Running Oolite-Windows

Overview

The Windows port of Oolite is built from the same source as the Mac OS X and Linux versions, and has all the features of those versions.

All OXPs should be compatible with the Windows port.

Getting and installing the game

The latest release can be downloaded from the BerliOS project. New releases are announced on the Oolite forum.

The latest recommended release, 1.77, or the last official stable release, 1.76.1, can be downloaded from Oolite.org.

To install, run the installer that you have just downloaded.

The game has been tested on Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7. This game uses OpenGL, and you are advised to run the latest 3D graphics drivers from your 3D card manufacturer. It will not run on the DOS-extender versions of Windows such as Windows 95, 98 or ME.

Important note for Vista users!

Summary:

DATA LOSS and OXP MALFUNCTION can appear if you install an early version of Oolite (1.65 - 1.72.x) on Vista. Oolite 1.73 and later releases have corrected this issue by using a different default installation directory, instead of one inside program files, as before.

Do This

When asked by the installer, change the Oolite install directory to a different location, one outside C:\Program Files\, like

• C:\Oolite\
• C:\Games\Oolite\

etc.

Don't Do This

It is STRONGLY recommended NOT to use the folder C:\Program Files\Oolite\ or any path including the following:

•  %ProgramFiles%
•  %ProgramData%
•  %SystemRoot%

Why?

Vista rearranges some files outside the Oolite folder structure without visible alias/redirects, which completely hides all saved games and causes some OXP add-ons to malfunction. This is because Vista virtualizes files in those locations for legacy processes. You can read more about this problem on this Oolite forum thread. The Microsoft explanation is here: [1].

Recovering Your Commanders Saved Under Vista

If you have already installed Oolite on a Vista machine and wish to move your saved games to a new and safer file location:

• Examine location C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Oolite\oolite.app\oolite-saves\

or

• Use Windows Explorer to search for the string " *.oolite-save " with the Windows search option "include system and hidden files" checked (turned on).

For example, the default commander, if saved, might be found in this path: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Oolite\oolite.app\oolite-saves\Jameson.oolite-save

Running the game

Find the Oolite icon in the Start -> Programs menu and click on it. Alternatively double click the Oolite program icon on the desktop. Note that the following key combination will get you out of 'graphics related trouble':

Shift-Escape: Quit Oolite immediately

If your game seems to have unreasonably low fps performance (check this in-game by hitting SHIFT-F) it is strongly recommended you visit your graphic cards' suppliers website and download and install the latest drivers.

Installing OXPs

You will need to find where the oolite.app folder is placed: versions 1.65 to 1.72.x should default to C:\Program Files\Oolite, later versions default install is C:\Oolite, to avoid clashes with Vista's virtual folders feature(see above). Create an AddOns folder beside the oolite.app folder. Put OXPs in here. NB: most OXPs zip files contain a folder with a README file and the actual OXP directory (somename.oxp) as a sub-folder - in this case, it's best to unzip the OXP somewhere else and then copy the unpacked .oxp folder into AddOns.

Notes for amd64 users

64-bit builds of Oolite for Windows are available and the development environment used defaults to 64-bit executables generation. They are the recommended ones for 64-bit OSes. However, the 32-bit version should run on 64-bit Windows without issues as well.

Building from Source

Developing_Oolite#On_Windows

Old Building Oolite from source

Updated on 09 January 2009 - (left here for reference, please use the instructions above).

Acknowledgments and thanks to Kaks for providing them:

Important note: It is recommended that all packages for Windows be installed in paths that do not contain spaces. The same recommendation applies for the Windows username of the account the build is performed from. There have been reports of MSYS/make problems in such cases.

1. If you have an older version of GNUstep(GNUstep-base-1.11.1-gui-0.10.1-3 - from the wiki howto), uninstall it, then delete its root directory if it's still there(c:\GNUstep).
2. Google & download the following 2 packages, and - this is important - install them in this sequence: http://ftpmain.gnustep.org/pub/gnustep/binaries/windows/gnustep-system-0.19.2-setup.exe, http://ftpmain.gnustep.org/pub/gnustep/binaries/windows/gnustep-core-0.19.2-setup.exe
3. Google & download tortoiseSVN, install.
4. You now need the dependencies files for Windows. Download Local_20090108.zip [2].
5. Go to the Windows Start menu, navigate to and select Start>Programs>GNUstep>Shell
6. At the prompt :
   1. mkdir /Local
   2. mkdir /Local/oolite
   3. mkdir /Local/oolite/trunk . The first slash & the upper case L are very important!
7. From windows, extract the directories inside Local_20090108.zip to C:\GNUstep\Local
8. Still from windows go to C:\GNUstep\Local\oolite\trunk
9. It's empty. Right click>SVN checkout. The repository is svn://svn.berlios.de/oolite-linux/trunk . Wait for it to finish.
10. From inside the GNUstep shell
    1. export PATH=$PATH:/Local/bin
    2. cd /Local/oolite/trunk
    3. make debug=no
11. We're now ready to launch the compiled oolite! From inside the GNUstep shell:
    1. cd /Local/oolite/trunk
    2. openapp oolite.app

The instructions below are valid only for versions prior to 1.70, only use them as an alternative if the updated ones fail for whatever reason.

1. Download and install the necessary software
   1. Download and install svn for Windows: [3]. Accept all defaults given by the installer.
   2. Download and install GNUstep for windows: [4]. Accept all defaults given by the installer.
   3. Download the SDL files required to build Oolite: [5]
   4. Unzip this file to c:\GNUstep\Local
2. Get the source and build it (note, the source comes from the oolite-linux project)
   1. Start the GNUstep command line (Start -> Programs -> GNUstep Development -> MSYS for GNUstep) and issue the following commands:
   2. cd $GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT
   3. export PATH=$PATH:$GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT/bin
   4. mkdir oolite
   5. cd oolite
   6. svn checkout svn://svn.berlios.de/oolite-linux/trunk
   7. cd trunk
   8. make
3. To run the game in the build environment:
   1. Before running the first time: cp $GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT/bin/*.dll oolite.app
   2. openapp oolite.app

Assuming you have installed one of Nic's releases as detailed above, you can easily keep updating the installation from the latest source. In the $GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT/oolite/trunk directory, issue the commands:

1. export PATH=$PATH:$GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT/bin
2. svn up
3. rm -rf oolite.app/Resources; make

You only need to issue the export PATH command when you first start the command line. The rm -rf command before make is required because GNUstep for Windows cannot parse the XML plist file format, and the build fails when it tries to read one of these generated each time the build is performed. This failure is not important, and the process still works, but it is annoying.

Then use the following script to copy the new files over the existing installation:

OA="/c/Program Files/Oolite/oolite.app"
cd $GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT/oolite/trunk
if [ oolite.app/oolite.exe -nt "$OA/oolite.exe" ]; then
    echo "Updating oolite.exe"
    cp oolite.app/oolite.exe "$OA/oolite.exe"
fi

for a in AIs Config Images Models Music Sounds Textures; do
    for b in Resources/$a/*; do
        c=`basename $b`
        if [ $b -nt "$OA/Contents/Resources/$a/$c" ]; then
            echo "Updating with $b"
            cp $b "$OA/Contents/Resources/$a/$c"
        fi
    done
done

If you want to edit the source, Notepad++ has good Objective-C support and is free: [6]

Also see the Oolite-PC forum: [7]