This tutorial will explain you how to redirect the output of scorched3d to a separate X session (grafic session) to be capable to switch between the desktop & the game with a simple key combination.

in this turial we assume that your default X session is #0, so, we'll add a new session #1, also it's assumed that the path to your scorched3d binary is /usr/bin/scorched3d, you might have to customize them according to your distribution/installation

switching between them will act like Alt+Tab, the shortcut keys are:

Ctrl+Alt+F7 for the session #0 (desktop)

Ctrl+Alt+F8 for the session #1 (game)

Ubuntu

if your distro is ubuntu, you'll have to do the following step in order to continue:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-common

wich creates an X authorithy file in your home folder

Configure X Authority File

as regular user launch the command:

auth

inside the application, send the command:

list

you should get an output similar to the following:

yourhostname:0 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 9fde426e5g03b20f4b7e51cb329d3033

localhost.localdomain/unix:0 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 9fde426e5g03b20f4b7e51cb329d3033

yours might be DIFFERENT, it's normal

now we'll add a new key for the X session #1 by typing add :1.0 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 and copying the long string in at the end of the line wich starts with your yourhostname:0

eg, in this case:

add :1.0 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 9fde426e5g03b20f4b7e51cb329d3033

we can check the result by sending the list command again:

yourhostname:0 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 9fde426e5g03b20f4b7e51cb329d3033

yourhostname:1 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 9fde426e5g03b20f4b7e51cb329d3033

localhost.localdomain/unix:0 MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 9fde426e5g03b20f4b7e51cb329d3033

when done, send the command:

exit

Create the Launcher Script

open your favourite text editor (in this tutorial kwrite) and create the script scorched3d:

cd

kwrite scorched3dc

add the following lines in it:

#!/bin/bash

xinit /usr/bin/_scorched3dc $* -- :1

Beryl Users

beryl crashes when launching another X session, we can temporaneally disable it while running the game by sending the USR2 signal; so the script becomes:

#!/bin/bash

killall -USR2 beryl-manager

xinit /usr/bin/_scorched3dc $* -- :1

killall -USR2 beryl-manager

save & close the file

to make the script executable like a binary, you need to send the command:

chmod a+x scorched3dc

Move the script in place

Ubuntu

rename the current game binary:

sudo mv /usr/bin/scorched3dc /usr/bin/_scorched3dc

replace the call with the new script:

sudo mv ./scorched3dc /usr/bin/scorched3dc

All distributions with su command enabled

get superuser privileges with the following command:

su

rename the current game binary:

mv /usr/bin/scorched3dc /usr/bin/_scorched3dc

replace the call with the new script:

mv ./scorched3dc /usr/bin/scorched3dc

that's it! when you'll start a game, the video will be redirected to the session #1 instead of #0