[SOLVED] Running Supermodel Emulator - Problems with finding SDL2 libs

ryanbarillos · 2026-02-20 14:16:14

About

I'm currently trying out Supermodel emulator, A SEGA Model 3 machine emulator, to see if it works on Linux, and hopefully package it into a neat AUR package for quick install.

There's a distro-agnostic binary(?) package available for download here (currently on v0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551 as of Feb 20 2027)

Problem

So I tried running, only to be met with disappointment:

[user@archlinux supermodel-0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551]$ ./supermodel
./supermodel: error while loading shared libraries: libSDL2_net-2.0.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
[rybar@rogzephyrus supermodel-0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551]$ ./supermodel ./DaytonaUSA2.zip 
./supermodel: error while loading shared libraries: libSDL2_net-2.0.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
[user@archlinux supermodel-0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551]$

Which is odd, so I tried looking at the SDL page on Arch Wiki to verify if I have all correct packages:

[user@archlinux supermodel-0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551]$ pacman -Qq sdl2 sdl3
sdl2-compat
sdl3
[user@archlinux supermodel-0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551]$ sudo pacman -Rns sdl2-compat sdl3
checking dependencies...
error: failed to prepare transaction (could not satisfy dependencies)
:: removing sdl2-compat breaks dependency 'sdl2' required by blender
:: removing sdl2-compat breaks dependency 'sdl2' required by ffmpeg
:: removing sdl2-compat breaks dependency 'sdl2' required by ffmpeg4.4
:: removing sdl3 breaks dependency 'sdl3' required by fluidsynth
:: removing sdl2-compat breaks dependency 'sdl2' required by flycast-git
:: removing sdl3 breaks dependency 'sdl3' required by freerdp
:: removing sdl2-compat breaks dependency 'sdl2' required by qemu-audio-sdl
:: removing sdl2-compat breaks dependency 'sdl2' required by qemu-ui-sdl
:: removing sdl2-compat breaks dependency 'sdl2' required by scrcpy
:: removing sdl2-compat breaks dependency 'sdl2' required by sdl12-compat
:: removing sdl2-compat breaks dependency 'sdl2' required by sdl2_image
:: removing sdl2-compat breaks dependency 'sdl2' required by sdl2_ttf
:: removing sdl3 breaks dependency 'sdl3' required by sdl3_ttf
[user@archlinux supermodel-0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551]$

And I do! However, it seems to me that Supermodel doesn't recognize sdl2-compat at all.

What I've Tried

I've checked the README of the emulator on Github (and by digging further into the program's files) and checked the following dependencies for running on Linux:

Original source: Click here
--------------------
Linux
Ensure SDL2 is installed. Most package managers ought to have this available. For example, on Ubuntu, it should be sufficient to run:
sudo apt install libsdl2-dev
sudo apt install libsdl2-net-dev
sudo apt install libglu1-mesa-dev
And then build Supermodel:
make -f Makefiles/Makefile.UNIX
For network support:
make -f Makefiles/Makefile.UNIX NET_BOARD=1

Original source: Click here
--------------------
/Supermodel/Libriaries/DIR.txt
Source code for Third-party libraries needs to be placed in here.
Should look something like
SDL2_net-2.2.0
SDL2-2.30.8
zlib-1.2.4

I'm not sure if I need to even compile the tar.gz from the download link above, so I've bypassed doing the make commands.
And as for the other libraries I checked:

[user@archlinux supermodel-0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551]$ pacman -Qq sdl2 zlib
sdl2-compat
zlib
[user@archlinux supermodel-0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551]$

And I do have them.

What I Haven't Tried (or couldn't try prior to posting)

1. Try grabbing other SDL2 libraries and place them at /Supermodel/Libraries
2. Try getting SDL2 packages from Ubuntu's package repos, and use debtap to install them on my Arch machine
3. ~~Try the sdl2 AUR package; installing this requires removing sdl2-compat from my machine, meaning lots of errors from pacman as you see above this text.~~ - Yea, this is a non-issue, but not gonna help the situation any way.

--------------

So yea. Bummer to not being able to run Supermodel on my Arch machine. Curious to know if anyone else has tried running it.
On the other hand: Supermodel is available as a Flatpak on Flathub (download here), a win over my sad defeat.

Last edited by ryanbarillos (2026-02-20 14:34:07)

Scimmia · 2026-02-20 14:19:42

ryanbarillos wrote:

3. Try the sdl2 AUR package; installing this requires removing sdl2-compat from my machine, meaning lots of errors from pacman as you see above this text.

No, it does not require removing sdl2-compat the way you're trying to do it. It requires you to replace sdl2-compat with sdl2 when you install the latter.

Edit, but that's not going to help as that's not the lib it's looking for.

% pacman -F libSDL2_net-2.0.so.0
extra/sdl2_net 1:2.2.0-2
    usr/lib/libSDL2_net-2.0.so.0

Last edited by Scimmia (2026-02-20 14:22:11)

ryanbarillos · 2026-02-20 14:32:58

Scimmia wrote:

ryanbarillos wrote:
3. Try the sdl2 AUR package; installing this requires removing sdl2-compat from my machine, meaning lots of errors from pacman as you see above this text.
No, it does not require removing sdl2-compat the way you're trying to do it. It requires you to replace sdl2-compat with sdl2 when you install the latter.
Edit, but that's not going to help as that's not the lib it's looking for.
% pacman -F libSDL2_net-2.0.so.0
extra/sdl2_net 1:2.2.0-2
    usr/lib/libSDL2_net-2.0.so.0

Thanks! I tried installing sdl2_net & sdl2 AUR package, and now it finally works!

[user@archlinux supermodel-0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551]$ ./supermodel ./DaytonaUSA2.zip 
Supermodel: A Sega Model 3 Arcade Emulator (Version 0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551)
Copyright 2003-2026 by The Supermodel Team
GPU info: 4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 25.3.5-arch1.1 (core profile)

    Title:          Daytona USA 2 - Battle on the Edge (Japan, Revision A)
    ROM Set:        daytona2
    Developer:      Sega
    Year:           1998
    Stepping:       2.1
    Extra Hardware: Digital Sound Board (Type DSB2), Drive Board, Net Board, Security Board

[user@archlinux supermodel-0.3a-20260207-git-fe00551]$

Though upon running the game I get the following in-game error:

CANCELLED / NETWORK BOARD NOT PRESENT

I'll have a read further into the program to see what's wrong, and then proceed onward to making this an AUR package!

Arch Linux

#1 2026-02-20 14:16:14