Doom3 Linux and Windows Battlegrounds
by Kristopher Kubicki on October 13, 2004 12:50 AM EST- Posted in
- Linux
Setting it Up
We are required to run 24-bit color for this game, so the default 16-bit desktop had to be reconfigured using SaX2 for 24-bit color. We also double-checked to make sure that we were running the NVIDIA driver, as opposed to the NV driver. We can only modify AA and AF settings using the nvidia-settings utility if we use the NVIDA driver. Below, you can see a quick screenshot of the nvidia-settings utility.
Click to enlarge.
As in our previous roundup, the 6800 and 6800 Ultra video cards are not recognized natively by the NVIDA driver. We had to select the 5950 Ultra driver manually in SaX2, run the "switch2nvidia" utility provided with our drivers, and then reboot the system. We are not entirely sure why the reboot is necessary, but Doom3 would not initialize without it.
Just like our large GPU roundup last week, we attempted to run Doom3 on ATI and NVIDIA mid-range/high end cards from the last 18 months. Unfortunately, we were greeted with an ominous warning on Doom3's Linux port webpage.
"Currently, the game will not run correctly on ATI cards using the fglrx driver. However, the ATI developers are working on new driver releases, and eventually the game will be supported. "[2]We haven't heard much from the ATI team yet, but hopefully, their upcoming Linux announcement will rectify this.
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mave - Wednesday, October 13, 2004 - link
I guess the biggest reason why Linux performance lags behind Windows could be NVidia Linux drivers aren't optimized for doom3 yet. Their version number is 6111, windows drivers 61.77 (used for testing).Also Doom 3 binary will propably get performance boost later.
(Just a guess, just have to wait and see)
Being Linux gamer always means that you have to have patience:=)
jepapac - Wednesday, October 13, 2004 - link
From reading your article, I'm guessing that you ran Doom 3 from within KDE on SUSE. Can you run some Doom 3 benchmarks from a super-lightweight window manager like blackbox or better yet just the failsafe xterm. I'd be interested in how much running a bloated desktop environment like KDE or Gnome slows down the gaming performance.tyski34 - Wednesday, October 13, 2004 - link
Putting the Linux and Windows FPS numbers on the first couple of pages on the same chart would have been very helpful (even more helpful if they were color-coded or something). As it is, it was pretty tough to compare the two.Zebo - Wednesday, October 13, 2004 - link
People still playing this disappointment?KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, October 13, 2004 - link
Virge?http://www.anandtech.com/linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2241...
http://www.anandtech.com/linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2241...
Like those?
Kristopher
ViRGE - Wednesday, October 13, 2004 - link
Since you're comparing Linux and Windows from time to time, wouldn't it be prudent to at least post a couple of Windows numbers, just so we know what the actual difference is?