Back when I was busy playing Battlefield 1942, Return to Castle Wolfenstein & Half-Life... there were some amazing RPG games that just didn't get the credit they deserved. I wasn't aware of open world exploration games like Morrowind, or the ability to level up your character and customize their entire inventory.



Many years later after becoming an RPG addict, I found Arx Fatalis on GOG.com and realized what I had been missing.

Of course graphics & animation are now state-of-the-art and physics play a huge part in modern gaming... but when you play Arx Fatalis and put yourself back in 2002, its quite amazing!

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

Note: This guide applies to the GOG.com version of Arx Fatalis. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs

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

Mint 14 32-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.1
Wine: 1.5.25

Installing Wine with PlayOnLinux

Installing different versions of Wine is necessary for running different games because one Wine doesn't work for them all. PlayOnLinux makes it possible to download, install and test your game in all the versions of Wine until you find the right one for your speicific game.

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Tools
Click "Manage Wine Versions"

Wine versions manager
Select 1.5.25
Click the right-arrow


Wine wizard
Click Next


Downloading...


Extracting


Complete


Thats it!
Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-staging

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install


Search: GOG.com - Arx Fatalis
Select Arx Fatalis
Click Install


Note: We are using the provided script from PlayOnLinux because it installs the proper version of Wine and any Windows Libraries needed automatically. Later we will select a newer version of Wine.

Click Next


Make sure you have already downloaded Arx Fatalis from GOG.com
Save it to your desktop

Select "Use a setup file in my computer"
Click Next


Click Run


Navigate to your Desktop
Select arx_fatalis.exe
Click Open


Click Next


Configuring Wine


Checking file integrity


Check "yes, I have read..."
Click Start Installation


Installing


Complete
Do not Click launch!
Click Exit Installer


Note: PlayOnLinux will automatically create shortcuts for you

In PlayOnLinux
Click Configure

General Tab
Select Wine version: 1.5.25


Display Tab
Direct Draw Renderer: opengl
Video memory size: the amount of memory on your video card
Offscreen rendering mode: fbo


Wine Tab
Click Windows Reboot


Close configuration

Set Resolution
Changing screen resolution in-game probably won't work and you will be stuck with a tiny or stretched out 1024x768 screen

Navigate to:
/home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/ArxFatalis_gog/drive_c/Program Files/GOG.com/Arx Fatalis

Note: username is your login



Open cfg_default.ini with a text editor
under [VIDEO]
resolution=1360x765


You can adjust the screen resolution here. Some resolutions are not supported by the engine, but I got 1360x765 to work.

Note: Before launching Arx Fatalix in 1360x765 make sure to change Linux desktop resolution to match, otherwise the game will not be fullscreen.

Launch PlayOnLinux
Select Arx Fatalis
Click Run

Don't bother with graphical settings, only use the cfg_default.ini

Conclusion:
Arx Fatalis turned out to be pretty fun and a few surprises with bump mapping and lighting. There is action, puzzles, looting, leveling up and all the weapons your heart desires.
One element that took me a long time to figure out is where to click to move up stairs to the next level.... you will se a very very tiny triangle with an arrow in the top right of the screen. Its not very obvious, but that is how to move from one level to the other.

Screenshots: