Risen 2 Dark Waters Guide

In Risen 2 you work for the inquisition but need to secrectly join pirates to find the source of the titans. Engage in quests, loot, train, barter and obliterate all kinds of seafearing creatures. Explore the beautiful world of Risen and make your own decisions to solve any quest to unlock new skills and paths.

Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Risen 2 in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Note: This guide applies to the GOG version of Risen 2. Other versions may require additional steps

Tips & Specs:

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

Mint 17.3 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.10
Wine: 1.8

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"

Look for the Wine Version: 1.8
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right

Click Next

Downloading Wine

Extracting

Downloading Gecko

Installed

Wine 1.8 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: risen2
Click Next

Check all three options:

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

Click Next

Select Wine 1.8
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: Enter the size of your Linux Desktop
Click OK

PlayOnLinux Packages (DLL's, Libraries, Components)

Check the following:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_d3dcompiler_43
• POL_Install_gdiplus
• POL_Install_physx
• POL_Install_tahoma

Click Next

Note: All packages will automatically download and install

Click Browse

Select "setup_risen2_2.1.0.12.exe"
Click Open

Click Next again

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

Any errors
Click OK

Click Exit

PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select Risen.exe
Click Next

Name your shortcut: Risen 2
Click Next

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

PlayOnLinux Configure

Select Risen 2
Click Configure

General Tab
Wine version: 1.8

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

Close Configure

Risen First Launch

Select Risen 2
Click Run

Note: Click debug to see errors and bugs

Optimization

Click Options

Click Video

Adjust:

• Resolution
• Refresh Rate
• Sync
• Brightness
• Contrast
• Gamma

Click Graphics

Adjust:

• Anisotropic Filtering
• Depth of Field
• anti-Aliasing
• Water Reflections
• Shadow Quality
• Landscape Quality
• Texure Quality
• Foliage Quality
• Shader Quality
• Object Distance
• Landscape Distance

Rule of Thumb:
Lower settings = Lower quality, higher frame rates
Higher settings = Higher quality, lower frame rates

Conclusion:
Risen 2 Dark Waters ran really well on my GeForce 550 Ti. I didn't experience any bugs or crashing. Animation is really smooth and the world is very alive with vegetation moving, water, creatures and day/night cycle. Everything performed great.

Gameplay Video:

Screenshots:

 

Very good rpg and good screens

 

Very good rpg and good screens

Thanks as always! Your tips are always helpful

 

Did you ended up playing the whole game under this setup or tested it more? Now that GOG has it on sale I'm really curious on how did this went on the long run, on the video you posted the game seems to go a bit slow specially at some parts were the camera moves but it might be just the video.

 

I played at least 5 hours or more. It has a slow pace because of all the dialog. Most of my video's get a lower frame rate because I'm playing the game and recording. I had no frame rate issues playing the game alone.
Its your call because a small handful of game play fine and then crash at a certain point. Check on WineHQ's for any reports of people not able to play the entire game.