Arch Linux User Repository

0.95.1a_RC6-2 changed a bunch things that might need manual corrections after upgrading from earlier version:

1. I dropped the java dependency and instead included the JRE that is bundled with the game for better compatibility
2. I moved the user state directory ($HOME/.starsector) to the appropriate XDG directory $HOME/.local/share/starsector. the actual contents have not changed, so a simple mv "$HOME/.starsector" "$HOME/.local/share/starsector" should do the trick
3. The start script now supports customizing JVM arguments by creating a the script $HOME/.config/starsector/startup.sh which supports two variables (bash arrays): jvm_args and program_args. So e.g. if you customized the memory settings in the start script, you might want to move the changes to either of these variables (e.g. like this: jvm_args=(-Xms1536m -Xmx1536m -Xss2048k)).

@pschichtel I got it working. Per this thread: https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=32191.msg471587#msg471587

__GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=0 starsector and it works!

There's other problems unfortunately, but it is running:

1. I recently switched to Gnome. I can't get the game to open on the correct monitor. And when I attempt to move it to the other monitor, it just freezes up when in full screen mode. Windowed mode chops off a portion of the bottom. This is probably a Gnome thing, as I imagine I wouldn't have this issue with Plasma.
2. The "fullscreen" option is reversed for some reason. Full screen checked goes to Windowed and vice versa. Again, maybe a Gnome thing.
3. I can't enable over 8x antialiasing (which I believe would be useful for increased UI scale, which I need on my 1440p monitors). Throws an error and resets everything.

But it looks like it is running.

@JamesMowery: Can you try running the game with its included JRE? It looks like it's crashing in the nvidia driver, maybe there is an issue in the game or the driver.

@pschichtel

I actually did a fresh install of CachyOS two days ago (was using EndeavourOS prior). I tried a fresh install, and I'm getting the same (if not very similar) error:

OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM warning: Options -Xverify:none and -noverify were deprecated in JDK 13 and will likely be removed in a future release.
-XX:AVX3Threshold=0 -XX:-AlignVector -XX:+AlwaysAtomicAccesses -XX:+AlwaysCompileLoopMethods -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch -XX:-BytecodeVerificationLocal -XX:-BytecodeVerificationRemote -XX:CompilerDirectivesFile=./compiler_directives.txt -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:-DontCompileHugeMethods -XX:-EnableThreadSMRStatistics -XX:+EnableVectorAggressiveReboxing -XX:+EnableVectorReboxing -XX:+EnableVectorSupport -XX:+ExtensiveErrorReports -XX:IncreaseFirstTierCompileThresholdAt=99 -XX:InitialHeapSize=2147483648 -XX:InterpreterProfilePercentage=99 -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=10 -XX:MaxHeapSize=2147483648 -XX:MinHeapSize=2147483648 -XX:NmethodSweepActivity=1 -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled -XX:PerMethodRecompilationCutoff=100000 -XX:+PrintCodeCache -XX:+PrintCommandLineFlags -XX:ProfileMaturityPercentage=100 -XX:ReferencesPerThread=0 -XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=268435456 -XX:+SegmentedCodeCache -XX:ShenandoahAllocationThreshold=85 -XX:ShenandoahGCHeuristics=compact -XX:ShenandoahGCMode=iu -XX:ShenandoahGuaranteedGCInterval=0 -XX:+ShowCodeDetailsInExceptionMessages -XX:+ShowMessageBoxOnError -XX:SweeperThreshold=0.468750 -XX:ThreadPriorityPolicy=1 -XX:ThreadStackSize=4096 -XX:Tier0Delay=1 -XX:Tier0ProfilingStartPercentage=2000 -XX:+TieredCompilation -XX:TieredOldPercentage=10000 -XX:TieredStopAtLevel=4 -XX:TrimNativeHeapInterval=60000 -XX:+UnlockDiagnosticVMOptions -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:UseAVX=3 -XX:+UseBMI1Instructions -XX:+UseBMI2Instructions -XX:+UseCLMUL -XX:+UseCompressedClassPointers -XX:+UseCompressedOops -XX:-UseCondCardMark -XX:+UseCriticalCompilerThreadPriority -XX:+UseCriticalJavaThreadPriority -XX:-UseDynamicNumberOfCompilerThreads -XX:+UseFMA -XX:+UseFPUForSpilling -XX:+UseFastStosb -XX:+UseFastUnorderedTimeStamps -XX:UseSSE=4 -XX:+UseSSE42Intrinsics -XX:+UseShenandoahGC -XX:+UseStringDeduplication -XX:+UseUnalignedAccesses -XX:+UseUnalignedLoadStores -XX:+UseVectorCmov -XX:+UseVectorStubs -XX:+UseXMMForArrayCopy -XX:+UseXMMForObjInit -XX:+UseXmmI2D -XX:+UseXmmI2F -XX:+ZeroTLAB 
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM warning: -XX:ThreadPriorityPolicy=1 may require system level permission, e.g., being the root user. If the necessary permission is not possessed, changes to priority will be silently ignored.
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM warning: UseXMMForObjInit requires SSE2 and unaligned load/stores. Feature is switched off.
2 compiler directives added
WARNING: package java.nio.Buffer.UNSAFE not in java.base
WARNING: package java.awt.Rectangle not in java.desktop
0    [main] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher  - Starting Starsector 0.98a-RC7 launcher
0    [main] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher  - Running in /usr/share/starsector
0    [main] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher  - OS: Linux 6.14.0-4-cachyos
0    [main] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher  - Java version: 17.0.14 (64-bit)
0    [main] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher  - Max memory: 2048MB
1    [main] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.settings.StarfarerSettings  - Loading settings
2    [main] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils  - Loading JSON from [ABSOLUTE_AND_CWD: null (data/config/settings.json)]
Apr 06, 2025 1:27:40 PM java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences$1 run
INFO: Created user preferences directory.
76   [main] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.launcher.opengl.GLLauncher  - Found display mode: 320x240, 142Hz, 24bpp
...
...
...
325  [Thread-2] INFO  com.fs.graphics.TextureLoader  - Cleaned buffer for texture graphics/fonts/orbitron12_0.png (using reflection)
==============================================================================
Unexpected Error
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIGSEGV (0xb) at pc=0x00007398c665949c, pid=43269, tid=43330

Do you want to debug the problem?

To debug, run 'gdb /proc/43269/exe 43269'; then switch to thread 43330 (0x000000000000a942)
Enter 'yes' to launch gdb automatically (PATH must include gdb)
Otherwise, press RETURN to abort...
==============================================================================

#
# A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment:
#
#  SIGSEGV (0xb) at pc=0x00007398c665949c, pid=43269, tid=43330
#
# JRE version: OpenJDK Runtime Environment (17.0.14+7) (build 17.0.14+7)
# Java VM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (17.0.14+7, mixed mode, sharing, tiered, compressed oops, compressed class ptrs, shenandoah gc, linux-amd64)
# Problematic frame:
# C  [libnvidia-glcore.so.570.133.07+0xa5949c]
...

@JamesMowery does the new RC release work better?

@Jako21530 Nice one. I gave it a shot and it shows the initial launcher screen.

But yet another error:

==============================================================================
Unexpected Error
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIGSEGV (0xb) at pc=0x000076af4985949c, pid=512595, tid=512657

Do you want to debug the problem?

To debug, run 'gdb /proc/512595/exe 512595'; then switch to thread 512657 (0x000000000007d291)
Enter 'yes' to launch gdb automatically (PATH must include gdb)
Otherwise, press RETURN to abort...
==============================================================================

#
# A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment:
#
#  SIGSEGV (0xb) at pc=0x000076af4985949c, pid=512595, tid=512657
#
# JRE version: OpenJDK Runtime Environment (17.0.14+7) (build 17.0.14+7)
# Java VM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (17.0.14+7, mixed mode, sharing, tiered, compressed oops, compressed class ptrs, shenandoah gc, linux-amd64)
# Problematic frame:
# C  [libnvidia-glcore.so.570.133.07+0xa5949c]
#
# Core dump will be written. Default location: Core dumps may be processed with "/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-coredump %P %u %g %s %t %c %h" (or dumping to /usr/share/starsector/core.512595)
#
# An error report file with more information is saved as:
# /tmp/hs_err_pid512595.log
#
# If you would like to submit a bug report, please visit:
#   https://bugreport.java.com/bugreport/crash.jsp
# The crash happened outside the Java Virtual Machine in native code.
# See problematic frame for where to report the bug.
#
fish: Job 1, 'starsector' terminated by signal SIGABRT (Abort)

I can't catch a break! lol.

@JamesMowery I ran into the same problem. You can change Java environments on the fly with

sudo archlinux-java set java-17-openjdk

That makes sense. I just tried confirming what I'm running and it looks to be version 24. I think I'm using it for some financial software. I'll try to do some research and see if there's a way to easily somehow switch between versions or have them installed at the same time. But at we got to the source of it. I appreciate the help! :)

@JamesMowery: I think that happens when you use a java version significantly newer than 17. The game expects java 17. Unfortunately it uses an insane number of JVM options, some of which have been removed in newer versions.