Wine not whine

[yanom]

its just a matter of getting the game to use opengl instead of directx

How do I get my Civ 4 to do that?

[i92guboj]

Noob to Linux and want to try playing Windows games, what is Wine and or Cedega? Can I play games using Wine or do I need Cedega or both?

The only thing where Cedega is any better is about anti-copy support. For everything else, Wine is nowadays superior to Cedega, in every regard.

Wine HQ

The WINE project is essentially a piece of software that translates the system calls made by Microsoft Windows software into something Linux can understand. WINE is free of charge and open-source. Cedega and a related tool called Crossover are commercial applications based on the same code as WINE that offer emphasis on using games and office applications, respectively.

You only need one of these three to run some MS Windows software on Linux. What software will work and how well depends heavily on a number of factors:

1. What program you're intending to run
2. What Linux distribution and version of WINE you have
3. What hardware configuration you have
4. Whether the program is a 3D game or a 2D one
5. The age and relative popularity of the game or application

Good luck.

1, 2 and 3 are mostly certain (though hardware is usually not a concern itself, but some things like opengl support might be.

4 is false (I think, not 100% sure) because I think that all the directdraw stuff is really done wrapped on direct3d, so, wine shouldn't care 2d vs 3d, though as I said, I am not 100% sure.

5 is definitely false if you consider nwn2 and oblivion new games. It's more about how the game was programmed, and not how new or old it is really.

I must have glanced over that part Manchunian

I got a buddy of mine who is a Linux worshiper (hates anything Windows or Mac), he claims I can play any Windows game using Wine, I got all the new ones, I got some old ones if you can consider WOW old? 99% of the time I don't have an answer for this guys geekyishness so I just say, OK I'll have to check that out". Now that I've had the time to actually use Linux I want to see all what it's capable of doing.

I am a linux lover, that doesn't mean I have to tell false stuff to impress anyone. You can't run 100% of windows games in linux (though the success ratio is increasing each day with every new version of wine, and not only for games). Hell, you can't run 100% of windows games even in windows

[techieMoe]

4 is false (I think, not 100% sure) because I think that all the directdraw stuff is really done wrapped on direct3d, so, wine shouldn't care 2d vs 3d, though as I said, I am not 100% sure.

The things I listed were not meant to be "true" or "false" but since you decided to take them that way allow me to correct you. Whether or not a game is 2D or 3D absolutely affects whether or not it will work.

The reason is that not everyone has proper 3D hardware support and even if they do not everyone has proper drivers installed. Since WINE uses your native video device, a 2D game would work just fine regardless of this fact, whereas a 3D one would not. Do you see the point I was trying to make now?

5 is definitely false if you consider nwn2 and oblivion new games. It's more about how the game was programmed, and not how new or old it is really.

You completely misunderstood what I said. The WINE project works on support for specific games only if those games are particularly popular. Look in the Wine Application Database to see what I mean.

Therefore the more popular a game is the more likely it is that more people have bug-tested it against WINE. The more obscure a game is, the less likely it is to have been bug-tested.

Sure, if a game was made using OpenGL rather than Direct3D it's more likely to work in Linux under WINE, but that is not the only metric by which you can judge the probability it will work.

I am a linux lover, that doesn't mean I have to tell false stuff to impress anyone.

Of course not, and you obviously took that comment personally, which was not my intention. There are people who love Linux and there are zealots. They are two different types of people.

[i92guboj]

The things I listed were not meant to be "true" or "false" but since you decided to take them that way allow me to correct you. Whether or not a game is 2D or 3D absolutely affects whether or not it will work.

The reason is that not everyone has proper 3D hardware support and even if they do not everyone has proper drivers installed. Since WINE uses your native video device, a 2D game would work just fine regardless of this fact, whereas a 3D one would not. Do you see the point I was trying to make now?

Of course, 2d stuff won't work either if you use a monochrome screen either... I was assuming that the basic hardware resources are available...

You completely misunderstood what I said. The WINE project works on support for specific games only if those games are particularly popular. Look in the Wine Application Database to see what I mean.

This is a more adequate description for Cedega, and not wine. In fact, I remember that the wine project aims for the most complete compatibility, leaving performance in a second plane. That's doesn't mean that performance is bad though.

Cedega users vote for a couple of games and that's the thing that they care about. While the aim of wine is to achieve complete compatibility. So, I have to disagree with you in that regard.

Therefore the more popular a game is the more likely it is that more people have bug-tested it against WINE. The more obscure a game is, the less likely it is to have been bug-tested.

Of course that more famous software is tested better... Just like in windows natively... That doesn't mean that wine devs are working only on a given number of programs. As I said, the aim is to achieve perfect compatibility for user land programs (and games are just a particular case).

Sure, if a game was made using OpenGL rather than Direct3D it's more likely to work in Linux under WINE, but that is not the only metric by which you can judge the probability it will work.

D3d support is improving every day. In fact, it's getting into very good shape lately. There are thing that need much more love than direct3d... For example: directplay.

Of course not, and you obviously took that comment personally, which was not my intention. There are people who love Linux and there are zealots. They are two different types of people.

Sorry if I sounded personal, that's not my intention at all. I enjoy the conversation. My comment was done with just a generic intention, I was not talking about me personally. It's just that English is not my language

[techieMoe]

Of course, 2d stuff won't work either if you use a monochrome screen either... I was assuming that the basic hardware resources are available...

It's best not to assume anything. I've had perfectly functional hardware setups that for one reason or another simply will not run WINE or Cedega with any consistency.

This is a more adequate description for Cedega, and not wine. In fact, I remember that the wine project aims for the most complete compatibility, leaving performance in a second plane. That's doesn't mean that performance is bad though.

Again, the entire purpose of my list of 5 things was just a general guideline for whether or not a game is likely to run in WINE. I did not intend to say that those situations are the gospel truth. To do so would be silly, since as I was trying to point out everyone's setup is slightly different.

Cedega users vote for a couple of games and that's the thing that they care about. While the aim of wine is to achieve complete compatibility. So, I have to disagree with you in that regard.

I'm fully aware of the way Cedega develops support. I've subscribed to it several times. However I don't see that WINE is much different. The fact that they don't have an explicit "vote for this game" system in place doesn't mean they don't do development based on a particular application. Google was recently seen donating money to WINE in an effort to improve its performance with Photoshop for instance.

That doesn't mean that wine devs are working only on a given number of programs.

No, it doesn't. However would a dev waste their time working on getting a fifteen-year-old game that was only released in Croatia to work or would they rather devote it to something with more of a user base?

Much as I enjoy a good debate, this thread has turned more into a discussion which is not appropriate for the question sections of the forum. If the original poster still has any questions I suggest you start a new thread. This one has gone off topic and I'll be closing it now.