----------------------------- WineX 3.0 Preview Release 1 ----------------------------- Release Notes, March 12, 2003. Overview ======== TransGaming is pleased to announce the release of a the first preview version of WineX 3.0, giving our users access to more Windows games in Linux than ever before. TransGamers can now download RPM, Debian and TGZ packages from the downloads section of http://www.transgaming.com/ The WineX 3.0 preview release marks the first recent release based on TransGaming's core development efforts on the main WineX development branch, rather than the 'stable' 2.0 branch. TransGaming's developers have added the key enabling technologies for the next generation of games, including many that were highly rated in the monthly polls, such as Battlefield 1942, Sim City 4, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and Dungeon Siege. This preview release enhances graphic capabilities with implementations of Vertex Shaders and Cube Maps, extends installer functionality with interthread marshalling and provides speed-ups for a number of games, as well as faster copy protection support with SecuRom discs. As this is a preview release it comes with caveats. Copy protection used by some more recent games is not yet supported. As well, installer support for some games is also not yet available. Because of these factors, some amount of tinkering may be required to allow newer games to work - hence the 'preview' nature of this release. A new support forum for WineX 3.0 has been created on the TransGaming website, accessible via the support area on the left-hand side of the site. We would appreciate all reports of regression related from previous releases to be posted in that forum, along with any other feedback you may have on this preview release. In addition to fully supporting many of the games that TransGamers have been voting for recently and cleaning up regressions, the final release of WineX 3.0 will include a number of new features to help you organize and install your favorite games. It will also make it possible to install and run games without using the command line. Watch our web site closely for more information on upcoming releases! New Features ============ * Hardware accelerated Vertex Shaders have been implemented. These are only supported on OpenGL drivers which implement the NV_vertex_program extension. The ARB extension will be supported in future releases (post 3.0 final) * Render to Texture and Cube Mapping support implemented for cool texturing effects. * Many installer related issues have been resolved; starting installs with autorun.exe should now work in many cases, multi disc installs should now have fewer issues with disc changing, and large installers are now supported. Additionally, significant effort has gone into making InstallShield 6 graphics update correctly. * Better handling of X11 Window Manager idiosyncrasies - WineX 3.0 does a much better job of going into 'full-screen' mode. * Many texturing robustness fixes. * SecuRom copy protection speed has been improved by up to 50% in some instances. * A combination of optimizations should provide faster game play for some games. * A new ALSA sound driver backend has been provided although it is untested at this point. System Requirements =================== Operating System ---------------- Core requirements are: - Linux Kernel 2.2 or higher. Stock Kernels recommended over RedHat 7.x/8.x kernels. - XFree86 4.0 or higher (4.1 and above recommended) - glibc 2.2 or higher - Working hardware accelerated OpenGL video card CPU Type and Speed ------------------ Recommended minimum hardware is - 500 MHz or faster Pentium or Athlon CPU - 64MB of memory; 128 MB or higher recommended - 1-2 GB free hard disk space for games - Linux Supported 3D graphics card with 16MB of video RAM is required. nVidia GeForce-class GPU recommended. Running the WineX 3.0 Preview Release ===================================== The WineX rpm and debian packages have changed name from "winex" to "winex3". This will allow you to preview the 3.0 release without the need to remove your winex package. The command to start WineX has also been changed from "winex" to "winex3", for the same reason. New Command Options ------------------- Some unzip installers make assumptions about the layout of memory in a process. Quite often this conflicts with the Linux memory layout. To provide a better memory environment for these installers, the winex3 startup script can be given a new command line option "-bigexe". While it's not recommended for daily use, you should most likely not see any issues with it. New Configuration Options ------------------------- This preview release introduces three new configuration options which can be used to tune WineX according to the particular application. These new options can be found in the $HOME/.transgaming/config directory in the [d3dgl] section. The new options are: "AnisotropicTextureFiltering", "VertexShaders", and "ClipSpaceFix". Generally you will not need to modify these from their default values. However, here is a brief description of the purpose that they serve. * Anisotropic filtering is a technique which improves the look of textures when viewed from an angle. While the visual improvement can be obvious in some cases, the speed penalty paid for this is considerable. If you can handle up to a 50% reduction in frame rates, feel free to set this to "Y" * The ClipSpaceFix option allows WineX to better emulate the differences in the graphical depth component (z) between D3D an OpenGL. If you are running in 16-bits per pixel mode, you should leave this option as "Y". In 24-bit mode, or when using applications which make use of vertex shaders, you should choose "N" instead. This flag will most likely be controlled automatically in future releases. * Vertex shaders are often used to add complex to compute graphical routines that are often optional. While our implementation of vertex shaders is hardware accelerated when the underlying OpenGL driver supports it, it may be implemented in software emulation on some cards. Unfortunately, it is impossible for WineX to determine whether or not the underlying implementation uses software or hardware. When this flag is set to "Y", WineX tells applications that hardware vertex shader support is available. With the flag set to "N", some applications may rely on their own optimized software fallbacks. Known Issues ============ Installers ---------- While progress has been made to significantly improve them, some products' installers have regressed somewhat. In particular, underlying mechanisms used by InstallShield 6 based installers have been reworked significantly, and are not yet 100% complete. Some installers will work, but others do not. In most cases, the installer will hang at the end. Killing the installer at this point using 'killall -9 wine' may prevent registry entries from being properly installed, and thus prevent patches or upgrades, but the application will usually be usable. Alternatively, you may choose to use WineX 2.2.1 to install new games. If you do so, be aware that you will need to change the launcher script used by any icons created on your desktop or in your menu system to use the 'winex3' launcher instead of the 'winex' launcher. Removing the WineX 3.0 Preview Release -------------------------------------- If you remove the WineX 3.0 Preview Release, you may wish to revert the WineX config file found in ~/.transgaming/config to the backup generated when WineX 3.0 was first run. If you do not revert to this backup, you may not be able to have icons and menus installed on your system when you run an application's installer. Battlefield 1942 ---------------- * Support for copy protection for this game is not included in this preview release. * The game must be patched to version 1.3 in order to fix problems that will prevent it from starting the game engine properly. * The opening movies do not presently work. They can be skipped by using the command line option "+restart 1". * The [d3dgl] 'ClipSpaceFix' option needs to be disabled to run the game. This has been configured by default in the config file. * For best performance, run the game in 'low detail' mode. Additional performance improvements are under development. Dungeon Siege ------------- * The installer for the full game does not presently work, though the demo works well. If the full game is installed in Windows and copied over to Linux, it will work as well. * Do not hit the 'ESC' key during game play, as it will cause the game to freeze. * Multiplayer support is not yet available, due to the use of DirectPlay 8 in the game. Sim City 4 ---------- * Support for copy protection for this game is not included in this preview release. * To install the game, you must insert and mount the CD-ROM, and use the following command line: $ winex3 -use-dos-cwd f:/ -- f:/autorun.exe If the installer asks you to install a new version of DCOM, say 'no'. * The game has small graphical glitches when scrolling with the hardware renderer. Use of the software renderer is recommended. Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault ------------------------------ * Support for copy protection for the SpearHead expansion pack is not available in this preview release. * After many levels of play, the game may need to be restarted to complete a level Black & White ------------- * The mouse wheel is not working at this point in time. Users can zoom by holding both the left and right mouse button at the same time and moving the mouse towards or away as needed. Zooming can also be accomplished using the ctrl key and the up/down arrows. * When clicking the mouse button, the cursor may jump to a new location momentarily Grand Theft Auto 3 ------------------ * The opening videos for Grand Theft Auto 3 work quite slowly under WineX. The movies may be skipped by pressing the space bar twice. EverQuest --------- * The patch utility should now be much faster than in previous releases, though as before it may crash at the end, as it attempts to launch Internet Explorer to view the updated release notes. * Alternatively, the game may be run without the auto-updater by using the command 'winex3 eqgame.exe patchme'. Baldur's Gate 2 --------------- * Baldur's Gate 2 currently may not start with the WineX 3.0 pre-release Diablo II --------- * Diablo II will only work properly in 640x480 mode with the current pre-release. Note that the main menus are always run at 800x600 resolution, and may thus look 'cut-off', though they are fully functional.