Linux Skulltag - loading PWADS using BASH?

I have a fuckton of PWADS, and I recently retrieved all my stuff off my computer and installed Xubuntu 9.10 for use as a main OS. I started installing software, including VLC media player, Skulltag, and Doomseeker. Skulltag ran great on it. I recently tried loading a couple WADS, but I couldn't find the binary for Skulltag. The next logical thing was to use BASH, and using the only two logical ways of loading my WADS I knew of, I came up short-handed. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great. I may try to modify that Chocolate Doom frontend I found here while lurking and see that I can get some results from it, but any help is welcome.

Wads are typicly loaded with the -file command, and as this is Linux, the file is case sensative.

You can make is so that double clicking wads or zips loads up skulltag. Dragging and dropping also works. Command line works best with all its options.

Bash? Never have heared of it. If you want to play your wads, then use batch files.

Deeforce said:

Bash? Never have heared of it. If you want to play your wads, then use batch files.

It's a horrible solution on Windows, and even less elegant on Linux (BASH scripts are the equivalent of batch files under Unix/Linux). You should do fine with the -file parameter, start typing the folder name and the first letters of the PWAD you want to play and then let command autocompletion do its magic (with TAB).

Then again, whatever floats the eponymous boat....

Deeforce said:

Bash? Never have heared of it. If you want to play your wads, then use batch files.

Be right back, thumping head against the nearest wall.

Deeforce said:

Bash? Never have heared of it. If you want to play your wads, then use batch files.

In layman's terms, bash is the equivalent of the Windows command prompt under Linux, and bash scripts are the equivalent of batch files.

I use a bat in windows. It much easier to remember long command lines for maps that need to be played repeatedly.
With .bash_history I use !command to auto complete last command. Example: !pr
will load up,
prboom-plus -file teeth.wad -skill 4 -complevel 2 -warp 31 -fast -record teeth.

So skulltag could be loaded the same way with very long command lines really fast.

I setup aliases for my ports in my ~/.bashrc

alias doom='~/doom/prboom-plus -iwad ~/doom/doom.wad'
alias doom2='~/doom/prboom-plus -iwad ~/doom/doom2.wad'
alias doomu='~/doom/prboom-plus -iwad ~/doom/doomu.wad'
alias plutonia='~/doom/prboom-plus -iwad ~/doom/plutonia.wad'
alias tnt='~/doom/prboom-plus -iwad ~/doom/tnt.wad'

(this was very helpful for the last Skulltag version I played which required a library linked before it would start)

When I want to play a newly-downloaded map I just quick-launch my terminal (bound to Alt+F1) and

cd ~/Desktop
doom2 -file map.wad -warp 1

Keep in mind you can use tab completion in bash. There's no need to type the full name, just a few characters and hit tab. It will stop at identical filenames (eg: map. if the files map.wad and map.txt are present, making you type either w or t to continue tab completion) you can also hit double tab which lists all possible options for you to choose from. This works for anything (eg: apt-get package names) not just filenames.

If you have something you're playing long-term and/or don't want to clutter up your desktop then feel free to make a folder somewhere so you can go

cd ~/doom
skulltag -file uacultra.wad

and you're away.

As Edward said, keep in mind Linux is case-sensitive, so MAP.WAD, map.wad, Map.Wad and MaP.wAd are all different files.

Nobody's really put the time into a good graphical launcher for Linux, so there's no equivalent as good as say, ZDL 3.1a. Personally I prefer a Bash terminal for this anyway.

Jodwin's CDL does run under Linux if you have the right Mono libraries installed (run it in a terminal window and Google the error you get, you'll find what library to install). It launches PrB+ with PWADs just fine though it looks a bit messy due to the differences in Windows C# (which it was written for) and Linux Mono. I've never tried it with Skulltag.

Super Jamie said:

Nobody's really put the time into a good graphical launcher for Linux, so there's no equivalent as good as say, ZDL 3.1a. Personally I prefer a Bash terminal for this anyway.

Not sure what qualifies something as a "good graphical launcher", but Doomseeker has a "play offline" button the create server dialog.

Perversely, in the day and age of "user friendly" GUIs there seems to be more confusion about how to start Doom with a front-end. Which is weird, considering how many user-friendly launchers and front-ends existed back in the DOS days.

Maes said:

in the day and age of "user friendly" GUIs

That's the conundrum:

Most GUIs are not user friendly. Most of the time I find command lines much easier to use and maintain so in my book they are more user friendly. It's sad that most modern users have no clue how to use this power at their hands...

Reminds me of this old gem:

Graf Zahl said:

Most GUIs are not user friendly. Most of the time I find command lines much easier to use and maintain so in my book they are more user friendly. It's sad that most modern users have no clue how to use this power at their hands...

QFT. GUIs generally only give the impression that they're easier to use, because you don't have to read manuals to use them (which often leads to developing bad habits that ultimately cost you more time than what you'd spend reading the manual). Of course there are many places where GUIs are necessary (like graphics editing), but for most simple, day-to-day tasks (like file management), command line is just better.

For things like WAD management, I always go the GUI route since in my case there's usually sprite manipulation involved, which means setting offsets. Sure, there are command line utils that let you do that (as well as standalone GUI-based ones), but at that point I just find it easier to do it all in one program and fire up SLumpEd. Exceptions occur when simply DeuTex-dumping wad contents en-masse, which is certainly quicker than trying a mass export in most GUI lump managers.

Launching Doom, though? Command-line all the way.

Super Jamie said:

I setup aliases for my ports in my ~/.bashrc

alias doom='~/doom/prboom-plus -iwad ~/doom/doom.wad'
alias doom2='~/doom/prboom-plus -iwad ~/doom/doom2.wad'
alias doomu='~/doom/prboom-plus -iwad ~/doom/doomu.wad'
alias plutonia='~/doom/prboom-plus -iwad ~/doom/plutonia.wad'
alias tnt='~/doom/prboom-plus -iwad ~/doom/tnt.wad'

(this was very helpful for the last Skulltag version I played which required a library linked before it would start)

When I want to play a newly-downloaded map I just quick-launch my terminal (bound to Alt+F1) and

cd ~/Desktop
doom2 -file map.wad -warp 1

Keep in mind you can use tab completion in bash. There's no need to type the full name, just a few characters and hit tab. It will stop at identical filenames (eg: map. if the files map.wad and map.txt are present, making you type either w or t to continue tab completion) you can also hit double tab which lists all possible options for you to choose from. This works for anything (eg: apt-get package names) not just filenames.

If you have something you're playing long-term and/or don't want to clutter up your desktop then feel free to make a folder somewhere so you can go

cd ~/doom
skulltag -file uacultra.wad

and you're away.

As Edward said, keep in mind Linux is case-sensitive, so MAP.WAD, map.wad, Map.Wad and MaP.wAd are all different files.

Nobody's really put the time into a good graphical launcher for Linux, so there's no equivalent as good as say, ZDL 3.1a. Personally I prefer a Bash terminal for this anyway.

Jodwin's CDL does run under Linux if you have the right Mono libraries installed (run it in a terminal window and Google the error you get, you'll find what library to install). It launches PrB+ with PWADs just fine though it looks a bit messy due to the differences in Windows C# (which it was written for) and Linux Mono. I've never tried it with Skulltag.

I guess I'll try your setup, but I'll also alias some of my favorite MegaWADs and TCs for easy access via terminal.

Instead of using any aliases you could just put them in PATH.

How hard is the -file parameter people. Quit being so fucking lazy. Damn. Especially if you're using Linux. Nothing wrong with setting up an environment variable or something to shorten the amount of characters you have to type, but at the end it boils down to using a simple command line switch.

As for the GUI vs CLI thing, its all very dependent on the design of each. One is not by its nature better than the other. Example: Using Windows Server Core is much more difficult than using Windows Server itself. On the other hand I don't want to use a GUI ipconfig to get things done, it would take much longer. Also, in Linux doing things over command line is often easier because the GUI tools are usually poorly developed. On the other hand using OS X CLI tools is usually much more painful than doing things via the GUI.

Catoptromancy said:

Instead of using any aliases you could just put them in PATH.

But then you still have to -iwad which is repetitive.

Without using -iwad port will always load doom2. -iwad is only needed when not using doom2.wad.

True (it actually follows the iwad loading order from the source but I'm sure you know that) but I still find aliases easier :)

#!/bin/sh

echo Finding Skulltag...
find / | while read line
do
	# Named right?
	if echo "$line" | grep "skulltag$" 2>&1 > /dev/null
	then
		# Is a binary?
		if file --mime-type "$line" | grep "executable" 2>&1 > /dev/null
		then
			"$line" $@
		fi
	fi
done

Well, I basically have my Skulltag set up the way I want it, plus some Timidity soundfonts installed. I now realize that Quake 2 weapon mod I downloaded will not work in Skulltag anyway, and I got the file loading down in the terminal, plus aliases for easy access.