Relatively new to both Linux (Mint) and Lutris I wanted to start playing games I used to play on my Windows PC’s. I’m kind of new (only playing around with this Linux PC for couple of weeks) which is (was) actually the same PC I played games on when it still had Win OS 10.
Just to be sure that the components where up to speed with the game specs, I’m trying first with some older games, like Diablo 2 and Sacred Gold.
Tried Diablo 2 first, by clicking the Search the Lutris website for installers, picking the right one and run with it. No luck and not able to launch the game. Then tried the Lutris option ‘Install a Windows game from an executable’. It let’s itself install (I get the normal dialog window from the game) and at the end of the install I can also play the game, but after reboot of the pc it won’t launch from Lutris.
Okay, gave up on that game for now and tried another old game, Sacred Gold (Basically Sacred Underworld including addons), tried to install it from Lutris using the option ’ Install a Windows game from an executable’ but unfortunately same result : able to play it from the game install screen at the end of the install, but not able to start it up again after reboot.
Probably I’m missing some basic understanding here on how this is to be done on a Linux machine and using Lutris.
What are the key things I should pay attention to when installing a Windows game on this Linux machine, what am I forgetting. As usual it will be something simple (he said hopefully) but as a newbie on this, cannot figure out what that is.
@Sirtul2024, Linux Mint is probably missing some dependencies. You haven’t provided enough information for me to tell what is missing. Many X86 game dependencies are missing from all Ubuntu-based distros, including Ubuntu. I would switch to PoP 0S or try a game that needs X64. I wonder if you used a script to install any games. The Wine project, regarding games, is kind of a dead project. Most Linux games use Proton instead of Wine for their games. You might be able to install your old games on Linux, but it will take a lot of reading and trial and error.
I suggest reading the post I linked above and following the instructions. Then, I or someone else will get back to you.
Thanks Shadowbane, I tried several methods, with and without scripts. I wasn’t aware that Wine was already kind of ‘dead’ as you described it, because it is part of the Lutris app as a runner, next to Steam. For now I want to stick to Mint, not switch to PoP because I “blame” myself for not yet being successful with installing these games, not the OS. Thanks for the ‘before asking help’ article, as I was indeed wondering what info to supply. I will have a look this week at Proton, see where that gets me. But if it all remains unstable then I’ll reconsider using this linux machine for running these old games.
It is going to be hard to give you Linux support without a bit more information, especially your hardware.
Many things “just work,” …assuming your system adequately meets the pre-requisites.
Essential!
As the Lutris install instructions say, you need to install appropriate drivers and vulkan support for your graphics card, WINE staging (having a system WINE as a fallback option is always a good idea. It’s not dead, it’s just not as good with games support as Proton,) python3 libraries to support Lutris, and finally Lutris itself.
Lutris comes with a default Proton/WINE runner. It works for a lot of things, but not everything. If you bought the recent Diablo 2 remaster, then you need to know that has its own issues - see the other posts on this forum.
I use Mint 22. Mint 21 defaults to a version 5 Linux kernel. With modern machines and graphics card, you should install a version 6 kernel.
Linux Steam is also a good option - even if you don’t own games there, you can use it to download and manage various versions of Proton.
Hi, sorry, was already commented that I didn’t describe the system I’m trying this on. It’s an old PC, I’m using it to try out if Linux is an OS that suits me or not, also but not exclusively for games. I will clip in a system specs part (apparently I cannot add a text file here, only pics, so sorry about the long text).
Since I chose on purpose the older games I own the installation discs for I went with the assumption that it being an older system did not matter that much.
I always install any update that is suggested to me by Linux Mint, but could be of course that I also need to dig deeper for driver updates etc. Like I said, relatively new on Linux, so thanks for your patience Thanks anyway for the statement on WINE (it not being dead), but I hear you on the appreciation for Proton above WINE. Have not tried that yet. Installing and playing the older WoW games will not work without BattleNet subscription for that, which I ditched about 2 years back, so I have parked that, but if I could successfully install one of the older Diablo versions, of the Sacred 2 Gold game I’m trying with at the moment. Just to get more experienced with installing Windows apps (of games) on Linux.
Again, thanks for your patience, I appreciate greatly any comments that will get me that experience.
For good order : the games I’m trying to get to run ran fine when the very same pc was still a Win10 PC
I will clip in now that info (I hope not to break any forum rules on that )
Addition : on your remark on drivers, Asaftiifm, I ran the Linux driver manager, it tells me that all drivers are up to date, no newer drivers needed. So I guess I’m okay on that part.
Well to give you credit, it’s on the verge of the kind of hardware you want to be running things on. I have a similar old box - Gen2 i7 875k with a Geforce 970. It isn’t supported by the latest Nvidia drivers, and performance is just average, but it still works for a lot of Windows games.
Lack of VRAM means 1080 is not great and DX12 support is…well, mostly missing.
That said, old stuff mostly “just works,” - the delay in this reply was because I hadn’t upgraded that box to Mint 22 yet
After much updates, and a clean Lutris, a few test GoG installs (Windows/DirectX) just worked out of the box with the default wine runner (wine-8.26)
From the docs…
Did you enable 32 bit support (needed for really old games) and install 32 bit drivers?
For Mesa (AMD) would have been a line like: sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 && sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo apt install libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 mesa-vulkan-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386
Can you run “lutris -d” in a terminal window and once it launches, then use the UI to run your game? It’ll produce some output in the terminal, tell us what version of Lutris you are running etc.
Also right click on the game icon and “show log” - might also give some insight into why it bails.
You suggested a couple of things, let’s peel the onion : I can run lutris -d and but judging from the output in the terminal window I’m guessing not all is what this command expects on my device. See below clip in text.
If I open up configuration of Wine and read the about info, it tells me that this is version 6.0.3 which is, if we’re talking about the same thing here, considerably older than yours (8.26), in fact, cannot believe that since it wasn’t that long since I reinstalled this pc wit Linux Mint and all other stuff. So let me know where I can get that version info you’re asking for.
Enabling 32bit support, good question! And no, didn’t. Als not sure how to go about that on a Linux machine. I did see your sudo text, that’s for mesa-vulkan, should I use that regardless of what graphics card I have?
cor@cor-System-Product-Name:~$ lutris -d
2024-09-02 13:46:07,349: Command ‘fluidsynth’ not found on your system
INFO 2024-09-02 13:46:10,497 [application.do_command_line:479]:Starting Lutris 0.5.17
ERROR: […/src/amd/vulkan/radv_physical_device.c:1877] Code 0 : Device ‘/dev/dri/renderD128’ is not using the AMDGPU kernel driver: Invalid argument (VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER)
ERROR: [Loader Message] Code 0 : setup_loader_term_phys_devs: Failed to detect any valid GPUs in the current config
ERROR: [Loader Message] Code 0 : setup_loader_tramp_phys_devs: Failed during dispatch call of ‘vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices’ to lower layers or loader to get count.
ERROR at ./vulkaninfo/vulkaninfo.h:230:vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices failed with ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
ERROR 2024-09-02 13:46:10,935 [system.read_process_output:188]:[‘vulkaninfo’, ‘–summary’] command failed: Command ‘[‘vulkaninfo’, ‘–summary’]’ returned non-zero exit status 1.
INFO 2024-09-02 13:46:10,935 [startup.run_all_checks:120]: (1002:6810 1462:3030 radeon) Driver 23.2.1
DEBUG 2024-09-02 13:46:11,771 [xrandr.get_resolutions:91]:Retrieving resolution list
DEBUG 2024-09-02 13:46:11,918 [xrandr._get_vidmodes:18]:Retrieving 19 video modes from XrandR
DEBUG 2024-09-02 13:46:12,294 [path_cache._update_missing_games:114]:Checking for missing games
DEBUG 2024-09-02 13:46:12,534 [api.check_stale_runtime_versions:52]:Modified at Mon 02 Sep 2024 10:50:55 AM , will update after Mon 02 Sep 2024 04:50:55 PM
DEBUG 2024-09-02 13:46:12,538 [lutriswindow.create_runtime_updater_cb:1244]:Runtime up to date
DEBUG 2024-09-02 13:46:13,300 [http._request:88]:POST https://lutris.net/api/users/library?since=1725269088
Hi, I hate doing a Bad News-Good News thing, but to summarise: -
After a bit of research, because of the legacy radeon driver used for that card, you’ll be missing vulkan support (and therefore, DXVK). That said, the driver will still run many games using WINE OpenGL->DirectX support. Disable the DXVK slider when running things, and hope the WINE OpenGL performance can pull its weight
People have found ways to force the amdgpu (mesa) drivers on for the R370 to enable some vulkan support, but they are quite involved, and leave relying on old software. Hard to recommend it over buying a slightly newer (but still cheap) card.
Anyway, apologies.
I also used to have issues similar to your initial report - some old games launch once, and not being able to launch them again without a reboot.
That went away with updates - updated drivers, updated or changed runners, and an updated Lutris. The first two, I suspect.
I’d first try the “System” (Wine-staging) runner, then maybe some older runners - you can pull those down through options (three bars) runners->wine->folder(versions)
It’s also worth you looking up how WINE prefixes work, and going through the basics of winetricks and installing software into a prefix using it.
Sorry I can’t be more help at this stage, and trying hard to condense a wall of info
Thanks anyway for the statement on WINE (it not being dead), but I hear you on the appreciation for Proton above WINE. Have not tried that yet. Installing and playing the older WoW games will not work without BattleNet subscription for that, which I ditched about 2 years back, so I have parked that, but if I could successfully install one of the older Diablo versions, of the Sacred 2 Gold game I’m trying with at the moment. Just to get more experienced with installing Windows apps (of games) on Linux.