http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11744
--- Comment #34 from Jeff Zaroyko jeffz@jeffz.name 2010-02-06 18:34:14 --- (In reply to comment #32)
In wine 1.1.38 Age of Empires 2 no not starting, instead it restarting the whole GDM. In terminal it saz: Could not initialize graphics system. Make sure that your cideo card and driver are compatible with DirectDraw
I had complied the 1.1.38. and there was no notice for directdraw or so. The Call of Duty : Modern Warfare I is running fine, so it should be fine.
geri@geri-desktop:~$ wine "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\Empires2.Exe"
cd to the install directory first.
If your GDM restarts then it is not a problem with Wine, but your video drivers/xorg. Check the xorg logs and report the problem to your distro.