I'm an avid gamer, I play all kinds of games and a wide variety of specific titles, be they on the A-list or B-list. How realistic would it be for a person like me to rely solely on WINE for PC gaming? I understand that the pace with which WINE can catch up is relatively quick (a few months), but a few months is still a long time to wait if I'm itching to get started on a new release. I know there are ways to hedge the bet, like keeping a dual boot option for Windows, but this to me is self-defeating since my entire purpose is to get rid of and avoid having to use Windows in the first place. I'm also just not a big fan of having two operating systems, since one could really do all the stuff that I need. The only question is if Linux/WINE can be that OS. The way I see it is this: for all things outside of gaming, Linux can serve my needs. So can Windows. But when it comes to gaming, only Windows seems to be functionally complete. If I have to install Windows *anyway*, I might as well use it for everything instead of having to reboot every time I feel like playing a game. Realistically, can Linux/WINE replace Windows for a gamer? The question is especially poignant here and now, with Vista on the horizon and DX10 compatibility forcing Windows users to upgrade (for the record, I'm still on 2k by choice, and have no desire to continue using Windows as it becomes more invasive with regard to WGA, DRM, product activation and the like.) I would like an honest assessment of what gaming would be like if I made the jump to Linux (or rather, didn't make the jump to Vista) when DX10 games start rolling around. Is WINE robust enough that it would make a dual boot of Vista unnecessary?
Ham Pastrami <nomail@dot.com> wrote:> I'm an avid gamer, I play all kinds of games and a wide variety of specific > titles, be they on the A-list or B-list. How realistic would it be for a > person like me to rely solely on WINE for PC gaming? I understand that the > pace with which WINE can catch up is relatively quick (a few months), but a > few months is still a long time to wait if I'm itching to get started on a > new release. I know there are ways to hedge the bet, like keeping a dual > boot option for Windows, but this to me is self-defeating since my entire > purpose is to get rid of and avoid having to use Windows in the first place. > I'm also just not a big fan of having two operating systems, since one could > really do all the stuff that I need. The only question is if Linux/WINE can > be that OS. The way I see it is this: for all things outside of gaming, > Linux can serve my needs. So can Windows. But when it comes to gaming, only > Windows seems to be functionally complete. If I have to install Windows > *anyway*, I might as well use it for everything instead of having to reboot > every time I feel like playing a game. Realistically, can Linux/WINE replace > Windows for a gamer? > > The question is especially poignant here and now, with Vista on the horizon > and DX10 compatibility forcing Windows users to upgrade (for the record, I'm > still on 2k by choice, and have no desire to continue using Windows as it > becomes more invasive with regard to WGA, DRM, product activation and the > like.) I would like an honest assessment of what gaming would be like if I > made the jump to Linux (or rather, didn't make the jump to Vista) when DX10 > games start rolling around. Is WINE robust enough that it would make a dual > boot of Vista unnecessary?Well, this can be summoned up quite nicely: If you expect any game at all to just run on wine, you will not be happy with it. If there however is a specific list of games that you expect to run beforehand, you can check appdb.winehq.org on whether or not this one works. Daniel P.S. To tell you the truth, you seem awfully intent on gaming, to the point where it seems to be dominating your life. But that's just me...
I don't think wine will do what you want. Though very often applications not mentioned in the database will run without problems (I once tried Tropico 2) many will not. Regressions are common. With each new release some games suddenly work, others that worked with the last one will crash. There's an EPROM-burning program I use. It worked with some old wine version (0.9.11 or 0.9.12). Then with the next version it crashed on startup. This is fixed in 0.9.21: It starts OK, but now it just doesn't burn: The progress bar just stays at 0%. Problems like this are typical for wine and can be found with all applications including games. Philipp
Ham Pastrami wrote:> I'm an avid gamer, I play all kinds of games and a wide variety of specific > titles, be they on the A-list or B-list. How realistic would it be for a > person like me to rely solely on WINE for PC gaming? > > The question is especially poignant here and now, with Vista on the horizon > and DX10 compatibility forcing Windows users to upgrade (for the record, I'm > still on 2k by choice, and have no desire to continue using Windows as it > becomes more invasive with regard to WGA, DRM, product activation and the > like.) I would like an honest assessment of what gaming would be like if I > made the jump to Linux (or rather, didn't make the jump to Vista) when DX10 > games start rolling around. Is WINE robust enough that it would make a dual > boot of Vista unnecessary?The App DB is not always up to date. Some games work on some systems with a particualr WIne version but not on others with the same version. Some games work better on Wine than on XP. It depends on the functions and hardware. Wine's DirectX support is in a significant state of flux right now because of DirectX 9 support and related changes. You might want to try Win2K in an emulator like QEMU or VMWare.