and *.esm files |
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will carry the original file date of 2002 or 2003, which most plugins |
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will automatically override (because the plugins were naturally created |
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more recently than the original files). |
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|
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However, if you install the game and its expansion packs via Wine or |
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Cedega, the installation process will take about 15 hours |
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(approximately 6 for Morrowind, 2.5 for Tribunal, and another 6 for |
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Bloodmoon). This problem is common to both Wine and Cedega. Obviously no |
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one is going to do that on a regular basis, or even once, really (even |
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though I did, in order to document it, and to get the Registry entries |
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for the program. I don't count, since I'm such an oddball). |
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|
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The loki installer takes some 15-30 minutes and works perfectly-- except |
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that the extracted *.bsa and *.esm files seem to get the date you |
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installed the game ("today"). Which means that-- since the Morrowind.ini |
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is usually set to |
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|
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> ;-1 Use raw data, 0 Use Newer, 1 use Archive Only |
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> TryArchiveFirst=0 |
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|
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use the 'newer' file when determining what graphic data to use to |
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display the textures for rocks/trees/buildings/people/clothing/etc, any |
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dedicated texture replacers (or plugins that want to replace selected |
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original textures in the course of their operation) are just not going |
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to work right, because the bsa archive is always going to be 'newer' |
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(because it has a date of "today", when I installed the game) than the |
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replacement files --which might have been packed and uploaded |
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*yesterday*. But since WinRAR and all other native and non-native |
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archive manangement programs that I've tried are (naturally) going to |
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extract the plugin files without modifying the date of the archived |
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files (and don't seem to have an option to change that, because it |
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doesn't make much sense to want to do that in the first place)... the |
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extracted archives are almost always going to have an 'earlier' date |
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than the original game files, and be overridden by the original game |
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files (which is not the way it's supposed to work). |
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|
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Now, what's weird is that this *did* work, but (as is traditional for |
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me), I got a bit too tangled up in plugin conformance testing to know |
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where the heck I was anymore, so I backed up the install, reinstalled, |
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and started over, and suddenly my texture replacer isn't replacing |
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textures anymore. The very idea of trying to debug the differences |
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between the old install and the new is too horrifying to comtemplate. |
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Plus, it's not to the point (as of yet, and hopefully it won't ever be). |
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|
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So what I need is a reasonable way for an 'average user' to fix this. On |
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my personal system, because I have installed the "15-hour version" |
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(which dates correctly) as well as the Loki install (which is what I'm |
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actually playing), I can just copy the original *.bsa and *.esm files |
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over the Loki-extracted ones (which I just thought of and which seems to |
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work on paper), but I couldn't advise that to the general public. |
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|
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Having written all of this out, I can see that this is most properly |
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fixed by the Loki installer script (which should not change dates when |
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extracting the game files from the *.cab files, if it is in fact doing |
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so), and I will post on their forums to request that change (since I |
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can't get the script or archive or whatever it is open to change |
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anything myself). |
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|
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However, since I have no way of knowing whether anyone there will |
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actually give a hoot, or have time to fix it in a timely manner, what |
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I'm looking for is a workaround. |
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|
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"Obviously", I could change the system date (to something like august |
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1st 2000) prior to installing using the Loki script, then change it |
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back, but that's just 1) ugly; 2) dangerous. I wouldn't want to suggest |
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that as a workaround, even if the HOW-TO never went past my own /docs |
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folder. |
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|
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What I would like is a way to change the date of specific files to a |
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specific date (in the past), without "changing" (editing) them, which is |
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not an option with the original Morrowind files (or, if it is possible, |
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it's only so with additional external tools and a whole lot of difficulty). |
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|
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Is this even possible to do? Now that I've said it "out loud", it |
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doesn't sound like something Linux would want me to do at all, but |
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perhaps there's some reason that server admins might need to do such a |
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thing, in which case Linux definitely provides a way to do it. |
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|
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If it is not possible, or is unreasonably dangerous to explain on a |
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public forum, can anyone think of an alternative solution, given the |
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circumstances, until such time as the Loki installer is fixed (if in |
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fact it needs to be fixed and the issue is not that my system is borked |
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somehow)? |
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|
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Or is my system possibly borked somehow and these files are being |
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incorrectly stamped due to something completely unrelated to the installer? |
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|
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Anyway, thanks for listening (if you did), and thanks for any ideas. |
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|
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Holly |
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|
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P.S. This all sounds very difficult and unpleasant-- and it is-- but, |
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YES, Morrowind really is worth the trouble if you like RPGs. In this |
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respect, it resembles The Sims (as a very difficult game to get the |
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relatively useless base game installed and running at all and then the |
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mods that make it all worthwhile running on top of it, nothing said |
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about which expansions work and which dont, although apparently |
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Superstar will crash the game at startup). It's next on my list of |
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HOW-TOs, but I will say that The Sims Deluxe does install under Linux |
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and run under some form of Wine (don't remember which atm, but I'm not |
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touching my Sims install until I've got Morrowind working to my |
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specifications). So for those of you who 1) read all this, 2) have ATI |
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cards, and 3) want to play either of these games-- IT CAN BE DONE. |
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And I promise to tell you how, if you guys help me over this hump. |
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|
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H. |
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-- |
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