The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Guide

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Sep 26, 2013.

  • by booman, Sep 26, 2013 at 1:16 PM
  • booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    skyrim76.jpg

    Skyrim is 5th series of the epic saga known as The Elder Scrolls. Famous for the first person shooter and open-world view, Skyrim continues the Role Playing genre retaining all the favorite aspects of Morrowind and Oblivion while introducing a bunch of new features.

    skyrim72.jpg

    New classes, new guilds, new civilizations, new state-of-the-art graphics and...
    wait for it...
    Dragons!

    Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

    Note: This guide applies to the Steam version of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

    Tips & Specs:

    Try SteamPlay before using this guide as Valve now uses a fork of Wine called Proton and should run most Windows games.

    To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux Explained

    Mint 17 64-bit
    PlayOnLinux: 4.2.8
    Wine: 1.7.49-staging

    Wine Installation

    Note: Wine versions older than 2.0.2 and 2.12-staging no longer work with Steam.

    Click Tools
    Select "Manage Wine Versions"
    wine01.png

    Look for the Wine Version: 1.7.49-staging

    Select it
    Click the arrow pointing to the right
    wine02.png

    Click Next

    Downloading Wine
    wine04.png

    Extracting

    Downloading Gecko
    wine05.png

    Installed
    wine06.png

    Wine 1.7.49-staging is installed and you can close this window

    PlayOnLinux Setup

    Launch PlayOnLinux
    Click Install
    skyrima01.png

    Click "Install a non-listed program"
    skyrima02.png

    Click Next

    Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
    Click Next
    skyrima04.png

    Name your virtual drive: skyrim
    Click Next
    skyrima05.png

    Check all three options:
    • Use another version of Wine
    • Configure Wine
    • Install some libraries
    Click Next
    skyrima06.png

    Select Wine 1.7.49-staging
    Click Next
    skyrima07.png

    Select "32 bits windows installation"
    Click Next
    skyrima08.png

    Wine Configuration

    Applications Tab
    Windows Version: Windows 7
    Click Apply
    skyrima09.png

    Graphics Tab
    Click "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
    Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
    Desktop size: 1024x768
    Click OK
    skyrima10.png

    PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

    Check the following:
    • POL_Install_corefonts
    • POL_Install_d3dx10
    • POL_Install_d3dx9
    • POL_Install_tahoma
    • POL_Install_vcrun2008
    • POL_Install_xact
    Click Next
    skyrima11.png

    Note: All packages will automatically download and install

    Click Browse

    Navigate to your desktop
    Select "SteamSetup.exe"
    Click Open
    skyrima13.png

    Click Next
    skyrima14.png

    Click Next
    skyrima15.png

    Check "I accept the license..."
    Click Next
    skyrima16.png

    Select Language
    Click Next
    skyrima17.png

    Click Install
    skyrima18.png

    Click Finish
    skyrima19.png

    Updating...
    skyrima20.png

    dwrite isn't enabled yet, so there won't be any fonts
    Click The "X" and close Steam
    skyrima22.png

    PlayOnLinux Shortcut

    Select "Steam.exe"
    skyrima23.png

    Name your shortcut: Skyrim
    Click Next
    skyrima24.png

    Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
    Click Next
    skyrima25.png

    PlayOnLinux Configure

    Back to PlayOnLinux
    Select Skyrim
    Click Configure
    skyrima26.png

    General Tab
    Wine version: 1.7.49-staging
    Arguments: -no-dwrite -no-cef-sandbox
    This fixes the missing font and store problem
    skyrima28.png

    Note: -no-dwrite will allow the fonts in Steam

    Display Tab
    Video memory size: Enter the amount of memory your video card/chip uses
    skyrima29.png

    Launching Skyrim

    Select Skyrim
    Click Run
    skyrima30.png

    Note: Click Debug to see errors and bugs

    Login to Steam
    skyrima31.png

    skyrima32.png

    Select Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
    Click Install
    skyrima33.png

    Click Next
    skyrima34.png

    Skyrim is about 6 Gigs
    When its finish downloading...
    Click Finish
    skyrima35.png

    Click Play
    skyrima36.png

    Detecting Video Hardware
    Click OK
    skyrima37.png

    Optimization

    Click Options
    skyrima38.png

    Graphics Adapter and Resolution
    Adjust:
    • Graphics Adapter
    • Aspect Ratio
    • Resolution
    • Antialiasing
    • Anisotropic Filtering
    • Detail
    • Windowed
    Click Ok
    skyrima40.png

    Advanced Detail
    Adjust:
    • Texture Quality
    • Radial Blur Quality
    • Shadow Detail
    • Decal Quantity
    • FXAA
    • Water Reflections
    Click Close
    skyrima39.png

    Advanced View Distance
    Adjust:
    • Object Fade
    • Actor Fade
    • Grass Fade
    • Specularity Fade
    • Light Fade
    • Item Fade
    • Distand Object Detail
    • Object Detail Fade
    Click Close
    skyrima41.png

    Click Play
    skyrima42.png

    Rule of Thumb
    High settings = More detail, lower frame rates
    Low settings = Less detail, higher frame rates

    Conclusion:
    Skyrim ran beautifully on my GeForce 550 Ti with everything set on High or Ultra. Wine 1.7.49-staging does a great job and I didn't have too many issue:
    Tree animation was not smooth and the shadows moved irregularly
    Can not see underwater (underwater view can be disabled in the .ini files)

    Screenshots:
    skyrim73.jpg

    skyrim74.jpg

    skyrim78.jpg

    skyrim79.jpg

    skyrim84.jpg
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2019
    booman, Sep 26, 2013
    #1
    HelmiUrfi and vashin like this.
    • Categories:

Comments

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Sep 26, 2013.

Page 4 of 7
  1. littlelink
    littlelink, Sep 27, 2015
    #61
    vashin and Aremis like this.
  2. booman
    Nice, thanks for the fix. I'll try it as well and I will post if it works
    booman, Sep 28, 2015
    #62
  3. Aremis
    Cool! If you can try and make some guide here for whatever bugs you find. You will be helping a lot of people out!!
    Aremis, Sep 30, 2015
    #63
  4. booman
    I can confirm the .ini changes:
    Code:
    bDoDepthOfField=0
iRadialBlurLevel=0
    Worked for me! you can now see underwater but it will appear about the same as above water. No blur or cloudy effects, but you CAN see!
    booman, Oct 12, 2015
    #64
    vashin and mrdeathjr28 like this.
  5. backplate101
    sorry that this is a late question. out of curiosity, why go through the hassle of installing steam app in POL manually (in your guides) when there is auto install method available in POL's depot?
    The steam app installer fixes the missing fonts too.
    I ask cause i just purchased this game and am going to install it and thought that it would be easier to install steam via the depository.

    thanks
    backplate101, Jan 1, 2016
    #65
  6. booman
    Yes, using the PlayOnLinux provided scripts is easier, but it is not always updated with the newest version of Wine or Steam client updates break things. Manual installation allows you to choose which version of Wine you want to use from the beginning. I just like having more control over the installation process instead of having an out-of-date script that might cause things to not work.
    booman, Jan 2, 2016
    #66
    vashin likes this.
  7. Aremis
    For note you are much better off learning how to use wine (in my opinion) and learning how to configure it. For the longest time wine was default 1.6.2 in POL and from repos then POL jumped to 1.7.21 but I was using 1.7.50 on my arch machine.

    Now we're on 1.9.1 and have DX11 support there. It is much more worth the time and effort to learn how to configure and use wine.
    Aremis, Jan 13, 2016
    #67
  8. booman
    This is true for gamers who are comfortable with command line. Unfortunately most gamers aren't. As you can see with console gamers and smart phone gamers alike. They just "want it to work"
    In Linux this is only the case with most games in Steam. All the rest require command line whether you are using Wine, tar, bash, or most other binary installers.

    I would say if a gamer is interested in learning Linux, then using the command line (Terminal) is definitely the way to go. Everyone else should probably stick with PlayOnLinux and Steam for now. Even some PlayOnLinux games require some command line intervention, but Wine requires a lot of commands to install games, configure games, setup dependencies and even changing Wine versions per game.
    For me that was a game-breaker... but when I started using PlayOnLinux, it made installing, configuring and optimizing games much easier.
    booman, Jan 13, 2016
    #68
    mrdeathjr28 likes this.
  9. mrdeathjr28
    This right in my case console is very needed for install lastest nvidia drivers (around 30min finish install 361.18, this driver out this morning)

    But as your said is very complex, linux must make more easily this process

    However mint improve that and with this ppa

    https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/ archive/ubuntu/ppa

    Them have lastest driver (normally take 3 days more in stay out in some cases as when drivers have some problem like as broke something case 361 series and plasma for more details consult ppa)

    In wine side this ppa stay updated

    https://launchpad.net/~wine/ archive/ubuntu/wine-builds

    Regular ppa stay outdated

    Back to playonlinux is more affordable for new users and have many options

    In my case recommends playonlinux if have problems with regular wine (compiling is more dificult too)

    But have system when work nvidia cuda 7.5, nvenc sdk 5, wine compiling enviroment + steam native games + older native non steam case doom 3, quake, prey + some console native emulators + wine apps is very very difficult (hell of dependencies) to make but is possible

    Without forget all games dont work in same wine version, and in this scenary playonlinux is a very usefull tool

    :)
    mrdeathjr28, Jan 13, 2016
    #69
    booman likes this.
  10. infinity8x3
    I fixed the shadows in the game by editing SkyrimPrefs.ini and changing "bDeferredShadows=1" to "bDeferredShadows=0"
    infinity8x3, Mar 19, 2016
    #70
  11. booman
    Do you mean the erradic shadow movement with the sun?
    booman, Mar 20, 2016
    #71
  12. infinity8x3
    Correct. And using wine 1.7.21 fixes the problem (worked out of the box for me).
    Also I had had sound issues I fixed by configuring wine to windows xp.
    infinity8x3, Mar 20, 2016
    #72
  13. booman
    I've noticed sound issues in other games as well. Yes, setting to Windows XP fixes them. Something with xaudio I guess...

    Thanks for the shadows tip, I wonder if it works in Wine 1.8?
    booman, Mar 22, 2016
    #73
  14. NotaPCgamer
    I need some basic help, where did you found the steam setup and steam.exe? This may sound ridicules but i just can't figure it out, i tried to use the shortcut but it appears like "the binary was not found in: steam.exe"
    NotaPCgamer, Apr 1, 2016
    #74
  15. steve723
    Last time I played it the overlay worked just fine.
    steve723, Apr 1, 2016
    #75
  16. booman
    Yes, the overlay works fine now with Wine 1.8 and newer... finally
    Now if they can get dwrite to work properly. Sometimes it does and other times it doesn't
    booman, Apr 3, 2016
    #76
  17. Pipes
    Hi folks,

    Thanks booman for the excellent tutorial. I encountered one curious problem: Skyrim won't recognize my keyboard. It works fine in Steam (running on the virtual drive) and in Linux/SteamOS, but won't work in the game. I can't get past the character creation step because I can't name my character. It's an Apple keyboard plugged in by USB. Any thoughts? Thanks!
    Pipes, Apr 11, 2016
    #77
  18. booman
    Welcome to the forum Pipes. I have a feeling there is something buggy between Wine and your Apple keyboard. Are you using PlayOnMac to play Skyrim?
    booman, Apr 11, 2016
    #78
  19. Pipes
    No, it's PlayOnLinux. The system is an Alienware Steam Machine running SteamOS, but the only keyboard I have handy happens to be Apple. I also have a steam controller hooked up and the "mouse" on that works fine in the game. I set it up using Wine 1.7.49-staging as you recommend in the tutorial. Curious.
    Pipes, Apr 12, 2016
    #79
  20. booman
    I've never personally tried that, but you might as well pick up a windows keyboard and it will probably work fine.
    I'm sure you can do some research on configuring a Mac keyboard in Linux.
    booman, Apr 12, 2016
    #80
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