[PJB's home page] [OpenPGP keys] [Lothlann]

Running TacOps4 on WINE (and Linux)

TacOps4 is `a game of modern tactical warfare'. It is distributed for Windows and MacOS.

Instructions

It appears to run correctly based on WINE on Linux (i386). The following steps are sufficient (at least, on my system for the CVS version of 18th February 2005):

Download the CVS version of WINE (or a recent snapshot). See these instructions at winehq.org.
Apply this patch (`patch -p0 < patch-cvs-tacops1' while in the directory with ANNOUNCE, AUTHORS, etc.), originally due to Mike McCormack in his posting of 29th October 2004. I've slightly modified the patch for the current layout of files. This patch stops the lock-up when clicking on certain buttons.
Build WINE (./configure, make depend, make, make install).
Set your WINE configuration (~/.wine/config) to include the following in the [x11drv] section:
- "PerfectGraphics" = "Y"
- "Synchronous" = "Y"
The Synchronous entry is important to see combat effects modifiers. It might be better to add an AppDefaults entry instead so that it doesn't mess up the rest of your configuration:
```
[AppDefaults\\TacOps4.exe\\x11drv]
"PerfectGraphics" = "Y"
"Synchronous" = "Y"
```

Remarks

The only part I haven't tried is the TacOps4 installer - I simply copied it from a Windows PC. If you test this and find it works, please let me know.

Mike McCormack informs me that the patch (which stops some lock-ups) is already in CrossOver 4.1.

Sound-related lock-up

I've tested the approach above on three computers. One machine suffered these symptoms:

The initial splash-screen is displayed, the music plays; a mouse-click on the window stops the music, and the game locks-up.
If the configuration means that the splash-screen isn't displayed, then the next point that lock-ups occur is after displaying the set-up box with the units to be placed on the map.
When using `game replay', no weapon fire is heard, just the normal click sounds.
When locked-up, not even window redraws happen. Using WINE's taskmgr application, turn on all debugging channels for `wave' and you may see lots of messages relating to something still playing.

I got this particular machine working by modifying the [WinMM] configuration section: in particular, I commented out the line

"Drivers" = "wineoss.drv"

and uncommented

"Drivers" = "winenas.drv"

(or you could set another AppDefault). You'll need a Network Audio System (NAS) server installed and running for this workaround. (`apt-get install nas' on Debian.)

Comments to phil.brooke at ntlworld dot com