wine users - Jul 2008 - VNC 'fix' for 256 colour game only shows 2 colours?

I'm trying to run an old (~1995) Windows game under Wine, but it requires
256 colours and won't work any higher. I've checked out the 256 colour
hacks page and the X methods don't work, because I use the FGLRX drivers and
they don't support 8bpp, so I'm trying VNC.

I've installed vnc-server and vnc so I can play it through a 256 colour VNC
connection, but so far I can get the game to run but only in two colours. Other
apps I start in VNC (e.g. Eye of Gnome) do show in 256 colours, it's just
the 256 colour game that shows in 2 colours.

Does anyone have any ideas why I might be getting a mono-coloured game?

I started VNC using: 

Code:
 vncserver :2 -cc 3 -depth 8 -geometry 800x600



And the log file says:

Code:
Xvnc Free Edition 4.1.2
Copyright (C) 2002-2005 RealVNC Ltd.
See http://www.realvnc.com for information on VNC.
Underlying X server release 10499901, 


Sun Jul  6 16:50:44 2008
 vncext:      VNC extension running!
 vncext:      Listening for VNC connections on port 5902
 vncext:      created VNC server for screen 0
Failed to allocate for full set of GLX visuals

Sun Jul  6 16:51:11 2008
 Connections: accepted: 127.0.0.1::35753
 SConnection: Client needs protocol version 3.8
 SConnection: Client requests security type VncAuth(2)

Sun Jul  6 16:51:14 2008
 VNCSConnST:  Server default pixel format depth 8 (8bpp) colour-map
 VNCSConnST:  Client pixel format depth 8 (8bpp) colour-map




I'm suspicious of whether the line "Failed to allocate for full set of
GLX visuals" may be the problem, but then I wouldn't have expected it
to work at all if it had visual problems.

Thanks.

Actually, I've just realised that it only occurs when I hover over the Wine
window. It's still not perfect when I don't hover over it (it looks like
about 16 colours instead of 256) but it's better.

Does that help or hinder the process?

IBBoard wrote:
> I'm trying to run an old (~1995) Windows game under Wine, but it
requires 256 colours and won't work any higher. I've checked out the 256
colour hacks page and the X methods don't work, because I use the FGLRX
drivers and they don't support 8bpp, so I'm trying VNC.
> 
> I've installed vnc-server and vnc so I can play it through a 256 colour
VNC connection, but so far I can get the game to run but only in two colours.
Other apps I start in VNC (e.g. Eye of Gnome) do show in 256 colours, it's
just the 256 colour game that shows in 2 colours.
> 
> Does anyone have any ideas why I might be getting a mono-coloured game?
Most likely VNC can't handle custom color maps. What VNC calls 256-color 
is probably equivalent to a 3/3/2 TrueColor (or DirectColor) visual. But 
a 256-color Windows game expects something equivalent to a 8-bit 
PseudoColor visual, which unlike a TrueColor visual, uses customizable 
color maps/palettes.

I've managed to get somewhere with this - I've stopped it showing in
monochrome! If I set the xstartup file to run wine (since I don't use VNC
for any other purpose) it starts up fine with colour. I'm not sure what
caused the "Monochrome on hover" issue.

As for the 256 colours, I've tried with and without "-cc 3"
(PseudoColour) and without is worse than with. Is there any way to get VNC to do
the same 256 colours as Windows? VNC is a suggested Wine hack for old games, so
I'd have thought it should be possible.

If the worst comes to the worst and it won't work properly under Wine then
I'll just run it from the Windows XP Virtual Box install that I use for
Visual Studio/System.Windows.Forms .Net development, but I'd rather avoid a
whole virtual Windows machine just for a game.

Thanks.