Ghost Recon Guide

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The original Ghost Recon is the first tactical first person shooter where you can move your team in real-time as you track terrorist movement and rescue the hostages. With the expansion packs installed you have dozens of maps, equipment, classes and weapons. Play in team with AI support in singleplayer or cooperative with friends.

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

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

Tips & Specs:

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

Mint 17 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.8
Wine: 1.6.2

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"
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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
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Click Next

Downloading Wine
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Extracting

Downloading Gecko
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Installed
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Wine 1.6.2 is installed and you can close this window

Setup PlayOnLinux

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install
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Click "Install a non-listed program"
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Click Next

Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next
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Name your virtual drive: ghostrecon
Click Next
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Check all three options:
  • Use another version of wine
  • Configure Wine
  • Install some libraries
Click Next
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Select Wine 1.6.2
Click Next
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Select "32-bits windows installation"
Click Next
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Wine Configuration

Applications Tab
Windows version: Windows 7
Click Apply
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Graphics Tab
Check "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
Desktop size: 1024x768
Click OK
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Installing Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

Check the following packages:
  • POL_Install_corefonts
  • POL_Install_d3dx9
  • POL_Install_gdiplus
  • POL_Install_tahoma
Click Next
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Note: All packages will automatically download and install

Click Browse

Select "setup_tom_clancys_ghost_recon_2.0.0.6.exe"
Click Open
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Click Next again

Installing Ghost Recon

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

Select "GhostRecon.exe"
Click Next
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Name your shortcut: Ghost Recon
Click Next
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Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next
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PlayOnLinux Configure

Select Ghost Recon
Click Configure
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General Tab
Wine version: 1.6.2
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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
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Close Configure

Launching Ghost Recon

Select Ghost Recon
Click Run
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Note: Click Debug to see errors and bugs

Optimization

Ghost Recon is old enough to run on any laptop, netbook and desktop.
Click Options
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Click Graphics Tab

Adjust:
  • Resolutions
  • Z-Buffer Depth
  • Effects Detail
  • Shadows
  • Human Shadows
  • Tree Model Detail
  • Character Model Detail
  • Map Texture Detail
  • Character Texture Detail
  • Effects Texture Detail
  • Mipmap Textures
  • Compress Textures
  • Character Smoothing
Click Accept
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Installing Expansion Packs

Unfortunately the CD ROM's do not recognize the GOG installation of Ghost Recon.
So you will need to install the expansion packs in Windows or in a virtual Windows setup.
I was able to grab the files from my Windows partition

Locate the "Mods" folder in the GOG Ghost Recon program folder in Windows and PlayOnLinux
Windows:
Code: 
C:\GOG Games\Ghost Recon\Mods

Linux:
Code: 
/home/username/Desktop/wineprefix/ghostrecon/drive_c/GOG Games/Ghost Recon/Mods

Copy the Mp1 & Mp2 folder from Windows
Past over the folders in PlayOnLinux
Check "Apply this action to all files"
Click Merge
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Check "Apply this action to all files"
Click Replace
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Wait while it copies the expansion packs
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Now you can launch Ghost Recon again
Click Options
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Click Mods Tab
Activate/deactivate the expansion packs
Click Accept
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Conclusion:
Ghost Recon and the expansion packs ran perfectly! No graphical artifact or performance bugs at all. Such a classic game and easy to install on multiple computers with the DRM Free GOG version.

Video Gameplay:

Screens:
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Last edited:
Click to expand...
Marlhin
I have always asked myself, how do you know which libraries, components and DLLs you need to install when creating a guide?
 
booman
The initial test is always without libraries to see if Wine can handle the game, but sometimes I get in the habit of always added corefonts, d3dx9 and tahoma.
Those almost always work without fail.

If you want to know for sure which libraries a game needs there are a few places you can check:
  • support/redist - Most games have a folder on the CD/DVD or in the game folder called support or redist. These usually have some executables like DotNet.exe, Direct3D.exe, VisualC+.exe among others.
  • Installation - Almost all Steam games install the libraries upon first launch. Take not of white libraries and then delete the game, re-download, install libraries, then launch again.
  • Research - Last, you can always search online. Searching for specifications alone isn't enough because they usually don't give you all the dotnet, vcrun libraries that are required. This is because most computers already have them installed.
  • AppDB - Go to WineHQ.org and search for your game. Almost every game is in the database and someone has tested it or commented on what it needs to run.
 
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