Linux Gaming 2
So, a few months have gone by since my last try at gaming on Linux with WINE (this time version 1.1.21)
I'm impressed what just a few months can do. This time around, I got a few more older favorites working and some of my latest purchases:
Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge installed and ran "out of the box" (after manually patching them to the latest game version).
seems to run a little on the slow side, but still quite playable, cheezy cutscenes and all.
Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars took a bit of tweaking as per the WineHQ install forum threads (install full version of DirectX and dotNet 2 via the winetricks shell script) but I am now running it perfectly after patching it with the latest game updates. Runs very smooth. (Did not run at all with base DVD 1.0 version).
Dawn of War installed smoothly and ran well, after manually patching it with latest patches (The 1.50 patch release removes the stupid CD copy protection, so the game "just works". Without that patch it "just blew up" immediately).
Everything else (Starcraft, Diablo 2, Warhammer 40k: Chaos Gate) still worked perfectly after the WINE version upgrade.
So, that only leaves CnC Generals and CnC Renegade from my somewhat aging game collection that don't yet work.
Both are supposed to work with caveats, but I only seem to be able to install them...not actually run them. I'll keep trying now and again.
Overall, it saddens me that most of the PC games that have come out in recent years just seem like me-too crappy "Consoles Are Our REAL Target Audience" fodder (e.g. CnC Red Alert 3.....Good GOD, the mouse control bugs!!!) or are published with assinine copy-protection schemes that drove me to vote with my wallet by NOT buying and playing them (I'm looking at YOU Mass Effect and YOU Bioshock!).
Now to wait patiently for new Blizzard games....Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3.....Ooohmmmmmm....
I'm impressed what just a few months can do. This time around, I got a few more older favorites working and some of my latest purchases:
Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge installed and ran "out of the box" (after manually patching them to the latest game version).
seems to run a little on the slow side, but still quite playable, cheezy cutscenes and all.
Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars took a bit of tweaking as per the WineHQ install forum threads (install full version of DirectX and dotNet 2 via the winetricks shell script) but I am now running it perfectly after patching it with the latest game updates. Runs very smooth. (Did not run at all with base DVD 1.0 version).
Dawn of War installed smoothly and ran well, after manually patching it with latest patches (The 1.50 patch release removes the stupid CD copy protection, so the game "just works". Without that patch it "just blew up" immediately).
Everything else (Starcraft, Diablo 2, Warhammer 40k: Chaos Gate) still worked perfectly after the WINE version upgrade.
So, that only leaves CnC Generals and CnC Renegade from my somewhat aging game collection that don't yet work.
Both are supposed to work with caveats, but I only seem to be able to install them...not actually run them. I'll keep trying now and again.
Overall, it saddens me that most of the PC games that have come out in recent years just seem like me-too crappy "Consoles Are Our REAL Target Audience" fodder (e.g. CnC Red Alert 3.....Good GOD, the mouse control bugs!!!) or are published with assinine copy-protection schemes that drove me to vote with my wallet by NOT buying and playing them (I'm looking at YOU Mass Effect and YOU Bioshock!).
Now to wait patiently for new Blizzard games....Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3.....Ooohmmmmmm....