i rebooted and did

su
[password]
ps -A
/sbin/modprobe nvidia
exit(back to nu)
startx

and ut still doesnt work. i get the same freakin error!!!!

[btw:thanks a ton for trying to help me. even if we cant figure it out, still, thanks!]

Could you post the output from /sbin/lsmod while you're in X.

Module Size Used by
nvidia 3473436 0
md5 4033 1
ipv6 232705 10
parport_pc 24705 1
lp 11565 0
parport 41737 2 parport_pc,lp
autofs4 24005 0
sunrpc 160421 1
ipt_REJECT 6465 1
ipt_state 1857 1
ip_conntrack 40693 1 ipt_state
iptable_filter 2753 1
ip_tables 16193 3 ipt_REJECT,ipt_state,iptable_filter
vfat 14785 1
fat 45409 1 vfat
nls_utf8 1985 1
ntfs 132624 1
dm_mod 54741 0
button 6481 0
battery 8517 0
ac 4805 0
joydev 8705 0
uhci_hcd 31449 0
ehci_hcd 31685 0
hw_random 5589 0
snd_intel8x0 34829 6
snd_ac97_codec 64401 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm_oss 47608 0
snd_mixer_oss 17217 2 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 97993 3 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 29765 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 9673 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport 4801 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart 8769 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi 26725 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 8137 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 54053 18 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi, snd_seq_device
soundcore 9889 2 snd
e100 39493 0
mii 4673 1 e100
floppy 58609 0
ext3 116809 1
jbd 74969 1 ext3
sata_sil 8005 3
libata 41285 1 sata_sil
sd_mod 16961 4
scsi_mod 118417 2 libata,sd_mod

That looks fine.

What error does UT give?

[silintninjya@localhost ~]$ /home/silintninjya/ut2004/ut2004
WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture is subject to change!
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0".
Signal: SIGSEGV [segmentation fault]
Aborting.


Crash information will be saved to your logfile.
X Error of failed request: BadColor (invalid Colormap parameter)
Major opcode of failed request: 79 (X_FreeColormap)
Resource id in failed request: 0x2e00001
Serial number of failed request: 76
Current serial number in output stream: 78
[silintninjya@localhost ~]$

Could you post the contents of the Screen section of xorg.conf? I think you may be running with 16 bit colour or something.

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Dell E771p"
DisplaySize 300 230
HorizSync 30.0 - 70.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 160.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nv"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce 4 (generic)"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection

there, thats just about everything cept for the load part and some # parts.

OK, change the driver back to 'nvidia', then get out of X, then modprobe nvidia, then do startx again.

the only way i can successfully get out of x is to change my inittab. doing "/sbin/telinit 3" craps it up. it takes me to a completely blank area where i cant do anything. and if i change it to nvidia, and then reboot, it gets mad and resets it!

After doing telinit 3, try doing Alt-F1. That should get you into a login console.

my gosh, my pc is retarded...

"/sbin/telinit 3" does absolutly nothing now. it just gives me the next line...

could it be because i have it boot to 3? then i use startx to get to gnome.

Ah.

Yes, you're already in runlevel 3, so telinit 3 won't do anything.
So, log out of gnome, so that you're in a text console, then do this:
1) edit xorg.conf and make sure the driver is nvidia, and not nv
2) modprobe nvidia (as root)
3) startx (as normal user)
4) try UT again.

We'll get this working if it kills me.

ok, i wasnt really sure how to log out of gnome by itself, so i just did a complete reboot. then i logged in as a su. i did this...

vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
[made sure it was set to nvidia]
exit
/sbin/modprobe nvidia
[it did its thing]
exit(to nu)
startx

the nvidia screen flashed for a split second before it started gnome and my screen was centered a little left(the same as windows usually is and it is set up properly.)

now i tried to run ut2k4 and this is what i got

[silintninjya@localhost ~]$ /home/silintninjya/ut2004/ut2004
WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture is subject to change!
Error: Could not open /dev/nvidiactl because the permissions
are too resticitive. Please see the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
section of /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README for steps
to correct.
Signal: SIGSEGV [segmentation fault]
Aborting.


Crash information will be saved to your logfile.


looks easy to fix to me. and i think we are moving forward with it ^_^

its people like you that make linux so great ^_^

OK. We're getting there.

What you'll have to do is edit /etc/security/console.perms
Remove any lines which have dri in them
Add:
<nvidia>=/dev/nvidia*

underneath:
# device classes

and add:
<console> 0660 <nvidia> 0600 root

underneath:
# permission definitions

In order to get the nvidia module loaded at boot (so you don't have to modprobe it every time you boot), edit /etc/rc.d/rc.local, and add:
modprobe nvidia

at the end of the file. After you've done that, you can probably put 5 back into inittab, and have your graphical login back.

do i need to reboot for changes to take effect?

if not, i messed up >_<