Icewind Dale 2 Guide

Icewind Dale 2 was among the first computer games to make use of the 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons rules, and it offered a lot of Forgotten Realms specific rules as well. Even though I usually found the original Icewind Dale to have a greater sense of exploration to it, this game allows for greater character customization. The new skills and feats system that D&D 3ed introduced really make this a much richer experience in game mechanics.

This guide will explain how to install the digital edition of the game available on GOG.com

Tips & Specs

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

Arch Linux 64-bit
PlayOnLinux 4.2.5
Wine 1.6.2

Downloading from GOG

GOG games can be downloaded on Linux by using a web browser, just make sure the "GOG.com Downloader mode" is OFF

Or you can use the lgogdownloader, which is my personal preferred choice. It is a very useful program for downloading GOG games. There is no graphical interface for it, but it is very fast and provides error free downloads.

For some Linux distros it may be found in community repositories or similar community provided packages. Installation and usage instructions are located here: lgogdownloader

On first use, you must log in by opening a terminal and using the command:

lgogdownloader --login

You will be prompted for your gog.com account email and password, which you must type in correctly before you can use lgogdownloader to download games.

To list all games you own, type:

lgogdownloader --list

If you only want to see specific games you own, for example any games with 'icewind' in the name, then type:

lgogdownloader --list | grep icewind

To download Icewind Dale 2 with no extras and no cover artwork, just the actual installer:

lgogdownloader --download --game icewind_dale_2 --no-extras --no-cover --directory /path/to/folder

Setup PlayOnLinux

Launch PlayOnLinux and select 'Tools' and 'Manage Wine versions'

In the new window that appears, scroll through the 'Available Wine versions' box to find '1.6.2' and click on the right pointing arrow to install it, now it will be visible under 'Installed Wine versions' on the right side
If you have a 64-bits system, make sure you have selected the 'Wine versions (x86)' tab above, although it is possible to make this game work with 64-bit wine if so desired

Just close the window. Back at the main PlayOnLinux window, select 'Install'

Click on 'Install a non-listed program'

Select 'Install a program in a new virtual drive' and click next

Name the the virtual drive "icewinddale2" and click next

Select "Use another version of Wine", "Configure Wine" and "Install some libraries" before you click next

On the wine selection window, select 1.6.2 and click next. Make sure you select '32-bits window installation' if you are on a 64-bit system as it is normally the best practice, but in my experience this will work well in a 64-bit virtual drive.

When the wine configuration window appear, select the 'Graphics' tab, and click the checkbox for all four options. The resolution you set for the virtual desktop is also not very important as it will switch to the game resolution on start.

Note: Even though the language is Norwegian in my screenshot, the layout will look the same for you

When you come to the selection of libraries to install, select: POL_Install_gdiplus
This will let the GOG installer display correctly

Then click 'Next'

When you are asked for the install file to run, navigate to the GOG installer and select it. Then click 'Next'

Installing the Game

Click on 'Options'. You don't need any desktop icons created by the installer as those are only useful on Windows. Then click to accept the EULA and click 'Install'

Wait for the game to install

When the installation is complete, 'Exit' the installer

When you are asked to create a shortcut, select "IWD2.exe" and click Next. You can name the shortcut "Icewind Dale 2"

Now select "Config.exe" and click Next. You should name this shortcut "Icewind Dale 2 - Config"

Now just select 'I don't want to make another shortcut' and click Next

You should now make sure you have the game shortcut selected in the main PlayOnLinux window, and then click on 'Configure'

Select the 'Display' tab and change "Video memory size" to the memory of your gpu.

This is probably not very important with such an old game, but no harm in doing it.

You can now play the game from the shortcut in the main PlayOnLinux window. However, I would suggest running the Config shortcut first. There you can set details higher, and other gameplay related options.

Note on resolution

This game runs in a low resolution, so obviously the game window will appear very small on most modern screens. There are unsupported higher resolutions available from the configuration, and that is one thing you can try. Otherwise, you can try to go into wine configuration and disable the virtual desktop. However this might prevent the game from properly launching on some setups.

Certain distros have a default desktop environment that let you zoom in, so that is certainly an option. Another easy method is simply to reduce your desktop resolution when you play the game. Some window managers have the option to let a window take fullscreen status, meaning it will draw over everything else without window borders. If you window manager allows this you could set desktop resolution to the game's resolution and then set the game window to fullscreen.

Screenshots

 

Sweet! It's great to see a guide for IWD2. Going to play IWD2 with a friend.

 

I forgot these are cooperative. So does that make each player have 6 units?

 

No, there is a total of 6 characters to divide between the players. So two players can control 3 each, or divide the character unevenly if desired.

 

Ooh, now you really got my attention. I like those odds much much better. An you can play the campaign together?

 

Playing the campaign is the only way to play this game multiplayer. Actually, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, as well as Icewind Dale 1 and 2 plays like this. You can either play regular single player, or player multiplayer, dividing the 6 characters among the players. If one player is inexperienced, you could even have one player controlling 4 character and the last 2 for the inexperienced player.

However, Baldur's Gate is centered around a single main character, and a lot of the fun with those games were the interactions between party members (altough not that much in BG1), so I consider the Icewind Dale series to be much more suited to multiplayer since these games are intended to be played with your own custom party of characters.

 

Sounds great. So you both get to choose how many characters you will control? I like the sound of it! Could be a lot of fun and we can learn from each other in-game.

I'm guessing there are bosses and everything.
What happens if one of your characters die?

 

FYI the gog version runs great with the widescreen mod that can be downloaded from: http://www.moddb.com/games/icewind-dale-2/downloads/widescreen-mod-v305-by-the-bigg

I use it because if not every time I leave the game (which I play on fullscreen) it messes the resolution of my cinnamon desktop -.-! Plus is a really nice mod non the less!

 

Thank you for the mod link.

 

I tried to load up Icewind Dale 2 this morning and keep getting this error:

Assertion file failed in chitin.cpp at line number ###

I initially tried it with Wine 2.0-staging, but then also tried 1.8 and 1.6.2

I also loaded up the standard packages:

• corefonts
• d3dx9
• tahoma

Ran the config and set it for 1600x1200 and the same for virtual desktop, but still getting the error. The Debug shows no errors at all...

 

Actually, I didn't install the package: gdiplus
I wonder if this is required by the game?

 

Did it work if you installed gdiplus? I have not tried the game for a very long time, I'll give it another go this weekend if you are still struggling.

 

yes, I installed gdiplus afterward and I still get the error. There is a CHITIN.KEY file in the game directory and there is even a CD directory. I wonder if there is a DRM issue with it all being bundled together?

 

I found the solution: You need to set Windows version to XP, and this mut be done before installing the game. Switching to XP after the game is installed does not help, so make sure you do it while creating the virtual drive.

 

Ahhhh, why am I not surprised! Thanks man, I'll give it a go. going to play co-op with my daughter.

 

Ok, its running now, but we can't see to create a TCP/IP game. It just hangs on the New Game screen.
I looked it up and apparently the game crashes when joining/creating a network game in fullscreen. so I have tried windowed and typical 4:3 resolutions but it still hangs.

 

I never did try the multiplayer feature, and googling does not seem to reveal any information on it either. The only thing that comes to mind right now is directplay, I remember Heroes 3 required it for multiplayer to work in wine, but this is just a wild guess on my part.

 

Yes, I read something about directplay as well. I'll have to do some more research. I don't even know if it will work with Wine?

 

I had a similar issue with TCP/IP Multiplayer on Total Annihilation. DirectPlay solved this problem for me. Give it a try!

 

I never messed with DirectPlay before... is it an available package for PlayOnLinux?