UT2k4 under Linux with radeon OpenSource driver and AIT HD 4670 card
This video shows a screencapture playing UT2k4 under Codeweavers CrossOver Games. I used the Windows version of UT2k4 but changed the default renderer to OpenGL. So the overhead due to WINE is really limited to audio and input devices. Since I have not found any screencapture software with similar performance as fraps under Windows I used my cheap Digicam to capture in VGA res. So video is a bit noisy. Sorry, there is no sound since the integrated microphone is pretty crappy and I do not feel like capturing game audio externally. All my experiments to capture the audio internally on my Linux system (eg ALSA or OpenAL Wave writer) costed too much performance and simply give a wrong impression of the performance of the 3D drivers. My system specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 4 GB DDR2 RAM Sapphire HD 4670 Ultimate (512 MB / passively cooled) Ubuntu 9.10 with i686 2.6.33 kernel plus latest radeon Mesa 7.9-devel driver stack Performance is pretty good (as you can see). Funny enough my HD4670 is faster using the “experimental” radeon drivers compared to my equally fast X1900XT using the “more mature” radeon driver. For me those open source drivers are the way to go under Linux since I never had big success with fglrx. Esp. in dualhead configuration (such as mine) the radeon drivers are superior. Note that Ubuntu 10.04 will support the radeon driver out of the box because they backported some stuff from kernel 2.6.33 PS: For those who are interested UT2k4 was played with the …
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11 Comments for UT2k4 under Linux with radeon OpenSource driver and AIT HD 4670 card
@nofxrulz
Who told you so ? 
Archlinux, Sidux, Fedora, Ubuntu etc. support the HD4XXX range with the open source driver out of the box. fglrx is way faster though….
Are you sure, you use the open source driver? Because the ATI 4xxx Models have no official 3d-acceleration support at the moment
@darksoul71
The package manager [pacman] checks dependencies and installs accordingly, I, personally, have always been able to install Arch complete with Gnome, XFCE4, firefox, flash, java, audio/video, etc within 30 minutes. It installs ALL the dependency packages needed to run a stable system.
@Chaniyth For Ubuntu this might be true with all programs installed. Arch (as intended) requires you install all tools you need. For someone with medium Linux knowledge it should take 4-5 evenings (or a day at weekend) to set up a standard desktop system (running WINE inside 32 chroot / Firefox with Flash / audio & video tools installed)
@Chaniyth:
Just installed arch three days ago. OK, I must reverse my statement. Arch is pretty straight forward if you have some Linux knowledge. Using the console shouldn’t scare you. I’ll post a view game videos on Arch soon. Where I would disagree is the install time you’ve mentioned. While it is shurely possible to set up an arch machine with Gnome desktop (for someone with arch knowledge), the system then is not really “usable”.
@NiGhtMarEs0nWax
The repos are great the AUR [Arch User Repository] currently has over 20,000+ packages all user contributed. As for support, the forums, and IRC channel have top notch support and the users in general are very knowledgeable. There are videos on YouTube that show you how to install it too. It’s base system installs in about 10 r 15 minutes. You can have a full GUI desktop install is roughly 30 minutes. It’s fast, and simple. I love Arch Linux been using it since 2007.
@Chaniyth yeh i might make the switch too, it uses alsa right? how good are the repos? the software well supported? i stick with ubuntu because of its support.
@Chaniyth:
In regard to ArchLinux I find it requires a lot too much “manual work” for my purposes. That is not a bad thing in the first place. Esp. if you like to tinker around with your OS but for my needs a Debian or Sidux is much better suited.
@Chaniyth:
I am aware of the Linux binaries. Installing my version of UT2k4 (Unreal Anthology) doesn´t work straight out of the box and requires a lot of “handwork”. WINE on the other hand works perfectly with the Windows Version and using the OpenGL renderer for UT2k4 means close to zero loss in performance since only audio and input needs to be “translated” by WINE.
In regard to pulseaudio: Agreed ! It really sucks and with every version I dislike Ubuntu more.
A) Why are you using the game via Wine???? You do realize there are native linux binaries for UT2K4 right? You use the windows CD with it for the data, but the binaries are linux native. There is no need to use Wine for UT2k4.
Also PulseAudio is the issue with your Intel HD Audio. PulseAudio sucks, and it has too high of a latency to be used for gaming. I quit using Ubuntu back in the 8.xx series. I use Arch Linux and never looked back. Best distro EVER!
@nofxrulz as dark sad, the open source driver works well.
I have a ATi 4870 x2 and it works almost perfectly.
There are some issues with playing newer games under wine such as StarCraft 2 but that’s because the DirectX works like crap for the ATi card. OpenGL runs fine (since the new Mac release came out).
Playing games like Heroes Of Newerth with more FPS then i had in Windows so i’m happy with the result : ) fglrx works really great IMO as @darksoul71 sad.