TransGaming Point2Play Howto Guide 1.2 ====================================== This document applies to using version 1.2 of Point2Play =================== System Requirements =================== Point2Play's resources are nominal. The requirements for this product are based on the version of WineX and the game that is being played. Presently the requirements for WineX 3.2.1 are: Operating System ---------------- Core requirements are: - Linux Kernel 2.2 or higher. Stock Kernels recommended over RedHat 7.x/8.x/9.x kernels. - XFree86 4.0 or higher (4.1 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. NOTE: Individual requirements may be higher for certain games. ========================= How To Install Point2Play ========================= Point2Play is available in a variety of pre-built binary packages designed to suit your Linux distribution. First select the package that is right for your distribution of Linux: rpm - RedHat Package Management (RedHat Linux, Mandrake Linux, etc) To install the Point2Play rpm package open a console/terminal window and execute the following command as 'root': # rpm -ivh Point2Play-[version].rpm deb - Debian Package (Debian GNU/Linux, Corel/Xandros Linux, Lindows, etc) To install the Point2Play deb package open a console/terminal window and execute the following command as 'root': # dpkg -i Point2Play_[version].deb tgz - Tar GZipped Package (Slackware Linux, etc) To install the Point2play tgz package open a console/terminal window and execute the following commands as 'root': # cd / # tar -xvzf Point2Play-[version].tgz Some distributions use their own package management tools, such as Gentoo and Slackware. If this is so, the tgz package of WineX can be used with most of these tools. =================== Starting Point2Play =================== You can start Point2Play from the start menu of your window manager: start -> WineX -> TransGaming Point2Play. You may also start Point2Play from the command line. Open a terminal and type 'Point2Play &'. ======================================== Configuring Your Computer For Point2Play ======================================== Point2Play is simply a graphical front end for TransGaming's core WineX technology, which enables you to run Windows applications on Linux. Point2Play can help you determine if your system setup is sufficient for gaming using WineX. The easiest way to determine if your system is set up correctly is to choose the "System Tests" tab. Once you click this tab, you will be presented with 4 tests. These tests are: "Test CD/DVD drive", "Test for hardware 3D acceleration", "Test sound support", and "Test If POSIX Threads (pthreads) Are Required". These will test your CD-ROM/DVD-ROM setup, your 3D graphics-card setup, your sound setup, and whether we detect you need pthreads or not on your distribution (and if so, whether your distribution's pthreads implementation is good enough to support WineX or not) - all the essential portions of your computer to run games. If you are unsure if your computer is set up correctly, it is suggested that you run all of these tests and verify that each of them passes. If, for some reason, one or more of these tests fail, please refer to and follow the instructions below. Make sure that your video card has working 3D acceleration ---------------------------------------------------------- If you are using an nVidia video card, please make sure that the latest drivers from http://www.nvidia.com have been installed on your system, and that OpenGL is working properly. To test your graphics card for OpenGL support execute the following command: $ glxinfo | grep "direct rendering" 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, the reported FPS should be well over 500 FPS at the default window size. If the output shows less than 500 FPS, 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 WineX, 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 WineX. If you are using nVidia drivers, you can search http://google.com for a script called nv_check.sh which can be useful in determining problems with your libraries. Check your CD devices and mount points for permissions ------------------------------------------------------ Many Windows games use copy protection systems that requires WineX 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 WineX 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. For games with multiple-CD installers, the 'SuperMount' system is highly recommended. SuperMount will allow you to eject a CD and insert another without manual remounting. While SuperMount is installed by default in some Mandrake Linux systems, other systems may require extensive configuration to use it effectively. For more information about using SuperMount, please see some of the sites below: http://hints.linuxfromscratch.org/hints/supermount.txt http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alex.bache/mandrake-faq.html#4f http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/8144/supermount.html Check your XF86Config-4 file ---------------------------- 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 full screen check the game settings to see what resolution it is attempting to use and make sure that resolution is listed in the 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 WineX 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 WineX to report available free space incorrectly. 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. ============================================== Installing and Managing WineX using Point2Play ============================================== Point2Play requires that at least one version of WineX be installed through Point2Play in order to play games. To install WineX through Point2Play, go to the WineX tab and select the 'Setup TransGamer Account' button. You will be presented with a popup dialog with fields to enter your TransGamer username and password. These are the same username and password you use for logging into TransGaming's web site. Additionally, if web access from your machine to the internet needs to go through an HTTP proxy, you can provide the host and port number to reach the proxy. Note: If you do need to use the "HTTP Proxy" then you must click the checkbox to enable its use. Once you have configured your TransGamer account information, you may download a version of WineX. To get the latest version of WineX, click the "Get Latest WineX" button. You may also download any of the other versions of WineX made available for Point2Play by clicking on "Install Other WineX Version" and picking the version you want from the list presented. Once you have downloaded a version (or versions) of WineX, you can manage them on the same tab. You may change the default version of WineX by highlighting the preferred version and clicking the "Set as Default" button. The default version is the version of WineX used to install and run every game, unless overridden in the individual game configuration. To remove a version of WineX, select the version you want to remove from the list of installed versions, and click on the "Remove Installed Version" button. Note: If the default WineX version of WineX is removed , P2P will automatically set another of your installed versions as default (if any are available). ============================================================================ Using a WineX Package (not downloaded and installed via P2P) with Point2Play ============================================================================ Point2Play can now make use of WineX installed through regular package management (tgz, rpm or deb) although it should be noted that there is no functional difference. You have two choices on how to use these versions of WineX from Point2Play. 1) Set up a global RC file -------------------------- Using this method you can set up versions of WineX that are accessible by an user on your machine that uses Point2Play. Create a file, as root, called /usr/lib/transgaming_point2play/Point2PlayRC, and set it up as follows: [winex] =: For example: [winex] 3.2.1=/usr/lib/transgaming_winex3:/usr/bin/winex3 There is a line for each version of WineX installed. You can also set a default version of WineX for all users by adding an entry: default= (This can be overridden on a user by user basis) An example /usr/lib/transgaming_point2play/Point2PlayRC file: [winex] default=3.2.1 3.2.1=/usr/lib/transgaming_winex3:/usr/bin/winex3 3.2=/usr/lib/transgaming_winex3_32:/usr/bin/winex3 2) Add an entry to your local RC file ------------------------------------- Inside ~/.point2playrc, add a line in the following format: =: For example: 3.2.1=/usr/lib/transgaming_winex3:/usr/bin/winex3 ================================== Installing a Game Using Point2Play ================================== If you already have games installed on your computer through WineX, you can make all these games accessible though Point2Play by following the instructions in the section entitled "Converting existing .transgaming directories to Point2Play". To install a new game: - Insert and mount the game CD-ROM or download the game installer to the computer's hard drive. - Click the "Install" button from the "Main" tab. You will be presented with the Install dialogue window. In this dialogue enter the path to the installer or click the "Browse" button, navigate to the installer directory, select the game installer and click OK. Note: Game installers are often named 'setup.exe' or 'install.exe' - You will now need to enter a name into the Program Title. This is the name that will appear on the left hand menu of the "Main" tab. All game functions will be available through the Program Title. - Once a Program Title has been entered click 'Continue' and the game installer will launch. Follow the installation instructions that came with the game you are installing. After the installer process completes, icons will be created in Point2Play only, no icons will be created on your desktop. If the installer does not start or fails partway through, you may wish to try the following: Check the "Run Directory" box. This sets the current working directory to the game executable directory. This does not change the unix current working directory. Check the "Oversized EXE File" option. Some demos are distributed as a single large packed .exe (such as the Dungeon Siege demo) and require this option to be selected. Note: If you have problems installing a specific game please consult the games database at www.transgaming.com for special instructions. ========================================= Installing a Game Update Using Point2Play ========================================= Some games require a patch to run properly. To install a game patch through Point2Play: Ensure that the patch is available on your computer. If the patch comes in a compressed file format be sure to uncompress it before continuing. Click the "Install" button on the "Main" tab. Browse to the location of patch executable, select it and click okay. Make sure that the correct Program Title of the game you wish to patch is selected. If this step isn't followed the patch won't apply properly. Click "Continue" The update should install as per the patch instructions. =============================== Running a Game using Point2Play =============================== Select the Program Title from the left column of the "Main" tab and you will be presented with a list of icons on the right column. Select the icon you wish to run and click the "Play" button. =================================== Configuring a Game Using Point2Play To configure Point2Play/WineX for each game highlight the Program Title on the left column of the "Main" tab and click the "Configure" button. Select the game you want to configure in the treeview on the left. The game options will be shown on the right. The options that can be configured are as follows: * Managed Specifies whether the windows created by WineX are managed by the underlying system window manager. By having this off, window decorations will not match your system's, and you might have issues with multiple desktops, and sizing. * Desktop Desktop mode creates a virtual desktop at the size specified within which the game executes. If set to No the game will run fullscreen. * Use XVid Mode Enables mode switches using the XVidMode extension, like dynamic resolution changes, limited to resolutions supported by the X Server. * Use XRandR Enables mode switches using the XRandR extension, like dynamic resolution changes, limited to resolutions supported by the X Server. * DXGrab Restricts the mouse from leaving the boundaries of the window. Having this off can cause problems in some games. * Use MMap Uses the mmap() command for sound playback. Can improve performance but is not available with all sound cards. * Full Duplex Allows sound to be recorded and played back at the same time. Not available on all sound cards. * Winver Specifies what version of Windows the game will think it is running on. * Show FPS (activates HUD) Enables the FPS count on the TransGaming HUD (also activates the HUD). * Show Memory Usage (requires 'Show FPS'): Enables memory statistics on the TransGaming HUD (must have ShowFPS activated) * Debugging Options This is where you can plug in some debug channels to open for this game. There are some default values already in the drop down box. You should not need this option unless directed to use it by TransGaming support staff. * Command Line If you have any commandline arguments that should be passed to the game, put them in here. Examples are -console or +restart 1 * Anisotropic Filtering A technique which improves the look of textures when viewed from an angle. While there may be visual improvements in some cases, this option may cause a considerable drop in FPS (up to 50%) * Vertex Shaders Vertex shaders are used to add complex-to-compute graphical routines that are often optional. While the WineX 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 WineX to determine if software or hardware vertex shaders are available. When this flag is enabled (checked), WineX tells applications that hardware vertex shader support is available. When the flag is disabled (not checked), some applications may rely on their own optimized software fallbacks. * Clip Space Fix The Clip Space Fix option allows WineX to better emulate the differences in the graphical depth component (z) between D3D and OpenGL. If you are running in 16-bits per pixel mode, you should leave this option enabled (checked). In 24-bit mode, or when using applications which make use of vertex shaders, you may need to disable this option. * FreeType Use new improved fonts (uses FreeType, XRender, and FontConfig libraries ) * Video RAM on Video Card How much Video RAM that your video card has * AGP Memory Available How much should WineX attempt to store into faster AGP memory * Big EXE 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. * Working Directory Set the working directory that the game will be started in. This can affect game downloads and the functionality of game mods. * Path to Web browser Web Browser to be used by winebrowserlink (for games that start up web browsers). * WineX Version to Use You can select to use another version of WineX installed into Point2Play instead of the default one. Some games may run differently in various versions of WineX. Note: It is recommend that you check the games database and forums at www.transgaming.com before modifying game options. ==================================== Uninstalling a Game using Point2Play ==================================== Select the Program Title from the left column of the "Main" tab and click the "Remove" button. Presto wizzo, the game uninstalls. Note: This will remove all configuration options and saved games. You may wish to manually back up save files and game configuration files before uninstalling. ========================================================== Converting existing .transgaming directories to Point2Play ========================================================== To convert an existing .transgaming directory to use for Point2Play follow these steps: mv $HOME/.transgaming $HOME/.point2play/WineX-Pre3 Edit the .point2play/WineX-Pre3/config file and change the line that reads: "Path" = "${HOME}/.transgaming/c_drive/" to read: "Path" = "${HOME}/.point2play/WineX-Pre3/c_drive/" Start Point2Play and use the add/remove icon feature to add icons for your old games into Point2Play. See the section on adding and removing icons in Point2Play for more detail. Please see the Known Issues section for potential issues with this activity. ======================================= Adding and Removing Icons in Point2Play ======================================= Some game installers add icons that you don't want to Point2Play, or do not add icons that you do want. Point2Play has the ability to add and remove icons from its icon lists. To remove an icon: - Highlight the game title and icon you wish to remove. - Select tools, icons, remove. - If you are sure say yes. To add an icon: - Highlight the "Program Title" where you wish to add the icon. - Select tools, icons, add. - Type in a display name for the icon. - Enter the full path for the game executable or click on the "Browse" button and navigate to the game executable. - Enter the full path for the icon you wish to use or click on the "Browse" button and browse to the icon. - Set your working directory in the final box. If you are unsure what to put here enter the directory that the game executable is in. - Click "OK" Your icon should appear in the list on the right column of the main tab. =================== Commandline Options =================== Point2Play has a number of commandline options that may be used for "hidden" functionality or convenience. These switches are given when starting up the application on the commandline, for example: Point2Play --help prints the help screen -help / --help Print the help screen for commandline arguments -theme Use the TransGaming theme -run:: Runs a game that has been installed under the Point2Play directly from the commandline without bringing up the P2P GUI. This is especially useful when creating launcher icons for these games in your window manager. Game_group and program_title needs to be replaced with the game group you installed the game into, and the individual program title icon that should be executed. (this is case sensitive) You can also pass whatever commandline options are required at the same time, following the game name For example, to start WinAmp3 with moof.mp3: Point2Play -run:WinAmp3:Winamp moof.mp3 Be sure to escape spaces and ampersands in titles with a \ and surround the -run: option with single quotes, otherwise the parameter could be interpreted by the shell: For example: Point2Play '-run:Black\ and\ white:Black\ \&\ White' ============================ Known Issues/Troubleshooting ============================ Renaming Program Group May Affect Game Functionality ---------------------------------------------------- There is a slight chance that renaming a program group could affect the functionality of the games contained in it, especially regarding registry entries with unix paths rather than Windows paths. CD-ROM/DVD Drive Setup ---------------------- In order for Point2Play to be able to mount or unmount your CD-ROM, you must have sufficient permission for the unix device. If you do not have sufficient permission to do this, Point2Play will be unable to mount your CD-ROM or DVDs and will fail with an error. For Point2Play not to fail, you will need to modify your system's configuration to give permission to mount and unmount CDs for the user id that is executing Point2Play. If you don't wish to do this, you can either: mount or unmount the CDs manually from a shell as you normally would do, or set your system to use a system such as supermount that allows disks to be mounted or unmounted automatically. (some newer distros use supermount by default) Here is a set of general instructions which can be used to provide sufficient permissions if you do not wish to set up something like supermount. Be aware that doing this could pose a SECURITY RISK if your machine is not located in a secure environment. As root, load /etc/fstab into your favourite editor. Locate a line that appears to be for your CDROM, like this one: /dev/scd0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 iocharset=iso8859-15,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0 Each entry is divided into a number of fields, divided by 1 or more spaces, telling Linux how to handle mounting that particular device. What you want is the 4th one, fs_mntops, which give mount options associated with the file system. Add "user" to the comma separated list of options, like this: /dev/scd0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 user,iocharset=iso8859-15,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0 This will allow any user on your system to mount and unmount that CDROM drive. (If you had the CDROM already mounted, you may need to unmount it as root before it will allow you to mount/unmount it as a user) Pthreads -------- By default Point2Play and WineX should be able to detect automatically whether your Linux distribution requires you to use pthreads or not. If no installer or game seems to be working for you, it is possible this detection scheme isn't working on your distribution. You can try forcing pthreads to be on or off, therefore not relying on the autodetection scheme. Edit ~/.point2playrc, and add (or modify) a pthreads_forced line under the [transgaming] header, like this: pthreads_forced=on Force pthreads usage on pthreads_forced=off Force pthreads usage off Other Issues ----------- Please refer to the WineX Howto and Release Notes pertaining to the version of WineX you are using. They contain more general troubleshooting tips related to issues with WineX vs. Point2Play. You can find them available for download from TransGaming's download prepackaged section. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This document, TransGaming Point2Play Howto Guide 1.2 - 1.1.2.1.en, is Copyright(c) 2002-2004, TransGaming Technologies Inc. Redistribution is permitted for non-commercial use only.