How can I fix Ubuntu so we can play our favorite games again?

July 16, 2015 2:40 PM

Whenever I try to run any SDL games, I get the following error. Despite checking online, I haven't found any solutions to it. Unfortunately this means some of our favorite games have stopped working, and my son is showing signs of gamer angst.

Here's the error:

symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libSDL_mixer-1.2.so.0: undefined symbol: fluid_player_get_status

I get the same message with any SDL game, from Enigma to Frogatto. This is on an Ubuntu 14.04 LTS system.

Thanks in advance for any help!

posted by circular to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

The symbol seems to be from libfluidsynth, so maybe check that is installed and up to date?
posted by eruonna at 3:27 PM on July 16, 2015

Did you search on http://ubuntuforums.org/ or http://askubuntu.com/ ?
posted by intermod at 3:29 PM on July 16, 2015

On first glance this seems either a missing library or a library version mismatch. What is the output of the following commmand at the terminal?

ldd /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libSDL_mixer-1.2.so.0

... if there are libraries missing, they'll appear with a "?" next to them. It should point to something with "libfluidsynth1" in the name. The fluidsynth documentation indicates that the symbol has existed in the library since version 1.1.0. The Ubuntu package in trusty is currently at 1.1.6-2 so you should already have a compatible version.
posted by gox3r at 3:47 PM on July 16, 2015

there's a similar bug that's connected with a game installing its own version of a library. what does

find ~/.local/share/Steam -name 'libSDL*' -type f

show? if it shows anything, then you could try deleting it (well, no, move it someplace, so you can move it back) and trying again.
posted by andrewcooke at 3:50 PM on July 16, 2015

Response by poster: > The symbol seems to be from libfluidsynth, so maybe check that is installed and up to date?

Installed and up to date. Checked with apt-get.

> Did you search on http://ubuntuforums.org/ or http://askubuntu.com/ ?

Yes.

> What is the output of the following commmand at the terminal?

No question marks, and indicates that libfluidsynth.so.1 is pointed at /usr/local/lib/libfluidsynth.so.1.

> What does ... show?

Steam folder not found (not a Steam user currently). Should I be more inclusive?

Thanks!
posted by circular at 4:49 PM on July 16, 2015

ok, now i read the other comments, try

find / -name "libfluidsynth*"

and be concerned if that shows multiple results (apart from symlinks with version postfixes).
posted by andrewcooke at 5:00 PM on July 16, 2015

Response by poster: > ok, now i read the other comments, try

Results below. Is this the problem?

/usr/lib/libfluidsynth.so.1.5.2
/usr/lib/libfluidsynth.so.1 SYMLINK to 1.5.2

/usr/local/lib/libfluidsynth.so.1.1.3
/usr/local/lib/libfluidsynth.so SYMLINK to 1.1.3
/usr/local/lib/libfluidsynth.so.1 SYMLINK to 1.1.3
/usr/local/lib/libfluidsynth.a
/usr/local/lib/libfluidsynth.la
posted by circular at 5:27 PM on July 16, 2015

Best answer: could be, although the info above suggests that version is old enough. anyway, it's worth a try. do something like

cd /usr/local/lib
mkdir /root/lfs-save
mv libfluidsynth* /root/lfs-save

and, if that doesn't help

cd /usr/local/lib
mv /root/lfs-save/libfluidsynth* .

afterwards, if you restore things, check the links are ok. basically, the find command above should be identical to before.
posted by andrewcooke at 5:36 PM on July 16, 2015

Best answer: even better would be to make a proper backup, and you should do that anyway...
posted by andrewcooke at 5:38 PM on July 16, 2015

Response by poster: Whoa, that totally just fixed the game problem! Thank you andrewcooke! Tested out three SDL games, all work great now. Really appreciate it :-)
posted by circular at 5:39 PM on July 16, 2015

oh cool :o) it was just the other comments + a bug report i found. i hope it's not your son's bedtime just yet...
posted by andrewcooke at 5:41 PM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]