Which version of PlayOnLinux Wine is the best for Shock 2?

[665c8c6ecd2fcSaleck]

Hello
I'm trying to get System Shock 2 running on my Kubuntu machine and I'd like to know which version of PlayOnLinux / Wine people think is the best for running System Shock 2 and keeping it as stable as possible. I'm using PlayOnLinux Wine 1.6 right now but it seems to be fairly unstable
Thank You.

[665c8c6ecd427Zeebok]

I didn't play through the entire game, but my time playing it on Linux seemed ok when I was using Wine 1.5. Does the debugger on PlayOnLinux reveal any errors? Might just need a certain library.

[665c8c6ecd54cSaleck]

Thanks for the reply.
It's Page Faults, nothing but Page Faults it seems to be random and further research leads me to believe this is a problem with NewDark itself and some regressions in memory coding.
I submitted the bug reports to PlayOnLinux and got told they were effectively useless because they didnt capture enough data for a good enough report.
I can supply error logs if you'd be so kind as to help.
Thank you.

[665c8c6ecd625Tricky]

I never needed that to get it to run on Xubuntu.

[665c8c6ecd737Zeebok]

POL is basically just a GUI front end for Wine and winetricks. I like using it because it keeps everything in one application kind of. Plus it has a button to kill all applications in the wine prefix which has helped in a few cases heh.

Saleck: I can try and take a look at the debug output, but I can't really promise anything. I've basically been learning how to debug Wine as I go lol 

[665c8c6ecd87cTricky]

Right. But why would you need Winetricks for SS2? It doesn't aid with installation, it's not listed for anything special. It, like most older games, installs perfectly fine from the CD. Winetricks doesn't do anything for SS2 feature-wise either. Even NewDark run fine. It's just not advanced enough.

I'm sorry, I just don't understand. It is as far as I can tell a completely unnecessary for SS2. The right question should be 'which version of Wine is the best for Shock 2' and the answer to that one is 'anything relatively recent will do'. It's been stable for quite some time.

[665c8c6ecd9e4Saleck]

http://pastebin.com/raAY6Lft

Here's the error I reported to PlayOnLinux. Good luck making any sense of it.

[665c8c6ecdac4Tricky]

Please just consider running it without POL and submit a bugreport to the WineAppDB forums instead.

[665c8c6ecdd19voodoo47]

currently testing SS2 on wine 1.6, the random crashes seemed to be solved by switching the sound system to openal. using the current steam build, just copied over to the linux machine. selecting "emulate a virtual desktop" is also a good idea, as it prevents all sorts of issues when switching resolutions.

also, I think any potential linux user should not select the openal update when patching up with ss2tool, there is a good chance that the new dlls will conflict with wine's openal implementation. maybe I'll test this later.

[665c8c6ecde31Saleck]

OK I did everything you recommended. I tried a few combos too (OpenAL On, OpenAL Off, Effects On, Effects Off etc.) all with no luck, as soon as I board the Von Braun its crashy time.

As least, in some very small way, I'm sorta kinda glad that I'm not the only one with the problem. If others have it then a fix can be found quicker.

[665c8c6ecdf49voodoo47]

on/off? all I did was switch to openal in SS2's audio options menu. did not touch any sound setting in wine or winetricks.

try disabling the sound completely and see whether the crashes go away.


//ok, disregard - played some more, and while the frequency of the crashes seems reduced, they are not completely gone.

[665c8c6ece051voodoo47]

try adding d3d_disp_2d_surf_mode 0 to cam_ext cfg - I've played for one hour without a single crash.

[665c8c6ece13dSaleck]

4 hours later and I've been all over Deck 2 and down to the Cargo Bays in Deck 1 without a single crash

Thank you voodoo47

[665c8c6ece27avoodoo47]

I'd like to note a couple of things - to make it stable, both fixes are probably required (switching sound to openal and setting the variable). d3d_disp_2d_surf_mode 0 translates into rendering the hud in software, and this can slow things down in certain cases (decent dedicated gpus should have no problems, but integrated intels might slow down noticeably). so it'd still be nice if the wine guys would solve the crashes so the game could run in full hw mode.

[665c8c6ece35bTricky]

Don't count on it. I have engine issues with the game that have bug reports dating as far back as 2006.

[665c8c6ece424voodoo47]

you cannot rush art.

[665c8c6ece515Zeebok]

There is the possibility that crashes caused by rendering may stem from driver support for certain calls that Wine makes. When I had tested it I was using the Radeon proprietary blob and it didn't crash (albeit I only played for about 30 minutes).

[665c8c6ece5efvoodoo47]

half a hour might not be enough. btw, I was using the proprietary nvidia driver for gf7300 series. did not try the open driver.

[665c8c6ece8faTricky]

did not try the open driver.

I can use no other driver on my Radeon Express. I can test this for you once SCP is released, but until then I can only tell you have loaded the earth map about 50 times and never experienced a single crash.

[665c8c6ecea1cvoodoo47]

earth map is not the best place for testing this, as it does not use what makes it crash - the HUD. running around medsci1 or medsci2 for 30+ minutes would be a much more reliable test. do note that after switching to openal, I have managed to get as far as eng2 without a single crash (took me just a little over half a hour).

[665c8c6eceb3eTricky]

Well, I suppose that would be alright. I really wanted to wait for SCP, but I can jump around for a while in the first areas.

Just so we are clear on this, the open source driver for this card is Gallium3D. I believe this is the default driver for all ati cards these days. There may be one other open source driver that used to be the shit a few years back, but this one was automatically installed in Xubuntu.

[665c8c6ecec2cvoodoo47]

that should be correct. also, no sense in waiting days for SCP when the actual test takes only half a hour.

[665c8c6eced20Tricky]

Every sense in wanting to save the best for last. I haven't played SS2 in maybe five or more years.

I ran it for about 35 minutes without it crashing. It still seems a little short to me, I'll try it again tomorrow.

[665c8c6ecee21voodoo47]

well, can't disagree with that.

//also, a gf9500gt should arrive tomorrow to give this machine a badly needed boost in gpu performance, the 7300LE is not really cutting it, especially when there are particles onscreen. will retest with that, maybe the newer proprietary driver is going to be more stable. will also test the open driver.