Ridiculous Linux +Unreal T2K4 question

[Occulus]

I bought Unreal T2K4 and installed it in Windows, and it was good.

I got hardware acceleration in Linux for my ATI Radeon 9600 Pro video card, and it was good.

Now, I would like to install Unreal T2K4 in Linux so Linux can be better. The problem is, I don't have the space on the partition to actually install the full game.

My question: Can I install the binaries for Unreal T2K4 somehow and use the assets on my Windows partition, WITHOUT having the space on the Linux partition to install the full game before deleting the assets and using the ones on the Windows drive?

(I hope my question was clear to all.)

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. "Ridiculous Linux +Unreal T2K4 question"

(I hope my question was clear to all.)<<

Is this a "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" type question??

Actually I do agree with your subject line... and in truth... I have no idea whether this is possible or not... perhaps you could use partition magic and reduce the windows partition size.... and reclaim it for your Linux install with diskdrake... perhaps.. I am just guessing cuz... I am a newbie to Linux... about one week now... lovin it.

http://www.powerquest.com/

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/powerquest.nsf/6c360f88152ecfce88256e91005066ac/e1bcf1069b67e82c88256e75007ca296?OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam

This document describes the process of resizing a partition using the Resize a Partition task in Norton PartitionMagic™ 8.0 or PartitionMagic™ 8.0.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/powerquest.nsf/ 6c360f88152ecfce88256e91005066ac/e1bcf1069b67e82c88256e75007ca296? OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam - 13.3KB - Technical Support Knowledge Base

[Deja Q]

2. With the ATi card, you're not going to get better performance...

Heck, my old GeForce 4600 card under Linux performed equally to the 9800 Pro - a purportedly superior card...

It is possible to do as you say, but it involves a Fat32 partition that both operating systems can see. Both Linux and Win32 binaries would have to co-exist (and that's the only problem I can think of), but the data files are identical. Linux configuration files would have to be edited to point to the proper directory, but I believe it is possible to do.

[Occulus]

5. I have an NTFS partition in place

and linux kernel 2.4.20-31.9 with the ntfs module installed can read ferom the WinXP (NTFS) partition.

The issue isn't that linux cannot read the XP partition, but that I need to (I guess) install only the Unreal T2K4 binaries, and not the full game (I don't have room to install the full game in the first place).

I think I'll just reformat the linux partition and simply not install several bells and whistles.

What vid card should I use for Lin/Win Unreal T2k4, Half-Life 2, and Doom3... all settings cranked?

(My CPU is an AMD XP2000... I know I need a faster CPU, and maybe more than 512M of RAM....)

[salvorhardin]

3. Yes and no

However, it'll take a little bit of effort.

First, check out Captive NTFS which will allow you to both read and write to your Windows NTFS partition.
http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/

I think Unreal T2K4 expects its assets to be installed in the same directory path underneath its binaries. What I was thinking though is since captive NTFS makes your NTFS partition appear as a regular old linux volume you could create a symlink to Unreal T2K4 from your linux partition to the Unreal T2K4 directory on the NTFS partition. Then try installing Unreal T2K4 into the symlinked linux directory, which would install it on top of the Windows version. I would assume that the Windows and linux binaries would be named differently while all the assets would be in the same directories as they are on Windows.

I'd be interested if this works or not.

[Occulus]

6. someone on irc.prison.net told me

in #linuxhelp that I could just "install unreal and then symlink the assets" and then delete the assets that were installed on the linux partition. I can't do that, because I don't have the space to install the full game in the first place.

Hrmmm.

[cheezus]

4. it needs to be on a fat part, but you can do it

(fat because linux still doesn't do NTFS well)

find all of the big files on your windows partition, and just make symbolic links to them


that's how I used to play quake3 back in the day, with the pak files on the win98 partition

[Occulus]

7. yeah I was kinda hoping

that my XP part being ntfs wouldn't matter too much since it was only the read-only assets I would need to have access to on the Win drive. Argh.

I really wish I could trust the ntfs modules I'm seeing in searches to read/WRITE the ntfs partition. That would solve a LOT of problems for me.... but I'm not prepared to potentially corrupt data on the ntfs partition to test it until I know for certain it's stable.

[salvorhardin]

8. FWIW

You can trust captive NTFS since it uses Windows own DLLs. At least it has worked perfectly for me. Your mileage may vary, of course.

[cheezus]

9. yep,i wouldn't mess with it

I haven't yet seen a completely stable, fool proof NTFS implemtation for 2.4 or 2.6