How to Run VASSAL on Android

[cholmcc]

@Hugs

Ok, I’ve rerun the download… then edited the config file to adjust the screen size,

That you will need to do (perhaps I can figure out a way to keep the old setting in some future revision).

@Hugs

as well as the VASSAL file to eliminate the need to answer whether I wanted to start the X desktop.

What!? That code is gone - you used the latest setup script - so there should be nothing to comment out. If you commented out some code, please re-download and re-run the set-up script. Note, you may need to delete the old set scripts or the new could be downloaded as setup-vassal.sh.1 (or .2 …). Check that you do not have old set-up script around

ls setup-vassal.sh*

and if you do, remove them before downloaded

rm -f setup-vassal.sh*
wget https://gitlab.com/wargames_tex/vassal_my_contrib/-/raw/master/android/setup-vassal.sh -O setup-vassal.sh
bash setup-vassal.sh

If you had a need to edit the script, then you have not run the newest setup script.

@Hugs

As of right now, it appears that everything looks good, works as well as it should, and is as good as it’s going to get unless or until the developers over at Vassal changes how Linux installs or unpacks a vsav or vlog file.

With the latest setup script you should get

• Proper file association so that double-clicking (or right-hand click, select VASSAL) should launch VASSAL
• VASSAL file icons
• No need question as to whether you want to start VASSAL or not.

Note, the set-up of file-associations is done by the setup script. Wrt. upstream VASSAL distribution on Linux, it is relatively easy to set-up the file assocation. My complaint is more that upstream VASSAL won’t - so far - distribute that solution in a simple fashion - not that its an issue with the Android (as the set-up script does it for you).

@Hugs

(At least until I try attaching a mouse to the tablet… which I will likely attempt to do at some point here in the near future.)

I will be interested to hear if that works out. Support for an external mouse (probably via Bluetooth) depends on the VNC client. Perhaps bVNC or RealVNC Viewer (see this article) will do the job. I have not tried to set it up myself, so your experience will be interesting to know.

@Hugs

So, many thanks for your help, you’ve done great! I think you’ve made what would normally be an extremely difficult (if not impossible) task for most people a relatively simple and far easier task than what it probably looks like (and for me, started off as.)

You are welcome. Your feedback as led to some improvements, so I’m thankful for that too. Also, the instructions got an, much needed, overhaul - they did could be confusing - and probably still are at times

Yours,
Christian

[Hugs]

Ok, when I checked, it appeared that I only had one copy of setup-vassal.sh, but I went ahead and deleted it with:

rm -f setup-vassal.sh*

I also found and deleted the setup.vassal.sh that was in the home directory. (Not exactly sure how that got there, but it’s gone now.)

I then downloaded and ran the new script, but it didn’t seem quite right. Thought maybe it was the graphics, so I edited the config script to fit my screen, killed the vncserver, and then ran everything again from the Widget on the Android home screen.

This time, after pausing to allow me to entering the vncserver password, it opened to the X-desktop with the Vassal program opened. Everything looked right this time. vsav and vlog files on the desktop even had Vassal icons.

So… here is my next (quite superfluous) question. Given that it can open with the Vassl program running on the desktop, if I am only using one vassal module on the tablet, can something else be added to the script that in addition to opening the Vassal program also then open the Bitter Woods module that I am using?

And… Or… when I double click on a vsav or vlog file, can it be automatically be opened or executed within the Bitter Woods module?

[cholmcc]

@Hugs

…
This time, after pausing to allow me to entering the vncserver password, it opened to the X-desktop with the Vassal program opened. Everything looked right this time. vsav and vlog files on the desktop even had Vassal icons.

As I suspected - you hadn’t run the latest setup-vassal.sh script.

@Hugs

So… here is my next (quite superfluous) question. Given that it can open with the Vassl program running on the desktop, if I am only using one vassal module on the tablet, can something else be added to the script that in addition to opening the Vassal program also then open the Bitter Woods module that I am using?

Way ahead of you See here

Yours,
Christian

[Hugs]

Okay, I’ve tried it a number of times, as well as different ways… and this does not work:

.local/bin/vncvassal start xvassal -l $HOME/VMods/GettysburgSmithsonian-1.2.vmod

I’ve also tried it from the Widget (again, some number of different times and ways), and they all start to work by starting the vnc server and asking for the password… but then crash with this same message:

Error!
VNC connection setup failed!

So, it appears that something in those instructions doesn’t work (because I can assure you that I’ve tried both very carefully typing it, and copy and pasting it, EXACTLY as you have it there… and it was always the same result.)

Oh, and it’s not the password to the server that fails, as the VASSAL entry in the widget still works just fine.

I have yet to try the second part (the smaller desktop.)

What am I missing? Is this trying to start a different VNC server that uses a different password?
Or, maybe it’s trying to restart the same VNC server that the process already started.
(Because this appears to be the same fail message that happens if or when I don’t kill the vnc server before relaunching the widget.)

[cholmcc]

@Hugs

Okay, I’ve tried it a number of times, as well as different ways… and this does not work:

.local/bin/vncvassal start xvassal -l $HOME/VMods/GettysburgSmithsonian-1.2.vmod

• Do you have the module GettysburgSmithsonian-1.2.vmod? Otherwise, replace it with the file name of a module you do have - say Bitter_Woods_-_Designer_Edition_v2.7.vmod
• Also, remove the back-ticks ` - I’ll remove them from the instructions.

Yours,
Christian

[Hugs]

Yes, I’ve always been replacing the Gettysburg module with:
Bitter_Woods_-_Designer_Edition_v2.7.vmod

Getting rid of the back-ticks did the trick, and it works. However I struggled with getting the Widget to work. Tried several ways, all of which failed, but finally decided just to copy the VASSAL file in the shortcuts folder (which does work) to a new name, and then did some editing in it to end up with it looking like this:

which does now work quite nicely in the Widget app!

I also tried the plain FluxBox desktop. Good to know, but I don’t care much for it.

What I didn’t try was to open either a vsav or vlog file this way, as that simply didn’t make much sense to me. What would make sense would be, after the X-desktop is open, to be able to double click on either a vsav or vlog file (for example, one that is on the desktop) and have it open within the Bitter_Wood module. Not sure if that’s possible, but when I do currently double click on a vsav file, a menu pops up with an option to “Set Default Application.”

Now that I know there is a way to start the module from a widget… is there a way to set a particular module as the default way to open either any vsav or vlog file once the X-desktop is open, so that the file would open in the module by simply double clicking on the vsav file?

Wait a minute… Hold y’er horses here…
Something like that already does work, and I’m trying to figure out what just happened…

Okay, here it is:

After launching the X-Desktop with the new Bitter-Woods widget, I can double-click on a vsav, then choose to “Open with Vassal”, and it then procedes to open the file within the Bitter Woods module. That’s Great !!

The only question left is, why do i have to choose “Open with Vassal” from a pop up menu when double clicking on it? If that’s already set (I’m presuming it is) as the default application associated with that file extension, why wouldn’t it automatically just procede to open it with Vassal?

Thanks again!

[cholmcc]

@Hugs

The only question left is, why do i have to choose “Open with Vassal” from a pop up menu when double clicking on it? If that’s already set (I’m presuming it is) as the default application associated with that file extension, why wouldn’t it automatically just procede to open it with Vassal?

Because your VNC client sends a double tap as a right mouse button (Mouse-3) click. Check the docs of your VNC client for how to send a double left mouse click (2 x Mouse-1). Maybe it’s a two finger double tap.

As explained in the instructions, it is very much the VNC client that determines your experience.

Yours,
Christian

[Hugs]

Took me a while of searching around to find the docs for the MultiVNC viewer.

So, for others reading this, here’s what I found:

Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.

Now I’ll have to read though and find out how to do a left double click (if possible) on a vsav (or vlog) file…