FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

Is there any?

Sorry but I'm very new to Minetest and I've never played the commerciel one either.

I'm running 4.9 on Ubuntu straight from thr repository, no crashes, no problems, but also no challenge. I know, I'll install a Mod. Decided to try the Animals Modpack.

I get the error "Failed to load ......./.minetest/mods/Modpack/factions/init.lua"

So I go through the Wiki and it says that I've got to rename the mod folder properly according to what's inside the [ ] on the title of the modpage. Tried that, there's 2 options - [Modpack] and [2.4]. Still get the same error.

Next it says that if it doesn't work I should post in the mod's topic with a copy of the "debug text". What is this debug text and where do I find it?

But reading through that massive mod forum topic I notice that I'm the only one having this problem, it seems to work just fine for every one else.

So there must be a very simple and basic step that I'm missing. Something so simple and basic that no one else thinks to mention it.

Being Linux do I need to change any file permissions for the mod?

Is there some dependancy I'm missing maybe?

Any help would be appreciated, and maybe the answer should be included in the Wiki.

Love the game by the way, it just needs a little bit of challenge.

Cheers,

Andrew.

Hello and welcome!

There's a guide on how to report bugs here.
To make this faster, I'll just quote the relevant section here:

PilzAdam wrote:

• Go to the bin/ directory of your Minetest copy (or ~/.minetest/ in a globally installed Minetest) and delete the existing debug.txt
• Add "debug_log_level = 4" to minetest.conf
• Start Minetest and reproduce the bug
• Close Minetest (if it hasnt crashed already) and copy the contents of the new debug.txt
• (Remove "debug_log_level = 4" from minetest.conf)

Please note: The `debug.txt` file may get created into `~/.minetest/`, or directly in `~/` instead.

Thanks for the response Kaeza.

Here's my debug text.

slopsbucket wrote:Thanks for the response Kaeza.

Here's my debug text.

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

-- snip --
11:46:07: ERROR[main]: ========== ERROR FROM LUA ===========
11:46:07: ERROR[main]: Failed to load and run script from
11:46:07: ERROR[main]: /home/andrew/.minetest/mods/animals_modpack-2.4.2/factions/init.lua:
11:46:07: ERROR[main]: ...w/.minetest/mods/animals_modpack-2.4.2/factions/init.lua:17: attempt to index global 'core' (a nil value)
11:46:07: ERROR[main]: stack traceback:
11:46:07: ERROR[main]:    ...w/.minetest/mods/animals_modpack-2.4.2/factions/init.lua:17: in main chunk
11:46:07: ERROR[main]: ======= END OF ERROR FROM LUA ========
-- snip --


Looks like animals modpack is trying to access the `core` namespace, which is meant as private to the engine. After a quick look at the code, it seems that replacing "core" with "minetest" in line 17 of `factions/init.lua` should fix (at least) this problem. Try doing that, and consider opening an issue on the issue tracker for the `factions` mod so it can be fixed upstream.

Thanks for the help and advice, unfortunately no win.

Every time I fix one it causes problems in another.



I think I'll give up on that one for now.

It's such a shame, the game starts off interesting and exciting but then there's nothing to do except build a house.

Maybe I'll try some other mods and see if they work, but not today. Computers and lots of beer don't go very well together.

Thank you very much for your help Kaeza.

Quick update.

Beer or not, I just had to try another one - Simple Mobs.

Works perfectly once you get the folder name right. Now it's scary and I have to make swords.

Thanks once again for your assistance, Kaeza.

Cheers,

Andrew.

@slopsbucket
The ubuntu repository now has minetest 0.4.10 (I noticed after updating lubuntu to 14.10)

The animals modpack is a very good modpack, but has relatively much issues due to the complexity.

Since you're using ubuntu, a better option for you might be using the minetest development versions (see for example the README under GitHub https://github.com/minetest/minetest ). Most mods will work on those dev versions and often mods are updated or made based on the dev versions. And personally I experienced the dev versions are most of the times better.

Renaming: modpacks don't need to be renamed. Mods that are not part of a modpack sometimes do need to be renamed.

If you are new to Minetest, you may want to give my unofficial tutorial a try.

The download is here. Extract it in your Minetest data directory to install it. The Minetest data directory is .minetest in your home directory.
To use the tutorial, click the “Tutorial” button in the singleplayer tab, and make sure creative mode is off and damage is on, select “Tutorial World” and hit play. It will go through the basic gameplay.


About documentation:

Is there any?

Yes. An in-depth guide about everything about Minetest and the default game can be found in the Community Wiki, which kinda serves as a documentation:
http://wiki.minetest.net/Main_Page

I've never played the commerciel one either.

There’s no commercial version of Minetest to my knowledge. Can you tell me where you found the commercial Minetest you are talking about?

It's such a shame, the game starts off interesting and exciting but then there's nothing to do except build a house.

That’s because you played the default game. The default game intentionally sucks. It is only seen as a “base for modding” by its developers. Any content which would be remotely interesting is usually rejected.
The real development of gameplay happens on all the other subgames, found here: viewforum.php?f=48
Development is far more open there. Currently, Minetest without the community subgames is more like a proof-of-concept than an actual game.

Hi Wuzzy,

thanks for the reply. Your tutorial looks very impressive, it's just typical that I didn't find out about it until after I no longer needed it.

My request for Simple documentation perhaps should have had more emphasis on the word Simple. In the posts above I was sure that my problem was a very simple and basic error, and it was. The wiki is very good and gives a lot of very detailed information, it's the Simple instructions that are missing.

It turns out that you don't put the modpack folder into ~/.minetest/mods

You put the Contents of the modpack folder into ~/.minetest/mods

So now I've got the animals modpack running, conflicts with simple mobs though, had to remove that one.

I'm glad you told me about the subgames, that looks interesting and I will probably play around with some of them at a later stage.

The "commercial game" I referred to was MineCraft. And this is how I discovered Minetest in the first place. A neighbour's kids are into Minecraft but we live in a remote area with very poor internet connectivity, so anything that requires an internet connection to play just isn't viable for us. Minetest means the kids can play whenever they want to.

There are third world dictatorships that have better internet connectivity than Australia. To give you an idea of just how bad it is, I can't stay logged into this forum site for more than a couple of minutes, "The connection timed out", "The connection was reset". The only way I can post a message like this one is to write it in gEdit first and if I get a minute or so of good connectivity copy and paste as quick as I can.

Cheers,

Andrew.

To advertise the wiki a little more there is also the Sortable list of Minetest-Subgames and some mods that add mobs are also listed in the wiki article about mobs.

Hello,

I have the same problem as slopsbucket, but i do not know which folder is the correct one

slopsbucket wrote:Quick update.

Beer or not, I just had to try another one - Simple Mobs.

Works perfectly once you get the folder name right. Now it's scary and I have to make swords.

Thanks once again for your assistance, Kaeza.

Cheers,

Andrew.

So far i tried the mods under ~/.minetest/mods/.... and ~/.minetest/mods/animals_modpack-2.4.2/... both without success.

Also tried changing core in init.lua, but like you kept on getting new errors.

I guess the answer is simple, but i really can't find it.

Thanks for the help

I was using 0.4.9, and only works with 0.4.10, that was the problem.

Glad you figured it out. Still, I thought that simple mobs worked on 0.4.9.... Oh well.

I might see the tiny problem :) well looks like to me you need remove "-2.4.2" Since minetest has a hard time reading "-" then "_" I think that why you remove -MASTER Getting something off git.

But if that not case I will look into more possibility.
First try I said see how goes.

Yours Truly:
John Widdos