fallout-ce: init at 1.0.0

[hughobrien]

Description of changes

Introduce fallout-ce, an open source re-implementation of the classic game.

Note this is the engine only, the original game assets are still required (available on digital platforms). Build steps are adapted from their CI.

See also: fallout2-ce PR

REVIEW REQUESTS:

1. This game uses the 'Sustainable Use License' which I do not see as listed in lib/licences.nix - how should we proceed? Here is the only other usage of it within nixpkgs. Edit: I've made a PR for the licence.
2. The binary name is fallout-ce but the project is branded fallout1-ce, I have hewn to the original name but am open.
3. I was unable to have substituteInPlace handle the ${foo} strings in the Makefile without triggering nix interpolation, so used a two pass process instead. I'm sure there's a better way of doing this.

Things done

• Built on platform(s)
  • x86_64-linux
  • aarch64-linux
  • x86_64-darwin
  • aarch64-darwin
• For non-Linux: Is sandbox = true set in nix.conf? (See Nix manual)
• [] Tested, as applicable:
  • NixOS test(s) (look inside nixos/tests)
  • and/or package tests
  • or, for functions and "core" functionality, tests in lib/tests or pkgs/test
  • made sure NixOS tests are linked to the relevant packages
• Tested compilation of all packages that depend on this change using nix-shell -p nixpkgs-review --run "nixpkgs-review rev HEAD". Note: all changes have to be committed, also see nixpkgs-review usage
• Tested basic functionality of all binary files (usually in ./result/bin/)
• 23.11 Release Notes (or backporting 23.05 Release notes)
  • (Package updates) Added a release notes entry if the change is major or breaking
  • (Module updates) Added a release notes entry if the change is significant
  • (Module addition) Added a release notes entry if adding a new NixOS module
• Fits CONTRIBUTING.md.

[hughobrien]

@SuperSandro2000 fpattern PR #240569

[SuperSandro2000]

Doesn't start for me

 ➜ ./result/bin/fallout-ce
free(): double free detected in tcache 2
Aborted (core dumped)

[hughobrien]

I haven't seen that error yet, are you on x86_64?

Remember the game needs the original assets, and further is particular about the casing of the file names (they describe this here).

I've tested it with the copy I have from Steam, but also from this copy on the Archive.

The correct way is to edit the fallout.cfg file but we can just use links as a test, the below works for me with the Archive version linked above.

curl -LO 'https://archive.org/download/FalloutAPostNuclearRolePlayingGameUSA/Fallout%20%28USA%29.zip'
unar Fallout%20%28USA%29.zip
unar "Fallout%20%28USA%29/Fallout - A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game (USA).bin"
cd "Fallout - A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game (USA)"
ln MASTER.DAT master.dat
ln CRITTER.DAT critter.dat
ln -s DATA data
nix-shell -I nixpkgs=/src/nixpkgs -p fallout-ce --command fallout-ce

[SuperSandro2000]

I haven't seen that error yet, are you on x86_64?

Yes but I didn't do any of the setup steps. We should add a longDescription with a link to upstream or instructions how to get the game running. Or maybe we do a little setup script which guides you through it or takes a path as an argument.

[hughobrien]

How about:

"fallout-ce is a community re-implmentation of the Fallout game engine, it does not include the necessary game data to run the game. To use fallout-ce, you must first obtain a copy of Fallout (available from e.g. Steam, GoG, or the Internet Archive). Depending on the version you acquire, some files may need to be renamed (in a case sensitive manner), or alternatively the fallout.cfg file updated to match. The game will not start if it cannot find the files it expects. By default the files master.dat, critter.dat and the data directory are all expected to be lowercase. For full details refer to the project's installation guide: https://github.com/alexbatalov/fallout1-ce#configuration"

[NobbZ]

There are other programs, that require much more setup.

Those do not have such a "longDescription". In my opinion this should not block the merge.

Also, there is no such thing for eg. openmw which also requires original game data.

In my opinion, people who want to use this software usually know in advance that they need the original game data, and if we want to provide helpers for setting everything up, we can provide them in another PR. This details should not block this PR to get the package in.

This extra PR could provide a wrapper and/or a module.

[TheBrainScrambler]

Are there strong feelings against pulling down one of archive.org's zips as part of the build process? I can find only one example of this in nixpkgs here

Yes there are: #208078
I believe fetching the full game from archive.org, or anywhere else, would be illegal.
From what I've found this asset downloading was committed in #185319 for an update of the package, which made it a bit hidden I guess ?
Now I don't know if providing a script to download the assets from somewhere illegal is permitted ? In any case the assets would end up as a different package since you can get them from many sources, be it from Steam, archive.org or anywhere else.

My take on this again would be to also provide a wrapper that chdir into ~/.local/share/fallout-ce and documents this somewhere, because that's how many other programs do it: #208078 (comment), I can also name OpenXcom, doom and quake ports, the Force Engine, gemrb, etc ... They normally all expect you to put the assets into some directory and read those at runtime.

Wargus was apparently an exception because it needs the assets at compile-time. sm64ex would be another such example.

[TheBrainScrambler]

@TheBrainScrambler I've implemented your changes, would you mind taking a look? Also added you as a maintainer, hope you don't think it presumptive.

No it's fine to have me as maintainer, I would have eventually created a PR for this too had you not done it.
Did a review as PR: hughobrien#1

[hughobrien]

I used --run cd X instead of --chdir in makeWrapper as chdir doesn't appear to be able to handle dynamic targets (such as $HOME). Alternatives suggestions welcome.

[TheBrainScrambler]

I used --run cd X instead of --chdir in makeWrapper as chdir doesn't appear to be able to handle dynamic targets (such as $HOME). Alternatives suggestions welcome.

Looks like there is the same problem at https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/248915/files (default.nix line 54). It got approved so I suppose right now there is no better way ...

[TheBrainScrambler]

I also noticed a problem: the wrapper ends up in $out/bin/wrapper.sh, but that means it will end up polluting $PATH. A simple workaround could be to rename it to .wrapper.sh. But it could be nice to use writeShellScript instead. It would also spare us of the shebang. I just fear that there might be a problem at line 7 of wrapper.sh with "${REQUIRED_FILES[@]}", which might be expanded by nix ? I suck at bash so would need your advice here.

[hughobrien]

Good catches, fixed both I think by cribbing from Rise of the Triad.

unwrapped binary goes to libexec and we do the cd in the wrapper along with a direct exec.

[TheBrainScrambler]

hughobrien#2

Other than that it looks good to me

[TheBrainScrambler]

I just forgot something: you should squash all these commits into a single one with message "fallout-ce: init at 1.0.0". At least that would be if this PR only added one package. This should also include fallout2-ce somehow ... Not sure how it should be done, but there is definitively a need for squashing some commits.

[hughobrien]

Yes absolutely, I'm just waiting for other feedback so I can avoid doing it twice.

[TheBrainScrambler]

Well I was re-requested for a review because of the rebasing, so I suppose you didn't loose your time, but instead avoided the need for 2 reviews from others :p

[hughobrien]

Polite request for a merge if everyone is satisfied.

[nixos-discourse]

This pull request has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/prs-already-reviewed/2617/1091

[nixos-discourse]

This pull request has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/prs-already-reviewed/2617/1130

[hughobrien]

Thank you @amaxine ! Please allow me to push my luck and invite you to take a look at this dosbox-x PR