Hi all - hoping I can get some help. I'm a bit of a newb so be descriptive in any response... :)
Here's the output I get when I run Vendetta:
$ vendetta
vendetta: error while loading shared libraries: libgtk-1.2.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I checked for this file:
$ locate libgtk-1.2.so.0
/usr/lib/libgtk-1.2.so.0
/usr/lib/libgtk-1.2.so.0.9.1

$ ls -al /usr/lib/libgtk-1.2.so.0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 Nov 6 11:05 /usr/lib/libgtk-1.2.so.0 -> libgtk-1.2.so.0.9.1

$ ls -al /usr/lib/libgtk-1.2.so.0.9.1
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1537240 Nov 6 11:05 /usr/lib/libgtk-1.2.so.0.9.1

Any thoughts?

Hmm, did you run ldconfig as root after installing that?

Also, try running ldd /usr/lib/libgtk-1.2.so.0 and see if it's missing any dependent libraries itself.

I hadn't run ldconfig (though I think that happens with the emerge under gentoo anyway). I did run it now and there's no difference.

Here's the output from ldd:

root # ldd /usr/lib/libgtk-1.2.so.0
libgmodule-1.2.so.0 => /usr/lib/libgmodule-1.2.so.0 (0x0000002a957db000)
libglib-1.2.so.0 => /usr/lib/libglib-1.2.so.0 (0x0000002a958de000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x0000002a95a09000)
libXi.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib64/libXi.so.6 (0x0000002a95b0b000)
libXext.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib64/libXext.so.6 (0x0000002a95c13000)
libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib64/libX11.so.6 (0x0000002a95d25000)
libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x0000002a95f06000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x0000002a96008000)
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 => /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x000000552aaaa000)

Ah, you're using a 64-bit architecture. Hmm.

Well, what does ldd vendetta say?

Ahhh... interesting!
$ ldd /usr/games/bin/vendetta
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xffffe000)
libgtk-1.2.so.0 => not found
libgdk-1.2.so.0 => not found
libgmodule-1.2.so.0 => /usr/lib32/libgmodule-1.2.so.0 (0x5557a000)
libglib-1.2.so.0 => /usr/lib32/libglib-1.2.so.0 (0x5557d000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib32/libdl.so.2 (0x555a3000)
libXi.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib32/libXi.so.6 (0x555a7000)
libXext.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib32/libXext.so.6 (0x555af000)
libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib32/libX11.so.6 (0x555be000)
libm.so.6 => /lib32/libm.so.6 (0x55689000)
libc.so.6 => /lib32/libc.so.6 (0x556ab000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x55555000)

Since you said you use gentoo in the "distributions count off thread" this will probably apply to you too:

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/6/7031

(oops, I thought he said he was using Fedora Code 2. Yes.)

Thanks! That corrects the problem of not finding those lib's, I will try running the game in a few and let you know.
Hope to see you in there...

WOOT!
Thanks guys, I am up and running, smoooooooth as silk!
Very impressed... it actually runs much better than in Windows x64.

same problem on a ubunto system - any ideas? there's no emerge there ;)

Use either synaptic, aptitude or apt-get to install the libraries. Based what I seem to have installed (Ubuntu/Warty/x86-64) you'd need something like:

apt-get install ia32-libs

which will by dependency also install "ia32-libs-gtk".

even if the box is a celeron, ie not the 64 bit version? sorry should have made that clear.

Then you just need to install the gtk1 libs.