demo only starts as root

[inexact]

After installing the demo using

$ sudo sh amnesia_tdd_demo_1.0.sh

the demo won't start as a normal user. The configuration window appears, choosing "Launch game" results in a black screen that disappears quite quickly.

Use

$ sudo /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/Launcher.bin64

and the demo starts correctly. But I don't use Linux to run applications as root.

I also noted that lots of files installed in /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/ belong to user number 500, which does not exist on the default Ubuntu 10.04 installation. Numbering of users starts at 1000 ...

*Edit*
* attached the log file
* note that the files which are reported unable to read in the log are readable according to ls and file:
$ ls -l /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/core/textures/core_dissolve.tga /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/fonts/font_default_00.dds /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/textures/effects/colorconv_sepia.tga
-rw-rw-r-- 1 500 500 16428 2010-09-01 04:33 /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/core/textures/core_dissolve.tga
-rw-rw-r-- 1 500 500 262272 2010-09-01 04:33 /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/fonts/font_default_00.dds
-rw-rw-r-- 1 500 500 812 2010-09-01 04:33 /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/textures/effects/colorconv_sepia.tga

$ file /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/core/textures/core_dissolve.tga /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/fonts/font_default_00.dds /usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/textures/effects/colorconv_sepia.tga
/usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/core/textures/core_dissolve.tga: Targa image data - Mono 128 x 128
/usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/fonts/font_default_00.dds: Microsoft DirectDraw Surface (DDS), 256 x 256,
/usr/local/games/AmnesiaDemo/textures/effects/colorconv_sepia.tga: Targa image data - RGB 256 x 1

Linux 2.6.32-24-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Aug 20 14:21:58 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Ubuntu 10.04
NVIDIA Driver Version: 195.36.24
Geforce 9800 GT
Core i5 processor

[superluser]

I had the same thing, so we both probably have the same issue.

[zak]

After I chowned the AmnesiaDemo-directory and its files to my user it worked as my user. Still there seems to be something wrong...

[jens]

Did you make the .sh file executable?

Trying making it executable either chmod +x in terminal or properties->permissions and check allow executing file as program. Then either ./amnesia_tdd_demo_1.0.sh in the terminal or double click on the file and choose run or run in terminal.

This will get the game installed as the normal user.

[inexact]

After I chowned the AmnesiaDemo-directory and its files to my user it worked as my user. Still there seems to be something wrong...

That work around seems to work OK for me too. Thanks!

[zak]

Did you make the .sh file executable?

Trying making it executable either chmod +x in terminal or properties->permissions and check allow executing file as program. Then either ./amnesia_tdd_demo_1.0.sh in the terminal or double click on the file and choose run or run in terminal.

This will get the game installed as the normal user.

The game is already installed. The launcher runs fine, too. But when launching, either through the launcher or directly by calling Amnesia.bin64 it segfaults.

[superluser]

Did you make the .sh file executable?

Trying making it executable either chmod +x in terminal or properties->permissions and check allow executing file as program. Then either ./amnesia_tdd_demo_1.0.sh in the terminal or double click on the file and choose run or run in terminal.

That's not the issue. You can simply run sh ./amnesia_tdd_demo_1.0.sh regardless of whether the file has the executable bit set.

I tried chowning/chgrping everything to root and it still didn't work. Subsequently chgrping everything to games (a group my user is in) worked.

[zak]

I did some further testing. After chowning back to root for every file and then giving write permissions to everyone it worked as my user.

It seems some process wants to write data in the game directory.

[jens]

Try installing to another directory that is not usr/local/ and see if that helps instead of chowning around.

[zak]

Try installing to another directory that is not usr/local/ and see if that helps instead of chowning around.

I installed it to /opt with the same result, sorry.
I'm afraid the game needs write access to the game data files for some reason on linux.

Never mind, it works for now.