Beta Jagged Alliance 2 Stracciatella Beta!

[quartercast]

Hey dudes, after a bit of help from the reliable sebt3 and paeryn, the awesome strategy game Jagged Alliance 2 is PND'ed up and ready for beta testing!

When running for the first time:
1. Procure JA2 original game cd/image.
2. Copy "data" folder to SD card (you need at least 900 MB free space)
3. Run PND once.
4. Edit ini file at /appdata/ja2strac-qcast/.ja2/ja2.ini so it points to /media/SD-card-name/folder-in-which-"data"-lies
5. Run PND again, JA2 will load

Beta 3 released!
• Now with 25% more tactical screen! Special thanks mcobit
Download English version here!
Download German version here!

Older betas:
Beta 2 English
Beta 2 German
Beta 1

Controls
Tip 1: Use nub as mouse, set L/R shoulder buttons to left/right click (Check here and here on how to do this)
Tip 2: See this page for hotkeys

 

[Titcher]

I gave this a go, in /var/tmp/pndrun_ja2strac-qcast.out I have:
ERROR: Failed to open "/media/PANDORA/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast/Data/data.slf"
ERROR: caught unhandled exception
Initialising libraries failed

Now the data.slf file does exist in the directory it's quoting, I tried adjust the casing as well, as originally it's Data.slf. My game data is from Jagged Alliance 2 Gold, does this make a difference?

 

[mcobit]

Very cool!

Some suggestions:
1. If you don't want the user to edit a file, which leads to the data, you can set the datapath to /mnt/utmp/dirofthegame/data and have the user to put the datafiles in the appdata directory of the game.
2.The mouseissues could be related to the sdlmousebug, see DJWillis post for how to workaround it.

Again, great work, will try it for myself when I get the time. I played the shit out ou the original on my trusty 486dx2 back in the days.

 

[quartercast]

I gave this a go, in /var/tmp/pndrun_ja2strac-qcast.out I have:
ERROR: Failed to open "/media/PANDORA/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast/Data/data.slf"
ERROR: caught unhandled exception
Initialising libraries failed

Now the data.slf file does exist in the directory it's quoting, I tried adjust the casing as well, as originally it's Data.slf. My game data is from Jagged Alliance 2 Gold, does this make a difference?

Yeah make sure everything is lowercase, the dir should be "data" and all files within (all .slf files etc) should be lowercase. JA2 Gold should be fine, but let me know again if it doesn't work.

Very cool!

Some suggestions:
1. If you don't want the user to edit a file, which leads to the data, you can set the datapath to /mnt/utmp/dirofthegame/data and have the user to put the datafiles in the appdata directory of the game.
2.The mouseissues could be related to the sdlmousebug, see DJWillis post for how to workaround it.

Again, great work, will try it for myself when I get the time. I played the shit out ou the original on my trusty 486dx2 back in the days.

Thanks mcobit! How awesome is JA2

Suggestion 1: That's due to how Tron's written the original code (ja2 generates the ini file) - although I could specify SGPDATADIR=/mnt/utmp/dirofthegame/data in the original makefile.

Suggestion 2: Thanks for that, I'll have a read through DJW's post - whereabouts is it?

 

[Esslan]

Didn't see this one coming, never heard of Stracciatella before. Very nice surprise I must say!
Tested using files from the steam version.
Works brilliantly (only played through the first tactical map) except for the cursor bug. Some dialogue screens seem cause it also.
Tip: If it happens, tap in the top-left corner outside the screen and drag the cursor back into the gamescreen.

The pandora is the perfect handheld for this game. The screen resolution and size makes it look really good but not to tiny.
And because of the keyboard you can use the shortcuts (anyone who has played JA2 knows this is crucial). I especially like that you can use the buttons Y(pgup) and X(pgdn) to change stance.

Thanks a bunch for this quartercast!

 

[askorp]

Hmmm...I can't make this work. I have used the Jagged alliance 2 (GOG version). I have copied the data file to /pandora/appdata/Data and i have
edited the .ini file to Data_dir = /media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/appdata/Data. But when i run the pnd i get a black screen and back to desktop. Any help)

 

[quartercast]

Make sure everything is lowercase, e.g. "data", "data_dir", "data.slf", etc.

If that doesn't work, can you type "cat /var/tmp/pndrun_ja2strac-qcast.out" and let us know what it says? thanks.

 

[askorp]

Fixed it I should have used Data_dir = /media/mmcblk0p1/pandora/appdata in the .ini file
Thanks for the replies

 

[mcobit]

Here is the link to the fix: http://blogs.distant-earth.com/wp/?p=293
Hope that helps.
As for the inifile you could just provide a default inifile with the first run. Also You can of course change the setting for the datadir at compiletime.

 

[quartercast]

Cheers mcobit. Mouse bug fixed!

Download beta 2 here! (see original post for older betas)

 

[Stocker]

Cooool! Can't wait to try this tonight! I saw my JA2 disc somewhere last week. It's FATE!

Thanks.

 

[Titcher]

Yeah make sure everything is lowercase ...

Thanks, that worked great.

 

[Shaokahn]

Hello and thanks for the great PND

I have a question about Jagged Alliance 2 Stracciatella for
the Pandora, are the German Data Files supported in this Version ?
or is there are way to change it in a config file ?
I can't make this work on my Pandora, i have setup the ini File and all my
Files and Folder are lowercase.
Is it possible that the German Files are different ?

 

[quartercast]

For the german version I need to recompile JA2 with german option enabled, if I have some free time tonight I'll give that a go
There's also polish, russian, dutch, etc etc hehehe

Just out of interest, can you post the contents of this output file: /var/tmp/pndrun_ja2strac-qcast.out

Thanks

 

[Shaokahn]

Hello

Yes i can post the pndrun_ja2strac-qcast.out, i have made two of them.

(My Data folder is copied to "/media/SD1/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast" ,
so that i have now "/media/SD1/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast/data" ,
and i have tested to write the name of the SD Card in lower&uppercase .)

The first pndrun_ja2strac-qcast.out has the following ja2.ini changes:
ja2.ini - SD Card Name written in lowercase :

#Tells ja2-stracciatella where the binary datafiles are located
data_dir = /media/sd1/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast

and the pndrun_ja2strac-qcast.out for this:

sudo /usr/pandora/scripts/pnd_run.sh -m -p /media/SD1/pandora/menu//ja2_b2.pnd -e scripts/ja2.sh -b ja2strac-qcast
not mounted on loop yet, doing so
LoopMountedon: 
/dev/loop3
Filetype is Squashfs
Mounting PND (mount -t squashfs) :
/dev/loop3 on /mnt/pnd/ja2strac-qcast type squashfs (ro)
Filesystem is vfat
Mounting the Union FS using /media/SD1/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast as Write directory:
mount -t aufs -o exec,noplink,dirs=/media/SD1/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast=rw+nolwh:/mnt/pnd/ja2strac-qcast=rr none /mnt/utmp/ja2strac-qcast
none on /mnt/utmp/ja2strac-qcast type aufs (rw,si=62427837,noplink)
none on /mnt/utmp/ja2strac-qcast type aufs (rw,si=62427837,noplink)
[------------------------------]{ App start }[---------------------------------]
ERROR: Failed to open "/media/sd1/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast/data/data.slf"
ERROR: caught unhandled exception:
Initialising libraries failed
[-------------------------------]{ App end }[----------------------------------]
cleanup done

The second pndrun_ja2strac-qcast.out has the following ja2.ini changes:
ja2.ini - SD Card Name written in uppercase :

#Tells ja2-stracciatella where the binary datafiles are located
data_dir = /media/SD1/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast

and the pndrun_ja2strac-qcast.out for this:

sudo /usr/pandora/scripts/pnd_run.sh -m -p /media/SD1/pandora/menu//ja2_b2.pnd -e scripts/ja2.sh -b ja2strac-qcast
not mounted on loop yet, doing so
LoopMountedon: 
/dev/loop4
Filetype is Squashfs
Mounting PND (mount -t squashfs) :
/dev/loop4 on /mnt/pnd/ja2strac-qcast type squashfs (ro)
Filesystem is vfat
Mounting the Union FS using /media/SD1/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast as Write directory:
mount -t aufs -o exec,noplink,dirs=/media/SD1/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast=rw+nolwh:/mnt/pnd/ja2strac-qcast=rr none /mnt/utmp/ja2strac-qcast
none on /mnt/utmp/ja2strac-qcast type aufs (rw,si=6272fa37,noplink)
none on /mnt/utmp/ja2strac-qcast type aufs (rw,si=6272fa37,noplink)
[------------------------------]{ App start }[---------------------------------]
ERROR: caught unhandled exception:
Opening file failed
Creating an emergency savegame failed.
Please report this error with a description of the circumstances.
[-------------------------------]{ App end }[----------------------------------]
cleanup done

And at last here's a Screenshot of the German files on the Pandora:


Thank you for your effort and your freetime to make this
great Game possible on the andora2ut4: :lol:

Greetings, Shao

 

[quartercast]

Hi Shao, your setup looks fine. The second ini is the correct one "data_dir = /media/SD1/pandora/appdata/ja2strac-qcast", it's okay if your SD-card name is in uppercase. I will post a german PND in the morning

 

[DrCJBoduma]

Hi,

Thanks for this, had a quick go on it last night and it seems great.

I do have a problem running it however, everything worked fine yesterday, but today when I start it, it goes to a black screen for half a second and then back to the desktop. Any ideas? I did change all the main files in the data folder to lower case but not the folders themselves (except data) or their contents.

Thanks

CJ

 

[quartercast]

All the folders and files inside "data" need to be lowercase too. Try this and let me know what happens.

 

[quartercast]

Is it possible that the German Files are different ?

Here you go, German PND for you: http://www.filedropper.com/ja2b2ger

Let me know if it works

 

[Shaokahn]

Thank you so much
It works fine, i have deleted the old pnd and copied the new one,
and after klicking on the icon it runs .
Now the German People can play the great Game too B)

Here is a Screenshot i have made in windowed mode (by pressing "alt+enter")







Awesome ! :lol: Thank you