Oolite Bulletins

I recently upgraded from Oolite 1.65 to 1.75 using the autopackage update. Since the upgrade I am not able to launch Oolite from the menu icon.
The only way that I can start the game is to open a Terminal window and enter the following command: .oolite --nosplash
This command allows the game to open in a window however, when I select the option to start the game in full screen mode it shuts the game down and returns me to the Terminal window with the following information:

It seems that your operating system does not have a valid timezone name
configured and is using an abbreviation instead. By comparing timezone
file data it is has been possible to find the actual timezone used, but
doing that is a slow process.

You can avoid slowness of this time zone detecting approach
by setting the environment variable TZ='America/Chicago'
Or You can override the timezone name by setting the 'Local Time Zone'
NSUserDefault via the 'defaults' command line utility, a Preferences
application, or some other utility.
eg "defaults write NSGlobalDomain 'Local Time Zone' 'America/Chicago'"

bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
bt_audio_service_open: connect() failed: Connection refused (111)
drmRadeonCmdBuffer: -22. Kernel failed to parse or rejected command stream. See dmesg for more info.

Erk. It looks like Oolite died with an error. When making an error
report, please copy + paste the log above into the report.

(Press Ctrl-C to continue)

---------------------------------------------------------------------WHAT I HAVE DONE TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE-------------------------------------------------------------
I opened the Control Center, selected Time and Date and selected the appropriate settings.

I would appreciate any information/help.
Thank you in advance for your help.

_______________________________________EDIT______________________________________

I am adding this edit to my above post.
In the post above I stated that I had upgraded from Oolite 1.65 to Oolite 1.75. Actually, it wasn't an upgrade it was a clean install.

After formatting the HD and re-installing Linux Mint 10, I installed Oolite 1.75. from the autopackage. It wasn't an upgrade but a clean install. I apologise for any inconvenience, and for the confusion that my original post caused. I realise now that I should have given the information this way in the first place.
Again, I apologise and I hope that this edit helps to clarify everything.

This REALLY IS The Friendliest Forum this side of Riedquat!! (and anywhere else for that matter!)
Following your advise......
Thanks Getafix.

Hi Solar Patriot,

Most of those messages are benign.

The important one is this one: First of all - did you look at dmesg to see if there was some more information?

Secondly, are you running the latest video drivers for your card?

Thirdly, you mention full-screen mode. Does that mean the game runs fine in a window, and it's only when you switch to full-screen that it crashes?

Cheers,
- Micha.

Solar Patriot wrote:

I recently upgraded from Oolite 1.65 to 1.75 using the autopackage update. Since the upgrade I am not able to launch Oolite from the menu icon.

Adding to Micha's reply:

Before installing the oolite autopackage you should have uninstalled Oolite 1.65.
If you haven't done so, then do the following:The first command will remove the oolite autopackage. The second, will remove oolite 1.65.
Then re-install oolite autopackage.

Since you tried to run oolite in Full Screen Mode and crashed,
if you cannot start oolite anymore edit your ~/GNUstep/Defaults/.GNUstepDefaults file and alterto show Please, also post the result of

Please, post the result of
$ uname -a

I've googled the error message and it seems that other people with the same issue,
upgraded their kernel and the issue was solved.

As requested this is the result of "uname -a" .

Linux joseph-desktop 2.6.35-22-generic #33-Ubuntu SMP Sun Sep 19 20:34:50 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux

@Getafix
Just looked at the link you posted, "other people with the same issue" (http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=64213) and if I follow your thought, upgrading the kernel my resolve this issue?

Updating your kernel is not to be taken for granted. If something goes wrong you could mess up your system.
Mint Updater doesn't apply that kind of updates by default, since, Kernel updates are considered as high risk.

Furthermore, some S/W binded to the kernel (e.g. video drivers, vmware, vbox, google earth etc.) may need recompiling.
Usually all such S/W have instructions on what to do in case of kernel upgrade.
For example, if you have VirtualBox installed you should run: $ sudo /etc/rc.d/init.d/vboxdrv setup
following the reboot after a kernel upgrade.
For video drivers (at least for the proprietary ones), you will most probably need to reinstall them, following a kernel upgrade.

Make sure you investigate BEFORE you upgrade your kernel.

Anyhow, since Grub gives you a choice of at least 1 previous kernel,
if you have any problems with the new kernel just reboot and choose the previous kernel which worked.

That's good advise mate.
I am currently investigating the kernel upgrade now. Including the Risks and Benefits, beyond the apparent advantages where Oolite is concerned.
I think that if a kernel upgrade will fix this issue with Oolite, Oolite is worth the risk.
I will post my results.

One more question. If I do upgrade my kernel and something does go wrong, can I simply backup my Oolite folder to....say, a separate drive and then restore it once I have made the change to the kernel?

My current status is Dangerous (661). It has taken me more than a few attempts to reach this status and I am not encouraged at the thought of having to start over.

Thank you Getafix

Solar Patriot wrote:

I think that if a kernel upgrade will fix this issue with Oolite, Oolite is worth the risk.

Ladies and Gents we have a serious case of alcOOlism here!

OK, man... Presuming that you have put all your OXPs in the $HOME/.Oolite/AddOns/ folder: To restore

Getafix.
Just wanted to update you on the progress of this post.
First, sorry about the length of time between posts. Busy! Busy! Busy!
I haven't upgraded the kernel yet and I am hoping that it won't be necessary.
On a hunch I went into the /AddOns folder and found a trainload of .Oxp's that didn't exist. The folders were there but they were as empty as a Politician's promise.
I don't remember exactly how many there were but it would be conservative to say more than a dozen. I don't know what happened but I am now checking to see if the .oxp data is actually in the folder after extracting the download instead of assuming that the extraction went a it should.
I have removed all of the empty .oxp folders and so far I haven't had a single crash in the game.

I will keep you updated.
As always, thank you again for your help.
Kudos to you and Micha for your help.

Hey Solar Patriot,

Glad you may be onto something which gets Oolite running for you.

But, if it really does turn out to be a corrupted or bad OXP folder set, could you please keep a record of what causes things to crash? That way we can look at the underlying cause and hopefully fix it.

Thanks,
Micha.

Gooday Micha.
It's funny you should suggest that.
I played Oolite last night for 2 hours straight and not a single problem.
Well, except for the issue with that group of pirates that blew my Python and it's cargo into oblivion just short of landing at my destination. (Should have hit "TAB" a little sooner.) poop!!
I am keeping a journal of my "in game" experience and so far there hasn't been anything to enter into the journal except, "No Problems!"

Will keep you informed of any "nefarious" little Trolls that reek havoc with my game play.
Outside of that which is expected of course.

Sorry if I was unclear - I didn't mean for you to keep a manual log (although that could be useful if you do come across another crash)...

I meant, is it possible for you to re-create the crashing situation you had with those empty or corrupted OXP folders? If so, we'd be very interested in those folders and any save-game which can reliably cause the crash to happen.

Just to update what's going on with this post.
I have tried to reproduce the problem and so far I have not been able to. I have downloaded several OXP's (OXP's that I had before and new ones as well) and installed them the same way that I did before but even with the empty .oxp folders in the AddOns directory, I am unable to reproduce the same error.
At this point I don't know if this problem was caused by a corrupt .oxp, a empty .oxp folder or a video driver issue.

However, I am leaning in the direction of the Radeon X300 video card being the problem. From everything that I read on the Linux Forum, I am certain that I have the latest drivers installed but, that doesn't seem to solve the problem.
As it stands right now I still cannot start Oolite from the Menu Icon. The only way that I am able to launch the game is from the Terminal Console and I am still getting the same error.
I am able to run the game in either Windowed mode or Full Screen but when I switch from one to the other the game still crashes and needs to be restarted.
I am going to install a different video card and see if that fixes the problem.

I will update this post as soon as I have more info.

Thanks

Hi Solar Patriot.

Trying to troubleshoot the oolite menu issue I need you to post the result of the following: What I need, is to see the contents of all oolite.desktop occurrences.