Running Oolite-Windows

Overview

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

All OXPs should be compatible with the Windows port.

Getting and installing the game

The game may be downloaded from the BerliOS project page for Oolite-PC. The installer is also mirrored at ftp://ftp.alioth.net/oolite . The current, stable version is 1.65.

To install, run the executable that you have just downloaded. You will get the familiar Windows installer.

A regular build of changes from the SVN source is being carried out on a regular basis. The complete installer above must be installed before any of the updates will work. The update filename changes with each build, so get the latest update file by following the link here: [1].

The game has been tested on Windows XP and Windows 2000. It will not run on the DOS-extender versions of Windows such as Windows 95, 98 or ME. It is expected it will run with Vista, so long as drivers are available for the hardware you have. You are advised to run the latest 3D graphics drivers from your 3D card manufacturer.

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: it should be in C:\Program Files\Oolite. Create an AddOns folder beside the oolite.app folder. Put OXPs in here. Note that some OXPs when unzipped contain a folder with a README file and then the OXP - in this case, it's best to unzip the OXP somewhere other than AddOns and copy the OXP folder once unpacked into AddOns.

Notes for amd64 users

No builds for 64-bit versions of Windows have yet been made, however, given the proper availability of graphics and sound drivers, the 32-bit version should run on 64-bit Windows. 32 bit Windows running on amd64 hardware should not have an issue.

Building Oolite from source

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. Download and install the necessary software
   1. Download and install svn for Windows: [2]. Accept all defaults given by the installer.
   2. Download and install GNUstep for windows: [3]. Accept all defaults given by the installer.
   3. Download the SDL files required to build Oolite: [4]
   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: [5]

Also see the Oolite-PC forum: [6]