Patch 2.1 inadvertantly removes Wine compatibility

[Mblackwell1024]

Patch 2.1 inadvertantly removes Wine compatibility

For those that don't know Wine = OpenGL/API wrappers for D3D/Windows compatibility on Linux.

Just wanted to note that I had to revert to 2.0 as version 2.1's sudden requirement for .NET 4.0 means the game no longer functions in Wine. Version 2.0 and below have Gold status in Wine. I've played the game from beginning to end multiple times without any real issue. Version 4.0 of Microsoft .NET however is not currently installable in Wine (although the game installer thinks it worked okay), and it means the game cannot start from the launcher nor seemingly from the 'witcher2.exe' file.

It might not seem like a big deal to some, but Linux is the only operating system in my house (every computer has it) and I've had the game and been playing it since launch. Windows is not an option, and not even really required to run the game as there is only this one roadblock. I'd hoped that CDPR would be able to see it in their hearts to work around the .NET requirement.

I know this post is unlikely to get much notice but I figured I'd post it anyway so someone there at least has a chance to hear about it.

 

[Oloroar]

Anyone prevented from playing this game for any reason is a tragedy. However, do you really need patch 2.1? It doesnt really make any improvements to in-game content, just improves networking. You can work around it by only patching to 2.0 manually, then launching the game from the "bin" folder as opposed to going through the launcher, that way the patcher doesnt auto update.

 

[227]

Anyone prevented from playing this game for any reason is a tragedy. However, do you really need patch 2.1?

Not right now, but 4 hours of new content is supposedly being added to the game sometime around the Xbox release and I'd imagine that this cuts Linux users off from being able to have access to content like that released in future patches.

OP: Did you contact support? I was under the impression that .NET was only required to fix the problem where people couldn't upload their arena scores. I don't know how many gamers use Wine, but isolating potential fans seems like a more serious issue than people not being able to upload their scores. You might send support a message to let them know, just in case they're unaware. I wouldn't hold my breath for a fix, but you never know.

 

[Mblackwell1024]

I have not sent a message to support, no. And yes that's what I'm afraid of is being cut out from future updates that have meaningful changes.

 

[Mblackwell1024]

I'm bumping this. Still an issue in the future afaik and I've sent in a message to support (2 weeks ago) and received no response of any kind.

 

[GuyNwah]

Since the game was never intended to run under Linux, I do not think it is an issue that official support would address.

The underlying problem is probably this: Microsoft tends to update the version of .NET when they update Visual C++. Visual C++ 2008 used .NET 3.5, which had acceptable Wine compatibility. But Visual C++ 2010 requires .NET 4.0, which usually fails badly under Wine.

So if they've gone to VC++ 2010, they've broken Wine compatibility until the Wine community can get .NET 4.0 to work.

In the meantime, 2.0 continues to work under Wine, only 2.1 (which adds no in-game functionality) does not work, and there is no official word on whether any future updates will do so. I would not expect or demand any, because Linux has never been a supported operating system for this game.

 

[Mblackwell1024]

It may not have been an intended operating system, but it in fact did function (a fact that developers are usually happy about). Version 2.1 (and .NET 4.0) has apparently not only cut out an additional market segment, but also (looking at the forums here) prevented players on the intended operating system from playing.

The fact that 2.0 works is irrelevant because if future patches are built on 2.1's codebase they will likely require .NET 4.0.

 

[username_3575987]

Yeah - I'm bumping this up too.

Please CDPR, I know it's not top priority, but it was nice playing on Ubuntu. I had the game since release and it worked fine. Please don't cut us (Linux users) from this marvelous game.

 

[GuyNwah]

Yeah - I'm bumping this up too.

Please CDPR, I now it's not top priority, but it was nice playing on Ubuntu. I had the game since release and it worked fine. Please don't cut us (Linux users) from this marvelous game.

It's a good request, and I'll second it.

Sadly, if you already went to VC++ 2010 some months ago, it may be quite impractical to go back, and it may be a bureaucratic impossibility to do it just for the purpose of supporting an unsupported market.

 

[volsung]

Yeah - I'm bumping this up too.

Please CDPR, I now it's not top priority, but it was nice playing on Ubuntu. I had the game since release and it worked fine. Please don't cut us (Linux users) from this marvelous game.

I'm curious: how did the game perform with Wine? and what system do you have?

I think developers should support NATIVE GNU/Linux versions of games.

 

[cluthz]

Wine is also working on Mac OS, and is the main tool I use to play games.
THe Witcher runs perfectly well on my old machine (Core2 OC@4.0GHz, 6GB 1066MHz RAM, GeForce GTX285 OC 1024MB)
At med/high settings @1050p i have like 40ish fps. In win7 i have about 45-50 at high settings, so there is obviously a performance sacrifice.

I'm sad that the 2.1 and possibly future contents doesn't work.

There are very few games that need dotnet at all, especially dotnet4.0.
Got over 200 games and TW2 is the only one requiring dotnet4.0 and the only games I have that uses dotnet3.5 is indie games built on the xna engine (magicka/bastion)

 

[username_3575987]

I'm curious: how did the game perform with Wine? and what system do you have?I think developers should support NATIVE GNU/Linux versions of games.

It worked fine with Wine. I played smoothly from the intro to the outro.

@edit: It worked smoothly on medium graphical settings.

My computer specs are (I had the very same PC back when I was playing Witcher 2):

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+,
• 3GB of RAM,
• GeForce GTX460 Zotac AMP! Version.

I installed the game with PlayOnLinux on Ubuntu (can't recall the exact version, though). Now I'm using Ubuntu 11.10. I'm downloading patches up to 2.0. I'll give it a try again.

 

[Mblackwell1024]

I'm curious: how did the game perform with Wine? and what system do you have?

I think developers should support NATIVE GNU/Linux versions of games.

I had fairly decent performance even on Ultra (with Ubersampling disabled) as long as I dropped the resolution. My system is:

Ubuntu 11.10
Intel Q9550 (clocked at 3ghz)
4GB RAM (DDR2 800 iirc)
EVGA GTX 460 768MB (OCed to 840/2100/1680)


I've played through the game many times and the only glitch was the following:
http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=28883

Which isn't particularly noticeable/disturbing in most situations (in the cases where it even appears). You mention a native build, and while that would be nice I'm willing to deal with Wine in order to play most games. In fact I'm sort of surprised it hasn't become part of development tool chains for major publishers as a version that worked across platforms with no additional effort from the dev (except maybe the occasional Wine patch/bug submission) is like free money.

 

[Mblackwell1024]

A workaround was found by starting a new WINEPREFIX and installing dotnet40 via winetricks. The game could then run. However Arena scores refused to upload. It seems the best bet is to use the hotfix from here:

http://en.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?/topic/30215-hotfix-for-net-4-related-errors-0xc0000005-0xc0000142-etc/

This can be applied after installing the EE. It looks like Launcher.exe and Register.exe cease functioning in either case however (with or without hotfix).

Thanks CDPR for bringing us back one step closer to Platinum Wine support on Linux. Now if only there was a method for submitting Arena scores (this works/ed perfectly using 2.0).

 

[WrATH64]

Is this the same Mblackwell from the gnome-shell channel?

 

[Licaon_Kter]

This can be applied after installing the EE. It looks like Launcher.exe and Register.exe cease functioning in either case however (with or without hotfix).

Thanks CDPR for bringing us back one step closer to Platinum Wine support on Linux. Now if only there was a method for submitting Arena scores (this works/ed perfectly using 2.0).

the hotfix just removes the .NET4 code for network functionality, so no Arena scores, but running fine in WINE

 

[Mblackwell1024]

the hotfix just removes the .NET4 code for network functionality, so no Arena scores, but running fine in WINE

Yeah, two steps forward!

Is this the same Mblackwell from the gnome-shell channel?

Why yes it is.

 

[waltc.480]

For those that don't know Wine = OpenGL/API wrappers for D3D/Windows compatibility on Linux.

Right, it's an emulator.

It might not seem like a big deal to some, but Linux is the only operating system in my house (every computer has it) and I've had the game and been playing it since launch. Windows is not an option, and not even really required to run the game as there is only this one roadblock. I'd hoped that CDPR would be able to see it in their hearts to work around the .NET requirement.

First of all, I downloaded the hotfix removing the .Net requirement from the game (for my GoG copy), too, and I'm glad this seems to solve your situation. I am curious about a couple of things in your post, however.

Why is Windows "not an option" for you on at least one of your machines? Last I looked Windows and Linux cohabited beautifully together in a dual-boot scenario. Using an emulator like Wine for a graphically intensive D3d game is not a first-choice option--it's a last-resort option for people who absolutely cannot run it any other way. It is *not* going to exactly duplicate your experience of running the game in its native software environment--which is D3d/Windows. At its best, an emulator will provide only a 2nd-rate experience in comparison with what your hardware, and the game, would give you running from its native software environment of D3d/Windows.

Personally, I'm fairly OS agnostic. I don't choose an OS just for it's own sake, but I choose it because of how well it supports the bulk of the software I choose to run most often. Right now, Win7 x64 just happens to win that particular contest hands down. So, I use it.

OK, if you bought the game and discovered you didn't have enough ram to play it as you wanted, or at all--wouldn't you buy more ram? Ditto your gpu--if it was, say, an Intel IGP it wouldn't be suitable for running W2--pretty much at all. Would you buy the gpu you needed to properly run the game if your desire was to play the game? I think you would do both--I would (as I've done it before many times--I'm "computer poor" as the saying goes...)

I don't think you'd have problem at all upgrading your hardware to run the game--so why are you so reluctant to give yourself a first-class experience with this game by running it as it was intended to be run--under D3d & Windows? Wine at best is sort of a hack, really, but it surely has its uses for word processors and other kinds of text-related, static programming. But I don't think it's acceptable for a game like Witcher 2, frankly. Just my opinion, of course. At any rate I think we can agree on the fact that Witcher2 will not run *better* on Wine emulation, and odds are it will run worse. Guys with x86 Macs often ask, "Is it available for the Mac? Will it be available for the Mac *this year*?" (What they really mean by "Mac" is "OS X".) If not, they seem to fall back to Wine emulation--and I've asked the same question of them: Why not use the Bootcamp feature that is now a standard part of OS X and install Windows and boot into Windows to play the game? Got to be a lot better than running the game on Wine just because they are too lazy to reboot...

Anyway, just trying to understand the thinking here. Just wondering about your Windows thing. Is it philosophical, religious......or for prejudicial reasons that you are so opposed to running Windows gaming software on Windows? I only bring it up because I honestly think you'd think it was pretty close to a whole new game running Witcher2 in the software environment for which it was written. Regardless of all other considerations, though, I hope that you'll continue to play the game, emulated or not (I still cannot get over the quality of that opening cinematic in the EE version--I don't think I've seen its equal just about anywhere!)

 

[WrATH64]

Well, Why would he want Windows? I only use Windows for some hardcore gaming and that's it. The main downside with WINE is performance, installer compatibility and middle man software which Windows installs more of now days.

People want to use Linux for everything, WINE allows that in many ways.

 

[Mblackwell1024]

Right, it's an emulator.

For the first bit, it's not an emulator. It's a reimplementation of Windows API calls on Linux. It's the same as DLL wrappers on Windows but in this case the DLLs point to various Linux ABI/API calls. This comment and your entire post seems to really be attempting to bait others into an argument. Why choose to use anything? Why have anything else not an option? If you're on Android the Apple App store isn't an option, but hey why didn't you just buy an iPhone/iPad?

Every PC/Laptop in my house uses some form of Linux, and I have no Windows installation discs. Asking a person to purchase an expensive piece of software to play a game that functions without it is silly, and the idea of dual booting isn't appealing as you lose the functionality of your main operating system whenever you switch to the secondary (and as all of my machines are networked together and share different files with each other having a machine down for any reason other than something quick like a reboot isn't workable either).

Because you like Windows doesn't mean other people do, or have to, or should even have a copy around (thereby giving money to a company they wouldn't otherwise support for any reason).

In this case if the game had never worked I would be out $50 but never say much other than report some bugs against Wine (this is the case with a few games I own for various reasons). The reason for this thread and for the request in general was because the game worked and worked well in the first place but then suddenly didn't because of a single change.