Spellforce 2 Shadow Wars is the sequel to the original Spellforce. The rpg and rts elements are still the main game mechanics, allowing you to control a main character that you customize while also building armies to lead. Dragon Storm is the expansion for Spellforce 2 and offers a new campaign as well as a new faction and abilities for your character and heroes.



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 4.2.9
Wine 1.7.55

Downloading from GOG

GOG games can be downloaded on Linux by using a web browser. Just find the game in your game library.

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:

Code:

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:

Code:

lgogdownloader --list

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

Code:

lgogdownloader --list --game spellforce

To download Spellforce 2 (and the expansion if you own it too) with no extras and no cover artwork, just the actual installer:

Code:

lgogdownloader --download --game spellforce_2 --exclude 2,16 --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 '1.7.55' 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 using a 64-bit version will work just as fine from my experience.



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 "spellforce2" 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 1.7.55 and click next. Make sure you select '32-bits window installation' if you are on a 64-bit system as this is recommended. However, my testing shows that this game runs perfectly in 64-bit wine as well.



When the wine configuration window appear, select the 'Graphics' tab, and click the checkbox for all four options. Make sure that you set the resolution to your desktop resolution. My desktop is at 1920 x 1080, so I set that for the wine virtual desktop resolution. Click OK to continue.



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_dxfullsetup
  
• POL_Install_gdiplus

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, then you can uncheck the Foxit reader and desktop icons. Then click to accept the EULA and click 'Install'





When the installation is complete, 'Exit' the installer



When you are asked to create a shortcut, select "spellforce2.exe".You can name it "Spellforce 2 - Shadow Wars"



When you have created the shortcuts, simply select "I don't want to make another shortcut"



Now back at the main PlayOnLinux window, select your game shortcut by clicking on it once, then click on 'Configuration' on the top menu. This will open the configuration window.

Now click on the 'Display' tab on the top of the configuration window. Change 'Video memory size' to reflect your GPU memory.



Installing the Dragon Storm expansion

If you own the Dragon Storm expansion in addition to the original game, you can install it as well.

Click on the 'Miscellaneous' tab at the top, then click on 'Run a .exe file in this virtual drive'



Navigate to the installer for Dragon Storm and select it



The installation for the expansion will now start



Click on options, then you can uncheck the Foxit reader and desktop icons. Then click to accept the EULA and click 'Install'





When the installation is complete, 'Exit' the installer



Back at the configuration window, select the 'General' tab. From here, click on 'Make a new shortcut from this virtual drive'



The executable for the expansion will not show up on the list, so you need to click on 'Browse'



On the new window that opens, click no the 'Browse' button



Now you must navigate to:

GOG Games/SpellForce 2 - Dragon Storm

In this directory, you must find "spellforce2.exe"



Make sure you are in the directory for the Dragon Storm expansion when you select the game .exe, then click on Open. You can name this shortcut "Spellforce 2 - Dragon Storm"

Finally, just select "I don't want to make another shortcut"

Game settings

The game is somewhat old, so most modern computers should be able to run this game with settings fairly high without any issues. I can run this game with all settings on maximum without framerates dropping.

There is one thing to keep in mind, and that is the resolution. This game does not support widescreen resolutions, so your desired resolution might not be available from the game options. If this is the case, then there is an easy way to fix this. First ensure you have set all the other graphical options the way you want them, then exit the game.

Now open your home folder. Now open your "Documents" folder, and in there you should find another folder named "SpellForce2". If it is not there, then just look for it in your Home directory instead.

Within the "SpellForce2" folder, there is a file named "config.xml", open this file with a text editor.



On the first line, you should be able to find both screenheight and screenwidth, both highlighted on the screnshot below. You should set both of these to the resolution of your desktop to have the game running fullscreen.



Now just save the file and exit. Keep in mind that if you change graphical settings from within the game, then you may need to fix the resolution again in this file.

The game is now ready to play!

Screenshots