[Significant update] Switching over to the 550 NVidia driver--the recommended one, admittedly--but this time taking care to first purge the old driver, then (re-)install "ubuntu-desktop", seems to have improved things greatly!
Specifically, I once again have playable--indeed, a good--framerate, and the selection of available resolutions is once again correct!
(I should also note that I've installed a bunch of other libraries while trying to get the Windows version of the game working in WINE--these may, too, have helped.)
That said, however, the mouse is still broken:
- It doesn't seem to be properly captured by the game
- Where previously the game captured the mouse to the extent that I couldn't seem to do anything outside of the game-window, now it seems to have little trouble leaving the window even under normal gameplay actions
- In menus, the location of the cursor seems to be misdetected--activating buttons while not actually on them, and
failing to activate them when it is on them
- Specifically, where before this new driver the game seemed to detect buttons as though they were in a small region at the top-left of the window, now it seems to detect them as though they're in a small region at the centre of the window
- Whether in menus or gameplay, the system mouse-cursor is visible
- It doesn't disappear during gameplay
- It doesn't show the game's custom cursor in menus
- This seems to occasionally be fixable via alt-tabbing--but that's very inconsistent
(Noting that these were none of them issues before the first OS-reinstallation.)
[/Significant update]
In Short:
In short: Recent OS trouble resulted in my performing a clean re-installation of Ubuntu 24.04. Since then, I've had graphical and mouse trouble in a game that, prior to the re-installation, was working well.
I feel like I'm missing some library or driver (or set thereof)--but I just don't know what it is that I'm missing!
Hence my coming here: What might it be that I'm missing, or perhaps have misconfigured...?
(See below for the longer, more-detailed version.)
What I've Tried:
As noted, I've tried both the 535 and 550 NVidia drivers.
I've been tempted to try the higher-version-number drivers direct from NVidia's website--but they seem to come with dire warnings about conflicts with Ubuntu's kernel, so I've held off...
I've installed a bunch of libraries, including "i386" versions thereof.
I've been through my NVidia settings program, and set it (as far as I see) to not downgrade performance to save power (e.g. selecting "Performance Mode" and selecting "Prefer Maximum Performance").
Although on that note, it seems to me like the "Prefer Maximum Performance" option doesn't remain set... o_0
I've contacted GOG support, and have tried their suggestions thus far (the installation of the above-mentioned libraries, and the selection of "Performance Mode"). I'm currently waiting for further reply from them.
[update]
In response to a comment below, I've tried shutting down the computer, disconnecting the second monitor, starting up again, and then running the game. This appeared to have no effect.
(Although let me note that I don't think that I managed to get into the "Graphics" menu on this occasion, as I didn't manage to locate the region in which the menu thought the buttons to be located.)
[/update]
System Details:
- OS: Ubuntu 24.04.1
- OS Type: 64-bit
- Computer: Dell Inspiron 3543
- CPU: Core i7 2.4Ghz (4-core)
- RAM: 8GB
- Graphics: GeForce 840M, 2GB (+ Intel integrated)
In Long:
Up until fairly recently, I was running a copy of Ubuntu 24.04 which had been upgraded in-place from Ubuntu 18.04 (if I recall my version numbers correctly). For the most part, things seemed to be well with it.
As part of "things seeming to be well", I had purchased from GOG.com a copy of "Psychonauts", had installed it, and had been playing happily. Framerates were good (as one might hope with so old a game), and the mouse worked as expected.
Then I got my hands on a second-hand CD-copy of "Heretic II". Without GOG's behind-the-scenes work, there was more to be done to make it function--but I endeavoured.
... And something that I did broke the OS.
To be specific: Ubuntu locked me into a cycle of logging in and being booted immediately back to the login page (until I found one front-end that worked). Further, it seemed to be locked into a low resolution, and no longer recognised my second monitor. On top of all of that, Ubuntu no longer recognised my network--not by WiFi and not by wire.
Having managed to log in at last, I performed backups, and re-installed the OS clean. This seemed to work: I regained full resolution and use of both monitors, and the network was functional again. I also, as per usual, used the "Additional Drivers" tool to install NVidia drivers.
And I re-installed "Psychonauts"... only to find that it didn't work properly any more: the framerate was awful; the "Graphics" menu showed only a single, huge resolution (the dimensions of my two monitors combined, if I'm not much mistaken); the mouse no longer had its cursor; and the menus seemed to be calculating the mouse-position incorrectly, making it quite hard to select menu-items.
I tried a few things, including swapping between the 535 and 550 NVidia drivers. Somewhere along the line, I was somehow able to get a decent framerate and a proper list of resolutions--but the mouse never quite worked properly. (I'm not sure of what it was that improved the framerate.)
And either my switching between drivers or--perhaps--my accidentally cutting power to the second monitor (but not the computer, mind) during shutdown seems to have resulted in a second case of the OS breaking, much as before.
So, I re-installed once more.
So far, things seem to be fairly stable--but I'm still having trouble with "Psychonauts", and indeed, am back to low framerates. :/ (This despite selecting the driver that I had thought had been responsible for the previous reclamation of decent framerates.)
My thanks for your time, and for reading this, if you've gotten this far! ^_^
