Playing games with compiz?

[amgeex]

I've spent the last hour trying to get enemy territory to run under compiz, but all I get is a white screen and broken X, so I decided to write a little script to run games. It will set metacity as the window manager, wait a little and then run enemy territory. So far it has worked out for me. Just thought someone might find it useful. :wink:

#!/bin/bash

# Small script that sets metacity as the window manager
# and then executes enemy territory. For use with Compiz.

metacity --replace &
sleep 5
et

[twigsby]

I made a little something like that for ut2004...

#!/bin/sh
#
# ut2004 startup script

/usr/bin/metacity --replace &
/media/hda5/ut2004/ut2004

Now if only it could be made to restart compiz when the game is closed...

[watkin5]

Now if only it could be made to restart compiz when the game is closed...

I'm guessing but...

#!/bin/sh
#
# ut2004 startup script

/usr/bin/metacity --replace &
/media/hda5/ut2004/ut2004 ; compiz --replace gconf &

[amgeex]

That would restart it right after executing the ut2004 command. I'll see into it... maybe we can check if the game process is running, if it is not, then we can run compiz. Hum, sounds like a plan, but I guess its not that easy...

[mikedee]

#!/bin/sh
#
# ut2004 startup script

/usr/bin/metacity --replace &
/media/hda5/ut2004/ut2004 && compiz --replace gconf &

This code will wait for the game to return before starting compiz

[delphinen]

somewhat related, I can play Lineage 2 on Wine with Compiz running (sadly I cant use XGL if I want to do this)

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/8125/screen12bs4.png

[twigsby]

...
This code will wait for the game to return before starting compiz

That works birlliantly, thanks!

[amgeex]

My current script to run Enemy Territory:

#!/bin/bash

# Small script that sets metacity as the window manager
# and then executes enemy territory. For use with Compiz.

metacity --replace &
sleep 5
et && go-compiz

Works perfectly! Thanks mikedee!! :D

[nesnomis]

Another approach when running openGL games could be:

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so; ./ut2004

Not sure about Nvidia, but works nice with fglrx.... :) ...

/nesnomis

[amgeex]

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so; ./ut2004 What does this exactly do? You know, to expand my knowledge! :oops:

[nesnomis]

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so; ./ut2004 What does this exactly do? You know, to expand my knowledge! :oops:

I guess this is only an issue with ATI cards and fglrx!?

LD_PRELOAD is an eviromental variable where you can put information about a function or shared library. When running Compiz, Xgl some games cant find the right libGL so, by using it with LD_PRELOAD you make sure the game finds the right library and understands that there is hardware acceleration.... :)

Well i am not an expert so... i wont get any deeper into this :)

[nesnomis]

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so; ./ut2004 What does this exactly do? You know, to expand my knowledge! :oops:

I guess this is only an issue with ATI cards and fglrx!?

LD_PRELOAD is an eviromental variable where you can put information about a function or shared library. When running Compiz, Xgl some games cant find the right libGL so, by using it with LD_PRELOAD you make sure the game finds the right library and understands that there is hardware acceleration.... :)

Well i am not an expert so... i wont get any deeper into this :)

I have to correct myself, if you have ATI and fglrx, the above script in combination with 'export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so; ./ut2004' works perfectly... :) ...

[amgeex]

Oh, now I understand. So that means that if I use the LD_PRELOAD method I don't have to restore metacity? :D

[mikedee]

This command should probably be used instead

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so ./ut2004

The difference is that your command exports the variable which means that it will be set for all other applications that you start in that terminal after ut2004 is finished. You might not want this to be used for other apps so it is generally safer to not use the export command.

[amgeex]

I updated to Compiz 0.3.5 today, and so I figured my game script wouldn't work anymore because I'm now using Gnome Compiz Manager. Well, I just updated the script too, here it is:

#!/bin/bash

# Small script that sets metacity as the window manager
# and then executes enemy territory. For use with Compiz.

gconftool-2 -s /apps/gnome-compiz-preferences/enable_gl_desktop "False" --type=bool &&
sleep 2
et &&
gconftool-2 -s /apps/gnome-compiz-preferences/enable_gl_desktop "True" --type=bool

[amgeex]

Is it me, or the latest packages on gandalfn's repositories just made my games lag like hell? :cry:

This is not good! The previous version (1:0.3.6-0gandalfn5 I think) was working alright. The packages I'm talking about are these ones:

compiz version 1:0.3.6-0gandalfn7
compiz-core version 1:0.3.6-0gandalfn7
compiz-gnome version 1:0.3.6-0gandalfn7
compiz-plugins version 1:0.3.6-0gandalfn7
gnome-compiz-manager 0.10.2-0gandalfn3
libgnome-compiz-manager 0.10.2-0gandalfn3

Maybe its those patches he's putting in? :?

[amgeex]

Ok, I'm bringing back to life this thread because I still cannot play Enemy Territory decently with Compiz 0.5 enabled... I tried using my old scripts, but the game still lags. Anyone has a solution?

Thanks in advance,
amgeex

[Matias]

I haven't got problems with games at all using feisty's "desktop effects" (bah compiz).

But maybe I'm used to some clippiness.

[amgeex]

I'm using compiz 0.5... desktop effects sucks! Anayway, Enemy Territory runs... not good, it stutters a lot, and its laggy. :?

[Matias]

desktop effects does sucks in comparison with 0.5 but i'm lazy to get it. I think, maybe I'm wrong, it is too much unstable by now.
Whats your average opinion about the version?. despite plugins, i'm just asking for performance.

[amgeex]

I'm using it without any extra plugins, just the core ones and it does feel smoother, and works really good. The only gripe I've got is that to compile it from source is a pain in the ass, but its doable... Anyway, ANYONE GOT A SOLUTION TO THE FRIGGIN' GAME PROBLEM? Sorry, didn't want to shout, but it seems to e necessary 'round here... :P