Might and Magic on Linux (or similar problems)

The role-playing games (I-X) that started it all and the various spin-offs (including Dark Messiah).
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Drayakir
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Might and Magic on Linux (or similar problems)

Unread postby Drayakir » 04 Nov 2009, 17:22

Okay, hi. I know this might be the wrong place to ask, but most Linux forums don't have a dedicated page for games, and the ones that do weren't very forthcoming.

In any case, maybe some of you guys had the same problem with Windows, and then you'll just tell me what you did.

So, I install Might and Magic 8. Installed fine, movies are fine. Then, when I create my character (also works fine), the game SLOWS DOWN. Like, it takes me 3 seconds to complete one turn (as in, I hit the right arrow key, and the small angle change that is a result of that takes 3 seconds).

I'm running Debian, with a 128 Mb video card, 2x 3.0 Ghz processors, 1 gb RAM, and 300 gb HD. And I know it's not the computer because back when I was using Ubuntu, I ran MM7, and that ran like a song.

So... any help would be appreciated. = D
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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 04 Nov 2009, 18:48

MM8 is very strangely optimised... For example, I get major slowdown in Plane of Air.
And if it happens only during character creation, can't you just cope with it for that time? It's not that you get to create a character often. And does selecting other options (Software vs Hardware rendering and such) from the configuration menu help?
By the way, your PC is interestingly configured... RAM and video card are pretty bad, even for a few years old PC, while the CPU is better than most of what we can get today...

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Unread postby Drayakir » 04 Nov 2009, 19:50

Yeah, it's an e-machine. Which basically means it's mornic. And yeah, I've been meaning to upgrade my video card and RAM, but like I said e-machines. Hard to find compatible stuff.

And as for the settings, the only way it WILL work is with Hardware Mode-Full Screen. Although what might be the problem is that during installation, it told me that I am using an "unrecognized version of DirectX." And I can't install DirectX, seeing as it's a Windows-only driver. Other than that, I have no idea. Because like I said, 7 worked fine with Ubuntu, and 8 works fine on my netbook, which has like... a 1.6 processor, a 64 mb card, 2 gb RAM (modified). So, like I said, weird.
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Unread postby darknessfood » 04 Nov 2009, 20:57

There is a programm called Wine. It's a windows Emulator, so perhaps its an idea to find it and work mm through that stuff...
You can either agree with me, or be wrong...

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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 04 Nov 2009, 22:07

Darknessfood, I'm sure he's already using it, since there is no installation program (or compilable source) for MM8.

DirectX version should be implemented in WINE already... That's pretty weird. What version do you have and what OS compatibility is it set on?

And yeah, e-machines... I've heard some... ...interesting thoughts on it (like "Argh, I'm going to throw it out of the window!!" :D ).

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Unread postby Drayakir » 05 Nov 2009, 01:36

Yes, "throw it out the window" or "set on fire while chanting words to summon a demon" come to mind. :D

And yes, I am using WINE, and like I said, it runs no problem in Windows 98 compatability... and it RUNS on my computer, it's just that like I said, it runs very very slowly.

I dunno. I mean, I know that Debian is made for like servers and stuff, and that Windows is perfect for gaming. I'm thinking about making an extra partition and just playing it from there, but that'd be cheating. :-D

Well, either way, thanks for your input. If you guys know any Windows workarounds, I'll just trawl the forums or something.
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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 05 Nov 2009, 15:10

What version of WINE?
And a less cheat way of doing it would be to use a Virtual Machine. It will eat more CPU, but you still have a plenty so it should work OK.

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Unread postby tolich » 06 Nov 2009, 08:43

Using WINE, you do use the real videocard, with all it 3D functionality.
Using the Virtual Machine (any) you'll get just an emulation of generic videocard, possibly not supporting Direct 3D.

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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 06 Nov 2009, 12:07

Oh really? So far it seems they are doing good with games:
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/ar ... /8225.aspx
I guess it depends on software you use for vitualisation. For example, VMWare supports DirectX9, VirtualBox supports OpenGL 2 etc.

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Unread postby tolich » 06 Nov 2009, 13:07

I have had problems running Games made with Game Maker 6 on the VmWared Windows XP.
I don´t exclude the effect of my wry hands though. =)

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Unread postby Sinner » 26 Nov 2009, 04:43

Could try some form of virtualization, wine is know to have performance bugs. Try Qemu, virtualbox or VMware.

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Unread postby vladimir-maestro » 26 Nov 2009, 08:54

GrayFace's patch allow to use MM6-8 under XP, Vista, Linux, Buntu and W7...
You can contact me here:
maestro_mod@yahoo.com
vladud @ yandex.ru - preferred one
---
Site about MODs: http://www.mmgames.ru
---
if you wish to upload some materials for this site - let me know.


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