Aliens vs Predator Classic Guide

Scale walls and attack your prey as an Alien...
Use stealth, blades and a shoulder cannon as Predator...
Fight with an arsenal of machine guns, grenade launchers, flame throwers and turrets to slaugher the rest.
Play a single-player campaign to go head-to-head in player vs player deathmatch in starships, space stations, colonial bases and alien planets.

Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Aliens vs Predator in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Note: This guide applies to the GOG version of Aliens vs Predator. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

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

Mint 17 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.9
Wine: 1.6.2

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"

Look for the Wine Version: 1.6.2
Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-staging

Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right

Click Next

Downloading Wine

Extracting

Downloading Gecko

Installed

Wine 1.6.2 is installed and you can close this window

PlayOnLinux Setup

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install

Click "Install a non-listed program"

Click Next

Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next

Name your virtual drive: alienspredator
Click Next

Check all three options:

• Use another version of Wine
• Configure Wine
• Install some libraries

Click Next

Select Wine: 1.6.2
Click Next

Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next

Wine Configuration

Applications Tab
Windows version: Windows 7
Click Apply

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

PlayOnLinux Packages (DLL's, Libraries, Components)

Check the following packages:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_gdiplus
• POL_Install_tahoma

Click Next

Note: All packages will automatically download and install

Click Browse

Select "setup_avp_classic_2.1.0.25.exe"
Click Open

Click Next again...

Check "Yes, I have read and accept EULA"
Click Options
Uncheck "Create desktop icons"
Click Install

The installation will halt at about 80%
You will see this pop-up error
Click OK

Killing AvP Installer
Alt+Tab back to PlayOnLinux
Click Configure

Wine Tab
Click "Kill processes"

PlayOnLinux Configure

General Tab
Wine version: 1.6.2

Note: Click the + to download other versions of Wine. Click the down-arrow to select other versions of Wine

PlayOnLinux Shorcut

Click "Make a new shortcut from this virtual drive"
Select "AvP_Classic.exe"
Click Next

Name your shortcut: Aliens vs Predator
Click Next

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

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

Close Configure

Launching Aliens vs Predator

Select "Aliens vs Predator"
Click Run

Note: Click debug to see bugs and errors

Optimization

Click "Audio/Video Options"

Click "Video Card & Resolution"

Adjust resolution to match your Linux Desktop
Click "Use These Settings"

Note: The menu will not resize to match the new resolution, but the game will when the first level loads.

Detail Levels Menu

Adjust:

• Number of Decals
• Light Coronas
• Decals on Characters
• Deformable Explosions
• Character Complexity
• Complex Particle Effects

Click "Use These Settings"

Conclusion:
Aliens vs Predator is a pretty old game and should run on any Desktop, Laptop and Netbook. I was able to run all the settings on high with my GeForce 550 Ti and my GeForce 7600 GT. I could never figure out why the installer freezes, but the game is installed and can run just fine.
There is a native installer available but requires Terminal and compiling. Using PlayOnLinux is an easy option in comparison.

Gameplay Video:

Screenshots:

 

I remember this game so well. I played it when it was newly released, and loved it. I do remember that this game could be quite difficult, especially if you wanted to unlock all the bonus levels.

It is great that it runs well in Wine.

 

I'm having a hard time playing it due to limited saves. Playing on the "Training" difficulty means only 7 saves. Of course this is frustrating because if you die, then you have to keep re-visiting the same areas over and over again.
Kinda like Far Cry and their "checkpoint" saving system. Really sucks, but when you eventually figure out the stealthiness of the game, then you can progress faster.

The only problem I had was the crash during installation. The game is installed, but I have to "Kill Proccesses" to complete it. Even with gdiplus package installed. This happened earlier this year when Aliens vs Predator was free on GOG and I tested it. Same problem. I don't want to use /nogui either because it throws off the order-of-steps in my guides. I try to keep all my guides the same order, unless there is something that just messes up the install/configuration, etc.

 

I remember that unlocking some of the bonus missions required you to finish the single player campaigns on the hardest difficulty, and that leaves you with just two saves if I remember correctly.

I have a weakness for challenges of that kind, and of course didn't give up until I had completed all levels on hardest difficulty.

 

Wow, you have a lot more patience for that kind of thing than I do.
Then again, I can run around Tamriel for 100's of hours doing every quest I come upon