Preenv/FAQ
How to install Preenv?
Gain root access and use apt-get in the terminal:
$ root # apt-get install preenv # exit
What do I use to extract an ipk file?
7-zip or any other tool able to extract Debian packages (dpkg, file-roller, ...)
Here is the Video guide on how to install WebOS games to the N900 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGQwWZ_VriA
Or you can follow the steps below...
How to install a game
use 7-zip to extract -> game-folder
Copy the game folder to /home/user/[webOS-games]:
$ sudo gainroot $ cd game-folder $ chmod a+x filename
e.g. filename = nfsuc in need for speed case or sims in case of sims3
$ preenv $ ./filename
Once you know that the file plays properly. you can add the menu button:
$ sudo gainroot # preenv # desktopgen game-folder/appinfo.json # exit
How to get games to save
You will need, FileBox and Rootsh from Extras:
Using Hero Of Sparta as an example, you need to chown -R user:users the game folder:
chown -R user:users /home/user/webOS/com.gameloft.app.heroofsparta/HeroOfSparta
HOWEVER! If your game was installed via a .deb file then you shall fide it in
/home/opt/preenv/usr/palm/applications/com.gameloft.app.heroofsparta/HeroOfSparta
SUMMARY! Just chown -R user:users the game folder and enjoy
How to delete a game
Enter preenv and cd into the game folder:
$ preenv $ cd game-folder
Become root and use desktopgen to delete game icons:
$ root # preenv # desktopgen -r appinfo.json # exit # exit
Now you can delete the game folder itself:
$ cd .. $ rm -r game-folder
Deleting games installed with old preenv 0.1
Become root and delete the folder:
$ sudo gainroot $ rm -r game-folder
To remove the icon, you need to delete three files:
$ rm /usr/share/applications/hildon/filename.desktop $ rm /usr/share/dbus-1/services/filename.service $ rm /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/hildon/filename.png
Refresh your menu:
$ killall hildon-desktop
How to get N.O.V.A working?
Install extra packages for N.O.V.A, then follow the regular install guide.
$ sudo gainroot $ apt-get update $ apt-get install libsdl-net1.2
How to get Monopoly Classic working with an icon?
After installation and creating an icon, lastly follow it with this step
$ cd *monopoly $ root # chmod -R 777 monopolyclassic/save
How to get Asphalt5 working?
Here is another video guide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rDCbZ3gyYE
How to make it run:
$ mkdir -p /home/user/webos/gamesave $ ln -s /home/user/webos/gamesave /media/internal $ chown -R user:root /home/user/webos/ $ chmod -R 755 /home/user/webos/ $ chown -R user:root /home/user/webos/gamesave $ chmod -R 755 /home/user/webos/gamesave
How to get NFSU Working?
Easy way:
install nfsu-installer from extras-devel via Application Manager and run it. See youtube video on how it works.
Manual way:
get root
root
install preenv and OpenGLES1 (need extras-devel)
apt-get install libgles1 preenv
create main game dir on eMMC card
mkdir -p /home/user/MyDocs/Games/nfs
go to that dir and copy dowloaded .ipk file from desktop (or download directly here)
cd /home/user/MyDocs/Games/nfs scp user@COMPUTER:/path/to/game/com.ea.app.nfsuc_20.0.28_all.ipk /home/user/MyDocs/Games/nfs
create file for loopback mount
dd if=/dev/zero of=/home/user/MyDocs/Games/nfs/nfsu.ext2 count=120 bs=1024k
create ext2 filesystem on it
mkfs.ext2 /home/user/MyDocs/Games/nfs/nfsu.ext2
press 'y'
make mountpoint
mkdir /mnt/nfsu
save it to the fstab
echo -e "/home/user/MyDocs/Games/nfs/nfsu.ext2\t/mnt/nfsu\text2\tloop,auto\t0\t0" >> /etc/fstab
finally, mount it
mount /mnt/nfsu/
create symlynk from /usr/palm (NFSU installs there)
ln -s /mnt/nfsu/ /usr/palm
extrack .ipk file
dpkg -X /home/user/MyDocs/Games/nfs/com.ea.app.nfsuc_20.0.28_all.ipk /mnt/nfsu/
make binary executable
chmod +x /mnt/nfsu/applications/com.ea.app.nfsuc/nfsuc
create desktop launcher
desktopgen /mnt/nfsu/applications/com.ea.app.nfsuc/appinfo.json
Unable to connect to USB after above method?
If after following the following tutorial, you are unable to connect your N900 to your PC's USB, open xterm on your device:
get root
root
unmount the image file
umount /mnt/nfsu
Once you're done with USB you can remount the image
mount /mnt/nfsu
How to get Driver working
Install libgles
- get root
root
- install OpenGLES1 and OpenGLES2 (need extras-devel)
apt-get install libgles1 libgles2
Fix corrupted/black graphics problem
- Create file /etc/powervr.d/driver.ini containing these 2 lines:
[default] ForceExternalZBuffer=0
see http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=862561&postcount=455
How to get Shrek Karting working
Install libgles1
- get root
root
- install OpenGLES1 and OpenGLES2 (need extras-devel)
apt-get install libgles1 libgles2
Improve corrupted/black graphics problem
- Create file /etc/powervr.d/ShrekKarting.ini containing these 2 lines:
[default] ForceExternalZBuffer=0
Graphics are stil not perfect - lighting textures are still not good.
Save space (Transfer games to MyDocs folder)
If running out of space in the /home/user/[webos] directory, part of the game that usually takes up the most space can be copied to /home/user/MyDocs. NOTE: You still need the game folders to be in the /home/user/[webos] directory, only some of the files are transferred to MyDocs.
Example using NFSU
The example assumes NFSU does not exist in /home/user/[webos].
Open xterm, create a folder in MyDocs:
mkdir /home/user/MyDocs/preenv mkdir /home/user/MyDocs/preenv/nfsu
Create NFSU folder in /home/user/[webos]:
mkdir /home/user/[webos]/com.ea.app.nfsuc
Copy only the files indicated as below from the NFSU source (location where ipk file has been extracted) to /home/user/[webos]
cp [SOURCE]/com.ea.app.nfsuc/appinfo.json /home/user/[webos]/com.ea.app.nfsuc/ cp [SOURCE]/com.ea.app.nfsuc/nfsuc /home/user/[webos]/com.ea.app.nfsuc/
Copy res_nfusc folder from NFSU to MyDocs:
cp -r [SOURCE]/com.ea.app.nfsuc/res_nfsuc /home/user/MyDocs/preenv/nfsu/
Now create a symbolic link res_nfsuc in the [webos] nfsuc folder that points to the actual res_nfsuc folder in the MyDocs folder:
ln -s /home/user/MyDocs/preenv/nfsu/res_nfsuc /home/user/[webos]/com.ea.app.nfsuc/res_nfsuc
Don't forget to change the permission of the executable nfsu file in [webos]:
sudo gainroot chmod +rwx /home/user/[webos]/com.ea.app.nfsuc/res_nfsuc/nfsuc exit
Now you should still be able to play NFSU, having saved roughly 110MB on /home/user/[webos].
Example using BrainChallenge
The example assumes BrainChallenge does not exist in /home/user/[webos].
Open xterm, create a folder in MyDocs:
mkdir /home/user/MyDocs/preenv mkdir /home/user/MyDocs/preenv/brainchallenge
Create BrainChallenge folder in /home/user/[webos]:
mkdir /home/user/[webos]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge
Copy only the files indicated as below from the BrainChallenge source (location where ipk file has been extracted) to /home/user/[webos]
cp [SOURCE]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/appinfo.json /home/user/[webos]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/ cp [SOURCE]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/icon.png /home/user/[webos]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/
Copy files from the brainchallenge folder from BrainChallenge source to MyDocs:
cp [SOURCE]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/brainchallenge/*.* /home/user/MyDocs/preenv/brainchallenge/
Also copy any subdirectories in the brainchallenge folder to MyDocs:
cp -r [SOURCE]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/brainchallenge/sounds /home/user/MyDocs/preenv/brainchallenge/
Copy the following code and save it to a file with the name 'createln.sh'. NOTE: Do not save this file using Windows Notepad; if using Windows, use software like TextPad to save the file in unix format. Copy this file to any folder on your N900.
#!/bin/sh
cd $1
files="`ls -1 $1`"
for file in $files
do
echo $file
ln -s $1/$file $2/$file
done
Create folder brainchallenge in [webos] brainchallenge folder:
mkdir /home/user/[webos]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/brainchallenge
Copy the brainchallenge executable file from Brainchallenge source location to the [webos] folder:
cp [source]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/brainchallenge/brainchallenge /home/user/[webos]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/brainchallenge/
Now create symbolic links in the [webos] nfsuc folder that point to the actual files in the brainchallenge folder located in MyDocs (using createln):
sh [..]/createln /home/user/MyDocs/preenv/brainchallenge/brainchallenge/ /home/user/[webos]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/brainchallenge
Also create symbolic links to any folders inside the brainchallenge folder in MyDocs:
ln -s /home/user/MyDocs/preenv/brainchallenge/brainchallenge/sounds /home/user/[webos]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/brainchallenge/sounds
Don't forget to change the permission of the executable brainchallege file in [webos]:
sudo gainroot chmod +rwx /home/user/[webos]/com.gameloft.app.brainchallenge/brainchallenge/brainchallenge exit
Now you should still be able to play BrainChallenge, having saved roughly 114MB on /home/user/[webos].
The method used for the BrainChallenge game has also been tested and works with Asphalt 5, Blades of Fury, Oregon Trail and X-Plane Airliner.
Save space (Transfer games to MyDocs folder) NOOB Version 1.0
Use this method if previous method is too tricky as it was for me. You will need FileBox, Rootsh, and a basic understanding of X Terminal Step 1: Locate your game folders. There are two possible locations.
Either at /home/user/ or /home/opt/preenv/usr/palm/applications
Step 2: Once found you need to distinguish which files are the largest and would be wise to move to save space. I suggest moving sound folders, music folders, and videos folders. Leave save files and executionable files.
NB Save folders usually are named "save" and are usually small in size (kb/b) To locate executionable files for games use this command:
Using Hero Of Sparta as an example:
cd /home/user/webOS/com.gameloft.app.heroofsparta grep main appinfo.json
This will give you the result:
"main" : "HeroOfSparta/HeroOfSparta"
So you know not to move this file.
Step 3: Time to move! Using FileBox's "Create new folder" feature {found after you tap the wrench icon} go to MyDocs and make a folder their called WebOSGames.
Now using the copy feature {which is accessed when a specific folder is "pressed" for about 2seconds then a menu pops up giving multiple options such as copy} copy the folders and files desired from the game folder to the WebOSGames folder in MyDocs DELETE the originals from the game folder.
Step 4: Time to create some Symlinks! Open up X Terminal and get rooted. TIP: Have FileManager open in the WebOSGames folder to see what files and folders you need to link.
The command to create symlinks is:
ln -s
Using NFSUC as an example:
ln -s /home/user/webOS/com.ea.app.nfsuc/ /home/user/MyDocs/WebOSGames/res_nfsuc
This will create a link from the NFSUC game folder to the folder containing the res_nfsuc folder
Now your game will still run but you will have lots of space to add more games.
TIP: You can also delete videos from game folders that are not necessary or that do not play. Asphalt 5 has videos not necessary for the game to run so they can be DELETED.
For some games you will need to create symlinks for multiple folders e.g. Driver and N.O.V.A. this is why I suggest having a separate filemanager open such as the one that comes with the N900, so that you can see which file/folder you have to link next.
Enjoy :)