Installed spacechem on 64-bit Debian (successfully) but when I go to run ./start.sh the game doesn't start and I get the following error messages:

Unhandled Exception: System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationException: Type Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReaderException is not marked as Serializable.

Server stack trace:
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryCommon.CheckSerializable (System.Type type, ISurrogateSelector selector, StreamingContext context) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.ObjectWriter.GetObjectData (System.Object obj, System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.TypeMetadata& metadata, System.Object& data) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.ObjectWriter.WriteObject (System.IO.BinaryWriter writer, Int64 id, System.Object obj) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.ObjectWriter.WriteObjectInstance (System.IO.BinaryWriter writer, System.Object obj, Boolean isValueObject) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.ObjectWriter.WriteQueuedObjects (System.IO.BinaryWriter writer) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.ObjectWriter.WriteObjectGraph (System.IO.BinaryWriter writer, System.Object obj, System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.Header[] headers) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter.Serialize (System.IO.Stream serializationStream, System.Object graph, System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.Header[] headers) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter.Serialize (System.IO.Stream serializationStream, System.Object graph) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingServices.SerializeExceptionData (System.Exception ex) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

Exception rethrown at [0]:

at (wrapper xdomain-invoke) System.AppDomain:ExecuteAssembly (string,System.Security.Policy.Evidence,string[])
at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.AppDomain:ExecuteAssembly (string,System.Security.Policy.Evidence,string[])
at #=q9RvpkXA50$jg9YekHgA0N4noz_omAqQUJLXN3JuW6cg=.#=q_Zs2thSz3i1I2X$SiRjfRg== (System.String[] #=qUy6XDEjx8tsUIjd0njaI8g==) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
[ERROR] FATAL UNHANDLED EXCEPTION: System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationException: Type Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReaderException is not marked as Serializable.

Server stack trace:
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryCommon.CheckSerializable (System.Type type, ISurrogateSelector selector, StreamingContext context) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.ObjectWriter.GetObjectData (System.Object obj, System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.TypeMetadata& metadata, System.Object& data) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.ObjectWriter.WriteObject (System.IO.BinaryWriter writer, Int64 id, System.Object obj) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.ObjectWriter.WriteObjectInstance (System.IO.BinaryWriter writer, System.Object obj, Boolean isValueObject) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.ObjectWriter.WriteQueuedObjects (System.IO.BinaryWriter writer) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.ObjectWriter.WriteObjectGraph (System.IO.BinaryWriter writer, System.Object obj, System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.Header[] headers) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter.Serialize (System.IO.Stream serializationStream, System.Object graph, System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.Header[] headers) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter.Serialize (System.IO.Stream serializationStream, System.Object graph) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingServices.SerializeExceptionData (System.Exception ex) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

Exception rethrown at [0]:

at (wrapper xdomain-invoke) System.AppDomain:ExecuteAssembly (string,System.Security.Policy.Evidence,string[])
at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.AppDomain:ExecuteAssembly (string,System.Security.Policy.Evidence,string[])
at #=q9RvpkXA50$jg9YekHgA0N4noz_omAqQUJLXN3JuW6cg=.#=q_Zs2thSz3i1I2X$SiRjfRg== (System.String[] #=qUy6XDEjx8tsUIjd0njaI8g==) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0



Seems like it is related to this issue on OSX:
https://github.com/leafi/fix-spacechem-os-x/issues/9

Has anyone encountered this on Linux and found a fix?

Yes, and thanks! I had the exact same error (well, didn't compare letter for letter, but sure looks the same) in 64 bit Gentoo, and going from the inspirations in your link I found that I was missing a 32bit version of sdl-mixer.

For you:
1. Check that you have all the packages installed that are listed on the GOG game page.
2. If you already did, then open ~/GOG Games/Spacechem/game/Tao.Sdl.dll.config
In this file you see a list of "dlls" - for each linux filename check that you have that file present on your system in a 32bit folder (e.g. in Gentoo it's /usr/lib32). If any are missing then find out which package provides the file in Debian and install those.

Good luck!

Last I checked (not recently), the Linux version did not include the expansion, so you'd want to install the Windows version with Wine. Doesn't matter: it is a .net game so you can install Mono from your Linux distro and run the game with it. You'll need the relevant 64-bit libraries (SDL etc.) but no 32-bit ones.

Looks like there are some compatibility issues with .net DLLs distributed with SpaceChem (Windows version) and the version of Mono in Debian testing & unstable (currently 4.6.2.7+dfsg-1). I had to remove the Mono.Security.dll that came with the game, thus causing the distro version to be loaded instead. Didn't have that problem with Newtonsoft.Json.dll though: the one that came with the game works fine here.

I have completed the game on Debian using the Windows version, installed via Wine but executed with Mono from Debian (64-bit). Doesn't seem too picky about version or platform. YMMV.

Hey linuxvangog,

Thanks for the tip. Looks like removing the game's lib directory worked! I can at least start the game now. Will report if I encounter any more errors, but looks good for now.

Hi linuxvangog,

Thank for your help. A new fresh installation of my Debian System solve a lot of problem ;)
Now with the good apt-get, it works :D

Thank again

On Ubuntu 18.04, there are two small differences:

- the libpng version is libpng16-16
- libasound2-data is common to all architectures

so the following command line should be used instead:

$ sudo apt install libc6:i386 libasound2:i386 libasound2-plugins:i386 libcaca0:i386 libjpeg-turbo8:i386 libpng16-16:i386 libtiff5:i386 libncurses5:i386 libsqlite3-0:i386 libsdl1.2debian:i386 libsdl-mixer1.2:i386 libsdl-image1.2:i386 libgdiplus:i386

Also, as noted by odd_customer, this Linux version does not include the expansion (63 Corvi). Is there still a possibility that we'll get an update?