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Ubuntu 9.10 & Urban Terror

Sunday, November 22, 2009 | Written by PreviousN

Readers at the Ubuntu Forums are reporting that the upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10 is causing strange behavior with mouse movement in Urban Terror and other 3D games. Worse is that some are reporting random crashes and runaway processes that can only be stopped with the kill command. It seems that a fix has been found for the random crashes, as it is caused by the lack of a needed pulseaudio library. There has yet to be a fix found for the strange mouse behavior, and it does not affect all users.

The Fix

Fix the random crashes by running this command in a terminal: “sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio”. This will also fix similar problems with other SDL games. Here is a link to the Urban Terror Forums fix.

Help Us Out

If any reader out there knows how to fix the mouse issue, please submit the fix in the comments or on the Urban Terror Forum’s thread about the issue. Until a fix is found readers may want to wait to upgrade their Ubuntu install.

Related posts:

  1. Solve Urban Terror Graphic Problems with Affinity PreviousN writes: …about a year and a half ago I built what I thought would be a rockin’ computer. I was an early adopter of the AMD Phenom 9500 (I didn’t know about the memory hole prior to purchasing- OUCH!), a Geforce 8800gs (which overclocks like crazy), 4GB of RAM, and some speedy disk [...]...
  2. Urban Terror Aim Settings Basics This is a long awaited post. There are a few variables that you can use to improve your mouse precision besides sensitivity. These variables can really help, in conjuntion with a good mouse to improve your aim skills. Today we are going to take a look just at the basics, since the topic is really [...]...
  3. Urban Terror HD is here! Sort of.. Happy Holidays folks! Frozen Sand decided to celebrate with the release of Urban Terror HD Alpha 0.1. Be warned that this is not a full release. This is a public alpha test release. For now, it only runs on Windows (32bit) and looks like it’s very unstable. Frozen Sand stated that Linux and Mac builds [...]...
  4. Urban Terror 4.2 – Updates from BladeKiller It’s a fact. We can’t wait for Urban Terror 4.2. There is so much stuff going on. New graphic effects, new weapons, new animations and more. But there’s always a question that remains unanswered: When it will come out? Recently BladeKiller of FrozenSand relased an interview to the Portuguese community about 4.2. The first big improvements [...]...
  5. Two official Urban Terror 4.2 videos After a week of leaked material popping out everywhere, finally we got a word from Frozen Sand. Two videos showing off some gameplay from an early build of 4.2 just came out. The first thing that pops is the amazing work done on the map. Tombs looks very nice and we can also see the bump [...]...

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Posted in Commands, News

About the Author

PreviousN My name is Allen and I've been playing urban terror since 2004, but I haven't played competitively until recently (June 2009).

19 Comments

  1. krwisty says:
    November 22, 2009 at 2:02 am

    First remove pulse audio from system, that shit doesnt work well with urban terror and mumble.after that install alsa sdl.

    Mouse, try put thes lines in xorg.conf:
    in section module:

    Section “Module”
    Load “extmod”
    SubSection “extmod”
    Option “omit xfree86-dga”
    EndSubSection
    EndSection

    The best solution is to make own xorg.conf and turn off auto detection of HAL in xorg.conf using the command below and assign mouse and keyboard drivers to “mouse” and “kbd” available in the repository and assigning them statically in config.

    Section “ServerFlags”
    Option “DontZap” “false”
    EndSection

    mouse and keyboard example:

    Section “InputDevice”
    Identifier “Mouse0″
    Driver “mouse”
    Option “Device” “/dev/input/mice”
    Option “Protocol” “ExplorerPS/2″
    Option “ZAxisMapping” “4 5″
    Option “Emulate3Buttons” “false”
    Option “Resolution” “450″
    Option “SampleRate” “500″
    EndSection

    Section “InputDevice”
    Identifier “Keyboard0″
    Driver “kbd”
    Option “XkbModel” “pc105″
    Option “XkbRules” “xorg”
    Option “XkbLayout” “pl”
    Option “XkbOptions” “terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp”
    EndSection

    Reply
  2. ]3east says:
    November 22, 2009 at 5:11 am

    Ubuntu and especially Gnome has always been slow with urban terror. I strongly suggest for all Ubuntu users to install lxde or fluxbox for urban terror. Gnome is slow and it lags urt.

    Now. When using the proper window manager, linux is so much faster than windows and has better frame consistency. Just don’t use gnome for gaming.

    Reply
    • PreviousN says:
      November 22, 2009 at 7:12 am

      Hi ]3east,

      Fluxbox is a little too minimal for my tastes. I haven’t heard much about lxde. I have tried xfce, and I think its pretty good, but it really didn’t boost my performance when running urban terror compared to gnome. The issues above sound like they are caused by the sound system rather than the window manager. I don’t exactly love pulseaudio (I’ve experienced dropped sound etc. in UrT), but I use skype and audacity a lot and have zero problems with it. I also have mumble working via pulseaudio. I didn’t have much trouble with alsa either. I just don’t want to be someone clinging to the old while the rest of the linux community moves on.

      What are your thoughts on kde (either 3.x or 4.x) and urban terror? Any performance improvements? I’m running a pretty much vanilla install of ubuntu on most of my computers and am thinking about switching to a different distro (linux mint is the top choice). I use kdenlive for video editing and it’s buggy using gnome. So I’m mostly thinking about switching to a kde based distro.

      Reply
      • ]3east says:
        November 22, 2009 at 8:14 pm

        I was not talking about the bug with the processes. That’s pulse audio. I am talking about the choppiness in FPS and graphical performance.

        KDE does work better than GNOME for gaming. BUT if you want maximum performance use lxde of fluxbox. Even though both of those are small, you can swap between Gnome/KDE and a minimalist desktop. LXDE and Fluxbox take up very little space and you can log into them from your Gnome login menu. Click “Sessions” then “[other windowmanager of your choicer]”

        Also, I would stick with ubuntu. Because there is much more support and repositories that most other distros do not have. If ubuntu is not fast enough for you, I would suggest removing applications and programs that you do not need.

        If you do know what you are doing with linux, then by all means go ahead and try a new distro. For the most speed, I would suggest installing and configuring slackware, I have a IRL friend who uses it and it’s wicked fast, even on old machines. BUT you really do have to know what you are doing before you install slackware.

        Reply
        • PreviousN says:
          November 22, 2009 at 10:38 pm

          I used to use slackware, and I had it running for about a year. It’s fast and stable. But any updates are a pain. Slackware has their own packaging system, but it’s not nearly as advanced as .deb/apt. Last time I used it the system didn’t have dependency resolution.
          So in terms of effective resource utilization: Fluxbox > LXDE > XFCE > KDE 3 > Gnome > KDE 4? BTW: Linux mint is based on ubuntu, so most of the support on the forums still applies, kinda like debian vs. ubuntu.

          Anyways, the main point of this current response is about the mouse problem. I did some research and it looks like the bug is in Xorg. This is bad news even though there’s a fix committed upstream (according to https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=24737). This is bad news because usually xorg updates aren’t propagated until the next point release unless it’s a major bug. And this bug isn’t classified as “major” (It’s listed as “low priority” on launchpad). Good news is that it only affects some mice.

          Reply
          • ]3east says:
            November 22, 2009 at 10:53 pm

            Yeah I figured it had something to do with the graphical setup of xorg, drivers, etc. Though I have found that not using Gnome has solved my problem however it may be different for others.

  3. KEYHOLE says:
    November 22, 2009 at 12:56 pm

    i have use ubuntu a little on my ibook g4
    at first i love editing and composing electronic music then i found ubuntu a big lack of audio rendering (have not try Urt) …. have not try Wine or other Window emulator thing but for music and sound editing Linux is way under my expectation

    PS: im noob linux user so maybe im wrong….

    Reply
    • PreviousN says:
      November 22, 2009 at 1:08 pm

      Keyhole:

      Most Hollywood studios use linux for renderfarms, etc. Some of the actual editing is even done on linux. It’s far from lacking in the audio/visual department. The main hiccups are in usability for the average end-user, IMO.

      Overall, there are some REALLY good alternatives to audio visual programs out there. Getting them to run without bugs or hiccups can sometimes be a challenge.

      Reply
    • XeroG says:
      November 22, 2009 at 4:25 pm

      Musix
      The name should be self explanatory. The distro is based on Debian / KNOPPIX. It’s a live disto with an HD installer. Native language is Spanish I think, but it’s easy to switch to w/e language you want, pre-installation.

      http://www.musix.org.ar/en/

      I’d say krwisty has the best solution for the mouse, don’t think the keyboard is necessary though, since that’s not apparently the problem. I don’t know, I don’ t use Ubuntu, too “mainstream” for me. I prefer the distro that gets me paid, BackTrack

      Reply
  4. urth says:
    November 27, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    I give a little solution for linux users who can not hear normal hitsound in game.
    Original hitsound: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1199535/hit.wav
    Long time i heard instead of that some kracking ugly sound.
    And this really disrupted me.
    Finally i find easy solution: copy zpak000_assets.pk3 in your /home/username/.q3a/q3ut4/ folder.

    Reply
  5. Tizz says:
    November 30, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    That’s why you shouldn’t play FPS with Linux. Because Linux sucks.

    Reply
  6. FoxyLady says:
    January 3, 2010 at 9:24 pm

    I’m playing urt in my debian lenny with gnome and it goes great! But…if you try to upgrade to testing you may have some problems..so i don´t recommend that..

    Reply
    • PreviousN says:
      January 3, 2010 at 11:46 pm

      Thanks for the tip. I recently upgraded to ubuntu 9.10 (I bit the bullet, so to speak), and had one of those “it’s a feature, not a bug” experiences.

      Apparently, Ubuntu 9.10 recognizes when it is on a laptop and makes adjustments to the touchpad settings and the like. Under the system –> preferences –> mouse, there is a checkbox that makes the mouse movement pause when a keystroke is pressed. It comes checked by default (wtf?!).

      So, before I found that out, I would move in a choppy way (VERY frustrating).

      I tried installing debian a few weeks ago, but since I don’t have a cd drive it was a pita. For some reason any usb installer I tried didn’t work. At all. I spent >5 hours on it and really didn’t want to mess with it anymore. Well, everything is good now.

      Reply
  7. Allie Sheaffer says:
    November 8, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    I’d come to bury the hatchet with you here. Which is not something I typically do! I love reading a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!

    Reply
  8. Sifali Bitkiler says:
    November 19, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    Hello mans do you’r have news articles ? I relish clerical build up for me … ..

    Reply
  9. Boris Ruezga says:
    March 16, 2011 at 11:35 pm

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    Reply
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    August 11, 2011 at 7:22 am

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    Reply

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