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Transgaming's WineX 2.1 - Supports WarCraft 3
friedmud writes "WineX 2.1 is out on the street, get it at transgaming.com. It boasts, among other things, full support for Warcraft III. Other games now included are: Grand Theft Auto 3, Civilization III, and Black and White. Check the press release for further info. And, if you haven't already, go here to get an account... It is definitely worth it." I've been rebooting my laptop to
WC3, so maybe I'll give this a shot. I bought a subscription originally
in part due to their misleading Sims compatibility claims, but this looks like
it finally is truly emulating top windows games.
How about Outlook XP and M$'s Remote Desktop Client?
Then I could secretly run Licoris at the office an nobody'd would be the wiser!
(aaand it would keep everybody from mucking around with my workstation.)
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
Soon, there will be as many games that you can play on Linux as there are games that you can play on Macintosh!
I had been mucking with the main wine tree after reading in the Wine Weeky News that people were getting WarCraft III working under wine, but I have only been able to install and start the menu screen, which comes up MINIMIZED. Damn!
But now WineX supports my 2 favourite games: Black & White and Warcraft III I can uninstall Windows 2k!
I already have MS Word & Excel installed into a no-windows wine installation which works very well.
Man, wine is starting to get really freaking good! I just wish the Wine developers and Codeweavers could get along & share code more freely with Transgaming, but they have some differing ideas about licensing. Oh well. I'm gonna save up and get that WineX. BABY!
warcraft 3 has worked with winehq wine as far back as the warcraft 3 beta, see this post to the wine-devel mailing list.
Linux has less than a 2% desktop share. Unless Linux gamers are willing to pay $500 for a native game, it's a money losing opportunity.
The only companies who will release Linux games are those that really really rely on geek support (like Id)
But on the bright side, just about everyone has come around to the conclusion that releasing Linux servers for their games is a good idea.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
TransGaming has done some wonderful things. Their technology is truly helping Linux to be useful in more situations by allowing Windows games to run.
It's really too bad that TransGaming is not a good citizen of the open source community. Their decision to keep their ActiveX libraries proprietary while happily making use of other people's work (the base Wine code) perfectly exhibits the "what's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine" abuse that BSD-like licenses can allow. And TransGaming's decision to fork the Wine code when it went LGPL is another example of this company's lack of respect for the cooperation that makes open source projects work.
I'll support CodeWeavers but I won't support TransGaming. When you take from Wine, you give back to Wine, dammit. A balkanized Wine might provide short-term profit to TransGaming, but it delays that day in the future when all Windows software runs seamlessly on Linux.
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I guess since they're not stifling compatability with DMCA lawsuits this week, it's ok to spend $70 (CDN) on their software and fund their lawyers! Thanks anyways...I'll keep my WineX subscription, but I'll only buy games from developers that don't screw us.
do not read this line twice.
I hear the MS guys are making a Linux emulator for Win32. It's called Beer 3.2. The reasoning is, Beer is more popular than Wine so it will appeal to a broader user base. Women tend to like Wine better but Men overwhelmingly prefered Beer in product testing. Beer 3.2 is still a beta, and will be released when it's content reaches version 5.0.
There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
For novice players, it is pretty much the same thing, only smaller armies (which is a good thing in my opinion)
In really competitive play, it actually plays quite differently from Starcraft, C&C, WC2, or Dune 2. The hero system really rewards micromanagement, and rushes aren't quite what they've been in the past. If you sit down and try to play WC3 like Starcraft, you'll lose pretty quickly. Warcraft 3 is not paced at all like previous RTSes.
However, these are deep, play-balance innovations. The overall format of the game is pretty much Warcraft 2 with smaller armies and stronger units.
What I would really like to see is a RTS (and shouldn't these games be called Real Time Tactics, the scale is a bit small to really be called "strategy" in the military sense) of WWII's Pacific theater, done at about Starcraft Scale. Storm beaches, knock out gun fortifications, take over islands, clear out airstrips, etc. It could be really interesting, and it wouldn't have any of that base-building nonsense (you don't train new soldiers and research new technology on the battlefield). Or play the Japanese side and try to defend.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
OTOH, Transgaming and WineHQ have been trying to figure out ways so that TG can give kickbacks to WineHQ in terms of code.
Karma whorin' since 1999
Actually WineX is a very good idea for supporting Linux. Even in the rare cases where linux is still on the desktop most people maintain a windows partition for gaming. Something like WoneX will allow them to move over to pure linux. This wil help spread linux, you CAN use all your M$ software still and you get all this all this great other linux stuff, you haev nothing to lose! Furthermore as more people start to use WineX and like products the game manufacturers will start to notice this market share and try to make sure their game doesn't do anything cookey (did I spell that right) that would make it unusable under WineX. As this happens linux becomes more popular and continues to grow in market share until finally companies find they can get an edge by offering native linux games instead of stuff running over a compatibility layer. Now you get you linux games, I very much believe Wine and WineX are one of the best weapons linux has to take the desktop.
I stole this Sig
I'm at a loss here. WarCraft III? After the bnetd business? Hmm. Blizzard must be like Sony: we only boycott them between product releases.
It's a bit sad. I guess this in some way shows how we will never win against corporations. The average person here seems to hold on to his principles until shown a new toy.
I have little faith in humanity; so it's not like I am disapointed, but I can't help but being mad at those who can't seem to stick to their own principles for more than a few minutes...
In my opinion, Scientology is a cult you should avoid.
I just wish the same level of effort went in to providing compatibility for Windows apps that are desperately needed on the Linux desktop -- like Quicken.
Games are important, but Linux is still seriously lacking in the finance department. Getting Quicken to work it would do more for long term usability of the OS.
...emulating top windows games...
#Wine Is Not an Emulator.
s/emulating/supporting
#If Wine gets good enough, we won't even have
#to call them windows games anymore.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our American dead!
Have you looked at what's available for the Mac? All Blizzard games are hybrid now, plus most OpenGL games have been ported. That's about ten times as many (good) games as Linux. All you really need is Diablo II, Civ 3, and Unreal Tournament, anyways.
It's too bad that Blizzard doesn't like Linux, but that's why I bought a Mac.
WineX will not work with SCSI drives and copy-protected CDs. Every new release has something about how SCSI support has improved, is fixed, etc, but it never seems to work. If you check their forums you'll see what I mean. Most every issue is marked "fixed", with the solution seemingly always being a symlink or some such. It's not fixed as of the last release.
Does anyone know if they got it fixed this time? I tried to check the release notes at http://downloads.transgaming.com/files/winex-2_1-r eleasenotes.txt, but got a 500 error (on a .txt file no less). If the SCSI issues are fixed, then I'm gladly subscribing again. If not, I'm saving my money and keeping my new dual-boot setup.
If you have SCSI drives, make sure you investigate this before giving them any money or you'll likely have paid for nothing. I don't think SCSI support is real high on their support list. It's been broken for almost a year, after all...
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
Issued on Wednesday April 17, 2002
Play Warcraft III on Linux with TransGaming's Release of WineX 2.1
Issued on Thursday August 1, 2002
TransGaming subscriptions cost $5 per month, with a minimum three months payment.
It's been just over three months since the last major release. Coincidence?
Wine is an emulator...
emulate
1. To strive to equal or excel, especially through imitation: an older pupil whose accomplishments and style I emulated.
2. To compete with successfully; approach or attain equality with.
3. Computer Science. To imitate the function of (another system), as by modifications to hardware or software that allow the imitating system to accept the same data, execute the same programs, and achieve the same results as the imitated system.
Just because I claim not to be a 26 year old male doesn't mean that I'm not 26 year old male. Just because WINE claims not to be an emulator doesn't mean that it's not an emulator.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Why not roll your own with FreeCraft?
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
"Diablo II, Civ 3, and Unreal Tournament should be enough for anyone"
-- Elbereth, 2002
Do those games run with 640K?
You have an interesting point. About the only thing that tempts me to use Windows 2000 anymore is the beauty of MOH:AA (That game is just too great). Linux support for it is pretty sucky under Wine.
We all knoew that the OpenGL implementations in Linux are excellent. What is holding developers back from spending a little extra time to release unsupported Linux binaries? It is kinda disappointing. A week or two of coding can produce more game sales. What is the problem here?
I like the concepts of Wine and will probably subscribe to Transgaming for WineX, but what does this leave use with? It is just a temporary alternative to proper Linux binaries that run correctly. I don't want Wine to become an excuse for the developers lack of interest in multi-platform software.
Wine is nice, but it will never be as good as the real thing, unless we have more acess to the native Windows code. Microsoft knows this, and it is what makes it really difficult to develop proper libraries for running Windows software.
What I would really like to see is a RTS (and shouldn't these games be called Real Time Tactics, the scale is a bit small to really be called "strategy" in the military sense) of WWII's Pacific theater...
The difference between strategy and tactics has little to do with scale. They are very different concepts.
Strategy is a game plan. It's how you intend to accomplish some goal. (i.e. I plan to use airstrikes to cripple my opponent's tanks before sending in the ground troops) Strategy doesn't necessarily imply that it is military either. Business has strategy. Sports have strategy. Strategy is just an approach to a problem.
Tactics on the other hand are the actual methods used to carry out a strategy. (i.e. The F-15's fly X route through the mountains dropping their bombs in Y location) Tactics are the details. The precise method by which you carry out each part of the overall strategy.
Strategy and Tactics go hand in hand but scale really isn't what defines them. They are separate parts of a solution process. Calling the games RTS games is fine and correct, even though every game has strategy to some degree. Even kill-everything games like Quake have strategy, just not especially deep ones most of the time.
And linux is not an operating system, it's a kernel. So what? Do we have to be that pedantic?
It is suspected (but not known) that this authorization is somehow conditional upon using tools licensed by DVDCCA. But DVDCCA also apparently have severe technical restrictions they impose upon their licensees, such as obeying region restrictions, macrovision-encoding video output, and not haveing firewire outputs. So you really think that using a DVD player application in an alien environment (a Windows emulator) is going to be within those restrictions? If so, then your faith is strong indeed!
There is little reason to believe that using PowerDVD is more legal than using applications that use libcss.
The only thing that makes it legal or not, is whether or not you have their permission. In the end, their agreements with third parties such a DVDCCA or the company who made a computer application or an electronic appliance for watching DVDs, are irrelevant. What matters is what agreement that have with you. And you don't have a single scrap of evidence to support any claim that you have permission to watch any DVD that you own. The most obvious evidence -- that they sold you the DVD and therefore you obviously have implicit permission -- has already been shot down by Kaplan.
Effort expended on playing DVDs "legally", is a waste of time. As long as DMCA remains law and DVDs do not come with EULAs that give people permission to watch or explain conditions under which they have permission to watch, it will never be provably legal for anyone to watch a CSS-protected DVD. It doesn't matter if you use xine, PowerDVD, or a Sony DVD player.
If you are "constantly trying to piss off the various copyright holder coorporations" then you have to give up DVDs altogether. Because if they really do get pissed off at you, they can nail you on this technicality. And the 2600 case proves they are willing.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
pah! how many native windows games can you give a 5 out of 5 reliability rating running under Windows?
sic transit gloria mundi
Has anyone that supports WINE actually given a thought to what happens if this is the way things go? Let me once again state the blindingly obvious timeline that WINE leads us to
1) WINE improves its windows emulation, more games work under Linux than ever before.
2) Development of native Linux games is pretty much destroyed by WINE emulation because the few porting companies struggling to survive at this early stage cannot hope to keep up with dozens of well funded windows development companies.
3) Emulated games become the norm. By definition they are slower than native, less reliable, but we can sacrifice reliability because we can play games NOW!
4) As Linux games are all now emulated, sales figures for Linux games are all showing up as Windows sales. Linux sales figures effectively become zero, giving no incentive for any software company to produce native ports.
5) Microsoft, who though evil are damned clever with their lawyers, finds a nice little legal way to kill WINE, through a patent issue, or some DMCA clone or who knows. WINE development stops.
6) New games stop running on Linux because WINE cant support DirectX 12 or whatever the latest version is. Nobody thinks to worry about it in the game development companies because Linux sales figures are zero (see 4).
7) Linux gets less games that will work. The companies that busted their balls trying to make native Linux gaming viable, companies like Tux Games, Loki and LGP have all long since gone.
8) With nobody left to support Linux gaming, Linux gaming dies.
9) With no new games, Linux desktop becomes less attractive and people happily move back to windows so they can play the latest games NOW (see 3)
10) Bill Gates sends thankyou letter to Transgaming and other WINE supporters.
Any questions?
Sure I am a biased party. That is because by founding Tux Games, I have put my money where my mouth is and bet the whole house on native Linux because unlike Transgaming, I BELIEVE THAT LINUX DOES NOT NEED TO USE WINDOWS AS A CRUTCH AND THAT LINUX IS A DAMNED FINE OS IN ITS OWN RIGHT..
Note: Tux Games has been offered time and again, the opportunity to carry Transgaming games. We are well aware that if we did so, we would make more money, but we STRONGLY believe in the above timeline threat, and so we put our morals where our mouth is and stand by Linux native. Want to do the same? Then dont inflate Windows sales figures, support those that are working all hours to bring YOU new products.
Tux Games. Your complete source for native Linux games.