Problems with KSP and Ubuntu

[Raven.]

I'm posting this because I'm close to my wits end with this two issues. Traditionally, I have played KSP using the 64 bit binary on Windows 7 Professional. Recently I switched over to the 64 bit client on Ubuntu 14.04 due to the horrid stability problems, only to run into other issues.

Currently I run a Xeon E3-1230 processor with an ATI HD 7950 graphics card and 16 GB of RAM; the system has traditionally been a powerhouse playing literally every game on maxed out settings (you should see Crysis 2 with the DX11 extensions on this thing!). Initially I installed Ubuntu 14.04 and used the default graphics driver just as a test run. Mostly, it runs well and the game is stable, although for some reason the system monitor crashes every time I run KSP. But I have two gripes: I'm not satisfied with the performance and the game flickers when Astronomer's Pack - Interstellar v2 is installed. Plus I'm kinda irked at the fact that the built in driver does not have hardware acceleration.

So the next thing that I did is go to the "additional drivers" section and install the fglrx driver from AMD, which I am learning is a humongous piece of junk (actually forum rules prohibit me from exactly expressing my opinions on the fglrx driver). The game will load and the flickering goes away, but the entire computer hard locks directly after loading the VAB, SPH, or an in-flight craft. This issues doesn't resolve itself unless I revert back to the open source drivers.

So, right now I'm at a loss as to what to do.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Raven.

[Green Baron]

I'm running the game under 14.04 as well but with a nvidia graphics card at reasonable peformance. The built in linux-graphic-drivers are not the best solutions for gaming :-)

Did you try the proprietary AMD Driver yet ?

K.

[Raven.]

I

Did you try the proprietary AMD Driver yet ?

K.

Yes, that's what the fglrx driver is.

[steve_v]

It's really on AMD to fix that hunk of junk driver, about all you can do (aside from gettting an NVIDIA card ) is maybe try the latest beta. I believe there's a PPA for it, but I don't actually run Ubuntu so you'll have to have a look around.

Edited January 7, 2015 by steve_v

[sal_vager]

AMD is getting better supposedly, at least the occasional post on /r/linux seems to suggest that, so it may be worth trying the latest driver instead of the out of date junk in the Ubuntu repo.

It takes a bit of effort to turn the AMD driver into a .deb that Ubuntu can install, but it's not hard

See here for more info.

[Green Baron]

Yes, that's what the fglrx driver is.

Or this ?

http://support.amd.com/de-de/download/desktop?os=Linux+x86

Hope i don't annoy you with this:

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Trusty_Installation_Guide

You will probably have to enable POSIX shared memory as stated on the AMD-Site ?

Well, best of luck ... this driver really seems to be exactly what you said ...

K.

[waterlubber]

I managed to completely screw myself over with AMD, if you run linux, the only thing I can say is...NEVER BUY AN AMD CARD. EVER. They are slow, suck power, and the drivers look like they were programmed by a monkey. I hate to rant, but...

My Nvidia card was better than the x3 as expensive amd one...

[Raven.]

Or this ?

http://support.amd.com/de-de/download/desktop?os=Linux+x86

Hope i don't annoy you with this:

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Trusty_Installation_Guide

You will probably have to enable POSIX shared memory as stated on the AMD-Site ?

Well, best of luck ... this driver really seems to be exactly what you said ...

K.

It doesn't annoy me, I'll try that second link out this weekend when I have time.

[steve_v]

if you run linux, the only thing I can say is...NEVER BUY AN AMD CARD. EVER. They are slow, suck power, and the drivers look like they were programmed by a monkey.

[RANT]

Yeah, that. It's unfortunate but it's true. I remember when the NVIDIA driver was pretty bad (been using GNU/Linux since ~1998), but it was never as broken as the AMD drivers are now.

It's been one thing after another - not updating to support current Xorg, dropping support for older GPUs etc.

For a while there several distros were maintaining a whole xorg branch (and all the other linked code that implies) just to have a working AMD driver.

That, and the fact that AMD haven't made any attempt to support other the *NIXes i.e. FreeBSD make me pretty unlikely to ever buy an AMD product again.

For the record, I had a similar experience "upgrading" my old GTX9800. I can't recall the exact model AMD card, but it sounded like a hovercraft, performed like a stoned pig and was returned within a day.

[/RANT]

Edited January 8, 2015 by steve_v

[Raven.]

Or this ?

http://support.amd.com/de-de/download/desktop?os=Linux+x86

Hope i don't annoy you with this:

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Trusty_Installation_Guide

You will probably have to enable POSIX shared memory as stated on the AMD-Site ?

Well, best of luck ... this driver really seems to be exactly what you said ...

K.

Instead of waiting until the weekend, I went ahead and tried the link. I had installed 14.04 completely from scratch last night, installed KSP without installing Steam, and then just now, followed the second link to the T, and KSP is now running without lockups or artifacts. So, for right now, until it blows up again, I'm calling this solved as I'm now running KSP on an AMD card.

Thank you.

EDIT: Yeah, the performance is far above what it was before. Very sigficant difference compared to before. Amazing what happens when you finally get hardware acceleration .

Edited January 8, 2015 by Raven.

[steve_v]

Just for the record, what version of the catalyst/fglrx driver are you now running? A fair few others have had similar problems & if upgrading is a fix... well, it might be good to know

[Raven.]

Just for the record, what version of the catalyst/fglrx driver are you now running? A fair few others have had similar problems & if upgrading is a fix... well, it might be good to know

Omega 14.12, as documented in the second link of Kemde's post. It seemed to help considerably to completely purge the system of previous fglrx drivers, including the one that comes with Ubuntu. While I was at it, I also disabled tls off with "sudo amdconfig --tls=0."

[spencaosgood]

hello. I had a similar issue and used the same steps and that issue seems to have been fixed as well. Thanks btw. but i seem to get some strange graphical glitches when hovering over staging icons either in vab or in flight/on launch pad. any suggestions?

[vexx32]

Might want to try disabling the PPFX edge shaders in the settings.

[spencaosgood]

That worked, thanks much. After a few days of tinkering I can finally run a modded game on 64 bit YAY!!!