Project Snowman Installation Guide

Today I was trying to install Project Snowman. I downloaded the distribution package, followed the instructions in Snowman’s wiki and got this error:

[java] SEVERE: DataService initialization failed
[java] java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: no libdb_java45 in java.library.path

After founding the library and pasting it in the right folder… another error…

[java] SEVERE: DataService initialization failed
[java] com.sun.sgs.impl.service.data.store.DataStoreException: DataStore initialization failed: Unexpected database exception: com.sleepycat.db.DatabaseException: Bad address: Bad address

So I looked up google,  and found an installation guide for snowman in a cached page from www.timadorus.org.  I’m afraid the cached page could be lost so I’m copying and pasting the guide here. If you know who can be the author please post a comment so I can give him or her credit.

The guide says it’s for Windows XP.  I tried in Windows 7 32 bits and it worked perfectly.
Update 20100913: Today I tried in Windows 7 64 bit and it gives me the following error:

[java] SEVERE: DataStore initialization failed
[java] java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: C:\Users\Alhvi\Desktop\snowman-dist-
0.1\snowman-dist\natives\bdb\win32-x86\libdb_java45.dll: Can't load IA 32-bit .d
ll on a AMD 64-bit platform

Anyway… for the rest of the people who uses a 32 bit Windows Version, or another OS  here is the guide:

Installation Guide for Snowman version 0.1

The game:

Download link: https://project‐snowman.dev.java.net/

Requirements:

Installation process:

Step 1:

Unzip the file snowman-dist.01.zip

Step 2:

After unzipping the file two new folders will be created:
/natives/
/snowman-dist/

To get the client running on Windows XP you have to copy libdb_java45.dll from
Path: /natives/bdb/win32 –x86
to the following folder:
path: /snowman-dist/natives/bdb/win32 –x86/

The next step is to create a new folder named “win32 –x86”.
Path: /snowman-dist/lwjgl-binaries/win32 –x86
Now copy the file “lwjgl.dll” from win32 to your new created folder.
Path: /snowman-dist/natives/lwjgl-binaries/win32

*Step 3:

Change dir to the folder snowman-dist
Path:/snowman-dist/
A file called build.xml should be found there

Step 4:

Open console and enter the following commands:
ant run-single
ant run-client

…and enjoy your snowball fight!!

Step 5:

If the game does not start please check the output for “Bad address” warnings like this:
Notice the missing slashes!
[java] WARNUNG: Database error message: Z:\xp-pro\Desktop\snowman-dist-0.1\
snowman-dist\xp-proDesktopsnowman-dist-0.1snowman-dist  mpsnowman\dsdb: Bad addr

If so open the build.xml file and look for these lines:

com.sun.sgs.app.name=Snowman
com.sun.sgs.app.root=${app.dir}
com.sun.sgs.app.port=${server.port}
com.sun.sgs.impl.service.transport.udp.port=1234
com.sun.sgs.impl.service.data.store.db.environment.class=${bdb.env}

Replace “${app.dir}” with the snowman path. *The line to change should be 168.
Example:
com.sun.sgs.app.root=c:\\snowman-dist\\tmp\\snowman

*Dont forget the double backslashes ;)

*Run again:

ant run-single
ant run-client
Now the game should start without any problems.

Further commands for the console:

ant run-single:         starts a local server
ant run-client:        starts a client
ant run-server:        starts a server
ant run-editor:        starts the editor

Download Source Code:

svn url : https://project-snowman.dev.java.net/svn/project-snowman/trunc

Name: guest
Password: empty

Comment by Alhvi:

After following the guide everything works as it should. The only thing I didn’t knew is that you need to run two clients to be able to play.

Update 20100913: Changed the format to make the guide a little bit more understandable. Added some comments to the post (marked with *). Happy programmers day!! :D

Project Snowman Client

Project Snowman Client

5 comments

  1. Johnny Mac /

    Hey 414C485649, the directory structure has changed and when I run ant i get the build.xml not found. What directory am i supposed to run that command from? Does snowman work with red dwarf?

  2. Hi Johnny!! Sorry, the guide didn’t specified the directory in where to run that. I’ve fixed it now. Please recheck the Step 3. It should be clear now. You ask if Snowman works with RedDwarf, well at this moment the snowman distribution you downloaded works with DarkStar, I think the distribution includes a copy of all the necessary DarkStar libraries to run the server in stand alone mode. So you do not need to deploy anything nor in DarkStar neither in RedDwarf. But, the people in the RedDwarf team are working to make Snowman use RedDwarf libraries instead of DarkStar ones. Here’s the post in the forums where they talk about that. Good luck with the installation. Please tell me if it worked :D

  3. I was just was doing research and suprised by the article you posted. Read exactly what I wanted too. Please write more.

  4. @johnny: I found the Snowman for RedDwarf here
    http://bit.ly/cS4wJu

    @ellis: Thank you. Check my new post http://bit.ly/aMU3FO maybe it can help you ;)

  5. jerome /

    thanks a lot,it’s helpful.

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