The "u61" package contains:
Basically, "u61" is the only required package since it contains the executable and some pre-compiled stuff so that the game runs. It contains enough to give you a quick start with U61, and allows you to play without downloading tons of graphics with a 56K modem 8-)
If you download U61 from CVS, note that the CVS version does not contain any script or theme file, and almost no documentation at all. In fact, the packaged releases of the u61 package contain pre-compiled files imported from the u61-data package.
The "u61-data" package contains:
Basically, if you like U61, do not hesitate to download u61-data. The base u61 package is just for you to know if U61 can run on your computer. If it runs, go ahead and download the rest of the game!
U61 is freely available on the internet. As it is free software, you might also find it on a CD-Rom. If you do not have U61 and want to get it, try the following URLs:
You may also get "u61" and "u61-dat" from CVS, using the following commands:
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.u61.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/u61 login cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.u61.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/u61 co u61 cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.u61.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/u61 co u61-data
When you are prompted with a password, just press "ENTER".
These libraries are required only if you want to compile and install U61 from the source. The Linux and Windows binaries are statically linked against all these libs so that you don't need to install them to run the game.
These tools are required if you try to compile U61, if you got a binary distribution, you do not need them.
In theory, the best way to install U61 is to install it from the sources. However, on my machine, it can take me up to 3 hours to compile all the required libs and then the game. And keep in mind that I'm quite used to compiling U61 8-) So it might be a wise choice to download the static binary, which is about 1Mb bigger, but will probably save you more than 2 hours, unless you have already a working ClanLib install and a fast CPU.
Here are some reasons you might wish to install U61 from the source:
The source files should be named:
U61 uses GNU autoconf. The install scripts I've prepared aren't perfect and do not check everything, but most of the problems should be detected. Let's say for instance that you are installing version 0.3.0. Once you got u61-0.3.0.tar.gz, type:
gunzip u61-0.3.0.tar.gz tar xf u61-0.3.0.tar cd u61-0.3.0 ./configure make
Now log as root and type:
make install exit u61
And if everything is all right, you should see the game running...
The installation of "u61-data" is pretty much the same, but keep in mind that:
Since release 0.4.1, a static binary for Linux is available. Since the executable is statically linked against ClanLib and every library including the GNU libc, it should run on any Linux box which has an up to date kernel and X-Server running. In fact, if this binary does not work, installing from the source will probably not help much, but at least it might give you an idea of what's going wrong.
Note that the files are named "...-i386-binary.tar.gz" but there might be some problems running them on a plain 80386 computer. In fact, they are "i386" files as opposed to SPARC or ALPHA files, but they probably require a Pentium to run. If you want to run the game on a true 386, you can still try and compile the source but the game will be very very sloooow.
The static binary files should be named:
Let's imagine you are installing version 0.4.1. Once you have downloaded the files, type:
gunzip u61-0.4.1-linux-i386-binary.tar.gz
Now log as root and type
tar xfP u61-0.4.1-linux-i386-binary.tar
Now log as a single user under X11 and type "u61" in an X-Term, and the game should run.
Note the "P" option in the tar command line, which tells tar to preserve full path names. This means the files will be installed directly in /usr/local, that's why you need to log as root. More precisely, files are installed in the following directories:
If you want to install U61 form the source under Windows, you'll need Microsoft Visual C++ 6 and a fair amount of free time 8-) The MSVC workspace is included in the Linux source tarball, so this is what you need to do:
If this succeeds, you'll probably end up with exactly the same content as the default binary release, so at this time you might wonder: "why the hell did I spent a whole afternoon doing this?" 8-}
BTW, there's no easy way - at least I do not provide it - to compile the datafiles under Windows. What I personnally do when I release windows binaries is that I import the compiled datafiles from my Linux environment. As I almost never run Microsoft Windows, and since this poor system does not have a decent batch support, I'm not ready to implement and maintain such a fonctionnality.
All you have to do is unzip the file in a directory, for instance "C:\Program Files\".
WinZip - or whatever unzipper you use - should create a "U61" subfolder, which contains everything, including the "U61.EXE" file you have to launch to play the game. If you want to install "u61-data" - I recommend you do it - you'll have to install it in the same directory. That's to say that any file which is in both "u61" and "u61-data" - for example "COPYING.TXT" - must be overwritten when "u61-data" is installed.