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Review of Linux Gaming Using WineX 2.0

Posted by chrisd on from the i-am-your-parent-process-luke dept.

Ceyx writes "Toms Hardware ist running an Interesting review of DirectX Gaming under Linux using WineX. An interesting point is that the native Quake3 Arena runs faster with Linux then with windows." I had the good luck to play Jedi Knight Outcast and Return To Castle Wolfenstein at my friend's house, and it was really pretty good. The numbers show just how good the Linux drivers from nVidia are, so mad props to Mark V and his co-workers ...

8 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. um by prockcore · · Score: 5, Informative

    Someone please explain why you would play Return to Castle Wolfenstein with WineX when there is a native linux version? (Not to mention the fact that the linux version is ahead of the Windows version in terms of patches and bug fixes)

  2. Ultima Online by jsse · · Score: 2, Informative

    I once ran the Linux version of Ultima Online(for some reason one of EA's developer port it to Linux, dunno why). It actually run faster and smoother than Windows' version, except for a mouse responsive problem, which i solved it.

    I didn't make it up to attack Microsoft, but back in those days UO has some memory leak problems and when it crashed I usually found my online character death when I finished reboot my windows and log back in. When UO crashed in Linux I can always restarted immediately and save my character in time.

    This is not really a Wine related issue but in my opinion is that running online games under Linux is very desirable. I'm going to give WineX a shot if it could run my online games like in Windows.

  3. Just don't use SCSI by Wee · · Score: 5, Informative
    WineX does run really well. I've been a subscriber for a while now, and it shows real promise. But be warned: if you have a SCSI CD drive, you will have problems, and almost certainly will not be able to play many newwer games. The latest version claims to support SCSCI drives better than the previous version (ie, lack of support for SCSI drives was a known problem), but I've had no better results with it than any other release.

    I have a system which is purely SCSI (U2W/lvd, in fact). Both of my disc drives are made by Plextor -- hardly unknown drives -- and are over two and a half years old. They are well supported by anybody's standards. Yet neither will work with WineX. I get errors with CD protection schemes, errors trying to read the drives, errors in the games saying the disc can't be found, etc. This is with my Plextor CD-R and CD-ROM drives. I've even tried mounting ISO images of the game CDs via the loopback with no luck.

    If you have IDE CD drives, then feel free to get a subscription and/or download WineX. If you have a SCSI system then you shouldn't bother with WineX -- unless you get a subscription and then vote for SCSI support. Otherwise just dual boot into Windows (or forego games). IMO, the lack of support for SCSI systems is enough to make me wish I hadn't subscribed (or had been able to find the issue mentioned somewhere on the Transgaming site last October when I signed up).

    -B

    --

    Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

  4. Re:Learn from this..... by VasilyPupkin · · Score: 2, Informative

    just try playing it on a 450MHz machine and you will find it is impossibly fast.

    Just try disabling L2 cache. You won't believe it's a 450Mhz box.

  5. Re:but WineX vs. Windows by brsmith4 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I already have to dual-boot to watch DVDs (I must be an idiot, because deCSS makes it sooo easy to pirate DVDs, and I can't even get the SOB to play them).

    Haven't you heard of XINE with the d5d plugin??? I play my DVDs perfectly with it. Its even faster than Windozes' players. I would hate to dual boot just to watch some movies. Just a thought.

  6. One note on The Sims by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    It is listed as supported at a 5. That refers specifically to the version bundled with Mandrake 8.1 Gaming Edition. A stock copy of The Sims for Windows will not run under any version of WineX.

  7. Re:Two points by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 3, Informative


    And you need to pay $5 dollars a month to Transgaming for it.

    Just to clarify... it costs $5/mo (min of 3 months) for membership. Membership allows you to download the latest binaries (as many times as you want). Membership also provides tech support and voting for what games should be targeted for future development.


    If you cancel your membership, you still have the last binary package you downloaded.

  8. Re:but WineX vs. Windows by Homburg · · Score: 2, Informative

    I wouldn't recommend mplayer to anyone who wasn't 3l33t - any software you have to compile from scratch to get working is inevitably going to be a hastle.

    But you don't have to update your kernel (DVD support has been in the kernel since 2.2.16) and you don't need to upgrade to XFree86 4.2 (although using version 4 may give you better performance). And just because you had difficulties with one particular driver, doesn't mean that 'DVD on linux isn't there yet'.

    For me, getting DVD playback to work was as simple installing the xine-dvdnav package. You've given no evidence to support your claim that those for whom playing DVDs on linux works are in the minority.