DirectX 10 support coming to Mac OS and Linux

Author: Ben Hardwidge
Published: 10th March 2009
Comments (15) Stumble
DirectX 10 support coming to Mac OS and Linux

CodeWeavers' CrossOver Games app enables Linux and Mac OS to play Windows games.

The expansive Windows game catalogue is often cited as a primary reason not to switch loyalties to another operating system, especially when new gaming APIs such as DirectX 10 come along and complicate matters further. However, Unix and Windows intermediary CodeWeavers claims that it will soon have enabled DirectX 10 support on Unix-based operating systems, including Mac OS X and Linux.

The software developer’s founder and CEO, Jeremy White, revealed some details about CodeWeavers’ roadmap on a blog yesterday, in which he touched on game support. As well as recently shipping “a lot of those 'under the hood' improvements for games out in CrossOver Games 7.2,” White also said that “we're really pushing DirectX 9 support pretty far along, and getting ready to move on DirectX 10.”

CrossOver games 7.0 had a very long list of supported Windows games, that included Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Civilization IV and World of Warcraft. However, very few of the games were described as fully working, with most of the titles getting an “Honorable Mention” badge, meaning that they were known to install and run, but weren’t fully tested and supported by CodeWeavers.

That said, many of Valve’s titles on Steam, including Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2, had been given a “Silver” badge, which means the game may have issues at the moment, but that CodeWeavers is committed to bringing it up to the “Gold” level in future releases of CrossOver Games.

As well as CrossOver Games, CodeWeavers also works on getting other major Windows applications to work on Unix based operating systems, including Microsoft Office, using a proprietary version of WINE. Rather than being an emulator, WINE (which helpfully stands for Wine is not an emulator) instead provides a compatibility layer that sits between Unix and the Windows app, enabling a Windows app to run by using substitute DLLs that are called by Windows programs, as well as processes that act like the Windows NT kernel.

The software developer says that its goal “is to make Unix (including Linux and Mac OS X) a fully Windows-compatible operating system. All Windows applications should be able to be run on Unix: cleanly, harmoniously, within the native environment, and without using an emulator.”

CrossOver Games currently costs £25.99, and a free trial version is also available. Would you move over to Mac OS or Linux if you could run Windows games on it, or is it Windows all the way for you? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

Via Wine Reviews
Quote Garside 10th March 2009, 12:16
I used Crossover games but got frustrated with it as the games kind of worked and kind of didn't. Last thing you want to do is spend good money on a game, then take the time for it to install only to find it has all been a waste!
Quote proxess 10th March 2009, 12:50
I got a free subscription for Mac and Lin a few months back when Obama was elected? Never really came round to use it tho. ATI drivers suck too much atm.
Quote Jack_Pepsi 10th March 2009, 13:02
I love their dedication, must had it to them for doing something others don't or lose interest in.
Quote paisa666 10th March 2009, 14:08
I gotta say the only thing that keeps me away from Linux, is videogames..

So the day video games get full support for Linux, Im in.
Quote wafflesomd 10th March 2009, 15:01
Ha, it;s going to be available on Linux and not XP.

I find that to be amusing.
Quote KayinBlack 10th March 2009, 15:06
Get it right and I'll never boot windows again.
Quote Cadillac Ferd 10th March 2009, 19:01
Quote:
Originally Posted by wafflesomd
Ha, it;s going to be available on Linux and not XP.

I find that to be amusing.

Haha, I laughed at that thought too. I'm guessing someone somewhere has (or is trying to hack) hacked some sort of DX10 support for XP. I dunno how big the demand for for it is though. I mean most of the best games (except for Halo 2 Vista of course ) don't need that DX10 support.
Quote n3mo 10th March 2009, 22:40
GTFO my Linux, Microsoft crap.

But seriously, I'm all for anything that makes Linux (and FLOSS in general) more popular. I still think that it's not for everyone (i.e not for dumb ignorants and Apple users), but recently I see that lots of distros are moving fast towards being actually useful for average ignorant and more idiot-proof. Hell, even Fedora 10 desktop is quite useable. Even Microsoft feels the change (the whole connecting-to-the-community win7 stuff).
Quote Matticus 10th March 2009, 23:24
Quote:
Originally Posted by n3mo
GTFO my Linux, Microsoft crap.

But seriously, I'm all for anything that makes Linux (and FLOSS in general) more popular. I still think that it's not for everyone (i.e not for dumb ignorants and Apple users), but recently I see that lots of distros are moving fast towards being actually useful for average ignorant and more idiot-proof. Hell, even Fedora 10 desktop is quite useable. Even Microsoft feels the change (the whole connecting-to-the-community win7 stuff).

The thing that stops linux from becoming popular is the perception that it is for l33t3r than thou tech heads and not for average user.

Calling people ignorant for not knowing their way around the PC is like me calling you ignorant for not knowing how to rebuild a car or craft an exquisite wooden bench (not say that you can't, I probably couldn't). Comments like yours feed this perception and stop most windows/mac users from using linux.

CrossOver is a step in the right direction but with the wrong shoes on. People use most distributions of linux because they want to use free and open source software, not because they want to pay to play games they have already paid for.

Games companies need to have better support for openGL. The only problem with this is that someone needs to make money somewhere.
Quote p3n 10th March 2009, 23:45
bootcamp kinda wins on simplicity, if Apple update their drivers more often it'd be fine for games.
Quote wuyanxu 10th March 2009, 23:46
nice, may be by the time Snow Leopard comes out, i will erase my Windows partition and use a Hackintosh with Dx10 support :)
Quote Neji 11th March 2009, 12:00
I guess this is good news if you like your games. It's a shame there is no viable free and open alternative for these games though.

I'm a non l33t3r than thou tech head who uses Linux 99% exclusively. I invite you all to come and join in the fun.
Quote jparshall 11th March 2009, 21:22
Yeah, the irony of having it on Linux and not on XP is not lost on us. Thanks for the kind comments, you guys. Sorry our product isn't perfect yet--Wine development is just *stupid* hard, and everything takes us longer than we'd like. We're nothing if not persistent, but we get frustrated, too, by how far there is yet to go.

Cheers,

-jon parshall-
COO
www.codeweavers.com
Quote Helldiver18 13th March 2009, 17:29
It would help to use 100% of my machine! Going to XP to play but leaving 7GB of RAM on the side because XP can not handle more than 3 (in 32 bit) that's not fun.
Quote gpzjock 24th May 2009, 13:56
Enjoy using OS X over Windows, if Direct X 10.0 support arrived I'd be even happier to play a larger more varied choice of games in my preferred OS. Probably wouldn't stop my Warcraft addiction though. :)
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