Frets On Fire FoFiX Guide

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Frets On Fire is an attempt to create the Guitar Hero genre on PC. Play some of the greatest rock and heavy metal hits of the 90's on an animated fretboard with syncopated notes.
Download themes, download songs, play with a friend and even add your favorite songs with the editor.

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Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Frets On Fire (FoFiX) in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Tips & Specs:

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

Mint 17 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.7
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

Download Frets on Fire FoFiX

Go To: https://code.google.com/p/fofix/downloads/list
Download FoFiX-v3.121-Final-Setup-(py2.6-ogl3).exe
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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: fretsonfire
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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PlayOnLinux Packages (Components, Libraries, DLL's)

Check the following packages:
  • POL_Install_corefonts
  • POL_Install_d3dx9
  • POL_Install_tahoma
Click Next
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Note: All packages will require checking "I agree", will automatically download and install.

Installing Frets On Fire FoFiX

Click Browse
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Select: FoFiX-v3.121-Final-Setup-(py2.6-ogl3).exe
Click Open
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Click Next again

Click Next

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

Click Next

Click Install

When Complete, Click Next

Uncheck "Run FoFiX v3.121 Final
Click Finish
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PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select "FoFiX.exe"
Click Next
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Name your shortcut: Frets On Fire
Click Next
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Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next
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PlayOnLinux Configure

Back to PlayOnLinux
Select Frets on Fire
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: Select the amount of memory your video card/chip uses
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Close Configure

Downloading a Theme

Sign up at the fretsonfire.net forums to view themes

Browse a list of themes here:
http://www.fretsonfire.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=24976#Music_game_themes
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Select a theme to view and/or download
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Note: Many of the themes listed at fretsonfire.net are no longer available via at mediafire. You will have to search the theme's post for updated links to the download.

Download the theme
Extract folder to Frets On Fire Theme folder:
Code:
/home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/fretsonfire/drive_c/Program Files/FoFix/data
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Rock Band theme:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/gwn2m22mfmu/BFMV RB.zip

Rock Band 2 Theme
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bxr4nKsR5zXzOFZVaGRmMGFvTzA/edit

Guitar Hero 3 theme:
http://www27.zippyshare.com/v/45547623/file.html

Downloading Songs

Songs are a bit harder to find because of copyright laws

Note: A lot of songs are listed at fretsonfire.net but are no longer available at mediafire. You will need to search the forums for updated links or search online.

Once you have a bunch of song folders
Create a folder: songs
Copy the songs folder to your Frets On Fire game directory

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Note: When you setup Frets On Fire FoFiX the first time it will allow you to select your "Songs" directory and will automatically populate all of your songs.

Launching Frets On Fire

Select Frets on Fire
Click Run
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Note: Click debug to see errors and bugs

Initial Setup

At first launch there is only a "light" theme with no graphics
Click Options
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Click Display Settings>
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Select the theme you downloaded
Adjust Resolution and fullscreen
Press Esc
Press Esc again
Frets On Fire will ask to restart
Press Enter

Note: Sometimes fonts in the menu can be misaligned depending on the resolution you use.

Conclusion:
Frets on Fire FoFiX ran perfectly in several versions of Wine. I was able to configure my Xbox USB guitar and play almost perfectly. Everything in-game syncopated just like in Windows.
I had a hard time finding songs and themes to download because the Fretsonfire.net forums are not kept up-to-date, but I had a previous folder full of Guitar Hero Songs and Rock Band songs I kept from 2009. You can also convert your own songs to .ogg and edit your own guitar notes in the Frets On Fire editor, then play it yourself.

Gameplay Video:

Screenshots:
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Last edited:
Thanks, its too bad most of the Themes are hard to find online. Songs are difficult to find as well, but they are out there.
I'm surprised how well it runs in Wine and my Xbox controller. Everything seems to work great.
 
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