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Fragging on Linux and TransGaming
Kez writes "HEXUS.net has an article looking at the current state of Linux gaming and the broad number of supported games both natively and through emulation. Included in the article is a chat with the Product Manager of TransGaming - the creators of Cedega (formerly known as WineX.)" From the article: "Well, Linux certainly isn't most peoples' thought for a games-based PC. Especially one being taken to a big tournament LAN party. However, by design or trickery, none of the tournament games at the event were out-of-bounds to my Linux machine, and rousing games of Call of Duty, Quake 2 and Unreal Tournament 2004 were shared by the HEXUS.net collective and any other gamers who felt like joining in." We ran a story about a similar article back in February.
This one seems written by somebody who knows his way around the landscape.
It's because of apps like this no-one wants to adopt Linux as a gaming platform. The road will be long and hard but we must stop buying stuff like this and also stop buying Windows games, only when the companies realise there is a genuine market for Linux games will there be any progress. I can hold out, can you?
I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born - Ronald Reagan
FTA:
Q: Which Linux distributions cause the most headaches for your support people? Which ones Just Work? And which one do you use yourself, given the choice?
A: Currently I would have to say Gentoo causes the most support requests. With bleeding edge packages and a million and one different configurations in how you can use it, Gentoo has the most support requests by far.
I wonder if this is true for other packages out there. (This comes from me being a gentoo user)
Transgaming does not support the Wind community like codeweavers does. By buying Transgaming's proprietory software, you are being dominated and are supporting non-free software. Instead donate money to the Wine Project, which is free software.
I enjoy having access to a huge library of games, and I really enjoy not having to deal with botched textures and subpar performance just to make sure it runs on my pet OS. I'm a gamer first and foremost, and in this day and age that means Microsoft.
Your focus is gaming, and you're right to choose Microsoft. But for me, I actually use Linux to do work, and I enjoy being able to launch Quake for a quicky, or play Xpilot online while something compiles. Dual boot isn't really an option for me, and I'm glad many games run on Linux, even if they may not give tip-top performance as under Windows. So you see, for some it's not a matter of "pet OS", but a simple question of practicality.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
They don't write cross-platform because they can already hit their biggest target (Windows) and use a superior API (DirectX) to hit it. You write for DirectX and you've already got at the very least the PC and XBox platforms sewn up. Would the very small marketshare represented by Apple and Linux really make that much of a difference? Now if those platforms were larger, maybe then you'd see a lot more cross-platform work, but right now it barely makes sense to port games to Apple; it sure as hell doesn't make much financial sense to port to Linux, except maybe a server version (BF1942, HL, etc.).
Yes, but the game itself feels like shareware from early 90s.
It's because of apps like this no-one wants to adopt Linux as a gaming platform.
Not true. If that would be true, game developers would take care that the games runs in Wine/Cedega. They are not - the linux market is not important. If the market would matter, the game developers would use stuff that is easily portable (OpenGL, SDL), if they are not limited by the enviroment (for example the need to use a DirectDraw gfx engine).
The only game I can think of that took care of wine compatibility and had no native linux version was Master Of Orion III. If your argument ("no one develops for linux because of wine") would be true, there would be far more games like that.
Offhand, I know that 1, 2, 3, and 5 work. I'd have to look up WoW.
MOUNT TAPE U1439 ON B3, NO RING
Most people i know have tried cegega and aren't impressed. they claim it's both tough to install and even harder to configure correctly.
i haven't tried cedega myself, but a simple apt-get install wine has worked perfectly on most systems i use.
Keep the faith, share the code
What's the data to back up that claim? If it's a simple observation - I can offer one too. Every commercial piece of software out there, no matter what platform and to include MacOS and Windows is available as "warez". It would seem that Windows and MacOS users don't pay for software too.
Of course, we know that's bunk. It's more complex an issue than that. Just as there are considerable offerings available for Linux without a fee... there is also commercial software available for a fee. And people do, in fact, buy that software. I know - I'm one of them.
If there was a gaming console based on linux tech (openGL, SDL, Linux the OS, etc), then games could be easily cross-ported to the linux PC I would think, a bit like XBOX and Windows...
I think that a linux console would be the single best way to slap the world and jump-start linux native gaming. To most ordinary folk, the OS running under the hood wouldn't matter - as a console, it would be: load the dvd, turn on...
dahlek (will you squirm when you are pecked
Simply put, no.
Most of what Transgaming uses from Wine is from when Wine used the X11 license (last such release was 20020228). Wine now uses the LGPL. There has been some work (ReWind) integrating patches from developers willing to double-license their patches under the old X11 license as well, but that fork is mostly dead now.
If you actually read the EULA for Cedega, you'll notice that they say that some of the work they distribute is under the LGPL, some other under the Artistic license, etc. So they actually use (as per the LGPL) some parts of Wine. I don't know exactly which ones are under which license, you'd have to look that up yourself.
Transgaming still have a freely accessible cvs server. I haven't checked it out since a long time ago, but if you want to see which parts are under which license, I guess that'd be a good place to start.
Each dll can be replaced on an individual basis, so it's very conceivable that it can be under a different license, even if distributed together. The best proof for that (except for things like kernel32 and ntdll) is that you can use the native (Windows) versions instead of the builtin ones (Wine/Cedega).
I don't have a list of what they contributed either, but I believe the current DCOM work (mostly needed for Installshield support, but also other things) is based on a patch sent by Ove Kåven about two years ago. The Marlett font which comes with Wine is also their work. Of course, don't expect any patches from them which touches DirectX or copy protection.
While it's always good to see some games from genres other than FPS come up when Linux gaming is discussed there is still a huge gap there.
Of the 10 games I have installed on my Win32 machine right now only 2 of them fall into the FPS genre. That leaves 80% of the games that I normally would expect to play out of what most people would think of in terms of Linux gaming.
I'll grant that some of the the games could be run in WINE and even one of them, good ol NWN, is directly supported. However if gaming on Linux is to become the reality I think that it should not be so one sided as to expect that people will switch just because of FPS games.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
You don't understand flightsimmers: we need realism.n esis_3000_Overview.html
By what you describe Flightgear is too realistic for you. You are looking for something like this:
http://phoenixosfs.org/
http://targetware.net/
Also, I have a large console (yoke, switching, throttle, prop control, mixture) that only works with MS FS2004.
Oh, Im impressed. How do you think does that compare to this:
http://www.flightgear.org/Projects/Genesis3000/Ge
We used to play it quite a lot over LAN here - some 4-5 players, most of the time. Don't get me wrong, it _is_ fun, but there's still the feeling that something's not quite right.
The player weapon models, for example - those made me feel like playing shareware, like I wrote above.
Last but not least... why do I have to pay so much? I moved from PC to Mac and would have to rebuy all my games. The data files are where most of your money is tied up. Write portable, and sell one box with one DVD that works on Win/Lin/Mac. Or just sell a Windows version and when the Linux/Mac version are ready make the files freely downloadable so anyone with a Windows copy run under Linux/Mac. Now you say that after mentioning Loki and Aspyr, outside porting houses. Now if Aspyr lets you just download their executable to use with Windows version's data files - tell me how Aspyr is making any money? Especially since they just spent all of the effort and money in getting that port done in the first place. If it's from the original company I can understand just letting you use their other version's files, but if a company goes through the work to make the port - they need to make money off of it. Otherwise that'll be the last port you see from them.
Seconed, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is a gem of a game. The objective based and role based team play is better than anything else out there imho. You'll get bored with counter strice, but never with ET! :)
//TheToon
I occasionally use X on MS Windows as well - and a decently written X server works quickly there too even on slow hardware. The wrong video driver options can stuff you up anywhere, not just on X, so that can slow things down.