The Unofficial Cedega FAQ


Versions: Cedega 5.x
Last Updated: January 4, 2007

If you have a question which is not answered here:
  1. User-based support forms http://www.transgaming.org/forums
  2. The Unofficial Wiki http://cedegawiki.sweetleafstudios.com/
  3. Official support forum http://www.transgaming.com/
  4. IRC channel #cedega

Contents


About Cedega

  1. What is Cedega?
  2. What's the difference between cedega and winex?
  3. Will Cedega stop working if I unsubscribe?
  4. Does Cedega have DirectX 9.0c support?
  5. Does Cedega work with xgl enabled?

Installing Cedega

  1. I just installed Cedega, now what?
  2. I installed my game but no shortcuts show in the game folder.
  3. I installed Cedega as root, is that bad?
  4. The wizard just hangs for me on Ubuntu Edgy
  5. The Cedega gui segfaults when I launch it on Mandrivia 2007

Compiling Cedega from CVS

  1. How do I build from CVS?
  2. Can I build a 64-bit version?
  3. I get an error in ppl.l around line 1337. What can I do to fix it?

Problems and Their Solutions

  1. How can I install in a location other than ~/.cedega?
  2. Why does Cedega say I'm out of disk space but clearly I'm not when I'm trying to install a game?
  3. How do I install a patch? I get an error that the game isn't installed.
  4. I have a ATi card, why does my game performance stink?
  5. I'm using the DRI driver for an Intel or other chipset. Why does does my performance stink?
  6. How do I fix "Unable to find a sufficient number of fonts available to FreeType"?

The FAQ


About Cedega

1. Q: What is Cedega?
A: It is a program that allows some Windows games to run on the Linux. See http://www.transgaming.com/products_linux.php for the details.

2. Q: What's the difference between cedega and winex?
A: cedega is winex. The named changed with the introduction of version 4.

3. Q: Will Cedega stop working if I unsubscribe?
A: No. Any version(s) you have already downloaded will continue to work, you just won't be allowed to download new versions as they are released nor download any releases you already have. Be sure to make a good backup.

4.  Q: Does Cedega have DirectX 9.0c support?
A: Yes, with some catches. It supports many but not all features of DirectX 9 but doesn't include some of the more recent DLLs that DirectX 9.0 supplies such as d3dx9_26.dll. It is usually safe to install DirectX 9 if a game asks with a few notable exceptions such as Battlefield 2.

5. Q: Does Cedega work with xgl enabled?

A: Not currently. xgl takes over the direct rendering path, and only leaves indirect rendering for other applications. It does create some sort of virtual X server that you can run games on. See this post for details http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=176636&highlight=xgl%20games

Installing Cedega

1. Q: I just installed Cedega, now what?
A: Cedega is actually 2 pieces: the GUI which you install from a rpm, deb or tgz and an engine which you install by running the wizard (runs the first time you execute Cedega) or selecting Transgaming->Check for Updates from  the menu. You can have multiple engines installed at any time and select which engine runs which game. So if some future release breaks your favorite game, as long as you have an older engine, you can still enjoy it.

2. Q: I installed my game but no shortcuts show in the game folder.

A: Cedega tries to detect the creation of desktop icons and put them into the GUI. With some games this doesn't happn properly. To add an icon to a Game Folder select the Game Folder, right click and select Add Shortcut. I suggest setting the Working Directory to be the same as the directory the game executable resides in.

3. Q: I installed Cedega as root, is that bad?

A: Installing Cedega as root is not bad and is in all likelihood required. Running Cedega as root is a different story. You should install the GUI package as root then run it as a normal user.

4. Q: The wizard just hangs for me on Ubuntu Edgy 6.10.

A: If you are having issues downloading online updates it may be because Cedega assumes that the default shell, /bin/sh, is bash. Edgy changed this to the shell dash instead, causing Cedega to not work properly. One solution is to switch back to bash:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash

select no

This will set the default shell, /bin/sh, to bash instead of dash.

5. Q: The Cedega GUI segfaults when I launch it on Mandrivia 2007

A: If you launch Cedega and see something like:

$ cedega
/usr/lib/transgaming_cedega/license.py:58: GtkWarning: Theme file for default has no name

response = gtk.Dialog.run( self )
/usr/lib/transgaming_cedega/license.py:58: GtkWarning: Theme file for default has no directories

response = gtk.Dialog.run( self )
/usr/bin/cedega: line 36: 5599 Segmentation fault (core dumped) python ${P2PPATH}/Point2Play_gui.py "$@"

This appears to be a longstanding Mandriva-related problem concerning the desktop theme chosen resulting in any app depending on gtk to segfault. The "solution" always offered is to "change themes".

Compiling Cedega from CVS

1. Q: How do I build CVS?
A: The CVS is just good for developers. Some games will play but most will not. Pony up the $15 to subscribe and you'll be much happier.

2. Q: Can I build a 64-bit version?
A: You can't. Cedega isn't 64-bit clean and anyway, 99.99% of Windows games are 32-bit.

3. Q: I get an error in ppl.l around line 1337. What can I do to fix it?
A: In Debian Unstable (SID) or Testing you have to install the "flex-old" deb for Cedega to compile. I use flex 2.5.4 and it works fine.

Problems and Their Solutions

1. Q: How can I install in a location other than ~/.cedega?
A: So your /home is very small or you simply want to install games onto that humongous disk you have mounted on /bigpartition but Cedega wants to put everything in ~/.cedega. There is a simple ways to do it on a per-game basis.

In all of these examples GAMEDIR is the name of the Game Folder you installed the game into.

Your choices include:

Mount the big partition on ~/.cedega:
  1. mv .cedega .cedega.old (assuming you have one)
  2. # mount /bigpartition .cedega
  3. # chown <your_userid> .cedega
  4. Now move all your data, if any, from .cedega.old to .cedega
If you have enough space in /home to install the game but don't want it there forever:
  1. Install the game into ~/.cedega using the GUI as usual
  2. Quit the GUI
  3. % mv .cedega/GAMEDIR /bigpartition
  4. % ln -s /bigpartition/GAMEDIR ~/.cedega/GAMEDIR
If you don't have enough space then create an empty Game Folder and move it to /bigpartition:
  1. Launch the GUI and Tools->Game Folders->Add
  2. Enter the name you want
  3. Now you have an empty Game Folder, quit the GUI
  4. % mv .cedega/GAMEDIR /bigpartition
  5. % ln -s /bigpartition/GAMEDIR ~/.cedega/GAMEDIR
  6. Launch the GUI and install the game into the Game Folder you just created. The data will be installed into /bigpartition/GAMEDIR.
2. Q: Why does Cedega say I'm out of disk space but clearly I'm not when I'm trying to install a game?
A: Cedega uses /tmp for temporary files during installation. Your the root partition (/) may be the problem, not your home directory which likely has many gigabytes of free space. Or it could be a bug. Some older games also can't handle today's super-large disks. You might try holding the Ctrl button when you click Next after selecting the location to install the game. I believe this is an InstallShield feature to skip the disk space check (worked on Windows 2k for me anyway).

3. Q: How do I install a patch? I get an error that the game isn't installed.
A: Select Install, choose the Game Folder where the original game is installed. Browse to the patch executable and run it.

4. Q: I have a ATi card, why does my game performance stink?

A: ATi seems to be working fairly hard on improving their driver performance but it still lags far behind nVidia in both features and speed. Likewise the DRI drives are moving ahead.

5. Q: I'm using the DRI driver for an Intel or other chipset. Why does does my performance stink?
A: For cards that use DRI drivers be sure to read http://downloads.transgaming.com/files/cedega-5.2.1-releasenotes.html#dri


6. Q: How do I fix "Unable to find a sufficient number of fonts available to FreeType"?

A: Make sure that ~/.cedega/GAME_FOLDER/c_drive/windows/Fonts is a symbolic link to ~/.transgaming_global/fonts