http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12492
--- Comment #6 from Robert M. Muncrief rmuncrief@comcast.net 2008-12-14 04:01:42 --- Created an attachment (id=17913) --> (http://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=17913) launch-hammer - Special launch program for FarCry under wine
There have been many complaints about FarCry not starting under wine, and many solutions proposed. None ever really worked for me, at least not reliably (especially when wine or distributions changed) so after a week of trying to get it to start under wine with Steam again I discovered something amazing - I was frustrated and just started clicking the launcher over and over again and wallah! to my amazement it would eventually always start after less than ten clicks.
Of course, this would leave multiple instances of FarCry sleeping in the background so the game wouldn't run well, but it gave me the idea for the attached launch-hammer program and it works perfectly for me.
It automatically repeatedly launches FarCry until it starts and then kills any leftover sleeping instances and FarCry runs first time-every time I click the launcher now, and it runs fantastic!
I set "r_Driver" to "OpenGL" in "~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Steam/steamapps/common/farcry/system.cfg" and "~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Steam/steamapps/common/farcry/Profiles/player/default_system.cfg" and it runs much better than the default Direct3D9 setting. I also use the opengl renderer and turn off glsl.
On my old 7800GT I get 50 to 60 FPS on average at 1280x1024, and the same on my HDTV! Pretty cool ...
So try the program if you're having problems. If you don't want any message output (for instance if running from a launcher) start with something like:
launch-hammer "wine 'C:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe' -applaunch 13520" "FarCry.exe" -la 10 -lt 12 -rt 1 -st 4 -ct "2s" -fs "SL" -km 0 -vm 0
If you want to see minimal output in a shell set "-vm 1", if you want full debugging output to see everything set "-vm 2".
With the settings above it may take about 24 seconds before you see much happening other than the Steam dialog box asking if you want to launch (of course press launch) but then you should see lot's of activity and FarCry should start within the next 20 seconds or so.
Of course, the program should also work with non-Steam FarCry also. Just change the launch command argument. I don't know the exact path but it would be something like this:
launch-hammer "wine 'C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\FarCry\FarCry.exe'" "FarCry.exe" -la 10 -lt 12 -rt 1 -st 4 -ct "2s" -fs "SL" -km 0 -vm 0
The parameters are fully explained in the program, and for advanced users you can even renice a program after launch!.
Hopefully the program will also help developers figure out why FarCry has been so difficult to start under wine for so long. It's really very odd.
But in any case, for the first time I can finally reliably launch FarCry with one click!