1. I followed this guide basically to the letter. (If you're using Kubuntu then you don't have to read the part about making a Gnome desktop shortcut, since Kubuntu puts a shortcut on your desktop anyway that you can then customize.)
2. I then tried out these tweaks to improve my framerate-- honestly the game was playable for me before as well, but some people have framerate difficulties. So you might want to give that a shot.
3. Any questions? That's what this thread right here is for.
4. Little things that I have noticed: Although at first I ran WoW with OSS for sound, I found that it had some issues: sound would only work about half the time, plus I couldn't listen to other music in Amarok while keeping the game's sound effects intact (which I like to do.) I booted up winecfg and switched over to ALSA-- actually I did this to solve another problem which I'd been having, but it inadvertently made my sound better as well-- no more sound problems. ALSA doesn't work well for everybody, though. But I would definitely recommend giving it a try because if it does work it is far superior to OSS in this situation.
5. Workarounds for other issues: Note that sometimes Blizzard or Wine updates will cause problems. You will know because there will generally be a bunch of people posting about them on Ubuntu Forums. A fix or workaround usually pops up pretty quickly, or if it's a Wine thing you can just revert to an earlier version of Wine. Something that happens to me right now is that the game freezes on exit. (Note that this doesn't usually happen, it just started happening recently with the last Wine update.) To exit when it freezes up like that, copy and paste this into the terminal:
#!/bin/bash
for i in $(pidof WoW.exe); do
kill -9 $i && sleep 1
done
And you'll be set!
That's all the wisdom and advice I have for you guys right now, I may post more regarding WoW on Linux and common problems and soluations, later. With a bit of luck you will now be able to play World of Warcraft on Linux:
Enjoy, and happy questing!
1 comment:
Hi Pike,
Good guide, and thanks for your comment. I did look at Ubuntu 8, since they apparently "fixed" PulseAudio, but actually, WoW wasn't my main issue. I did get it working halfway decently, and I know if I put Ubuntu on my new system, it would just fly.
My main issue with Linux has been that I have one or two crucial apps that 1) I cannot find a suitable replacement for in Linux and 2) Cannot run them under Wine. The biggest of these is MediaMonkey. Amarok is closest in functionality, but it is missing a huge chunk of functionality I need. I have tried all the other Linux media managers, and none are up to par. Yes, I know I could VMWare it, but what's the point of going Linux if you have to run a virtual Windows XP?
My other issue with Linux is that once upon a time, I would have been happy to tinker with it to my heart's content. Now-a-days I just don't have the time. Like it or not, I cannot deny the fact that Windows just works and its just easy-mode.
Now, when it comes to server stuff, Linux is my bastion, and I can tear up a bash prompt like no other. That's my profession though, so its something I can do with ease. I just still can't get myself into desktop Linux yet. Ubuntu has made HUGE, phenomonal strides in the desktop arena, but its not quite there for me yet. I was REALLY hoping Ubuntu 8 would be the "bees knees", but I played with the LiveCD, and it wasn't there yet. To be honest, I am holding out for Amarok2, if that kicks ass, I will be thinking of converting once more.
Cheers, and thanks for your WoW hunter blog. I really enjoy it.
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