Graphics version crash on startup? Try this first!

Hey, is your graphical DDA crashing on startup? D8

As we’ve been over repeatedly on the forums, and worked out on Github, apparently the necessary libraries to run SDL2* aren’t included in Windows.

Therefore, if your 0.A “Graphical” or “Tiles” experimental DDA is crashing on startup, that’s probably the first thing to check.

The good news is that we’ve got copies of the necessary libraries. They’re linked in both threads above, as well as right here: if HRose/Abalieno’s mediafire doesn’t work for some reason, I’ve put the .zip on my dropbox as well.

Here’s a copy of the dev-box DLLs from our build-server manager Narc, hosted on my dropbox. You can get a direct link from Narc on the Github page I linked. Name’s different for one file, but sizing appears the same and they both work.

All you need to do is grab that pack, unzip it, and drop the files in the same folder as your cataclysm-tiles.exe.

*SDL and its successor SDL2 are open-source code engines. The primary difference (from the user perspective) between SDL(2) and Curses, Cataclysm’s original engine, is that SDL allows for tilesets, differential fonts, mouse support, and potentially sound. Curses usually runs somewhat faster and is less fiddly to compile; it also didn’t need these libraries.

Edited to add Narc’s package-KA101

The last post on github by narc0tiq contains a link to a dll package which has a different version of the freetype6.dll called “freetype-6.dll” which is slightly smaller and (possibly?) newer than the one uploaded on your dropbox. Do we know if there is any functionality difference between them? Having two different versions out there could potentially create some tricky debug work if lots of people start using it. It does not appear to require renaming in order for the game to recognize it, for whatever thats worth.

Not to derail, but do you have a forum/github link to any dev discussion about whats going on with the lack of animations in experimental tiles versions? This is probably something that more and more people are going to be asking about once they read this post and fix their tiles versions. I would understand if they were broken by the transition to SDL2, but would like to keep up with the news/discussion about it if possible.

[quote=“Ratha, post:2, topic:5484”]The last post on github by narc0tiq contains a link to a dll package which has a different version of the freetype6.dll called “freetype-6.dll” which is slightly smaller and (possibly?) newer than the one uploaded on your dropbox. Do we know if there is any functionality difference between them? Having two different versions out there could potentially create some tricky debug work if lots of people start using it. It does not appear to require renaming in order for the game to recognize it, for whatever thats worth.

Not to derail, but do you have a forum/github link to any dev discussion about whats going on with the lack of animations in experimental tiles versions? This is probably something that more and more people are going to be asking about once they read this post and fix their tiles versions. I would understand if they were broken by the transition to SDL2, but would like to keep up with the news/discussion about it if possible.[/quote]

Kevin opined on the Git discussion: probably something we broke in the transition, not SDL2’s fault. Checked out the other file and no significant difference I could recognize.

Maybe we should sticky this until the fix is in?

Good idea.

I think it’s actually already been fixed. The DLLs are packaged with the latest experimental.

Correct. Might even be a way to rework it so we don’t have to package 'em. So this doesn’t need a sticky, but I’ll leave it around for a little while just in case more folks with older versions drift through.