Introduction
Long ago, in a server far far away there was a download that said "EVE Online Linux Client". Now that was really just the windows version shipped with a proprietary version of Wine called Cedega. However, it performed so terrifyingly that you could not use voice, pvp, or even stand the sight of it.
All that changed a long time ago when they got rid of the useless pathetic EVE client. However, if you were not already doing so before, you can actually run this game on Wine with equal (or greater) performance than on Windows.
These tests were done by me, I used openSUSE 11.1 for Linux and used Windows Vista SP2. I ran the games and looked for graphics glitches, performance hickups, and crashes. Here is what I have to say about EVE on each OS.
Vista SP2
SP2 is the latest patch for Vista. It totes file system improvements and other such changes that should make windows better. EVE installs and runs fine, until you start adding windowed mode. The EVE client will periodically randomly crash in window mode, especially if you are switching between windows. I do not know if this is an EVE or SP2 bug but it does not happen on Wine.
To gain some stability, you should turn of DEP for the EVE Client. Why? DEP prevents parts of a program from accessing each other and it is somehow interfering with EVE. This gains a lot of stability for EVE.
openSUSE 11.1
First of all, to get EVE up on openSUSE you need to jump through some hoops. First of all, you need to set up wine. Just open a terminal and run the command winecfg . Then once winecfg opens you want to set the audio sample rate to the highest, turn off driver emulation, and set the OS to windows vista. Then you need to do some regediting.
Simply open /home/you/wine/user.reg and add this to the bottom:
[Software\\Wine\\Direct3D]
"DirectDrawRenderer"="opengl"
"OffscreenRenderingMode"="fbo"
"PixelShaderMode"="enabled"
"VertexShaderMode"="hardware"
"VideoMemorySize"="512"
Remember to change VideoMemorySize for your card. It is in megabytes. Now, you can install the EVE client.
Now, you need some DLLs. The easiest way to get them is this link provided by WineHQ: Dll-files.com . You need to put them in ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32 so that EVE can detect them.
Run the game. Unlike in the previous version, you cannot use the shortcut. Now you need to launch it using wine explorer /desktop=0,[YOUR MAX RESOLUCION] "C:\Program Files\CCP\EVE\eve.exe" . So, for example, I would use wine explorer /desktop=0,1680,1050 "C:\Program Files\CCP\EVE\eve.exe" .
In-Game you want Shadows off. HDR is your choice, it works fine for me, but WineHQ recommends it off. Now you can enjoy EVE on Linux.
Now for the testing. I found it ran faster than on Windows, most likely because KDE4 even when completely tricked out uses less than 500mb of RAM at all times whilst vista idles at 900mb. The only problem I found is it lacks low signal tolerance. On a low-strength network it trips up easier than on windows. However, I saw no other problems except that depending on your sound card configuration EVE may or may not hog the sound system. This can make TS or Ventrillo harder to use.
Thank you for reading.
