Getting Started on Linux (v3.1) latest Wine-Staging, vulkan & dxvk

This is a work in progress. UPDATED: 26 September 2024.

This installation procedure is a marriage between the original Linux installation instructions and @meriadoc's wonderful, but complicated, non-PlayOnLinux version.

The reason this page exists is because the original version would not recognize my hardware while Meriadoc's version is able to correctly identify my GPU, due to its using vulkan and dkvx, but does not use PlayOnLinux (POL). POL is much easier for me to control how many clients I am running, rather than using command line arguments or a script. Optionally, I like installing a base wine-staging wine system as well as POL; this usually ensures that 32-bit binaries are included in your installation.

PlayOnLinux

This guide assumes that the user has correctly installed POL, vulkan drivers (both 64 and 32-bit drivers) and wine-staging for their specific distrobution.

1. Download the latest Windows client
2. Open POL
   1. Choose the Tools | Manage Wine Versions menu
      1. Under the "x86" section (32 bit), install the latest staging version available, for example 9.12-staging

         

   2. Click on the Configure button; this will open a popup

      

   3. Click on NEW

      

   4. This will open another pop entitled, 'Virtual drive creator', click NEXT

      

   5. Choose the 32 bit drive and click NEXT

      

   6. Highlight the latest wine-staging and click NEXT

      

   7. Choose a name for the virtual drive, I named mine 'EverQuest' and move on to the next step
   8. Highlight 'EverQuest' and go to the 'Install Components' tab and install the following:
      1. dinput8
      2. vcrun2010
      3. dxvk (Note: choose the one without any numbers after it)
      4. (Optional) Microsoft corefonts Note: There has been trouble downloading the file. You should be able to skip this step if the download hangs.

      

   9. Next, choose the 'Wine' tab and click on 'Configure'

      

   10. If POL prompts to install wine-mono and/or wine-gecko, allow it to install
   11. Go to the 'Display' and disable GLSL

       

   12. Unzip the Windows client you downloaded from above; I recommend the 2.1c version, it includes freethemouse.dll and other recommendations; cut or copy the folder and paste it in /home/(username)/PlayOnLinux's virtual drives/EverQuest/drive_c/Program Files/

       

   13. Return to the 'Configuration' window and click on the 'Wine' tab; within the tab, click on the 'Registry Editor' button

       

       1. Click your way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\DllOverrides
       2. Right click on the white space in the right-side window pane and click NEW -> STRING VALUE
          1. Name it d3d8
          2. Double-click on the DATA value and enter 'native'

             

          3. Ensure that d3d9, d3d10 and d3d11 all exist and have "native" as their value
          4. Close the Registry Editor
   14. On the left-hand side of the Configuration window choose the 'General' tab and MAKE A NEW SHORTCUT FROM THIS VIRTUAL DRIVE

       

       1. Choose eqgame.exe and click NEXT

          

       2. Name the shortcut, I named mine 'EverQuest', click NEXT
       3. Then, choose 'I don't want to make another shortcut' and click NEXT
   15. Finally, we have to edit the /home/(username)/PlayOnLinux's virtual drives/EverQuest/drive_c/Program Files/EverQuest/eqclient.ini
       1. Open the eqclient.ini in your favorite editor, mine is vim

          

       2. Find the section [VideoMode] and enter your height and width (see example)

          

       3. Save and close the file

WARNING: Changing video display size in-game will cause the client to crash. If you need to change the video display resolution, close the game, edit the eqclient.ini and restart POL.

Enjoy playing on the Al'Kabor Project server on Linux!

Thanks and credit to the TAKP developers, @krakmojo for the original POL instructions and @meriadoc for his excellent v2 guide. It bears repeating that this is a work in progress.