Hi i want to try to get some of my games working in linux. Im curious as to what are basic components you need on your system to do so. So far from my understanding you need at least:
OpenGL
Direct Rendering Enabled
Wine
X
As an example one of the games i am going to try to get working is Unreal Tournament Game of the Year Edition.

So another question is do you need anything special in linux to play games online?

You need to meet the minimum specs for the game (about the same under Linux as in Windoze). Some games will work in Linux as a Linux native. The Quake series, the Unreal series (save Unreal 2), and a handful of others are necessary.

For the most part, you need a working OpenGL implementation, 3D enabled. I'd recommend an nVidia chipset for video (onboard or an AGP card). You might need to try getting AGPgart working as opposed to native AGP support under nVidia, depending on the motherboard chipset you have.

Having Wine helps. It's not required, except for getting Windoze games working. It also can be necessary to have if you use one of Ravage's installers for the native Linux client.

Linux native games have the capability of detecting the game servers, for the most part,... so you don't need anything special to play online,... just be able to be online (broadband is better, bt some games are ok on dial-up).

well it looks like the setup file is a .exe so i will need wine.

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection

that is my direct rendering section in xorg.config. Does that mean it is enabled or no?

Also don't i need to download the nvidia driver for linux? I have a 64mb Nvidia GeForce 2 MX. So would i download the linux IA64 driver? or the linux AMD64? thanks for the help.

THe driver you want depends on what processor you have:

For AMD Athlon or P4 use IA32

For Intel 64 bit use IA64

For AMD Athlon 64 or Opteron use AMD64

As far as a ut2004 install goes there should be a linux installer that ends in .bin (should be something like Linus-installer.bin) somewhere on the CD/DVD. Other games made for Linux have their install as a seperate download that you will use along with your disks.

looks like i can get a ut-GOTY.run file to install UT so i wouldn't need to bother with wine. here is a howto for other people who might want to install UT GOTY edition.

http://www.princessleia.com/UT2.html

Always look for a Linux native download before resorting to using wine/WineX/Cedega. Speed and performance will be better with a Linux native than windoze executable running under "emulation." (yeah I know,... wine isn't emulation).

The only Unreal I know of that isn't native is Unreal 2. All others have Linux clients. Quake and Doom all have Linux clients. Return to Castle Wolfenstein has a Linux client. Americas Army has a Linux client. Neverwinter Nights has a Linux client. There are tons of others.

Look here for native games:
http://icculus.org/lgfaq/gamelist.php
You can search for commecial license games.