Installing the game

If it’s not done already, download and install Rocksmith 2014.

Configuring Wine

Once the game is installed, Wine should be configured specifically for it. Assuming Steam is set to install games on the /home/user/.steam/steam folder, plug in the Real Tone cable before entering these two command lines on the terminal :

WINEPREFIX=~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/221680/pfx winetricks sound=alsa

WINEPREFIX=~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/221680/pfx winecfg

The Wine Configuration window should appear and the following values should be set before clicking on the OK button :

• Applications tab
  
  • Windows Version: Windows 10
• Drives tab
  
  • Drive Z: /home/user/.steam/steam (or the folder containing the steamapps subfolder where the Steam games are installed, /mnt/TRUCS/SteamLibrary in my case)
• Audio tab
  
  • Input device: In: Rocksmith USB Guitar Adapter
  • Voice input device: In: Rocksmith USB Guitar Adapter

Configuring Steam

Once Wine has been configured specifically for this game, Rocksmith 2014 must be run at least once to generate an INI configuration file (Rocksmith.ini) which should be edited before launching the game for real. For that, simply right-click on the game and in the properties, click on Set Launch Options and enter the following command line:

PROTON_NO_D3D11=1 %command%

Finishing touches

When the game has been run at least once, the Rocksmith.ini file will appear in the ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Rocksmith2014 folder or wherever Steam games are installed. Simply set the following values:

ExclusiveMode=0
Win32UltraLowLatencyMode=0

Disable PulseAudio (if necessary)

Trying to tune your instrument should indicate whether the game runs properly. If a message pops up indicating that the Real Tone is unplugged, disabling PulseAudio should fix this. For that, just enter the following command lines in the terminal:

systemctl –user stop pulseaudio.socket
systemctl –user stop pulseaudio.service

To revert back:

systemctl –user start pulseaudio.socket
systemctl –user start pulseaudio.service

Don’t hesitate to send me your questions and comments on either Twitter or Mastodon.

Also, if you like what I do and use the Brave browser, you can leave me a tip in form of the BAT cryptocurrency on either my website or my Twitter account. You can also use this affiliate link if you plan to buy games, books or more on Humble Bundle.

Thanks for reading and I’ll talk to you soon. Laters.

L’article How to play Rocksmith 2014 on Linux est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.

What initially drew me to this game

While always keeping a close eye on Linux gaming-related news, I came across this article from Linux Gaming Consortium. While my experience with visual novel is limited to Capcom’s Phoenix Wright series on Nintendo handhelds, Konami’s Snatcher on Sega CD/Mega CD and MoaCube’s Cinders on Windows via Wine, a few elements got my attention.

The art style

First, the art alone from the talented Tida Kietsungden set it apart from other visual novels by its sheer quality. While the majority of these games use an average anime-like feel, this particular one doesn’t strike me as one to follow the herd. Instead, the characters’ faces have more realistic features, they’re anatomically more accurate in terms of body proportion and the color choices veering towards neon gives a distinct 80s retro feel. This last aspect brings me to my next point: the setting.

The setting

Being born during the 80s, this is a decade I closely link to a more innocent and nostalgic period of my life despite my memory of it being kind of fuzzy. I especially cherish this era where most of my grandparents were still alive and a lot of my uncles and aunts were either teenagers or young adults entering the real world. Going back to the 80s even for a short while is an opportunity I just couldn’t miss.

The music

When a game interests me, I usually wait for it to be heavily discounted and for positive reviews to come in before I make the jump. In that case, why would I buy it full price and day one without waiting for the first reviews? The answers lies within this trailer.

The last piece of that sweet 80s nostalgia puzzle is obviously the music. New wave, city pop, synthpop… these genres represent that decade so well that the first musical notes in the trailer made me push aside my habit and commit to buy that game as soon as it hits digital stores, be it Steam or Itch.

What’s it about and how does it play

As the title suggests, A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986 takes place in Hong Kong during the Summer of 1986. The story centers around two radically different women: Michelle Cheung and Sam Wong. Michelle lives with her mother, works in an office and leads a squeaky clean but repetitive and boring life which adheres to Hong Kong society expectations at the time. In contrast, Sam lives alone in a small apartment, runs her own video store and leads a fulfilling albeit less conventional life. She and Michelle cross paths by chance and despite their differences, see their lives changed forever and the conclusion of their story is left up to the player.

If you enjoy love stories but steamier scenes make you blush, the uncensored version is optional and available as a patch that has to be enabled manually (see Passion Patch in the settings menu).

Like a typical visual novel, there’s a lot of reading involved and fairly few player input save for a few choices in order to guide the storyline. Where the game sets itself apart from its romance-centric peers is the facts that it involves two women and that the main protagonist (Michelle) can end up with one potential partner (Sam) hence only two possible endings. From my understanding, there’s an invisible system of points that add up depending on the player’s choices which will unlock either one or two possible endings depending on the player’s score.

The soundtrack comes courtesy of three talented artists who are also on Bandcamp: Timecop1983, Stevia Sphere and Crystal Cola. Here’s a song from Crystal Cola which can be heard in the game:

What I got out of this game

LGBT rights in Asia during the 80s

I know a few homosexual people but when they tell me their story, it’s always in today’s society which treats them better than in the past. That’s why seeing it from more than 30 years in the past make me realize that while the world has changed in certains aspects, it has also remained the same in others. We live in a society where we’re expected to live a certain way and within a rigid set of rules. While Michelle lived by these rules, Sam didn’t and chose instead to live solely on her terms which was unheard of at the time.

To better understand the differences, unlocking both endings is necessary. One is the desirable one while the other is the realistic one. Also, one is longer and more vague while the other is shorter but also clearer. I’ll stop here before I spoil the story any further.

The years leading up to the handover of Hong Kong to China

I remember watching the movie A Better Tomorrow by John Woo which, by pure coincidence, was released in Summer 1986. The characters briefly mentioned the upcoming handover of Hong Kong to China. That’s when I understood the Hong Kong people were already thinking about their future way before the fateful day of July 1st 1997. In A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986, even if that wasn’t the main subject of the story, it was discussed at one point by Michelle and Sam where each gave her opinion and what such an event could mean for the future of the Hong Kong people. Now that more than 20 years have passed since the handover, we can see there are still two camps: those content with the status quo and those that desire change.

Should you play this game?

If you wish to revisit a pre-Internet era, love music from the 80s or believe that love between two individuals is universal regardless of their identity, I highly recommend this game. Also, if like me, you tend to wait for that 75% discount before buying it, maybe this song from Timecop1983 will encourage you to buy it sooner:

The developers at Oracle & Bone have already expressed in this article their desire to add Cantonese voice acting in the future for a more immersive experience. If enough people buy it, this may come sonner than later. If you do play it, please share your thoughts with the world.

Don’t hesitate to send me your questions and comments on either Twitter or Mastodon.

Also, if you like what I do and use the Brave browser, you can leave me a tip in form of the BAT cryptocurrency on either my website or my Twitter account. You can also use this affiliate link if you plan to buy games, books or more on Humble Bundle.

Thanks for reading and I’ll talk to you soon. Laters.

Buy the game on Steam or Itch

Oracle & Bone (studio) : site web

Tida Kietsungden (art direction) : site web

Timecop1983 (music) : Bandcamp

Stevia Sphere (music) : Bandcamp

Crystal Cola (music) : Bandcamp

L’article How Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986 really affected me est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.

Source: Tigerfog, iPhone

Before we begin

First, I’d like to thank ETA Prime for inspiring me to write this tutorial. In his video, he explains how to extract ROMs, rename them and use them in Retroarch, a multi-platform tool for emulators. To find out more:

Source: ETA Prime

Why then do I bother writing this if ETA Prime has already covered the subject? Two reasons:

• he used Windows to explain the process
• he showed how to rename the files without getting into too much details

If you also use Windows or can get around Sega’s odd ROM-naming conventions, ETA Prime’s video is all you need. However, if you prefer a Linux-oriented tutorial or a script that will rename the files for you, I’ll encourage you to keep reading.

Buying the games and locating them

You can legally buy certain Genesis/Mega Drive games on Steam individually or as part of a special package called Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics through this affiliate link on Humble Bundle. From this point on, I’ll use the term Sega Classics when I refer to Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics for the sake of simplicity.

Since the Sega Classics game isn’t natively available on Linux, we need to make sure Steam is configured to run all games in SteamPlay mode using Proton. That way, Sega Classics will appear in the list of purchased games making it available to be downloaded and installed.

Once installed, right-clicking on Sega Classics and choosing Properties will make the pop-up window appear (see image below).

Source: personal screenshot

Clicking on the Browse local files under the Local files tab will show the exact location of Sega Classics on the computer (see image below).

Source: personal screenshot

Normally, if the username is klebs and the default location set by Steam hasn’t been changed, the folder should be at /home/klebs/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Sega\ Classics

In my case as the above screenshot clearly shows, the folder is located at /mnt/DATA/Jeux/Steam/steamapps/common/Sega\ Classics

Renaming the files

Assuming the username is klebs and is using Steam’s default game location, the following commands in the terminal will create a copy of the ROMs in another folder and create a CSV file with nano:

cd /home/klebs/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Sega\ Classics
cp -R uncompressed\ ROMs/ ~/Documents/SegaROMS
cd ~/Documents/SegaROMS
nano segaclassicslist.csv

Before copying the list below in nano, it’s important to make sure nothing’s missing. Also, the original filenames should match those in the SegaROMS folder.

ALEXKIDD_U.68K,Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (USA).gen
AlienSoldier_Europe.SGD,Alien Soldier (Europe).md
AlienStorm_USA.SGD,Alien Storm (USA).gen
ALTEREDB_UE.68K,Altered Beast (USA).gen
BEYONDOA_E.68K,The Story of Thor (Europe).md
BEYONDOA_F.68K,The Story of Thor (France).md
BEYONDOA_G.68K,The Story of Thor (Germany).md
BEYONDOA_J.68K,The Story of Thor - Hikari o Tsugumono (Japan).bin
BEYONDOA_S.68K,The Story of Thor (Spain).md
BEYONDOA_U.68K,Beyond Oasis (USA).gen
BONANZAB_JE.68K,Bonanza Bros. (Europe).md
Columns3_USA.SGD,Columns III (USA).gen
COLUMNS_W.68K,Columns (World).gen
COMIXZON_U.68K,Comix Zone (USA).gen
CrackDown_USA.SGD,Crack Down (USA).gen
Crying_USA.SGD,Bio Hazard Battle (USA).gen
DECAP_UE.68K,DEcapAttack (USA).gen
DYNAHEAD_J.68K,Dynamite Headdy (Japan).bin
DYNAHEAD_UE.68K,Dynamite Headdy (USA).gen
ECCO2_U.68K,Ecco - The Tides of Time (USA).gen
eccojr.smd,Ecco Jr. (USA).gen
ECCO_UE.68K,Ecco the Dolphin (USA).gen
ESWAT_U.68K,ESWAT - City Under Siege (USA).gen
EternalChampions_USA.SGD,Eternal Champions (USA).gen
FATALLAB_JU.68K,Fatal Labyrinth (USA).gen
FLICKY_UE.68K,Flicky (USA).gen
GAING_UE.68K,Gain Ground (USA).gen
GalaxyForceII_UE.SGD,Galaxy Force II (USA).gen
GAXE2_W.68K,Golden Axe II (World).gen
GAXE3_J.68K,Golden Axe III (Japan).bin
GAXE_W.68K,Golden Axe (World).gen
Gunstar Heroes U.bin,Gunstar Heroes (USA).gen
KIDCHAM_UE.68K,Kid Chameleon (USA).gen
LandStalker_USA.SGD,Landstalker (USA).gen
LightCrusader_USA.SGD,Light Crusader (USA).gen
MonsterLair_JUE.SGD,Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair (Europe).md
MonsterWorld3.SGD,Wonder Boy V - Monster World III (Japan).bin
MonsterWorld3_USA.SGD,Wonder Boy in Monster World (USA).gen
PhantasyStar2_UE_GreenCrossFix.SGD,Phantasy Star II (USA).gen
PhantasyStar3_USA.SGD,Phantasy Star III - Generations of Doom (USA).gen
PhantasyStar4.SGD,Phantasy Star IV (USA).gen
RISTAR_UE.68K,Ristar (USA).gen
ROBOTNIK_U.68K,Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (USA).gen
ShadowDancer.SGD,Shadow Dancer - The Secret of Shinobi (World).gen
SHINING2_U.68K,Shining Force II (USA).gen
SHININGD_UE.68K,Shining in the Darkness (USA).gen
SHININGF_U.68K,Shining Force (USA).gen
SHINOBI3_U.68K,Shinobi III - Return of the Ninja Master (USA).gen
SONIC2_W.68K,Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (World).gen
SONIC3D_UE.68K,Sonic 3D Blast ~ Sonic 3D Flickies' Island (USA).gen
Sonic_Knuckles_wSonic3.bin,Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (World).gen
SONICSPI_U.68K,Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball (USA).gen
SONIC_W.68K,Sonic The Hedgehog (World).gen
sov.smd,Sword of Vermilion (USA).gen
SPACEHARRIERII.bin,Space Harrier II (World).gen
STHUNDER_W.68K,Super Thunder Blade (World).gen
STREETS2_U.68K,Streets of Rage 2 (USA).gen
STREETS3_E.68K,Streets of Rage 3 (Europe).md
STREETS3_J.68K,Bare Knuckle III (Japan).bin
STREETS3_U.68K,Streets of Rage 3 (USA).gen
STREETS_W.68K,Streets of Rage - Bare Knuckle - Ikari no Tetsuken (World).gen
TheSuperShinobi_JUE.SGD,The Revenge of Shinobi (USA).gen
ToeJamEarl.SGD,ToeJam & Earl (World).gen
ToeJamEarl2_USA.SGD,ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (USA).gen
VECTMAN2_U.68K,Vectorman 2 (USA).gen
VECTMAN_UE.68K,Vectorman (USA).gen
VIRTUAFIGHTER2.bin,Virtua Fighter 2 (USA).gen

After saving and closing the CSV file, next up, it’s time to write a script that will rename the files:

nano segaclassicsrename.sh

#!/bin/bash
IFS=","
while read f1 f2
do
echo "rename from : $f1"
echo "to : $f2"
mv $f1 "$f2"
echo "done"
done < segaclassicslist.csv

After saving and closing the script, all that remains is to make it executable and run it:

chmod +x ./segaclassicsrename.sh
./segaclassicsrename.sh

If everything goes according to plan, the new filenames should be more straightforward.

Conclusion

Questions? Comments? Let me know, thanks for reading and laters.

L’article Extracting ROMs from Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics bought on Steam on Linux Mint 18.3 est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.

If you wish to support me, you can buy the games I mentioned in this blog post via these Humble Bundle affiliate links and it comes at no additional cost from you. Thanks.

Brütal Legend (Steam multi-platform and DRM-free)
Injustice: Gods Among Us – Ultimate Edition (Steam Windows only)
Jotun (Steam multi-platform)
The King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match Final Edition (Steam Windows only)

Hey everyone. Klebs here and today, I’ll show you how to setup an Xbox One controller for Linux Mint 18.3.

I’d like to point out that at the time of this writing, I haven’t yet found a way to make the controller work in wireless mode with the official USB wireless dongle. I’m also aware of its Bluetooth capability although this only applies to the 3rd revision of the controllers that were made available in 2016 while mine were bought before that period.

Getting Started

First of all, I’d like to thank Pavel Rojtberg for developing this driver on GitHub because without him, this wouldn’t have been possible.

Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

Since the controller needs to be plugged in to work, only that and a USB-to-MicroUSB cable are required. AA batteries and the USB wireless dongle won’t be needed.

Before installing the driver, it’s important to make sure Linux is up-to-date by entering this command line in the terminal:

sudo apt update

It’s also possible to take a step further in the update process by using this command line instead:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Installing the Xpad driver

In case this hasn’t been done already, make sure these components are installed:

sudo apt install git dkms joystick jstest-gtk

To download and install the driver, enter the following command lines:

sudo git clone https://github.com/paroj/xpad.git /usr/src/xpad-0.4
sudo dkms install -m xpad -v 0.4

Testing the controller in general

Testing the controller with a native Linux version of a game on Steam

Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

For the test under the Linux client of Steam, I chose Brütal Legend and it worked right away.

Testing the controller with a native DRM-free Linux version of a game

Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

For the test of a DRM-free game, I chose Jotun from my GOG library and it worked right away.

Testing the controller with a Windows version of a game on Steam using Proton

Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

For the test of a Windows game under the Linux client of Steam using the Proton feature, I chose Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition and The King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match Final Edition and both worked right away.

Updating the Xpad driver

It’s good practice to visit the GitHub project page once in a while to check for updates.
In case a newer version is available, here are the steps to proceed with the update:

cd /usr/src/xpad-0.4
sudo git fetch
sudo git checkout origin/master
sudo dkms remove -m xpad -v 0.4 –all
sudo dkms install -m xpad -v 0.4

Deleting the Xpad driver

It’s also possible to delete the driver by entering the following:

sudo dkms remove -m xpad -v 0.4 –all
sudo rm -rf /usr/src/xpad-0.4

Conclusion

Although I’d rather use the controller in wireless mode like I used to do on Windows, I don’t think it’s worth it to replace my old controllers with the newer ones because mine still work just fine. Moreover, I’ve been told using the 3rd revision controller in Bluetooth mode isn’t without its issues. Therefore I’ll keep plugging mine in until a better solution is made available.

Questions? Comments? Let me know, thanks for reading and laters.

L’article Setup the Xbox One controller for Linux Mint 18.3 est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.