All posts by badbod

Gaming, Linux

Wine 1.7, WoW, Warcraft, Battlenet, white screen, performance, Linux

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The current 5.x release of Battlenet launcher has given many linux wine users a headache with some suffering a white or blank/black screen.

FIX:
winecfg

  1. Under the Applications tab click ‘Add application’
  2. Browse to ‘program files (x86)\Battle.net’, or wherever you have battlenet launcher installed, select ‘Battle.net.exe’ and click ‘Open’.
  3. Back in the main window ‘applications’ tab, select the new entry ‘Battle.net.exe’.
  4. Below, in the ‘Windows version’ dropdown menu select ‘Windows XP’
  5. Click ‘Apply’.

Blank screen problem should now be fixed.

PERFORMANCE:
For better performance of WoW, there are 2 methods, one is to use opengl and the other is to use D3D9 but using a small trick to provide much better performance. Opengl works fine and provides much improved frame rate without any further messing about, but you might not like the visuals. Regardless, the first step to either method is to first switch WoW to using opengl mode.

Using gedit or notepad open the ‘WTF\configure.wft’ file in the World of Warcraft folder and change the line
SET gxApi "D3D9"
to
SET gxApi "opengl"
and save.

Try WoW now. You might need to set your resolution and full screen mode again. Your frame rate should be much improved, as good, if not better than if you were using windows.

if you don’t like the changed visuals you get in opengl mode and want the nice shiny D3D9 look without sacrificing too much performance.

After first making the change above,

  1. Set your in game video options as you like.
  2. Restart the game.
  3. Use the in game system menu -> Advanced and set the Graphics API to ‘DirectX 9’.
  4. Restart WoW.

Now you will have slightly lower frame rate than opengl mode, but much better frame rate and the improved visuals of D3D9 mode than you did before the switch to opengl.

!!Important!!

Apart from setting your resolution and window/fullscreen mode DO NOT change any other video settings. If you do your frame rate will drop substantially and you will have to repeat the switch to opengl and back again.

To get the best visuals V performance you may have to change video settings then switch to opengl and back to directx 9 untill you find the best settings for you.

Also worth a try is replacing Wine 1.7 with Wine-staging. This offers better performance out of the box and the above works for even better frame rates. However; this version of wine is aimed at gaming so may well break any other applications you are using wine for. If you are going to try it out, once installed use winecfg and go to the staging tab. Tick everything.

Before doing your first winecfg it might be worth making sure you already have:

sudo apt-get install winbind libp11-kit-gnome-keyring:i386 p11-kit-modules:i386

Linux, Nerdy Mind

Stuttery, jerky video, Totem, Ubuntu, Mint 17.x, AMD, 64 bit.

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This guide is for people getting stuttery or jerky playback of videos, full screen or not, using Ubunutu 14.x or derivatives ( Linux Mint 17.x etc ) and using an AMD video card

Firstly make sure you are using the propriety drivers:

sudo apt-get install fglrx-updates fglrx-amdcccle-updates

and reboot

Install vainfo:

sudo apt-get install vainfo

Now look at the vainfo output, it will probably look like:


# sudo vainfo
error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set in the environment.
libva info: VA-API version 0.35.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/fglrx_drv_video.so
libva info: va_openDriver() returns -1
vaInitialize failed with error code -1 (unknown libva error),exit

So your missing the link to the acceleration driver. Do:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libXvBAW.so.1.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/fglrx_drv_video.so

Now your vainfo should look like:


# sudo vainfo
error: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set in the environment.
libva info: VA-API version 0.35.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/fglrx_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_33
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 0.35 (libva 1.3.0)
vainfo: Driver version: AMD MMD 1.0
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
VAProfileMPEG2Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG2Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG4Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG4AdvancedSimple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileMPEG4Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Baseline : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileH264High : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Simple : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Main : VAEntrypointVLD
VAProfileVC1Advanced : VAEntrypointVLD

Your all set. Video should now play smoothly. IF your still experiencing poor video and you are using Totem player – read on.

I don’t find Totem enough for my needs as a video player so I suggest installing mplayer/smplayer:

sudo apt-get install mplayer smplayer

You can make this your default player for video files from the right click menu of any of your videos.

Some also prefer VLC player.

Nerdy Mind, Windows 10

No host to guest network in VirtualBox 5.0.4. Windows 10 host.

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The 5.0.4 update for VirtualBox now makes VirtualBox usable under windows 10.

If your using bridged networking and cannot connect from host to guest machines. Go into your Windows 10 host LAN settings and tick or untick IPv6 and Apply. If it still isn’t working got back and tick or untick IPv6 again and Apply.

Enjoy 🙂

[update]
Version 5.0.6 appears to have fixed the problem. Make sure to upgrade. If you are using a version greater than this and still expeiriencing this issue, then please visit the VirtualBox Forums.
[/update]

Nerdy Mind, Windows 10

Windows 10 will not sleep or wakes up for no reason.

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Watch this space. Currently no fix for this. You have to shutdown if you don’t want your computer and monitor on all night.

Windows 10 also has a problem with some devices even preventing the screensaver. Unplug joysticks etc, or just shutdown.

I’ll update when there is a fix or workaround.

UPDATE

as of 29/8/2015, update KB3081448 or KB3081452 or KB3081449 (they don’t tell you what they fix) seems to have fixed the sleep problem.

Ill keep you updated.

UPDATE

NOT fixed. Now does go to sleep, then wakes up within 10 or 20 seconds.

UPDATE

If you disable all wake events (power) it will sleep now. Still wakes up when it feels like it, but seems to be improving.

UPDATE
in device manager find your network device. open properties and on the power tab untick ‘Allow this device to wake the computer’. Computer will now sleep much more reliably.