PWO on ReactOS - Revision history

Jinji: Grammar fix

2022-08-19T20:36:26Z

Grammar fix

Jinji: More updates on ReactOS, as it turns out it works better with a simple settings change, though is still unable to login.

2022-08-19T20:20:40Z

More updates on ReactOS, as it turns out it works better with a simple settings change, though is still unable to login.

Jinji: Added note about SwiftShader also not working.

2022-04-02T18:09:44Z

Added note about SwiftShader also not working.

Jinji: Summarising the current status of running PWO on ReactOS, which is a personal interest of mine and pairs well with PWO on a Mac.

2022-03-27T01:55:08Z

Summarising the current status of running PWO on ReactOS, which is a personal interest of mine and pairs well with PWO on a Mac.

New page

'''ReactOS''' is an alternative, open source Operating System which aims to be binary-compatible with Windows software and drivers, and to feel as close to Windows as possible, but developed from scratch with the view of providing a free, open-source and secure alternative<ref name="About ReactOS">[https://reactos.org/what-is-reactos/ What is ReactOS?]</ref>. While PWO does not ''officially'' offer support for ReactOS, given that its eventual goal is to run Windows software as close to native Windows as is technically achievable, there may well come a point in time whereby PWO becomes by default compatible with the OS; and, through the use of Virtual Machines such as VirtualBox, other systems by extension.

Our resident Admin [[User:Jinji|Jinji]] regularly beta-tests ReactOS via a VM; and has taken it upon himself to test new builds and determine the feasibility of PWO running on the system in the future. This article details the current results.

== Current Status ==

Currently, while PWO can be installed on ReactOS and will attempt to run, the game is not playable in any form. This is due to both bugs in 3D graphics handling and in ReactOS's implementation of WinHTTP. Additionally, bugs in ReactOS Memory Management sometimes cause ReactOS to hang or blue screen if PWO is ran in addition to other software. With all this considered, attempting to play PWO on ReactOS is currently '''not recommended'''.

=== Latest observations (as of 27 March 2022) ===

* PWO can be successfully installed on ReactOS using the standard installer.
* The installed client will run if opened, displaying the login screen and playing the title theme.
* ReactOS's native Direct3D drivers are '''''not''''' compatible with PWO.
** This means attempting to login to the game will cause a Runtime error "Failed to Init Direct3D".
** Installing Mesa3D Graphics ''sometimes'' works, but seems to fail more times than it succeeds. Other alternatives are not directly offered by ReactOS and have not been trialled.
* ReactOS does not manage to successfully open a connection to the PWO Server. This means even if the game can somehow be persuaded to run beyond the initial login screen, and a player attempts to login, the game will appear to load but no data will be received - leaving the player on a black map with no Pokémon, no Trainer Info, no players and no way of interacting with anyone or anything.
** This is the same as attempting to run PWO via Wine on Linux.
* Sometimes, after PWO is quit or crashes, ReactOS will hang or blue-screen with a MEMORY_MANAGEMENT stop error. This becomes increasingly likely the longer ReactOS has been running or if additional software is ran at the same time.

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Troubleshooting]]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 === Latest observations (as of 19 August 2022) ===
-* PWO is capable of being fully installed from the standard installer. Note however that it may be advised to download the installer from a separate computer and transfer it over via a USB or CD, as glitches in ReactOS currently mean that attempting to download the installer from our site directly may cause the system to experience severely slowdowns.
+* PWO is capable of being fully installed from the standard installer. Note however that it may be advised to download the installer from a separate computer and transfer it over via a USB or CD, as glitches in ReactOS currently mean that attempting to download the installer from our site directly may cause the system to experience severe slowdown.
 * PWO also requires the following dependencies to be installed to run successfully. These can all be installed via "Applications Manager":
-** DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)
+** '''DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)'''
-** Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Runtime
+** '''Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Runtime'''
-** Mesa3D Graphics Library
+** '''Mesa3D Graphics Library'''
-*** Make sure to check "Use Mesa3D" when installing, as ReactOS's default Direct3D implementation does NOT work!
+*** Make ''sure'' to check "Use Mesa3D" when installing, as ReactOS's default Direct3D implementation does '''NOT''' work!
-** Microsoft XNA Development Framework may also be useful for this and many other games
+** '''Microsoft XNA Development Framework''' may also be useful for this and many other games
 * If you are running ReactOS in VirtualBox, you will also need to alter your Machine settings to enable 3D Acceleration:
   With ReactOS not currently running, click in the main VirtualBox Window:

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 == Current Status ==
-Currently, while PWO can be installed on ReactOS and will attempt to run, the game is not playable in any form. This is due to both bugs in 3D graphics handling and in ReactOS's implementation of WinHTTP. Additionally, bugs in ReactOS Memory Management sometimes cause ReactOS to hang or blue screen if PWO is ran in addition to other software. With all this considered, attempting to play PWO on ReactOS is currently '''not recommended'''.
+While PWO installs to ReactOS successfully and will attempt to run, ReactOS does not automatically install several needed dependencies, so some advance preparation is needed to enable it to function successfully. It is, however, perfectly possible to get PWO to open, load and even attempt to login. Unfortunately, the game is still not actually "playable", as ReactOS has a faulty WinHTTP implementation that means the game fails to connect to our server and will instead try to connect to the local computer - resulting in the player logging in to a black screen, most GUI elements being blank, and no way to interact with anyone. This is likely due to an incomplete reimplementation of the required Windows code (the same behaviour can be observed trying to play on Linux with Wine), and is something currently out of our control to fix.
-=== Latest observations (as of 27 March 2022) ===
+=== Latest observations (as of 19 August 2022) ===
-* PWO can be successfully installed on ReactOS using the standard installer.
+* PWO is capable of being fully installed from the standard installer. Note however that it may be advised to download the installer from a separate computer and transfer it over via a USB or CD, as glitches in ReactOS currently mean that attempting to download the installer from our site directly may cause the system to experience severely slowdowns.
-* The installed client will run if opened, displaying the login screen and playing the title theme.
+* PWO also requires the following dependencies to be installed to run successfully. These can all be installed via "Applications Manager":
-* ReactOS's native Direct3D drivers are '''''not''''' compatible with PWO.
+** DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)
-** This means attempting to login to the game will cause a Runtime error "Failed to Init Direct3D".
+** Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Runtime
-** SwiftShader does not work either.
+** Mesa3D Graphics Library
-** Installing Mesa3D Graphics ''sometimes'' works, but seems to fail more times than it succeeds.
+*** Make sure to check "Use Mesa3D" when installing, as ReactOS's default Direct3D implementation does NOT work!
-** Other alternatives are not directly offered by ReactOS and have not been trialled.
+** Microsoft XNA Development Framework may also be useful for this and many other games
-* ReactOS does not manage to successfully open a connection to the PWO Server. This means even if the game can somehow be persuaded to run beyond the initial login screen, and a player attempts to login, the game will appear to load but no data will be received - leaving the player on a black map with no Pokémon, no Trainer Info, no players and no way of interacting with anyone or anything.
+* If you are running ReactOS in VirtualBox, you will also need to alter your Machine settings to enable 3D Acceleration:
-** This is the same as attempting to run PWO via Wine on Linux.
+ With ReactOS not currently running, click in the main VirtualBox Window:
-* Sometimes, after PWO is quit or crashes, ReactOS will hang, or blue-screen with a MEMORY_MANAGEMENT stop error. This becomes increasingly likely the longer ReactOS has been running or if additional software is ran at the same time.
+ Settings > Display > Tick "Enable 3D Acceleration"
 == References ==