Aces II on linux

[Irwink!]

Update: i've been playing AH2 online now for few days in Linux. FPS is good (about 60 with default settings), but audio quality is not as good as it should be. Especially voice radio is sometimes impossible to understand. Do other Linux users have the same issue or is it just my setup?

About the Linux development issue: Linux and Mac are almost the same from developers perspective. If you have a Mac version, a Linux version is trivial to make and vice versa.

For example WW2OL developers have ported their Mac version to run on Linux 'just for fun'. Unfortunately they never released it. For AH2 largest problem for Mac/Linux port is the decision to use DirectX instead of OpenGL for graphics. This is a good example of "vendor lock-in" - they'll need to rewrite the whole graphics engine to get the game ported to other platforms.

I never had any problems with audio - used Realtek onboard sound.

Out of curiousity, what are your machine specs and which flavor of Linux are you running? Just for grins I installed AHII again on a different box using an MSI P6NSLI mobo, E6850, single 7900GS, 2GB ram and recently updated PCLinuxOS. So far I'm having similar results as the last time I tried it. One difference may be that I am not using default ingame video settings - no Hi Res texture pack but I am preloading textures and moving the detail sliders to max.

[dentin]

Have an old (2+years)HP ZD 8000, collecting dust, so I decided to reintroduce myself to Linux (Ubuntu flavor)..install went very smooth.  The machine is now a dual boot, small 37 gig XP partiton, aprox 60 gig Ubuntu. Things sure have changed since I last messed with the Mandrake distro.

Ubuntu is a very nice, solid distro., so if y'all are looking for something to occupy your time, try Ubuntu..certainly blows Windows away, and its FREE.      

[cos^]

I never had any problems with audio - used Realtek onboard sound.

Out of curiousity, what are your machine specs and which flavor of Linux are you running? Just for grins I installed AHII again on a different box using an MSI P6NSLI mobo, E6850, single 7900GS, 2GB ram and recently updated PCLinuxOS. So far I'm having similar results as the last time I tried it. One difference may be that I am not using default ingame video settings - no Hi Res texture pack but I am preloading textures and moving the detail sliders to max.

Ok, the sound issue is not then caused by cedega - i'll try another sound card.

My HW is ASUS P5B, Intel core2duo 4300  @ 1.80GHz, Memory 3GiB. Distribution is Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10).

[cos^]

true, my back-of-envelope calculations for porting costs above depend on 3 things - highly portable code base (ie OpenGL), lead developer who is comfortable working on multiple OSs, and a large enough dev team to absorb the porting devs. AH doesnt have 1 or 3, not sure about 2, so its not really an option for HTC

Actually most developers do not need to do any cross-platform tricks. They just need to use portable libraries instead of Windows specific ones. For example SDL is very popular library for doing practically everything a game needs in addition to OpenGL. If you write a game using SDL+OpenGL in Windows, it should work with zero code changes in other platforms (i've done that). You only need someone to build the ports which should be pretty easy and could even be automated.

[eagl]

Ok, the sound issue is not then caused by cedega - i'll try another sound card.

My HW is ASUS P5B, Intel core2duo 4300  @ 1.80GHz, Memory 3GiB. Distribution is Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10).

Instead of swapping sound cards, try fiddling with the driver settings, get another control panel, or get another driver set entirely.  A lot of linux drivers will default to what is essentially original soundblaster quality if the installer isn't positive what sound chipset you're using, or if the soundcard manufacturer used a non-standard implementation.  Sometimes forcing a higher bitrate or manually installing the exact driver you need for your exact sound chipset is the best way to do it.

Of course, that takes a little bit of research and a tiny amount of geekery (probably just need to know how to open up a console window, un-zip a driver, and run the installer) and chances are if you install a different standard soundcard, the default drivers will correctly detect the new card.  But making your existing soundcard work is probably possible and you'll learn something about linux drivers if you persist and make it work properly without giving up and going with a new card entirely.

[Irwink!]

Having nothing better to do and because I enjoy dinking around with such things I've continued on with AHII running the newly updated PCLinuxOS and the Cedega 6.0.5 engine.

The "new" PCLinuxOS, unlike last time, natively recognizes my vintage MS Sidewinder right off the bat. However, after much back and forth and swapping of sticks I find that AHII randomly locks up the system when using the Sidewinder. No problems at all using a Logitech 3D Pro. Go figure. I'll have to research that one. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the Force Feedback stuff but that's just a guess at this point.

I got my Logitech usb headset/mic working finally by using OSS sound from within Cedega rather than the default ALSA sound routine. Both sound and mic functions appear to work fine. The inability to get those things working really killed it for me a year ago.

For some reason the Nvidia drivers that are supposed to support a 7XXX GeForce card wont work with AHII - only the drivers for older FX type cards. Haven't really investigated that - it works fine with the older driver though.

With the updated hardware (from a year ago) and updated OS I'm pegging my refresh rate in clear air. I'm not a furballer by nature so I haven't tried that yet. I did in fact install the hi-res pack and at 1280X1024, detail sliders to max my lowest FPS has briefly dipped to 28 while on the ground. Once airborne I get into the 50 - 55 range according to the ingame FPS indicator. PCLinuxOS allows me a max refresh rate of 54 with my current setup.

I just flew a buff mission. Unfortunately I was unopposed. I was kind of wishing someone would give chase so I could compare performance with more stuff going on around me.

The bottom line is that I'm more pleased than the last time I tried AHII under Linux/Cedega. It appears to be totally playable at this point.

[Irwink!]

While not quite a furball a little while ago I did fly a P40 in over a contested airfield with lotsa friendlies in the air and enemy groundfire from below. FPS briefly dipped into the 28-29 range but with no apparent lag perceptible to the eye. Again - totally playable. As in a year ago I really don't know how far to trust the ingame FPS indicator via Linux/Cedega emulation. While the ingame indicator tells me one thing (low FPS) my own eyes see no lag. A comment from Skuzzy might be helpful...
 
 

[bbosen]

If you want to run high-performance Windows games like Aces High II on Linux, here is the information you need.

I filmed ALL of the steps, in EXACT detail, that I used to switch from Windows to Linux, step-by-baby-step, building up to a flaming-hot Aces High II system tweaked for amazing performance. Although I spent almost a month documenting all of this, it only takes about 3 or 4 hours to follow all of the videos from start to finish, and you'll see the exact sequence of steps that worked for me.

I broke it down into 27 separate video chapters, each divided up into separate, tiny video snippets showing every detail, and I ended up with a dual-boot system that can easily boot into Windows or Linux.

I've done this on 5 separate systems now, and the same sequence works on all of them. (Actually I attempted it on 6 systems, but AH2 would only run on 5 of the 6 systems. One of my two laptops won't go beyond AH1). The published videos focus on the oldest, weakest system I've got that will run AH2, and the resulting performance amazed me after I got everything optimized. Check it out here:

http://howigotitworking.com/archives/347#more-347


Regards,


-Peabody-

[EsmeII]

Hi!

I've been wanting to get back into online combat flight sims for a while, but so far as I was aware, none of tehm could be got running usuably well on Linux - until I heard the other day from one of the WB JG2 guys who told me that he'd seen posts here to the effect that it CAN be run, via Cedega.  I've used Cedega before, but my account had been dormant for a long while 'till the other day, when I decided to give AH on Linux a go.

Anyway, having read posts here, I downloaded AH2, installed it using Cedega, and tried it using v6 - 6.1 of the Cedega engine.  I did manage to get teh game to start and allow me to get a plane onto the runway, but my Saitek X45 wasn't well detected - the axes were assigned incorrectly.  I've not had much luck thus far finding how to do anything about that, but I'd add that there is a distinct possibility that since I last flew online, it's possible that one or two of the switches may have died - at least, the X-Y axes would only show any sign of response in one direction.

then, all of a suddent, AH simply stopped working - it'll start, but I get a blank black screen.  I've since tried adjusting things liek teh window resolution, the game engine version, stuff that affects graphics etc, but no luck. Logically , AH should be working as well as it did when I first fired it up, and I've no idea hat happened to stop it doing so.  Any ideas as to what may have happened, or what the best course to follow next might be are greatly welcomed (NB: buying a new PC or OS are NOT viable options).  My system:

Pentium 4 3.06Ghz twin CPU
1GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce7600 graphics card, driver 2.1.2 NVIDIA 180.11
Video RAM 256MB AGP memory 256MB
ALSA 1.0.17 (there was no problem with sound, by the way - worked fine)
Distro - Xubuntu 8.04
kernel 2.6.27-11 generic
X.Org X Server 1.5.2

My display is a 19in widescreen set to 1440x900  -the best resolution I can get
I set AH2 to run in a 1024x768 window, and told Cedega to run it on a single core.

Esme

[Denholm]

Have you tried running Aces High on the native resolution of the monitor as opposed to the best resolution possible?

[Bino]

Ho, Esme! 

Were you able to get this all sorted out?

[bbosen]

Esmell:


I've seen the same problem from time to time. Doesn't happen to me very often, but once in awhile AH2 won't start properly. It seems somehow related to other graphically intensive programs I've run or attempted to run beforehand.

Re-booting usually solves the problem for me (but not always).

What ALWAYS works for me is to run AH1 with Wine!

I have an old copy of AH1 that runs great with the current version of Wine, and somehow it fixes the AH2 problem. Just starting AH1 with Wine seems to reset the video subsystem. Even if I run AH1 for just 5 seconds and quit immediately, AH2/Cedega is always fine thereafter. No clue as to why, but it works on my hardware, with PcLinuxOs2008 minime and PcLinuxOs2009, using nVidia graphics hardware in both cases.

Many more details available at:

www.HowIgotItWorking.com


Regards,


Peabody

[WWhiskey]

flew on linux this morning on my old machine since my new one is down right now!( old machine has no other operating system other than linux)
 using wine, no problems so far , running 55 to 65 fps, i have not hooked up my stick yet, flew with my mouse , as i dont expect to be down very long with my other computer, new motherboard should be here tomorrow i hope!
 just an FYI incase some else is working on this type of settup,
 there are alot of threads but this one looked like the best to post in for this   it does look promising! hope to get more input , i might try to tune this one up some more and have two ready to fly machines!

[bbosen]

WWhiskey: Thanks for your report. I'm glad to know you've got it working with Wine. Just for clarity, can you confirm you're talking about AH2 and not the old AH1? Also, could you let us know the precise distribution and version of Linux that is working for you?


Thanks!


Peabody
www.AskMisterWizard.com
TechVideoReview.com/FlightSimMovies

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I couldn't get AH2 run on wine at all, it said something about double buffers and that wine didn't support them.