Diablo 1 shows black screen after intro on Mandriva 2008 w/ WINE.0.9.44

k0lvert · 12-04-2007, 08:02 AM

I am JUST venturing into the world of Wine (I eventually would LOVE to get rid of Windoze altogether... currently I have XP and Mandriva 2008 on dual boot) and I've managed to install Diablo II LOD, Astrolog32 (an astrology tool for calculating Birth/Natal Charts), and Omikron - The Nomad Soul (I know, I love the old-school stuff!

). Unfortunately I cannot get the first Diablo to run correctly. It SEEMS to install ok... I can see the Blizzard logos and if I don't hit any buttons the intro screen starts up ok. But after that I get a black screen, although I still hear the music in the background, and I can also hear if I move thru the options with my Up/Down arrows and press enter to select. Is this an issue w/ Wine? Or my comp? I'll insert the contents of my xorg.conf file (who knows, maybe my settings are off).

I've also noticed that on Omikron and Diablo II LOD when I setup wine.cfg I select 1024x768 for my resolution, but it defaults to 800x600. I can't change my monitor's resolution to 800x600 either for some reason; when I go into "Configure - KDesktop" -> "Display Settings" -> "Size and Orientation" tab the only option on my "Screen size" drop-down is 1024x768. ??? I surely hope I don't have to uninstall and reinstall Mandriva (in other words, I messed something up when I installed!) I know that on my Vector Linux machine I can go into VASM and re-setup my hardware just the same as I did when I initially installed. Is there a way to do that w/ Mandriva 2008? Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Contents of xorg.conf:

Code:

# File generated by XFdrake (rev 230776)

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerFlags"
    #DontZap # disable <Ctrl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
    AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
    #DontZoom # disable <Ctrl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
    Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
    Load "extmod"
    Load "type1"
    Load "freetype"
    Load "glx" # 3D layer
    Load "dri" # direct rendering
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Keyboard1"
    Driver "kbd"
    Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
    Option "XkbLayout" "us"
    Option "XkbOptions" "compose:rwin"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Mouse1"
    Driver "mouse"
    Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
    Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "monitor1"
    VendorName "Plug'n Play"
    ModelName "DELL E773c"
    HorizSync 30-70
    VertRefresh 50-160
    
    # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
    # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     50.00  768  832  846 1000   576  590  595  630
    
    # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     63.07  768  800  960 1024   576  578  590  616
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
    VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
    BoardName "ATI Radeon 9500 - X850"
    Driver "fglrx"
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
    DefaultColorDepth 24
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 8
        Modes "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 15
        Modes "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 16
        Modes "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Modes "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout1"
    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
    Screen "screen1"
EndSection

Mega Man X · 12-04-2007, 08:17 AM

Hi k0lvert!

For Diablo 1:

Could the blackscreen be a problem with your monitor running out of range? I've had similar issues with Warcraft 2. The solution was to find out specifications on the net about my monitor and use this to edit the xorg.conf file. My monitor can't do anything over 75hz and Warcraft 2 was kicking 85hz when running in full screen.

Also, years ago, Diablo 1 worked fine in Linux... for one small problem: IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO SAVE

. Since Diablo 1 is not the one-sitting type of game, this can be a turn off for you. Make sure to download the latest patch before running Diablo 1. Usually, you can update Blizzard games by connecting to battle.net, but if you can't navigate the menus, you will need to download the patch from Blizzard's homepage separated.

For Diablo 2:
As far as I remember, Diablo 2 runs at 640x480 and LOD added 800x600 resolution, so you won't be able to run it at 1024x768. If you are also getting a blackscreen when running D2 - LOD, then it definitely is an out-of-range problem with your monitor.

Check http://www.winehq.org/ for some tips and possible solutions with those games.

Regards!

dracolich · 12-04-2007, 08:35 AM

I, too, would like to play the first Diablo in wine, but what you're experiencing is pretty much normal. I haven't tried in while and Wine-0.9.50 was just released a few days ago. Since the problem appears to be DirectDraw related I remember trying changing ddraw from native to builtin and vice-versa, and I tried changing the emulated Windows version from 2000 to 98 and 95 with no success. That was around Wine version 0.9.40.

What you're seeing in KDE's display options is also normal. I never changed my resolution from 1024x768 so I never bothered to investigate why. This line

Quote:

Modes "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"

tells you all of the resolutions you can select from. The first one listed is the default. There's a key combo that can change them up and down. IIRC it's Ctrl+ and Ctrl-, but, again I never changed mine so I might be wrong about the keys. Be careful that both your monitor and video card can handle the resolutions listed. If you switch to something out of range it may lock up the X server.

Wine can be told to run an app in a window, simulating a specific desktop size. In winecfg look for the options to simulate a desktop and the size you want. If it's not there or grayed out you can do it by editing the user file in ~/.wine.

forrestt · 12-04-2007, 10:21 AM

The key combo to switch between resolutions is [ctrl][alt][-] and [ctrl][alt[+]. I seem to remember having a similar problem with another Blizzard game (can't remember off the top of my head which one) and I think I had to change the number of colors, not the resolution, to get things to work. That would be set with the DefaultColorDepth variable in your xorg.conf. See how many colors Diablo wants in order to run properly (256=8bit, 65536=16Bit) then set the default color depth to the correct number of bits, restart X and try again.

(Oh, and just an additional note that is only slightly related. To kill an X session immediately [ctl][alt][backspace]).

HTH

Forrest

k0lvert · 12-04-2007, 01:18 PM

Thanks guys! I managed to get Diablo II LOD to fill my entire screen with the [Control][Alt]+ and [Control][Alt]- combinations... very sweet! The [Control][Alt][Backspace] is also very handy; the first time I did it I thought it would only close down that program, but no, it closes EVERYTHING down!

Along those lines, I was wondering if there is a key combination that is similar to Windoze' [Control][Alt][Delete] for stopping runaway programs? I know if you happen to have a CLI up (terminal, Konsole, whatever you call it), you can [Alt][Tab] to it, type in "top", find the runaway program, and kill it there. BUT if you don't have any other programs up, and if the runaway program is SERIOUSLY locking up your PC, how can you kill it (without killing everything else, that is)?

Back to Diablo: I did find another post here discussing this...
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-linux-218393/
At the end of the post they point toward another link (http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2082) which is supposed to contain a "patch" for wine/Diablo 1. When I tried clicking on the patch (to download it, I thought), it opens code. Where would I paste this code??? The page that comes up from that second link is not very self-explanatory (well, at least not to me

). I dunno... any other thoughts??

forrestt · 12-04-2007, 01:32 PM

Did you try changing your color depth and starting Diablo?

dracolich · 12-04-2007, 02:56 PM

Quote:

When I tried clicking on the patch (to download it, I thought), it opens code.

Did you try right-clicking on the file and choosing to save the file?

Quote:

I was wondering if there is a key combination that is similar to Windoze' [Control][Alt][Delete]

There is [Control][Alt][Escape]. I don't remember if it works in KDE, but in Fluxbox and it turns the mouse cursor into a skull and crossbones, then any window you click on gets killed.

k0lvert · 12-04-2007, 07:01 PM

To forrestt:
I haven't tried to change my color depth as of yet, because I haven't been able to find the specifications that Diablo needs.

The manual only gives this for the requirements:

Quote:

Computer: Diablo requires an IBM PC or 100% compatible computer, with a Pentium 60MHz or better processor. Your computer must have at least 8 megabytes of RAM for a single player game. 16 megabytes of RAM are required to play multi player games of Diablo.

Operating System: You must be utilizing Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 to play Diablo on your system.

Controls: A keyboard and a 100% Microsoft-compatible mouse are required.

Drives: A hard drive and a double-speed or faster CD-ROM drive are necessary for installation and play.

Video: Diablo requires a SuperVGA card that supports Direct Draw. You must also have DirectX 3.0 or higher installed on your system to play the game (DirectX 3.0 is included on the Diablo CD.)

Sound: Diablo will work with any Windows 95 compatible sound card. To play the music during the game, both your sound card and your CD-ROM drive must be configured for playing digital audio.

In the Troubleshooting section they do have the following information:

Quote:

Why am I only getting a black screen when I start Diablo?
Either your video card is not DirectX compatible, or you are using an older version of DirectX. You will need to install DirectX 3.0 from the Diablo CD and/or obtain DirectX compatible drivers from your video card manufacturer.

Now, given the information from the WINE FAQ (http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ) I shouldn't have/need to install DirectX.

Quote:

Does Wine support DirectX? Can I install Microsoft's DirectX under Wine?

Wine itself provides a DirectX implementation that, although it has a few bugs left, should run fine. Wine supports DirectX 9.0c at this time. Plans for DirectX 10 are underway.

If you attempt to install Microsoft's DirectX, you'll run into some problems. You can install the runtime, but it will not run. The runtime needs access to the Windows drivers, and Wine cannot access them for obvious reasons. The only native Microsoft DLLs that could be useful anyway are the d3dx9_xx.dll type ones, and these require you to accept Microsoft's license. Regardless, don't try and do this.

So I am still stuck!

But if you can provide me more info on what Diablo needs as far as color depth, I will be more than happy to give it a shot! BTW, my default color depth setting per xorg.conf is 24.

To dracolich:
I did right-click and save the file; it saved as "attachment.cgi", which I do not know what file-type that is or where it would go (I don't know if it would go somewhere in a wine-file or Diablo-file). In FACT, it might not be for either one, since the forum I downloaded this from was talking about Cedega and CVS quite a bit... it might be a file for Cedega.

I tried [Control][Alt][Escape] but it had no affect on my system at all. It may not work on KDE. But I still greatly appreciate the input! From both of you guys!

k0lvert · 12-04-2007, 07:20 PM

Ok, I should have read that Bug 2082 site a little more thoroughly.

They do mention that Diablo attempts to change the BPP (color depth, I am assuming) to 8. So I will try that and see how that works!

k0lvert · 12-04-2007, 08:27 PM

Ok, I did attempt changing my default color depth to both 8 and 16... and my screen went dead on both attempts.

Evidentally I can only run at a Color Depth of 24.

Mega Man X · 12-04-2007, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k0lvert

Ok, I did attempt changing my default color depth to both 8 and 16... and my screen went dead on both attempts.

Evidentally I can only run at a Color Depth of 24.

I don't really think you need to change your screen resolution manually just to run a game. Wine should take care of that. There will be times, however, that when you close a fullscreen game, it will simply not return to you default screensize, so you will need to either restart X or change your screen resolution manually.

Try this instead: Open a terminal and time:

winecfg

In this window, go to "graphics" tab and mark the checkbox "Emulate a virtual desktop". Also set the Desktop size to something like 800x600 or higher. This will make the game to run inside a window.

Fire up the game as you normally do again. If everything works as it should, then you know the problem is your monitor running out of range. You will need to configure it manually on xorg.conf file.

This is also a good way to test if Diablo actually can safe the game or if you are just wasting your time installing a game and tweaking your monitor with a game that may fail to save your progress...

Regards!

k0lvert · 12-05-2007, 07:35 AM

I have my wine.cfg setup for 1024x768 (and Diablo starts up in its own window, which defaults to 800x600, since the game can't support 1024x768... too old), so I think I am good there. I'm thinking the problem may be something else; at the link I was talking about before (http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2082) they seem to think it is a Direct Draw issue. They talk about alt-tab-ing back and forth to "force" the intro screen to draw itself, but I had no luck with this at all. They also have a couple of "patches" but I don't know where to place/add these files... I THINK they go into wine somewhere. I'm seriously tempted to join that forum so I can find out!

I have heard about the issue with saving your progress in Diablo using wine; I figured I would tackle one issue before moving on to the next one.

And I realize most people would say, "If Diablo runs just fine in Windoze, then why go thru all the trouble of setting it up in Linux???" And that is a valid question. But I feel that A: this is my personal (well, one of many) Mt. Everest, and B: I'm working toward becoming 100% Windoze free!

k0lvert · 12-05-2007, 07:56 AM

Ok, I went ahead and subscribed to the Wine Bugzilla forum. Looks like I have a LOT of reading and learning to do before I can go too much further... you have to know Perl and/or C (which I don't) and use a tool called "Git" to view or modify the Wine source tree. And this is where the file I downloaded before (attachment.cgi) comes into play. I will do my VERY best to keep everyone here updated on my progress, although I will admit it may take awhile (I'm still in training at my new job, so I'll REALLY be pushing my brain to its limits!) But its such sweet torture.

dracolich · 12-05-2007, 08:27 AM

Quote:

they seem to think it is a Direct Draw issue. They talk about alt-tab-ing back and forth to "force" the intro screen to draw itself, but I had no luck with this at all.

Yep, I guess it's still true.

Quote:

And I realize most people would say, "If Diablo runs just fine in Windoze, then why go thru all the trouble of setting it up in Linux???" And that is a valid question. But I feel that A: this is my personal (well, one of many) Mt. Everest, and B: I'm working toward becoming 100% Windoze free!

Those same people might also say, "You could try virtualization." but that wouldn't solve the problem either.

Ahh, to be 100% Windoze-free...I guess you could call that your personal Utopia. I'm almost there myself. My personal Mt. Everest has been Mechwarrior 3 and 4.

Quote:

Ok, I went ahead and subscribed to the Wine Bugzilla forum. Looks like I have a LOT of reading and learning to do before I can go too much further... you have to know Perl and/or C (which I don't) and use a tool called "Git" to view or modify the Wine source tree. And this is where the file I downloaded before (attachment.cgi) comes into play. I will do my VERY best to keep everyone here updated on my progress, although I will admit it may take awhile (I'm still in training at my new job, so I'll REALLY be pushing my brain to its limits!) But its such sweet torture.

With that attitude and that much brain exercise you'll do great! The rewards will be worth all of the "sweet torture".