Just for grins I decided to ldd the RainSlickEp2 executable .. does this look like the same libraries you are linking against?

cdodt 2 …/wc/m11/scripts% ldd ~/games/RainSlickEp2/RainSlickEp2_bin
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xb7fa4000)
libSDL-1.2.so.0 => /usr/lib/libSDL-1.2.so.0 (0xb7eff000)
libGLEW.so.1.5 => /usr/lib/libGLEW.so.1.5 (0xb7ec7000)
libGL.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGL.so.1 (0xb7e22000)
libfmodex.so => not found
libfmodevent.so => not found
libXrandr.so.2 => /usr/lib/libXrandr.so.2 (0xb7e1c000)
libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0xb7d29000)
libm.so.6 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libm.so.6 (0xb7d03000)
libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0xb7cf8000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6 (0xb7ba9000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libdl.so.2 (0xb7ba5000)
libX11.so.6 => /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 (0xb7abe000)
libpthread.so.0 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libpthread.so.0 (0xb7aa6000)
libasound.so.2 => /usr/lib/libasound.so.2 (0xb79e5000)
libdirectfb-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libdirectfb-1.0.so.0 (0xb7982000)
libfusion-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libfusion-1.0.so.0 (0xb797a000)
libdirect-1.0.so.0 => /usr/lib/libdirect-1.0.so.0 (0xb7967000)
libXmu.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXmu.so.6 (0xb7951000)
libXi.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXi.so.6 (0xb7948000)
libGLU.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGLU.so.1 (0xb78c5000)
libXext.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXext.so.6 (0xb78b7000)
libGLcore.so.1 => /usr/lib/libGLcore.so.1 (0xb6da2000)
libnvidia-tls.so.1 => /usr/lib/tls/libnvidia-tls.so.1 (0xb6da0000)
libXrender.so.1 => /usr/lib/libXrender.so.1 (0xb6d97000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7fa5000)
libxcb-xlib.so.0 => /usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0 (0xb6d95000)
libxcb.so.1 => /usr/lib/libxcb.so.1 (0xb6d7d000)
librt.so.1 => /lib/tls/i686/cmov/librt.so.1 (0xb6d74000)
libXt.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXt.so.6 (0xb6d23000)
libSM.so.6 => /usr/lib/libSM.so.6 (0xb6d1a000)
libICE.so.6 => /usr/lib/libICE.so.6 (0xb6d02000)
libXau.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXau.so.6 (0xb6cff000)
libXdmcp.so.6 => /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6 (0xb6cfa000)

I actually can't think of any. I think the problem is fundamentally that SDL kind of sucks. I need to make a new build of the game anyway, once I get to that I'll start trying to figure out how to make it more compatible. At the moment, I'm sort of out of ideas, though.

It's good to know for certain that it's a problem, though, and to know what I can compare it against. The only other bug reports I've gotten were of the form "well, it doesn't work, but I don't usually play games, so I don't know if it should" :)

Is there anything you'd like me to try?

I had some trouble figuring out what I could or couldn't assume from a Linux system. Whatever SDL looks for to determine if OpenGL is available isn't there. I don't know what that is, however. I was able to fix it on some systems by installing the proper 3d drivers, and wasn't able to find any where that didn't work – but it wouldn't surprise me if those installations exist.

Can you play any other games through Linux? Knowing what else works might help me track down why this doesn't.

A dialog box pops up and says: "Can't find your 3d hardware, aborting. Maybe you need to install third-party 3d drivers? Feel free to post on the forums (http://forums.mandible.net) if you think this message is wrong or want some help fixing it." (But the forums didn't have any Linux posts.)

itemdb.cpp: 663: EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
test.cpp: 56: Tests starting
test.cpp: 69: Tests passed
res_interf: 93: 1680×1050, 1.600000, 1
res_interf: 53: Attempting to make window 1680/1050
res_interf: 33: WARNING: Software surface
res_interf: 40: WARNING: Software blit
res_interf: 65: We has failed to make a window.
res_interf: 66: Couldn't find matching GLX visual
res_interf: 93: 640×480, 1.333333, 0
res_interf: 53: Attempting to make window 640/480
res_interf: 33: WARNING: Software surface
res_interf: 40: WARNING: Software blit
res_interf: 65: We has failed to make a window.
res_interf: 66: Couldn't find matching GLX visual
main.cpp: 75: Error at -1, main.cpp:75 – 0

Thanks again for reporting that :)