Can WoW run in Linux?

[sanga]

Is it possible to run World of Warcraft in Linux? I must know any replies are much appreciated

[PlayThemAll]

Simple answer yes, with an windows emulator/translater layer (Wine, I think it is)

I have not done it but several here have done it. Hopefully they will chime in with more specifics.

[Pharoahe]

An Ex-Guildie used to play on it, so sure.

[Kalos]

Really depends on what sort of Linux setup you have. Get the right drivers and emulation software pretty much yes.

[Naolin]

Probably although there is no official support for it. I think someone on this forum plays it on Linux.. Forgot who though

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

Is it possible to run World of Warcraft in Linux? I must know any replies are much appreciated

I run WoW in Linux just fine. Just have WINE installed, latest version is 1.0. If you are using Ubuntu, and have WINE installed (preferably though the Synaptic Package Manager, don't forget to get the official WINE repos from winehq), you can either use the install CD's, DVD's, or pull the trial client down from WoW's website, and just run it like you are in Windows. It will do everything for you, even put an icon on your desktop to run WoW.

I get about 5 FPS faster framerate in Ubuntu Linux on my computer, than I did in WinXP on the same computer. If you are really up for speed, try out Gentoo's distro, and do their stage-3 massive "compile everything optimized for your computer specifically"... it takes a bit of time to build the system, but you can get a reported 15 - 20 FPS faster framerate than WinXP on the same system, when everything is tailored specifically for your system.

It is true that Linux is not officially supported by Blizzard... that is, calling customer service won't reall get you anywhere if you have problems (but going to the WINE forums, or other forums for your distro... or if you have Cedega going to TransGaming's forums, etc.) will probably prove to be much more invaluable, because it is guaranteed that *somebody* there has experienced whatever problems you are having (if any... WoW's worked so flawlessly for me it isn't funny). And, since the Warden "false-positive" mass Linux ban about a year or two ago, Blizzard has provided detailed information to both the Codeweavers and TransGaming teams to ensure that WINE and Cedega works flawlessly with Blizzard's products... in fact, Blizzard has proven to be invaluable for both WINE and Cedega's implementations of DirectX, and how rapidly it has been advanced, and Blizzard's Warden now understands that WINE and Cedega are "ok" to manipulate WoW's binaries... it is kind of important for them to (all the false positive bans were reversed, and the Linux users that were affected, about 90% of the Linux WoW player population at the time, were credited 2x the time back they lost on their accounts for the mistake).

So, while Linux isn't "officially" supported, it is supported under the table by Blizzard... You won't get help from Blizzard directly, but they do acknowledge the growing Linux gamer community. But then again, Blizzard's always been a bit more proactive on the multi-platform support (with their PC & Mac installs).

Oh... and not to nitpick, WINE isn't an emulator (in fact, WINE stands for "WINE Is Not an Emulator), it is a translation layer that maps Windows API calls to Linux equivalents, it doesn't emulate the Windows API.

[WatcherZero]

the official support forums offer limited linux support as well, they will try and help you solve your problems and archive advice but cant help you if their advice doesnt work.

[TPMdm]

..........
Oh... and not to nitpick, WINE isn't an emulator (in fact, WINE stands for "WINE Is Not an Emulator), it is a translation layer that maps Windows API calls to Linux equivalents, it doesn't emulate the Windows API.

Funny you mention that I had a discussion earlier today with a co-worker about recursive acronyms, and while he understood the concept I could only remember GNU.

[WatcherZero]

ZEüD Zeus ewig über Dschinn

[parata]

Yes, running WoW perfectly fine via Wine in Ubuntu 8.04.

Useful Links:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WorldofWarcraft

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Install_and_update_World_Of_Warcraft_with_wine


I always use the ubuntu wiki link above to install it on a fresh system and it works perfectly then. Although my laptop which uses an ATI Mobility card does need some tweaking due to bad drivers. The ATI drivers might be better now though since its over 6 months since I ran WoW on it.

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

About 5 months ago, ATI decided to advance to the 21st century with their drivers, and started building them against the 2.6 kernels. That drastically improved things.

[sanga]

Really depends on what sort of Linux setup you have. Get the right drivers and emulation software pretty much yes.
Yellow Dog Linux if i can get WoW to run on that theoretically i can run it on my PS3, i would have installed a Mac OS on my PS3 but it wouldn't have any of it