Guild Wars and linux

I know the guild wars doesn't support any other OS at the moment, I would like to know how many people here actually use Linux as their primary OS. I currently use Linux for my OS. But I can't get past the unsupported video card message when launching guild wars to actually play it on linux (cedega). So I must boot into windows and play.

*Lord Alden wishes greatly that Arena.net and NCsoft would make a linux client.

Moving this to the tech forum. I'm sure someone will have a "windows" type of client that you could use that might fix the problem.

I run Gentoo linux at the moment. I've used FreeBSD, OpenBSD, SuSe, Mandrake, Redhat, Knoppix, and a few other smaller distros. I assume you are attempting to run Guild Wars through WINE or some other windows emulator?

Linux is my OS of choice, but I boot Windows for games. I would love to play GW on linux. However, my vote goes first for a Mac client. I have many friends who own Macs that are clamoring to play. And I'd really like to be able to play GW with them.

My friends and I would be eternally grateful for a Mac client. Please, ANet?

MAC OS is unix based.....a *nix client would resolve both issues

On the latest Mac OS versions and if it's developed correctly, yes. There are some *nix clients that don't work on a Mac. In particular, Teamspeak. Which is a bummer, because then my friends could play with me, but not chat while doing so.

I'm not picky...whether it's a dedicated Mac client or a *nix client that can run on the unix-based Mac OS versions (since every Mac user I know has the latest version), I'll be happy. This is the only thing I've felt that GW has really needed since it was released. All the patching is nice, but I really just want to play with my friends.

Heck, my non-gaming, Mac-loving sister might even be interested...she was pretty impressed with the game when she visited last.

just use ventrilo...they released a mac version a LONG time ago

I checked out Ventrilo a while back because I heard they had a mac client, but the site says linux and mac clients for the current version were still under developement...

They do have a Mac server, though.

What kind of video card do you have.. since Guild Wars is a DirectX game you basically need a Nvidia card with the newest Nvidia Linux Drivers.. or a high end ATI which now have proprietary drivers.. the MESA drivers most Distros use don't support DirectX even in Emulation. Also what version of Cedenga are you using.. I personally have used it on many games.. though currently I have not moved Guild Wars to my Linux box due to the video card on it not having decent Linux Drivers.. and I'm to cheap to buy a new one.

Right now I use ubuntu 5.04, with cedega 4.3.2. I do believe I have the latest drivers installed, but it is a low end card so that could be it as well x_x.

Unfortunatly it is only a nVidia MX440 64mb. I recently broke my ATI Radeon 9800 SE 128mb, and had to change over to this smaller card. I am hoping to soon get a nvidia 6600GT or higher.

Maybe they could just the game more cedega compatible? That would be an alternative to making a whole new client

It is most likely your video card then.. I have had it work under Cedega for a buddy yesterday it was kinda slow still but maybe with the next version of Cedega they will have better compatability.

If I can get up enough motivation I'll start trying this out using Wine and the latest Ubuntu this weekend. If anyone tries this and gets anywhere please post your information. If I can get this to work then there will officially be no reason for me to keep my Windows installation... I don't play any other games anyway nowadays.

EDIT: Here's a link to the Wine project's Guild Wars page (with no information on successes as of yet):
http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?appId=2243

I was able to get the install to work under wine.. but could not get the game to load because of my video card and the DirectX issues.

I tried some of the transgaming suggestions for getting around my issue of getting stuck at that screen, the suggestion I got to keep moving the mouse after I clicked it... but then it just loaded a blank screen :P oh well x_x guess I will wait until I get a new card & wait for the new cedega! Until then, windows will have to stay.

I use Linux. Gentoo 2005.0, AMD64, triple booting with SuSE 9.2 32-bit and Windows XP SP2 32-bit. That's my production machine. My website is hosted on my Gentoo 2004.0 Hardened install, which runs rather nicely.

I'm very much awaiting a Linux edition of GW, or a WINE patch that gets GW up and running. Haven't tried Wine + the DirectX patches, since I'm running 64-bit Gentoo and that has problems of its own, but maybe I'll give it a try on SuSE...

~~ Andrew D.

http://www.transgaming.com/latest_news.php

With the new release of Cedega, TransGaming is officially supporting Guild Wars. They have a brief mention of their support for this game on the above link, and some information on how the game runs and minor issues that still exist in the GW section of their game database. I'll definitely be getting this up and running if possible by this weekend.

I've been wondering about this for a while. Since all of the game's "logic" happens on the server, how hard would it be to reverse-engineer the protocol and develop a GPL'd, portable Guild Wars client? You'd have to buy the game to play it anyway.
Do you think Arenanet would invoke the DMCA against such a labour of love?

Also, if Guild Wars made its way to a next-gen console, would you invest in it?

It wouldn't be a DMCA violation so much as a EULA violation - I suspect anyone using a third-party client would be hit with the banstick so fast their mouse would explode.

I have just played Guild Wars on Linux for the first time. I am using Debian (Kanotix - kernel 2.6.11 and KDE 3.4) and Cedega 4.4.1. I had to turn down the detail a little to get smooth movement (FX5200) but otherwise it seems fine.
A common problem is an incorrect working directory entry in the launch menu. It should read "C:/Program Files/Guild Wars" The command should be: cedega -workdir "C:/Program Files/Guild Wars" "C:/Program Files/Guild Wars/Gw.exe"
Some people find the entry missing or containing the dreaded MS style back slashes instead of the righteous forward slashes
I also got the imcompatible video card warning but I told it to go away and all proceeded well.
I also got a black screen when I didn't have 3D graphics on. Check your OpenGL installation.

I hope this helps somebody.

Oh well Sorrows Furnace changed something and it doesnt work evin with cedega atm. I think it transgaming will fix this though becouse its a supported game.