Lich:Software/Installation

About

Lich is an add-on scripting engine that works alongside existing front ends. The most common installation is a combination of Lich on Windows using the Stormfront or Wizard FE. Despite this, Lich is also used by many on both MacOS and multiple Linux distributions.

Versions

Currently there are multiple versions of lich available, and effort is being made to consolidate them. For Gemstone Users, the original Tillmen version is the one primarily used.

• Tillmen's Version

Initial Installation located at LichProject.org. After installation, the version can be updated to the latest version that will be made available in the lich repository.

• GTK3 Beta Version

The combined Ruby and Lich installer is: BetaGTK3-Ruby4Lich

• DragonRealms Variant

This can be downloaded directly from Github at dragon-realms-lich

Installation

Windows

For Windows 10 / 8 / 7 users on 64-bit systems: you can download the Installer and install everything you need automatically. Always remember to back up existing Lich / Simutronics files.

Install Guide for Lich Version 4.6.58 (as of December 3rd, 2020)

1) Uninstall ALL existing Ruby installations. This includes deleting all existing Ruby folders (they should be located in the root C:\ drive folder).

2) Run the installer. Do NOT restart the computer if prompted (just cancel that message). The install will seem like it isn't doing anything when there's a black box on the screen, but just give it some time. When the installer window itself goes away it's done.

3) Log in and do -> ;repo download-lich <- and then exit the game.

4) Log in and do -> ;repo download repository <- and wait the few seconds for it to finish.

5) Do -> ;repo download-mapdb <- and wait the few seconds for it to finish.

6) In the Lich scripts folder replace your autostart.lic with Athias's autostart.lic (see link just below). This fixes an issue with the repository not checking for updates at startup. This may also introduce an unknown result with go2 and narost on a fresh install so just be aware.

7) In the Lich scripts folder replace your infomon.lic with Doug's infomon.lic (see link just below). This updates infomon to handle commas in numbers and the Combat Maneuvers changes.

8) Welcome to GemStone IV!

Additional assistance in installation can be found in the scripting channel of the GemStone Discord.

Athias's autostart.lic

Doug's infomon.lic

Mac OS X

Max OS X support is incoming with GTK3 Beta Lich. Installation and details on this are still incoming - Please stand by.

Chromebook & Debian variants

The following steps should install Lich and Profanity for users of Debian/Chromebooks. Profanity is a terminal-based Front-End that will let you play the game (in lieu of The Wizard or Stormfront).

Update the list of available software and make sure some requirements are installed:

sudo apt-get -y update
sudo apt-get -y install autoconf bison build-essential libssl-dev libyaml-dev libreadline6-dev zlib1g-dev libncurses5-dev libffi-dev libgdbm6 libgdbm-dev libsqlite3-dev unzip

Install rbenv, a Ruby version manager. Add it to the PATH so that it will work outside of its own directory, and set it up to work when you launch the shell (terminal):

git clone https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv.git ~/.rbenv
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(rbenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc

Run the shell's launch script now to enable those two changes and get rbenv working:

source ~/.bashrc

Download the tools to let rbenv install Ruby on its own, then install Ruby 2.5.1 and set it to be our default version of Ruby system-wide:

git clone https://github.com/rbenv/ruby-build.git ~/.rbenv/plugins/ruby-build
rbenv install 2.5.1 -v
rbenv global 2.5.1

Tell Ruby not to create documentation for its gems (plugins/packages) unless asked, because it takes a long time and they are available online. Then install the dependencies for Lich and Profanity:

echo "gem: --no-document" > ~/.gemrc
gem install sqlite3 gtk2 curses

Install Lich and Profanity:

curl --remote-name https://lichproject.org/download/lich-4.6.49.zip
unzip lich-*.zip
git clone https://github.com/matt-lowe/ProfanityFE.git

Fedora

There are notable differences between the versions of Fedora that are commonly available:

• Fedora 31 uses Ruby version 2.6.5 which has no compatibility issues with the base lich version or the Beta GTK3 variant.
• Fedora 32 uses Ruby version 2.7.1 which requires modification of scripts to match SAFE commands. This is a minor version difference, but is notable.

1. Update The Base Installation:

$ sudo dnf -y update
$ sudo dnf -y install vim git

2. Install required Ruby and Development packages:

$ sudo dnf install -y autoconf bison gcc gdbm gdbm-devel libyaml-devel \
libffi-devel make ncurses-devel openssl-devel readline-devel redhat-rpm-config \
ruby ruby-devel sqlite-devel unzip zlib-devel

3. Perform Ruby Gem Installations:

$ gem install rake
$ gem update

3.a. For GTK2 (base Lich)

$ gem install sqlite3 gtk2 curses

3.b. For GTK3 Beta

$ gem install sqlite3 gtk3 curses

4. Download Lich:

$ cd ~
$ curl --remote-name https://lichproject.org/download/lich-4.6.52.zip
$ unzip lich-4.6.52.zip

5. Clone Profanity:

$ cd ~
$ git clone https://github.com/ondreian/ProfanityFE.git

Please refer to the Profanity FE page for initial configuration and additional instructions.

Resources

• Mac Installation - Lich (software)