Half Life frame per secon using WineX and Windows...
 

I have recently got to work half-life under linux, using winex 3.1.

What i have notices is that it is quite slower than on Windoze.

I've been testing a bit using The Specialists mod @ 800x600 OpenGL mode:

Linux: 15-35 fps
Windows: 40-70 fps.

The difference is specially huge when displaying the gamen menus, as i have to wait quite long until they load under Linux.

My computer is a:
AMD Athlon 700 mhz
256 sdram
128 mb ATI Radeon 9000

using:

Mandrake 9.1 and KDE 3.1
Windows XP

Any suggestions, personal experiences when running HL under linux? is this normal?

first of all.

You must know that ati-drivers on linux are slow... it seems like 2.94 was the fastest.
this is so, I hope you are using those and not the drm because for 3d-performance they have even lower performance. So if you haven't get yourself to the ati-site.

second.

Mandrake is a newbie/easy distro. It also is very slow. Can't compare it to those gentoo-machines who have at least a 10 percent higher fps.

third.

KDE, you should play games without a window manager, since this increases it's performance. Edit your xinitrc for that, and don't use KDM/XDM/GDM.

fourth.

this is a bit over the edge maybe, but you can and should tweak the options in your XF86Config-file.

This got me some extra fps... a boost from 33 in AA under fedora to 52 in Gentoo, in windows I got eh, 38. So it is how you want to play. Getting that extra frame is very hard. Just install the ati-drivers, and make sure no window manager is working. Maybe later you can switch to some harder distro's

I didnt know that about the ati drivers,i dont know what drivers are included into Mdk 9.1, i'll have a look around.

Anyway, I've been thinking on moving to Slackware for while, as ive been stuck in Mdk for so long, so i think its time to move :)

I also supposed that running games using awindow manager might decrease the performance, specially heavy one, like KDE. I'l try playing a bit with my xinitrc file.

I'll think about tweaking my xf86 config file, but i wont modifythinks withjout knowing what im doing,i dont want to spend ours repairing it just to play HL :)

Anyway, a lower framerate under linux than on windoze when playin HL isnt a very wird thing, i think, as it is emulated on the fly. There isnt any other reason for the very slow menu display (HL menu is not so heavyi think).

Lots of thanks!!!

nVidia cards are supposed to work fine, as I have a nVidia TI4600; frameratess are very close, but noticeable, yes.

thats a grat card! Anyway, I'm of those who like the software to get the most from theyr hardware... :D

LOL, that's Linux for ya, but I don't know, I think there shoudl be some sort of organization established soley for the purpose of making Win32 games compatible for Linux; the possibilities for Linux are ENDLESS. But people are turned away from it because things are harder to configure; but things could change, and probably will.

Where do i get the 2.94 drivers at? and what do u mean by, "you should play games without a window manager," how do u you do that "step by step".

Re: Half Life frame per secon using WineX and Windows...
 

the slow menus is an issue with wine and HL, so that your just going to have to live with, sorry to say ;-)

Open /etc/inittab and change the default runlevel to 3. (5 should be graphical which you probably use)

do: joe /etc/inittab

you will something like this:

# These are the default runlevels in Slackware:
# 0 = halt
# 1 = single user mode
# 2 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
# 3 = multiuser mode (default Slackware runlevel)
# 4 = X11 with KDM/GDM/XDM (session managers)
# 5 = unused (but configured the same as runlevel 3)
# 6 = reboot

# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:4:initdefault:

change the last 5 or 4 to a 3.

If you have 3 and boot in graphical, ask your distro's forum how to change it.

now open /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

one of the last lines show
# starting some nice apps

comment everything out (put a # at the start of the line) to the end of the file from there on.

then add:
exec /path/to/your/game

reboot and login.

type:
$ startx

your game should start now...

to start your window manager, comment the line # exec path/to/your/game, and uncomment the other.

EDIT: this is made on my server, I use gentoo for gaming...

i think that having to comment/uncoment a config file every time i wanna play hl is not a very fast way... anyway, i could do a script for that :)

anyway, leaving X , changing that and then starting them egain, every time i want to play HL is not a very fast way... so i think that the best way will be the way i've done it before... rebooting as windoze :)

http://transgaming.com
WineX, Wine with a mature directx implementation, therefore, in general, better suited for games.

mmm....

I tried Winex 3.1.1 and i can play only in OpenGL mode, because i got a wir error when trying DirectX mode. I couldnt read the error message as it was in a HL window that was not dixplayed correctly...

i never heard of v3.1.1. try version 3.2.1.

okidoki