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Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop Guide

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, May 19, 2017.

  • by booman, May 19, 2017 at 1:25 PM
  • booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    alienswarm83.jpg

    Alien Swarm is one of the first Free-To-Play Source games in Steam. Play as several solider classes in a co-op campaign and obliterate the alien swarms by completing objectives and using brutal weapons. Reactive Drop adds new campaigns, aliens, weapons, game modes and improved single player. Now you can slay aliens with 8 players in online or offline co-op. Oh, and did I mention that its still FREE?

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    Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

    Note: This guide applies to the Steam version of Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop.

    Tips & Specs:

    Try SteamPlay before using this guide as Valve now uses a fork of Wine called Proton and should run most Windows games.


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

    Mint 18.1 64-bit
    PlayOnLinux: 4.2.10
    Wine: 2.0-staging

    Wine Installation

    Note: Wine versions older than 2.0.2 and 2.12-staging no longer work with Steam.


    Click Tools
    Select "Manage Wine Versions"
    wine01.png

    Look for the Wine Version: 2.0-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 2.0-staging is installed and you can close this window

    Downloading Steam

    Go To: http://www.steampowered.com
    Click Install Steam
    alienswarm01.png

    Do not click "Install Steam Now"
    It will automatically install Linux Steam
    Select Windows Steam instead
    click "Windows" under the green button
    alienswarm02.png

    Navigate to your desktop
    Click Save
    alienswarm03.png

    PlayOnLinux Setup

    Launch PlayOnLinux
    Click Install
    alienswarm04.png

    Click "install a non-listed program"
    alienswarm05.png

    Click Next

    Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
    Click Next
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    Name your virtual drive: alienswarm
    No spaces
    Click Next
    alienswarm07.png

    Select all three options:
    • Use another version of Wine
    • Configure Wine
    • Install some libraries
    Click Next
    alienswarm08.png

    Select Wine 2.0-staging
    Click Next
    alienswarm09.png

    Select "32 bits windows installation"
    Click Next
    alienswarm10.png

    Configure Wine

    Applications Tab
    Windows Version: Windows 7
    Click Apply
    alienswarm11.png

    Graphics Tab
    Check: Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows
    Check: Emulate a virtual desktop
    Desktop size: 1024x768
    Click Ok
    alienswarm12.png

    PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

    Check the following libraries:
    • POL_Install_corefonts
    • POL_Install_d3dx9
    • POL_Install_tahoma
    Click Next
    alienswarm13.png

    Note: All packages will automatically download and install

    Installing Steam

    Click Browse
    alienswarm14.png

    Navigate to your desktop
    Select: SteamSetup.exe
    Click Open
    alienswarm15.png

    Click Next

    Click Next

    Check: I accept the license...
    Click Next

    Click Next

    Click Next

    Click Install

    Click Finish

    Updating Steam

    Steam might not have any fonts due to dwrite functionality
    Click the "X" to close Steam login

    PlayOnLinux Shortcut

    Select Steam.exe
    Click Next
    alienswarm25.png

    Name your shortcut: Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop
    Click Next
    alienswarm26.png

    Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
    Click Next
    alienswarm27.png

    PlayOnLinux Configure

    Back to PlayOnLinux
    Click Configure
    alienswarm28.png

    General Tab
    Arguments: -no-dwrite -no-cef-sandbox
    This fixes the missing font problem and Store problem
    alienswarm29.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: Select the size of Memory your video card/chip uses
    alienswarm30.png

    Close Configure

    Launching Steam

    Select Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop
    Click Run
    alienswarm31.png

    Note: Click debug to see errors and bugs

    Click "Login to existing account"
    alienswarm32.png

    Login
    alienswarm33.png

    Search the Steam Store for "Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop"
    Click "Play Game"
    alienswarm34.png

    Uncheck "Create desktop shortcut"
    Uncheck "Create start menu shortcut"
    Click Next
    alienswarm35.png

    Click Finish
    alienswarm36.png

    When Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop is done downloading
    Click Play
    alienswarm38.png

    Optimization

    Click Options
    alienswarm39.png

    Click Video
    alienswarm40.png

    Adjust:
    • Aspect Ratio
    • Resolution
    • Display Mode
    • Anti-aliasing Mode
    • Filtering Mode
    • Wait For Vertical Sync
    • Multicore Rendering
    • Shader Detail
    • Effect Detail
    • Model / Texture Detail
    • Bloom
    • Depth Blur
    • Paged Pool memory Available
    Click Done
    alienswarm41.png

    Rule of thumb
    High settings = More detail, lower frame rates
    Low settings = Less detail, higher frame rates

    Conclusion:
    Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop ran flawlessly in PlayOnLinux and I was really impressed with the new upgrades and changes. 8-player should be a LOT of fun in a LAN (I sucessfully tested 4-player offline) and the new campaigns, weapons and improved single player makes it a no-brainer. I didn't have any issues running on Mint 18 with GeForce 660, 750 Ti, GTX 1060 or GTX 950.

    Gameplay Video:


    Screenshots:
    alienswarm81.jpg

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    Last edited: Dec 12, 2019

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Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, May 19, 2017.

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