FE under Linux via WINE

Status of my attempts to get FE to run under Linux/WINE

from Stardock Forums

This will be my running log of my experience trying to get FE to work under WINE. If anyone else has success in getting this baby to work please share.

 

First things first

I have to do the token, "Please make a native linux client." There is an obvious base of linux users who are willing to pay for quality games. We vote with dollars, satisfy us!

 

Current State of FE under WINE

Install: OK

* Beta Installer was a bit touchy, but in the end works fine. Things to remember when installing:

* Installer only looks at your WINE drive; make sure you have enough disk space for extracting and installing. The installer appears to ignore the actual free space on the drive where you are installing to. For me my root (OS) drive has <1gb available. So first the installer failed to extract with no error message (was out of space), then it failed to install citing unavailable disk space even though the drive it was installing to has 200+ gb free

 

Registration/Activation: OK

* Registration program (SDActivate.exe) failed for me on my main OS, worked under Ubuntu, and worked under VirtualBox

* To get it to work on my main (Arch - Wine 1.5.7) I had to do: winetricks winhttp. Registration should work after that

 

Launching: PASS

* Upon launch a series of error message will appear, all can be ignored (screen depth, screen resolution)

* The splash/loading screen will appear with Error Message: "Logon failed. You may have missing or stale registry data."

  * To get past the error message at /localdataonly /username "user" /password "pass" as part of the command line argument when launching the game. The error message will still appear but can be bypassed by hitting the Esc key (thanks SteveAus!)

 

Creating Games: OK

* Game created right away with no issues

World Map: Buggy

* World Map renders correctly on a quarter of the time

* Tile textures appear above units, and tile icons, preventing play (impossible to know what is where)

* Zoom functionality works

Combat: Buggy

* Units do not appear during combat, similar to the world map base ground tile's appear above units

* Mouse positioning is way off (or potentially the render issues make it appear that it is off)

 

 

*Update on 04-Jul-2012*

Currently able to get the game working, but not quite playable

16,203 views 16 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Try running it with the switch -localdataonly. The beta dials home when opening, and this seems to be the issue.

 

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for the suggestion. With that switch added I still get the logon failed error messge.

Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Try pressing Escape after getting the logon failed message.  Sometimes with this (and localdataonly on) you can get past it and play.

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Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I would love for FE to work under WINE! Sadly, I don't have any skills in linux... Good luck, and thanks for the heads up! ^^

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

@SteveAus; Bingo! Hitting escape when that logon message appears does the trick

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Mouse positioning may be a game bug (I see it in Windows occasionally), not a Linux bug.

 

The launching issues may also be an issue that applies to the beta, and not to the actual release as well.

 

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Hi,

I'm trying to run FE under Ubuntu, too.

Once I got ingame and it looked quite well (if I zoomed out enough) and playable.

But since that I can get into the game but there are no pictures and all menu entrys are "string not found".

 

 

Anyone has any ideas about the "string not found" errors?

 

I even reinstalled several times (with standard installation path) but with no effect.

 

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Ha, I got it. navigating to installation folder before starting wine did the trick!

 

Now I can play again.

 

If you check "cloth map only" in the menu, you wont have issues on the map.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Update on my current state of FE under Wine:

I'm using a clean wine under Ubuntu 12.04. Tried several DX-winetricks but didn't change anything.

If you navigate to the FE Folder before starting it, it starts fine.

Game is playable but only with "cloth map", because without cloth map everything is very bright white so I can't see anything.

Battle is only usable with autosolve, because like world map, everything is bright white. You can see where the units are by mouse over, but its not reasonable to play this way.

If I could solve the graphic issue with the all-white maps, the game would run perfect, everything else is working very well.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

I don't use linux so this may or may not be of any help. In windows, you can select a different folder to run programs in. When you do this with FE you get the "string not found" error. When trying to run FE, if you can specify that it should also run in its native folder somehow, you may be able to run it without navigating to the folder first.

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Thats no issue. I just made a start skript which navigates to the folder and starts the game. But it could be helpful for windows users with that error.

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

The things I see under Wine on Ubuntu are very similar to what is posted here

https://forums.stardock.com/430477

People with ATI graphic card had issues due to adaptive multisampling.

I am using a nvidia card, but the results are the same: On the map (without cloth map) or on tactical battles all of the screen except UI is white. Cloth map works though.

Its just a graphic issue, I can even mouse-over units in tactical battles and fight, but thats painful because you cant see where the units are, you can only move the mouse and try to find a unit due to mouse-over information.

I tried to deactivate multisampling by /nomultisample and by regedit Multisample=disabled, but it didn't change anything.

Any ideas?

drbaumgartne and SteveAus, you are seeing different graphic issues? Does cloth map work for you? What graphic cards are you using?

 

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Sorry for the long delay in getting a response.  I gave up on FE for a while as it was pretty much unplayable for me when I had last test.  Now I'm up and running Beta 4 and a few things are improved.  No more issues with login errors or the like.  However, I have the same issues with the world map and combat - the white screen plague.  Using the cloth map only option and auto resolving makes the game playable (but obviously less enchanting).

 

I have an Nvidia card as well.  Since the game seems to be running more smoothly I will do my own tests and see if I can't figure out what might be causing the issues.  I'll report back any good news.

 

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for the reply.

I had been hoping that beta 5 will solve our problem magically by solving the anti-alising bugs that have been reported, but I can't see anything about it in the changelog. After the new patch I will try some more things to solve the problem.

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top

I had no crashes. The game runs still the same as beta4 (white screen without cloth map and in tactical), which I thought a pity (because no changes to the anti aliasing bugs), but seeing your crashes, I should be glad it still runs at all ;)

 Have you looked at your debug.err if there are hints, whats wrong?

There were other crash reports after updates, where the problem was solved by clearing some of the folders (savegames screenshots etc.) (Derek said: The fix is to delete everything in your "C:\ProgramData\Stardock\Elemental - Fallen Enchantress\Screens\" directory. forums.stardock.com/431983)