1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Guide

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Sep 26, 2013.

  • by booman, Sep 26, 2013 at 1:16 PM
  • booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    8,321
    Likes Received:
    620
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Linux, Virginia
    Home page:
    skyrim76.jpg

    Skyrim is 5th series of the epic saga known as The Elder Scrolls. Famous for the first person shooter and open-world view, Skyrim continues the Role Playing genre retaining all the favorite aspects of Morrowind and Oblivion while introducing a bunch of new features.

    skyrim72.jpg

    New classes, new guilds, new civilizations, new state-of-the-art graphics and...
    wait for it...
    Dragons!

    Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

    Note: This guide applies to the Steam version of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

    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 17 64-bit
    PlayOnLinux: 4.2.8
    Wine: 1.7.49-staging

    Wine Installation

    Note: Wine versions older than 2.0.2 and 2.12-staging no longer work with Steam.


    Click Tools
    Select "Manage Wine Versions"
    wine01.png

    Look for the Wine Version: 1.7.49-staging

    Select it
    Click the arrow pointing to the right
    wine02.png

    Click Next

    Downloading Wine
    wine04.png

    Extracting

    Downloading Gecko
    wine05.png

    Installed
    wine06.png

    Wine 1.7.49-staging is installed and you can close this window

    PlayOnLinux Setup

    Launch PlayOnLinux
    Click Install
    skyrima01.png

    Click "Install a non-listed program"
    skyrima02.png

    Click Next

    Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
    Click Next
    skyrima04.png

    Name your virtual drive: skyrim
    Click Next
    skyrima05.png

    Check all three options:
    • Use another version of Wine
    • Configure Wine
    • Install some libraries
    Click Next
    skyrima06.png

    Select Wine 1.7.49-staging
    Click Next
    skyrima07.png

    Select "32 bits windows installation"
    Click Next
    skyrima08.png

    Wine Configuration

    Applications Tab
    Windows Version: Windows 7
    Click Apply
    skyrima09.png

    Graphics Tab
    Click "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
    Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
    Desktop size: 1024x768
    Click OK
    skyrima10.png

    PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

    Check the following:
    • POL_Install_corefonts
    • POL_Install_d3dx10
    • POL_Install_d3dx9
    • POL_Install_tahoma
    • POL_Install_vcrun2008
    • POL_Install_xact
    Click Next
    skyrima11.png

    Note: All packages will automatically download and install

    Click Browse

    Navigate to your desktop
    Select "SteamSetup.exe"
    Click Open
    skyrima13.png

    Click Next
    skyrima14.png

    Click Next
    skyrima15.png

    Check "I accept the license..."
    Click Next
    skyrima16.png

    Select Language
    Click Next
    skyrima17.png

    Click Install
    skyrima18.png

    Click Finish
    skyrima19.png

    Updating...
    skyrima20.png

    dwrite isn't enabled yet, so there won't be any fonts
    Click The "X" and close Steam
    skyrima22.png

    PlayOnLinux Shortcut

    Select "Steam.exe"
    skyrima23.png

    Name your shortcut: Skyrim
    Click Next
    skyrima24.png

    Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
    Click Next
    skyrima25.png

    PlayOnLinux Configure

    Back to PlayOnLinux
    Select Skyrim
    Click Configure
    skyrima26.png

    General Tab
    Wine version: 1.7.49-staging
    Arguments: -no-dwrite -no-cef-sandbox
    This fixes the missing font and store problem
    skyrima28.png

    Note: -no-dwrite will allow the fonts in Steam

    Display Tab
    Video memory size: Enter the amount of memory your video card/chip uses
    skyrima29.png

    Launching Skyrim

    Select Skyrim
    Click Run
    skyrima30.png

    Note: Click Debug to see errors and bugs

    Login to Steam
    skyrima31.png

    skyrima32.png

    Select Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
    Click Install
    skyrima33.png

    Click Next
    skyrima34.png

    Skyrim is about 6 Gigs
    When its finish downloading...
    Click Finish
    skyrima35.png

    Click Play
    skyrima36.png

    Detecting Video Hardware
    Click OK
    skyrima37.png

    Optimization

    Click Options
    skyrima38.png

    Graphics Adapter and Resolution
    Adjust:
    • Graphics Adapter
    • Aspect Ratio
    • Resolution
    • Antialiasing
    • Anisotropic Filtering
    • Detail
    • Windowed
    Click Ok
    skyrima40.png

    Advanced Detail
    Adjust:
    • Texture Quality
    • Radial Blur Quality
    • Shadow Detail
    • Decal Quantity
    • FXAA
    • Water Reflections
    Click Close
    skyrima39.png

    Advanced View Distance
    Adjust:
    • Object Fade
    • Actor Fade
    • Grass Fade
    • Specularity Fade
    • Light Fade
    • Item Fade
    • Distand Object Detail
    • Object Detail Fade
    Click Close
    skyrima41.png

    Click Play
    skyrima42.png

    Rule of Thumb
    High settings = More detail, lower frame rates
    Low settings = Less detail, higher frame rates

    Conclusion:
    Skyrim ran beautifully on my GeForce 550 Ti with everything set on High or Ultra. Wine 1.7.49-staging does a great job and I didn't have too many issue:
    Tree animation was not smooth and the shadows moved irregularly
    Can not see underwater (underwater view can be disabled in the .ini files)

    Screenshots:
    skyrim73.jpg

    skyrim74.jpg

    skyrim78.jpg

    skyrim79.jpg

    skyrim84.jpg
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2019
    HelmiUrfi and vashin like this.

Comments

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Sep 26, 2013.

  1. steve723
    I tried turning down the graphics settings and it is a little better but still poor FPS. I will play with it some more later.
  2. steve723
    I just noticed that wine 2.16, is now available via POL. I am downloading it now.
  3. steve723
    Well it improved to the point where the game is just barley playable. Not fun yet. Waiting on the slow graphics to execute means that the Player character is always late to kill the enemy! If a dragon attacked then your character would get roasted waiting for the FPS!
  4. booman
    Might be time for a gaming desktop?
  5. steve723
    Are you paying? :D My sister is building one for me, who knows when she will ship it. It will be a relief to be able to play Transport Fever and Civilization 6 again. At least I can play Civilization 5 on steam for Linux right now. Yes Civ 6 is on steam for Linux! Xcom 1 and 2 are also on steam for Linux.
    booman likes this.
  6. steve723
    I don't have xact installed what does it do?
  7. booman
    Sure, I can build a budget gaming machine for around $500.00
  8. Gizmo
    Just a quick note to say that Wine 3.4 seems to work really well on Fedora 26. I've got some very minor glitching in my audio (a slight pop every second or so), and very occasionally my movement keys get stuck, but other than that, it's quite playable.
    booman likes this.
  9. booman
    I haven't tested Skyrim in a long time, but Wine 3.5 has some vulkan features bundled with it. There is a chance you might get better performance with Wine converting Direct X to Vulkan instead of OpenGL
  10. Gizmo
    Installed the Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch (USLEEP) along with the Dawnguard, Dragonborn, and Hearthfire DLCs. This seems to have largely resolved the remaining issues.

    HOWEVER, I did manage to make WINE start misbehaving. I have NO idea how I got to this state, but for some reason, with my weapon drawn, I could only look about 30 degrees left/right and about 45 degrees up/down.

    I had to completely reboot before I could resolve the issue.
  11. booman
    This is actually a common problem with the virtual desktop and many games.
    There are some games that would lock the mouse rotation because I kept hitting PrtScr to make screenshots.

    Other games I was able to fix it by right-clicking the screen.
    It has something to do with the mouse leaving the game window and no longer giving you access to the game mouse controls. its strange, but has happened to me a Lot.

    That is why I always add the "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"

    [​IMG]

Share This Page