black screen during games

[NIKK]

So i decided i'd play starcraft on my toshiba satellite m115-s1061 laptop.  i played it on my desktop (using wine of course) and i got a frequency out of range error. how did i fix it? i went in to hardware and changed the frequency range for monitor. However, my laptop does not give me this option. i can change the resolution, and color , but that's it.   i'm looking for any solution really, i dont know how to update my video drivers in linux, but if that would work then it'd be nice if you told me how, there might also be a way to change the video settings in on of the files,  but i dont know much about that either. anways, any solution, as long as it works, would be very helpful. thanks.

    p.s. i never mentioned what i get when i run it on my laptop. i just get a black screen, and occasional white triangle that takes up have the screen at the top that will flicker.

[menotu]

Hi NIKK - does the laptop have the same specs as shown in the following link?

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-satellite-m115-s1061/4507-3121_7-32126751.html

If not, what are the differences especially re graphics card and ram/memory?

Also what version of PCLinuxOS are you using - LXDE or KDE or xfce etc.....?

Lastly is your system fully upto-date

[T6]

wine has a database for those games that work on wine, also if you need to do modifications to the config, ini files or registry entries of the game

in this particular error there is no mention but it is mentioned that you can force the game to run in opengl and not in direct3d and this could be your solution(copy/paste from winehq)

Use the key "DirectDrawRenderer" and add that to your registry with the value "opengl"; you may also need to add the key "RenderTargetLockMode" with the value "readtex".

(Found under HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Wine/Direct3D using regedit)


If the above trick does not work, or causes your Starcraft to crash on launch:

- Remove the DirectDrawRender registry entry.
  - Use your Wine Configuration utility to set Emulate Virtual Desktop to on, resolution 640 x 480.

i had to do the same for diablo II and warcraft 3, set them to a specific resolution and opengl if i remember correctly(at least i'm sure for warcraft 3)

[NIKK]

well the virtual desktop didnt work, but it certainly is easier to close out of the game now.  i've never used the registry editor , so your going to have to be more explicit about that whole drawrenderer thing. i followed the path in the wine , but nothing called direct 3d is in software.

[NIKK]

and as for the last guy, all my specs are the same besides ram, (i got a new ram chip, runnig 2gs now) , i'm running lxde,

[T6]

what path?  this is not a file inside a folder, it is a field in the list of the windows registry that wine creates

you have to open the registry editor and in the software section make that change described there

[NIKK]

yes, i understood that much. heres how it happened. i opened regedit in the terminal. then i found hkey_current_user , then i whent down to software, then wine, but theres nothing called direct 3d, just crypto, debug, explorer, file associations, fonts, menufiles,mshtml,temp sys parameters, wine dbg.

[NIKK]

nevermind, i found direct3d, it was in local_machine, not current_user. i shouldve looked harder

[NIKK]

none of that worked, i whent to direct3d, added two keys, one labeled directdraw bla  bla bal, with value, opengl, and another labeld lock render something or another , with value "readtex"