Crysis is one of those games everybody needs to play at least once. The quality and eye-candy marked a whole new level of realism and benchmarking for computer hardware. Not to mention some really awesome aliens and the first time any game used no gravity.



Crysis actually runs pretty well in PlayOnLinux with a special patched version of Wine only available from PlayOnLinux.

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

Note: This guide applies to the Retail version of Crysis. 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: 1.6-rc4-d3d_doublebuffer

Wine Install

Launch PlayOnLinux

Click "Tools"
Select "Manage Wine versions"

Naviate down the list until you find 1.6-rc4-d3d_doublebuffer
Select it and click the top (right arrow) button to add Wine 1.6-rc4-d3d_doublebuffer to your "Installed wine Versions" list


Note: You can also download Wine 1.8-d3d_doublebuffer

Click Next

Downloading Wine


Extracting


Downloading Gecko


Finished, now Wine 1.6-rc4-d3d_doublebuffer is installed and ready


Close Wine manager

Setup PlayOnLinux

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install


Click "Install a non-listed program"


Click Next


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


Name your virtual drive: crysis
Click Next


Check all three options:

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

Click Next


Select Wine 1.6-rc4-d3d_doublebuffer (or 1.7.8-d3d_doublebuffer)
Click Next


Note: If you are running a 64-bit system, PlayOnLinux will prompt if you want to use a 64-bit or 32-bit virtual drive.
ALWAYS SELECT THE 32-bit VIRTUAL DRIVE

Configuring Wine

Applications Tab
Windows Version: Windows XP
Click Apply


Graphics Tab
Check "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
Desktop Size: 1024x768
Click OK


Check all of the following Libraries:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_tahoma
• POL_Install_msxml3
• POL_Install_vcrun2005

Click Next


Note: All libraries will automatically download and install

Select "CD-ROM:Crysis"
Click Next


Crysis Installation

Click Install

Click Next

Enter Key
Click Next

Check "I accept the terms..."
Click Next

Check "Easy"
Click Next

Uncheck Register, Readme & Updates
Click Finish


PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select Crysis.exe
Click Next


Name your shortcut: Crysis
Click Next


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


Configure PlayOnLinux

In PlayOnLinux, click Configure


Select Crysis virtual drive

General Tab
Wine Version should be: 1.4-rc5-d3d_doublebuffer
Later we will switch to Wine 1.6-rc4 to install the Patch. Here is where you make this change.


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


Wine Tab
Click Windows Reboot


Patching Crysis

Go To: www.gamefront.com/files/9766351
Download Crysis_Patch_1_2.exe


Navigate to your desktop
Click Save


Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Configure


General Tab
Change Wine Version to: 1.6-rc4


Miscellaneous Tab
Click "Run a .exe file in this virtual drive"


Navigate to your desktop
Select "Crysis_Patch_1_2.exe"
Click Open


Note: You might get a PlayOnLinux error, ignore it

Click Update


The update should take only a few minutes.
If it crashes, it will never finish, cancel and try again.
Click Finish


Launch Crysis

Select Crysis
Click Run


Configuring & Optimizing Crysis

Main Menu
Click Options


Click System Settings


Click Graphics Tab
Video mode: This is the resolution of the screen. I was able to run Crysis at 1680x1050
Typical resolutions are 1400x900 or 1024x768

Note: We have set Wine to launch programs in a virtual desktop, it will automatically resize depending on the resolution you set here.

Anti-Aliasing Quality
The higher the setting the smoother edges will look. Will sacrifice frames per second

Click Apply


Click Advanced
Select presets under "Change all setting to"

• Low
• Med
• High

Note: Its a good idea to start with low or medium and then slowly ram up the settings until you get a tolerable eye-candy and frames per second.

Click Apply


Conclusion:
I tried Crysis almost a year ago and just couldn't get past the intro. Now it runs almost perfectly with hardly any crashing or errors.

It requires a version of Wine that has been patched, but it still works. I will continue to test newer versions of Wine to see if WineHQ has fixed the memory leaks.
The only side affect I have seen are:

• No casting shadows.
• Mouse can get stuck at random radius (just click to fix)

Screenshots: