Installing Battlefield on linux Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake

[w1z4rd]

Tomorrow I do a format and install of Ubuntu Dapper Drake Linux 6.06, and no matter what it takes, Im going to be getting BF2 running well on it.

Going to install the kubuntu sub distro, cause I really wanna use kde over gnome, and Ive already got the dapper drake how-to to get XGL running on KDE.

Unless anyone knows or has a better alternative it looks like my best option to get decent perfomance in BF2 on a linux distro is using Cedega. It comes recommended.

Cedega:
http://transgaming.org/gamesdb/games/view.mhtml?game_id=3618

I will let you know how things go, and if anyone has attempted something like this before, please let me know, any advice welcome.

[stoke]

Good luck .. oh .. lotsa feedback preeze :)

[TG]

I'm planning on giving this a try with Fedora Core 5, which I believe has some challenges with Cedega, but I'll try to muddle my way through it.

[sss]

whats the point?

[Alluvium]

ubuntu + anything = it runs crap

:p

[doobiwan]

Who needs a point? Just to say you did it! ;)

Good luck, keep us updated!

[w1z4rd]

ubuntu + anything = it runs crap

:p

Ive run all the distro`s and Ive been watching ubuntu for a while now. I was going to either run Gentoo or the new Suse 10.1 distro, but the more I read up on Ubuntu, how its the fastest growing distro, with one of the largest and helpful support bases, their philosiphies and recent happenings withing Ubuntu, Im thinking its the better option.

I need to replace some pretty specialised apps, and get some pretty intense games running, and I need the best support for that. Ubuntu our performs everyone by far is you follow distrowatch.com.

If you want a cut down sleek version there is an alternative version of the distro on the site. Its harware support is also pretty freeken amazing with the least amount of hassles.

Im going to be installing kubuntu, a kde focused distro of Dapper Drake Ubuntu 6.0.6 LTS, I prefer it to gnome, and I already have the how-to to make KDE and XGL work together.

Will start my install at 4pm today. Im also wanting to get my LP101, and this is going to help me with that.

Im not going to get into the whole, my distro is better than yours, or kde is better than gnome, or windows vs linux. Every OS has its time and place, and Ubuntu has what I need, and can do what I want it to do. Windows used to serve my needs, and I could do cool things with it so I dont think its a bad OS. I see Windows Vista as bad, and heading in a very very negative direction, so Im moving on. And KDE 4 is nearly out...... apparently it makes vista look cheesy

[w1z4rd]

Installed Dapper Drake today, and so far, I am really liking it. Its taking me a while to get used to KDE, as Ive only really run nix from command line. So learning as I go along. Currently going through the wine install, will keep you updated.

[Askari]

But did you get BF2 to work??? Im very interested in this excersise.

[Alluvium]

no i know ubuntu is usefull, we have it running on the uct labs... its just sometimes it has really pissed me off is all :p

[GeroW4lll]

I'm a complete gentoo convert now. Biggest advantage Gentoo has over every other distro is that it compiles the kernel on your system by default. All the other systems distros i tried gave me that option but made it clear that was really too much hassel for beginners. Gentoo encouraged me to compile it and not be a n00b anymore. I can't think of many people more helpfull than the Gentoo users. They have a irc chatroom and everyone helped me through it. And they have very good documentation. Other than that they have good ways to upgrade the system continually, which is what makes opensource cool in the first place.

Enough evangelisising.

Cedega is not free, though i hear you could get it without the gui for free from their CVS tree. Then you'd have to set it up manually like you would wine. It's based on Wine, far as I know. You'll have to know lots about it to do that though. I don't got money so i'll learn to do it that way. LOL

My biggest gripe with Ubuntu is the name. It's supposed to be the Nguni (ie Zulu and Xhosa) word for humanity. But the word has become politically charged to a very large extent, being used in such a manner as to suggest that Nguni speakers have a monopoly on humanity and that the rest of us have none. (I am not a Nguni speaker). Since I like to keep my software and politics seperate the name irritates me a little. I can't understand why Mark Shuttleworth had to base a new distro on Debian, instead of throwing his resources in with them. Those Debian guys have been doing LOOOOOOOTS of work and keeping opensource alive for so long its not right to take it away from them.

Oy sorry more evengelirising.

Anyhow If you get BF2 running I'd sincerely like to know about it too.

[TG]

Fedora ftw!

:) Actually, Fedora has its own issues, but I agree with you on the name tho. Another reason why I won't bother with Impi Linux either.

Yeah yeah, book by its cover and all that.

[doobiwan]

Ubuntu in Zulu means more "brotherhood / collective compassion" that sort of thing, it's actually very good word to describe an open source product.

I agree though, RS shouldn't have created yet another distro. Although that's the thing with OSS, the debian guys probably didn't want to do things his way, they've been doing it their way for so long.

[w1z4rd]

Yeah, ive installed Gentoo a couple of times, and the 2 day installation gets to you. Honest, as apposed to my 10 min kubuntu one.

The name doesnt bother me at all, and I feel stoked that something South African, is giong so massivly big. There seems to be the impression that local is not lekka, and if its software from ZA, it has to be kak.

Dunno, why that mindset prevails, but from what I understand, Ubuntu is mostly developed in Sweden and close by scandanavian countries now, by teams mark has hired.

Btw, my desktop is leet now. Though I failed somewhat getting XGL to work :( and I learnt 3 new commands to break X.

Im getting my credit card in 5 days (never had one before, but have got sick and tired of asking people to purchase stuff online for me... so now I can do it myself), so I will be buying cedega then.

Doobiwan, ure in cape town right? Wanna come visit, and we try to figure out a way to get BF2 running on a linux platform? Ive got a mate here who has got it running on his gentoo box with a very out dateved version of cedega... but he had a couple of performance issues. This was about 6 months ago.

Im hoping with the latest version of cedega and kununtu ill be able to pull it off.


My current desktop screenies: http://www.anticorp.co.za/desktop.jpg
http://www.anticorp.co.za/desktop1.jpg

[w1z4rd]

Okay, looks like cedega currently doesnt have VOIP support, and Punkbuster pwns it in multiplayer.

Anyone got any suggestions, I really dont want to have a multiboot system for bf2, and would prefer to run it nativly. Any help welcome.

[TGTest]

This article might be helpful for some:

http://www.linux-gamers.net/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=HOWTO+Cedega+CVS

[w1z4rd]

This article might be helpful for some:

http://www.linux-gamers.net/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=HOWTO+Cedega+CVS

Thanks for the link, but at the moment, cedega gets pwned by punkbuster :( dunno if/when theyre going to fix that :(

[doobiwan]

Thanks for the offer, although I don't think I'd be much help. I barely have time to play these days, let alone figure out how to get a BF2-mod-Penguin going ;)

[w1z4rd]

ok, I got the game installing on wine, but I have a slight problem now. When it comes to "insert Cd2" part, I have to demount the cdrom to allow me to change the CD!!, and then the whole installations bones out. Any suggestions?

[doobiwan]

rip an ISO of disc 2 and mount it on a separate mount point?

[TG]

http://cedegawiki.sweetleafstudios.com/wiki/Battlefield_2

Some people have had success with BF2 (even playing ranked) with Cedega.

Only versions up to 5.1 have been tested apparently - and I note on transgaming.org that Cedega 5.2 has been released today.

It seems there is also a way to get Oblivion working.

[w1z4rd]

Yup, today I bought Cedega 5.2.1. I have been able to install and run, Battlefield 2 unpatched, and offline for the first time today. Im really tired, worked on this most of the night (you wont believe how specific these damm nvidia drivers can be.)

My first Bf2, screenshot on my desktop:

The install:
http://www.pickledbushman.com/mission_battlfield2/battlefield2_install.jpg

First game play (man it felt good to shoot someone...even if it was just a bot. Ive been suffering of extremely boring repetive 3d FPS like ET Pro for a while, and shoo this felt good.)

http://www.pickledbushman.com/mission_battlfield2/battlefield2_chopper.jpg

And what the graphics look like (before i have played with anything, a vanilla install):

http://www.pickledbushman.com/mission_battlfield2/in_game_no_patch%20.jpg

Nearly there.

I wonder if the admins on saix can exclude uip`s from punk buster, or prehaps turn the settings down for the linux folk. Will upgrade to 1.3 soon, but its not quiet plug and play :P


PS, the game plays extremely smoothly when I tried it out, and while the graphics are different, enemies at a distance seem to be very clear and easy to shoot.

http://www.pickledbushman.com/mission_battlfield2/chopper2_battlefield2.jpg

[w1z4rd]

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo! My first attempt at getting online!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and it worked!!! Yay!

http://www.pickledbushman.com/mission_battlfield2/online/battlefield3_patch1_3_in_game_fragged.jpg
http://www.pickledbushman.com/mission_battlfield2/online/battlefield2_patch1_3_setup.jpg
http://www.pickledbushman.com/mission_battlfield2/online/battlefield3_patch1_3_in_game_fragged.jpg

[Askari]

So how does it feel? Running smooth and all? Patch1.3 working?

[w1z4rd]

awwww.... almost... ganna email both Cedega and Evanbalance about this. Not a pretty even balance if its just for one OS... how about an even balance of OS`s

http://www.pickledbushman.com/mission_battlfield2/online/darn_punkbuster.jpg


It runs smoothly when off line, but I was laggy as hell online, and by the kick i got there does seem to be a problem here. Local LAN play, was smooth... very smooth. Just when I went online it has some issues.

[TG]

You'll probably find the lagginess was caused by punkbuster scanning your system.

[w1z4rd]

ok, i wonder if i can get bf2 running on vmware :P and opinions?

[TG]

Doubtful - the emulated graphics adapter won't cut it methinks.

[w1z4rd]

ye me thinks ure right *ponders* need to come up with a solution.. in the interm, im going to start a petition targeted at all the big game vendors :/ ive been told ill have the support of the south african gaming community.. so yeah, will let you know on developments.

Word i miss bf2 and my clannies *little tear in eye*

[w1z4rd]

ok, so i been doing a bit of complaining, and I got this response from Cedega


06/30/2006 00:52:18 - "Stuart Dunsmore"
Note #6: We work with Cedega to help them become compatable with PB, but we will not change PB to meet them. We work with them on what needs to be done to fix issues that come up.

So yeah... getting their one step at a time. have applied to be a beta tester.

Since i cant play bf2 at the moment... im playing a lot of ET (theres a native build), its server is 196.4.79.15 (going to put my WG tag on for good measure when i play there).. what does suck is after the 79 in the ip address... my hands want to type out .31 ... i have to hold them back to stop them doing this.

[w1z4rd]

Well.... sadly this stops here for the moment. Playing bf2 online on linux is basicaly impossible if you wish to play on a ranked server, so until they resolve this I am going to be doing two things.

First and formost: http://www.gamersforlinux.com , setup a petition (please sign!) :)

(ive tried everything, wine, cedega, vmware, swinging the cat around by the tail while chanting powerful diablo 2 runes....nothing worked!)

And secondly... I will be installing a spare 14GB drive onto my pc (so my my 500GB sata drive does not get tarnished by a MS installation), and installing windows and bf2....thats it... just so I can get a bit of game play in :(

[stoke]

School fee's much saving us you have.
Thankfulness in abundance eminates.

[TG]

How about some buttons for use on websites? I'll gladly stick one on my blog.

[w1z4rd]

I would love to ... um... anyone here got any gfx skills? I tried, and I failed :( On page 3 of this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=206367 I have a link to the gnome file with the orignal files if someone here wants to have a crack at it.

You really dont want to see my result... its shameful :P