MegaBrutal's generic bug reports and suggestions

[MegaBrutal]

Few days ago I've sent an e-mail to Terry, describing some bugs and telling some suggestions. He directed me to this forum for a patch, and then I think it's more efficient if I post my stuff here too, so Simon can also see it.

I've already played the game on Ubuntu 12.10 system running on my Lenovo ThinkCentre M51 8141 (3.2 GHz processor).

I've noticed some problems, but I don't know if they're caused by my poor integrated graphics card or Unity bugs.

- I can't seem to be able to put the game to full screen. If I try, the screen doesn't fit on my monitor. It happens with all resolutions. So I found the optimal way to run VVVVVV is in x4 windowed mode. Additional note: it seems to happen to ALL games those try to set a resolution which is smaller than my monitor's native 1920x1080, so it's probably not a VVVVVV-specific problem - BUT I think it would be nice to support 1920x1080 and other widescreen resolutions then.
- But then the game fails to memorize that it should switch to x4 windowed mode when I quit and start the game again. (Strange, however, because it shows x4 selected in the settings, but it's not x4-sized actually.) It is addressed with the V2.1 patch which I didn't know about by the time, but it raised this bug instead.
- The game crashes when I press Alt-PrintScreen. Doesn't seem to happen in V2.1, and probably it was a random unreproducible bug anyway.

Also, I noticed the game seems to run with different speeds on better and slower machines, and this is odd. That's one thing that my laptop always overheats and thus the game becomes slower (so I practically cheated the whole game when I was playing on my laptop ), but my laptop is an unsupported hardware. I assume that VVVVVV runs with normal speed on my 3 GHz machine. But then, I installed VVVVVV somewhere on a really fast machine, and there the game was SUPER INHUMAN FAST!!! It was almost unplayable, since my neurons are too slow to process what's happening. Although it's still possible that that's the game's normal speed, and it runs slower than normal on my ThinkCentre. I don't know. If I see YouTube videos, however, it backs up my suspicion, that the normal speed is what I perceive on my ThinkCentre.

The point is that (aside from really sucky hardware like my laptop) you should optimize the game to run with the same speed on slightly older and super modern hardware too. Honestly, I don't know how the game is timed, and so what you could do to fix this. And I'm not even sure if others have this problem too or it's just me.

Anyway, I don't know when does Valve plan to release Steam on Linux; but if I got it correctly from your e-mail, you're also planning to prepare a Linux version for Linux Steam users, which is really great! \o/ I'm just curious, are you planning to celebrate the Linux Steam release like how you celebrated the C port of the game? I mean things like:
- Adding new content (levels, music, easter eggs, etc.).
- Adding Steam achievements. (That would be awesome! \o/)
- Implementing Steam cloud. (Personally, I don't really like that service for I find it annoying, but other players may like it. You can hold a voting on your forum or somewhere if you're in doubt.)

[MegaBrutal]

I've found another bug: some level names don't appear in the menu. When I try to load such an "empty" level, I end up falling endlessly to the empty space.

(A screenshot should be viewable below. - If not, please be patient, regular service will return shortly... within half a day. )




Meanwhile, I see this text on the console:

Code Select Expand

Level file: vertexvortex.vvvvvv
Level file: vertiginousviridian.vvvvvv
Level file: pyramid.vvvvvv
Level file: seasons.vvvvvv
Level file: 333333_easy.vvvvvv
Level file: linewrap.vvvvvv
Level file: a_new_dimension.vvvvvv
Level file: soulsearching.vvvvvv
Level file: variationventure.vvvvvv
Level file: victuals.vvvvvv
Level file: varietyshow.vvvvvv
Level file: vvvvvvgoldenspiral.vvvvvv
Level file: towerofpower.vvvvvv
Level file: the_dual_challenge.vvvvvv
Level file: quantumtunnel12.vvvvvv
Level file: roadtrip.vvvvvv
Level file: 4kvvvv.vvvvvv
No level found :(
No level found :(
No level found :(
No level found :(
No level found :(
No level found :(
No level found :(

Note: I did extract the http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/VVVVVV/levels.zip file to ./data/levels.

[FIQ]

VVVVVV is actually available as a Linux game in the Steam beta!

However, I got an issue in which Steam claimed that it downloaded the game, while the directory in fact was completely empty when done downloading. Either it's an issue with Steam (it's a beta after all, and it also happened with Braid), or Terry did something wrong.

By the way, if you aren't a beta tester of the linux version, you can still run Steam avoiding the "you are not enrolled!" window with steam steam://open/games/

About VVVVVV running super fast, that sounds really weird! Every machine I've played the game on, it has been correctly capped to 30fps (possibly 60fps, not sure exactly which, but you get my point).

Also, about new content -- I just want to inform you that the 2.1 beta version was released ~1 year ago, and Mac has yet to get a port. So I don't think it's actively being worked on. Also, see Terry's comment in this thread (about a new version of the game, i.e. new content etc): http://distractionware.com/forum/index.php?topic=849.0

Fullscreen VVVVVV works fine for me (linux), that being said, I run 1366x768 and not 1920x1080

About the levels, try to extract to ~/.vvvvvv/levels/ that's what I did, and it fixed the empty levels issue for me.

[MegaBrutal]

VVVVVV is actually available as a Linux game in the Steam beta!

That's awesome, but how can I download Steam for Linux beta? I've been looking for it with no luck. And then somewhere I read that only 1000 lucky people got the privilege to try it... So I guess I must wait for it. Or is it open yet?

[FIQ]

VVVVVV is actually available as a Linux game in the Steam beta!

That's awesome, but how can I download Steam for Linux beta? I've been looking for it with no luck. And then somewhere I read that only 1000 lucky people got the privilege to try it... So I guess I must wait for it. Or is it open yet?

Well, I run Arch Linux so I simply downloaded it from the user repository there.

Technically it's still closed beta, but there's a very simple work-around -- download Steam, and run it with:

Code Select Expand

$ steam steam://open/games/

By the looks of your screenshot, you're running Ubuntu.

A quick look at the Steam package I got tells me this:
source=("http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb")

So I suppose it's there - http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb

You should be able to download it, and run:

Code Select Expand

# dpkg -i steam.deb

I don't use Ubuntu, use Google if you want to verify my instructions

[MegaBrutal]

Also, about new content -- I just want to inform you that the 2.1 beta version was released ~1 year ago, and Mac has yet to get a port. So I don't think it's actively being worked on. Also, see Terry's comment in this thread (about a new version of the game, i.e. new content etc): http://distractionware.com/forum/index.php?topic=849.0

What Terry wrote there is really sad, but as I see, he posted it in January, when Steam for Linux was not even a mere idea. Now that he is going to release the game for Linux, maybe he is a little more open for investing some time in a new version.

However, I do understand that he wants to move on. I also made a game this year, and even though some people suggest me to invest some more time in it, I wouldn't really like to bother with it anymore, I'd like to move on and make another game. I'm sad, because it seems my game won't sell.

Well, I run Arch Linux so I simply downloaded it from the user repository there.

Technically it's still closed beta, but there's a very simple work-around -- download Steam, and run it with:

Code Select Expand

$ steam steam://open/games/

By the looks of your screenshot, you're running Ubuntu.

A quick look at the Steam package I got tells me this:
source=("http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb")

So I suppose it's there - http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb

You should be able to download it, and run:

Code Select Expand

# dpkg -i steam.deb

I don't use Ubuntu, use Google if you want to verify my instructions

WOW, I installed it! Though it threw me this:



I guess this is the point where I should use the workaround... but I'm a bit of afraid that my account might be suspended or something... Probably I shouldn't risk... a lot of money is invested in my Steam account already...

[FIQ]

Also, about new content -- I just want to inform you that the 2.1 beta version was released ~1 year ago, and Mac has yet to get a port. So I don't think it's actively being worked on. Also, see Terry's comment in this thread (about a new version of the game, i.e. new content etc): http://distractionware.com/forum/index.php?topic=849.0

What Terry wrote there is really sad, but as I see, he posted it in January, when Steam for Linux was not even a mere idea. Now that he is going to release the game for Linux, maybe he is a little more open for investing some time in a new version.

However, I do understand that he wants to move on. I also made a game this year, and even though some people suggest me to invest some more time in it, I wouldn't really like to bother with it anymore, I'd like to move on and make another game. I'm sad, because it seems my game won't sell.

Well, I run Arch Linux so I simply downloaded it from the user repository there.

Technically it's still closed beta, but there's a very simple work-around -- download Steam, and run it with:

Code Select Expand

$ steam steam://open/games/

By the looks of your screenshot, you're running Ubuntu.

A quick look at the Steam package I got tells me this:
source=("http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb")

So I suppose it's there - http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb

You should be able to download it, and run:

Code Select Expand

# dpkg -i steam.deb

I don't use Ubuntu, use Google if you want to verify my instructions

WOW, I installed it! Though it threw me this:



I guess this is the point where I should use the workaround... but I'm a bit of afraid that my account might be suspended or something... Probably I shouldn't risk... a lot of money is invested in my Steam account already...

I can't load that picture but I believe I know what it is.

I don't really think valve will do something (if anything, they will just fix the work-around, and it's worth mentioning that this has been there 1 month already, and people tell the work-around on their own site )