HELP! ut2003demo doesn't work

[bhflyfisher]

i'm very new to the linux world and am running a clean-install of mandrake 9.0. I have an athalon 1.4 with 512MB RAM and a 64MB GeForce2 Ti.
i installed the ut2003 demo by typing sh <demo_file_name> and it seemed to install ok. but when i start the game it shows the ut2003 splash screen for a few seconds and then it disappears and nothing happens.
any help would be great. i suspect a video problem but couldn't find nvidia drivers for mandrake 9.0 and i'm not sure how to install them anyway. (i said VERY new)

[ashoksagar]

For mandrake 9.0 you need the following two files:
nvidia-kernel-1.0-3123.tar.gz
nvidia-glx-1.0-3123.i386.rpm
You can get these from the nvidia linux driver download page.

follow the instructions in the README after unpacking the kernel archive. The rpm should insall without problems, at least that is how I set up my nvidia card.

[The_Drake_Noob]

Thats what you need to do. Make sure you go to the package manager for Drake 9.0 and search 'kernel-source' that will allow you to compile from the source code that you downloaded for the kernel, and it will install I believe one of it's dependancies. Note: you cannot install from the Mandrake 8.2 rpm, so dont even try!

Hope that helps, I am a noob myself, hence the name. But I am loving linux, remember if you cannot figure something out in linux try harder. DO NOT GIVE UP, EVER!

[bwkaz]

In the future, if something like this happens, it's more helpful if you can give an error message that ut2003_demo (or whatever program you're running) gives you. So instead of starting it from an icon, open a terminal window and do a ut2003_demo (since that's the executable's name; substitute other executables if you're having problems with them instead). When the program dies, it will print errors to that same console window (well... the vast majority of the time, it will), and those errors are usually really helpful when we're trying to troubleshoot stuff.

In this case, it probably printed "extension GLX missing on display :0.0", which is the main error you get when the nVidia 3D drivers aren't installed (or aren't loaded), and I think it was pretty easy here to guess that that was the problem. But it isn't always that way. Just so you know. ;)

And also, as far as installing kernel-source goes, you need Mandrake's CD 3 (the "internationalization" one), since that's the CD that the morons^H^H^H^H^H^Hpeople at Mandrake decided to put the kernel source on. So if you haven't burned that one, you'll need to.

[lahook]

just a thought. are you starting the game from a normal user or root? mine only runs if i start it from root.

[bhflyfisher]

thanks everyone for the help. i've got the drivers installed finally and i learned a lot doing it. now i'll try the game again and i'm sure it will work. (i hope)