Realms of the Ancient War almost came out of nowhere...
Not widely advertised but a small gem among all the RPG out there. Featuring your standard hack-n-slash, leveling up, armor upgrades and 3 classes to select from... but the amazing feature is the graphics.



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

Note: This guide applies to the Steam version of RAW. 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: 1.7.4

Installing Wine

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"

Look for the Wine Version: 1.5.18
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right
Also install Wine 1.7.4


Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-staging

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


Wine 1.7.4 & 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 RAW 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: raw
No spaces
Click Next


Select all three options:

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

Click Next


Select Wine 1.5.18
(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_dxdiag
• POL_Install_gdiplus
• POL_Install_xinput
• POL_Install_xna 3.1
• POL_Install_msvc90

Note: PlayOnLinux will automatically download each library and install them.
If you have previously downloaded any of them, then PlayOnLinux will automatically install it.

Dotnet will need to be installed, but we will do that in a later step because the process can get tedious.

Click Next

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


Don't Login Yet
Close Steam

PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select Steam.exe
Click Next


Name your shortcut: raw Steam
Click Next


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


More PlayOnLinux Configuration

Back to PlayOnLinux
Click Configure


Select raw virtual drive

General Tab
Arguments: -no-dwrite
This fixes the font problem in Steam


Install Components Tab

Note: Wine 1.5.18 is known to install dotnet without any errors or crashing.

Before installing dotnet launch Terminal and run this command

Code:

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

press enter
enter password
press enter

The command ran successfully if Terminal nothing

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


Select dotnet20
Click Install


Select dotnet30
Click Install


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

Select dotnet35
Click Install


Select dotnet35 sp1
Click Install


Wine Tab

Click Registry Editor

Note: Pre-setting dotnet, directx & window media codecs is necessary because the game will crash during initial lauch every time. Sorry, but this is the only work around.

Maximize HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Maximize Software
Maximize Valve
Maximize Steam

Adding Apps

Right-Click Steam
Select New
Select Key


Name the key: Apps

Adding Raw game ID

Right-Click Apps
Select New
Select Key


Name the key: 209730

Now you should have a folder Apps under Steam and a folder 209730 under Apps


Right-Click the folder 209730
Select New
Select DWORD Value


Name the DWORD: .net framework
Double-click ".net framework"
Change Value data to 1
Click OK


Right-Click the folder 209730
Select New
Select DWORD Value


Name the DWORD: DirectX
Double-click "DirectX"
Change Value data to 1
Click OK


Right-Click the folder 209730
Select New
Select DWORD Value


Name the DWORD: visual c++ libraries
Double-click "visual c++ libraries"
Change Value data to 1
Click OK


Right-Click the folder 209730
Select New
Select DWORD Value


Name the DWORD: windows media codec
Double-click "windows media codec"
Change Value data to 1
Click OK


This is how your Steam\Apps\209730 should appear


Now the intial launch of RAW should skip the dotnet, vcrun, wmpcodecs & directx installations.


Close Windows Registry

Click "Windows reboot"
Close Steam

General Tab
Now that dotnet is installed we can change the Wine version to 1.7.4
Click the arrow and select 1.7.4


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


Close Configure

Installing RAW

Select RAW Steam
Click Run


Login to Steam

Select R.A.W Realm of the Ancient War
Click Install


Click Next

Uncheck shortcuts
Click Next

Click Finish

Wait while RAW downloads

When RAW is finished downloading, click Play
Select Play RAW - Realms of the Ancient War

Configuration
There is no graphical configuration in the game, you have to use "Configuration" at the launch


Click Configure


There are only 3 settings and the text may be garbled.

Click Play

If it still tries to install dot net framework, direct x and visual c++ then something went wrong in the Registry or you forgot to reboot Windows.
Check those steps again.

Once RAW launches, select your character and begin playing.


Conclusion:
After all the painful installations of dotnet & setting up the Registry, RAW ran beautifully!
If it wasn't for dotnet the installation would be very simple.
I was able to select different characters and play their unique campaigns. RAW plays just like a typical hack-n-slash and each class has unique weapons and powers.
Leveling ups allows you to develop which powers and abilities you want to use.


Screenshots: