Steam Source Games Guide

There are still a lot of favorite Steam games that won't run in Linux. So, I thought it would be nice to have a step-by-step guide on how to install WinSteam with PlayOnLinux

I found it to be fairly easy to install and restore my backed up games from Windows. I am dual-booting Mint & Windows 7 so I can easily access my Steam games from the Windows 7 partition. This saved me a lot of time because I didn't have to download each game through Steam. Instead I did a quick copy & paste to migrate my games after Steam was installed.

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 16 32-bit
PlayOnLinux ver: 4.2.2
Wine version: 1.6.2

Installing Wine

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"

Look for the Wine Version: 1.6.2
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right

Click Next

Downloading Wine

Extracting

Downloading Gecko

Installed

Also look for Wine 1.5.18
You will need it later to install some libraries

Wine 1.6.2 and 1.5.18 are installed and you can close this window

Downloading Steam

Use your browser and go to: http://www.steampowered.com
Click the "Install Steam" button at the top right.

Do not click "Install Steam Now"
It will automatically install Linux Steam. 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: sourcegames
No spaces
Click Next

Select all three options:

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

Click Next

Select Wine 1.6.2
Click Next

Configure Wine

Applications Tab
Windows Version: Windows 7
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_dxfullsetup
• POL_Install_Physx
• POL_Install_RegisterFonts
• POL_Install_tahoma
• POL_Install_vcrun2005
• POL_Install_vcrun2008
• POL_Install_vcrun2010

Click Next

Initially these libraries are standard for most games. Some games like Magicka require dotnet libraries and XNA libraries, but before you install these, make sure to switch your wine version to 1.5.18 and then switch it back to 1.6.2

• dotnet11
• dotnet11sp1
• dotnet30 (automatically installs dotnet20)
• dotnet35
• dotnet4
• xna31 (some game like Magicka need XNA)
• xna40
• Internet Explorer 8 (automatically installs Service Pack 3

Installing Steam

Click Browse

Navigate to your desktop
Select: SteamSetup.exe
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.
Click the "X" to close Steam login

PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select Steam.exe
Click Next

Name your shortcut: Source Steam Games
Click Next

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

More PlayOnLinux Configuration

Back to PlayOnLinux
Click Configure
Select sourcegames virtual drive

General Tab
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.

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

Wine Tab
Click "Windows reboot"
Its a good idea to reboot after installing libraries like dotnet or Internet Explorer
Close Steam because it will automatically launch when Windows reboots and won't execute -no-dwrite.

Close Configure

Launching Steam

Select Source Steam Games
Click Run

Click "Login to existing account"

Login

Steam Overlay

Steam overlay has been known to cause problems launching games.
Click Steam menu
Click Settings

Select "In-game"
Uncheck "Enable Steam Commuinty In-Game"
Click OK

Now you are ready to install some games.

Installing a game in Steam

Lets start with... Alien Swarm because its totally Free!
Click on the "Store"

Search for Alien Swarm
Click Alien Swarm

Click Play Game

Click next

Uncheck both options
Click next

Check View Steam Library
Click Finish

Wait for Alien Swarm to Download.

When its done, launch Alien Swarm.

More Steam Games
Here are some other Steam games that I got running in PlayOnLinux

Not all games are guaranteed to run in this "sourcegames" virtual drive. Steam provides hundreds of games from different publishers and run on different engines. I found that most Source games will run:

• Half-Life
• Half-Life 2
• Counter-Strike: Source
• Team Fortress 2
• The Ship
• Alien Swarm
• Left4Dead I & II
• Torchlight I & II

I know Torchlight isn't a "source" game but it ran just fine.

The Ship

Torchlight

Hmm, what game is this?

 

I didn't feature other games like Counter-Strike 1 & 2, Half-Life 1 & 2 or Team Fortress 2 because they are now working native in Linux.
Download and install the Linux Steam client and if you already have the source game purchased in Windows, it will automatically appear in your list of games.
Download, play and have fun!

 

High Res Screenshots:

 

Thank you for the tutorial!
Maybe this will help me to install Dawn of War II.

 

Maybe, but the reports on WineHQ is that its mostly "garbage"
The last test was Feb 2013 on Fedora 18 with Wine 1.5.22
Maybe you could do some tests and try some newer versions of wine.

Looks like Retribution runs ok in Wine

Is Dawn of War II specifically a Steam game?

 

I purchased the game on DVD back when it came out in 2009. I tried to install it from that dvd but it did not work. Steam wanted to download it no matter what I did. Plus the first download did not work. After many many hours I got it installed and working. But after all of that I did not play it. Tired I guess. I found it recently and hope to get it running.
Graphics are great though.
I tried an install on linux. No love yet.

 

Oh, yup it is a steam game. I got it to run long ago by the download.

 

Interesting... I'm glad you got it working in Linux. You should post your test results on WineHQ... just follow their instructions carefully and don't mention PlayOnLinux because they will reject it.

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear.
I didn't get Dawn of War II running on linux.

 

What were you referring to when you wrote "got it installed and working"?
Was that in Windows?

 

The game would not install from the dvd in windows. But the account was activated on Steam. So, the only way it would install was from a Steam Download. That is what I meant by "got it installed and working".

 

Ah, yeah Steam has always been a love/hate relationship with me.
Mostly because I have 6 computers and do a lot of offline LAN gaming. So some of the games and mods have problems with offline. Not to mention each computer had to have each game in Steam updated or you couldn't join the server.

Did you know Valve is still updating Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source?
Yes, 8 years later and they are still updating the stinking game. Its an absolute pain!
And anytime you launch Steam online it just automatically starts updating a game.

Lets say you wanted to do a quick 30 min deathmatch... nope, gotta wait for it to update first.... really? Its been 8 years and I can't even play deathmatch for a few minutes? I have to wait first? Lame