Ubuntu doesn´t know with what to open/execute KSP.

[Vaporized Steel]

I'm very new to linux and I've been toying with it the last couple of days.

I got KSP to work flawlessly on ubuntu previously but I had to reinstall ubuntu yesterday because of messing with propriatary graphics card drivers. Which I finally did manage to install successfully.

Somehow KSP doesn't boot on this fresh new install. (yes I downloaded the linux version) Maybe it is because I'm using 14.04 instead of ubuntu 15.

Whenever I double click one of the exe it says ubuntu can't open it, it made me search for a appropriate program and it came up with pypar. But pypar doesn't open the KSP exe files. Upon research pypar seems to be a archive repair tool and has nothing to do with the purpose of opening a exe. By the way, how do I configure ubuntu to stop opening the ksp exe files automatically with pypar.

I know lnux doesn't open exes, but it did on my old install. Any idea what I got to do to fix this?

[micha]

The Linux version of KSP doesn't have "exe"'s. If your binary is called "KSP.x86_64.exe" you've got the wrong download.

The easiest way to get some more information is to open up a terminal window, "cd" to wherever you've extracted/installed KSP, and try to run the binary.

eg, You've installed it in your home directory, ~/KSP (I'm making this up, I have no idea where a non-Steam install goes), then you'd do the following (where "$" means your command prompt, it's not something you'd type in):

$ cd ~/KSP

-> This changes directory to the KSP directory; replace "~/KSP" with wherever you installed/extracted KSP.

$ ls -l

-> This lists (in -long format) the directory; check to make sure you have KSP.x86 and KSP.x86_64, and that they do NOT have the .exe endings, and that they are executable.

$ LC_ALL=C ./KSP.x86_64

-> This runs the KSP.x86_64 binary (assuming you're in the correct directory, the binary exists, and it is executable). The "LC_ALL=C" is kinda optional, but it reduces problems on enough systems that I always recommend to add it; it won't break anything.

You should now either get KSP starting up, or get some sort of errors popping up on in the terminal. Please post the result.

As for fixing opening ".exe"'s on Linux, generally you'd need to install Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) which gives you access to some Windows APIs, allowing you to run (some) Windows binaries under Linux. How you'd break the association with pypar I don't know - that depends on your desktop environment. If you're running standard Ubuntu that would be Unity, and I haven't used that in years, but there should be a configuration option somewhere.

[steve_v]

Don't open the .exe, that's the Windows binary.

You want 'KSP.x86_64', it should be marked executable (*nix equivalent of .exe file extension) already but if not a 'chmod +x KSP.x86_64' will make it so.

Dang ninjas

Also worth noting, I hear "had to reinstall" far to often... almost any screwup can be fixed without a reinstall on GNU/Linux. Bungled GPU drivers count as a fairly minor problem in that regard.

My current desktop is a ~7 year old install and has been several different flavours of Debian in that time, not to mention a bunch of hardware upgrades. No reinstalls though

Edited July 27, 2015 by steve_v

[Harry Rhodan]

I know lnux doesn't open exes, but it did on my old install. Any idea what I got to do to fix this?

The linux version doesn't have any exe files to begin with. Did you maybe use WINE to use the Windows version in your old install?

[steve_v]

$ ls KS*
KSP.exe  KSP.log  KSP.x86  KSP.x86_64

That's a fresh archive from the store. Dunno why there's a Windows binary in there, but there it is.

[Vaporized Steel]

I think we have a misunderstanding. My KSP.x86_64 Is not with .exe at the end. I call it executable because it says itÅ› executable in file "properties"

But it doesn´t say .exe anywhere. Sorry for the confusion.

@Steve_v (apart from KSP.exe which I won't use)

@Micha

THe downloaded KSP folder is called KSP_Linux

I moved the folder to the home folder.

I used the command "cd ~/KSP_linux"

But it says command not found.

Typing in ~/KSP_linux and the terminal says that directory exists.

So the terminal doesn't understand when I tell it to change directory somehow.

- - - Updated - - -

I was a little to quik. I Misstyped. I did manage to change directory to the KSP_linux folder. And none of the files appear to be exes.

When typing LC_ALL=C .KSP.x86_64 i get a command not found error.

- - - Updated - - -

Hmm, seems I solved it myself by checking "Allow executing file as program" on the permissions tab at the properties window.

New question!

If I may, I stumbled upon another problem which is that my max resolution can't be set higher then 1600 x 900. My monitor can handle 1920 x 1080?

I have AMD propriatary graphics drivers. The graphics card is a HD 7850.

Edited July 27, 2015 by Vaporized Steel

[steve_v]

You're missing a '/'... try 'LC_ALL=C ./KSP.x86_64'

'./' denotes the current directory, .KSP.x86_64 is a different file name.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, that'll work too

Probably some "safety feature" of whatever DE *buntu is using.

- - - Updated - - -

Pass, don't have Ubuntu or AMD.

You could try setting it manually in the settings.cfg file I guess:

SCREEN_RESOLUTION_WIDTH = 1920

SCREEN_RESOLUTION_HEIGHT = 1080

Are you set to fullscreen?

What's your current desktop res? you probably can't set it above that...

Hint: 'xrandr --current'

I'm guessing its some vagary of Unity or your graphics driver, but that's just a guess.

- - - Updated - - -

This editing posts thing makes for an interesting format... if a little hard to follow

Edited July 27, 2015 by steve_v

[Vaporized Steel]

Thanks for the help man. Could have figured the settings.cfg configuration myself. I'm still to focused on learning the operating system itself.

One last thing though that I really can't get to work in KSP on ubuntu. And thatÅ› the debug menu.

I searched a bit and heard you needed to use right shift + F12 opposed to Alt + F12 in windows. That doesn work, left shift doesn't either.

F12 button does work because I can switch between Aerodyunamic forces overlay.

None of the either left/right ctrl, alt, shift + F12 key combinations opens the debug panel.

In fact, it's because either shift, ctrl and alt dont do anything at all in combination with F12.

Aerodynamic forces overlay is just being enabled and disabled when pressing F12 either with shift combinations and without.

I also heard that if you have FN on your keyboard you wouldn't need to use that in combination with shift and F12 but it doesn't open the debug panel.

Both num and capslock are off.

[micha]

Also, there's default or override (I don't know which) graphics settings stored in ~/.config/unity3d/Squad and ~/.config/unity3d/SQUAD (yes, case-sensitive means they are separate directories in Linux; at some point someone should raise that as a bug-report to Squad). By default, "dot-files" (starting with a period/dot, ie".") are hidden. There's no separate "hidden" attribute for files like there is in Windows/DOS. So you'll have to "show hidden files" in your file manager (or use "ls -la" on the terminal - list long all)

So if you edit the config file manually to change the resolution, either delete those directories (they'll get re-created next time you run KSP) or make the same changes in them.

- - - Updated - - -

I searched a bit and heard you needed to use right shift + F12 opposed to Alt + F12 in windows.

I changed mine to use Left-Alt like the Windows default, but if you do that you have to also disable Left-Alt in your Window Manager (either for the KSP Window specifically if your WM allows it, or generally) - that may or may not be possible in Unity.

Still, Right-Shift-F12 should do the trick, unless Unity (or your keyboard? You mentioned an FN key) overrides that as well.

- - - Updated - - -

You can also edit your config file to change (or add) an extra key to be the Modifier key in the settings.cfg; I don't think Unity uses the Windows key so that'd be a great choice.

[Vaporized Steel]

The modifier key in the settings .cfg was set as left and right alt. I changed it to RightShift. It´s working now.

[micha]

Great stuff! And thanks for posting what you did to fix it - could help someone else down the track.

[Vaporized Steel]

I really hope it helps other people around the linux community, if they encounter the same problems. I've been playing around with ksp (unmodded) and it works flawlessly now. It does pop-up with errors that ubuntu close the program. Usually after several hours of gaming. I read around the internet that this may be occasional, it simply seems to be something to get used to (if you run x64 on ubuntu) ........which I do. (I know itÅ› not supported)

But so far it does save my progression in ksp, and when it runs, it does so smoothly.

I run propriatary graphics drivers by AMD opposed to the open source drivers. The Frames per second are lower versus a windows configuration of Kerbal space program. But not by much. I hope a Kerbal space program installation with a dozen mods (i.e. realism overhaul) will run just as smooth. Or alternatively run a little less smooth (which I categorize as tolerable)

But there's definetely a performance loss.

This could be the reason for my graphics card (Ati HD 7850)

I heard some cards are better supported for Linux. (nvidia seems to be more smoothly compared to amd)

I'm not a real gamer. I rarely game, and when I do it is the stuff off arcade type off games or kerbal space program for this instance.

I also heard that Nvidia cards have better propriatary driver support for linux machines. Since I wont be hunting for a Nvidia Geforce Titan X (or for that matter, anything within that price/quality category)

What besides is the best most stable graphics card for linux (either for open source or propriatary drivers)

(@above - please explain the stable linux versus price comparison kind of graphics card)

^^ if you catch my drift

[sal_vager]

Oh if only I'd seen this sooner, most games have their binary set as not executable in the zip, so Ubuntu and most other distros won't know what to do with it...

KSP performance on Linux is as varied as there are Linux distros, but you'll get the best performance and stability with an Nvidia graphics card, though I'd not recommend the latest and greatest, as Linux driver support usually lags behind, so something from the middle of the range to upper middle is best.

AMD should get better, if they embrace open source drivers fully which I think they will do, and even Intel is okay, but if you're getting an Intel card, go for a good one, they aren't as powerful as an AMD or an Nvidia, but their open driver is great.

Also, marking as solved as the original question was solved.