One of the reasons people have a hard time making the jump to Linux is the fact that they have a hard time leaving the games they play in Windows. In this article, I’m going to describe some methods of getting around this hurdle, and make the transition to Linux easier. I’m not going to promise that your favorite game will work, but will give you the tools to be able to try. I’m also not going to be talking about native linux apps – those are pretty straightforward. This article will focus on Windows apps in Linux.
The first tool in the linux gamer’s arsenal is a utility called WINE. WINE stands for “Wine Is Not an Emulator”, in true unix style recursive acronyms. It’s job is to make your system look like Windows to your Win apps, giving users the ability to run programs, and for our purposes, games. The first step to running a windows program in linux is to install WINE (use apt-get / yum to install from the standard repositories), and then simply run ‘wine <name of the program.exe>’ – there’s a good chance that it will just run. I have noticed that for some reason game installers tend to be a little temperamental, so one way to get around this is to install on a Windows box and then copy the files to your unix machine over the network.
Another tool is called CrossOver Games, which is a commercially-supported version of WINE. If you don’t feel like messing with config files, this may be your best bet. I haven’t needed anything but the basic WINE installation, but I’ve heard good things about this product.
The games that I like are traditionally MMORPGs and emulated games. I’ve gotten both Star Wars Galaxies and World of Warcraft running, and Atari800, Stella, and MAME running so far. Also, I’ve gotten Spore to run. I really haven’t found the need to run much else in the gaming dept, so I’m set! The main issues that I’ve found with running games in linux are:
- Dual-Screen Issues
- Screen Resolution
- Keyboard Repeat Issues
Dual-Screen Issues
First off, I like to do gaming in full screen. I hate window elements on my game screen. The issue is when you have a dual monitor set up. The issue is, Xwindows handles resolutions differently than windows (one big screen vs. 2 smaller screens). This can be an issue since games will try to use the entire surface, and probably centering the content, making it completely unplayable (half on one screen, half on the other). In doing some searching, I found a solution to this problem — it’s called MetaModes. Note: I’m using an Nvidia chipset – not sure what to do if you’re using ATI. To enable MetaModes with TwinView, do the following:
# sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup # sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Add the following line in the “Screen” Section:
Option "metamodes" "1280x1024,1280x1024; 1280x1024,NULL"
(This assumes you have 1280×1024 monitors — change as needed)
Restart your X server — I usually close all my apps, hit CTRL-ALT-F1, log in, and run:
# sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart
This shouldn’t change anything with your normal desktop, but if you run a fullscreen app, it should only use the first monitor, and turn off the second. When the app is done, it will go back to the normal 2-screen layout. This setup works pretty well for me.
Screen Resolutions
One of the things you’ll find is that configuration apps written for windows won’t detect available resolutions correctly when running in Linux. Since most people run with LCDs lately (which look crap if you don’t run in the correct resolution), this can be a pain. Don’t expect the application to be able to find your ideal resolution. What I usually do is run the program and let it do it’s thing with the default res. Then I quit the program and look for a config file. Most games have a config file somewhere that states what resolution to run in. Edit the file manually and re-run the game. This should fix things so that it runs the way you want.
Keyboard Repeat Issues
Lately I’ve noticed an odd issue with keyboard repeating. It seems that there is an issue with the latest Xorg version and wine not playing nicely with keyboard repeats. If you do run into something like this, try disabling keyboard repeating from System->Preferences->Keyboard (in Ubuntu).
One really nice thing about gaming on Linux is the fact that you can keep your software on an NFS mounted filesystem. If you’re sharing an installation of WoW, for instance, only one person has to update it, and then it’s updated for everyone. It can take a little longer to load from the network, but I haven’t noticed many issues here. Another good thing here is the registry. While I usually try to stay away from games that use the registry, having it in linux is helpful because it’s not tied to one machine. You can put it on a remote drive, and it encapsulates the registry so that it could then run on other machines, making it a lot more portable.
