1. INTRODUCTION
Quoting the SuperTux official site, "SuperTux is a classic 2D jump'n run sidescroller game in a style similar to the original SuperMario games."
SuperTux was originally started by Bill Kendrick. Later on, a group of Open Source developers turned it into a community driven project hosted at
http://supertux.berlios.de.
SuperTux runs on a variety of hardware, from PCs to handhelds, and now also on the Nintendo GameCube.
2. MOTIVATION
SuperTux is one of the classic Linux games, and it is inspired on one of the best-selling game franchises from Nintendo. Thus, it made sense to make it available for gc-linux too!
3. CONCEPT
SuperTux runs unmodified on gc-linux because it is based on the Simple DirectMedia Layer library, which was previously ported.
Nevertheless, it was appropiate to modify it slightly to enable some overscan compensation for TVs, and to make it a bit more joystick-friendly.
The packaging of the game is based on the "root filesystem on ARAM" concept already shown in the mfe-distro. But this time the amount of data the game uses couldn't be stored entirely on ARAM. Thus, a more specialized boot technique was used.
First, the kernel boots and, with the help of a volatile ramdisk, locates and loads into ARAM the root filesystem (the "reduced" root filesystem). Then, the remaining part of the filesystem the "game" filesystem) is located and layered on top of the already loaded root filesystem.
Both the "reduced" root filesystem and the "game" filesystem can be loaded from a MMC/SD card inserted in slot A or B, or from a DVD disc. The main DOL can be launched by any existing loading method, and stored accordingly.
4. INSTALLING
You can install SuperTux for gc-linux into a MMC/SD card or a DVD disc. The MMC/SD card installation requires a SD card adaptor for the GameCube. Existing SDload users may choose to use the MMC/SD card installation for simplicity.
The MMC/SD card installation enables automatic saving of game progress. The DVD installation produces a disc that can be directly booted on
both soft-modded and chipped cubes.
The DVD installation DO NOT allow saving the game progress by default. However, you can get your games saved too if you use in addition a MMC/SD card. See RUNNING for details.
4.1 Installing to a MMC/SD Card
The MMC/SD card used in this procedure needs to be already formatted with a FAT filesystem (which is usually the default factory adjustment). The card can contain other files, but you'll need about 42M free.
In order to install SuperTux for gc-linux into a MMC/SD card proceed as follows:
- Download supertux-0.1.3-gc-linux.tar.bz2.
- Unpack the supertux tarball in the root directory of your MMC/SD card. The tarball has a directory structure that needs to be preserved. (Assuming your MMC/SD card is mounted over /media/sdcard)
# cd /media/sdcard
# tar xjvf /tmp/downloads/supertux-0.1.3-gc-linux.tar.bz2
You should get a directory structure like this:
/
+- supertux.dol
+- supertux/
+- rootfs.bz2
+- gamefs.img
+- levels/
+- save/
- End of procedure.
5. RUNNING
You can launch SuperTux for gc-linux in several ways. Basically, you need to run supertux.dol with your supertux MMC/SD card and/or disc inserted.
5.1 Running from a MMC/SD Card
- Insert your already prepared MMC/SD card into Slot-A or Slot-B of your cube using a SD card adaptor. - Boot into SDload or your favorite loader.
(See
http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/SDload for additional information
on SDload).
- Run supertux.dol.
6. IMPORTANT CAUTIONS
READ THIS!!! IMPORTANT!!!
[!] DO NOT REMOVE MMC/SD CARDS WHILE PLAYING SUPERTUX
[!] WHEN USING MMC/SD CARDS, ALWAYS SHUTDOWN GC-LINUX CLEANLY
If you switch off your cube or remove MMC/SD cards while SuperTux is running, there's a chance that you can corrupt the data on your cards.
You can only remove or insert MMC/SD cards during the boot stage if the boot process is unable to find the required files and displays a message
and countdown like this:
Press any button to try it again [10]
You can safely switch off your cube and/or remove/insert MMC/SD cards when the following message and countdown gets displayed, just after quitting SuperTux via the Quit option in the main menu:
(A) Play again, (B) SDload, (Z) Reboot [10]
If you press the A button, the game will be reloaded. If you press the B button, SDload will be loaded. This is useful only for SDload users. If you press the Z button, you'll get back to the IPL menu.
6. JOYPAD BINDINGS
SuperTux for gc-linux can be controlled as follows:
- D-pad or analog: drive SuperTux
- START/PAUSE: menu
- A: jump
- Z: accelerate / fire
7. CREDITS
Special thanks go to:
- Bill Kendrick for starting SuperTux
- The SuperTux project team for their continued work.
- all gc-linux fans
