http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14395
--- Comment #19 from Kai Blaschke webmaster@thw-theorie.de 2008-12-22 03:20:07 --- The workaround posted for bug #10778 resolved both the crashes and the fps drop for me. Now I can finally look down from Dalaran without getting a crash. Memory usage has dropped to about 2500 MB vmem, even on busy days with lots of players in visible range.
BUT - even if this helps, I won't consider this patch a solution, as it just moves the limit a bit further. As mentioned in the comments, the actual problem lies deep inside the Wine virtual memory handler, is is not an easy fix even for the responsible developers. There is a lengthy discussion at bug #13335, start here:
http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=13335#c96