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Neverwinter Free MMO Guide

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Jul 2, 2013.

  • by booman, Jul 2, 2013 at 2:32 PM
  • booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    neverwinter91.jpg

    There are already a lot of Dungeons & Dragons games out there. From board games to card games and video games. The Lore of D&D is nothing new to most of us...
    But I am excited to see Neverwinter appear as a Free game with the ability to use everything available in the game without having to spend a penny. The graphics are beautiful, the the world is huge, fight along side friends, customize your character and all the rest of the expected RPG qualities.

    neverwinter101.jpg

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

    Note: This guide applies to the downloadable version of Neverwinter. Steam and Arc versions may require additional steps.

    Tips & Specs:

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

    Note: March 2017 Perfect World Entertainment ended support for Windows XP and Direct X 9. This guide no longer applies until we can pursue more testing in Wine.

    Mint 17 64-bit
    PlayOnLinux: 4.2.8
    Wine: 1.7.40

    Wine Installation

    Click Tools
    Select "Manage Wine Versions"
    wine01.png

    Look for the Wine Version: 1.7.40
    Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-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 1.7.40 is installed and you can close this window

    Download the Neverwinter installer here:
    http://download.perfectworld.com/nw/neverwinter_setup.exe

    Save in a folder on your desktop
    neverwinter02.png

    PlayOnLinux Setup

    Launch PlayOnLinux
    Click Install
    neverwinter05.png

    Click "Install a non-listed program"
    neverwinter06.png

    Click Next

    Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
    Click Next
    neverwinter08.png

    Name the virtual drive: neverwinter
    Click Next
    neverwinter09.png

    Check all three options:
    • Use another version of Wine
    • Configure Wine
    • Install some libraries
    Click Next
    neverwinter10.png

    Select Wine 1.7.40
    Click Next
    neverwinter11.png

    Select "32 bits windows installation"
    Click Next
    neverwinter12.png

    Wine Configuration

    Applications Tab
    Windows Version: Windows 7
    Click Apply
    neverwinter13.png

    Graphics Tab
    Check "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
    Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
    Desktop size: 1024x768
    Click OK
    neverwinter14.png

    PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

    Check the following packages:
    • POL_Install_corefonts
    • POL_Install_d3dx9
    • POL_Install_tahoma
    Click Next
    neverwinter15.png

    Note: All packages will automatically download and install

    Installing Neverwinter

    Click Browse
    neverwinter16.png

    Navigate to the folder on your desktop
    Select "neverwinter_setup.exe"
    Click Open
    neverwinter17.png

    Click Next again

    Select language
    Click OK
    neverwinter19.png

    Click Next
    neverwinter20.png

    Click "I Agree"
    neverwinter21.png

    Click Next
    neverwinter22.png

    Uncheck "Create a desktop icon"
    Click Install
    neverwinter23.png

    Uncheck "Launch Neverwinter"
    Click Finish
    neverwinter24.png

    PlayOnLinux Shortcut

    Select "Neverwinter.exe"
    Click Next
    neverwinter25.png

    Name your shortcut: Neverwinter
    Click Next
    neverwinter26.png

    Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
    Click Next
    neverwinter27.png

    PlayOnLinux Configure

    Select Neverwinter
    Click Configure
    neverwinter28.png

    General Tab
    Wine version: 1.7.40
    neverwinter29.png

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

    Display Tab
    Video memory size: Enter the amount of memory your video card/chip uses
    neverwinter30.png

    Close Configure

    Launching Neverwinter

    Select Neverwinter
    Click Run
    neverwinter31.png

    Login with your account credentials
    neverwinter33.png

    Neverwinter will begin downloading and patching
    In total the game is about 13 Gigabytes
    neverwinter34.png

    Note: This process can take several hours depending on your internet speed

    When its done downloading click PLAY
    neverwinter35.png

    Long Cryptic loading screen
    At first launch, this Cryptic screen can literally take 15-20 minutes
    Please be patient and take a break
    neverwinter36.png

    Sometimes the login will fail and end up at this login screen
    Enter your account credentials
    Click LOGIN
    neverwinter37.png

    Once in game, select your character
    Click Enter World
    neverwinter38.png

    Optimization

    Click Options
    Click Graphics Tab

    Adjust resolution to match your Linux desktop

    Adjust:
    • Screen
    • Detail
    • Effects
    • Lights
    or

    Use the Render Quality (Video Card) and Graphics Detail (CPU) sliders

    Go to the Advanced tab for more settings
    Click OK or Apply
    neverwinter39.png

    Note: When in-game, settings will automatically change on the screen

    Conclusion:
    Neverwinter runs extremely well on my Geforce 550 Ti. I can turn almost all the graphical settings to high and still get a decent frame rate. This game is beautiful for an Online MMO and its best to play on a desktop with a modern graphics card.
    Normally when I first Enter World, there is a bit of lag as the level loads.

    Gameplay Video:


    Screenshots:
    neverwinter80.jpg

    neverwinter81.jpg

    neverwinter83.jpg

    neverwinter84.jpg

    neverwinter87.jpg

    neverwinter92.jpg

    neverwinter95.jpg

    neverwinter103.jpg

    neverwinter150.jpg
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2017

Comments

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Jul 2, 2013.

  1. booman
    I had to set Windows version to Windows XP and then install IE8. Make sure everything is in a 32-bit virtual drive.
    IE8 is required for the Arc client
  2. booman
    Thanks Steve for looking over the Neverwinter Guide. I wouldn't have checked for a long time because the Beta installer still runs fine on my machine.
    Glad you were on it!
  3. dem
    @booman :

    Hi,

    It seems that you're very pleased with overall performance ? I tested this (beautiful) game on my windows hard drive (tested is the good word, I barely never boot this hard drive, except for a few must have games I canno't play on linux, or for testing/comparisons), it worked flawlessly, graphics almost maxed out (except in the big city, where it was choppy on my pc -specs : athlon 64 x2 2x2.2ghz 4gb, nvidia gtx650ti 1gb ddr5).

    I didn't made any framerate testing, since I didn't know the command for it in this game.

    Regarding my PC specs, do you believe it worths to try a linux install of it ? Or should I wait my new processor (2x3.2ghz) ? I really don't want to play it in low settings.

    It's a game I'd like to follow (I'm a big fan of D&D games, on tabletop and videogames), especially on linux.

    thanks !
  4. booman
    Oh yeah, give it a try, Neverwinter ran pretty good for me. Its slow to download and launch, but once you are in-game it ran really well for me. You can always lower the video options to get better frame rates too. Unfortunately I think you have to download the whole game again in Linux. I tried backing up the beta game files and restoring them in the new Arc version and it didn't work. I had to wait a few hours to download again.
  5. dem
    I'll try it. Too bad I cannot just take the windows folder.

    I'll keep you informed about the result, thank you !
  6. dem
    edit (sort of...) : Like for path of exile, following your guide, playonlinux asks me if I prefer a 32bit windows installation or 64bit windows installation.

    Perhaps it's because I'm using ubuntu 12.04 64bit ?

    What choice should I do ? Is it the same choice for any game ?

    thanks
  7. dem
    edit2 (sorry)


    I installed the game using 32bit windows. It's working nicely, but it's a bit choppy, even outside the city. I'm not sure the graphics card (gtx650ti 1gb ddr5) is responsable, since no matter the graphics settings, the speed seems to be barely the same.

    Perhaps my old processor is guilty. 2x2.2ghz, 2x512kb cache is a bit slow in 2013 I guess. I need to upgrade it. I can go as far as a 2x3.2ghz 2x1mb cache processor.
  8. booman
    Yes always select 32-bit virtual drive.

    I've seen this problem with a few other games... no matter what video setting I select, its still a bit slow. I bet it has something to do with wine and CPU processing, but I really don't know. As newer Wine versions are released I keep testing to see if optimizations are improved.

    Thanks for your help. Since our site is new, we do not get a lot of feedback on our Guides. Glad to see you are having some success.
  9. dem
    You're welcome. I bookmarked this website ;)

    Concerning your guide, by the way, with my graphics card I don't have the "failed system specs check" message. The game recognize my card and directly offer me to run it maxed out (it's also why I don't think my 3d card is faulty in the choppy framerate).

    The game stills playable on linux, especially in "dungeons" (interior instances). A lot more than Champions online or Startrek. Wich is a bit weird since neverwinter is a newer game, don't you think ?
  10. booman
    You don't get that error? Strange because I get it every time and after clicking "low settings" the options show maxed settings anyways.... very strange.

    Yes, I would expect Neverwinter to run slower, but then again, maybe Paradox has learned a lot from their first games and have optimized everything better to run on all hardware.
    Now if they would just make a native Linux version.
  11. dem
    No error, absolutly.

    By the way, I disabled GSGL for this game too, and performances increased significantly. Since it's late (almost 2am) maybe there is less players, but I don't think so.

    Now even exterior dungeons (like blacktale night district or something like that) now are very playable, with graphics options to factory max settings (my resolution is 1280x1024). By max settings, I mean : I didn't touch advanced settings, I only pushed the 2 basic configuration cursors to max (wich are the recommanded settings).


    I can't wait to receive my new processor. The game should fly with it. But it's already perfectly playable keeping the nice graphics, really impressive.
  12. booman
    Very nice, I'll have to try that too
  13. steve723
    New processor hu? I need a entire new computer. To bad the Sims money tree is a game. Lol.
  14. booman
    By the way I tried the "ad games" link in Arc and nothing happens for me either. It eventually crashes. I'll look into the debug and see why it won't connect to their database so we can install another game.
  15. dem
    I abandonned the idea of installing CHampions for now. Too bad since it's one of my favourites.

    Neverwinter works really well with new processor. Except in the main city, the game is very fast. BUT it suffers some micro freezes when I change the character direction suddenly. I believe it's something related to GSGL. Because when I enable GSGL, the freezes are massive. When I disable GSGL, the freezes are almost not noticeable, but annoying regarding the native windows version of the game.

    I don't know what is the problem. It's not PC performance related, because except this, it's very fast, almost Quake3-ish speed and smoothness (lol). And these micro freezes (or micro lags) doesn't depand on graphics settings level. Low or high, same behaviour.


    The game stills perfectly playable. And the performance is very similar to WIndows. Except the main city, but I suspect that it's also the "microlag/freeze" behaviour wich is responsable.
  16. booman
    I had similar problems, but barely noticeable. I never messed with GLSL on most games.
    The new Wine 1.7.1 may have the boost we need for performance in games.
    They have implemented some speed boost for Direct3D in this version: Gamersonlinux
  17. dem
    Will it be possible to change the wine version inside POL without reinstalling the whole game ?
  18. booman
    Oh YEAH! That is the coolest feature of PlayOnLinux, change the Wine version any time you want.
    No re-installs, but I do like to click "Windows reboot" in the Wine Tab just to make sure.
  19. dem
    Really cool feature. i'm currently installing it to see if any difference exists inside neverwinter.


    thanks
  20. booman
    1.7.1? Lucky! I'm at work right now, so I won't have a chance till tomorrow morning.
    Definitely try it on any games you allready have installed

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