After I got version 1.2 of Wrongworld live at the end of October, I decided it was finally time to fully focus on the Mac and Linux versions of the game. Even though I had no experience of Mac and Linux things in general, for some reason I was confident that I'd be able to get them both launched by the end of November. Oh, how wrong I was!
I shall begin by recounting The Epic Saga of November Linux Fails (in bullet point format):
- I spent about 4 days at the start of November wrestling with one of my test computers, desperately trying to rid it of Windows and install Ubuntu in its place. Mucho fiddling around with BIOS and bootables and other things that make me feel very uncomfortable, only to discover that the problem I had been baffled by for about 3-and-a-half days was in fact caused by a faulty USB port. Sigh!
- I then wasted a few more days trying to cross-compile the Linux version of the game from my main Windows machine, but discovered that it'd require me to do a few potentially scary things. I didn't want to accidentally mangle my beloved main computer, so I decided to get the Unreal Engine set up natively on my new Ubuntu machine instead.
- Spent several more days figuring out how to actually build the Unreal Engine in Ubuntu, but I got there in the end. Mostly.
- Booted it up, created a few test projects, discovered that the graphics were all messed up. "Probable graphics driver issues," I thought. "Should be easy to fix... I'll ignore that for now while I do this next thing..."
- Transferred the Wrongworld project over to the Ubuntu machine, tried to load it up, wouldn't load because of some third-party dependency issue that would've been easy to fix on either Windows or Mac due to the Epic Games launcher/marketplace, but that doesn't exist in the Linux version. Managed to fumble my way around that issue a bit - or, at least, I thought I had figured out how to fix it - but decided to ignore it for now, go back to the previous issue, and get the graphics drivers sorted out first instead.
- Utterly bricked my poor little Ubuntu machine by doing things I shouldn't have done in its all-powerful "Terminal"/Command Prompt.
- Smashed face against wall for a long while.
- Reinstalled Ubuntu... Back to square one. Maybe square two.
- Realised I'd ultimately need to go back to the "cross-compiling from Windows" method, but I needed a break from all things Linux before I went insane.
That sums up about the first two-thirds of November pretty well. With over half the month gone and nothing to show for it, I decided it was time for the Mac version. "That should be simpler," I thought. You can probably guess where this story is going...
- Installed the Unreal Engine on the Mac I have access to. It's actually my girlfriend's, so I had to tread carefully with it, especially when you consider that I had just completely mangled Ubuntu with my impressive lack of technical knowledge.
- The Mac's OS had recently been updated to "High Sierra".
- Important Facts: Wrongworld has been built in Unreal Engine version 4.14. If I upgrade the project to 4.15 or beyond, all manner of things stop working, so I'm effectively locked into 4.14. Which is fine, and to be expected: everything works, so no need to upgrade the project. Epic Games themselves (the lovely creators of the Unreal Engine) recommend keeping your projects locked down to a specific version, and only attempting upgrading if absolutely necessary.
- Anyway, I attempted to boot up the Unreal Engine for the first time on the Mac, and it almost instantly crashed. In case you're interested, here's somebody else reporting the problem.
- Long story short, it's an Unreal Engine bug... Epic Games' support say, "This is a known bug with High Sierra and unfortunately you will have to use a more recent version of UE (4.15 or upwards) or downgrade to Sierra 10.12."
4.15, you say? Please refer to the "Important Facts" above and my reliance on 4.14. Sad face time.
- I upgraded the Mac OS to "Mojave", just to see if it'd fix it. It didn't. Same crash occurs.
- I spent days trying to find away around this issue, but I had to accept I wasn't going to be able to in the end. Stupid computers.
- But all is not lost... I just need to downgrade the OS to regular "Sierra", not "High Sierra", and that might bypass the issue. Alas, you may remember that this is not my Mac to screw around with, and you also may remember that I had recently destroyed my new Ubuntu machine. In other words, I daren't touch computers at the moment, lest they explode or melt or burst into flames.
- Alternatively, I could attempt to bite the bullet and upgrade the project beyond UE 4.14 to bypass the Unreal/Mac bug, but, from my previous attempts to do that, I know it'll be a pretty darn time-consuming thing to do.
So, what does all this mean for the Mac and Linux versions? Well, it means they won't be landing any time soon, I'm afraid. I really am sad about that, and I promise I haven't given up; I will not let these other versions defeat me, but some things need to happen first:
1) I want to buy a new Windows machine in order to attempt the cross-compiling to Linux without putting my beloved (and pretty vital) main machine in harm's way. I know that may be overreacting a little, but I'm not feeling particularly confident in my techie skills at the moment, and I'd rather be safe than sorry.
2) I need to get my own Mac that I can poke around with and downgrade without worrying that I may kill my girlfriend's computer. She would probably be a little cross if I did. I fear she would set the Chihuahuas on me.
In other words, I need to buy myself two middle-of-the-road machines in order to continue plugging away at these other versions, and that means I need to save up some cash. Fingers crossed, I'll have the money by the end of January, but maybe not... January is when my annual tax bill punches me in the face, so it might have to wait until February.
But on the bright side, this does mean I can now just get my head down and crack on with developing new content again, and stop wrestling with various foreign operating systems for the time being. So, hopefully, I might have version 1.3 out in time for Christmas :)
Anyway, that's enough rambling from me for now. I just wanted to let everyone know what I've been doing for the last month, fully explain what's going with these other versions, and reassure anyone in the Mac/Linux camp that I have not - and will not - give up!