Installation
Available versions
Demo (PC & Mac)
You can still get the PC demo HERE, the Mac demo HERE, and both demos HERE (the demos will be backed up on oni2.net if other sources are discontinued)
Retail (PC, Mac & PS2)
Mac version available from Feral. PS2 version available from Take 2. PC version no longer available from Take 2. Consider eBay and Amazon.
Beta
- Beta 5 (Mac OS 9)
- Released as part of the Big Blue Box. No developer mode, but a level0_Tools instance file and a few extra level logic folders.
- Beta 4 (Mac OS 9)
- Has a developer mode and uncrippled BSL, but is not available publicly.
Installation process (PC & Mac)
Windows
When the Oni CD is inserted, the installation will automatically start with the following steps :
- Language selection : for example, if you happen to have the European TakeAdvantage edition of Oni, you can choose between English/German/French
- Installation process itself : usual stuff (software licence agreement, installation folder selection...)
- Installation of DirectX/OpenGL : skip this, as the versions of DirectX or OpenGL provided with Oni are very old.
A shortcut is automatically generated and placed on your desktop.
Windows demo
- The installation process does not start automatically, as there's no CD. The demo's installer extracts the engine and game content to a temporary folder and deletes everything when you exit the game. If you want a persistent demo, try THIS.
Mac OSX
- The installer requires OS9 to function. If you do not have Classic, open the CD and drag the "Oni ƒ" folder to the desired place on your hard-drive. You can play from this. See note below on engine upgrade.
Upgrades and troubleshooting
Blam, Oni crashed?
- Damn! Go straight to the Troubleshooting page.
- You can also try your luck with the updates below.
PC engine upgrades
- There never was any official support for the English PC engine (minor fix for Russian version HERE)
- Fixed bugs and unlocked/new features are listed HERE. The Daodan DLL applies these patches at runtime.
- The patched engine or DLL must be placed in Oni's installation folder (see below).
Mac engine upgrades
- In order to run Oni on OS X, you'll need Omni Group's engine port.
- The latest version from Omni is 1.0 v1.36 (1.8 MB) and dates back to February 2003.
- The first time you run that engine, it will ask you where your game content is (see below).
- Updates made to 1.0 v1.36 by the community can be found HERE
- These include bug fixes, as well as unlocked or reimplemented features.
Game content upgrades
- Check out the Anniversary Edition for an augmented Oni.
- If you're new to Oni, maybe beat it once before though...
Installation folder
All of Oni's files will be found in a folder called Oni (default is C:\Program Files\Oni on Windows /Applications/Oni on the Mac). The name does not have to be Oni, however: you can rename it to anything you want (see below for customization notes).
Windows notes
- Oni does not create any registry entries, so an installation of Oni is essentially a copy of the Oni folder: this is useful for backups, troubleshooting, reinstallation and experimentation. For example, the Anniversary Edition creates a copy of the GameDataFolder with the upgraded content and runs Oni from another folder, leaving the original installation intact.
- Retail versions of Oni typically check for the installation CD. You can get rid of the CD check with a custom patch or, better, by using the Daodan DLL. Otherwise, you need to have an Oni CD in the drive to play (any CD will do as long as its volume name is "ONI").
- The engine (Oni.exe) doesn't have to be present in the folder where it is launched from. The Edition takes advantage of this and runs the original engine remotely, without copying it around. This feature is a bit technical, but it can make life easier sometimes.
Mac notes
- Omni's port remembers the absolute location of the Oni folder between runs. This means you can move the Oni application to another location and it will still find the GameDataFolder. If you move your GameDataFolder somewhere else, the Oni application will ask for the folder's location on its next launch, and then remember the new location of the GDF after that point.
- Omni's port (and the community-patched versions thereof) doesn't check for the Oni disc in the CD-ROM drive.
Savegames, keyconfigs, startup options
persist.dat
This binary file is dumped into your Oni folder when Oni exits, and keeps track of your progress in the game (savepoints stored at predefined places in the levels). If you want to edit your savegames, check out OSGE.
key_config
This is a plain text file, also located in your Oni folder, and storing the custom control settings. Oni doesn't overwrite it, but it will generate a default one if there is none. See HERE for instructions on how to bind keyboard and mouse events to Oni actions.
Startup
On the Mac pressing Shift at startup lets you specify controls (see above) and command-line parameters (see below). On Windows, this Shift feature is broken, so you have to: 1) modify key_config.txt with a text editor or with KeyConfig; 2) provide command-line parameters (if any) in a shortcut, at the command line, or in a shell script.
Command-line parameters
All versions of the engine accept a certain number of command-line arguments, which modify the way it runs. These are mostly intended for developers (like turning off sound or generating advanced debug output). A useful is -noswitch (makes Oni run in a "window"), but it is flawed on Macs, and has been made redundant by the latest Daodan DLL on Windows.