Just how do I start this thing?

[Tinker]

I found Sandbox 2.7.1+dfsg-1 in the Debian testing repositories and installed it on my #!/Debian testing box, the install seemed to go OK and I have a menu shortcut to start a launcher screen. That seems to be all I can do.

The launcher has Map set to village, the dropdown arrow is greyed out, the Map Image box displays 'no image. T'he six tabs at the bottom all have a launch button that does nothing even if I knew what each of the tabs meant. If I understand some of the posts here correctly there should be a folder ~/.platinumarts but there is not, it is not clear whether this is created on first run which does not seem to have happened yet or if it will not launch as the folder has not been created yet.

I tried running sandbox_unix from the command line and get this error message

Code: Select all

Using home directory: /home/tinker/.platinumarts/
init: sdl
init: net
init: game
init: video: mode
init: video: misc
init: gl
Renderer: GeForce 9800 GX2/PCI/SSE2 (NVIDIA Corporation)
Driver: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 290.10
Rendering using the OpenGL assembly/GLSL shader path.
could not load texture data/notexture
could not find core textures

It seems the install was not as successful as it appeared.

[jSoftApps]

That's weird. Have you tried the Linux PlayDeb Download?

[Tinker]

I had not looked at PlayDeb as it is specifically for Ubuntu and can be risky on other systems. I did just look though and it seems PlayDeb is still on 2.6.

What I may do is uninstall and then reinstall from Debian Testing unless someone comes up with a better suggestion.

[Tinker]

As nobody came up with any other suggestions I completely removed and then reinstalled, this time as well as the ~11Mb download there was a >400Mb d/l of data I think that was missing last install.
I now have 5 different tutorial maps instead of the village map and I can launch them though I still have no idea what I'm doing. Are there any beginner tutorials that make any sense to people that have no experience with this system?

[arcones]

Hopefully you've learned how to start a new map for your personal creation. If not, press E if in FPS mode, or F1 if in RPG mode. Do this while on the main menu and you'll open a new selection of options. Find and click on the newmap button. I'd start with mapsize 10 and start the new map. When you've created something you like, press esc and while in editmode (F1 or E) save your map.

My best advice would be this: Learn as you explore. I did just that and I've created some pretty nice stuff.

My second best advice which is a bit more practical is this: The Sandbox Wiki

You'll find lists of tutorials and tips on coding, mapping, particles, etc. Just browsing through those will definitely give you help.

[Zoanthrope]

Hello,
I am having no luck in getting this software to run.
Running- Linux Zorin OS 5.2,
am at the stage Tinker describes at the start of this thread. launcher appears but the launch buttons give me a black screen for a fraction of a second... otherwise OS is fine and stable.

installed sandbox from the Ubuntu software centre. had said problem, uninstalled and re-tried.
went through the sandox Forum, Wiki and FAQs,
uninstalled and tried to install via the 2.7.1 downloaded zip (multiplatform), followed instructions including checking of libraries and graphics drivers.
spent a few evenings going over and over above resources and carrying out the instructions I found there for the various problems.
tried reinstalling libraries and graphics drivers... no success
tried the same uninstall and repeat above 2 more times, once with 2.7.1 and then with 2.6... no success.
uninstalled with synaptic software centre, installed playdeb, and then followed playdeb website instructions for Sandbox... 3 times now.
I've spent a week of evenings trying to get this software to run and have made NO progress... I am still at the point Tinker discribes at the start of the thread.

what am I doing wrong?

can anyone help?

[Zoanthrope]

please ignore the above...
considering Tinker mentioning the extra 400MB download- I attempted to extract one of the zip downloads into the Playdeb installed directory...
this didn't work at first and I'm not sure what I did to make it work.
but now however it is working.

thanks.