Press: Running Windows Games with WineX 2.1

[Francois Gouget]

* August 29, 2002 - LinuxOrbit
   Break out Your Games Library: Running Windows Games with WineX 2.1
   http://www.linuxorbit.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=i...

--
Francois Gouget         [e-mail]        http://fgouget.free.fr/
        War doesn't determine who's right.  War determines who's left.

[Jas Sandys-Lumsdaine]

After reading this, (I'm very new to the Wine mailing list), I was wondering
the following as he didn't mention it:

I know you can use the real/native Windows dlls etc under Wine - how much
"better" is running Win apps using these instead of the dlls developed by
the Wine team?

In other words, buggy or incomplete Wine APIs aside, what issues remain with
the bare boned Wine instructure? Does Wine+Win98 CD mean I can run
everything under the MS sun?

Thanks,

Jas.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Francois Gouget" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 10:47 PM
Subject: Press: Running Windows Games with WineX 2.1
> - August 29, 2002 - LinuxOrbit
> Break out Your Games Library: Running Windows Games with WineX 2.1

http://www.linuxorbit.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=i...
=showcontent&id=15
> --
> Francois Gouget         [e-mail]        http://fgouget.free.fr/
>         War doesn't determine who's right.  War determines who's left.

[Francois Gouget]

On Fri, 30 Aug 2002, Jas Sandys-Lumsdaine wrote:
> After reading this, (I'm very new to the Wine mailing list), I was wondering
> the following as he didn't mention it:
>
> I know you can use the real/native Windows dlls etc under Wine - how much
> "better" is running Win apps using these instead of the dlls developed by
> the Wine team?

This very much depends on the application. Some application will work
better with the native (Windows) libraries, and some others with the
builtin (Wine) libraries. There is no general rule and I think it's even
impossible to say with certainty that more applications run with the
native libraries (e.g. from a Windows partition) than with the builtin
ones.

--
Francois Gouget         [e-mail]        http://fgouget.free.fr/
        War doesn't determine who's right.  War determines who's left.

[Jas Sandys-Lumsdaine]

> Some application will work better with the native (Windows)
> libraries, and some others with the builtin (Wine) libraries.

Assuming native Windows dlls etc are correct (by definition of what Wine's
APIs are trying to copy), doesn't this imply the Wine framework (excl. built
in dlls) still has issues.

Otherwise, what else could be going wrong when an app fails to run?

Just interested!  :)

[Francois Gouget]

On Sat, 31 Aug 2002, Jas Sandys-Lumsdaine wrote:
> > Some application will work better with the native (Windows)
> > libraries, and some others with the builtin (Wine) libraries.
>
> Assuming native Windows dlls etc are correct (by definition of what Wine's
> APIs are trying to copy), doesn't this imply the Wine framework (excl. built
> in dlls) still has issues.
>
> Otherwise, what else could be going wrong when an app fails to run?

Windows libraries (e.g. comctl32, shlwapi, etc) use other libraries
(e.g. user32, ole32, etc). So if you use the Windows shlwapi library you
may end up making calls to the ole32 or user32 library which are not yet
completely implemented, especially if it is an undocumented API.

Obviously Wine libraries tend not to call undocumented and/or
unimplemented APIs in other libraries, thus sometimes resulting in
better behavior.

You will say "why not use only Windows libraries then?" Simply because
for some libraries it is not possible. user32.dll is one such library,
ntdll.dll, kernel32.dll, socket libraries, sound libraries and DirectX
libraries are some others.

--
Francois Gouget         [e-mail]        http://fgouget.free.fr/
 "Only wimps use tape backup: _real_ men just upload their important stuff on
       ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it ;)" -- Linus Torvalds

[o.b.]

> Obviously Wine libraries tend not to call undocumented and/or
> unimplemented APIs in other libraries, thus sometimes resulting in
> better behavior.
>
> You will say "why not use only Windows libraries then?" Simply because
> for some libraries it is not possible. user32.dll is one such library,
> ntdll.dll, kernel32.dll, socket libraries, sound libraries and DirectX
> libraries are some others.
>
> --
> Francois Gouget         [e-mail]        http://fgouget.free.fr/
>  "Only wimps use tape backup: _real_ men just upload their important stuff on
>        ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it ;)" -- Linus Torvalds

Good explanation!

Please more!