Insta Fails to Start: Unable to find a supported OpenGL core profile

[Anomalyzero]

Hello Everyone. I've been a Rimworld player for awhile now and I just tried to get it working on Fedora. Unfortunately I'm getting the following errors in the log when attempting to start with the OpenGL fix:

Code Select Expand

Set current directory to /home/Anomaly/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/RimWorld
Found path: /home/Anomaly/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/RimWorld/RimWorldLinux.x86_64
Mono path[0] = '/home/Anomaly/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/RimWorld/RimWorldLinux_Data/Managed'
Mono path[1] = '/home/Anomaly/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/RimWorld/RimWorldLinux_Data/Mono'
Mono config path = '/home/Anomaly/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/RimWorld/RimWorldLinux_Data/Mono/etc'
Preloaded 'ScreenSelector.so'
Preloaded 'libCSteamworks.so'
Preloaded 'libsteam_api.so'
Player data archive not found at `/home/Anomaly/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/RimWorld/RimWorldLinux_Data/data.unity3d`, using local filesystemDesktop is 1366 x 768 @ 59 Hz
Unable to find a supported OpenGL core profile
Failed to create valid graphics context: please ensure you meet the minimum requirements
E.g. OpenGL core profile 3.2 or later for OpenGL Core renderer
Vulkan detection: 0
No supported renderers found, exiting

(Filename:  Line: 525)


None of the other launch methods work (Steam, Direct Executable, The other startup script) and I can't seem to find a Rimworld specific thread on this problem. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

[Calahan]

Please can you post your log file (as an attachment ideally). Details on where to find it can be found here: https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=513.0

[akkitep]

I seem to be having the same problem on linux.

Alpha 17 (version 1557) is working fine for me, though only when I run it with the "-force-opengl" flag. But I can't get Beta 18 (1722) to start up, with or without that flag. See attached for the log files (1 is with "-force-opengl", 0 is without). I'm on Ubuntu 16.04.

RimWorld Beta 18 does run with "LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1" however, but that reduces performance. Haven't tried it long enough to see if it's playable that way.

[attachment deleted by admin: too old]

[Anomalyzero]

See attached logs

[attachment deleted by admin: too old]

[Calahan]

Thank you both for the log files.

By the looks of it the issue is that the version of Unity that RimWorld uses got updated for B18, and that update broke the OpenGL support that previously existed with the version of Unity that A17 used. If you check the support forum you'll see several threads about Linux graphical issues that are new with B18 (one user also launched the Windows version via Wine, which might be an option for playing the game). As such this might unfortunately be a case of needing to wait for various driver updates to fix these issues. Or a RimWorld+Unity update, but that will likely take longer to appear.

Additionally, I'm afraid that I have no experience and little knowledge of Linux tech issues. So there might well be options you can try to resolve this based on using different Linux builds and/or different OpenGL drivers. But I don't know what they might be, and my Google search to find answers only resulted in encountering options that required a decent bit of Linux knowledge, which I don't possess. Although it's certainly a good idea for you both to go Googling for possible solutions because as Linux users you'll likely understand the options on offer far better than I can.

Although I will go and ask the other moderators to see if any of them can help with this, but I don't think there are any Linux uses amongst the moderating team either. If your Googling adventures still can't help you find a solution to this then I'll either approach one of the devs to take a look, but if it's a Unity/driver issue then there's likely nothing they can do. Or I'll put up a bat-signal in general discussion to ask if there are any Linux users in the community who can kindly offer their assistance with this.

[akkitep]

Thanks Calahan.

I researched this issue a bit more and think I've gotten to the bottom of it, but unfortunately there's no fix for people who are experiencing it. It's not actually specific to Linux but rather to slightly older graphics chips.

1. As you pointed out, it seems RimWorld B18 uses a new version of Unity.

2. This new version of Unity insists on graphics hardware that supports OpenGL 3.2 or later. The Unity version for A17 works with OpenGL 2.1 (possibly earlier as well).

3. My system has slightly older graphics hardware: Intel Ironlake, first sold in 2010. Intel has never written a driver (Windows or Linux) that supports OpenGL later than 2.1 for that hardware. The driver is open source, so in theory someone could write a new version that implements a more recent OpenGL. But it sounds like that hardware is too old for anyone to care.

I guess the question on my mind is: Does RimWorld really need this new version of Unity?

Is Tynan using some new feature it provides, or was this switch essentially an accident? Can he switch it back?

It would be a real shame if a bunch of people with ~5 year old computers can't play RimWorld anymore for no good reason. It's not like Ironlake graphics isn't fast enough -- A17 runs perfectly.

[Calahan]

Wow, thanks for the detailed reply akkitep. A lot of very useful info there that I really appreciate your sharing. I foresee myself linking to that post a lot!

I'm not one of the devs so I'm unable to say how needed the Unity update was, and/or whether there is any chance of it being rolled back in the future. But what I can say is that it was certainly an intentional update, and that it was almost certainly done because there have been a number of bugs and technical issues with the game over the years, and several that were present in A17, that the devs were unable to fix because it was something handled by Unity. And the devs don't have access to the Unity code (and I assume if they tried they'd likely violate the licencing agreement).

So their only course of action to fix these issues is to update Unity and trust that the issues, most of which were being reported by multiple Unity based games and Unity developers (meaning Unity knows about the issue), will be fixed by the Unity update. And in theory, Unity updates should also bring with them some (small) performance improvements as well, which is another reason developers often update Unity as their game develops. Now ideally there shouldn't be any downsides to these Unity updates, but unfortunately you, Anomalyzero, and all the other Linux users in the same boat are evidence to the contrary.

Being honest I'd say there no chance of Tynan rolling back the Unity update. Since even if it fixed the technical issues you and other Linux users are having with B18, it would bring back all the technical issues that other users were having with A17 before this update. So unfortunately it's likely to be a case of not being able to please everyone, and that it's better to update than not. Not least because if this Unity update is rolled back to accommodate support for some Linux users, then that could well mean that the game could never update its Unity engine again. Or not without breaking that support again, which just leads back to where we are now, or unless Unity address the issue their end. But it's very likely Unity already know they broke support for older OpenGL versions, and that if they wanted to continue to support it then they wouldn't have broke it in the first place. So personally I just can't see how or why Tynan, or any developer, would hamstring themselves in this way and with it prevent themselves benefitting from the performance improvements and bugs fixes that come with Unity updates. And for an issue that generally resolves itself over time as users update their hardware, meaning less and less are affected.

Have you tried seeing if the Windows version runs via Wine? Another Linux user tried this for a graphical issue they were having a few days ago, and the game worked via Wine for them where it didn't otherwise. I don't know if that'll work for you but it might be better than nothing. Otherwise I'm sorry to say that there doesn't appear to be a solution to this one (other than your #3, which is to wait and hope someone writers or updates a driver).

[akkitep]

Thanks again for the thoughts.

Yeah, I guess there probably is a good reason it's using a new version of Unity and very unlikely to be rolled back. I did try the Windows version under Wine, but was unfortunately only able to produce a black screen.

Oh well. I can keep playing A17 if I want, and maybe someday I'll get a new computer.

[Calahan]

Another Linux user https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=37123.msg381232#msg381232 who was looking into this issue (based on your initial research) found something called mesa, which I assume is a driver, and managed to get the game working properly again by using it.

I have no idea if this mesa applies to / works with your GPU / Linux version or not, but thought I'd mention it on the off-chance that it does.

[akkitep]

Yeah, my version of mesa is already fully updated. It would support OpenGL 4.5, but the driver for my graphics chip (Intel Ironlake) only supports 2.1. That other user must have more recent hardware. Mesa is more like the 3d graphics programming library than the driver for a particular graphics chip.