What is the (second) simplest way to run Windows games?

[Cohan]

Though my first Linux experience was in the mid 90's (RedHat 5) I've just started using it on my personal computer at home and consider me a newbie. I just found out about Sabayon from DistroWatch (I love the live DVD) and will probably install it in a week or two when I get an external drive to backup all personal documents and stuff. Currently I'm running Fedora 7.

My #1 question is plain and simple:
What is the (second) simplest way to run Windows games in Linux?

The simplest probably being to have a dual boot setup with a separate Windows partition. However, I don't like the idea of having to reboot the computer just to play games. The games I usually play are eg. Civilization 4, SimCity 4 Rush Hour, RailRoad Tycoon 2 / 3.

I'm running VirtualBox for a few Win applications, but I believe that's not an option for gaming.
So, any suggestions? Wine? Cedega? Other virtualizations?

[FrozenFox]

All of your games listed appear to be playable decently under cedega.

NOTE: don't go by the average rating when you click on the name of a game. When you go to a game page, click on "View this game's rating statistics".

http://games.cedega.com/gamesdb/


They also all appear to work decently under regular WINE.

NOTE: You can find Civ iv in two places. Look under Sid Meyer's Civ IV for more details/comments. I assume theyre the same. Your games are under strategy or simulation.

http://appdb.winehq.org/appbrowse.php?iCatId=2


Wine is not hard to use, but may take a little more effort. No gui, but not hard.

Cedega also costs money, but is money well spent and it's not much. i think 3 months at 5 dollars a month or something last i checked, for software + updates for those months. software should continue working after the months end, but no updates.. you also get to vote on what games you want to see working next.

Im not sure if any of what you want has native ports, but look around.

[pxc]

Cedega works for me (Warcraft III/The Frozen Throne, World of Warcraft).

[handy]

Cedega has been improving in the last months, their version 6 is quite an improvement in ease of setup, there are many games setups incorporated into cedega 6, so you just have to look in the drop down menu & hope that what you want to play is listed, if it is it will often save a LOT of time trying to get a game to work properly.

Properly is an interesting word in these circumstances. Some games are brilliant, Guild Wars for example, others are crippled in various ways.

Transgaming are a business, & suffer from the common marketroid problems. They make out that their software is far better than it really is, & support is virtually non existent. The cedega forums are not very helpful, move very slowly & can quite often have a sour attitude.

You will have a disappointing experience if you have any other graphic card than nVidia. ATi is a pain with Linux, & the other brands really don't perform very well by comparison.

Wine is perpetually improving, it takes a little longer to set up, has information to help on their site, & a much better attitude than Transgaming.

A problem with Wine can be to do with copy protection. Cedega pays for licenses to legally get around copy protection, with Wine you have to use other tricks, or in some circumstances there is no way around the protection system.

The Ubuntu forums is a pretty good place for help on certain popular games & configuration, particularly in Wine.

Transgaming are not very popular with many users, due to them being perceived as taking advantage of Wine when it was using the BSD license. Transgaming did nothing illegal, & for a fee of $15.50 US, which is the minimum 3 months that you must subscribe for, you are legally entitled to use any versions that you have downloaded, for ever. So if you can get whatever games you want to work on the latest version, Cedega is quite cheap. If you are a games junky, & remain subscribed, it turns out to be quite expensive.

[odysseynet]

I want to install sabayon on our main PC. With main pc i mean the computer thats used by the family.
Problem is my son and daugther want to be able to play there original windows games like sim2 etc.
What can you advice me before i destroy the windows PC and install sabayon linux. Ihave been using slackware on an old computer so i know something about linux but i don't play games so i hope you can help me out here.

[wolfden]

I want to install sabayon on our main PC. With main pc i mean the computer thats used by the family.
Problem is my son and daugther want to be able to play there original windows games like sim2 etc.
What can you advice me before i destroy the windows PC and install sabayon linux. Ihave been using slackware on an old computer so i know something about linux but i don't play games so i hope you can help me out here.

That is why I dual boot - those evil Sims

I don't know anyone that has gotten Sims 2 running on linux, it's bad enough getting them to work on windows.

[ScottishDuckHunter]

Wine is really gaining momentum at the moment and while its not quite as easy as cedega, it is quite a bit better.

[odysseynet]

You think the kids will be able to use there windows games within wine???
If so i will kill windows today and start installing linux sabayon

[handy]

I wouldn't delete windows prematurely.

It all depends on how geeky your kids are, Wine is a LOT harder to set up than Cedega. Cedega has improved in it's ease of use, & it has always been easier than Wine.

You can not run all games on Wine, Cedega or Crossover, but some do run very well, others are crippled but playable.

I much prefer the Wine people's ethics, to those of Cedega, & would advise you not expect any support from Transgaming for their Cedega product, their forum is pretty useless too.

I would suggest a duel boot setup & a trial period before I dumped windows, or you may find you have to reinstall it again. I have no trouble with Cedega, it runs Guild Wars & Oblivion very well, & they are the only games I play. Kids on the other hand like to play everything, which may mean that Linux is not for them/you...

[odysseynet]

Is it possible to create some kind of conf per game so the kids only have to pick there game and wine starts that without prompting for input?????
I mean i dont want my kids to be administrators offcourse lol
Would be easier for them if they can activate a shortcut that starts wine and the game they want to play.
THey play the following games:

Sims 2
Battlefield 1942
Battlefield Vietnam
Deltaforce
Deltaforce blackhawk down
Deltaforce landwarrior
Couterstrike
And some counterstrike related games.

My kids are not intrested in how a computer works they just want to be able to internet and play games