The Linux compatibility thread!

[meeki]

So, I will be trying an experiment: Run KSP on an Ubuntu Kerrighed cluster.

I've been watching this from 2008 - current

Here is a good build link http://www.stevekelly.eu/cluster.shtml

Ive stayed away from it due to the network speed requirements. 100 meg network card and switch are not going to cut it.

Also Its meant to run with Threaded applications or parallel!

So here is what might happen.

Kerbal main process opens on one of your clusters eating 3% of its CPU

The physics process opens on another cluster and eats 100% of its CPU

Another kebal process opens on the third cluster eats 2% of your CPU

Gain in processing power is 5% ( not counting overhead and lag)

Now if someday Kerbal becomes multi-threaded in the physics department you still have to deal with overhead. Lag, throughput, loss cramming it all in the IP layer and then putting it all back together.

IP traffic is not loss less and has to attach a number to each packet. It does not care what order the data is sent in so when it arrives back and forth there is overhead putting all them bytes back together.

Whats supper cool about this cluster setup is you have a main machine. And then if you need more processes you just add another node (computer). So if your hosting a web server and you get too many clients and need more threads to serve then you just add another node. For now Ive got away with just using a reverse proxy and a ton of ram.

I'm not saying don't do it. Just that you may not see much of a speed boost

[meeki]

I also have another issue with a fresh stock .23 install on a laptop running i686 Arch Linux. This one has no problems at all with the mod key, but has the "no text shown" thing, which AFAIK should indicate the lack of Arial and ArialBold fonts, but trying every way known to me of installing them and following the advice in this thread didn't help in any way.

Try my font script http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/24529-The-Linux-compatibility-thread%21?p=855124&viewfull=1#post855124

Ive only used it in DEB based systems. Might work on arch. I doubt it will break arch. Worse case is it will install them .ttf files but it will not be detected.

[flashcactus]

sal_vager, Thanks for the advice, but installing the fonts from the OPpost is actually the first thing I've tried. I just have a habit of not asking for a way to do something unless I have tried at least once to follow all relevant advice available. Anyway, regarding the modifier key problem, I did look into the settings.cfg file on that computer and it appears to be mapped to the Alt keys, but they do not act as such while the Win and RShift keys do (sometimes, as stated in my previous post), so I assumed that this entry did not affect the actual keymap for some reason. Now, though, I found that on the laptop which doesn't have this problem, it is actually mapped to the default Win/RShift pair. So I guess I'll try to edit the config when I get back to the other computer and see what happens.

[sal_vager]

Okay flashcactus, not sure what's up with your text then, it may be a different issue.

Any chance of a pic of your missing text just in case there's differences? Is there text anywhere at all?

[flashcactus]

I've just fixed the no-text problem. It was indeed the lack of fonts. Renaming ArialBd.ttf to ArialBold.ttf and copying it over to /usr/share/fonts did the trick (not sure which one of those actions solved the problem, though). And remapping the modifier key in settings.cfg enabled it on the other install, so thanks for the advice.

meeki, I did try your script among the other methods and it didn't help, so you might consider modifying it to add a copy/symlink with the aforementioned name (and probably a prompt to copy the fonts to /usr/share/fonts if user is not root?).

Thanks again.

[sal_vager]

Glad it's working for you now flashcactus, did you need to restart for the fonts to be found?

[flashcactus]

No, I started the game immediately after running fc-cache.

Edited February 17, 2014 by flashcactus
replaced [code] with monospace font.

[shrub]

Running into a problem with the 64bit version

The 32bit version runs beautifully

When I run the 64bit it crashes during the loading screen:

Set current directory to /home/rishub/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Kerbal Space Program

Found path: /home/rishub/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Kerbal Space Program/KSP.x86_64

Mono path[0] = '/home/rishub/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Kerbal Space Program/KSP_Data/Managed'

Mono path[1] = '/home/rishub/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Kerbal Space Program/KSP_Data/Mono'

Mono config path = '/home/rishub/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Kerbal Space Program/KSP_Data/Mono/etc'

Aborted

anyway to fix this? I am at a loss

[sal_vager]

Anything else in the logs that may be a clue? Also don't forget 64bit is experimental still.

Maybe you need mono installed on the system

[shrub]

The Logs don't seem to hold anything useful

Am I looking for something specific?

I installed mono-complete (I'm running debian)

still crashes, still get the same error

Also, what should I set in my launch options in steam?

[sal_vager]

Hmm, it'd be good to see the logs, can you upload them somewhere?

LC_ALL=C %command%_64 is what you need for the launch option so Steam starts the 64bit binary, but you can also try just clicking on the file to see if that works.

[shrub]

Where do I place LD_PRELOAD and __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS then?

I ran the game by double clicking on the x86_64 binary

Here are the logs

http://pastebin.com/2nneU7JM

[shrub]

When I launch it using steam with the LC_ALL=C %command%_64 command, it loads up fine, no error.

Strange

[sal_vager]

Maybe that you need LC_ALL=C depending on your localisation, can you try "LC_ALL=C ./KSP.x86_64" in a terminal? (you need to be in the KSP directory)

I think those other commands can also go there, but LC_ALL=C is the most important

[shrub]

crashes instantly, same error

[kelmv]

Ran into an interesting issue; upgraded my GPU and KSP no longer worked (only displaying a black screen). I wiped out my saves and settings.cfg, and things worked once more. I'll be migrating my saves over from my laptop back over to my desktop to make sure that it wasn't an issue with the saves.

[shrub]

@sal_vager

Fixed the issue! I ran the segfault patch posted in the OP

Runs fine, and works with mods too!

Hope I can run all the mods I want without memory issues.

[Ph34rb0t]

Arch x64, latest Wine, NVidia card with proprietary drivers:

KSP loads and runs, but shadows are a friggin' mess, as expected. KSP "feels" snappier than on Windows though.

And me idiot was about to spend hours mucking around with KSP's native Linux build and trying to symlink all relevant folders to the ones on my Windows drive.

[sal_vager]

Try lowering the render quality, it has a big effect on the shadows

[Sigmundr]

Hi all, apologies if this has already been posted (couldn't see it), but with the newest ATI linux beta drivers (14.1), I was able to get anti-aliasing to work on KSP via the catalyst control center settings despite it still not working with the ingame, unity, settings.

Just thought it may be worth knowing you Kerbals dont have to worry as much about hurting themselves on all those jagged edges!

[shrub]

My physics timer flashes green/yellow on Kerbin. Is this a known problem or should I adjust the graphics settings?

[sal_vager]

Mine does that, there's a lot to render on Kerbin, you can try reducing the maxSubdivision value for the oceans on each graphics setting.

Poke around the settings.cfg, you're looking for this:

PLANET

{

name = KerbinOcean

minDistance = 4

minSubdivision = 1

maxSubdivision = 6

[Ph34rb0t]

Try lowering the render quality, it has a big effect on the shadows

Punch a toaster and call me Shirley, that really worked!

("Fantastic" -> "Beautiful")

[FuzzyLlama]

Thanks for the tips, sal_vager! But... I'm not satisfied. (Trying the x86_64 version) I can only seem to get a decent framerate looking at the spaceport in a fresh install if I turn off the fluffy graphics settings, turn rendering quality down to good, launch the game with nVidia threaded optimizations. On the same machine in Win8.1, Kerbal flies at high settings with 8x AA. For reference, the machine is an ASUS G705JW, Core i7 quad @ 3.2 GHz, 16Gb RAM, GeForce GTX 765M.

I just want to get performance in Linux (my flavor is Gentoo. woo.) close to what I'd see in Windows... but if just looking around at the spaceport is choppy and gross, I won't bother with the linux client! And that would be very very sad.

EDIT: Thought I should mention I'm running nvidia-334.16 beta drivers.

Edited February 27, 2014 by FuzzyLlama
video drivers

[sal_vager]

Shouldn't be that sluggish, though I admit KSP in Linux is not as fast as in Windows.

I'm running the 319 driver (it's old, I know) and don't have too many speed issues, certainly not when looking at the oceans and stuff anyway.

This is a hard one to answer to be honest, but the memory fix in the opening post may help, I'm just glad KSP works for us at all.

But yeah you should get better performance than that, one thing that does slow KSP down is the shadows and light sources, make sure they are default.