Shadowcat on 4/10/2015 at 12:24
So a while ago my Windows hard drive failed, and I took the opportunity to go Linux-only.
In the interim I've been sticking to games with Linux-native versions, as I have loads of those at this point; but today I decided to try out WINE to see if I could run some Windows-native games.
I'm kinda blown away by how well it works -- I really wasn't expecting it to be this easy.
I'm using a Debian-based distro, and <code>apt-get install wine</code> was all the installation needed.
I then downloaded some Windows games from GOG, and in each case was able to simply run: <code>wine NAME_OF_SETUP_FILE</code> to install the game. I had left the "add a desktop icon" option enabled in the installers, and kept thinking that was pointless but simply couldn't be bothered unticking it. Then I noticed that WINE had <em>actually created desktop icons which worked</em>. Holy cow. You can also just run the game with <code>wine NAME_OF_EXECUTABLE</code> from the game directory.
I've only tried a few games, and barely played them at that, so to be honest I can't comment much on compatibility and stability. What I can say is that I've been able to install and run everything I've tried thus far, and in most cases it's been absolutely trivial to do.
One issue is that you seemingly can't run batch files directly, so with GOG's "System Shock Classic" release I had to point it directly at the game executable (which worked fine). I can imagine that one cropping up a fair bit.
I'm sure I'll hit some actual issues sooner or later, but my first impressions are extremely favourable, and I would definitely recommend that people give it a whirl.
Volitions Advocate on 5/10/2015 at 01:32
I managed to run Starcraft without any problems using WINE, but also other windows applications that I use for development and analysis. It's voodoo magic man.
There's supposed to be a similar program that will allow you to use windows drivers within Linux, I can't remember what it's called but if I find it and it works as well as Wine... that would be huge for some productivity and media publishing apps that use hardware.
For the moment I'm going 100% windows 10 and using Virtual box for all the Linux stuff. It's working okay so long as the distro is friendly with VB. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS apparently isn't quite so much.
Shadowcat on 19/12/2016 at 12:08
It's fun when WINE runs a Windows game better than I'd last seen Windows running it :)
Nameless Voice on 19/12/2016 at 13:48
Interesting thread.
What about Windows-only Steam games? Will it let you install them through the Linux client?
I suppose it would be too much to ask for it to run them through Wine automaticallly and with the overlay...
baeuchlein on 19/12/2016 at 13:51
Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate
There's supposed to be a similar program that will allow you to use windows drivers within Linux, I can't remember what it's called but if I find it and it works as well as Wine...
In case you're still searching, the only program I found is (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NDISwrapper) NDISwrapper, but it's just useful for some network drivers.
froghawk on 19/12/2016 at 17:26
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
Interesting thread.
What about Windows-only Steam games? Will it let you install them through the Linux client?
I suppose it would be too much to ask for it to run them through Wine automaticallly and with the overlay...
You could just install windows steam in wine. Not sure how well that works, but... why not?
Baal on 19/12/2016 at 18:47
This is a frontend (and more) for wine, that you will find very useful.
(
http://www.playonlinux.com) http://www.playonlinux.com
Renzatic on 21/12/2016 at 21:41
I just came across this. Doom 2016 running at 150 FPS on WINE using Vulkan.
[video=youtube;AWZvwhwT1Sk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWZvwhwT1Sk[/video]
Performancewise, there's practically nil differences between it and native.
Shadowcat on 22/12/2016 at 09:07
Very impressive.
Renzatic on 22/12/2016 at 15:21
For one, I doubt very seriously the Windows scene will be ditching Intel for ARM within the next decade. For two, Linux has better ARM support than Windows currently does, so even if the unthinkable were to happen, we'd still have something like WINE waiting for us.
