Arcanum Guide

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Imagine a place of wonder, where magick and technology hold equal sway, and an adventurer might just as easily wield a flintlock pistol as a flaming sword. A place where great industrial cities house castle keeps and factories, home to Dwarves, Humans, Orcs and Elves alike. A place of ancient runes and steamworks, of magic and machines, of sorcery and science.

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

Note: This guide applies to the GOG version of Arcanum. 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: 1.8.2

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"
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Look for the Wine Version: 1.8.2
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 1.8.2 is installed and you can close this window

Download Arcanum unofficial patch and widescreen patch

Go to: http://www.terra-arcanum.com/downloads/
Click Unofficial Patch
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Download patch: UAP091225.exe
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Click High Resolution Patch
Download patch: HighRes1.1a.exe
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Note: Wait until the first patch is completely downloaded before clicking the next patch.

PlayOnLinux Setup

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: arcanum
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 1.8.2
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"
Click OK
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PlayOnLinux Packages (Components, DLL's, Libraries)

Check the following:
  • 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

Installing Arcanum

Click Browse

Select "setup_arcanum_2.0.0.15.exe"
Click Open
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Click Next again

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 "Arcanum.exe"
Click Next
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Click Next
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Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next
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PlayOnLinux Configure

Select Arcanum
Click Configure
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General Tab
Wine version: 1.8.2
Arguments: -no3d
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Note: -no3d eliminates graphical artifacts. 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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Installing Patches

Miscellaneous Tab
Click "Run a .exe in this virtual drive"
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Select UAP091225.exe
Click Open
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Click Next
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Check "Townmap Fixes"
Check "Extra Content"
Click Next
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Click Install
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Uncheck "Show Readme"
Click Finish
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Click "Run a .exe in this virtual drive"
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Select HighRes1.1a.exe
Click Open
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Type Destination folder:
C:\GOG Games\Arcanum
Click Install
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Readme?
Press n
Press Enter
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Install High Resolution Patch?
Press i
Press Enter
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Type width
ex: 1920
Press Enter
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Type height
ex: 1080
Press Enter
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Follow the rest of the instructions about Dialog and Logbook fonts

Successful
Press Enter
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Close Configure

Launching Arcanum

Select Arcanum
Click Run
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Note: Click Debug to see errors and bugs

Conclusion:
Arcanum ran perfectly after adding the High Resolution patch and using the -no3d argument. It is an old school game, but very detailed in character development. There seems to be endless options for skills, strengths, spells, items, disciplines and more.


Screenshots:
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Last edited:
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