Worried about Quality

[chris062689]

I just bought a brand new PC that has an awesome graphics card (9600 GT) and I'm kind of worried about Ubuntu.
I like to play HL2 Source games, Assassin's Creed and the like, but I was wondering if WINE had the same graphic quality as the "real" Windows version of the games.
Also, the emulators I've found on Linux really don't live up to their Windows counterparts in terms of usability (most of them have CLIs, and the GUI counterparts are terrible!)

Can someone put my fears to rest? :(

[jamewill]

i don't know SO much about wine but....

i think it is fair to say performance for high spec games (of the kind you need a fancy graphics card for) is not likely to be as good in wine...

you need dual boot
windows for games
ubuntu for everything else

jw

[chris062689]

I'd really not like to dual boot, mostly because rebooting is a hassle.

[ChameleonDave]

I'd really not like to dual boot, mostly because rebooting is a hassle.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

By some freak, Windows games occasionally work faster under Wine than on actual Windows, but this is rare. They are usually either the same or not as good.

Another option is to run them in an installation of Windows within a virtual machine within Linux. This will emulate hardware not as good as what you actually have, so performance may be lower.

If this is not satisfactory, then just boot into actual Windows.

There is no other option apart from just not playing Windows games (i.e. you could just play Linux games, or get a games console and use your Linux PC for proper computer stuff only).

[chris062689]

Well, I'm more worried about the graphic quality not being on par with Windows. I'm going to have a pretty good CPU (Intel E7200 4Ghz) so I don't think I'll really notice any slowdowns.

I really want to use WINE with Source Games, but if I'm not going to be able to get as much graphic quality as Windows, I think I'm going to have to stick with Windows. Is there a visual "hit" when using WINE? Does HL2 look the same (max settings) with WINE and Windows?

[eragon100]

Yes, HL 2 looks exactly the same, no problems at all with that game! :KS

[chris062689]

I hear there has been tons of problems with Source-based game on the RCs. I really hope they get it straightened out before Wine 1.0

I think I may just stick with Vista as the operating system.
Mostly because it's for games, you have no idea how badly I want to stick Ubuntu on there, but WINE just isn't there yet :(

Ubuntu is loaded on my older PC, and my Eee!

[Phenax]

I hear there has been tons of problems with Source-based game on the RCs. I really hope they get it straightened out before Wine 1.0

I think I may just stick with Vista as the operating system.
Mostly because it's for games, you have no idea how badly I want to stick Ubuntu on there, but WINE just isn't there yet :(

Ubuntu is loaded on my older PC, and my Eee!

I agree. Wine doesn't have a real handle on DX9 (shaders, etc.) and hasn't even begun DX10. I don't even think DX8 is fully done. Many people have speed increases because they (unknowingly) run it in DX7 mode instead of DX9/DX10 mode.

[dudeofthedead]

Most of the source code in Wine is now frozen, so the odds for that getting any better than it already is are pretty bad. As far as I'm concerned, it's dead software.

[fktt]

Most of the source code in Wine is now frozen, so the odds for that getting any better than it already is are pretty bad. As far as I'm concerned, it's dead software. well, bug fixes still get in(thats the point of a code freeze, after all) so cant be 100% sure they wont get better, but indeed, i prefer games to be native.

[Artificial Intelligence]

With the 9xxx cards you also need to install the drivers manually, but it's no big deal. Just remember to update when the kernel get patched.

[chris062689]

Sadly I think I may have to stick with Vista on this one.
WINE just isn't up to par yet. With Vista at least I'll be able to play my games at their 100% grahpical power.
Perhaps when WINE gets better support for DX10.

I still have Ubuntu on my older PC and Eee though, so don't think I'm an Ubuntu Troll :KS