FreeTrainSDL on Linux

Here is a quick guide to get FreeTrainSDL compiled and running on Linux.

I have been able to get FreeTrainSDL to compile and run on my Linux Debian unstable (sid) setup using Mono 1.2.6 and MonoDevelop 0.19.

• Install Mono - at least version 1.2.6
• Install MonoDevelop - at least version 0.14, preferably 0.19
• Install SVN to check out code from Sourceforge. You want the FreeTrainSDL branch.
• Install libSDL, libSDLMixer, libSDLImage, libSDLgfx, smpeg. Note that the libSDL must be the libSDL-all package. Debian will install the Alsa package by default. This will cause the FreeTrainSDL to crash upon startup.
• Open MonoDevelop.
• Right-click on the FreeTrainSDL project and set it to be the default startup project.
• Right click on the FreeTrain solution file and select "build" to compile the project
• Click on the "Run icon from the MonoDevelop toolbar (looks like a pair of gears). This will run FreeTranSDL.

Feel Free to add to this quick doc.

Thanks
Dave

  Code:

Building Project: FreeTrain.Core (Debug|Any CPU)
Performing main compilation...

ERROR: MonoDevelop could not find the Gtk# 2.0 development package. Compilation of projects depending on Gtk# libraries will fail. You may need to install development packages for gtk-sharp-2.0.

Build failed. /home/charles/Games/freetrain-svn/plugins/system/plugin.xml does not exist

I looked and the dir name is 'System'. Having seen a couple of commits having to address the problem of case sensitivity, I think we need to have a policy on it to reduce the chances of it being a problem in the future. Once it is decided, one of us should go through it and rename everything (except the class files) according to the policy we choose.

I personally believe that everything that is a resource that is not a class file should be in lower case. I think that's simple and totally unambiguous.

Ok I renamed System->system (committed) and it gets further now but spits out a lot of not-looking-good warnings (or errors?) when building but seems to get all the way through.

Running it, though, comes up with this error:

  Code:

Unhandled Exception: System.Resources.MissingManifestResourceException: Could not find any resource appropriate for the specified culture or its parents. Make sure "FreeTrain.Properties.Resources.resources" was correctly embedded or linked into assembly "FreeTrain".
  at System.Resources.ResourceManager.InternalGetResourceSet (System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture, Boolean Createifnotexists, Boolean tryParents) [0x00153] in /builddir/build/BUILD/mono-1.2.5.1/mcs/class/corlib/System.Resources/ResourceManager.cs:372
  at System.Resources.ResourceManager.InternalGetResourceSet (System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture, Boolean Createifnotexists, Boolean tryParents) [0x001f3] in /builddir/build/BUILD/mono-1.2.5.1/mcs/class/corlib/System.Resources/ResourceManager.cs:401
  at System.Resources.ResourceManager.InternalGetResourceSet (System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture, Boolean Createifnotexists, Boolean tryParents) [0x001f3] in /builddir/build/BUILD/mono-1.2.5.1/mcs/class/corlib/System.Resources/ResourceManager.cs:401
  at System.Resources.ResourceManager.GetString (System.String name, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) [0x00027] in /builddir/build/BUILD/mono-1.2.5.1/mcs/class/corlib/System.Resources/ResourceManager.cs:246
  at System.Resources.ResourceManager.GetString (System.String name) [0x00000] in /builddir/build/BUILD/mono-1.2.5.1/mcs/class/corlib/System.Resources/ResourceManager.cs:232
  at FreeTrain.Util.Translation.GetString (System.String code) [0x00000] in /home/charles/Games/freetrain-svn/core/util/Translation.cs:38
  at FreeTrain.FreeTrainSDL.Go () [0x000dd] in /home/charles/Games/freetrain-svn/Program.cs:322
  at FreeTrain.FreeTrainSDL.Main () [0x00006] in /home/charles/Games/freetrain-svn/Program.cs:293

After updating SVN this morning, trying to open the FreeTrainSDL project produces the following complaint:

monodevelop-error1.png (18.18 KiB) Viewed 42790 times

Here's the copy/paste of the text:

  Code:

Error while trying to load the project /home/charles/Games/freetrain-svn/core/FreeTrain.Core.csproj. Exception : Unknown file format: /home/charles/Games/freetrain-svn/core/FreeTrain.Core.csproj

I edited the top post to include a link to the branch.

Please remove you local copy and check out a fresh copy. I had rearranged some of the projects. Can you update to Mono 1.2.6? I know earlier versions had problems with resources.

Ah ok, back to the previous error, posted again for simplicity:

  Code:

Unhandled Exception: System.Resources.MissingManifestResourceException: Could not find any resource appropriate for the specified culture or its parents. Make sure "FreeTrain.Properties.Resources.resources" was correctly embedded or linked into assembly "FreeTrain".
  at System.Resources.ResourceManager.InternalGetResourceSet (System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture, Boolean Createifnotexists, Boolean tryParents) [0x00153] in /builddir/build/BUILD/mono-1.2.5.1/mcs/class/corlib/System.Resources/ResourceManager.cs:372
  at System.Resources.ResourceManager.InternalGetResourceSet (System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture, Boolean Createifnotexists, Boolean tryParents) [0x001f3] in /builddir/build/BUILD/mono-1.2.5.1/mcs/class/corlib/System.Resources/ResourceManager.cs:401
  at System.Resources.ResourceManager.InternalGetResourceSet (System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture, Boolean Createifnotexists, Boolean tryParents) [0x001f3] in /builddir/build/BUILD/mono-1.2.5.1/mcs/class/corlib/System.Resources/ResourceManager.cs:401
  at System.Resources.ResourceManager.GetString (System.String name, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) [0x00027] in /builddir/build/BUILD/mono-1.2.5.1/mcs/class/corlib/System.Resources/ResourceManager.cs:246
  at System.Resources.ResourceManager.GetString (System.String name) [0x00000] in /builddir/build/BUILD/mono-1.2.5.1/mcs/class/corlib/System.Resources/ResourceManager.cs:232
  at FreeTrain.Util.Translation.GetString (System.String code) [0x00000] in /home/charles/Games/svn/FreeTrainSDL/core/util/Translation.cs:38
  at FreeTrain.FreeTrainSDL.Go () [0x000dd] in /home/charles/Games/svn/FreeTrainSDL/Program.cs:322
  at FreeTrain.FreeTrainSDL.Main () [0x00006] in /home/charles/Games/svn/FreeTrainSDL/Program.cs:293

Can you update to Mono 1.2.6? I know earlier versions had problems with resources.

Just had a look and it's not trivial to update to 1.2.6 on Fedora8 (which I'm currently using). However I have an Ubuntu partition running Hardy Heron so I will try when I next get a chance to boot into this.

There is a resource bug in Monodevelop 0.13 which I believe is the latest version for Fedora 8. Winform resources in VS2005 projects do not have the correct namespace and cqause problems. This was fixed in MD 0.14.

Linux build finally works!!!! I fixed up numerous bugs (casing/Pathing issues, a Windows dependecy, null checking issues) and got FreeTrain to work on Linux. The buttons on the main window all work and I was able to lay track, create some structures, modify terrain, create stations etc. The trains would move along their tracks as well.

I will start looking at the Mac OSX port now.

*cheers*
Congrats Dave, such quick outcome... will install debian in a virtual machine tonight and see how far I can get

... Mac OS X? I didn't even know Mono was ported!

Great work Dave, awesome. I really need to test it. (Sidenote: I can't believe how out of date and hard to upgrade Mono on Fedora is!)

Before we can do a release, what would you guys say needs doing? Obviously a release would get a lot of new exposure for the project and hopefully some contributors.

Ok I have an upgrade path for Mono on Fedora now, although it uses the openSuSE repos:
http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showpo ... ostcount=3

Ok, getting further. Crikey MonoDevelop is flakey, still managed to get to the point that it was running (window with logo) although too many plugin loading errors.

I was having issues with missing translations so committed nicer behaviour for that.

Edit -- for some reason it was still running an old version of monodevelop (0.13) but now it's definitely updating so the flakiness was probably that.

At the moment it's complaining about this:

  Code:

[Task:File=/home/charles/Games/svn/FreeTrainSDL/lib/Controls/ColorPickButton.resx, Line=0, Column=0, Type=Error, Priority=Normal, Description=ApplicationName='resgen2', CommandLine='/compile "/home/charles/Games/svn/FreeTrainSDL/lib/Controls/ColorPickButton.resx"', CurrentDirectory='/home/charles/Games/svn/FreeTrainSDL/lib/Controls']

What a delightfully ambiguous error. WTF is the actual problem !?

Do you have the mono-devel package installed?

Bingo, thanks jendave. (Actually got the answer at the same time from #mono on irc.gnome.org - still, rubbish error.)

Edit: ok, back to the plugin errors I can't take a screenshot as it crashes when I press 'alt'. Is it me or is Mono really, really unfinished?

Does it say error loading plugin?
I always get that on Windows when I only build the core and expect the plugins to play happily with the version increment...
The goal is to always rebuild the entire project if you change anything in core, etc... and if you haven't successfully built it all in one hit yet then try an entire rebuild of the solution.
...Not that I've tried *nix yet.

I get this now, basically several (all?) plugins throwing an XmlException, before the game declares too many plugin errors and quits, which all look pretty much like this which is the first one:

XmlException.png (65.27 KiB) Viewed 42668 times

Ok those plugin errors were caused by empty xml files. Which I'd expect to throw an error. However I wouldn't have expected the xml files to be empty in the first place - how bizarre? I suspect an older version of MonoDevelop (0.13?) nuked them for some unknown reason during compilation - for sure, I have *not* touched them.

Anyway, so, wow it gets somewhere, shows a screen with land / windows momentarily, then crashes:

  Code:

Unhandled Exception: System.InvalidCastException: Cannot cast from source type to destination type.
  at System.Windows.Forms.MdiClient.ActivateChild (System.Windows.Forms.Form form) [0x00045] in /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/mono-1.9/mcs/class/Managed.Windows.Forms/System.Windows.Forms/MdiClient.cs:702
  at System.Windows.Forms.MdiClient.set_ActiveMdiChild (System.Windows.Forms.Form value) [0x00000] in /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/mono-1.9/mcs/class/Managed.Windows.Forms/System.Windows.Forms/MdiClient.cs:953
  at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Windows.Forms.MdiClient:set_ActiveMdiChild (System.Windows.Forms.Form)
  at System.Windows.Forms.MdiClient+ControlCollection.Add (System.Windows.Forms.Control value) [0x00049] in /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/mono-1.9/mcs/class/Managed.Windows.Forms/System.Windows.Forms/MdiClient.cs:81
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.set_MdiParent (System.Windows.Forms.Form value) [0x00079] in /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/mono-1.9/mcs/class/Managed.Windows.Forms/System.Windows.Forms/Form.cs:923
  at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Windows.Forms.Form:set_MdiParent (System.Windows.Forms.Form)
  at FreeTrain.FreeTrainSDL.Go () [0x004b6] in /home/charles/Games/svn/FreeTrainSDL/Program.cs:422
  at FreeTrain.FreeTrainSDL.Main () [0x00006] in /home/charles/Games/svn/FreeTrainSDL/Program.cs:319

Since I suspect this is a Mono bug and not a FreeTrain bug (if it is, it's unclear how we are misusing the Mdi API), I filed a report here:
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=374663