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GamersOnLinux FAQ

Discussion in 'Staff Announcements' started by booman, Oct 13, 2014.

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  1. booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    Why do you have guides for Windows games?
    Because we have spent countless hours testing and grinding away with trial and error to get these programs running in Linux. We have decided to share our success by formatting step-by-step guides so you don’t have to. Also there are literally thousands of games that we are sure will never be ported to Linux natively. With Wine and PlayOnLinux we have found that these games will run very nicely with appropriate hardware.


    What is Wine?
    If you play PC games and want to migrate to Linux, the only way to play most of your Windows-only games is through Wine. Wine Is Not an Emulator [W I N E]; instead it’s a wrapper that mimics Windows processes and libraries in order to run PC games & programs in Linux.

    A wrapper is a software application that runs kind of like an adapter between your OS and a program that was written for another OS. By bridging the gaps, it often allows the program to run in another OS: like a Windows program running in Linuxes. There is no guarantee your game or program will run in Linux, but we have experienced a LOT of success.


    What is PlayOnLinux?
    PlayOnLinux is a graphical user interface for installing games and programs with Wine. It doesn’t require commands in the terminal and consists of buttons and menus. PlayOnLinux also has some automated scripts that install and set up your games for you.


    Why do you normally use PlayOnLinux?
    Wine alone does a good job of running programs but requires a lot of command-line knowledge meant for Linux veterans, but PlayOnLinux is much easier to setup, install and configure PC games in a Graphical User Interface [GUI]. There are other Wine-based GUI’s that will help you run your PC games, but we have found that PlayOnLinux has the best results and supports patched versions of Wine. We do feature a few native Linux guides as well.


    Why are all the guides manual installations?
    We highly recommend trying PlayOnLinux scripts to install and run your programs first, before using the manual method. This is particularly true for beginners, and less experienced Linux users.

    Our guides are meant to help you learn the inner workings of PlayOnLinux and how it uses Wine, libraries and virtual drives to achieve great results. This knowledge will help you to troubleshoot problems on your own. This is a valuable tool in the event the script fails, or is outdated because of library updates.


    What is the difference between scripts and manual installations?
    Scripts automate almost all of the steps in a manual installation, but there are a lot of games without a script. Some scripts break due to updates in games, clients, or the operating system. If your game doesn’t install properly with a script you won’t be able to play it. In that case, the only options you have are to file a bug report, post in the forum, try the script later, or try a manual installation. That is where GamersOnLinux comes in. With the hard-knocks experience our contributors have, there isn’t much we can’t solve, post in our forums if you need help.


    What if the game doesn’t run?
    We are happy to help you with any questions regarding games, PlayOnLinux, Wine, Linux distributions and hardware. Some of the guides may be out-of-date as well, so your input helps us to learn which guides need to be updated and revised.


    My game was running fine but now it suddenly stopped working…what can I do?
    Most retail and GOG games will run with the recommended version of Wine because they are not updated. Other online games like MMOs or clients like Steam, Uplay, Origin and Arc are updated on a regular basis and can potentially break your games. Even Linux updates and driver updates can break PlayOnLinux games and native Linux games. Post the problem and debug output in our forum so we can help you troubleshoot your game.


    Why is there so many versions of Wine available in PlayOnLinux?
    Wine is an open source program that can be modified by the public and then made available for download. There is a recommended ‘stable’ version of Wine that works with most games, but many times it needs to be patched in order for some games to work properly. Wine developers do not support ‘patched’ versions of Wine, but PlayOnLinux developers do. There are some games that have really stubborn DRM or library compatibility and only run on patched versions.

    If your game won’t run with with the recommended Wine version, feel free to download a newer version and test it yourself. Just make sure to let us know if it works and we will update our guides.


    Your site doesn’t have a guide for my game…
    For sure, we don’t have ALL the answers, and that includes a guide for every game, so become a contributor! Feel free to use the steps in our guides to manually setup a game, and test it yourself. Then report your success or failures in our forum. You’ll get help from us, and contribute to the Linux gaming community along the way!


    How can I create a guide for my game?
    Please follow our guidelines for creating a game installation guide and then post the guide (and screenshots) in our PlayOnLinux forum. We can review it and then put it in the Guides forum. You are required to have a minimum of 15 posts before you can attach images.

    What setup do you recommend for the best gaming experience?
    We recommend a popular, beginner-friendly Linux distro if you are new Linux user, like Ubuntu or Mint. We also recommend investing in a desktop system with a Nvidia video card. Laptops can play a lot of games with modern integrated GPUs but it still won’t provide the highest quality gaming.


    I need help right now, where can I get it?
    We have a live support room on IRC. Follow this guide to install the hexchat IRC client, and then connect to the channel to talk with our moderators in real time. We try to keep it open 24/7, but be patient in case our mods aren’t immediately available: GamersOnLinux IRC
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