At first look, Magicka appears to be another run-of-the-mill RPG, but after further investigation you will find an original action game with interesting and demanding strategies.



Your Wizard will have the ability to control 8 elements with the tap of a button. As you tab the power charges up and you can wield amazing destruction on your enemies, but thats not the end of it... You can combine any of the 8 elements to construct your own combination.
Want to shoot boulders of fire?
How about a wall of ice and then electrocute your enemies?
Shield not enough? Try dropping mines bundled with fire.
Are you on fire? Put yourself out with water....
The possibilities are endless... not to mention the physics engine is amazing!

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

Note: This guide applies to the Steam version of Magicka. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

Try SteamPlay before using this guide as Valve now uses a fork of Wine called Proton and should run most Windows games.

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

Mint 14 32-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.1
Wine: 1.7.8

Installing Wine

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"


Look for the Wine Version: 1.7.8
Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-staging

Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right


Click Next

PlayOnLinux will automatically download it and save it in this directory:
/home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wine/linux-x86


Note: username is where you put your login name

Its a good idea to backup this directory to another computer because you won't have to keep downloading wine versions when you need them.

Extracting


Downloading Gecko


Installed
wine06.png

Wine 1.7.8 & 1.5.18 is installed and you can close this window

Downloading Steam

Go To: http://www.steampowered.com
Click Install Steam


Do not click "Install Steam Now"
It will automatically install Linux Steam. Since Magicka isn't made for Linux, we will download the Windows Steam instead.
click "Windows" under the green button


Navigate to your desktop
Click Save


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 you virtual drive: magicka
No spaces
Click Next


Select all three options:

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

Click Next


Select Wine 1.7.8
(ignore the 1.5 in the screenshot)
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 32-bit virtual drive.

Configure 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


Install Libraries

Check the following libraries:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_directx fullsetup
• POL_Install_xinput
• POL_Install_xna 3.1

Installing Steam

Click Browse


Navigate to your desktop
Select: SteamInstall.msi
Click Open


Click Next

Click Next

Check: I accept the license...
Click Next

Click Next

Click Next

Click Install

Click Finish

Updating Steam


More updating, extracting and installing


When Steam is done installing the login screen will pop up. You probably won't see any text because there is a font bug.
Even if you "can" see fonts, close Steam so we can continue the PlayOnLinux setup
Click the "X" to close Steam login


PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select Steam.exe
Click Next


Name your shortcut: Magicka Steam
Click Next


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


More PlayOnLinux Configuration

Back to PlayOnLinux
Click Configure


Select Steam virtual drive

Installing dotnet

General Tab
Set the Wine version
Wine version: 1.7.8
Arguments: -no-dwrite -no-cef-sandbox
This fixes the missing font and store problem

Before installing dotnet launch Terminal and run this command

Code:

sudo echo "0" > /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope

Note: Terminal should require a password. There are some security implications with this command, but it resets to "1" the next time you restart.

Install Components Tab
Select dotnet30
Click Install
(installs 2.0, sp1, sp2)


Note: I there are any error, click "OK" on them and start over with dotnet30
Its critical to have these packages installed because Magicka won't run without them.

Select dotnet35
Click Install


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


Configuring Registry
The only reason we are modifying the Registry is because Magicka will automatically try to install dotnet, xna and directx at first launch. It will hang every time. So this Registry fix will eliminate the problem.
Steam50.png

Wine Tab
Click Registry Editor

1. Maximize HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
2. Maximize Software
3. Maximize Valve
4. Maximize Steam

Right Click Steamand select New Key
Name the key: Apps


Right Click Apps and select New Key
Name the Key: 42910


This is what the heiarchy should look like


Now we are going to create some new REG_DWORD
Right Click 42910
Click New
Click DWORD Value


Name this DWORD: DirectX


Double-Click it
Enter 1 in Value data
Click OK


Right Click 42910 again
Click New
Click DWORD Value


Name this DWORD: DotNet


Double-Click it
Enter 1 in Value data
Click OK


Right Click 42910 one last time
Click New
Click DWORD Value


Name this DWORD: xna


Double-Click it
Enter 1 in Value data
Click OK


Close the Registry Editor

Wine Tab
Click "Windows reboot"
Steam Will automatically launch, close it because we have one more setting to make.


General Tab
Change the Wine version
Wine version: 1.7.8
Arguments: -no-dwrite
This fixes the font problem


Note: -no-dwrite only works if you launch Steam from PlayOnLinux. Steam is automatically set to launch when Windows starts, which means if you do a "Windows Reboot" from the Wine tab -no-dwrite won't execute. Just close Steam and try again.

Close Configure

Installing Magicka

Back to PlayOnLinux

Select Magicka Steam
click Run


You may see a pop-up error when clicking the Steam icon
Just click OK


Select Login to an existing account


Login to your Steam account


Select Magicka
click Install


Click Next

Click I Agree

Click Next

Click Finish

Wait while Magicka downloads through Steam

When its complete you can now launch Magicka
Click Play


Note: You shouldn't see any "Performing first time setup.." dialog since we edited the registry


Magicka might start with a white screen and then crash
Click Play again
crash again, but don't give up
Click Play again

If you get a warning that its already running, then wait a few seconds and try again.

I have seen Magicka crash consistently and then play just fine.
Be patient and determined. It WILL run!

Optimization:
Magicka is not a super high quality game at any rate. So it should run on laptops, netbooks and even tablets.

Click Options


Click Graphics


Set Resolution, shadows, decal limit, particle effects and particle lights.
These are the only options you have.
Wine should be happy with most of these settings with a GeForce card.

Higher settings = higher detail, lower frame rates
Lower settings = lower detail, higher frame rates

Conclusion:
I was able to run Magicka at 1680x1050 on my GeForce 550 Ti and it ran beautifully. Once I got past the initial crashing (which I've read is due to alsa audio compatability) it ran without any issue. Frame rates were great, controls and audio almost flawless.
I did have one issue where the game didn't recognize keyboard input, but a quick Alt+Tab fixed that.