Guild Wars

Hello,

I'm posting my latest experience here - for reference - but also because the search for a solution nearly drove me insane, and there are enough nutcases in the world already :)

Note: following may be useful to OpenSuse-users only, since I never had GW-problems on my previous Ubuntu / Mint distributions.

First, my current system for playing Gw:
- OpenSuse 13.2 KDE
- AMD FX-4100 Quad core CPU
- Asus AMD HD6670 video card
- PlayOnLinux 4.2.5 / Wine 1.7.31
- OSS radeon driver

Notice the last point - OSS radeon driver. I was using the proprietary AMD driver before, but I never got GW working with
it on my system. Installation went well, but when starting gw I never got past the update screen. It just stood there, at 100% and never continued to the actual login screen. No music playing or anything. After a minute or so the process would lock up and I had to kill it.

I've searched weeks on end for solutions, tried *everything* on this page (and more) - but there were no error messages, nothing showed up in playonlinux.log file when debugging...

The "solution" in my case was to install the radeon driver, and now gw works with no additional tweaks needed.
Needless to say I'm still flabbergasted as to why this happened, and because my "solution" is hardly a solution at all.

From my experience it is not a good idea to use Linux with an AMD graphics card and their proprietary driver (fglrx) as there are often issues in too many cases. For example I had this year issues too with starting Guild Wars as the process became stuck on initializing OpenGL. Have you also made a look to your Xorg logfile? Maybe there are some hints what is wrong.

Well just out of curiousity I looked at an old 21Mb Xorg.log file that's still lingering on my system, and not a single (EE)-line is to be found. Only some warnings like this :
* radeon_dri2_flip_event_handler: Pageflip completion event has impossible msc...

Only thing I can say is those warnings don't show up in my current Xorg.log file. But it's quite difficult now to tell if that has anything to do with it.

Maybe you want to try this out by installing fglrx again, making a reboot and then looking to the Xorg logfile.

I can confirm that GW works with DirectSong installed. Follow the instructions for directsong as if using windows. Then use winetricks to install wmp10.

If you have a realy low Framerate with a moderate PC try to set the Refresh Rate in the Options from Standard to ~50 Hz (or what is aviable to you and supported by your Monitor).

I just tried this, and even on a highish end card (260GTX core) and it helped with smoothness, just changing from default to 60 helped with the smoothness.

Also using a virtual desktop set to your screen size and setting the game to fullscreen also helps.

Setting framerate option is not available when playing in Windowed mode which I have to do because I have a dual screen setup with an ATI card. WoW, L4D 1 & 2 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein run pretty well but this Guild Wars displays at like 1 frame every 1-2 seconds, even my monitors are constantly refreshing.

Have you tried emulating a virtual desktop?

That what I have to-do for most games when I want full-screen, otherwise they stretch over both mine (dual screen via nVidia drivers).

Yep, run it like this:
wine explorer /desktop=[_desktop or number label_],[_your max resolution_] "[_path to your game_]"

Example:
wine explorer /desktop=0,1680x1050 "C:\Program Files\GUILD WARS\Gw.exe"

You have to change the Resolution and / or Path to yours.
A second Client, or other Game must be desktop=1.

Hi all,

does anybody have an idea, why it is not possible for me to switch on anti-aliasing?

I am using a newer ATI graphic card and the fglrx driver with wine 1.1.37 on Ubuntu Jaunty, 32 bit. Multisampling is enabled in the registry.

I can switch on best graphics, but in the field 'anti-aliasing' only 'none' can be chosen.

Thanks for any suggestions

I found a solution, which is maybe interesting for others:

If you have an ATI graphic card and you are using the fglrx driver, you can start the Catalyst Control Center and activate all buttons in the 3D section, which are overriting application choices.

Now I can play GW even with 4x anti-aliasing under wine.

Thanks for all the other hints, they were really helpful!
And thank all the people, who are working on wine. You really are doing a great job!

You can do it with a NVidia card as well.
Start NVidia X Server Settings, and change Antialiasing settings to 'Override Application Settings'.

It works well from 2x to 16x aa ingame: the only problem comes with the enchantments you cast on you (or on your heroes), as the duration bar in the icons of your enchantments appear blurred, so it is difficult to see when a long lasting skill (such as enchants, shout, chant, etc ...) will end.

My system:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
4 GB RAM
ATI Radeon 5750 -- Catalyst 9.11 (fglrx)
Kubuntu Karmic 9.10
Wine Version 1.1.34

I will detail the steps I used to get Guild Wars to work on my system. It was not as easy as I had anticipated as I am using the fglrx drivers.


1. Install the game as normal.

2. Run the registry editor (regedit) and navigate to the following location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Wine / Direct3D

Create a new key for Direct3D if it does not exist.

3. Add the following string values:

DirectDrawRenderer opengl
OffscreenRenderingMode backbuffer

That's all I did to get this game to work. Here are the reasons why they differ or not including from the values everyone else gives:

a. A lot of the other keys are not necessary. As per this document,
wiki.winehq.org/UsefulRegistryKeys
most of the other values are already default. For example:

PixelShaderMode enabled (default)
RenderTargetLockMode auto (default)
UseGLSL enabled (default)

b. My OffscreenRenderingMode was chosen to be backbuffer because it was the only thing that worked. As per the document in (a), the three values that this parameter can accept are fbo, pbuffer, and backbuffer. I tried fbo and it caused system lockups in full screen and program-reported errors in windowed mode. pbuffer worked, but the character slots after getting past the login screen were not being rendered correctly (as in they were rendered but rendered with something completely irrelevant). This leads me to believe that it would cause other rendering issues. Thus, left with only backbuffer, I tried it out and it worked.

Now, what could be done differently:

* I did not try UseGLSL as disabled. You can give that a shot, but enabled worked fine for me. Your mileage may vary.

I hope this helps someone somewhere in getting this game to work with fglrx. It seems the NVIDIA guys have it easier.

Just don't forget to install the d3dx9 package with winetricks: wiki.winehq.org/winetricks
(I have installed corefonts and ie6, too, but I think, d3dx9 should do it alone xD )
I had terrible fps and a ping over 600ms before I installed it, after it all worked perfectly, no laggs, ping between 50 and 150ms good fps-rates.

I did this and I got no difference :( Any help?

Ok, here's a quick howto on how i solved various problems with GW on wine.

Firstly, i am running a 64 bit machine. my graphics cards are 2x 8600 GT nvidia. This is for nvidia only. This is done under Debian Sid Unstable. Apply the appropraite changes if you are using another distro or version.

1) Install correct drivers. I decided to upgrade my debian Lenny to Sid, and using the sid repos and only synaptic, installed an nvidia kernel and nvidia-glx. It'll be much easier if you're on a clean install. Make sure you do not mix repos, but the non-free official repos for your own distribution. Also, if you want to enable antialiasing, install nvidia-settings, read step 10 for more information.

2) Install using playonlinux. The wine version i used to install was 1.1.10. Two executables should be available, "Guild Wars" and "Update Guild Wars"

3) Using playonlinux, go to tools->manage wine versions. Select 1.1.27 and install it. click on the applications tab. Select "Guild wars" and switch the version to 1.1.27. Select "Update Guild Wars" and make sure the version is 1.1.10, which it should be. Otherwise, change it to 1.1.10.

4) Guild wars may still have choppy graphics, if you are running on a 64 bit machine. Open synaptic and install nvidia-glx-ia32. This allows GW to run properly. GW may run on the first try without nvidia-glx-ia32 but on subsequent tries, it will fail, giving a message "Failed to initiate 3D..."

5) run "Update Guild Wars", this may take a while.

6a) In playonlinux, click on guild wars and configure this application. First, select configure Wine. set windows version to XP. Click on the graphics tab. Make sure Pixel Shader is enabled, allow window manager to decorate the windows and allow window manager to control the windows. Everything else should be deselected. Vertex Shader support is to be set to hardware.

6b) Next, select Registry Editor. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software->Wine->Direct3D. If Direct3D is not there, right click and add new Key. Add the following strings
* UseGLSL=disabled
* DirectDrawRenderer=opengl
* OffscreenRenderingMode=fbo
* RenderTargetLockMode=auto


7) Do not run Guild Wars just yet. If you have compiz installed, right click on your fusion icon and select Window Manager->Metacity. Restart your computer. It is essential to restart after disabling compiz, not the other way round. Don't ask me why you need to restart the computer.

8) Once your computer starts, do not compiz or any compositing manager. Run playonlinux.

9) Check if Guild Wars run smoothly. Turn off shadows( and reflections until you are sure you can run them.).

10) Only do this if you believe your graphics card is capable of running antialiasing. After, installing nvidia-settings, run it. Do this by opening a terminal(not root) and typing nvidia-settings. Under antialiasing settings, set to Override and 2x/4x. I do not recommending exceeding 4x. Anisotropic settings should be off as well as texture sharpening. This replaces the method of adjusting antialiasing through the in game menu, which is unavailable to you.

11) Enjoy the game. If your game doesn't run smoothly, or doesn't run at all, move to step 12. Remember, each time you turn off compiz to play gw, restart your computer. Thi

12) check your xorg.conf file situated in /etc/X11. Go to the appropraite folder and type gedit xorg.conf. Make sure your BusID is stated under devices. an example of my xorg.conf device section. Make sure your driver is the right one, nvidia in this case.

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 8600 GT"
BusID "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection

You need to state the BusID especially if you are running SLi like me.

My screen section is as follows. Add the right options if necessary, do not copy this blindly. Obviously, the resolution is unnecessary and SLi is unnecessary if you only have one graphics card..

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "True"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
Option "metamodes" "1680x1050_60 +0+0; nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
Option "SLI" "SFR"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Make sure you backup your xorg.conf before doing any changes.

==============================
BUGS IDENTIFIED
==============================
-Black/transparent textures. This solved when i migrated to Sid and played using playonlinux. New players entering the area, or when changing armor, problem still happens, but this doesn't cause any performance issues and solves once you load the next area. This may also be seen as 'hair not loading properly' when someone removes helm, such that he looks bald. As long as the next area load with the person not having the helm on, it fixes by itself.
-Shadows. Shadows look odd, thus my instruction to disable it.
-Options. When changing graphics settings, there may be a slight pause or hang, unlike when running in windows. Wait till the new settings are loaded, just don't change the graphics settings so often.

These bugs are very minor and you may not notice them at all. Good luck with your installation and i hope this helps. The performance I must say is Platinum. Minor rendering issues but only occurs under certain conditions. Gameplay is unaffected.