Watch Dogs is an open world 3rd person action hacking game where you can explore a living city full of technology and crime. Roam the streets of Chicago as Alden Pearce while hacking phones, city devices, ATMs and Vehicles to stop crime. Stealth is your closest friend



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

Note: This guide applies to the Legacy Uplay version of Watch Dogs. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

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

Mint 18.3 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.12
Wine: 3.14 Staging 64-bit

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"


Look for the Wine Version: 3.13
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right


Click Next

Downloading Wine


Extracting

Downloading Gecko


Installed


Also click the "Wine versions (amd64) Tab" and download 3.13 as well

Wine 3.13 & 3.13 64-bit is installed and you can close this window

Download the Legacy Uplay

Go to: ubi.li/78pn4
Save UplayInstaller.exe to your Desktop
Note: This is the unsupported version that still works with Windows XP

PlayOnLinux Setup

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install


Click "Install a non-listed program"


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


Name the virtual drive: watchdogs
Click Next


Check all three options:

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

Click Next


Select Wine 3.13
Click Next


Select "64 bits windows installation"
Click Next


Wine Configuration

Windows version: Windows XP
Click Apply


Libraries Tab
Add the following overrides:

• d3d10
• d3d10_1
• d3d10core
• d3d11
• dxgi
• xaudio2_7

Click Edit on each override and select "(Native) Windows"
Click Apply


Note: Manually typing in each override is quicker than finding them on the dropdown menu

Graphics Tab
Check "automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
Click OK


PlayOnLinux Packages (DLLs, Components, Libraries)

Check the following:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx10
• POL_Install_d3dx11
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_tahoma
• POL_Install_vcrun2008
• POL_Install_vcrun2010
• POL_Install_xaudio

Click Next


Note: All packages should automatically download and install

Click Browse

Select "UplayInstaller.exe" from your Desktop
Click Open


Click Next

Click OK


Click "I Accept"


Click Install


Click Next


Click Finish to run Uplay


Login to Uplay
Important: Check "Remember me"


Click Games
Click Watch Dogs


Click Download


Select Language
Click Continue


Uncheck "Create start menu shortcut"
Uncheck "Create desktop shortcut"
Click Continue


Note: PlayOnLinux will create the shortcuts in a later step

Click "Accept and continue"


Wait for Watch Dogs to download
Important: Do not run Watch Dogs!
When its finished downloading, Close Uplay

PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select "Uplay.exe"
Click Next


Name the shortcut: Watch Dogs
Click Next


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


Download Lutris Staging Wine

PlayOnLinux no longer provides "staging" versions of Wine
We'll grab one from Lutris Runners
Go to: https://lutris.net/files/runners/
Download "wine-staging-3.14-x86_64.tar.gz"
Save it to your Desktop
Extract "wine-staging-3.14-x86_64.tar.gz" to the PlayOnLinux Wine/linux-amd64 directory
Full path:

Code:

/home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wine/linux-amd64/

PlayOnLinux Configure

Back to PlayOnLinux
Select "Watch Dogs"
Click Configure


General Tab
Click the Wine down-arrow
Select "staging-3.14-x86_64"


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


Close Configure

DXVK Setup

Go to: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases
Download Version 0.70
Extract it to your Desktop


Open x64 directory
Copy all dlls


Paste in the Uplay/games/Watch_Dogs/bin directory
Full path:

Code:

/home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/watchdogs/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Ubisoft/games/Watch_Dogs/bin

DXVK Full Guide
http://www.gamersonlinux.com/forum/threads/dxvk-guide.2540/
Follow this guide for all the detailed steps to run DXVK in PlayOnLinux

Run Watch Dogs

Select Watch Dogs
Click Run


Note: Click Debug to see bugs and errors

Uplay should automatically login and run
Click Games
Click Watch Dogs
Click Play


The first launch will try to install dependencies like Direct X, Visual C & DOT Net Framework 3.5
Since we previously installed all of them but Dot Net it will hang on Dot Net
DOT Net Framework 3.5 doesn't even install in a 64-bit prefix


Go to your System Monitor
Find Setup.exe
End Process

The game launch should continue
If not, end close it and run it again.
Eventually the Dot Net installation will skip and run the game

Optmization

Click options


Click Display


Adjust:

• Resolution
• Refresh Rate
• Aspect Ratio
• Window Mode
• VSync
• GPU Max Buffered Frames
• Textures
• Anti-Aliasing
• Widescreen Letterbox

Click Apply


Note: The first time Watch Dogs launched the resolution was 800x600 and I could change it in-game, but you need to move the mouse to the right-edge of the screen to see the "Apply" button

Click Graphics Quality
Adjust:

• Overall Quality
• Level of Detail
• Shadows
• Reflections
• Ambient Occlusion
• Motion Blur
• Depth of Field
• Water
• Shader

Click Apply


You can manually adjust the game settings in the GamerProfile.xml

1. Go to Documents
2. My Games
3. Watch Dogs
4. hexadecimal directory
5. Open GamerProfile.xml

Manually adjust game resolution and other settings here


Conclusion:
Watch Dogs needs a lot of workarounds and extra hacks not provided by PlayOnLinux, but it runs GREAT!
The main issues I had was trying to make the first launch skip the Dot Net installation. I don't even know why it requires Dot Net??? The other problem was at first launch the resolution was 800x600 and I was trying to adjust it in-game, but the apply button was not in the screen. Then it would eventually crash and I had to kill it from TTY shell. But later I found that all I have to do is slide the mouse to the right side of the screen and there is the "Apply" button.
DXVK has made all the difference in playing these Direct X 10/11 games in Wine.

Gameplay Video:


Screenshots: