feature enquiry: App specific subkeys

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lolcat
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feature enquiry: App specific subkeys

Post by lolcat »

Hello there.. I am really sorry if I am not posting this correctly or seem to not have found the answer if there is on.

I did see only a reference to this on a patch in 2010 so....here goes:

In winecfg one has the option to set specific options to an app, i.e. win version and some other bits and bobs.

However, can I also add registry keys into the app itself.. e.g. for starcraft 2, I add some D3D settings in reg, right?

Then I backed up my *.reg, did a Gal Civ2 UE install... I get some debug popups at start, which I could only get away by natively overriding
d39 {27,28} and dxdiagn I believe. At least with the expansion ones, the origianl still popped up one, which forces me to patch the .desktop to point to a shell script rather,
to be able to click ok.

Anyway... so I get some issues with the D3D settings... so I have tried to add the D3D settings in the Registry under AppDefaults.. I don't htink it is doing anything but it made me realise..

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to have Appspecific subkeys under Wine..

Wine\Direct3D
Wine\AppDefaults\App1\Direct3D
Wine\AppDefaults\App2\Direct3D
...

as an exampl,e and have in winecfg a link to reg keys?

This way, it makes it far easier to keep all in the monolithic wine install...

The wine prefix per app is a great feature.. but sometimes it can be quite some work with writing all kinda pointers in .desktop files, bash scripts for each prefix.

For me, it is more conveninent, to do a .reg backup, install the new app, do a diff, (if need to uninstall or troubleshoot) and then just set reg edits for each app.

That is how I came across this, and just thought it would make it so m uch easier, without losing out on anything , if one could do this.

I don't know if it would be a lot of work, or if it exists, or if for ome reaosn this is a bad idea but feedback woudl eb welcome.

Again, sorry if I have missed something, as I am very new to wine. :
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dimesio
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Re: feature enquiry: App specific subkeys

Post by dimesio »

Changing those keys from the defaults is only needed under rare circumstances, and meddling with them is more likely to cause problems than solve them. There have been plenty of invalid bugs filed by users who changed settings they didn't understand and should never have touched. The developers are unlikely to add anything to winecfg that would make it easier for users to mess up their wineprefix.
For me, it is more conveninent, to do a .reg backup, install the new app, do a diff, (if need to uninstall or troubleshoot) and then just set reg edits for each app.
I don't see why you need to do any of that. You should be installing new apps to clean wineprefixes.
lolcat
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Re: feature enquiry: App specific subkeys

Post by lolcat »

As a new user, my posts are moderated, so I didn't get a chance to edit so
EDIT: pardon my ignorance.. it worked fine... it seems... D3D being picked up in the AppDefaults...

So it seems it already works... just the ui doesn't have a way of doing it in winecfg.

To the mod: because, as I said.. installing to new prefixes is a very good thing to have.. being able to deal with layers on one prefix is also good for those who can work with linux... I am one of them... Now, the settings were good for starcraft 2 on arch linux.

Not everyone is a windows users on mint/ubuntu.
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dimesio
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Re: feature enquiry: App specific subkeys

Post by dimesio »

being able to deal with layers on one prefix is also good for those who can work with linux..
Knowledge of Linux doesn't help you with Windows registry issues.

It's certainly your choice whether or not to install to install everything to one wineprefix, but experienced users use multiple ones. You'll understand why if your monolithic wineprefix is ever messed up to the point where you have to delete it and start over.
lolcat
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Re: feature enquiry: App specific subkeys

Post by lolcat »

Tes it does.... Knowing about methods helps one categorise what is, after all, sets of files which conform to some rules (wine).

As I said, indeed it is good to be able to easily create new prefixes. I noticed however, when I had troublesome programs which were large, I would be adding loads of prefixes and all was kinda messy for me.
I found it useful to simply do backup of regs, and using diff... for easy recovery or "rollbacks".

Knowing linux also can make you figure out things, where the registry is *entirely* irrelevant, e.g. ever tried a git init in a wine prefix.. then commiting the reg files and windows directory say?

Fear mongering is one thing.. and is useful, but do not try to limit ideas just 'cause that's how it usually works'.

Either way, this has nothing to do with topic.
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