Cedega 4.2-1 howto
From Unofficial TransGaming Wiki
TransGaming Cedega HOWTO Guide 4.2-1.1.1.1.en
This guide provides an overview of how to use TransGaming's Cedega to run your
favorite games on Linux. If you have any questions about how to use Cedega, or
if you have other support issues, please use TransGaming's web-based support
system at http://www.transgaming.org/forum/
System Requirements
The following are the minimum requirements for Cedega 4.2:
Operating System
Core requirements are:
- Linux Kernel 2.2 or higher. Stock Kernels recommended over RedHat 7.x/8.x/9.x kernels. 2.6 kernels are not recommended due to stability issues.
- XFree86 4.0 or higher (4.2 and above recommended)
- glibc 2.2 or higher
- working hardware accelerated OpenGL video card
CPU Type and Speed
Recommended minimum hardware is
- 500 MHz or faster Pentium or Athlon CPU
- 64MB of memory; 128 MB or higher recommended
- 1-2 GB free hard disk space for games
- Linux Supported 3D graphics card with 16MB of video RAM is required.
- Nvidia GeForce-class GPU recommended. ATI Radeon 8500 or higher with working ATI FireGL drivers should work for many (though not all) games, but will not perform as well for the moment.
Please note: individual requirements may be higher for certain games.
Configuring Your Computer for Cedega
Make sure that your video card has working 3D acceleration
Make sure that the latest drivers for your video card have been installed on your system, and that OpenGL is working properly. (NVidia card owners, please visit http://www.nvidia.com. ATI card owners, please visit http://www.ati.com)
To test your graphics card for OpenGL support execute the following command:
$ glxinfo | grep direct render
output will return "direct rendering:"
If this is 'Yes' or 'Enabled' then OpenGL is likely set up correctly. If it is listed as 'no' or 'disabled' then double-check your 3D setup.
You may also want to try a performance test. Execute the following to run a simple benchmark included on most popular Linux distributions:
$ glxgears
The glxgears program will output an FPS (Frames Per Second) rating to the command line. If 3D acceleration is correctly enabled for your video card, then the reported FPS should be well over 500 FPS at the default window size. If the output shows less than 500 FPS then you should double check your 3D setup.
In some cases it is possible to have multiple OpenGL libraries installed on your system. If you are having problems with Cedega, you may wish to check whether this is the case for your system. You can easily do so by executing:
$ locate libGL
This will display any OpenGL libraries you have on your system. In particular, you should be cautious of having libGL in both /usr/lib as well as in /usr/X11R6/lib. Sometimes, the software-only Mesa OpenGL libraries are installed in /usr/X11R6/lib and hardware accelerated drivers are installed elsewhere. We do not recommend removing the Mesa libraries from /usr/X11R6/lib unless you are seeing slow rendering in games running under Cedega.
Check your cd devices and mount points for permissions
Many Windows games use copy protection systems that requires Cedega to have 'read' access to your CD-ROM device, as well as 'read' and 'execute' access to your CD-ROM mount point. Check your CD-ROM devices and mount points to ensure that Cedega has appropriate permissions.
If you do not know what devices and mount points are being used by your system, you can read the /etc/fstab file for more information using the following command:
$ less /etc/fstab
To change the permissions on your CD-ROM device and mount points, execute the following commands as 'root':
# chmod a+r [CD-ROM Device] # chmod a+rx [CD-ROM mount point]
Many distributions of Linux use symbolically linked devices. You will also need to change permissions on the linked devices as well. To see if a device is linked, run the following command:
$ ls -la [CD-ROM Device]
This command will return information that may resemble the following:
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 13 Aug 21 14:45 /dev/cdrom -> cdroms/cdrom0
If the output displays a -> then this device is linked. In the above output the device /dev/cdrom is symbolically linked to the device /dev/cdrom/cdroms/cdrom0. Be sure to change the permissions on all linked devices.
Under some circumstances, you may need to edit your /etc/fstab file to ensure that all users have access to the CD-ROM mount point.
Check your XF86Config-4 file
Depending on your distro this may be called either XF86Config, XF86Config-4 or xorg.conf.
Games often attempt to change your screen resolution to fit their needs. Make sure that the 'Screen' section of your XF86Config-4 file has a number of resolutions. The most common resolutions are: 1600X1200, 1280X1024, 1024X768, 800X600, 640X480. If the game is not running at fullscreen properly, check the game settings to see what resolution it is attempting to use and make sure that resolution is listed in your XF86Config-4 file.
Note: You may experience improved performance with some games when running the X server at 16 bit color depth.
Disable Sound Servers
Many Linux desktop systems such as KDE and Gnome run sound servers such as ARTS or esd. These sound servers can cause sound problems within Cedega by reserving exclusive access to the sound device. If you are having sound problems make sure to disable any sound servers or other applications that may be using sound, such as xmms.
Check free space limitations
Some systems may be set up with restrictive space quotas on the /home directory. These limitations can cause Cedega to incorrectly report available free space. You may experience problems installing games if the available space is reported incorrectly, or if there is not enough space available on your system. If you experience any error messages reporting that there is not enough hard drive space to install a game, disable quotas, or symbolically link to a device with more free space available.
Prelink, Exec-Shield and VA Layout
Prelink is a new set of functionality, available in newer glibc versions and distributions such as Fedora Core 1, designed to reduce the startup time for applications which use dynamic libraries. The loading speed improvements are achieved by preassigning the addresses of various dynamic linked libraries that will be placed in memory. Thus, relocations will not have to be performed by the dynamic loader when loading the application. Unfortunately, more often than not, libraries are prelinked into addresses which are incompatible with Windows programs.
Windows programs generally use a trick, similar to Prelink, to reduce the
size of the executable and improve start times. This trick
assumes, quite rightly for a Windows program, that the address 0x400000
is always available. Thus when Cedega attempts to load the Windows
executable into the starting address, and it's not available, Cedega will
fail to start the program with an error message mentioning
"stripped relocation records" and "address 0x400000 not available".
Exec-shield is a kernel level solution (http://people.redhat.com/mingo/exec-shield/ANNOUNCE-exec-shield) which remaps executable code to a lower memory address with the intention of eliminating ASCII based code overflow attacks. The new location of the executable has the potential of conflicting with the required windows range which will result in the same error message as with Prelink.
The solution to the problems these two new technologies create is to disable them so that they don't affect any Cedega libraries or executable code.
To disable automatic prelinking in the future, edit /etc/sysconfig/prelink
and set PRELINKING to no by making sure the following line is present:
PRELINKING=no
Then execute the cron job, most likely /etc/cron.daily/prelink, to
reverse the Prelink for all of your libraries or manually run:
$ prelink -ua
To disable exec-shield you can either use the boot time option
"exec-shield=0" or it may be changed, before running Cedega, by typing
either:
$ echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/exec-shield
- or:
$ sysctl -w kernel.exec-shield=0
In addition, newer Fedora Core 2, Fedora Core 3, and other 2.6.9 kernels also require support for legacy VA layout to be enabled. This can be done via the command:
$ echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/legacy_va_layout
before running Cedega (this is required after every boot). To enable legacy VA Layout at boot time, edit /etc/sysctl.conf and add the following:
vm.legacy_va_layout = 1
Information about this can be option found on the fedora announce mailing list: http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2004-August/msg00025.html
Exec
Some distributions' versions of mount now run with the noexec option unless otherwise specified. Running games from a partition mounted with noexec can cause an error = 21 message.
To fix this issue, edit /etc/fstab and modify the partition line by changing 'noexec' to 'exec' in the mount options.
For example, change:
/dev/hda1 / ext3 errors=remount-ro,no-exec,defaults 0 1
to:
/dev/hda1 / ext3 errors=remount-ro,exec,defaults 0 1
If neither "exec" nor "no-exec" appears in the line it is recommended that you add "exec" to ensure that the partition can be used by Cedega.
To remount the partition run:
$ mount -o remount /
How To Install Cedega
Cedega is available in a variety of pre-built binary packages designed to suit your Linux distribution. Please note that TransGaming does not provide official support for packages built from source.
First select the package that is right for you:
- rpm - RedHat Package Management (RedHat Linux, Mandrake Linux, etc)
- To install the Cedega rpm package open a console/terminal window and execute the following command as 'root':
# rpm -ivh cedega-[version].rpm
- deb - Debian Package (Debian GNU/Linux, Corel/Xandros Linux, Lindows, etc)
- To install the Cedega deb package open a console/terminal window and execute the following command as 'root':
# dpkg -i cedega_[version].deb
- tgz - Tar GZipped Package (Slackware Linux, etc)
- To install the Cedega tgz package open a console/terminal window and execute the following commands as 'root':
# cd / # tar -xvzf cedega-[version].tgz
Some distributions use their own package management tools, such as Gentoo and Slackware. If this is so the tgz package of Cedega can be used with most of these tools.
Installing the Font Installer Package
The font installer package is a convenience script provided by TransGaming for the purposes of downloading and installing the Microsoft Core Fonts. Please note that you must accept a licencing agreement with Microsoft as part of the process in installing this package.
If you've already installed Cedega using the steps in the previous section, then this part should be familiar. Otherwise, please review the steps above. Select the proper package for your distribution, and install it.
After the package is installed, each user who wishes to use the fonts will need to run the installer script. At the command line, type:
$ tg-font-install
From there, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the install. This will install the fonts in that user's ~/.transgaming_global/Fonts/ directory.
Installing the Mozilla ActiveX Control Installer Package
The Mozilla ActiveX Control installer package is a custom win32 mozilla package provided by TransGaming for the purposes of providing support for HTML content to games inside of Cedega. Please note that you must accept a licencing agreement with Mozilla and its developers in order to download and use this product.
If you've already installed Cedega using the steps listed above, then this part should be familiar. Otherwise, please review the steps above. Select the appropriate package for your distribution, and install it.
After the package is installed, each Linux user who wishes to use the Mozilla ActiveX Control will need to run the installer script. At the command line, type:
$ tg-mozctl-install
From there, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the install. This will install the Mozilla ActiveX Control in that user's ~/.transgaming_global/mozcontrol directory.
Installing a Game Using Cedega
To install a game using Cedega open a console/terminal window, and follow the following procedure:
- 1. Insert and mount your cdrom drive.
- For the following examples we will be assuming a CD-ROM mount point of /mnt/cdrom; your setup may be different, depending on your Linux distribution. The mount point for your cdrom can be found in the /etc/fstab file.
- 2. Once the cd has been mounted check the contents of the disc.
$ ls /mnt/cdrom
- Most installers will be named 'setup.exe' or 'install.exe'. If this is not the case, you may need to locate the install executable; it is often listed in the documentation for the game, or you may need to check the game information page on the TransGaming website.
- 3. When you have located the correct installer executable, install the game using:
$ cedega /mnt/cdrom/setup.exe
Then, follow the install instructions for the game you are installing. You may experience some graphical errors during the copying process. These are generally not harmful.
Some games require special install instructions or methods. If you are having problems installing a game please check the games database and forums found on the TransGaming Website.
Multi-Disc Installers
Some games that have multiple discs to install may not allow for unmounting a CD-ROM as it may register as busy. If this is the case, you should run the installer with the -monitor-cdrom-eject option, and then you may press the eject button on CD-RW or DVD drives and the disc will unmount and eject automatically. For non RW/DVD cdrom drives you will need to run: killall -USR2 wineserver This command will unmount and eject all CD-ROMs. Please note this command could also cause problems if there are multiple copies of the wineserver running.
This useful functionality is off by default due to the fact that the drivers for some hardware could cause problems with flash cards or degrade performance.
For more information, please see the CD/DVD Ejection System section below.
Playing a Game Using Cedega
There are three methods for starting a game once it has been installed.
Using the Desktop Icon
Some (but not all) games will create a desktop icon during the installation process. To start the game, simply open this icon using a click or double-click, depending on your window manager settings.
If you wish to pass special options to Cedega or the game edit the desktop shortcut and add in the appropriate options.
Using the Start Menu
Some games, on some Linux distributions will add a link to the start menu on your desktop. Simply click the start menu, go to TransGaming → Programs and then the game name/vendor and select the game icon.
Again, if you wish to pass special options to Cedega or the game edit the menu item shortcut.
Using the Command Line
Open a console/terminal window and change into the game directory using the following commands:
$ cd ~/TransGaming_Drive/Program Files/[Game Directory] $ cedega [wine options] game.exe [game options]
Options can be passed both to Cedega and the game using the command line.
The options for Cedega are:
- -bigexe
- Some unzip installers make assumptions about the layout and availability of memory in a process. Quite often this conflicts with the Linux memory layout. To provide a better memory environment for these installers, the cedega startup script can be given a new command line option "-bigexe".
- This option is required for executables of a "large" size. Typically this is only for demo installers who come packaged up in one large executable. Should not be required for most game installers. Exceptions may be downloadable Everquest game installers.
- -use-pthreads
- A way to override the use of pthreads. This option should be automatically set by Cedega, however, if problems exist it may be useful to change the pthreads option. Acceptable values are yes or no.
- -winver
- Specify the version of Windows Cedega will report: win95, win98, winme, nt351, nt40, win2k, winxp, win20, win30, win31
- The default setting is win98.
- -debugmsg
- Display error information/output:
- +all, -all, +relay, +dsound, +err are the most common options -all is the default option, and will suppress any errors
- -use-dos-cwd
- Specifies the Cedega working directory. The default is the current directory. Directories may be specified using either DOS or Linux filenames.
- -monitor-cdrom-eject
- Enables the CD eject polling functionality. This option is off by default and typically only needs to be enabled for some multidisk installers. When enabled, the CD-ROM drives are periodically checked to see if the CD-ROM's eject button has been pressed. Even when disabled, the eject can be forced by sending the USR2 signal to the wineserver process. Care should be taken when enabling this option on systems which have compact flash drives.
- -version
- Report the version of Cedega that you are using
Options for individual games can usually be found in the game's 'README' file.
Configuring Cedega
Cedega configuration options are located in the '.transgaming' directory found in your home directory. The main configuration file is '.transgaming/config'. This is an ASCII text file. The first time you run Cedega, the '.transgaming' directory will be automatically created for you, in a default preconfigured state. The default preconfigured state is copied from the /usr/lib/transgaming_cedega/.transgaming directory.
To edit the Cedega configuration settings open '~/.transgaming/config' in your favorite text editor.
Drives Section
This section defines the drives that Cedega will use. New drives can be specified here if necessary. Any CD-ROM or DVD drives connected to your system will be automatically detected by Cedega at runtime, and new drive letters will be dynamically assigned to them. You should not need to add CD-ROM or DVD drives manually unless you are having configuration problems.
The format for this section is as follows:
- [Drive LETTER]
- The drive name, where LETTER is the DOS/Windows drive letter i.e. c, d, e, z
- Path = LOCATION
- The location for the drive root.
- Type = TYPE
- Specifies drive type; supported types are: floppy, hd, cdrom and network
- Label = XXXX
- Drive label, max 11 characters
- Serial = XXXX
- Drive serial number, max 8 characters hexadecimal
- Filesystem=TYPE
- Filesystem type supported file systems are: dos, fat, win95, vfat, and unix
- Device=/dev/DEVICE
- Allows you to specify a specific device if raw access is required. It is recommend that if the device is symbolically linked than you should use the device that is not a link (the originator).
wine Section
This section is for general options.
"MozillaControl" = "Y"
This option defines whether or not Cedega will use the Mozilla ActiveX control if it is available. The default is on.
DLL Section
This section defines which DLLs are used by Cedega. The syntax is as follows:
"dllname" = "builtin, native"
- or
"dllname" = "native, builtin"
The order defines which is used first. If builtin is listed first it will use the Cedega builtin dll, if native is listed first Cedega will use a native Windows dll if it is present in the configured system directory. Occasionally, using a native Windows may improve compatibility with some programs.
x11drv Section
This section contains the settings for interaction between Cedega and the X server. Some of the most commonly used options are:
"Managed" = "Y"
This option changes whether the Cedega window is a managed window. The default is yes. Managed windows are managed by the Window Manager rather than Cedega.
"Desktop" = "800X600"
This option allows you to run Cedega within a window of the specified size. This line is commented out by default, thus allowing games to create a top-level X Window for each window that is opened.
"DXGrab" = "Y"
This option turns mouse grab on/off. The default is on. When mouse grab is on, the application may lock the mouse cursor within a window, typically when the application wants to take over the full screen of your system.
"XVidMode" = "Y"
This option allows applications to resize the resolution of your display. By default, this option is on, allowing applications to switch between resolutions listed in the XF86Config file.
"UseXRandR" = "N"
Use XRandR extension, if present, to resize the resolution of your display. This option is similar to XVidMode but may provide additional functionality in some cases.
"ShowFPS" = "N"
This option turns the TransGaming HUD that displays the in game FPS on/off. Default is off.
"ShowMEM" = "N"
This option toggles to display of memory statics on the TransGaming HUD. You must have ShowFPS activated for this to take effect. Default is off.
"VideoRam" = "32"
This is the amount of video RAM your video card has (in megabytes).
"AGPVertexRam" = "32"
This is the amount of memory (in megabytes) that can be allocated for use with accelerated vertex buffers when using NV_VAR. A good value for this typically half of your AGP aperture size. For best results using Cedega you should set your AGP aperture to at least 128MB (this can be done in your bios) and set AGPVertexRam to 64.
"NV_VAR" = "Y"
Enable usage of the NVidia Vertex Array Range extension for Accelerated Vertex Buffers. This extension is only available on NVidia cards. The default is on. This option has precedence over the ARB_VBO option, if both are available and enabled.
"ARB_VBO" = "Y"
Enable the usage of the OpenGL ARB Vertex Buffer Object extension for Accelerated Vertex Buffers. This extension is available on both NVidia and ATI cards, although support for it is still experimental at this stage and is not as mature or fully featured as NV_VAR. The use of NV_VAR is recommended if available, and has precedence if both are enabled. The default is on.
d3dgl Section
This section contains the settings for advanced graphical functionality.
"AnisotropicTextureFiltering" = "N"
Enable anisotropic texture filtering, which is a method of improving the look of textures when viewed from an angle. This may result in visual improvements in some cases, but may cause a considerable drop in FPS (up to 50%). The default is off.
"VertexShaders" = "Y"
Vertex shaders are used to add complex-to-compute graphical routines that are often optional. While the Cedega implementation of vertex shaders is hardware accelerated when the underlying OpenGL driver supports it, it may be implemented in software emulation on some cards. It is impossible for Cedega to determine if software or hardware vertex shaders are available. When enabled, Cedega reports hardware vertex shaders support to applications, if the ARB_vertex_program extension is available. When disabled, some applications may rely on their own optimized software fallbacks. Default is on.
"PixelShaders" = "Y"
Pixel shaders are used to compute complex per-pixel lighting and coloring. In some games the use of pixel shaders is optional, and disabling it can result in faster gameplay, although at the expense of lower quality graphics. When enabled Cedega reports pixel shaders support to applications, if the ARB_fragment_program extension is available. When disabled, some applications may rely on their own fallbacks. Default is on. For more information on this option, please see later in this document.
"PixelShadersLevel" = "1.3"
Which version of pixel shader support to report to applications. Valid options are "1.0", "1.1", "1.2", and "1.3". The default is "1.3". Note that this has no effect if pixel shaders are disabled, or not supported by hardware.
"ClipSpaceFix" = "Y"
This option allows Cedega to better emulate the differences in the graphical depth component (z) between D3D and OpenGL. As of version 4.0, this option can safely be enabled at all times. However in previous versions, it should be disabled when applications make use of vertex shaders as this can result in incorrect graphics. The default is on.
"FixedProgram" = "Auto"
This option contols whether the fixed function over vertex shaders path is enabled or if the legacy fixed function path is used. The use of Fixed Programs requires the OpenGL ARB_vertex_program extension to be present,and for optimal performance, must be implemented in hardware. Valid options are Yes/No/Auto. The default value is Auto, which auto-detects the type of graphics card used, and enables fixed programs if appropriate. Set this option to "No" to use the legacy fixed function path. Set this option to "Yes" to use the fixed function over vertex shader technology. For more information on this option, please see later in this document.
"RectangleTextures" = "Auto" Most recent hardware has support for non-power of two (NPOT) textures, and this is exposed under OpenGL using either the XXX_rectangle_texture or ARB_texture_non_power_of_two extensions. This option deals with the former, and is used to enable/disable support under Direct3D. Older cards are not capable of handling these textures and vertex shaders at the same time, due to limitations of the vertex shader hardware, so if you wish to use npot textures here, you may need to disable VertexShaders. Set this option to "Yes" to use npot textures. Set this to "No" to disable them. The default is "Auto", which auto-detects whether your system has sufficient capabilities in the VertexShaders, and if not, disables it.
dinput Section
This section contains options that control how dinput behaves.
"DefaultDeadZone" = "1000"
This option allows you to define the default dead zone for your joystick expressed as a number between 0 and 10000. The default is 1000 which is 10% of the range of your joystick.
joystick Section
This section contains the configuration for how joysticks should be treated under Cedega.
"Logitech Inc. WingMan RumblePad" = "X,Y,slider,Z,RZ,hat,none"
Controls the configuration of the function of joystick axes. The joystick name and axis functions can be determined with the program 'jstest'. The available axis types are: "none", "X", "Y", "Z", "RX", "RY", "RZ", "slider", "hat", "POV", and "ball" "hat" and "POV" are synonymous. Hats use two axes. The name on the left should correspond to that reported by the actual joystick installed.
opengl Section
This section contains options that control how Windows OpenGL (WGL) behaves.
"FixedGLExtensionBuffer" = "N"
This option present a truncated list of OpenGL extensions to the application rather than the full list of extensions supported by the drivers. This is useful in cases where the application cannot handle extremely long options. If you need to be able to offer specific options, rather than the fixed list that this offers, then you want to also the GLExtensionBuffer option. This option will probably only need to be used for Medal of Honor.
"GLExtensionBuffer" = ""
This option is a comma-separate list of extensions prefixed with + or - that
turns on or off the reporting of individual extension to the application. This
gives the user complete control over what extensions are enabled/disabled so
they can tweak/tune as necessary. Turning an option on here does not magically
give the card the capability to do it. The options for the list follow the
standard OpenGL naming convention (ie "+GL_ARB_imaging,-GL_ARB_depth_texture").
You should only need to use this option in very extreme cases.
If "FixedGLExtensionBuffer" = "N" then this option will be ignored.
Wineserver Section
This section contains options that controls how the WineServer process is run.
"SHMWineserver" = "Y"
This option indicates if Cedega should accelerate interprocess communication (AIC) between the client and server. This value can be either "Y" or "N" and defaults to "Y". It is suggested that you set it to "Y" as for some titles it can have a very positive impact on performance.
WinMM Section
This section controls the systems that are used for sound play back.
"Drivers" = "wineoss.drv"
Controls whether the Open Sound System (OSS) or Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) sound system is used. Specify "wineoss.drv" to use the OSS sound system and "winealsa.drv" to use the ALSA sound system. The default is "wineoss.drv". Note that if neither is specified, Cedega will produce no sound.
"WaveMapper" = "msacm.drv" "MidiMapper" = "midimap.drv"
wineoss Section
This section controls how the Open Sound System (OSS) system is used for sound playback, if enabled appropriately in the WinMM section.
"UseMMap" = "N"
This option allows you to configure Cedega to write directly to memory on the sound card rather than having to use the slower route through the kernel. This can be set to either "Y" or "N"; the default is "N". Can improve performance, but is not available with all sound cards.
"FullDuplex" = "N"
Allows sound to be recorded and played back at the same time. Not available on all sound cards. The default is off.
"dsp0" = "/dev/dsp0" "mixer0" = "/dev/mixer0"
Specify a mapping for which digital audio device to use for OSS sound playback. The default for "dps0" is "/dev/dsp0" and for "mixer0" is "/dev/mixer0"
winealsa Section
This section controls how the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) system is used for sound play back, if enabled appropriately in the WinMM section.
"UseMMap" = "Y"
This option allows you to configure Cedega to write directly to memory on the sound card rather than having to use the slower route through the kernel. This can be set to either "Y" or "N"; the default is "Y". Cann improve performance, but is not available with all sound cards.
"pcm0" = "hw" "ctl0" = "hw"
These options allow you to specify what ALSA sound devices Cedega should use. The default values are "hw" for pcm0 and "hw" for ctl0. Appropriate selection of these options can allow you to select a secondary sound card or a plugin. It should be noted that most ALSA plugins seem to be quite buggy and will not work with "UseMMap" = "Y".
Sharing a .transgaming Directory Between Users
To make your .transgaming directory available to all users on your computer, you will need to create a 'transgaming' group and assign all users who will be using the shared directory to this group.
As root, execute the commands described below:
Copy a clean .transgaming directory to the share location.
# cp -R /usr/lib/transgaming_cedega/.transgaming /SHARE_LOCATION
Change the ownership of this folder to the group transgaming.
# chgrp -R transgaming .transgaming # chmod -R g+srwx .transgaming
Make a backup of the original .transgaming directory
# mv -R /usr/lib/transgaming_cedega/.transgaming /usr/lib/transgaming_cedega/.transgaming.backup
Create a logical link to the new .transgaming directory.
# ln -s /SHARE_LOCATION/.transgaming /usr/lib/transgaming_cedega/.transgaming
Edit the /usr/bin/cedega script to take into account the new link. Open /usr/bin/cedega with your favorite text editor and find the line:
export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.transgaming"
and change it to
export WINEPREFIX="/SHARE_LOCATION"
If a user on your computer has already run Cedega and has a .transgaming directory in their home directory it will need to be moved or deleted before they may use the shared directory.
Please note if your shared .transgaming becomes corrupted and needs to be deleted you can delete it (this will cause all installed games to be lost) and then copy the backup .transgaming to the share as follows:
# cp -R /usr/lib/transgaming_cedega/.transgaming.backup /SHARE_LOCATION/.transgaming
Configuring Cedega differently per Game
You may wish to have different Cedega settings for each game that you have installed. This can be easily done by editing your Cedega config file, ~/.transgaming/config
To add per game settings open this file in your favorite text editor and move to the end of the file. At the end of the file add a line:
[AppDefaults\\EXECUTABLE.EXE\\SECTION]
- AppDefaults
- Sets the following as default for the application
- Executable.exe
- The game executable that is run to start the application
- SECTION
The section you wish to modify the settings for. IE: x11drv, fonts, Drive name/locations.
For example, Max Payne has a game executable called 'Max Payne.exe' If you wish to have custom settings for Max Payne you would require an entry as follows:
[AppDefaults\\Max Payne.exe\\x11drv] "Desktop" = "1024X768" "DXGrab" = "N"
This would force Max Payne to run in a 1024X768 Desktop window with the Mouse Grab feature disabled.
Understanding Cedega Features
Fixed Function over Vertex Shaders
Fixed Function over Vertex Shaders (also called Fixed Programs) is an implementation of the Direct3D fixed function vertex processing pipeline using programmable vertex shaders. There are two main benefits of this technique. First, we can utilize the vertex data in the format as provided by Direct3D without the need to convert it into a format that is suitable for the OpenGL fixed function pipeline. This allows us to eliminate the copy and conversion overhead and store the vertex data directly in accelerated (AGP or video) memory. Second, this approach allows us the flexibility of implementing Direct3D functionality that is not available in, or has different semantics from, the OpenGL fixed function APIs.
Fixed Programs are currently auto-detected based upon the type of video card that your system is running. It is possible to override the auto-detection process with the use of the "FixedProgram" option in the [d3dgl] section of the config file (this option is unavailable in Point2Play at this time). Advanced users may wish to experiment with this option to determine the optimal setting for their system and games. In order to use Fixed Programs your graphics drivers must support the OpenGL ARB_vertex_program extension.
To enable Fixed Programs, place the line:
"FixedProgram" = "Yes"
in the [d3dgl] section of your config file.
To disable Fixed Programs, place the line:
"FixedProgram" = "No"
in the [d3dgl] section of your config file.
To have Fixed Programs auto-detected based on your graphics card, place the line:
"FixedProgram" = "Auto"
in the [d3dgl] section of your config file (this is the default setting).
Currently Fixed Programs are enabled by default on NVIDIA GeForce FX and later graphics cards, and disabled for earlier cards. Fixed Programs do not currently work on ATI cards due to driver issues. See below for the recommended settings for specific graphics cards.
GeForce, GeForce2, GeForce4 MX, and GeForce4 Go series cards
While the drivers for these cards do support the ARB_vertex_program extension, these cards do not have hardware support for vertex programs and as such they are emulated in software by the driver, resulting in very poor performance. It is STRONGLY recommended that Fixed Programs be disabled for these cards.
GeForce3 and GeForce4 series cards
These cards do support hardware vertex programs, but high resource requirements for some games may prevent Fixed Programs from working correctly. However many games are fully functional and gain a significant performance boost by using Fixed Programs. It is recommended that you enable Fixed Programs on a game- by-game basis. If you experience missing or corrupt geometry in a specific title, you should disable Fixed Programs for that game.
GeForce FX and later cards
Fixed Programs can safely be enabled on these cards.
Pixel Shaders
Pixel Shaders are a DirectX 8 and higher feature that are used by many games for graphical effects. Cedega's Pixel Shaders are built on top of the OpenGL ARB_fragment_program extension. ARB_fragment_program is more powerful than Pixel Shaders versions 1.0-1.3, but is only supported on a higher class of graphics card. Thus, while Pixel Shaders are available on Windows systems starting with GeForce 3 or Radeon 8500, ARB_fragment_program is only available starting with GeForce FX and Radeon 9500 cards.
What this means is that a game which may have a minimum requirement of a GeForce 3 may actually be making the assumption that Pixel Shaders are available. In these situations the game may not function correctly without them. For example, Battlefield Vietnam requires Pixel Shaders to play at higher detail levels. While a GeForce 3 is capable of playing the game on a Windows system, a GeForce FX is required to play the game under Linux, as only the FX series supports ARB_fragment_program on Linux.
CD/DVD Ejection System
In the past, games that came on multiple CD-ROMs posed a problem for Cedega users, since the Linux OS would 'lock' the CD-ROM tray in some cases, preventing users from ejecting a disk and inserting the next disk.
Cedega 4.0 included a new feature that eliminated this problem in many cases. Simply by pressing the eject button on one's CD-ROM drive and waiting a few seconds (ejecting may take as long as 10 seconds), the disk would automatically be unmounted and ejected. Then one could insert a new disk, perform whatever mounting step was required by the Linux distribution, and seamlessly continue with an install.
Beginning with Cedega 4.0.1, automatic monitoring of CD-ROM drive eject buttons is off by default due to reported problems with some hardware such as compact flash readers and certain CD-ROM drive brands. It can be manually enabled by passing --monitor-cdrom-eject on the command line. When using Point2Play, the eject monitoring feature is by default enabled while running installers, and disabled at other times to prevent in-game performance problems. It may be forced on or off in Point2Play by going into Configure → CDROM Eject Monitoring and setting Always ON or Always OFF
When the monitoring option is active, it should work on most recent model CD-RW and DVD drives. With older drives, or with the monitoring option disabled you can still force the ejection of an otherwise in-use disc by using the Point2Play 'Unmount' button, or by manually sending a SIGUSR2 signal to the wineserver process using a command such as:
$ killall -USR2 wineserver
Of special note, please be warned that while Point2Play will unmount and eject only the drive in question, using the command line above will unmount and eject all of the drives in your system. If you have other Wine based software running, such as CodeWeavers CrossOver Office product, you may wish to avoid the use of the unmount button or the killall command mentioned above, as they will cause any non Cedega 4.0 based Wine process to halt. In all other respects, using the Point2Play unmount feature should act the same as hitting the drive's eject button.
Some installers may require you to re-insert the first CD-ROM to complete your install. Depending on the title, this may not yet work successfully.
Please contact TransGaming support if you have any issues relating to CD-ROM eject support, so that we can continue to improve this feature.
This document, TransGaming Cedega HOWTO Guide 4.2-1.1.1.1.en, is Copyright© 2002-2005, TransGaming Technologies Inc. Redistribution is permitted for non-commercial use only.
