Newly Released WineX 2.2 Supports EverQuest

Mattzilla writes "The latest release of Transgaming's WineX (details available here) now supports EverQuest. You asked for it, here it is. This release also has Direct 3D and Direct Show updates as well as fixes for Mandrake 9.0 and RedHat 8.0 CD device auto-detection. With EverQuest now under Linux I'm sure a great deal of people won't find a need to be dual-booting any longer." The EverQuest support is called "preliminary"; check out those release notes for a few known problems and workarounds.

Comments

Oh great.

[anonymous coword]

Now we will see penguins commiting suicide.

WineX does NOT support everquest

[Tomah4wk]

Initial support for everquest has been added, and there is some functionality in place, but transgaming do NOT support everquest yet nor does everquest work properly yet. Going on previous track record for transgaming though everquest support will likely be finished by the next release.

Re:WineX does NOT support everquest

[crazney]

Actually, its definatly playable, my housemate has been playing it under linux for the past few days, and is happy with it.

Visit this link to see how other users are finding it.

David

Re:WineX does NOT support everquest

[Doc Hopper]

I concur. I have been playing Everquest for several hours today, and full-screen (as on Windows by default) it has been rock-solid as far as stability is concerned. The memory usage seems significantly higher than under Windows at the moment, so that I cannot load all the models with 512MB RAM, but otherwise it's quite decent.

Things that aren't perfect regarding Everquest under x86 GNU/Linux at the moment:
* The installer does not give you any indication of progress until it is ready for you to change CDs or it is done installing.
* I experienced one error installing Shadows of Luclin, regarding some texture expansion .exe being unable to run. However, the game still ran fine.
* The patcher takes longer than it does on Windows
* The patcher (at least on my install) segfaults instead of launching Everquest. The workaround is to invoke Everquest with "winex eqgame.exe patchme".
* Alt-Tab results in some goofiness under KDE. Probably just due to my window manager, but alt-tabbing out, and then clicking or alt-tabbing back requires that I hit ctrl-alt in order to have any keyboard input. Otherwise the game seems to think I always have Alt depressed. Note this doesn't seem to happen when running it fullscreen.
* Alt-clicking items to paste them as a clickable link in chat doesn't seem to work; my window manager grabs the alt and tries to drag the window. Yet another problem that doesn't show up in full-screen mode.
* Performance at the moment is significantly slower than under Win32. It's not horrible, but it is noticeable.
* Luclin player models have some visual glitches. Due to the age of my hardware (Geforce2MX, 933MHz P3, 512MB PC133 RAM) I've rarely played with them turned on anyway, but I did so briefly today and noted that most characters appeared at least partially nude.
* If you use more Luclin models than recommended by the Options dialog, it's possible EQ may not load at all. It effectively grinds to a halt if the resident memory usage displayed by "top" comes anywhere near the physical memory limitation of your machine. With all models turned on, by the time I got to the 1-frame-per-second character selection screen, EQ had some 400+ MB resident memory requirement, and a total RAM requirement of 820MB...

I haven't had Microsoft Windows installed on my gaming PC in several months, and renewed my EQ account just to check out the support under WineX. This is a nice boon, although I'm certain my wife won't be as happy as I am that EQ runs under GNU/Linux just fine now. Darnit, my Armagetron, BZFlag, and Chromium binges are going to be curtailed I think.

All in all, I'd say it's a fairly successful initial offering to appease the rabid EQ supporters among the Transgaming subscribers. It's still "unsupported" and has some rough edges, but the glitches that are present are certainly not show-stoppers.

Regarding the earlier comments about how by using Wine, one is treading sand that swallowed up IBM's OS/2:
OS/2 failed for a myriad of reasons, not nearly solely due to support for Microsoft Windows programs. Although many believe that was a factor, I do not believe that it had any major impact. There were many things leading to the downfall of OS/2, not the least of which was terrible marketing on the part of IBM, the lack of any "Killer App" for the platform, and the lack of significant bundling deals with OEM's which meant that OS/2 had to be installed by the user (a task then, as now, beyond the interest of the majority of computer users). Indeed, GNU/Linux shares some of the same problems right now, regardless of Win32 exe support.
However, from my point of view, GNU/Linux is in a uniquely superior position compared to OS/2, and the ability to run Win32 packages natively has nothing to do with it. The secret weapon is the GNU General Public License. Business FUD regarding the platform is ineffective in the long run, because the operating system is guaranteed to live on, barring unforeseen litigation. Nobody can fork off their own version of the OS (Read: Microsoft forking Win NT from the OS/2 effort) because the GPL requires those changes to be given back to the community if they are released in binary format.
We're in a completely different battlefield today than the one that sunk the OS/2 Titanic. GNU/Linux's weaknesses are becoming its strengths. I agree that the Wine approach may not be effective at winning over large numbers of MS Windows users to GNU/Linux. However, that's not really the point, IMHO.

See, I wiped out MS Windows because I value my software freedom.

I don't find playing proprietary games under GNU/Linux to be an abrogation of these principles. Games are content-driven (in that new content drives sales), while productivity applications are procedure-driven, and any procedure can be automated and commoditized. Basically, IMHO games are art, and making the concession that the publisher must get back the production cost of the art before the programmatic portions can be released under the GPL seems, to me, to be sound philosophy which acknowledges business needs while supporting software freedom.

Because I value software freedom, and am far more productive under GNU/Linux and KDE than Microsoft's operating system, I replaced Microsoft Windows with the commoditized, free software GNU/Linux. Many others are making this same step. Transgaming's WineX supports these subscribers by providing them with a service unobtainable in an exclusive free-software realm. I value the service, and contribute my $5 a month to their continued success.

I feel the need to comment on the disconnect many Slashdot posters seem to feel. They rail that "Free Software Zealots" seem to change their minds with the topic at hand. The reality is, if you watch those who post, some users feel passionately about a certain topic, and others don't. I've found precious few comments amongst several topics that would cause me to believe the poster had an internal disconnect regarding their point of view on free software.

I have one position I have held for at least the last three years (while using GNU/Linux for years before that for simply practical reasons), and it is quite similar to that which Richard Stallman has claimed many, many times (in different words): The point of the Free Software Foundation is to preserve freedom. In some cases, when there is no adequate free alternative, proprietary software can be used. It is better that a user have a free tool on a proprietary operating system, and thus begin to understand the importance of software freedom, than to have no freedom-supporting software at all. However, if use of the proprietary system can be avoided, it should.

Transgaming provides a valuable commodity: the ability to play popular, but still proprietary, gaming titles on a free operating system. It's a bit the reverse of the FSF's usual line. Games, however, are a form of art, and stand uniquely apart from that which can be easily commoditized into a free system.

As a side note, as far as I have found there is no *good* current free software alternative to a proprietary package such as Quickbooks Pro. I've tried MoneyDance. I've tried GNUCash. If you know of more that fit the bill, please educate me. In the meantime, products such as Transgaming's WineX, and Codeweaver's Crossover Office allow me to use proprietary tools such as this, yet keep my system otherwise as free as I possibly can. There will come a day when the free alternatives do the job "well enough", and that will be the day I convert to a free software financial package. This is neither a contradictory position, nor one that is out of line with the "hard line" of the FSF. It's simply an acknowledgement of reality.

So please, those who've railed against the Slashdot community's collective Jekyll/Hyde syndrome, realize that different people post to different threads. There's a significant contingent of chronic copyright infringers on Slashdot. There is also a significant contingent of those who would never break copyright law, even if they think it is bad. There are those who are free software zealots, and refuse to use non-free software. There are those who only use proprietary software, and snub their nose at the attempts to replace sophisticated proprietary packages.

And there are those in between, that hold both the ideals of the Free Software Foundation quite dear, but also acknowledge that idealism and reality must reach a compromise on our desktops if we are to use these fantastic tools to their ultimate advantage.

That's me. Let's not debate over whether this is a horrible move for the community or not. There are at least 3,000 Transgaming subscribers that believe in WineX, and pay their $5 or more a month to have a voice in the direction of the software. Those of us who do are grateful for the service, and happy to appease our free-software-loving sides because those portions of the WineX suite which can be free software (and not encumbered by licensing) ARE kept free by Transgaming.

Then again, this is Slashdot. Here we debate over whether or not to have a debate :)

Re:Wintendo?

[Time Doctor]

This isn't Linux. This is Windows emulation.

Maybe more business apps should have done 1st?

[Gizzmonic]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the purpose of WINE was to illustrate the viability of Linux as a cheap replacement to Windows on the desktop for budget-minded corporate IT directors.

Transgaming is nice and all, but it seems that all the momentum is over porting games. When are we going to see ACT! and VisiCalc running on a Linux box? What about Norton Utilies?

More games are good (even one with EverQuests fatal reputation) but it seems like it's the "sexy" side of WINE that causes the most "geek lust." What about the plainjane broad that's your ticket into corporate America?

It's the classic case of love vs. security. Will it be the penniless Citar player or the evil Majarajah? Right now, my pendulum is swinging towards the Majarah (maybe it's the recession?).

Re:Maybe more business apps should have done 1st?

[rnd()]

It's WINE, not WHINE.

Re:Maybe more business apps should have done 1st?

[StarTux]

WineX is for games, not business apps. In fact CodeWeavers seem to be taking care of the business side of things.

http://www.codeweavers.com

That should help.

StarTux

Norton Utilities?

[Gogo Dodo]

Why would you need Norton Utilities to run under emulation on Linux? None of the utilities are going to help you fix anything on a Linux box.

Re:Norton Utilities?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not sure they ever fixed anything in Windows either...

Impressive

[vlad_petric]

... is the number of playable games under winex (by playable I consider games with ratings of 4 and 5): transgaming search (you might need to click "show all results" at the bottom of the page)

While those are clearly not as good as native ports, their holistic approach seems to work much from an economical point of view than, for instance, Loki's. Transgaming also has a much better chance of actually creating a Linux gaming market, as it almost "eliminates" the unfair competition between Linux and Windows games (gamers are a very impulsive crowd, very few will actually wait a couple of month for a Linux port)

The Raven

Re:Impressive

[ink]

While those are clearly not as good as native ports, their holistic approach seems to work much from an economical point of view than, for instance, Loki's.

Actually, I've found that they are even better than native ports. Some of my Loki games will not run on my current system due to glibc changes and such (most have patches available). WineX, OTOH, gives me a single package to update in order to update all my games to my current system packages. In addition, the games do not run any slower; I played Jedi Knight II and WarCraft III under WineX exclusively -- I notcied some slowdowns under WC3 on a certain level (tons of animation), so I tried it out under Windows and it was the same situation. I really like WineX, and I highly recommend it; Besides, wouldn't it be the ultimate insult for Win32 becoming known as the "video game compatibility layer" for future systems? :)

Re:Wintendo?

[Anonymous Coward]

All these games dont run under linux.

AO doesn't even install.

DAoC dies at the patcher

Earth & Beyond does not work

Asheron's Call 2 does not work

Lineage the bloodpledge dies

Age of Wonders does not work at all

Add to that RPGs are almost always voted off the list of projects by WineX users so if you have any interest in RPGs at all then you are stuck in windows.

I still can't believe they gave Wizardry 8 a -80 score when it came up for vote.

The only major RPG to make lately is Morrowind.. and then it barely made it at all with a +60 vote.

Gaming on Linux is still a joke.

Re:Wintendo?

[mythr]

Wine Is Not an Emulator! It's an implementation of the Windows API for *nix. If you had ever visited the Wine project's site, you would know that.

Re:WINE

[Jim Norton]

Uh, we HAVE been bugging developers to make native versions... newsflash: it isn't working. I think WineX is a good thing(tm .. sorry, had to say it) at first, as it will lure new users if they are able to play their Windows games under Linux. If the userbase increases, it gives developers more of a reason to write native versions of the software.

The entire purpose of Linux is to avoid MS? Oh, that's rich. Maybe you should start bitching at the Samba team and the kernel devs who add in optional support for the Windows file system.

Please... Linux is NOT a religion. It is an Operating System, a means to an end. Nothing less. Nothing more. (and before anyone says it, yes I understand the philosophy of Open Source and even agree with much of it. I just don't believe it is the be-all, end-all of software development)

Re:Riight...

[Verteiron]

The Linux version of Return to Castle Wolfenstien is both faster and smoother than the Windows version. Same resolution, detail level, etc. Sorry, try again.

Re:Riight...

[3Kirt]

This is totally untrue.

I assume you're talking about the linux port of UT2003 which is slower than the windows version. This is because UT2003 was written using DirectX and was only later ported to use OpenGL. The OpenGL renderer *is* slower but that isn't the fault of the OS. The renderer just needs a some work.

Why would you want to use windows and have the bulk of your memory taken up by a bloated OS when you can use linux and have the vast majority available for gaming?

Games are very demanding and technically complex programs, so it only makes sense to use an OS that can do a good job of handling such programs.

Re:Riight...

[13Echo]

Hmmm... Your right. Guess that we shouldn't pay attention to THIS

Or THIS

Also, my results in RTCWolf (and other "ports") with a Kyro 2 are MUCH faster than under Windows. Perhaps you need to do a bit more research before you post lies about something that was only true two years ago, when Linux video card drivers and APIs were really immature.

To slighty paraphrase you: So, your post is nice, but it is really just there to appease Windows zealots.

Re:Wintendo?

[Jace of Fuse!]

Anybody who ever uses Emulation/Implimentation/Binary Compatibility as a cop-out excuse for not needing another system is missing the point of native support.

Mac's/Linux can run PC games. So developers ask why they should port the project to the other systems. Result? Programs written for a proprietary system remain on a proprietary system and at best, users of other operating systems remain dependant on the Windows software base.

I don't think WineX is the way things should be going for Linux gamers. On the other hand, I'm gald it's come this far. For some users who really ONLY need Windows to run one or two games, WineX is great.

For those of us who buy three or four new games per month, relying on a system like this is not an option. It doesn't work with most of the newer games, and runs like crap with the new ones that do still manage to work.

So in the end it boils down to Unix at the Server, Windows for the games. Everything in the middle can be done on either system, and it's not like I have a problem with running a Unix box AND a Windows box.

It is open source

[brunes69]

Under the AFPL. You can download all the source code at sourceforge (http://www.sf.net/projects/winex/) via CVS. The only parts not released are the portions that you need ot read Copy-Protected CD's (with SafeDisk). But many games don't even require this.

Kinda. More AFPL + sword of Damocles.

[Nailer]

According to its makers, it stops being Open Source if you exercise your rights under the AFPL and produce a LSB standard installation of WineX (also known as an RPM). Which is kinda sad - either its Open Source or it isn't.

I don't mind a good closed source app (I'm a WineX subsciber), its just that I think WineX isn't a half bad product but you'd be surprised by the amount of people (users new to Linux) who jump on IRC, try an incredibly broken CVS install and then think that WineX is an unstable pile of shit because CVS often is. I think this odd licensing is bad for Transgaming too.

As a system administrator, I also find the idea of installing software in any other method than RPM very bad practice.

Re:How about Tomb Raider and Descent

[shannara256]

> And the Descent series is one of the best of all time.

Yes it is, and that's why the wonderful people at the d1x and d2x projects have worked so hard to make it portable. It's now running on the Win32, Linux, and Mac (and maybe Linux-PPC, dunno) platforms. Check it out...
d1x: http://d1x.warpcore.org/
d2x: http://www.icculus.org/d2x/

You'll want to get the CVS versions of both, as there hasn't been a release in some time now. You can read the mailing list at
http://ml.warpcore.org/descent-source/

Enjoy the goodness that is native Descent...

What's next?

[mbogosian]

The latest release of Transgaming's WineX (details available here) now supports EverQuest.

In other news, Transgaming has announced future plans to support bulk heroin distribution and high-margin cocaine resale.

uptime

[swankypimp]

Given that:
a) most Everquest addicts only eat/sleep/shower after a Windows BSOD ends their 15 hour EQ session;
b) Linux can run for months or even years without a reboot;
I conclude that this is a bad idea.