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Jeremy
Asked: 2010-10-17 17:41:58 +0800 CST

Is it worth paying for Crossover Games or Cedega?

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I have had Crossover Games (also called CX Games) recommended to me as a time-saver for installing Windows-native games on Linux. I have also come across another package called Cedega. These apps make it easier to run games by supplying the correct Wine settings, and in the case of Cedega, actually making changes to the compatibility layer (I.e. it does not simply use Wine as a back-end).

Cedega charges an ongoing subscription fee, which really rubs me up the wrong way, whereas CX Games is a one-off payment which entitles you to any future upgrades (please correct me if I'm wrong on that point).

If you have used these packages, did they save you time / headaches getting games running, could you run games which were impossible / very hard to run straight through wine?

EDIT: As pointed out by JanC PlayOnLinux is also available, a free front-end for Wine which includes some profiles for games. I was unfairly mentally lumping this in with Wine.

games

3 Answers

  1. Paying for CrossOver Games can save you some hassle and support the Wine project.

    CrossOver is the commercial sponsor of the Wine project. It builds upon its technology to provide user-friendly compatibility for Windows games.

    Cedega is TransGaming's product which was derived from Wine many years ago and has parted its way with Wine long ago. They do not contribute to Wine and their codebase lacks a lot of the features that Wine and CrossOver have currently. I have noticed that as of sometime Cedega has stalled and they forecast on their Mac solution but I may be wrong.

    So all in all - I would say that using Wine or CrossOver Games will give you better results than Cedega and if you opt for CrossOver you will not only help yourself but the Wine project.

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  2. wine + winetricks + wibom + (eventually) playonlinux

    If something doesn't work with that combination and a little search and tweak in google or winehq, it won't work in crossover or cedega... so i'd say no.

    Good luck!

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  3. I would say, no. There is already enough documentation for each game, and the most well-known games will work well by default anyway. As said in your edit, PlayOnLinux works, so you could try that.

    I don't know about CXGames, but if you really want to you could try it: there's a trial on the download page. Give it a shot and see if it's worth it, and try to do the same on Wine without it.

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