cnc-ddraw vs PlayOnLinux

cnc-ddraw reimplements DirectDraw to address compatibility problems in older 2D games, including black screens, poor performance, crashes, and faulty Alt+Tab behavior. It can use GDI, OpenGL, or Direct3D 9 rendering, selecting a renderer automatically. Display options include windowed, fullscreen exclusive, and borderless modes; Alt+Enter switches between fullscreen and windowed. GLSL shaders provide upscaling, and other options include an FPS limiter, VSync, mouse sensitivity scaling, and saving and restoring window position, size, and state. The project lists Windows, Linux through Wine, macOS, Android, and virtual machines as supported environments. Setup involves extracting cnc-ddraw.zip into the game folder and starting the game. Wine users must configure the ddraw override in winecfg or run cnc-ddraw config.exe once. The game must use a DirectDraw Software renderer; Direct3D games are not supported. cnc-ddraw is free under the MIT License.

PlayOnLinux helps users install and run many games and applications made for Microsoft Windows on Linux and macOS. It is built on Wine, with the aim of shielding users from Wine’s complexity; a Windows license is not required. The project describes it as free software, and its listed plan is free. It uses Bash and Python and includes prefix management, a compatibility database, and DXVK graphics acceleration. Not every game is supported, though a manual installation module is available. The project also reports occasional performance declines, such as less-fluid images or less-detailed graphics. The website lists version 4.3.4 as the latest release. Installation options include a generic tar.gz package and instructions for Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, Frugalware, and Ubuntu. Documentation and forums offer support, with email contact also available. The project wiki includes tutorials, installation-script guidance, command and API documentation, and advanced topics.