Recently, I admit that Chromium is faster and smoother than Firefox. And now, for me, Firefox is my primary bookmark manager, reference manger with Zotero, and best ever download manager; yet Chromium is my primary web browser.

This is just like Windows is no more an Operating System for me, but a game console. I have no choice to admit this because playing games on Linux, is still far behind from Windows. The main reason is the developers usually target on Windows instead of Linux. However, it is truly worth for me to optimise the functionality of a computer by running Linux and sacrificing the gaming potentiality of Windows.

Recently, I tried to play Tecmo Koei Sangokushi 12 PK Traditional Chinese version (三國志12威力加強版繁體中文) on WINE using PlayOnLinux. It works fine, but there is a problem that is the game can only be run in LANG=zh_CN.UTF-8 locale instead of zh_TW.UTF-8 locale (there are some reasons behind). As a result, if I enter some Chinese characters using fcitx, the output will be converted. Such as 一 becomes 珨. This is because when using fcitx in the zh_CN.UTF-8 locale, the character will be encoded as zh_CN.UTF-8. However, because the game itself is Traditional Chinese, the output will be encoded as possibly BIG5. This can be proved by using iconv with the following command,

I always thought that Wine (or WINE, WINE Is Not an Emulator) is good enough for me to play Windows games and running Windows applications without using the virtualisation such as VirtualBox. However, this is not completed.

Recently, due to a giveaway from CodeWeavers, I downloaded and tried the CrossOver. Then I found the comparison of Wine and CrossOver, CrossOver contains some proprietary components, which makes Windows applications run smoother than Wine. I tried, yes, there are some differences. But I am still using Wine because of my own favour.

Previously I mentioned about playing games in WINE and enabling Ibus input and CJK fonts. Recently, I solved another problem, that is installing the game with ISO images.

We know that, in Linux, we can mount the ISO image easily. However, some old games will need to install with several discs, that means we need to change discs during the installation. When my disc 1 was completed, I tried to unmount, it failed. Even I tried with symlink, the disc 2 with the symlink is not detected by the installer, failed also.

[Added 2012-10-16] Read this first: Quite a lot of readers asked me how to hack this game or hack that game. Sorry to say, I am not that expert in hacking those games, and I don’t have much time to play and hack the games. And what I shared here is only how to hack the games in general way, without permanent root the Android. So, if you are asking about a specific game, please find it on other channel. Thank you.

I tried to find some good games in Linux, since there is not much game development in Linux. Recently, I played Cave Story. The drawing is looking old, but the storyline is good, just like an expected Japanese game. And there are 3 different endings.

The game is not easy to play. So, I finally, try to game hack it using GameConqueror. Then, these are the memory address:

81c8614    HP 
81cce84    Polar Star / Spur Lv 
81cce98    Missle Lv 
81ccea4    Missle bullet
81cceac    Fireball Lv 
81ccec0    Bubbler Lv 
81ccecc    Bubbler bullet
81cced4    Blade / Nemesis lv

Unfortunately, GameConqueror cannot save and open the address list.

I like to play KOEI’s game, especially Romance of the Three Kingdoms (San Goku Shi). It is related to the real world management.

When playing the game, we need to first build a kingdom. Then, the player should found that, if the kingdom has only one character (officer), the kingdom can do nothing, because each character can do only one task (or limited tasks) for each month. Even the character has maximum status values: intelligence 100, war 100, politic 100, charisma 100, though the character is useful, the kingdom itself is useless. Thus, the player needs to recruit more officers to work for the kingdom.

Linux is a great OS. Open source and free. Can work as server or desktop. There are a lot of applications: office suite, internet web browser, email client, image editor, 3D modeler, games, online games, software development tools, etc. Using Linux, I can almost do anything I want just as I am using proprietary OS.

However, there is a drawback. If a computer cannot be used for playing games, then it will not be 100% perfect. Yes, Linux has a lot of free and open source games, but I feel that there is still a gap between free games and the commercial games. Though I may not use Linux to play the latest game, at least it should allow me to play my favourite game.

I played Totem Tribes 3 times, because I want to see the different endings. Besides that, it is quite a good game, the storyline is good.

It combines War Craft and “seek and find” game genre. But the “seek and find”, is very very difficult. Sometimes, need to search for the solution from internet.

Now, I want to talk about cheating in the game. Because playing it for 3 times, without cheating, it will be very boring. Besides that, remember backup the files before editing for the cheating.

Just finish an old game, Suikoden II. Easy to play. The story is good, with good ending. Though there are 4 kinds of ending, but still has a best ending. All the main characters survived at the end. Besides that, there are 108 stars (characters) can be recruited. And you can switch anyone you like in the game.
刚玩完一部旧的游戏，“幻想水浒传Ⅱ”。容易玩。故事很好，有很好的结局。虽然有四种结局，但是有个完美结局。所有的重要角色都活着。另外，有108个星（角色）可以录用。你可以换上你喜欢的角色。

An old game doesn’t have 3D objects and beautiful scenes, but if the story is good, even it is old, it is valuable to be played.
一部旧的游戏，没有三维物体和美丽的画面，但是如果有好的故事，就算是旧的游戏，还是值得玩的。