Torment for iPad, smartphones, and Nokia

[Topher]

I can't find a better topic to post this in so... Has anyone here actually gotten gemRB to work on their iPad? I just jailbroke my pad toady and I was hoping to try gemRB out but alas I can't get the program to install using itunes, I get a generic "failed to install" error. I'm pretty apple illiterate so perhaps I've just made some small error? After some searching there doesn't seem to be a very good step-by-step guide for this, which surprises me. Any help?

 

[Grunker]

The guys at gibberlings3 are usually great at GemRB support. At least they were last I checked.

 

[Topher]

The guys at gibberlings3 are usually great at GemRB support. At least they were last I checked.

Thanks. Apparently I had to download some additional files that allow me to bypass the rotten apple DRM. I so wish that i had an android tablet... and for the record I got the iPad for free, so I'm making due.

*i really wish they had more than a cursory guide to actually installing the games (http://www.gemrb.org/wiki/doku.php?id=install:ios)... anybody got a better one?

**here's my big question. Am i supposed to install the game to my PC, compress the contents of that install folder on my C: drive to a .rar, rename the file extension from .rar to .bg1, then file share it to my ipad through itunes... or am i supposed to be doing all of that with the CD data somehow? I'm really lost as to how I'm supposed to install these games.

***repeat after me, a .rar is not a .zip, a .rar is not a .zip...

 

[fuzzball]

It has to be a .zip file, not a .rar file like you've said in the last part of your post.
Regarding what files to archive (the files on CD or the files in your installation folder), archive the files that are in your installation folder but make sure that your archive has a .bg1 extension (or bg2 or whatever depending on the game you want to play with GemRB) instead of .zip extension.
Then you must copy this archive file on your iPad via iTunes (just open up iTunes when your iPad is connected to you computer and copy the file as you normally do with other apps in iTunes). I assume you already have GemRB installed on your computer (if not you must install it first but be aware that it is a jailbroken app so you must do an additional step to be able to install it on your iPad, I won't go into detail because I assume you allready have it installed but for anyone else who wants to know just google how to install "Installous" on a jailbroken iPad).
After you've copied the archive file on your iPad, open up the GemRB app. On the left upper corner of the iPad screen you should be able to see something like "Baldur's Gate 2.cfg" or something like that. Press on that and then press the "Install" button. You should see a progression bar that is filled while GemRB is trying to install the game on the iPad. After the progression bar is filled the .cfg extension should disappear and the title on the screen should only be "Baldur's Gate 2" (or something like that). Now you can play the game (just press the "Play" button) but as soon as you finish the character creation part you will receive a blank screen and be kicked out of the app.
In order to fix this you must go to the place on your iPad where you have the GemRB app folder (I used for this a program named iExplorer on my computer, you can download it for free and it's for Windows) but be aware that the folder is not called "GemRB" but a series of letter and numbers (it differs from iPad to iPad). There on the "Documents" subfolder you will find the files of your game. Go to the "data" subfolder and there you will find another subfolder named "Data". You must copy all the files from the "Data" subfolder into the "data" subfolder (after that you can delete the "Data" subfolder).
Then you can play past the character creation screens.

The game is playable but still has some issues. For once, I think the screen is to small to play it even on iPad (good luck if you have an iPhone or other device with a smaller screen) because I have troubles selecting with my finger the answer I want during the dialogues and sometimes I have troubles even when selecting the characters on screen. There is no cursor so it is hard and frustrating when trying to cast a spell because the game won't give you any visual clues to where are you casting it or even if the wizard is casting it at all. There are no hotkeys so buffing your party before a fight can both be a pain and a chore especially if you play for a long time. So if you happen to be away from a computer you can try to play this but when you can choose on which device to play it I would go for the computer without hesitation for the best experience.

 

[Topher]

Thanks for the rundown, a good toutorial doesn't really exist anywhere, and I really appreciate the help. I did eventually get BG up and running, the screen is a bit small for making some selections but overall it works pretty well, at least for iPad. I need to make some .ini tweaks and solve some auto-pause issues, it pauses after everything by default and I can't seem to make adjustments from the in-game menus.

The PC is far and away the superior platform and I certainly wouldn't reccomend gemRB for a first timer; but playing the infinity engine games on the go is pretty goddamn sexy. I'm hoping to DOSpad up and running next, I need to figure out how to actually install games or transfer there .exe across from my PC.

 

[fuzzball]

I am having problems with the auto-pause thing too. After I've tried to configure it several times in the option menu, now it seems to work. Also make sure that the folder where the game files are on your iPad has writing permission (very easy to do that with iExplorer, just right click on the folder and choose the properties from the contextual menu, there you can grant the user to have writing permission for that folder) because you may have problems when you try to save the game otherwise.

DOSpad is easy to setup. You can copy games for DOSpad just by using iExplorer (make sure the folders where you copy have writing permission before you start the game). I've tried to play Master of Magic and it works (it doesn't have music though because I have no idea how to configure the setup file). Betrayal at Krondor doesn't work though (it kicks me out of the game just after the prologue text screens) and granting writing permission doesn't seem to fix the problem.

 

[villain of the story]

Software like OpenOffice is always a step behind because once they reach feature parity with Office, Office gets a new release with new features.

LOLWUT. OpenOffice is a barely functioning unoptimised bloatware piece of shit that has yet to match the feature list of MSOffice "95, that's why it is and will always be a couple hundred steps behind.

 

[villain of the story]

in before hipsters

On a serious note, why didn't you post that here, sea? I see you in the comments.

He's a traitorous faggot.

 

[Stabwound]

I am astonished that GemRB has advanced to this point. The project started not long after Icewind Dale 2 came out (so, almost 10 years ago) so it's pretty amazing that the devteam stuck to it. It seems like a huge waste of time to me, but some people like to spend their time in weird ways, I guess.

 

[Aikanaro]

GemRB is a fairly impressive project, but I wish the goal was more 'getting more new IE-like games made' than 'porting the IE games'. It's nice that they at least seem to be considering that now.

GPL is a major turnoff for use as a game engine though.

 

[sea]

They really should have just made a proper multi-platform isometric RPG engine, rather than trying to port everything over. Fuck the Infinity Engine, that thing is a piece of shit and isn't worth making games on. It probably would have saved years of development time.

 

[SCO]

What are you talking about? Broken Hourglass? Or Icewind Dale 2?