file Trying to getting Linux Marble Blast Gold 1.4.1 running.

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23 Jan 2023 21:34 #1
Hi all,
I used to play MBG 1.4.1 on Linux. I recently was going through my old files and found the Linux installer, which otherwise seems lost ?

I realise it Wine is probably a better way to Marble Blast these days, but I'd like to get it working anyway.

The first thing I'd like to do is verify it works; this is a bit tricky due to it being 32 bit, as well as older versions of some libraries.

I had a quick go on 64 bit Ubuntu, using `linux32` and sdl-1.2-debian, on launching I get

'Failed to open "main.cs"' any ideas on which packages might be missing ?

As a secondary prong, what is the newest 32 bit disto this should work on (preferably ubuntu) ?

I can get this working in a VM to start with, then work out the shims etc needed in 64 bit + document them.

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25 Jan 2023 16:32 #2
> As a secondary prong, what is the newest 32 bit disto this should work on (preferably ubuntu) ?

It looks like it ran fine with Ubuntu 10.10 at the very least. I would post a link to the forum thread I found but the spam filter is blocking it, so just Google "Installing Marble Blast Gold in 10.10 64-bit Ubuntu Forums" to see what I mean.

I am actually coming at this problem from the other end. I have an older Pentium III computer I have been using to play old Linux games on and recently discovered that the Marble Blast Gold demo runs rather well on the hardware.

Only problem is I never had the opportunity to purchase the game from GarageGames back in the day, and since the Linux version was never sold physically, it looks impossible to pick up second hand. :dry:

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27 Jan 2023 20:23 #3
I'd like to upload my copy here to be archived with the others on the site.

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30 Jan 2023 00:26 #4
Got gnome boxes to cooperate and installed 32 bit debian.

It gets stuck at the screen trying to contact the registration server - fair enough.



I wonder if it's possible to substitute some (or even all ?) of the cs files that make the game run, from the "non ignition" version to get it running.

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31 Jan 2023 04:32 #5
RIP Linux MBG gaming. As far as I know, there was never a DRM-free version released, so if you didn't activate your copy when the servers will still online, you will not be able to play it natively. Windows and macOS both had releases without DRM, so it seems only Linux is losing out here.

Also: trying to copy the various files from the "non ignition" Windows version of the game will not work: the DRM will just crash the game when you try to play a level if you bypass it with scripts. This happens on the DRM Windows version as well.
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31 Jan 2023 13:52 #6
The registration GUI hangs because it's trying to look for the GarageGames server, which is no longer running. I happen to have an ignition file from when my dad bought the game back in 2007 and if it would be okay with the mods, I could upload it here. Like HiGuy said, the ignition GUI can be bypassed, but this will cause the game to crash as it exports the banlist and shuts down the game.

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31 Jan 2023 16:31 #7
MBExtender-Legacy seems to include a FakeIgnition, would that help ?

github.com/PlatinumTeam/MBExtender-Legacy

I've only ever used existing mods to MarbleBlast (a long long time ago), if I want to change out some of the .cs files in MBG, any idea where to find them in the filesystem ?

I do a bit of web based stuff, I could definitely run a little http server and see what it's trying to send - any idea what the URL it tries to connect to is (if not, I could probably run something in the middle to capture the data).

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31 Jan 2023 17:24 #8
If I recall correctly, the MBExtender doesn’t work on the GarageGames version, I could be wrong though.

If it does, that FakeIgnition plugin may work, so it’s a possibility.

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01 Feb 2023 23:29 #9
Possibly very silly question - what are all the .cs files written in, is it some scripting thing that GarageGames invented ?

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01 Feb 2023 23:53 #10
The .cs files are basically TorqueScript, which is derived from CScript. People usually get confused due to the file extension being widely known as C Sharp (noted as C# and another programming language).

There’s also no access to the engine anywhere in terms of it being open source.

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02 Feb 2023 01:55 #11
As far as I remember, while that patch bypassed the crashing from ignition, there were still other serious bugs in gameplay that made us not include Linux as a supported target for PQ. You might be able to find them with some time reversing but I never saw a proper Linux build working.
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06 Feb 2023 21:53 #12
That being said, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't upload the installer. It might be the digital equivalent of a paperweight, but it's not easy to find. It would be nice to have it preserved somewhere.

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11 Feb 2023 20:56 #13
So I just discovered that Marble Blast Web is a thing and it works quite well on my modern Arch Linux machine. How faithful a port of Marble Blast Gold is the web version? And how did this version of the game come about?

My principle interest is for an article I am planning to write in my series on classic Linux gaming over on GamingOnLinux, and while I would not want to cover just the demo for the article, if I can point to the web version then that would be good enough for me. I can show the demo on period hardware, explain the pitfalls surrounding the retail Linux release, but then offer up the web version as the modern substitute.

Just would like a little more context about how this all came about.

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11 Feb 2023 21:07 #14
The web port is very faithful in terms of looks, but the physics are quite different from the original game's physics. Vani, the creator of the web port, can tell you more about this, but there's a second web port made by RandomityGuy called MBHaxe, found here . There's also a forum topic for it here . Both Vani and RandomityGuy have done amazing work porting the game with different goals—as I understand it, Vani's goal was to diversify MB speedrunning and reach a wider audience, and RandomityGuy's was to get a version that can run natively on more computers with much more accurate physics. They can correct me if I'm wrong though. It turned out really well in both cases, and I'm so grateful for the work that went into it.
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11 Feb 2023 22:37 #15
+1 for MBHaxe! I'm working on getting a native Linux build functional as well - I'm running into some issues but hope to sort those out soon. The web version works great though and the physics are great

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12 Feb 2023 15:34 - 12 Feb 2023 15:35 #16
Here's an upload of the the installer - I would have added it here, but it didn't seem to fit any of the categories, it makes sense to archive it here too.

archive.org/details/marble-blast-gold-1.4.1.sh

Obviously a little useless right now, even with a code it hits the registration server.

Realistically, the newer ports are probably better for playing, but there's still something fun in trying to poke this into working.

I guess it's an excuse to poke some MITM stuff to see what it's sending; I hold out some hope that because it's very old there's nothing too complex happening, but never know.
Last edit: 12 Feb 2023 15:35 by marblin.
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16 Feb 2023 16:30 - 08 Mar 2023 19:42 #17
I happen to have an ignition file from 2007 that still works so you can use that if you want to play on Linux - simply drop into the directory and it should work as normal.



EDIT: Link removed as the ignition file is hardware specific.
Last edit: 08 Mar 2023 19:42 by StewMan46.
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17 Feb 2023 05:41 #18
Using someone's premade ignition ticket may or may not work in practice. I know that the windows ignition version of MBG includes your computer's hardware unique id in the ticket and will not work if you transfer it to another computer. I don't know if the linux version does as well, but I would not be surprised.
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23 Feb 2023 06:52 - 23 Feb 2023 06:52 #19
Just confirming that overwriting the ignition file does not seem to work. I still get the registration screen, and putting in the key listed in the file does not change anything.
Last edit: 23 Feb 2023 06:52 by HamishWilson.

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07 Mar 2023 23:50 #20
Here is my final article for those interested:
www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/03/building-a...8-losing-my-marbles/

Thanks for all of the help with the details of it once again guys. B)

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08 Mar 2023 19:39 #21
@HamishWilson

Sorry to hear the ignition file didn't work, I was sure it might but now that it it's known that it doesn't, that's really disappointing. It was worth a shot anyway.

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27 May 2023 08:09 #22
Ignition keys being hardware specific; it makes me wonder which hardware it's specific to (because: virtualisation).

Still; that side of things would seem to be a dead end.

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27 May 2023 08:11 #23
Assuming all this can be dealt with at some point; it SDL12-compat now exists, I wonder if that would help some of the other issues around running it.
www.phoronix.com/news/sdl12-compat-1.2.64

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