Thief on linux... New plan

Albert on 19/1/2010 at 18:53

Now, I'm a bit bedridden right now (:(), but I'm able to type up this idea I had on the laptop:

Now, there is this version of the wine compatability layer (software for linux and mac that allows for windows to run on them, cuz they now all share the same cpu, and mebbe even gpu) called (http://www.playonlinux.com/en/) PlayOnLinux, which uses custom scripts to create installers with which one could probably modify a custom wine installation in some way so that thief/TG/T2 works.

Now, the closest anyone one has came to succesfully getting a thief game to work this way can be found (http://www.playonlinux.com/en/topic-2598-Thief_Deadly_Shadows.html) here. Now, the idiot never thought to upload his custom install script, but so far it shows on the wine software database that Thief/TG/T2 and TDS all work near perfectly as they would on most of todays systems. This all combines with some of the current work being done on DDFIX, which may possibly solve the fog problem.

And this all comes full circle. I found this wrapper from way back (closed-source, though it used some open-source dependencies that are easy to find and modify.) that uses the custom linux 3d drivers and converts them to D3d commands. In reverse, I'm betting we could get a near-native running speed for T1/TG/T2 on any Linux os, with any GPU (intel, ATI, Nvidia, etc.)

So, for the tech-minded thief folks out there: how does this sound?

EDIT: I also found (http://web.archive.org/web/20070528141517/www.unstdio.com/downloads) this (via wayback), which seems a bit off and dependent on something completely different, but I wanted to know if this is close to what I'm thinking it is.

lost_soul on 20/1/2010 at 02:17

I currently run Thief 1/2 in Wine with the following issues. Sometimes you can't skip videos. If you try, the video will freeze until it finishes. There is no fix for this problem that I know of. Also, loading times are quite a bit slower than they are on my Windows install.

Also, if you don't have a powerful graphics card, forgetaboutit. The games chug badly on the Intel GPUs, but they run well on a geforce 9800GT.

There is still a big bug that effects all unreal engine 2 games in wine where the mouse pointer escapes the window, preventing you from turning 360 degrees. This bug has been present for at least 4 years, and I fully expect to be playing Duke Nukem Forever before it gets fixed.

Haplo on 20/1/2010 at 04:17

Quote Posted by lost_soul

Also, loading times are quite a bit slower than they are on my Windows install.

I have the same problem under Wine. Saving is considerably slower too.
Also, sometimes the sound decides not to work.

lost_soul on 20/1/2010 at 23:42

Never had problems with sound, but I make it a point to scrub Pulseaudio from any new system I install. They claim it is a drop-in replacement for ALSA, but that many programs will have to be fixed to work with it. By definition then, it is not a drop-in replacement.

PA really makes me consider just going back to XP.

Albert on 21/1/2010 at 00:25

And these replies answer the jist of OT... How?! :mad:

Now, I know many are complaining of the videos not playing and how slow it runs, but these are biased statements, people. Honestly, the attempts I've made so far with thief 2 haven't been great... But I was getting it to run a while back. Albeit with a few nasty quirks, but it shows me that with some trial-and-error and someone with some linux know-how, we could be getting one step closer to fully playing thief on linux.

If (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGPYDLEtbIU) Half life 2 can run on linux, I bet Thief's 1 through 3 will be nothing.

lost_soul on 21/1/2010 at 01:14

It really has nothing to do with the age of the game, but more to do with what features of the Windows OS the game calls. For example, Doom 3 runs superbly in Wine on linux, fast FPS and all.

Albert on 21/1/2010 at 01:50

Well, OK, I'll give you that. But wine actually CAN run Thief 2. This I know, as I've gotten it to work b4. Lemme put it this way: Could we all just put our minds together and come up with a solution that will allow all the dark engines games to run superbly, regardless of the system being used?

I found (http://www.wine-reviews.net/benchmarks/compile-wine-with-the-3dmark-patch.html) this. It's geared towards newer games, but so far the videos I've seen for it are promising. Maybe Thief/G/2 will work with this? I dunno, last time I tried compiling code on Ubuntu, it failed miserably.

lost_soul on 21/1/2010 at 02:11

I've done custom builds of Wine in the past (I use one currently). The patch I applied fixed 3d model rendering in some games like NOLF2. I am no programmer though.

It is a shame that most of the work being done on WINE is for newer games. IMO most newer games suck, and implementing things like DX10 when it is hardly used isn't the best use for resources. I know, people will work on whatever they want.

I was actually hoping the developers of something like DDfix could try to improve compatibility with WINE.

We need someone who can actually debug the problems like with the videos and come up with a solution.

one idea I've had to try to work around the long loading times is to make a 1.8 GB RAMdrive and move the game there before running it. On a system with 4 gigs this should be possible, but it is a ugly UGLY hack/workaround.

Albert on 21/1/2010 at 02:32

OK, so I see I have someone on the same page here. Now, do you think you could help me, by compiling Wine 1.1.36 with the 3dmark patch I linked to in my post prior? I'd at least like to try that out, as I'm willing to do some more testing with Thief 2.

Damn thing wouldn't compile for me. Which sucks!

lost_soul on 21/1/2010 at 03:47

(http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=2270)

If you set RenderTargetLockMode to disabled in the wine registry, it will make the game run quite a bit faster. Apparently it causes the HUD to disappear for ATI users though. I'm an NVIDIA user and it doesn't cause a problem for me.