Mateo

Ok, so following up on this thread, you now should have a stock install of Ubuntu, with whatever selections you used from Automatix.

For example, on my system, I have installed, at this point:

• Nvidia version 8756
• Realplayer 10
• Java 1.5
• Mplayer
• Swiftfox
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Flash Player
• All codecs available
• Microsoft Fonts
• Serpentine
• Gnomebaker
• VLC
• Liferea

and much, much more, as they say in the Saturday morning commercials.

So, now what?

Well, to check if everything is all right, run Rhythmbox, and see if mp3s can now play.


Gotta have mah tunes!

So, with any luck, you should have tunes coming out of your speakers.

Ok, but we really want to get down to it: where are the games? Slow down, young fella, you're gonna hurt yourself!

First, there are 3 major ways that games can get installed on Ubuntu:

1. You can simply install some games by unzipping a file, and executing a binary (Nexuiz).
2. You can install Linux native titles via the command line (UT2004, Quake4).
3. You can install and run the game via an emulator (Wine, Cedega, ZNes, etc.)

I'm not going to go over the first type. I assume that if you are running linux, you know how to extract a zip file.

For the second, command line, installers, well, that is a little more complicated. First you need to find them. One great source is Loki Installers For Linux Gamers. What this team has done is taken the install process that the long defunct Loki Software company used for installing Windows games on Linux, and applied that to more recent games and mods. Fantastic work.

So, let's say you have UT2004, and you want to install that and the Megapack update.

Fire up a terminal, navigate to the file (cd /home/mateo/gamefile), and type in"

sh <filename>.run or ./<filename>.run

EDIT: By the way, you do not need to TYPE those long-assed file names. Run the dir command, highlight the file you want hit Edit>Copy from the menu, or right-click copy, and paste it into the command line.

One of those will cause the installer to run.

Have Flak Cannon, will travel.

So, that takes, what, 5 minutes, and two painless terminal commands? Easy!

Now, if you remember last time, we made sure that WINE was installed. WINE does not emulate Windows, instead, it intercepts system calls from Windows Programs, and reinterprets them so that Linux can execute them. Wine, and it's pay for play cousin, Cedega, are going to be the core of your gaming.

Installing WINE can be done via Automatix, or via Synaptic.

Oh, wait, I haven't officially introduced you to Synaptic yet, have I? Synaptic is under System>Administration, and allows you to install applications on the fly. Debian and Ubuntu have some 15,000+ packages in their applications repository, so if you see something open source that you need to have, it's probably already in there.


Say hello to your new best friend.

Getting Cedega is not as easy. First, you need to go to TransGaming, and get hold of the Cedega demo, or get a subscription. Subscriptions cost $5 per month, and allow you to vote on games for support, and give you access to all current, future, and past versions of Cedega. Since some games only run on certain versions of Cedega, that last feature is really nice. Subscriptions require a 3 month signup (that's $15 for those of you bad at math), and you can quit at any time and keep what you downloaded. Pretty fair if you ask me.

I'm going to do a full review later on, so let's bypass most of the issues that there are behind Cedega, and talk about what you need to do to get games running.

Your next step is to download a missing xlibs library from debian, and install it. You can do this by right clicking on the downloaded file, and installing it via Gdebi.


Say Hello to Little Debi

Gdebi is a new package tool, that automates all sorts of terminal commands to make your life easy on these one off installs.

Now you can use Gdebi to install Cedega.


Now, you are playing with power!

Using Cedega can be really easy, or really complicated, depending on the game. On a best case scenario, you click install, mount the drive, and are rewarded in the end by the game installer doing its thing.


Battlefield 2 on Ubuntu, something I never thought you could say!

Other times, well, it's not so easy.

To get to this screenshot:



I had to extract 5 Half Life CDs to my drive, and install from there. Tedious, to be sure, but it got Half Life 2 and Counterstrike Source running without going through a lengthy download.

If you run into an install that borks after 2 or three CD changes, do the following: right click on the CD icon, and tell Ubuntu to copy the disc. Dump the disk to any folder, and extract the contents into any directory you like. Then, tell Cedega to run the install from there.


Gratuitous WOW on Ubuntu using Cedega Pron

Installing patches is pretty straight forward in Cedega. Just point the installer at the patch or update and it handles the rest.

Now, I assume that by now, you are thinking: why have 2 copies of WINE on a system? That is what we are doing, after all, isn't it?

That's because some games run better on regular WINE, or at least that's why I have read. Personally, I find installing via WINE to be the same sort of effort that Gentoo is to set up: it gets you to the same place as Cedega, only you have to work hard to get there.

What WINE is good for, however, is for installing peripherals like Mods on your system. Cedega does not make adding on maps and mods to your installs easy, so in many cases, a quick wine dystopia.exe followed by a copy of the extracted files into your Cedega installed Steam folder is much easier workaround.

What, you don't see the folders? Hit ctrl-H. That enables you to see all the hidden junk. Cedega puts all files to the .cedega folder, and WINE to .wine. Copying stuff back and forth is a simple copy and paste.

A couple of things you need to know about Cedega before we move on. It's actually a very powerful piece of software that everyone seems to hate. What makes Cedega powerful is that you can really change how the software works via the GUI, from what version of Windows to emulate, to how the games should handle threading. One look at their forums, and you can see all sorts of disgruntled users. Most of the issues are hardware related, and due to TransGaming's breathless prose: "Run the Latest Windows Game's on Linux". There needs to be an asterix in there, because that's not always the case.

There are, however, some helpful individuals in those forums, and they pointed me in the direction of the unofficial wiki which is somewhat dated, but full of configuration trips for a huge list of games.

While we are here, go over to Teamspeak and get the Linux version of the Teamspeak client. Just doube click on the setup.sh file, and away you go. One thing to note: you need to make sure that your sound system is running in full duplex, and that you run teamspeak FIRST before you run any game.

So, we have Cedega up and running, got some games installed, and have Teamspeak installed. That's a good place to end the second installment.

I promised I would go over XGL this time, but I just found a script that supposedly will make the whole install easy as can be. If it works, it will save me alot of writing, and you alot of effort. Next time.

By the way, anyone who tells you Linux gaming sucks, just hasn't tried it.

icky

Tease.

Thanks for all of the info Mateo. I have used Linux for a long time (I mean long... I believe it was 7 floppies downloaded from a BBS) to do server stuff, but it never quite made it onto the desktop due to my Windows dependencies. Maybe it's time to try Ubuntu as a desktop at home.

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Peace through fear... since 1947!

Mateo

Yeah, I'm still working on it, and hit the wrong button.

I need an Under Construction sign.

Polska

Got any links to troubleshooting guides. My ubuntu is messed up right now and I haven't bothered to try to solve the problem as it's only something i play around with on the side from time to time.

If I recal correctly XServer failed to start up (or something like that).

If you could point me in the right direction maybe I'll bother to try and get it back up :P.

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Trooper

I got cedega running and going, really easy and user friendly if you ask me. Having some CSS issues, but i did get BF2 installed although i havent tried to run it, will have to wait until next week to try that out.

My CSS just hangs there, no play or anything, i end up having to restart the PC just to get out of it.

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

Mateo

Ctrl-alt-backspace will reset your desktop without taking the whole system down.

Try this with CS:S:
Open Cedega, right click on Steam.
Now select a Cedega version, and edit the profile.
Counterstrike Source runs best when it is emulated in win98 mode, with the scheduler tab at default, and PThreads on auto.

See if that works.

Mateo

The Ubuntu forums are pretty good, and the first place I check for any issue.

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/

Seems like there are alot of Xserver issues, especially in here:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=132

Hope that helps.

Trooper

Sweet that worked perfectly. I ended up selling my Xfi for a Audigy SE, i really cant notice a difference. Sound works and CSS works, just need to get my mic working. I down sized my Windows influence today on my PC. Its down the 1 30gig drive with all i use on it. The others are formated to Fat32 so i can use both ways. I finally have time and knowledge to use linux and its alot of fun. Im really surprised how much info the Ubuntu forums have, alot of really helpful people there.


Awesome work Mateo.

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

Trooper

well i can get CSS to run, but as soon as i shoot it freezes and writeminidump.exe pops and i have to restart. Im not sure whats causeing that and i cant find any answers. The only thing i could find was having to do with the fonts

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

Mateo

You have to have the fonts installed, otherwise CS:S will crash.

Next, try other versions of Cedega: you can download earlier versions, and use those instead of the latest one.

Chappie

Mateo,

How does Bf2 run on Ubuntu?? Also, I've read that there's an issue with Punkbuster and Ubuntu/Linux?? Any insight?

Thanks for all of this...I might give it a go. I installed a version of Linux about 5 years ago..really liked it but at that time the gaming on it was very limited.

thanks again,

Chappie

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"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo 3/22/06'

Mateo

BF2 does run, although you have to update punkbuster manually. There are some issues with the way the game uses punkbuster, and as a result of this, players that updated automatically using Cedega got globally banned because punkbuster thought they were hacking. Supposedly, it takes a lengthy process to fix, but it can be fixed.

Players that use the pwsetup.run file from punkbuster have been able to play without issue, but given that automatic updates are problematic, they are not saying that they support the title.

Root

Well I've made it as far as this thread. Other than a few minor issues with gaim and xchat, all seems to be well.

Am I reading the original post from this thread correctly? I can't use wine to run steam / css / dys?

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Mateo

Nope. Notice I said that Wine and Cedega will get you to the same place, but Cedega is easier.

For example, Steam is listed as SILVER (works, with a few bugs), although you may need to do some hacking to get there:

http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=1554

Counterstrike Source is listed as GOLD (works, may have one or two minor bugs):

http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=3731

For HL2, WineHQ calls it BRONZE (runs, may have showstoppers depending on hardware/distro):

http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=2890

I can't link to it from work, but Linux Gamers has a good how-to for these titles.

Root

Ok that's good news. Do you happen to have a link that explains how to add steam to WINE, that's written as plainly as some of the other stuff you've provided?

Running wine steam installer.exe installs fine, but then crashes on the updating (and there's lots of error messages in console). Running sudo wine steam installer.exe has the same result.

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