League of Legends Guide

Call on your Summoner to battle along-side minions in the free-to-play MOBA. Level up, buy upgrades from the store and play cooperative with some friends. League of Legends has a lot of competitive action and fighting as you slaughter minions, turrets and Summoners.

League of Legends has received a lot of attention in the Linux world. WineHQ's and PlayOnLinux are constantly bombarded with questions on how to run it.

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

Note: This guide applies to the Official Website version of League Of Legends. 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

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"

Look for the Wine Version: 1.8
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right

Click Next

Downloading Wine

Extracting

Downloading Gecko

Installed

Wine 1.8 is installed and you can close this window

Create Account
Go To: https://login.leagueoflegends.com/
Click "Create an Account"

Click preferred language

Fill out registration form
Click "Play For Free"

Download League Of Legends Installer

LeagueOfLegendsBaseEUW (Europe West)
http://l3cdn.riotgames.com/Installer/SingleFileInstall/LeagueOfLegendsBaseEUW.exe

LeagueOfLegendsBaseEUNE (Europe Nordic East)
http://l3cdn.riotgames.com/Installer/SingleFileInstall/LeagueOfLegendsBaseEUNE.exe

LeagueOfLegendsBaseNA (North America)
http://l3cdn.riotgames.com/Installer/SingleFileInstall/LeagueOfLegendsBaseNA.exe

Navigate to Desktop
Click Save

PlayOnLinux Setup
Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install

Click "Install a non-listed program"

Click Next

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

Name the virtual drive: leagueoflegends
Click Next

Check all three options:

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

Click Next

Select Wine 1.8
Click Next

Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next

Wine Configuration

Applications Tab
Windows Version: Windows XP

Graphics Tab
Check "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
Desktop size: Enter resolution of Linux Desktop
Click OK

PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, DLL's, Components)

Check the following:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_tahoma

Click Next

Note: All packages should automatically download and install

Installing League of Legends

Click Browse

Navigate to your Desktop
Select "LeagueOfLegendsBaseNA.exe"
Click Open

Click Next again

Click Next

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

Select "Complete"
Click Next

Click Install

Uncheck "Launch League of Legends"
Click Finish

PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select "lol.launcher.exe"
Click Next

Name the shortcut: League Of Legends
Click Next

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

PlayOnLinux Configure

Back to PlayOnLinux
Select "League of Legends"
Click Configure

General Tab
Wine version: 1.8

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

Close Configure

Launching League of Legends

Select League of Legends
Click Run

Note: Click Debug to see errors and bugs

Click Accept

Click Accept

Updating & Patching

Peer to Peer disable
Click the gear at the top right
Uncheck "Allow Peer to Peer Transfer"

Click Launch

Login
Check "Remember username"

Click Play

Optimization

Press Esc
Click Options

Click Video

Adjust:

• Resolution
• Windowed Mode
• Graphics Presets
• Character Quality
• Effects Quality
• Environment Quality
• Shadows
• Character Inking
• Frame Rate Cap
• Anti-Aliasing
• Wait for Vertical Sync

Click Okay

Conclusion:
League of Legends runs even better with Wine 1.8 I've read you may experience better performance with Wine 1.8-staging as well. I had no problems with my GeForce 550 Ti 192-bit 1GB RAM.

Gameplay Video:

Screenshots:

 

Thanks for these great instructions, seems to be working well.

But yes... 3.12, I get a black page instead of a store.
Used 1.7-LeagueOfLegends to install and 1.5.24-LeagueOfLegendsShop to run.

 

Welcome to the GamersOnLinux forums!
No problem. I'm glad it worked for you. So is the store working after that "shop" version?

 

Thanks!
Nope, when I ran it with the 1.7 wine the store crashed the program. Running with 1.5.24 "Shop" version gets me the black screen, but does not crash. Should it still be working with this version? I can try again. (-:

 

Dang, that's not what I wanted to hear. So now the Wine 1.5.24-LeagueOfLegendsShop no longer works with the new game update.

I noticed there is a Wine 1.7-LeagueOfLegends version. Not sure if they fixed the "shop" problem or not. Is that the one you tried?

 

Yep, the install went fine using 1.7-LeagueOfLegends, and it runs, but when the store is opened it crashes, saying "The Program LOLClient.exe has encountered a serious problem and needs to close. ..."

When I switch playonlinux to use the 1.5.24-LeagueOfLegendsShop version (and "wine reboot") the store opens without crashing but is just a black page.

I found some reports online that if you install IE6 it'll work, or that if you wait for 10 minutes or so it'll load, but not for me. I wonder if whatever was patched for 1.5.24 just needs updating/adjusting for the new client.

 

Then its going to be a waiting game. There are many many posts on the PlayOnLinux forums about League of Legends. So I'm sure the devs are working on a "store" version of 1.7 for us.
I'll keep checking too. Seems to be a common problem with every update they make. I wonder what the problem between Wine and these icons is?

Let us know if you see a new version of Wine available that fixes this store problem.

 

Hi there, i am testing League of Legends in my computer, but i cant modify graphic configuration in the game because my graphic is too old (nvidia geforce 8400m gs) and all graphics configurations are on high levels, and i cant open configuration window.
Any one knows another away to configure graphic configurations before open the game?
Cumps,
Hugo

 

I recommend using the "Virtual Desktop" in Wine Configuration because it gives you more control over the resolution and graphics settings in games.
It just makes setting the resolution easier because it doesn't resize your Linux Desktop.
It only re-sizes the virtual desktop.

Yeah, the 8400 may cause some problems because the drivers are considered "legacy" and Nvidia does not update them any more.
I still have a few 7900's and won't be using those for Linux.
At the same time, maybe open-source drivers will do better for you.
Specially since Nvidia is starting to open their code to the open source world.

 

Yep, the install went fine using 1.7-LeagueOfLegends, and it runs, but when the store is opened it crashes, saying "The Program LOLClient.exe has encountered a serious problem and needs to close. ..."

When I switch playonlinux to use the 1.5.24-LeagueOfLegendsShop version (and "wine reboot") the store opens without crashing but is just a black page.

I found some reports online that if you install IE6 it'll work, or that if you wait for 10 minutes or so it'll load, but not for me. I wonder if whatever was patched for 1.5.24 just needs updating/adjusting for the new client.

By the way, I installed League of Legends over the weekend and used Wine 1.7.4-LeagueOfLegends. It works GREAT!
AT first it wouldn't login and I found that if you disable "peer to peer" in the options it now logs in.
But Same as you... if I click the store, I get a crash.

 

Current 3.13 version of League Of Legends with Wine 1.7-LeagueOfLegends
The game runs fine, but the store still crashes

 

So I am rather curious, as everyone says that it crashes when the shop is CLICKED .....But what happens if you guys use the good old shortcut by pushing 'P' ?

 

So pressing the "P" key opens the store in League of Legends?
I had no idea, I'll definitely try it.
As far as I have read, there has always been a problems with the store icons and their compression. Wine has some kind of problem with it and crashes.
There was a fix with Wine 1.5.24-LeagueOfLegendsStore, but it doesn't work with the new 1.33 update.

 

So pressing the "P" key opens the store in League of Legends?
I had no idea, I'll definitely try it.
As far as I have read, there has always been a problems with the store icons and their compression. Wine has some kind of problem with it and crashes.
There was a fix with Wine 1.5.24-LeagueOfLegendsStore, but it doesn't work with the new 1.33 update.

Any luck? I would test it myself, however I don't currently have access to anything better than a netbook that can't even launch the game.

 

In that case, its going to be difficult because netbooks can have weak GPU chips.
I have an Acer Chromebook and its GPU is an Intel HD 2000.
I can hardly play most modern games. Old directx 8 games seem to run ok, but only a few directx 9 games run.
I got Torchlight to run, but a lot of other games either crash or have graphical problems.

 

i followed every step and league was still crashing when i tried to login so i reverted to downloading league the original way i found out how to install it through playonlinux works fine just have the usual shop and icon red boxes bugs

 

Welcome to the forum Alvin.
So did you install from the PlayOnLinux script when you click Install?
I wonder if the PlayOnLinux devs updated the script?
I installed League of Legends a week ago and it runs fine, but the store was crashing for me.

 

Hey man,
At first your guide is great, easy to follow even for me (got linux since today).
I successfully done all your steps but at the end League doesn't work at all, i can start lol - get its patches(to lol version 3.14) but if i log in it crashes(the window freezed and just closed, nothing else, no message either).

Is it me using Mint 15 or Lol for EUwest(im EUwest-player so need it) or do you know that problem and/or any solution?

 

The EUW version shouldn't make a difference.
Lets start with your specs and debug. This will give us an idea if something is missing or and bugs causing problems.

Since you are using Mint, I can definitely troubleshoot it with you cause I'm using Mint too.

Start by doing this:

1. Launch PlayOnLinux
2. Select League of Legends
3. Click Debug (instead of Run)
4. When the game crashes, copy all of the text from the debug window
5. Paste the debug here

I also need some more info on your machine/OS:

1. Mint 15 64-bit or 32-bit?
2. What video chip/card are you using? AMD, Nvidia, Intel?
3. Did you install the proprietary video drivers for that video card?
4. Can you run other games on your machine?

 

Oh and, welcome to the forum!