Mass Effect combines role-playing and first person shooter elements within a fantasy sci-fi lore. The beginning seems simple enough, but as you continue with dialog and team members you will be immersed with decisions that will affect your character for the rest of the game. If your team-mates survive, they will appear in the next game with dialog linking to previous events.



If you have played any of the Mass Affect franshise, then I don't have to remind you of the beautiful graphical visuals and environments. Not to mention the models made perfectly without error.

Wondering if Mass Effect 2 runs in a Linux enviornment, then that is why you are here.

Follow this step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Mass Effect 2 in PlayOnLinux with Linux Mint.

Note: This tutorial applies to the retail version only. The Steam and downloaded versions may require additional steps.

Tips and Specs

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

Mint 14 32-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.1.9
Mint: 1.5.24

Copy DVD Data Files

Explanation:
I had trouble installing Mass Effec 2 directly from the DVD's because PlayOnLinux would not find the 2nd disc.

Create a new folder on your desktop called: MassEffect2

Enter your Mass Effect 2 Disc1
You should see an icon appear on the desktop where its mounted
Double-click the icon to browse the directories.


Copy EVERYTHING off Disc1, paste into your new "MassEffect2" folder on the desktop

Enter your Mass Effect 2 Disc2
Note: it should appear as ME2_Disc2
Open the Data folder in Disc2 and in your "MassEffect2" folder on the desktop


Copy the .rar folders

• app.rar
• data01.rar
• data02.rar
• data03.rar
• dialog.rar
• english.rar
• maps.rar
• other.rar

Note: all the other files are already existing

Paste all the listed .rar files into your Data folder in "MassEffec2" folder on the desktop


Note: This will take some time because its copying around 7 Gigabytes of data



Installing Wine

Lets download the version of Wine that will fix this problem.

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"


Look for the Wine Version: 1.5.24
Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-staging

Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right


Wine Download Wizard
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


Installed


Wine 1.5.24 is installed and you can close this window

Installation

Open PlayOnLinux
Click Install


Search for Mass Effect 2
Select "Mass Effect 2"
Click Install


Installation Wizard
Click Next


Wine auto-configuration

Installation Method
Select "Use a setup file in my computer"

Note: Remember we copied all the data to one folder on the desktop.

Click Next


Installing DirectX 9

Installing PhysiX

Installing msxml3

Select Setup file
Click Browse


Navigate to your Desktop and open the "MassEffec2" folder we created
Select "Setup.exe"
Click Open


Setup selection confirmation
Click Next


Installing Mass Effect 2

Select a language
Click OK

Mass Effect 2 Installer
Click Next

License Agreement
Select "I agree the terms..."
Click "I agree"

Registration Code
Enter the Registration Code from the insert inside the case
Click Next

Install Type
Select "Express Install (recommended)"
Click Install

Installing...


Possible Errors
Sometimes I would get an error during the installation right at the end

Click Close and let PlayOnLinux continue
or
Start the installation over again if PlayOnLinux errors too.


After PlayOnLinux finishes don't launch Mass Effect yet because you will find that the DRM won't sync with the DVD.

Configuring PlayOnLinux and Wine

Click the Configure button
Select Mass Effect 2 (either one)


General Tab
Wine version: 1.5.24


Select the Wine Tab
Click "Configure Wine"


Wine Mono Installer will automatically pop up
Click "Install"


Wine Gecko will automatically pop up
Click "Install"


Wine Configuration


Applications Tab
Windows Version: Windows 7
Click Apply


Graphics Tab
Check "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
Check "Emulate a virutal desktop"

Enter an appropriate resolution for your virtual desktop.
Example:

• 1400x900
• 1360x765

Note: This is important because we will match your Linux desktop resolution to the same setting for fullscreen game-play.

Click Ok


Reboot Windows
Wine Tab: Click the "Windows reboot" button
Note: always reboot windows when making Wine or Display changes


Imporant:Set your Linux Desktop to the same resolution as your Windows Virtual Desktop.
When you are done playing Mass Effect 2, you can set it back to native.
*Full-screen settings in-game never worked for me*

Launching Mass Effect 2

If you have problems with Linux automatically switching desktops while playing, I limited the desktops to only one. Roll your mouse over the "hot corner" and click the "X" on all the extra desktops.

Go back to PlayOnLinux
Select Mass Effect 2
Click Run

Mass Effect 2 should run in the virutal desktop with the same resolution as Linux Desktop and fit perfectly so it appears to be full screen.
Select Extras


Setting Graphics
Click Graphics


Depending on your video card, most of the settings should work fine in Wine 1.5.24

Here are my settings for GeForce 550 Ti

Windowed: fullscreen
Windowed Mode: normal
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 16:9
Resolution: 1360x765
High Quality Bloom: On
Film Grain: Off
Motion Blur: On
Dynamic Shadows: On
Light Environemnt Shadows: On
Number of Cinamatic Lights: 3
Spherical Harmonic Lighting: On
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x​

Conclusion:
Mass Effect ran very well for me after some testing and tweaking. Setting the screen resolution in Linux to match the virtual desktop resolution was the main setting that allowed it to run. Then removing extra desktops kept the mouse inside the window so it didn't automatically switch to the next desktop. I tested with other versions of Wine but I would either get a DVD error related to DRM or there were screen artifacts.

Screenshots: