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VMware and Games?
gunnk asks: "Here's the deal: I really, really, REALLY want to avoid having a Windows partition on my computer, but I have some nifty games that I still want to play (particularly Civ III). I own a copy of VMware, but Civ3 coughs up an error telling me I'm running a debugger and need to unload it when I try to start the game. All this seems to come up due to copy protection in games. Someone asked something like this over at WINE and was told to grab a copy of the exe without the protection via gamecopyworld. That didn't work for me either (didn't run). Anyone finding any reliable ways to run these games without a Windows partition?"
Sorry to say, but although I like the product VMWare, I just cannot imagine it is good for playing games. It is just too slow.
Even if you manage to get the games work, the performance will probably make you sick and if not the performance, than the video output will.
The site where: "I'm right, as long as you ignore the things that prove me wrong", became a valid method of debate.
2. You bought a product that only runs under Windows. This tells vendors that there's no market for Linux games, because that purchase displaced a Linux game purchase. Also bad.
~~~
Next time on "Ask Slashdot": I really, really, REALLY want to have my cake and eat it too. Can someone help?
Seriously, for things like this, you often have to make a choice. Sometimes it's a choice between your principles and your desires.
You do have some options for MS-free gaming, most notably Wine and WineX. Or you could limit yourself to games that are available for Linux. TuxGames still has all (most?) of Loki's games available for sale. You could also move to OSX or console gaming.
Or you could decide that your gaming is more important that having an MS-free desktop. And that's okay. What's important is that you decide what's important to you and then follow through on that. If supporting free/open source software is what's important to you, then losing some of your games will be a sacrifice - but, ultimately, it's one that you'll want to make. On the other hand, if gaming is what you want, then just go for it and don't feel guilty about it.
As long as you're not shunning MS just to prove your eliteness...
WineX will eventually support Civ III. Link here to Civ III shows that it is partially working. I'm guessing the next release will probably fix the font alignment problems; thus moving the rating from 2/5 to 3/5.
As far as cost is concerned, winex is alot cheaper than vmware. You get a small say in how the development is directed along with the use of winex.
--- its to bad about the monkey, I kinda liked them
Is it just me or are the AskSlashdot Questions starting to get more and more like things that need to be posted in newsgroups. Things like "I have a Dell xxx with so much ram and this program won't compile anyone else have this problem what do i do", there's a time and place for questions like that, and sorry it's not SlashDot....
ahh, the egg in the basket..
Games designed to run in windows will always work best in Windows. No matter how much better or more stable Linux is as an OS, something written to work in Windows just won't work as well in Linux with emulation. Not without perfect emulation, which would require much more information on MS Windows and its source (perhaps the 9 states can take care of that). Anyways, at the moment, games written to work in Windows will work better (i.e., faster, more stable ) in Windows. Don't expect to get 100fps in the Windows version of Descent 3 running under Linux; not even if you're using the latest greatest graphics card.
What I suggest you do is set up a minimal Windows partition, with only necessary Windows components installed (i.e., insert Windows install CD, and uncheck everything; even networking -- you can d/l your updates on your Linux partition and move them to the Windows partition). Then install the games on that Windows partition. That's how I have it for my games (Descent 1 - 3, Tombraider 1 - 5, Prince of Persia 1 & 2, Magic Carpet, and Jane's USAF). You'll probably want to twiddle with it a little bit to optimize it for gaming.
This works great for me because I don't plan on buying any new games (unless a new Descent or Tomb Raider comes out), as almost everything new I see on the market really really sucks (the one exception is Sacrafice, which I might at some point buy).
Some of the Linux zealots will tell you if you want to stick to principles, you should dump all Windows games and buy up Linux games. Personally, I think this is bullshit. I paid good money for my games (when I first bought Tomb Raider 4, it costed 30 dollars; Descent 2 was 50 dollars; etc). Asking people to throw away hundreds of dollars worth of investment is ludacrous, and I don't recommend you do it; not only that, but there are no ports for many games (i.e., where's the Linux port for Tombraider?).
Mostly, this isn't the fault of the Linux community but of MS, because they won't allow anyone the necessary information to make good (i.e., 95+% performance) emulators, which would be possible.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
I really, really, REALLY want to avoid having a Windows partition on my computer
Why?
It seems like you really, really, REALLY want to run Windows software. And you'll really, really, REALLY have to buy a Windows license anyway, whether you use VMWare or dual-boot.
Is rebooting into the other OS really, really, REALLY such a hassle that you're willing to deal with the poor performance of VMWare?
--saint
It's a playing around machine, I'd like to play with Linux, but I'm not willing to give up Civ III.
License, schmicense... got more of those than machines, who cares?
--Mike--
My problem is this post. Chastising this guy for Buying a windows-only copy protected game instead of a linux native game is crap. Civ 3 is a great game with a strong following. If the developer doesn't want to make a linux port, it's their choice. Don't bitch at somebody for buying a game they want just 'cause it's windows-only. I don't what you're talking about with point 1. Almost all retail games are copy protected... there is NO changing this. Any commercial developer not using protection / activation is asking for losses.
This is a tough one. VMware Workstation seems better suited for quick "oh shit, I need Windows for something" tasks and for running "productivity" applications (games certainly don't qualify ;).
The problem is that VMware doesn't even try to expose any kind of 3D (or, really, any kind of hardware-accelerated DirectX-style stuff); you get a fast 2D video adapter (passed through to X), a decent sound card (passed through to your sound driver, if any), and USB passthrough (I can use a scanner in a VM running Windows XP that Linux itself doesn't have a driver for -- how whacked is that? :), but that's it.
For anything that requires even moderately good performance in 2D, you're not going to find it in VMware. And forget about 3D stuff (I know you mentioned just Civ III, but hey, others might read my rantings too :).
As others have suggested, WineX is your best in-Linux bet. Otherwise, fire up parted, shrink down your Linux partition(s) a bit, reserve a bit of slack space for Windows, make a GRUB boot disk, install Windows 95/98/ME/2k/XP/whatever on that new partition, then use the boot disk to unscrew your original boot loader :)
I shun Microsoft products, too, but when it comes to playing Imperium Galactica II or Homeworld or Unreal Tournament, or, really, anything else, it's time for a reboot into the smallish Windows partition. *sigh*. At least I'll never buy an Xbox, eh? :)
Read my stuff.
I saw a Transgaming programmer playing Max Payne on his laptop a couple months ago. If they can get a Direct X 8.0 game to run under WineX it is probably your best bet. I looked at their support for it and they said it worked best with the CVS version of Wine, though it still didn't render fonts correctly and would crash when you tried to build stuff. Though they are working on getting it working, and if you buy a copy I know they let you vote for what games to support.
I believe the quote has been attributed to Marie Antoinette during the time of the French Revolution. Disregarding the veracity of this common belief, the lower classes were starving, while the rich were using wheat products to make hair products. Think not of baked goods, but of the residue "caked" on the pans.
As the story goes, when confronted with this shortage of food among the poor, Marie supposedly said "Let them eat cake!". Imagine a shortage of dairy products, but all available milk was used to make Elmers glue. Elmer hears us all scream for Ice-cream, and replies "let them eat glue!"
It is not difficult to imagine the corruption of language and history bringing about the phrase in question. Perhaps those freaks who want to consume the lactation of a female bull without regard to the myriad health problems caused by such an unnatural act (including leaching of bone minerals) demand all of the milk Elmer has. He not only relinquished his supply of paste to the revolting fellows, he suggests that they eat it too.
come forth ye moderators. Let he who who is not redundant cast the first Offtopic, making thyself redundant in light of the title.
Your entire first paragraph is garbage. Do you have proof for the first sentence? Assuming "perfect emulation" means complete emulation, you are 0 for 2. The last sentence is misleading as the hardware is not the bottleneck. Windows is NT 4.0 workstation, XP Server and 3.11 for workgroups. If you post a more meaningful comment I'll post a better rebuttal.
Why is your "only necessary Windows" subset any better than a standard Windows install?
I don't know about your zealots, but a consciencious Free Software supporter (e.g. RMS) would suggest you don't buy any new games... almost like you plan not to do... unless they support your morals. As for the software you already own, it is fine to keep them until you can find (write) a free replacement.
Mostly, (the lack of a "Linux" port for Tombraider) isn't the fault of the Linux community or of MS, but of Eidos, because they won't allow anyone the necessary information to make good (i.e., 95+% performance) emulations, which would be possible.
Oh? Eidos shouldn't have to release it's sources? Why should Microsoft? DOS was the platform for games, not Windows. Microsoft developed, promoted, and improved DirectX to the point where it can be considered comparable to OpenGL in many aspects, and the preferred target for most modern games. The Linux community is responsible for a kernel, not an OS, and much less a game. Microsoft is responsible for a Kernel, an OS, and an "industry standard" gaming interface, why should they be responsible for an interactive showcase for monstrous breast renderings?
Sorry, troll, try again.
why don't you just buy an used, two or three
years old PC with W98 ? From my experience
it's more than enough to play Civ3, and
is less expensive than a VMware + Windows legal
licence.
I am a (legal) VMWare user myself for several
reasons : ease to cut and paste between
Linux and Windows applications, and safety
in running Windows 16 bits apps in a safe multitasking, multiuser environment : one
per virtual machine, no risk of mutual contamination, exactly what VMs were made for
on the first place on mainframes, not
to mention the seconds only it takes to
deploy a working, locally configured windows
environment for temporary users.
To get the best of both worlds (including gaming)
I find it easier nowadays to run Cygwin
under W2K pro, which still hasn't given me
the slightest problem.
Google passes Turing test : see my journal