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Installing and playing

This guide is for players. It explains how to get from a release download to a running game. To build the game from source instead, see BUILDING.md.

What to download

Each release has these archives, named for its version (v0.0.3-alpha, for example):

Archive What it is
nolfsrc-<version>.tar.gz The one you want. The game built from source with the modern build's fixes and features.
nolfsrc-debug-<version>.tar.gz The same with debug information. If the game crashes, it writes a backtrace to nolfsrc.log.

To try changes before the next release, there is the nightly: the latest master, rebuilt each time a change is merged and its builds pass. Its archives are named for the commit they were built from, nolfsrc-nightly-<commit>.tar.gz and nolfsrc-debug-nightly-<commit>.tar.gz (the first seven digits of its hash, nolfsrc-nightly-a16e5e8.tar.gz for example), and each unpacks to a directory of that name. It has had no testing beyond the builds, so expect the occasional new bug; say in a bug report that you are on a nightly, and which commit. It installs like any release.

The legacy build, the game built exactly as it shipped in 2001, bugs included, is kept for archive purposes and is not attached to releases. To get it, build it (BUILDING.md); each build on GitHub Actions also keeps it as an artifact for a while.

No game files are included. Each archive has an installer script that copies the game's data from your own disc images and checks every file it writes.

Each release is the whole game, not a patch. Unpack it into a new, empty directory, never over an earlier release or another installation of the game. The installer checks this first and stops if the directory holds anything the release does not: it lists every file of the release, and every file the installer writes, in SHA256SUMS. To keep your saved games, copy the old directory's Save folder into the new one.

Once the game is installed, sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS in its directory checks every file of it (all but your settings, autoexec.cfg, which the game rewrites).

What you need

  • The two discs of The Operative: No One Lives Forever, Game of the Year Edition (Europe), as disc images. These are the images the installer expects:

    An image can be a plain .iso (your own rip), redump's .bin (or its .cue), or redump's .zip download. A .bin or .zip is first converted to a temporary .iso, which needs about 0.6 GB of free space per disc; it is removed at the end. Other editions and other regions' discs are not supported: the installer checks each image's checksum.

  • On Linux: Wine with 32-bit support, or Proton (Steam), and python3 if your images are .bin or .zip.

  • On Windows: nothing else. The game is a 32-bit Windows program.

  • On a Mac: CrossOver, or another Wine for macOS, to run it. The installer needs nothing more: it is a Perl script, and every Mac has Perl.

Linux

  1. Unpack the archive:

    tar xzf nolfsrc-v0.0.3-alpha.tar.gz    # the version you downloaded
cd nolfsrc-v0.0.3-alpha

    Each archive unpacks to a directory of its own name (nolfsrc-debug-v0.0.3-alpha for the debug one).

  2. Install the game data from your disc images, in either order:

    ./linux-install.sh /path/to/disc1.zip /path/to/disc2.zip

    With no arguments it looks for the images in the game directory and the directory above it. You can run it again safely: files already in place are checked and kept, and your saves, settings, logs and screenshots are left alone.

  3. Play:

    ./linux-run.sh

    This opens the game's launcher: click Launch. The first time, it asks for a performance setting first. The launcher's Display and Advanced buttons set the renderer, the resolution and the engine's options.

    The game uses its own Wine prefix, ~/.wine-nolf, which is created on the first run, so your own prefix is left alone. Arguments go to the game: ./linux-run.sh ++windowed 1 starts it in a window whatever Options > Display says. ./linux-run.sh --help says more.

Sound needs Wine's audio to work on your machine (winecfg, Audio tab). The music needs nothing extra: the game directory has its own DirectMusic.

Steam Deck and Proton

  1. In Desktop Mode, unpack the archive and run linux-install.sh as above.
  2. In Steam, use Games > Add a Non-Steam Game and pick the game directory's NOLF.exe.
  3. In the shortcut's Properties > Compatibility, force a Proton version.

The controller works as an Xbox-style pad (see Controller). No winetricks or Protontricks are needed.

Windows

  1. Unpack the archive into a new, empty folder (7-Zip and Windows 11's Explorer both open .tar.gz).
  2. Drop both disc images onto windows-install.bat, or put them in the game folder and double-click it.
  3. Start NOLF.exe and click Launch.

Windows support has had less testing than Linux. The programs are not signed, so SmartScreen may warn before the first start. If something goes wrong, please report it.

Mac (CrossOver)

The game is a Windows program, so on a Mac it runs in CrossOver (or another Wine). Its data is installed in macOS itself, with mac-install.command.

  1. Unpack the archive into a folder of its own: double-click it in Finder.

  2. Put both disc images into the game folder, then double-click mac-install.command. It runs in a Terminal window and says when it is done.

    macOS may refuse to open it, as it was downloaded and is not signed. Then allow it in System Settings > Privacy & Security ("Open Anyway"), or run it in Terminal, which can also take the images from elsewhere:

    cd ~/Downloads/nolfsrc-v0.0.3-alpha    # the game folder
./mac-install.command /path/to/disc1.zip /path/to/disc2.zip

  3. In CrossOver, make a new bottle (Windows 10), then use the bottle's Run Command, browse to the game folder's NOLF.exe and run it; "Save command as a launcher" keeps it for next time. Click Launch.

The game, its movies and its music need nothing installed in the bottle. If the picture is wrong, try opengl.ren or d3d7.ren in Options > Display. The Mac installer has been tested on Linux, which runs the same Perl, but not on a Mac yet, and the game has not been tried in CrossOver here: please report how it goes.

First start

  • Screen. The game starts full screen, at a resolution that fits your screen. Choose the resolution and window mode in Options > Display (or the launcher's Display button). Window mode can be Full screen, Window or Borderless window, and the game starts as you last left it. Wide screens are supported.
  • Renderer. The default renderer is d3d9.ren (Direct3D 9). If you see rendering problems, pick opengl.ren or d3d7.ren (the original DirectX 7 renderer) in Options > Display. On Intel integrated graphics with d3d7.ren, turn on "Intel graphics fix" if the screen goes black underwater.
  • Frame rate. Single player is limited to 240 frames a second by default. Options > Interface offers 60, 120, 144, 240 or no limit. Multiplayer always runs at 60.
  • Crouch. To press Duck once to crouch and once more to stand, set Options

    Game > "Toggle crouch" to Yes.

Controller

An Xbox-style (XInput) controller works in the menus and in the game. That is also what Steam Input makes of the Steam Deck's controls and of most other pads.

  • In the game, the left stick moves and the right stick looks; the triggers fire and zoom.
  • In the menus, use the d-pad or a stick to move, A to choose and B to go back.
  • Start opens the menu; A skips a cutscene.
  • Options > Controls > Controller sets the look speed, inverted look and dead zones. Customize Controls binds the buttons like keys.

Console and cheats

Press the key left of 1 (backquote), or Shift+Esc, to open the developer console in single player. Type Help for the commands and Cheats for the cheat codes.

If you get stuck in the level geometry, mpclip lets you fly out.

Where things are

File What
autoexec.cfg Your settings and key bindings, rewritten when the game exits. Delete it to start from the defaults (defaults.cfg).
Save/ Saved games.
modern.log The modern build's log, emptied each run. Attach it when you report a problem.
NetHost.txt, modern-server.log The dedicated server's settings, and its log in the modern build (below).

Multiplayer

The internet server list uses the OpenSpy master server (master.openspy.net) in place of GameSpy's, which is gone. The modern build plays with retail 1.003 players and servers.

A dedicated server

The game directory also has the game's stand-alone server, NolfServ.exe: a server with no player of its own, that keeps hosting deathmatch or H.A.R.M. vs UNITY games for others to join. Players join it from the Multiplayer menu (on the internet list, or over a LAN), or start the game with +connect <address>:27888.

  • Windows: start NolfServ.exe. Its setup wizard asks for the session's name, the game type, the number of players, the port, the options and the worlds; Finish starts the server.
  • Linux: ./linux-server.sh. The first time it shows the same wizard; after that it starts straight away with the saved settings. Without a display (a server machine, a container) it runs under xvfb-run, a virtual display, which then needs to be installed (xvfb); the wizard then cannot be shown, so start it once on a desktop, or give the settings on the command line.

The settings are kept in NetHost.txt in the game directory. Each can also be given on the command line as -<setting> <value>: -NetSessionName, -NetPort (default 27888), -NetMaxPlayers (up to 16), -NetGameType (2 deathmatch, 1 H.A.R.M. vs UNITY), -NetUsePassword and -NetPassword, and the game's options (-NetEndFrags, -NetEndTime, -NetRunSpeed, ...). -nowiz starts without the wizard. For example:

./linux-server.sh -NetSessionName "My server" -NetMaxPlayers 8

The modern build adds to that:

  • -NetLevel <world>, once per world, sets the deathmatch level list (-NetCALevel for H.A.R.M. vs UNITY), for example -NetLevel 'Worlds\Multi\DeathMatch\001THEPAD_DM';
  • -MasterServer <host> names the master server the game is listed on (default master.openspy.net; none lists it nowhere), which the server's console shows when it starts;
  • everything the console shows also goes to modern-server.log.

The server answers on UDP port 27888 (or the -NetPort you give it): let it through the firewall for players on other machines. It runs until Stop Server is clicked (or the process is ended).

In the legacy build, -nowiz is only read when another argument follows it (a bug of the original server, which linux-server.sh works around).