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TransGaming Ports 3 Kohan Titles to Linux
Kohan_Rocks writes: "TransGaming today anounced the opening of their new 'webstore' which includes the brand new port of Three Kohan Titles. Probably equally amazing is the distribution method: All three games are available for download only (finally big name games available for download!). I'll probably buy atleast some of these games even though I have the old Loki version of the original Kohan - Loki's wern't network compatiable with windows, TransGaming's apparantly are (and its just such a cool game)."
arises Transgaming!
Hmmm...Loki sounds better than Transgaming.
Mode (3) smart-aleck mode. Press * to return to main menu.
Hmm... just in time for the new caps on downloads from our broadband providors... BLOODY HELL!
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
Most GamEz R Ava!lAblE For DowNLoAdZ if Jo0 N0 waR3z 2 Luk!!!
Note to self: No more arguing with the faithful.
From the requirements list:
>Internet connection recommended for multiplayer use
I'm very curious how well they've managed to get multiplayer working without an internet connection...
Loki is MUCH better name: the name of the norse god of mischief, which fits perfectly for the kinds of cool games they are distributing.
at least they did some research to make a cool name, but transgaming? WTF is THAT supposed to mean!
BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
I am fully endowed!
I'm buying an iMac with OSX installed and I was wondering whether the BSD core means that transgaming will work for me as well. Has anyone had experience with Transgaming or an equivalent on OSX?
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
Please Note That Kohan On Linux Is Available By Download Only
Approximate Download Times:
56K modem - 9 hrs
Cable/DSL - 1 hour - Please note that many cable modems have different speeds so downloads times may vary.
I have cable so 1 hr isn't a big deal but for a dialup user 9 hours is a bit extreme. You would think that they would at least OFFER another option for slow connections. Sheesh.
"amazing distribution method"
Please please please let this work!? Finally...we have support for "downloadable" big titles....and hopefully the incidence of "warez" (re: all the posts that have probably already been modded offtopic/flamebait above this post) will be low. I hope people realize how important it is to buy this stuff...
When in doubt, parenthesize. At the very least it will let some poor schmuck bounce on the % key in vi. (Larry Wall)
Maybe I'm just wierd, but to my ears "proprietary" is a bad word, especially considering that their "portability solution" is based off the hard work of the Wine crew (go Wine!). This sounds like they've been taken over by the marketroids. Sad, but I hope it won't be too long until WineHQ also has DirectX compatability, even if it is x86 only.
never heard of any of them... are they good?
transgaming goes out of business
from there site
* Live Internet connection required to complete install process*
A Kohan review in less than 60 seconds:
The core idea behind Kohans: Immortal Sovereigns deals with a group of immortal beings who can be resurrected at any time as long as you have their medallion.
The game is in the RTS genre, with some nice features. Micromanagement is largely out, since once you "claim" a resource, it's yours, unless one of your enemies goes to claim it.
Instead of having huge armies, it's organized into squads with 1 leader, 4 "primary" units, and 2 secondary units.
The squad system is unique, and adds some interesting strategy. Each Kohan (the immortal guys) have their own specialty, like "bonus to horse riding units", or "extra healing powers". And, as your Kohans, go into battle, they gain levels to get stronger (and can be carried from mission to mision.) You might want to do things like put the healing expert Kohan in charge of a defensive force, and have them protect the city, while a Kohan who gives bonuses to speed might be sent out to scout out enemy territory and claim mines and such.
One thing to remember - if your Kohan dies, they go back to Level 1 after you pay to "resurrect" them, so you start to get attached and have to weigh sacrificing a Kohan this time to win a battle, playing it safer to win the war, or hitting the "reload" button.
There was a lot to like about the game, and while most levels are usually just "go claim other cities and kick ass", and having a mass of squads in battle can really slow things down, overall Kohan is probably worth your time to check it out.
Now, if they would just make an OS X version, I'd be set....
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Let's here what the complaints are with this now. You've all complained that there weren't any games, certainly no decent ones. Then there were complaints about availability and distribution. Then, of course, there were the complaints about price.
Well, now they're offering great games, the best distribution channel and a really fair price.
So, what's the bitch about this now? I can't see any.
Will Linux users buy these games and support the company? Will there be a ground swell of interest/sales for these games, causing other companies to look more seriously at games for Linux? Or, will Linux users bitch and moan about some petty detail, not buy the games, cause the company to abandon Linux games completely and doom the entire Linux gaming industry forever.
Only time will tell but, I'm doing my part.
If not I'm glad they made it, good luck to them.
I was a bit dissapointed to see that the new Kohan's would be "WineX" based rather than native - I've been very pleased with the 'native' Kohan from Loki.
Anyone tried any of Transgamings Kohan offerings yet? If so, how do they run? I notice that the system requirements are still rather reasonable by modern standards (P-III 500, etc.)....
Considering actually plunking down the $30 for the download. It'd be nice to encourage more attention to Linux as a game platform, but not at the cost of buying something that may or may not work well. (It'd also give me something new to play with until the continued wait for NWN for linux is over.)
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
it's like transexual, only with games. duh.
Kohan? Reminds me of 'I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy'. Never heard of it. I must be a dinosaur already. Pacman, Invaders and Digger are big names. And they are all available for download :))
I really wish that article submitters would not put ambiguous links in the
article.
Seriously, though, would it be too much effort to say "three Kahn titles: Title 1, Title 2, and Title 3"? As it is, it's annoying because you have no idea where each of the three links points. Come on, editors, you can do better than this.
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
Listen I was not to hot on the idea of a company relying on wine to run windows games on linux. I liked the idea of companies already doing ports to other OSes (like Hyperion though their experience was not good) creating a few linux ports along side their Mac ports or whatever. That way they still had steady income and were less fragile than a linux only company.
_ _
I know by the way that being linux-only was not what killed Loki.
This move has me re-thinking Transgaming. I will probably buy some of the Kohan games. If I was a big gamer I would probably be subscribing and trying out some of the Windows titles on top of their wineX or whatever it is.
Count me as a linux user that is grateful when a company backs the OS.
_______________________________________________
ACK
Information wants to be free!!!
It's great to see these ports, but quite frankly I'll be impressed if they sell 2000 copies max.
...
It's been said a zillion times; ports need to be out at the same time, or very, very close to the same time to be viable. And they need to be patched at the same time, or
Loki was a good effort, but even they didn't succeed. It's not because the games got warezed, it's because the games were well past their shelf life when they came out.
You know you're a geek if you've ever replied to a tagline.
Live Internet connection required to complete install process
This could mean one of two things:
- They could be using this to require registering your name and email with them (privacy issue for some)
- They could use it in the Quicktime-installer style of downloading a small installer program and then downloading the rest from their server.
Neither of those appeals to me at all.
Y2K Compliant since the late 1890s
...er, sorry...
...now give us the PIN number for your bank account
When Loki released Kohan Immortal Soveriengs, it was network compatible with the Windows game, although there were bugs. Towards the end of Loki's life they were unable to port the newest patches, which will obviously break compatibility. After Ahrimans Gift was released, there were fewer KIS players and KIS was not compatible with KAG.
Its similar to what happened to Soldier of Fortune. The games were compatible on Windows and Linux, but the Linux port got outpatched.
While i'd love to buy all three i don't feel like blowing $100 in games, so I'm asking anyone that knows about the games which 1 game would you recommand? is it a story line and i should start from the beginning, or is the latest far superior from the earlier ones?
Only dead fish swim with the stream...
PIN number
PIM = Personal Identification Number.
So what you said is "...now give us the personal identification number number for your bank account"
0nw3d.
Transitive has some x86 emmulation software to be coupled with TG's WineX. And why not, other than a native port would be too sweet?
Karma whorin' since 1999
Maybe it's just me, but somehow I doubt it. My computer is simply too old to run these games. Yes, even the relatively paltry PII 500 requirement is just a little too much for me. I think a lot of Linux users are more content with their old hardware than most people, particularly hardcore gamers. We simply know how to get more mileage out of our hardware. While I'd love to be able to run these (I love the Loki Kohan demo) but new hardware is simply out of my range. I don't think I'm the only one either.
"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
if you like practical jokes.
this is the future of Linux gaming.
Transgaming have made steady progress since I first noticed them at the fall of 2000. I have deleted my Windows partition and can play all the games I need, without ever wanting to reboot.
Ciryon
I thought Transgaming promised to not support games which had native Linux versions. Maybe that doesn't mean much now since Loki's out of business but still I wonder.
Or has transgaming decided to do native ports as well as winelib ports?
...work your funky magic on Morrowind and I may just end up with a linux box! (TES:CK must also work!)
Oh and promise to start work on MOO3 and Pro Race Driver!!
Au contraire, my good man. PIM = Personal Indentification Mumbler. Thus rendering your entire point moot.
When they port those two, I'm on board.
There are demos available at Timegate Studios' site.
But, since getting Warcraft 3 to work on my SuSE box using winex, i don't think i'll bother with the demos. They look pretty 1st generation RTS.
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
No Loki was out of business. They created native ports. While transgaming uses the 'emulation' approach using wine. Their implementation is called WineX. (emulates DirectX functions and has copy protection verifiers)
Standardize:
Just like with mozilla. I'm sick of having several installations of a similar application om my harddisk. Wine, Crossover Plugin, Crossover Office, WineX. Mozilla, Netscape, Galeon, Konqueror, OEone Homebase/Desktop. ARGH! Standardize these so I only have to install the mozilla libs and wine libs!
Don't tell me: Kohan has it's own WineX executable ?!?
F/OSS & IT Consultant
Just like with mozilla. I'm sick of having several installations of a similar application om my harddisk:
* Wine, Crossover Plugin, Crossover Office, WineX.
* Mozilla, Netscape, Galeon, Konqueror, OEone Homebase/Desktop.
ARGH! Standardize these so I only have to install the mozilla libs and/or wine libs!
Don't tell me: Kohan has it's own WineX executable ?!?
F/OSS & IT Consultant
I decided to spring for the original version of Kohan. You pay your money and then get directed to a download site. You get what I'm assuming is a custom version of winex (4mb) and the game (158mb). The manual is available in both PDF and txt formats while the game files are available in rpm, deb and tgz formats (tgz files weren't available but will be shortly according to the site). The internet connection is required because the first time the game runs it downloads a specially modified executable tuned to run only on your system. That part doesn't bother me as I'm the only one I know running Linux and I don't pirate software anyway. However, I am a bit concerned that upgrading my system (I fiddle and reinstall pretty often), or making changes might cause the game to decide it's running on a foriegn system. We'll see.
I've expressed my frustration with WineX before, and every time I see a headline like this, I feel compelled to speak up.
The people that defend (or, as it more often the case, blindly promote) WineX tend to think that games of any kind, even through Wine, will inevitably help Linux. "Now Windows users can switch!" they chant. Yet, what self-respecting Windows gamer would really leave the relative comfort of Windows (2k|XP) where all of their hardware and games work great just to move to Linux, a system rife with hardware incompatibilities and filled with unfamiliar elements at every turn? There is no unhappy faction of Windows users that chafes so much under the Microsoft yoke that they'll give up everything they have already for freedom (in the sense of GNU). It just isn't going to happen. (Note: WineX itself isn't even completely free, so that's not a very good example of freedom, is it?)
So where does WineX sell? To people who are already Linux users. The people who are already using Linux can use WineX, but then they run a serious risk of killing any chance for a native port. Remember, game companies need a whole lot more than karma and a good warm feeling inside to port a game to your system. They need, in particular, cash. Lots and lots of cash. And they'll most likely take any excuse that sounds resonable to ignore a platform that has marginal (if not improbable) profit potential, like Linux. "Oh, it works under Wine. Go play that, Linux users." Reminds me a bit of a former instructor's description of the selection process for a really good position: They're not looking for reasons to take anyone...they're looking for reasons to eliminate them. And Linux hasn't made good money for anyone yet.
You'll never make your platform legit like that. It didn't work of OS/2. It didn't work for Bleemcast. It hasn't worked for VirtualPC on MacOS. Not once has this kind of compatibility meant more native apps for that platform that tries to leech off its more successful neighbor.
Yes, Loki died. They died for a whole lot of reasons, one of which was that there was no real money in the Linux gaming market. But they at least brought a lot of damn good tools to the community and left them for all to use after they died. Where is Wine getting us? Half-working compatibility with a nigh eight year old system that is probably going to change dramatically (if not completely) in the next revision of Windows.
Welcome to Square One, people.
Sorry for the disjointed ramble.
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
What's their next "port" going to be?
Deer Hunter? Then Big Game Hunter and Who Wants to be a Millionare.
Why not work on being more compatible with more popular games? I see a lot of games on the list at level 4, but what does that mean really?
To find out I have to make sure that my video driver are up to date (not a bad idea, but not a trivial task under Linux), then get Transgamings WineX installed (another unknown, do I have all of the libraries it needs and up to date?), THEN install the game and see if it works. If it doesn't, spend some more time making sure that I've covered all my bases (that belong to us) before I get replies to my cry for help like "Install the latest video drivers." or "Why would you want to play game X anyway?".
Compared to just keeping a Windows machine around for games (or a Console?) or dual booting.... dunno just seems like an awful lot of effort.
Uhm, this just in!! The entire Kohan series for Windows can be had for $15 more than any one of the Kohan for Linux titles from Transgaming.
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
This was pointed out back in May: http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=33
To sum up -- TransGaming re-builds the Windows source, adjusts marginally for the limitations of WineX, and hacks up the resulting binary so it runs only with a custom build of winex they bundle with it.
"Proprietary" and "patented" are intended to mean "nobody else has this nifty feature." Recently though, they have come to mean "locks you into the seller's way of doing business." The second connotation is actually truer than the first connotation: Just because a feature is proprietary doesn't mean it can't be done some other way, but using a proprietary feature almost always means that transitioning to another product will be more difficult. Parent wasn't saying that ownership is bad, but that proprietariness isn't a benefit.
So from a marketing perspective, those two words are indeed bad, and you'll notice that in recent years companies have stopped using them to promote their products.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Is it worthwhile to pay and download the transgaming wine (tar, rpm whatever). I am a regular Half-life Day of Defeat player and did try the wineX with Open GL support, but the game (HL and D0d) crashes after minute or two of playing under linux. HL itself works fine (haven't tried CS or any other mod). Has anyone else encountered similar problem(s) with Hl and Dod under transgaming/wine and found a solution? Plz help me!! I really would like to use Linux full time and this small dod addiction is costing me a Win98 partition of the drive- just for hl and d0d
You didn't worship RMS and his FSF! Bad jaaron! No cookie for you!
I would rather see a native port instead of emmulation, but beggars can't be choosers unfortuately. :-/
Karma whorin' since 1999
I am a Transgaming subscriber, but it's hard to justify paying for one of these games, when I have the Loki version of KIS, Starcraft (still haven't finished it), and Warcraft 3 to keep me busy.
I'm tempted to chip in for one of these games anyway, just to encourage a future port of Kohan II (when it is released next year) as well as due to the outstanding reviews Kohan has received.
More reviews here.
Kohan_Rocks? How obvious. Hi Gavvy! Nice hats you got there!
When's the last time you bought a game that WASN'T proprietary?
That's analogous to saying that windows is 100% UNIX. Yah, you guessed it, you can run X11, KDE, GNOME, and a good deal of the programs that actually make a UNIX like system run, on any modern version of windows (and some of the older versions as well, but I won't make a claim I can't support.)
By your logic, you could claim that most operating systems invented since 1970 were UNIX, if only you could get those things running on it; and by and large, you could get the above programs to run on almost anything.
Infact, last I heard, the WindowsNT kernel is more POSIX compliant than Darwin is. OSX is cool, I'll grant you that, but it's not UNIX. It was designed to be a Mac OS. The fact that it does have some UNIX compatibility has been a two way street for Apple. Long time Apple customers didn't know what to think about it. Apple promised a more reliable, faster and more robust experience; however customers thought it would ruin their computing ability (more stuff to learn, gotta know UNIX, etc.)
Trust me, if touting OSX's UNIX-iness hurt Apple more than it helped, you wouldn't have made that post. OSX is three things: a great marketing gimmick, an easy way out for apple (they borrowed a lot of code, at least they have the decency to it up), and a toy (at the moment, I've had mixed success with it. I look forward to watching OSX evolve a bit before I get serious with it.)
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
This is getting lame
I bought Kohan from loki as well as almost every other game they ported to linux
Shortly thereafter they tanked and the linux version of Kohan never did work right via network play with Windows users. something I was very interested in doing.
I also bought into Transgaming's Winex as an annual subscriber
Gave up on Winex after a while because there are very few applications that work 100% on it. There are three according to their list. And one of those is a packaged version of the Sims with a special version of Mandrake designed to run it.
Now here is my beef I HAVE been supporting the Linux gaming companies and they keep screwing me. I gave Loki money for a port and they tanked and now I can't play that port over the net unless it is with other Linux users. Then I buy TransGaming's Winex and instead of making more games like Kohan work with Linux like they promised to do for the money I gave them. They instead want me to purchase another "special" version of Winex at $30.00 a pop to run Kohan and be able to play against windows users over the net. I am sorry but this is complete jive. I gave them money to see further development of the version of Winex I can download. If I can not now download a version that will run the windows version of Kohan at level 5 (perfect) which is more or less what they are selling as a seperate app now then in my opinion they screwed me.
At least $30 is a price I'd consider buying it for. I wonder if TuxGames will lower their price in response.
-Erwos
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
Today, I'm going to reconsider my support of Transgaming, and it's because of copy protection. I hate copy protection. And it's not just a "petty detail" -- my hatred never is.
I didn't have a problem with WineX "supporting" copy protection, because I just thought of it as a necessary aspect of emulation -- sort of like how an unlicensed DVD player needs to "support" CSS or else it's useless.
But selling binaries that are somehow keyed to a certain machine, that's crossing the line. (Loki never did that. Loki never screwed me, and because of that, I never regretted throwing money at them.) Does this mean I can't install it on two machines on my own LAN? Does this mean if Transgaming goes out of business and I ever want to reinstall the game some day, I won't be able to? I really am disappointed to see Transgaming sink this low. I hope I've somehow misinterpreted this, and that the Internet-needed-to-install aspect is actually some sort of connection to the original publisher, rather than Transgaming. I eagerly wait to hear more news.
And if I haven't misinterpreted, then someone else can have the $20/month that I've been sending to Transgaming. It's not like there's a shortage of worthy projects. My donation ability is finite and I need to make sure the right people are getting it. People who deal in bad faith with their customers, aren't the right people for me.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
On my Gentoo 1.2 system, I emerged rpm2targz and converted both rpms for Kohan awards edition. Upon running the game, I get a message after "Loading Objects" stating that a wav file could not be loaded.
Anyone else see this?
Gav, any idea when you guys will release the tgz version?
Why do I keep typing pythong?
I always had trouble with Winex running a game past a cut scene or to the next level. I had loaded fallout and fallout II, both would run right up until time for a cut scene or in the wilderness when I had to use the map mode to travel. Many other games had similiar problems.
However, I dl'ed the lastest Wine cvs for OpenGL and patched my default installation. Not only did many more games load and run correctly, games I never could get to work would now install and run (albeit not all without crashing). Point is that the present state of WineX vs the varients of Wine being built for 3D graphics/gaming neck and neck. And given that I would rather contribute to the Wine project rather than Transgaming I saw no point into contributing for WineX. If you want to run 3D games under Wine just get a fairly stable patch for the OpenGL version. Send bug reports to the WineHQ. Frankly I have much less problems now and can save my money. Don't get me wrong, I have always paid for every distro I own (ok, the 1st RH 5.2 was given to me) and supported Loki as well. I just think that Linux gaming as an enterprise has to mature a little more in the sense of a business model and with the mission planning department. At it's present state I can't see how it can stay afloat. Loki was the best shot so far and their CEO screwed that. Transgaming and Wine aren't the answer. Direct ports as have been done by IdSoftware, and for UT seem to be a more viable route IMHO.
Cheers.
If these games come with a tweaked? version of winex, how can they be considered ports?
I am using Slackware 8.1, and found after I purchased the software that the tarball versions weren't ready yet. In case this dissuades anyone from purchasing the game, it is no hassle to install from slackware. Just install the two RPMs with the --nodeps option. Worked without any problems.
As more games start to get ported to Linux, more people will do as you do and never boot their MS-Windows partitions. Later, those buying new systems to play the new games aren't going to see the need to have MS-Windows at all.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
Cookies are not enabled, cookies are required to use the webstore. (multi-domain cookies are also required).
Multi-domain cookies? Yeah right. What next? Bye.
In my opinion, Scientology is a cult you should avoid.
but in the end, fail. because of freebie loaders like /.
OS/2 was worth money.
:).
Why would I pay IBM to use Windows software? People are using Linux because it's free and because it's open. OS/2 was a fiasco because most software was for Windows, so at the end, either you bought Windows or you bought both. Buying just Windows was cheaper
Linux situation hasn't got anything to do with OS/2, please, keep that in mind. Using Linux, also, doesn't involve buying a new and diferent computer (VirtualPC on Mac).
Thankfully, now, after some years, I can finally use Linux for most things (web, email, wordprocesor...) but I still have to reboot to Windows whenever I want to play games. I will only ditch Windows when the games I play are available for Linux. But software companies don't develop games for Linux because the people that play games use Windows. The people that play games use Windows because the games they play aren't available for Linux. It's just and endless circle and there's only two ways to break it: either you port games to Linux (Loki tried and failed) or you make Windows games work on Linux.
Of course MS will keep updating Windows and breaking compatibility, but this means that in the end, if game developers want to sell Linux games they will have to bother creating a Linux native version of it. However, and I'm repeating myself, this won't happen until there's a need for it, and there won't be a need unless wineX or something similar succeeds and allows gamers to migrate to Linux.
You think it won't work? Maybe, but it's the only real chance and it's worth trying.