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New Transgaming WineX Release
Thunderbird writes "Transgaming released a new version of WineX. Winex allows you to run x86 windows games and programs on x86 Linux. It includes allmost full directx support (up to 7 including direct3d). " I'm still skeptical of their business model, but I subscribed anyway in the hopes that The Sims and its expansion packs will work soon. They look legit, although I only own 2 windows program (The Sims, Diablo 2, and their expansion packs)
so I don't have much to test it on.
It isn't just The Sims. Transgaming and the Wine developers have done an incredible job. If you haven't looked at the game compatibility list recently, do so. Anything with a 5 (officially supported by Transgaming) or 4 (runs nicely) should be fine. It's up to an incredible number of good games now.
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I'm still skeptical of their business model
You're not alone. I have a friend working (in a gaming company) on a quite powerfull 3D engine. It's been already used for a deer huting game or what was it. The whole code runs under Linux/mesa(opengl) on full optimalization without any problems. They use even openal for audio effects.
The game which runs on this engine uses some (very redundant MS Windows dependent sw (activeX or such)) so the result won't run anything else but MS windows.
However, it'd take a week or so to port to Linux but noone is willing to do it.
From the page (about half way down):
So there you have it. They probably had to license SafeDisc so the could properly run protected software.
Don't feel bad, these mistakes happen to all of us. ^_^
(BTW: since I'm on the subject of corrections, the hole your thinking of is 'whole' as in everything, not hole as in an empty space. Hehe.)
This has got me thinking about the whole WineX thing. I think it's a good idea and brings off the shelf software to Linux users. However isn't Transgaming breaking this with their package and special versions of games? Transgaming has their own, apparently optimized version, of The Sims that they bundle with this package that runs under WineX. Apparantely the commerical Windows version doesn't. So it means that if you want to run The Sims under Linux you have to buy their version (and perhaps their future versions of other Windows games). I'm not sure what optimizations they make or how they make them or what involvement Maxis had in all this. The concept of WineX was to allow you to run Windows programs under Linux so it would open up more software (including games) to people wanting to run that operating system. So if you go down this route, you're stuck buying your "Windows" games from them (since they're somewhat changed from the off the shelf Windows versions) and thus if you decide to go back to Windows as an operating system, you have a game that might not work with it right? A little odd if you ask me. Anyways, one step closer to removing that multi-boot that I have to do everytime I want to run Linux.
liB
how much is a copy of win98 going for these days?
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A lot of people are complaining they have to pay cash for WineX, not quite true. Only pre-packaged versions. The source is available under the terms of the Aladdin license. If this codebase is not complete, would someone please correct me. I personally maintain two different installs of Wine, the main branch of winehqs wine, checked out of CVS every so often, and the WineX branch, again from CVS ever so often. Why both? The WineX branch provides DirectX support, but other advances in the Wine project are slow to get into WineX, for example I can get the QuickTime player to install under standard Wine CVS builds, but not WineX. :)
So if you don't feel like paying, build the source if you can. Takes a long while, and if it fails, oh well, shell out a bit of cash for your software for once
Transgaming is a decent company, even if they don't bend over backwards to give away all their work for free. This is a bad expectation for Linux users to have, and when commercial Linux projects receive such criticism, it makes commercial vendors more and more hesitant about releasing linux products.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
it was my desire to rid my life of that heinous win partition that finally pushed me to toss $15 at transgaming. i have been VERY pleased with the results.
my rationalizations: first, gaming companies are not going to give up writing games for windows. most of them won't even produce for the mac, so how can i expect them to pick up linux anytime soon? loki, loki, loki...save it. i have loki games all over the place, but last time i checked, loki doesn't do diablo. and that is basically ALL i do.
so i use winex, which gets me diablo. call me a pragmatist, but i like to use my computer for whatever i choose. the workaround that is wine exists and i don't mind using it.
i know this all sounds rather flamish, but i am trying to point out that pragmatism certainly won't kill anyone in this arena. i buy linux games whenever they are available rather than their windows siblings. but these are games we're talking about. free as in speech doesn't really apply (in my mind) and they certainly aren't critical to my (or anyone else's) existence. that's why they are called games.
will my use of winex change the balance of gaming? nope. if i only buy games made for linux, will THAT tip things? nope. it would take more gamers than linux has users to do that. is winex good or bad for linux? i don't know. if we suddenly had more games for linux, would it necessarily draw more people to it? i don't know. what i do know is that until the games i play come in linux flavors, winex it is.
disclaimer: all i use at home is debian and the only non-free software i ever run is game related...preaching to the converted and all that...
hmmm...
I really don't see WineX as a problem, since most developers aren't going to write to Linux anyway (look at gaming on the Mac for a comparison -- I doubt Linux will be able to get much if any above that level without massive market share increase). In fact, I would actually be inclined to think this could greatly help Linux in the long run. Game developers are in it for the money, and very few will take a risk with Linux in the hopes of converting users to Linux so they can play a game that isn't available on Windows. As long as WineX runs the Windows games as well/fast as Windows does, then the user doesn't lose anything by playing a Windows game with WineX over playing a native Linux game. On the other hand, if users have the option of playing all their favorite Windows gaming titles on Linux, more people will be inclined to move to Linux. The game companies aren't making Windows games because they love Microsoft, they're making Windows games because they sell more that way. Once Linux reaches a market share that rivals that of Windows, more and more game companies will start to see a benefit in creating Linux only games, which will further benefit Linux.
"If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for everyone else."
Transgaming is Legit, I'm subscribed, If theres ever going to be an Open source economy, This is it folks.
It gives you far more freedom than buying products from a store.
First you get to vote on the features and on what the programmers do, so essentially you have the power of an investor moreso than someone who goes to a store and buys a license to run some software.
Second, after you pay, its released and YOU own the code, however it takes 20k people for this to happen so i suggest you all help this company out.
People who dont play games should still subscribe, while you may not pay games, if you want other Linux projects to be funded in this way, then you need to first prove this method works by supporting it.
So do your part and perhaps it will help the open source economy, tis only $5 a month so unless you are some kinda penny pinching greedy bastard you can afford this.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac