Windows Gaming WAS Is it yet possible to _really_ switch from Windows?

Thu Jan 10 10:31:45 MST 2008

This sounds highly promising. I will be looking into it once I'm all
packed and set to move (I'm moving to SF next month). Mostly I want to
play FarCry, Uru and a couple other older games so I'm guessing
they're more likely to be supported. My Gamebox / MythTV Backend /
Rainbow Cracker / DVD Ripper / FTA Satellite Receiver is an Opteron
180, 4GB RAM with an NVidia 7800GS...hopefully enough power. In any
case, right now I'm running SpinRite on my main rig because of some
weird EMASK errors that keep wrecking my RAID6 just to make sure it is
a software bug and not actual hardware flaking out...

Another thought comes to mind: Are there any issues running 32bit
compatible Wine/Cedega on a 64bit platform that you're aware of?

Regarding the other bit: I *highly* recommend UrbanTerror. The
graphics are a bit dated, but the gameplay is fantastic and much
better than the original counterstrike in my book (it uses Q3A physics
with a 125fps cap). I recommend the FSK405 servers (My nick is
FSK405|BRC :) and the BD server as well. The community isn't all that
large as the game is so old, but I take this as a positive because
there are a majority of mature players online rather than the vast
numbers of whiny, small ego-ed, punks one finds populating most FPS
game servers. Oh...and did I mention it runs AWESOME on Linux? There
is even a 64bit binary that works flawlessly...also, being such an old
game one can play it on old hardware...in case you want to have
multiple gameboxen in your house and want to build them from old
hardware.

P.S. Once you're comfortable with the game, there is an advanced
player map called Superman...which is fun to run around on and
discover even without a game in progress. Check it out.

On Jan 9, 2008 9:33 PM, Patrick C <patrick.pxc.c at gmail.com> wrote:
> That seems like a very interesting idea with VMWare. Another option to
> consider is CDEMU, which supports mounting Alcohol images (which are able to
> contain tricks to make them act like copyrighted discs). The problem for
> that would be in getting Cedega to recognize CDEMU as a CD-ROM drive. The
> issue, though, doesn't lie in the emulation software; Cedega implements the
> copy-protection stuff such that you can use the original disc successfully.
>
> Thanks for reminding me of UrbanTerror. I've read about it before, but later
> forgot. I'll give it a whirl, and if it's (close to) as good as
> Counter-Strike, I'll use it as a replacement. As far as running Steam games
> under Linux, there are only a few things to consider:
>
> Which emulation software will you use?
> If you use the partially proprietary Cedega, you have a bit more of a
> guarantee, and maybe better performance. On the other hand, if you choose
> Wine, you will probably have comparable support, but more difficulty setting
> up. Wine vs Cedega performance used to lean hard in Cedega's favor, but Wine
> has made leaps in DirectX support recently, and is often as good as or
> better than Cedega, performance-wise. It's also free, and more commonly
> updated. Read up on the Cedega forums at transgaming.org (or maybe it's
> forums.cedega.com) before you decide whether or not to invest in it (it's
> pretty cheap, though, so I wouldn't worry as long as you remember to cancel
> and save your little installer file).
>
> Do the games you want to run have OpenGL support?
> If they do, you can actually get very close to native performance, as the
> graphics calls (often the most demanding as far as computation work) are
> native. If you're not sure if your games have an OpenGL option, read around
> online. Any game that also has a Mac version has an OpenGL option.
> Experiment with OpenGL vs DirectX; different games work better with one or
> the other.
>
> Some Steam-specific tips:
> -Steam games have options that can greatly affect performance, especially
> under Wine/Cedega. You can, for example, specify which DirectX version you'd
> like to use, resolution, and heap-size in the call to Steam (used by game
> shortcuts). You can find the command line options documentation for Valve
> games here.
> -Steam uses the Microsoft core fonts, which Wine does not come with! Neither
> does Ubuntu, or any other free distribution. Look around for the appropriate
> packages, or install the TTFs in your Wine font folder manually. Otherwise,
> you end up with a blank steam interface.
> -Steam (but not the games) performance can be greatly affected by Wine's
> scheduler options.
> -Source games may have some sound issues.
>
> For more detailed help on these Steam problems/workarounds, visit the Wine
> AppDB, which should have you covered. :-)
>
> As far as performance... if you're barely running the games under Windows,
> don't attempt them under Linux. If you can run them on max settings,
> depending on the game's age, you will either be able to run them on max
> settings with slightly less performance or on lower settings with comparable
> performance, but either way, playability is a sure bet. Of course, the usual
> issues with Linux game performance also apply (you'll want your vendor's
> proprietary 3D drivers, etc).
>
> On Jan 8, 2008 5:58 PM, Erich Newell <erich.newell at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hmm. It would be a total hack...but if they allow mounting of the
> > drives via the network, you could run VMWare with windoze...mount the
> > ISO via DaemonTools and share it out?
> >
> > I don't have games with these requirements any longer. Actually, the
> > newest game I play is UrbanTerror 4.1, which is based on Quake3
> > (ioQuake)...I'd like to try the newer games, but not enough to guinea
> > pig their feasibility under reenix.
> >
> > What Steam-based games work and what horsepower is needed? What's the
> > performance hit?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Jan 8, 2008 5:23 PM, Patrick C <patrick.pxc.c at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I've actually done a LAN party from Linux, myself, so I could talk to
> you
> > > about that. As for D-Tools vs `mount -t iso9660 -o loop`, the
> > > copy-protection features used by many modern games are unsupported
> > > (nonexistent) on Linux. Cedega provides these services, but does not
> support
> > > mounting ISO images. (I've tried editing the configuration files by
> hand,
> > > too.)
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Jan 8, 2008 3:53 PM, Erich Newell <erich.newell at gmail.com > wrote:
> > > > Awesome to hear. I'd like to pick his brain on how he has some of the
> > > > games configured...as far as the "cons": Wine can be fooled into
> > > > mounting ISOs as CDROM drives by first mounting them as loop devices
> > > > under fstab and then adding them using winecfg.
> > > >
> > > > :)
> > > >
> > > > Who needs daemon tools?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Jan 8, 2008 3:41 PM, Patrick C < patrick.pxc.c at gmail.com > wrote:
> > > > > I just thought I'd throw this out there, since it's related...
> > > > >
> > > > > I just threw a LAN party on the 31st with about 18 people. One of
> those
> > > > > people ran Linux (Ubuntu 7.10) for the reason that he couldn't
> install
> > > > > Windows on his computer. He said that his Windows XP license is an
> > > upgrade
> > > > > from a Windows 98 license which is also an upgrade license, and
> nothing
> > > > > older than that recognizes his CD-ROM drive. He already had most of
> the
> > > > > games we were going to play (some recent, some older:
> Counter-Strike:
> > > > > Source, Warcraft III, Starcraft, Age of Empires III) working with
> Wine.
> > > For
> > > > > the rest (or ones that were simply buggy) I threw my copy of Cedega
> on
> > > there
> > > > > and pointed them to his Wine directories for the shortcuts, and the
> > > games
> > > > > ran and performed fairly well.
> > > > >
> > > > > The cons were not really show-stoppers. A minor performance loss and
> a
> > > > > slightly more complicated installation process. The things he missed
> out
> > > on
> > > > > were tools like Daemon Tools and Daemonscript (which I combined so
> > > nobody
> > > > > would have to pass around CDs)--not the games themselves. That said,
> > > real
> > > > > Linux games hardly exist outside of Id Software's stuff, and the
> > > selection
> > > > > of Windows games guaranteed to work with Cedega/Wine is somewhat
> small,
> > > > > including only the biggest titles.
> > > > >
> > > > > On Dec 27, 2007 9:43 PM, JT Moree < moreejt at pcxperience.com > wrote:
> > > > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > > > > > Hash: SHA1
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Judd Pickell wrote:
> > > > > > > Sorry, but this argument falls on its face when you consider the
> > > cost
> > > > > > > of the console and quality of the game. When a console costs as
> much
> > > > > > > as the upgrades to a PC, I hardly call that being better.
> Especially
> > > > > > > since the cost of the games is almost the same.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > You seem to miss my point entirely.  I disagree with your
> arguments
> > > but
> > > > > > we're quite off topic I think.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Let me recap:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Chris made a point about gaming on windows being better than other
> PC
> > > > > > platforms.  I did NOT disagree with this statement--in fact I
> agreed
> > > > > > with it.  But I went a step further and made a point that gaming
> on
> > > > > > Windows stinks compared to consoles.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I then gave reasons why PC gaming (Windows, LInux, MAc) is never
> as
> > > > > > simple and easy as a console.  I am the one who gets calls from
> > > friends
> > > > > > and family to help with their stupid PC problems.  I"ll be happy
> to
> > > > > > refer them to you if you disagree with my assessment. ;)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I ended by saying people who want to play games should buy
> consoles
> > > (so
> > > > > > that they dont' call ME when they have problems.)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > You seemed to reply with something along the lines of: consoles
> are
> > > > > > lower quality and more expensive to upgrade than PCs.  Again, I
> > > disagree
> > > > > > with this but it's OK to disagree with each other.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Then you proceeded to explain why LInux has few commercial games.
> Yes
> > > I
> > > > > > agree with all of that and it only reinforces my point.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I don't think there's anything constructive to say here.  I
> suppose
> > > you
> > > > > > can reply if I've misunderstood your response but is this
> discussion
> > > > > > serving any purpose?  I'm regretting that I replied to the OP.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > - --
> > > > > > JT Morée
> > > > > > PC Xperience, Inc.
> > > > > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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> > > > > > XLfYN5Eh//purtT2U0ETaDE=
> > > > > > =OpL4
> > > > > > -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
> > > > > >
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> > > > > --
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> > > > --
> > > > "A man is defined by the questions that he asks; and the way he goes
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> > > Amarok: Rediscover your music.
> > > -- http://amarok.kde.org
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> > > Sabayon Linux: Cutting Gentoo's edge.
> > > -- http://www.sabayonlinux.org
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> > about finding the answers to those questions is the way he goes
> > through life."
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>  Amarok: Rediscover your music.
> -- http://amarok.kde.org
>
> Sabayon Linux: Cutting Gentoo's edge.
> -- http://www.sabayonlinux.org
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-- 
"A man is defined by the questions that he asks; and the way he goes
about finding the answers to those questions is the way he goes
through life."