Hi, Maybe I misunderstand something, but can't you just use 'touch' to change the time of the files? If there are too many of them, it should be easy to create a script that does it, using the output of 'ls -lR' or some kind of 'find' on the directory where this is installed correctly.
Moshe * Holly Bostick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [01/08/05 14:21]: > > Hi, all-- > > The short version is that I 'need' to do something to 'fix' the > efficiency of installing and running a game (The Elder Scrolls 3: > Morrowind), but I'm not quite sure what or how, so I (unfortunately) > have to explain the problem at some length in the hopes that someone > else will have a better take on it. When (if) you read it, you'll > (hopefully) see why I'm writing here rather than somewhere else (because > I can't figure out to which of the many other involved parties this mail > might be appropriate). > > The summary: I'm trying to document how to run Morrowind, using an ATI > card and the fglrx drivers, with user-created add-on modules, under > Linux (for myself, as I love Morrowind, and for a HOW-TO, since I can > *run* it now, but I want to write it down to help others and myself in > the future). However, oddities of Morrowind, Linux, and Windows programs > generally are making this more difficult than it seems to need to be-- > one 'oddity' in particular. > > The obstacle: Well, there are several, such as Linux's case sensitivity, > and Windows' lack thereof, and the fact that some module makers pack > their archives badly so extraction to the installed game's data folder > can be a nightmare-- but those are relatively easily solved (WinRAR and > Total Commander, respectively, both of which run adequately under Wine). > The immovable object atm seems to be file dates. > > You see, Morrowind stores its base graphic data in *.bsa files (bethesda > softworks archives), and its data (scripts and object locations and the > like) in *.esm (elder scrolls master?) files. These files, when > installed by the game, of course have a date (which is first of all > different depending on how you install, but we'll come to that). > > The 'problem' is that if one then installs user-created plugins (of > which there are several thousand), Morrowind uses the file date to > determine whether the plugin's files override the original files found > in the *.bsa, and in what order they do so (in the event that Plugin A > changes something that Plugin B also changes, the timestamp also > determines which change the player finally sees when the game actually > starts). > > Now this is a "normal" Morrowind problem, insofar as it exists under > Windows as well (getting your plugins to load in the right order is a > horrendous job, which is why there are several tools to help with the > process, but it's still horrifying if you want to run more than...oh, > two or three plugins. And Morrowind players commonly run a hundred or > two hundred, as the game will allow up to 255. Right now I've got 56 > listed in my Morrowind.ini, and that's slightly less than half of my > 'minimum required to set up this game to my preferences' set, nothing > said about 'quests, tweaks, and fixes that might be nice to have'). But > under Linux, the original install file dates are not the same[1] as they > are under Windows, and this adds a possibly unsurmountable level of > complexity to the issue. > > [1] There are two ways to install Morrowind. You can install it under > Wine or Cedega using the regular Setup.exe, or you can install it via a > script found at Loki Installers for Linux Gamers (http://liflg.org ). > > If you install with Wine or Cedega, the installed *.bsa and *.esm files > will carry the original file date of 2002 or 2003, which most plugins > will automatically override (because the plugins were naturally created > more recently than the original files). > > However, if you install the game and its expansion packs via Wine or > Cedega, the installation process will take about 15 hours > (approximately 6 for Morrowind, 2.5 for Tribunal, and another 6 for > Bloodmoon). This problem is common to both Wine and Cedega. Obviously no > one is going to do that on a regular basis, or even once, really (even > though I did, in order to document it, and to get the Registry entries > for the program. I don't count, since I'm such an oddball). > > The loki installer takes some 15-30 minutes and works perfectly-- except > that the extracted *.bsa and *.esm files seem to get the date you > installed the game ("today"). Which means that-- since the Morrowind.ini > is usually set to > > > ;-1 Use raw data, 0 Use Newer, 1 use Archive Only > > TryArchiveFirst=0 > > use the 'newer' file when determining what graphic data to use to > display the textures for rocks/trees/buildings/people/clothing/etc, any > dedicated texture replacers (or plugins that want to replace selected > original textures in the course of their operation) are just not going > to work right, because the bsa archive is always going to be 'newer' > (because it has a date of "today", when I installed the game) than the > replacement files --which might have been packed and uploaded > *yesterday*. But since WinRAR and all other native and non-native > archive manangement programs that I've tried are (naturally) going to > extract the plugin files without modifying the date of the archived > files (and don't seem to have an option to change that, because it > doesn't make much sense to want to do that in the first place)... the > extracted archives are almost always going to have an 'earlier' date > than the original game files, and be overridden by the original game > files (which is not the way it's supposed to work). > > Now, what's weird is that this *did* work, but (as is traditional for > me), I got a bit too tangled up in plugin conformance testing to know > where the heck I was anymore, so I backed up the install, reinstalled, > and started over, and suddenly my texture replacer isn't replacing > textures anymore. The very idea of trying to debug the differences > between the old install and the new is too horrifying to comtemplate. > Plus, it's not to the point (as of yet, and hopefully it won't ever be). > > So what I need is a reasonable way for an 'average user' to fix this. On > my personal system, because I have installed the "15-hour version" > (which dates correctly) as well as the Loki install (which is what I'm > actually playing), I can just copy the original *.bsa and *.esm files > over the Loki-extracted ones (which I just thought of and which seems to > work on paper), but I couldn't advise that to the general public. > > Having written all of this out, I can see that this is most properly > fixed by the Loki installer script (which should not change dates when > extracting the game files from the *.cab files, if it is in fact doing > so), and I will post on their forums to request that change (since I > can't get the script or archive or whatever it is open to change > anything myself). > > However, since I have no way of knowing whether anyone there will > actually give a hoot, or have time to fix it in a timely manner, what > I'm looking for is a workaround. > > "Obviously", I could change the system date (to something like august > 1st 2000) prior to installing using the Loki script, then change it > back, but that's just 1) ugly; 2) dangerous. I wouldn't want to suggest > that as a workaround, even if the HOW-TO never went past my own /docs > folder. > > What I would like is a way to change the date of specific files to a > specific date (in the past), without "changing" (editing) them, which is > not an option with the original Morrowind files (or, if it is possible, > it's only so with additional external tools and a whole lot of difficulty). > > Is this even possible to do? Now that I've said it "out loud", it > doesn't sound like something Linux would want me to do at all, but > perhaps there's some reason that server admins might need to do such a > thing, in which case Linux definitely provides a way to do it. > > If it is not possible, or is unreasonably dangerous to explain on a > public forum, can anyone think of an alternative solution, given the > circumstances, until such time as the Loki installer is fixed (if in > fact it needs to be fixed and the issue is not that my system is borked > somehow)? > > Or is my system possibly borked somehow and these files are being > incorrectly stamped due to something completely unrelated to the installer? > > Anyway, thanks for listening (if you did), and thanks for any ideas. > > Holly > > P.S. This all sounds very difficult and unpleasant-- and it is-- but, > YES, Morrowind really is worth the trouble if you like RPGs. In this > respect, it resembles The Sims (as a very difficult game to get the > relatively useless base game installed and running at all and then the > mods that make it all worthwhile running on top of it, nothing said > about which expansions work and which dont, although apparently > Superstar will crash the game at startup). It's next on my list of > HOW-TOs, but I will say that The Sims Deluxe does install under Linux > and run under some form of Wine (don't remember which atm, but I'm not > touching my Sims install until I've got Morrowind working to my > specifications). So for those of you who 1) read all this, 2) have ATI > cards, and 3) want to play either of these games-- IT CAN BE DONE. > > And I promise to tell you how, if you guys help me over this hump. > > H. > > > > > > -- > gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list > -- I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. -- Douglas Adams Moshe Kaminsky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Home: 08-9456841
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