Survival Crisis Z Guide

Survival Crisis Z is an obscure indie title that features an open-world action elements. Survive random zombie horde attacks and help two opposing factions by completing missions and purchasing/selling weapons and merchandise.

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

Tips & Specs:

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

Mint 17.2 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

Download Survival Crisis Z
http://ska-studios.com/category/scz/

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 the virtual drive: scrisisz
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 (Libraries, DLL's, Components)

Check the following packages:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_tahoma

Click Next

Installing Survival Crisis Z

Click Browse

Select scz.exe
Click Open

Click Next again

Default Destination is incorrect
Enter: C:\Program Files\Survivial Crisis Z\
Click Install

PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select "SCZ.exe"
Click Next

Name the shortcut: Survival Crisis Z
Click Next

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

Download missing DLL's

dx7vb.dll
http://www.dlldump.com/download-dll-files_new.php/dllfiles/D/dx7vb.dll/5.03.2600.2180/download.html

dx8vb.dll
http://www.dlldump.com/download-dll-files_new.php/dllfiles/D/dx8vb.dll/5.03.2600.2180/download.html

d3drm.dll
http://www.dlldump.com/download-dll-files_new.php/dllfiles/D/d3drm.dll/5.1.2600.0/download.html

MSVBVM60.DLL
http://www.dlldump.com/download-dll-files.php/dllfiles/M/msvbvm60.dll/download.html

Move all 4 DLL's to Virtual Drive
Navigate to: /home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/scrisisz/drive_c/Windows/System32
Drag-n-drop all the missing libraries to the System32 directory
Click "Replace"

PlayOnLinux Configure

Back to PlayOnLinux
Select "Survival Crisis Z"
Click 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.

Wine Tab
We need to activate two of those missing DLL's
Click "Command Prompt"

Type:

regsvr32.exe dx7vb.dll

Press Enter

Type:

regsvr32.exe dx8vb.dll

Press Enter

Close the Command Prompt

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

Close Configure

Launching Survival Crisis Z

Select "Survival Crisis Z"
Click Run

Note: Click Debug to see errors and bugs

Main Menu
Follow the instructions for creating a user, class and difficulty, etc

Conclusion:
Once you activate those DLL's with the command line, Survival Crisis Z runs perfectly in PlayOnLinux, but unfortunately it only runs in the resolution of 640x480. There are no resolution settings. I experienced a few random crashes, but the game seems to auto-save every time you talk to an NCP, so I didn't loose a lot of progress.
Still, its quite a fun action game with a lot of exploration and zombie slaying! Don't let your NCP's turn into zombies!

Gameplay Video:

Screenshots:

 

Has anyone tried Survival Crisis Z in Linux yet?
Its a spectacular classic! Not only is it fun, but its intense and encourages a lot of exploration.

 

Confirmed Working on Arch Linux LXDE wine-gaming-nine 1.7.55-2

 

Absolute Blitzkrieg

 

Here is how I did it on Arch, I use wine-gaming-nine but it probably works on other versions of wine. I run a 64bit os so I removed the default wine prefix. (optional.)
In terminal:

$rm -fr ~/.wine

Next I needed to change the environment to 32bit.

$WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=/path/to/wineprefix winecfg

After that I had to export the WINEPREFIX to the 32bit environmrnt. (Using the path where .wine is located.) In my case all I had to change was (USER.)

$export WINEPREFIX="/home/USER/.wine"

Then:

$WINEPREFIX="/home/USER/.wine" (Remember to change the path to your location.)

Next I ran winecfg in terminal. It will install the necessary files, then I closed the winecfg
box. I ran winetricks and installed:

• corefonts
• d3dx9
• tahoma

I changed the directory to my Downloads folder through terminal and ran:

$wine scz.exe

Installing the EXE to C:\Program Files\Survivial Crisis Z\ (as mentioned in the Guide.)

I copied the dll files from this guide to the system32 folder.
Then I ran in terminal:

$wine cmd

That will bring you to your default z: location.

Ran as mentioned: regsvr32.exe dx7vb.dll

Opened the folder Survival Crisis Z Right clicked SCZ.exe Selected Wine Windows Program Loader.
The game Launched

I have not added a shortcut to the desktop yet.
I was able to run winecfg and add SCZ.exe

 

To make a desktop Launcher icon I right clicked on desktop
Create New Empty File Open it and enter:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Survival Crisis Z
Type=Application
Exec=env WINEPREFIX="/home/user/.wine" /usr/bin/wine C:\\\\Program\\ Files\\\\Survival\\ Crisis\\ Z\\\\SCZ.exe (Change user)
Icon=/the/location/of/your.png (change Location)
Categories=Wine;
StartupNotify=true
Path=/home/user/.wine/dosdevices/c:/Program Files/Survival Crisis Z (Change user)

Save and exit.




I just downloaded an icon picture..

 

Awesome! Thanks for the tips!
What a cool classic game huh?

 

Yes, just try not to get over run by the overwhelming zombies

Awesome! Thanks for the tips!
What a cool classic game huh?

 

Those that use Arch, If you notice any errors in my post let me know. Removing the default prefix is not necessary. The thing about using wine directly that I have noticed is I always have to set the WINARCH=32 and export my WINEPREFIX= otherwise it will default to 64bit when you restart your system. I think there is a way to change that I just have not done it yet.