Hi there! I'm quite new to linux and I'm interested in this... I've just installed Neverwinter Nights on my Gentoo machine. I downloaded some binary resources for the game in order to be able to run windows version on linux. When I ran the game, I was taken aback quite a lot. It was pretty slow! When I played it on windows it went ok, smoothly. What could be the problem? I just cannot understand why games are running slower on linux (well, at least on my machine). Does it have to be specifically configured or something? Thanks in advance.

Sounds like the binaries you installed are WINE, or some other Windows-emulator device. Consequently, you're running NWN under emulation, which is bound to be slower. If you got a Linux-native version of NWN (I'm not sure one exists) it would probably run as fast as you're used to.

[ignore]

EDIT: NM, jpetrie beat me to it

Natively-built games tend to run a marginal amount faster.

Do you have 3D drivers installed? (run glxgears, the fps should be in the hundreds).

Did you use the nwn ebuild?

I don't think it's running on wine. In spite the fact that I used files from windows I didn't used any executables. I only downloaded an Linux client for nwn. I'm getting kind of notion as if the game was programmed for more platforms (includin Mac) and each one has its own executables, of course. I'm not quite sure whether some emulation is involved.

Quote:
Natively-built games tend to run a marginal amount faster.

I agree with this, but I've encountered the same problem even with a Tux Racer and it is natively-built.

I'm running on default OGL drivers. I'm not familiar with glxgears and don't know what ebuild is.

In my experience games run faster on Linux, I have run UT2k3 and NWN natively, and Ultima Online 2D on Wine, they run sligtly faster there, yup, UO 2d runs faster, I think its probably because of the Sockets implementation, but what do I really know? [smile]
I own a license to the Torque engine runs a bit faster there too.

I own Heavy Metal FAKK 2 and Postal, they run quite smoothly there, but I have nothing to compare them to in the Windows World.

I have an nVidia FX 5200, and I run the official nVidia Linux driver, Fedora Core 2 is the distro I run, in case you are wondering.

Cheers!

Quote: Original post by j0seph
I'm running on default OGL drivers. I'm not familiar with glxgears and don't know what ebuild is.

It may be that you're using software OpenGL libraries, which would certainly slow down any kind of game. glxgears is a sort of benchmark app. Can you run it and report your FPS?

Yeah, default software drivers are no good, Tux Racer almost made me cry when I first ran it out of the box, you didn't mention which video card you have, if its an nVidia, you may want to get the driver here

follow the steps, its usually pretty easy to install the driver, the only anoyance is that you have to repeat the procedure (sans the X configuration file changes) every time you get a new kernel.

I have GeForce 2 GTS, not one of the superb types nowadays. Nevertheless, I've had no particular problems with it. I'm currently downloading nvidia drivers for linux. I hope it'll help.

PS: What are those glxgears and where can I get them?

open a terminal a run the command glxgears, you should have >1000 FPS, if not you must install the drivers of you graphics card