The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON TECHNICAL ISSUES... and their answers.

If you do not find the answers to your questions here:
See the project FAQ at http://sc2.sourceforge.net/info.html#faq  
Less technical questions are answered at http://uqm.stack.nl/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Gendiscuss;action=display;num=1052236603


Table of contents:
Part 1: Installation
How do I install? How do I update? When is the next version coming out?

Part 2: Getting oriented; how to use the game
How do I change the keys? Where are the <foo> files? How do I do <foo> within the game? How do I set behavior on startup?

Part 3: Bugs
When code goes bad...

Part 4: meta-FAQ and IAQ
such as how to get to the command line on various systems

Part 5: DfA (definitions for acronyms)



PART 1: Installation and updating

*** Q: How do I install the game? I can't compile it myself!
A: There are official builds for a wide variety of platforms available at
http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.html
However, there are unofficial builds incorporating the latest and greatest features and bug fixes!
If you are on Windows, you can download an unofficial build from Striker, at
http://www.4u-servers.co.uk/~striker/
If you are on Mac, you can download an unofficial build from Nic, at
http://www.submedia.net/uqm/

If you get one of the unofficial builds, you will still need to install the libraries, so pick them up from the official page!


*** Q: How do I update this game? I can't compile!
A: If you can't compile, you're pretty much stuck with the unofficial builds -- see the previous question, but ignore the part about the libraries (since you already have them).
Also, if you need updated content, you can use CVS (see instructions below). Just leave off the 'compile' parts. Note, this will occasionally produce weird effects, like graphics not lining up right because the code assumes different sizes. If this occurs, it is not a bug that needs to be dealt with, because in any release the content will be internally consistent. You can avoid the weird effects by getting the version lined up with your build (put the option '-r' and then the release number you want before 'sc2' in the second command below). However, of course, this will be the UN-updated content. Also, using the -r option has some side-effects (see Nic's post, far below).

*** Q: How do I update this game? I CAN compile!
A: First, use CVS to get the most recent source (see above). Contrary to the beliefs of some, if you're command-line savvy, it's not hard to use basic CVS checkout even if you only have the haziest idea of what it does... if you're doing these exact steps.

Supposing you are using CVS on a command-line:
Go to the root of where you'd like your sc2 source code to be, and enter the command:

cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/sc2 login

(you will be asked for a password. Give a blank password - i.e., hit enter without entering a password)

cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/sc2 co sc2

If you're on windows, you will probably be using MS's gui compiler. The project file can be found in
src\msvc++

Now, supposing you're on a unix-like:
Go into the installed directory, the one which contains a directory 'build' and a file 'build.sh'. Execute the command
./build.sh

This will set you up. Then execute the command
./build.sh install uqm

This should do the trick. The executable will be 'uqm-debug' or 'uqm'
If you get errors here, this forum is definitely the place to ask for help! Take a look around in any of the existing 30 "installation trouble!" threads or start your own.


*** Q: How long until the next version?
A: Ask the Pkunk. This is dependent on many wild variables. For a hint, look at the changelog at http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/sc2/sc2/ChangeLog?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/plain

The more stuff changed since the most recent version, the more likely that a new version is coming soon.



PART 2: other stuff that also isn't a bug:

*** Q: How do I play with a different window size or fullscreen?
*** Q: How do I play with better sound?
*** Q: How do I adjust the volumes?
*** Q: How do I play without subtitles?
*** Q: How do I play with the PC menu system?
*** Q: How do I play with the PC coarse scan system?
*** Q: How do I play with OpenGL?
*** Q: How do I get the PC music?
A: All of these are available via options, which are available if you run it in a command line-like way, including the "run..." start menu item on windows 95+ or a windows shortcut with options provided (note that if you make it as a shortcut, any options must be put OUTSIDE any quotes you use).
To find out what the available options are, take a look at the manual.txt file that came with the game, or run the game with the option "--help".
Further note that if you're on a mac, and uqm is an application (as opposed to merely an executable) named, say, "Ur-Quan Masters", you'll need to further go into the directory
"Ur-Quan Masters.app/Contents/MacOS/"
where the uqm executable resides in order to be able to pass these options.

Remember, when writing batch files/shell scripts/shortcuts, put quotes around names including metacharacters like " ".

ALTERNATELY, you can use one of the launcher programs. There is a java launcher program available at http://www.submedia.net/uqm/ (note: though most files there are mac-only, the launcher should work anywhere).
There is also a windows-only launcher which was once available at
http://www.theafterm.ath.cx/uqm/UQM%20Launcher+Libs.exe
It is reported not to run on some versions of windows.


*** Q: How do I change the keys?
*** Q: Where are the saved games?
*** Q: Where are the files for the melee teams?
A: The location of these files is given in the manual.txt file installed with everything else.


*** Q: How do I pause/quit/return to main menu?
A: press F1/F12/F10 (respectively). F12 doesn't work on macs in version 0.22 (see bug below). This stuff is in the Manual.txt file.


PART 3: BUGS etc.

*** Q: I have this fantastic feature request! What do I do?
A: Great! Put it in the general discussion forum rather than the technical issues forum (click on the link to "home" near the top of the page, and it is the first forum listed.)


*** Q: I have this bug! What do I do?
A: First, make sure your version of UQM is reasonably up-to-date (as of current writing, 0.24 is most recent unofficial build; 0.2 is most recent official build; cvs will of course be the most recent possible). If it isn't, update it! (your playing experience will probably be better, and your comments more valuable).
If your copy is up to date, then look at the bug list at the bottom of this FAQ. If it's not there, then look for it in the bug database at
http://uqm.stack.nl/cgi-bin/bugs/index.cgi
If you don't find it THERE, or the existing report is incomplete, then add your bug (if there is an existing incomplete report, add a comment to it, not making a new bug).
Bug reporting is not hard, but not trivial either. Guidelines are given at
http://uqm.stack.nl/cgi-bin/bugs/bugwritinghelp.html
In order to add your bug, you will need to provide an email address and a password (not the password to the email account!). Pertinent information will be sent to this account.

FREQUENTLY POSTED OR EASILY RESOLVED BUGS
Note that this list is by no means exhaustive. If your bug is not here, search Bugzilla for it.

Bug: When I change the 'keys.cfg' file, the control keys don't change!
Solution: replace the existing starcon.ndx (in your content directory) with the file at
http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/sc2/sc2/content/starcon.ndx?rev=1%2E2

Bug: My lander won't advance during a surface report or take off!
Status: Fixed by 0.22
Workaround for youse guys who don't update: If you change the name of your captain or flagship, then you should save and quit, then reopen uqm and load, before landing on a planetary surface.

Bug: Crashes in the middle of battle
Status: this happened a lot more under 0.2 (the most recent official build) than under later versions. If it happens under more recent builds, it's bug-database time! (reproduction remains key)

Bug: The spathi butt missile hurts the ship which fired it!
Status: this was fixed a lo-ong time ago, so UPDATE! -- of course, it's still possible for you to hurt yourself with the weapon. Don't shoot it away from the enemy, or it'll turn around and hit you. And don't shoot while moving too fast toward where the weapon will appear, or you'll overtake the shot and it'll hit you that way. The same with the Mycon.

Bug: when I click on start game in the main menu, nothing happens!
What's up: this game ignores the mouse. Use the direction keys to navigate.

Bug: Hey, the ending animations are missing!
Status: sorry. It's hard, for various reasons. We'll have something cooked up sooner or later. In the mean time, look at what you missed at
http://uqm.stack.nl/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Gendiscuss;action=display;num=1055261901;start=0#1
and there's a movie of this somewhere on PNF, I think. Maybe just the slide show?

Bug: Ship X doesn't work!
What's Up: several ships have unusual properties which can be mistaken for bugs. The relevant information can be found in your manual.txt file. More verbose information can be found in PNF's handy alien resource at
http://www.star-control.com/sc2/aliens

Bug: I have no SFX! (under a big-endian system such as Mac or Solaris)
Status: This has been fixed by 0.22.

Bug: the Slylandro colors are pretty but make no sense! (big-endian systems)
Status: broken, fixed, then (for me) irreproducibly broken again. If you're fully updated and can reproduce a failure, go to bug #137 in bugzilla.

Bug: F12 key doesn't quit the game (Mac)
Status: working in 0.2 and 0.24; broken only in 0.22.
Workarounds: Closing the window or using the application menu will do the trick. Don't play fullscreen unless you don't mind logging in remotely to issue a kill command (has to be remote login since you can't get the screen to a terminal), or possibly a force-quit via command-option-escape, or definitely the power switch.

Bug: The text is weird and different from the PC version!
Status: well, yeah. The 3d0 version, from which we are working, used different speech. This creates several quirks, such as:

Bug: I tried to tell the Mycon about this great planet, and they told me to go away! I can't advance the plot!
What's Up: The Mycon have not one but two inhabited planets. One is a place full of Juffo-Wup; the other is their homeworld. The 3d0 version cut several important pieces of dialogue, which would disambiguate (permanent word of the day: disambiguate). Find the homeworld to get it all sorted out. Fortunately, their homeworld right in the middle of their sphere of influence.

Bug: "GOODBYE SUN DEVICE"? What does that mean?
What's Up: someone was on crack when they entered the dialog for this. We'll straighten it out.

Other bugs we're aware of (and are working on or have solved)
Bug: Inconsistency in claims of how much bio-credit the Umgah give you.
Bug: Sometimes, the game refers to the "A" key or the "B" key from the 3d0.
Bug: Communications and combat make the game get choppy.
Bug: Commander Hayes doesn't shut up about certain things.
Bug: Androsynth Guardian and DOGI's interact strangely.
Feature: old lander bug is now eradicated.
Feature: Several species from SC2 are mentioned in materials and pilot names from SC1.
Bug: The Ur-Quan are bugs (in particular, millipedes).
Bug: This bug is the set of all bugs which do not include themselves.
Bug: The specified behavior for uqm is that this bug go unresolved.

Part 4: Meta-FAQ and Infrequently Asked Questions

*** Q: You made a boo-boo on this FAQ! How do I tell you?
A: Personal-message your erratum to me. (If you are logged in, click on the little envelope symbol under my name to the left of this post, below the AIM icon)
You can also IM me (name: drachefly)

*** Q: did you make this FAQ as halfway decent as it is all by yourself?
A: no!
Novus corrected my info on the Ilwrath homeworld.
Meep-eep gave much sage advice and particular comments. He also caught the Ilwrath homeworld issue.
Chad gave a better link to PNF. Makes sense, since it's HIS SITE.
Mika pointed out Meep-eep's solution to the common immutable keys problem.

*** Q: How do I get to the command-line on a mac?
A: use application, /Applications/Utilities/Terminal
To figure out how to get around, I suggest you go to google and 'get lucky' on a search for 'unix commands'

***Q: How do I get to the command-line on windows?
A: go to the Run... item in the start menu, and enter 'cmd'. If that doesn't work, try 'command.com'.
To figure out how to get around, I suggest you go to google and 'get lucky' on a search for 'dos commands'

*** Q: How much does the dev team rock?
A: A lot. Like, on par with the Chenjesu.

*** Q: How do you pronounce 'melee'?
A: Dictionary.com says 'maylay' or 'meh-lay'. Strangely enough, no dictionary I've found says to use the pronunciation suggested by English phonetics: 'mealy'. What can I say; it's from French.


Part 5: Definitions for Acronyms

CVS: Concurrent Versioning System. Used to download just the changes between what you have and what you need from the server. So you don't need to spend ten hours downloading an update. Using CVS to get your code will result in the most up-to-date and least tested version.

PNF: Pages of Now and Forever. A fan-run web site for everything Star Control. As such, an excellent resource for UQM players.  
http://www.star-control.com/  
Lots of good stuff there.

UQM: the Ur-Quan Masters. The name of our project here, because we can't call it Star Control, because Accolade owns that name. No, we can't call it Star Controller, Star's Control, Controller of Stars, StarCon, Stark On, Star Khan, etc.

Many more definitions of other, less technical terms can be found at the general discussion FAQ, at http://uqm.stack.nl/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Gendiscuss;action=display;num=1052236603

Asking a Pkunk would certainly qualify as a wild variable...

Great job on the FAQ! Hopefully this will be stickied -er- stikeyd -er- stickeed...oh, forget it!

It's good to have a techincal issues FAQ, but I've got some comments...


'built-in command' isn't the right term. And anyhow, some graphical CVS client would do  too.


Any directory will do. Better to say "go to the directory where you want the 'sc2' tree with the sources to end up." if you really want to refer to the command line cvs. I think it's better to refer them to the cvs manual. If they don't get this, I doubt they'll be able to compile it at all.


This only makes sense if you have a unix shell. Most people will be using the VC project file on Windows with VC.
And having the current working dir in your path is silly. Better  just say that people should do "./build.sh". It will work even if they have the current working dir in the path. It saves a couple of lines in the FAQ too.
Maybe add a comment that this needs to be run from the newly checked out 'sc2' dir for completeness.


Not quite accurate. The directory they installed the game to might be in their search path.


This is not a technical issue.


I think it's better to leave "when I start it up" out. Even better would be to just mention a few questions like "How do I play full-screen", "How do I play without subtitles", "How do I..."


Worth mentioning is that if they do it in a windows shortcut, they need to place the options *outside* the double quotes. So something like:
"C:\Program Files\The UrQuan Masters\uqm" -f
Also, all the options are explained in the manual.


This is only true on unix systems. Better to just refer people to the manual.txt file; the exact details are in there.


There are more reasons. Just saying they are incompatible should be enough.


Not a technical issue. Not frequently asked either.


Not a technical issue as it is stated. Saying "F12 to quit the game doesn't work on my Mac" would be a valid question though.


The confirmation step is (temporarilly) removed from the current CVS version (and probably next unofficial builds).
Anyhow, it's not a technical issue, and it's in the manual.


Same here. Not a technical issue, and it's in the manual.


Great. But not a techincal issue, and not frequently asked.


Not a technical issue.


Great! A technical issue. (I think it's better to add "What should I do?" so that you can use "Q: ")


It is?


As this FAQ is going to be read from the board, and there are are no hyperlinks from an index to a particular bug, it's best not to add too much irrelevant text, to keep it compact. So nor 'patch up the gaps...' stuff nor the 'Mr. Zelnick' thing (which I don't get btw) should be here.
And as shorter would be "responses to your bug report will be send to you though".
Important is that people post seperate unrelated bugs (however small) into seperate reports.


It's actually fixed in cvs for quite a while. It's still worth mentioning (with the workaround) for people that still run 0.2.


Actually, I'm afraid that those console messages probably won't be any help either. Better to say that if they can reproduce it, it's worth reporting.
I think the bug is fixed in cvs though.


This question isn't asked anymore. It was really a 0.1 issue.


This has never been asked before, and hence shouldn't be on any FAQ list.




Really? That's still broken? The bug report is closed. If you have still have a problem, it should be reopened again, even if it's not reproducable.


The Ilwrath do say where their homeworld is when you talk to them often enough.
Anyhow, it's a gameplay issue (unless it is often reported as a bug, which it is not).


It's not a frequently asked question.


I don't think any of these qualifies as frequently asked.


Heh... this is the first time I've seen Russel's paradox phrased in terms of bugs. Maybe because it makes no sense like this. :)