DC goes multi-platform

[manikus]

In an ongoing effort to use all or my favorite programs in Linux, I
have of course experimented with DC.



DC will not run natively in Linux, but through use of WINE I thought
it might be possible. So, I eagerly imported Dungeon Craft, started it
up and found that the editor had opened and even worked but had major
graphics issues and that the engine wouldn't start at all, so I
wouldn't be able to play or test any designs.



Years went by and improvements were made to both WINE and DC. A couple
of months ago, after a fresh install of a new (to me) version of Linux
- Fedora 10. WINE is now out of beta and I updated to version 1.13. I
installed version .914 of Dungeon Craft and fired it up. To my
pleasant surprise, I found that the editor looked exactly like it did
on my Windows XP system. More importantly, the editor behaved exactly
like on my Windows XP system.

I immediately created a little desing, saved it, and tried to test it.
Nothing happened. :(



A couple of weeks went by and then I was testing a special build of DC
on my XP and the engine didn't start, but gave me an error message
that I was missing a particular MFC*.dll file. A light bulb popped on
in my head and I downloaded the missing .dll file and placed it in the
proper folder in WINE. Voila! The engine now works. :)



The missing file was MFC42D.dll. But, I downloaded all MFC4*.dll files
just in case. These are available on a number of sites around the web
and are free to download.



There is one issue that remains, however. I was using DC set to
640x480 resolution. After using the engine and exiting, Fedora 10 (and
Ubuntu 8.04) do not switch back to their previous resolutions, nor do
they "fit" everything on the screen. So, after using the DC engine
(not the editor) you have to reboot Linux to get your system back to
normal. For those not familiar with Linux, this does not mean
rebooting the machine, though you can, you just need to reboot your
visual display. To do this, open a command prompt, and switch to level
3 (telinit 3 in Fefora) and then back to level 5 (telinit 5 in
Fedora).



I have the fortune of having a debug version of DC that opens in a
Window instead of full screen, so I can avoid this issue. Paul is
aware of this issue (not a priority) but is aware of people wanting to
be able to open the DC engine in a window (is a priority) and will
likely have a version that can open in a window for either the next
release or the one after that.



So, if you've ever dreamed of using Dungoen Craft on your Linux or
Apple machine, now you can.