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I think everyone here knows the history of this controversial FPS created by John Romero (the father of the FPS genre) after his departure from id Software, therefore this subject won't be covered in this article, since there are a lot of places where you can read about it.
What matters here is that approximately fifteen years after the original release, a community project was started in an attempt to fix all the problems the original build had, and from the beginning it counted with John Romero's endorsement (check this interview from last year, at 5:55). The good news, according to this recent tweet by John Romero, is that allegedly the patch is in a such advanced stage that now you should be able to play the game on Linux without any problem.
You can download the patch (called 1.3) from here, and the only requirement is to have a copy of the original game with its final 1.2 patch, so, in the event that by any chance you have it, then you may be interested to check how much the original experience was improved. Though, it's recommended to exercise some caution if you're planning to buy the game, as there isn't any guarantee that the patch will properly work yet (although you can report bugs here).
According to Daikatana Wiki these are some of the most important updates:
Bold emphasis mine.
And here you have a video made by a Youtube user running the game on Linux, which already shows a smooth performance even considering it was recorded one year ago. The video description says:
Will you be giving the game a second play with this patch? In case you do, you're always welcome to share your impressions on the comments. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
What matters here is that approximately fifteen years after the original release, a community project was started in an attempt to fix all the problems the original build had, and from the beginning it counted with John Romero's endorsement (check this interview from last year, at 5:55). The good news, according to this recent tweet by John Romero, is that allegedly the patch is in a such advanced stage that now you should be able to play the game on Linux without any problem.
You can download the patch (called 1.3) from here, and the only requirement is to have a copy of the original game with its final 1.2 patch, so, in the event that by any chance you have it, then you may be interested to check how much the original experience was improved. Though, it's recommended to exercise some caution if you're planning to buy the game, as there isn't any guarantee that the patch will properly work yet (although you can report bugs here).
According to Daikatana Wiki these are some of the most important updates:
Quote- Multiplayer support is available through Qtracker.
- Adds support for widescreen resolutions and anisotropic filtering.
- Loading now doesn't require the ticking sound to be played. Loading is much faster.
- Updated and greatly improved AI paths and nodes.
- Options to play without sidekicks.
- Option to make sidekicks invincible.
- HD texture support.
- Glowmap support.
- Supported added for mouse buttons.
- And many more.
Bold emphasis mine.
And here you have a video made by a Youtube user running the game on Linux, which already shows a smooth performance even considering it was recorded one year ago. The video description says:
Quote(Published on Jan 18, 2015 by "Dekonega")
I've been testing out ways to record and upload video from GNU/Linux games to Youtube. This test video features Daikatana's GNU/Linux port made possible by community patch 1.3. I know that video quality is pretty low but I wanted to maintain the smoothness. I also wanted to upload this just to show that Daikatana really runs on Linux natively now.
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Will you be giving the game a second play with this patch? In case you do, you're always welcome to share your impressions on the comments. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
I know that he was one of the programmers who created Hyperspace Delivery Boy! which later was ported to Linux by David Hedbor (He also ported NingPo MahJong to Linux) from Eon Games, and published by LGP. Unfortunately, Monkeystone Games created by John Romero was closed many years ago and Eon Games was closed in 2010.
I think that Hyperspace Delivery Boy! for Linux was the only version of this game published on the CD which means that now you can play it only on Linux.
Last edited by gbudny on 20 July 2016 at 5:06 pm UTC
I think that Hyperspace Delivery Boy! for Linux was the only version of this game published on the CD which means that now you can play it only on Linux.
Last edited by gbudny on 20 July 2016 at 5:06 pm UTC
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Well, got the game from GOG and added the patch. The game is running well and I had no issues so far. Not sure what to say about the game itself.
It looks very old obviously and if you didn't like it back then probably you won't like it now even with the recent improvements.
But, too early to tell.
View video on youtube.com
(The video is a bit dark, I know)
late edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFfnppJqzH4
Last edited by dubigrasu on 20 July 2016 at 11:18 pm UTC
It looks very old obviously and if you didn't like it back then probably you won't like it now even with the recent improvements.
But, too early to tell.
View video on youtube.com
(The video is a bit dark, I know)
late edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFfnppJqzH4
Last edited by dubigrasu on 20 July 2016 at 11:18 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
Maybe you guys can help me. I have the 64-bit version of Ubuntu 16.04 installed and I currently use the 367 series of drivers for my Nvidia GTX 970. I also made sure libstdc++6:i386, libopenal1:i386, and libc6:i386 were installed via apt according to the documenation. But when I copied the game to my secondary hard drive (where I keep my games) and start the game via ./daikatana I get this:
Is this something I need to symlink with the libGL version of my Nvidia drivers or something? Everything else seems to be setup besides this. Thanks!
EDIT: I had to also install the libxrender1:i386 and libltdl7:i386 packages to get the game running without errors. I should be good now. :D
Last edited by t3g on 21 July 2016 at 2:30 am UTC
----- Filesystem Initialization -----
Current search path:
----------
/home/brian/.local/share/./Daikatana/data
/mnt/LINEX/Games/brian/Daikatana/data
/mnt/LINEX/Games/brian/Daikatana/data/pak4.pak (86 files)
/mnt/LINEX/Games/brian/Daikatana/data/pak3.pak (782 files)
/mnt/LINEX/Games/brian/Daikatana/data/pak2.pak (83 files)
/mnt/LINEX/Games/brian/Daikatana/data/pak1.pak (11455 files)
-------------------------------------
12406 files in PAK files
execing daikatana.cfg
execing default_keys.cfg
Berkeley Sockets Initialized
Console initialized.
execing daikatana.cfg
execing default_keys.cfg
dedicated is write protected.
execing default_keys.cfg
------- Loading ref_gl.so -------
LoadLibrary("ref_gl.so") failed Failed loading ref_gl.so: libXrender.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Segmentation fault (core dumped)Is this something I need to symlink with the libGL version of my Nvidia drivers or something? Everything else seems to be setup besides this. Thanks!
EDIT: I had to also install the libxrender1:i386 and libltdl7:i386 packages to get the game running without errors. I should be good now. :D
Last edited by t3g on 21 July 2016 at 2:30 am UTC
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Mountain Man Jul 20, 2016
Quoting: SlackdogDoes the patch address the s*it level design and p*sspoor gameplay? :PYeah, I like how after all these years, Romero is still delusional enough to believe that the problems with this game are merely technical.
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TheRiddick Jul 20, 2016
He really should have replaced those frogs and flies with Samurai warriors of sorts. Think the biggest complaint was the game was almost all flies and frogs. LOL
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Luke_Nukem Jul 21, 2016
Quoting: TheRiddickHe really should have replaced those frogs and flies with Samurai warriors of sorts. Think the biggest complaint was the game was almost all flies and frogs. LOL
It really, REALLY was!
But once you got past the first 2/3 levels, it got fun.
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Quoting: LukeNukemBut once you got past the first 2/3 levels, it got fun.
The Greek levels are actually pretty great. The Discus of Daedalus is awesome. Norway is fun too.
I remember having trouble running this through WINE back in the day as you had to use the unpatched version as it was the only one with a No-CD fix. Definitely going to give this a try. :)
Last edited by Hamish on 21 July 2016 at 11:13 pm UTC
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ProfessorKaos64 Jul 24, 2016
Got this running on Arch Linux, good resource:
Steam Community - Daikatana Guide
Last edited by ProfessorKaos64 on 24 July 2016 at 8:49 pm UTC
Steam Community - Daikatana Guide
Last edited by ProfessorKaos64 on 24 July 2016 at 8:49 pm UTC
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ProfessorKaos64 Jul 24, 2016
Quoting: dubigrasuWell, got the game from GOG and added the patch. The game is running well and I had no issues so far. Not sure what to say about the game itself.
It looks very old obviously and if you didn't like it back then probably you won't like it now even with the recent improvements.
But, too early to tell.
View video on youtube.com
(The video is a bit dark, I know)
late edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFfnppJqzH4
Compared to old videos, AVGN's play, and what I remember, widescreen and enhanced video options and resolutions make it look a fair bit nicer. The frogs and flies are super annoying, but at some point I will take the challenge and play it to completion. Too busy with Day of the Tentacle right now.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: ProfessorKaos64Compared to old videos, AVGN's play, and what I remember, widescreen and enhanced video options and resolutions make it look a fair bit nicer. The frogs and flies are super annoying, but at some point I will take the challenge and play it to completion. Too busy with Day of the Tentacle right now.Well, my guess is that I'm gonna like it.
The frogs and mosquitoes/flies were some bizarre choices for enemies indeed, but other than that I quite enjoyed it so far.
I never played the original game and I'm unaffected by the stigma that the game had for so long.
I think that for a game like this (that was disliked for so long) it doesn't matter how improved might be now, is still gonna be disliked by original/first players. Hard to overcome an initial bad impression.
I can think of "Hydrophobia: Prophecy" for example, it was poorly received (for good reasons) and even with all the criticism addressed in a massive update the game never rebounded, its reception is still mixed on Steam (and is on sale with 0.99$ btw). I personally played the updated version (on PS3) and really enjoyed it, it is (imo) a good game but it will never be seen as such, is too late.
Same with Daikatana, too late for those who already hate it, but others might like it (if you're into this old style gaming).
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