How to run Zero-K under Linux

Question

Welcome,

I followed the howto on http://zero-k.info/Wiki/Download on my Linux Mint 15 64 bit Cinnamon.

After logging-in here and there opening the Lobby with mono Zero-K.exe and pressing the big button Play Now on "http://zero-k.info/Missions/Detail/156", I believe after waiting for the map download, the game should somehow start. What happens, is that after pressing the button, the focus switches to the lobby client, and something invisible is happening on the bottom of its window:

(Notice, that the bottom margin is very wide and there's nothing in it).

There must have been some sort of exception. Here is an output from the terminal:

~/tmp/Zero-K $ mono Zero-K.exe 
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : Starting with version 3.0.1.14774
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : SpringPaths: SPRING_DATADIR: /home/adam/tmp/Zero-K:/home/adam/.spring
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : SpringPaths: SPRING_WRITEDIR: /home/adam/tmp/Zero-K
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : SpringPaths: SPRING_ISOLATED: /home/adam/tmp/Zero-K
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Warning : 0 : Failed to init VoiceCommands:Could not load type 'ZeroKLobby.ChatToSpeech' from assembly 'Zero-K.all, Version=3.0.1.14774, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'.
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : SpringPaths: SPRING_DATADIR: /home/adam/tmp/Zero-K:/home/adam/.spring:/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/engine/91.0:/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/engine
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : SpringPaths: SPRING_WRITEDIR: /home/adam/tmp/Zero-K
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : SpringPaths: SPRING_ISOLATED: /home/adam/tmp/Zero-K
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : Initial scan done
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC connected
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC login accepted
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : Server is using Spring version 95.0
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: 
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: Welcome, sisteczko!
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: There are currently 300 clients connected
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: to the server talking in 374 open channels
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: and participating in 95 battles.
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: Server's uptime is 3.96 weeks
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: You've successfully connected to uberserver:
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: https://github.com/spring/uberserver
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: 
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: Your client doesn't support the 'cl' compatibility flag, please upgrade it!
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC: see http://springrts.com/dl/LobbyProtocol/ProtocolDescription.html#0.37
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Error : 0 : TASC error System.ApplicationException: Error while processing command BATTLEOPENEDEX 9068 0 0 PepeAmpere[NOTA] 78.128.166.122 8452 32 1 0 4115539768 spring 94.1 notAdotaMap 0.6      hunger_games    OTE r0001: Value is too large ---> System.OverflowException: Value is too large
  at System.Int32.Parse (System.String s) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at LobbyClient.TasClient.DispatchServerCommandOnGuiThread (System.String command, System.String[] args) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Error : 0 : TASC error System.ApplicationException: Error while processing command UPDATEBATTLEINFO 9068 0 0 4115539768 notAdotaMap 0.6    : Value is too large ---> System.OverflowException: Value is too large
  at System.Int32.Parse (System.String s) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at LobbyClient.TasClient.DispatchServerCommandOnGuiThread (System.String command, System.String[] args) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC channel joined: zk
/home/adam/tmp/Zero-K/Zero-K.exe Information : 0 : TASC channel joined: en

Is there something I can do to launch the game?

Answer 1

Most of that terminal output seems normal, up to:

Error while processing command BATTLEOPENEDEX 9068 0 0 PepeAmpere[NOTA] ...
notAdotaMap 0.6      hunger_games    OTE r0001: Value is too large ...

That doesn't seem right... are you also running NOTA and having NOTA maps saved in /home/adam/.spring? If so, that could be causing some kind of conflict.

Try explictly removing that map?

Do multiplayer missions work?

The "something invisible" is supposed to show you a pending host for you game, and an ETA for the map/mission you're downloading.

BTW, many of these missions can be curiously unstable (being somewhat dependant on certain versions of ZK I think..) - this one is running with bugs under my current set-up, but I can at least launch it!