PlayOnLinux: impressive way to install popular applications

By Mathiasdm
in Linux

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Mathiasdm

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I've been using Linux for years (I don't really use Windows much at all) for everything I need, so I never really had a need for Wine.

However, I recently wanted to try a few games, and I'm incredibly impressed by the PlayOnLinux wrapper around Wine! It's very userfriendly, it installs all of the extras you might need to run the game... And best of all: Wine has improved so much in the past few years that everything seems to run great! I'm truly impressed.

Now, I didn't try the most recent games (I tried Oblivion and Fallout 3), but I think I'll try Skyrim in the near future as well.

Looking at the supported applications, I have the impression there are install scripts for most popular programs: http://www.playonlin...orted_apps.html

And of course, a lot of non-supported applications will most likely work as well.

For me, it's not a major requirement, but I think this can make a big difference for a lot of folks.

(And perhaps in 10 years or so, we'll have the same result for OS X applications on Linux: http://apple.slashdo...naries-on-linux )

Grand Master

redvamp128

Posted
Posted

I have used Play On Linux -- the key thing is make sure you stay current- What it does is use Shim's as well as carefully selected Wine libraries that are most compatible with the application. Not to mention it also creates virtual registry key's that certain programs need.

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Mathiasdm

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I use wine 1.5.18. I don't know the PlayOnLinux version by heart (and I'm on another PC), so I can't check right now.

It should be the most recent PlayOnLinux that's available for Ubuntu 12.04.

According to Ubuntu packages: 4.0.14 ( http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=playonlinux&searchon=names&suite=precise&section=all )

Grand Master

redvamp128

Posted
Posted

What version of playonlinux and Linux distro are you using? This just for interest sake. I have playonlinux 4.1.8-2 in my ARCH setup. Version of wine 1.5.19-1

I use wine 1.5.18. I don't know the PlayOnLinux version by heart (and I'm on another PC), so I can't check right now.

It should be the most recent PlayOnLinux that's available for Ubuntu 12.04.

According to Ubuntu packages: 4.0.14 ( http://packages.ubun...ise&section=all )

Actually Play on Linux does not depend on your Wine version. It downloads the needed one then sets that shortcut and the program to use that specific version of wine that works best.

You can have multiple Wine versions installed at the same time.... Though when you run a "Winver" it will tell you which one is loaded into memory.

#2.3

http://wiki.winehq.o...30d1259e67c465f

In the example below-- he has 1.1.33 and 1.1.39 installed and the POL selects the best one to use.

http://ubuntu.igamei...of-wine-in.html

I usually look at Winehq to determine the best Wine to use with each program

Also another good resource is "Winetricks"

http://wiki.winehq.org/winetricks

Grand Master

Nothing Here

Posted
Posted

I've been using Linux for years (I don't really use Windows much at all) for everything I need, so I never really had a need for Wine.

However, I recently wanted to try a few games, and I'm incredibly impressed by the PlayOnLinux wrapper around Wine! It's very userfriendly, it installs all of the extras you might need to run the game... And best of all: Wine has improved so much in the past few years that everything seems to run great! I'm truly impressed.

Now, I didn't try the most recent games (I tried Oblivion and Fallout 3), but I think I'll try Skyrim in the near future as well.

Looking at the supported applications, I have the impression there are install scripts for most popular programs: http://www.playonlin...orted_apps.html

And of course, a lot of non-supported applications will most likely work as well.

For me, it's not a major requirement, but I think this can make a big difference for a lot of folks.

(And perhaps in 10 years or so, we'll have the same result for OS X applications on Linux: http://apple.slashdo...naries-on-linux )

How well did it do for you on FO3? Also, if you have New Vegas, can you give it a go and let us know please? When you do try Skyrim, could you also report back? I want to go back to only using linux full time again.

Mentor

Mathiasdm

Posted
  • Author
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Actually Play on Linux does not depend on your Wine version. It downloads the needed one then sets that shortcut and the program to use that specific version of wine that works best.

Yes, I know. I just wanted to clarify which Wine version I had configured for the 2 games.

How well did it do for you on FO3? Also, if you have New Vegas, can you give it a go and let us know please? When you do try Skyrim, could you also report back? I want to go back to only using linux full time again.

Fallout 3: no graphical glitches, performance seems okay.

I do get (occasionally) a crash of the game. I still have to investigate that further, see if I can get some traces.

Oblivion: performance seems okay, but it slows down sometimes during fights (which is quite annoying). That's also something I need to investigate further, it's probably possible to improve it using the information on the Oblivion wiki.

There's one major graphical glitch, which is that the water looks purple.

I'm afraid I don't have New Vegas. According to the Wine appdb, it doesn't work that well.

With regard to Skyrim, I'll let you know.

Grand Master

Nothing Here

Posted
Posted

Yes, I know. I just wanted to clarify which Wine version I had configured for the 2 games.

Fallout 3: no graphical glitches, performance seems okay.

I do get (occasionally) a crash of the game. I still have to investigate that further, see if I can get some traces.

Oblivion: performance seems okay, but it slows down sometimes during fights (which is quite annoying). That's also something I need to investigate further, it's probably possible to improve it using the information on the Oblivion wiki.

There's one major graphical glitch, which is that the water looks purple.

I'm afraid I don't have New Vegas. According to the Wine appdb, it doesn't work that well.

With regard to Skyrim, I'll let you know.

When I was running FO3 and NV under PoL, I had to run in windowed mode and my fps was really low. I tried Skyrim, but I couldn't make a new char and had to default to an old save. Also same as FO3 and NV had to run it in windowed mode and fps was atrocious. Granted, this was a while back and PoL has a few new releases since then.

Grand Master

Nothing Here

Posted
Posted

So I decided to install Ubuntu 12.04.1 and then proceeded to install PoL. While installing Steam everything stopped while trying to download Wine Gecko. I went on to watch a movie(1:42:26) Closed out VLC and it was still sitting on downloading that file. The progress bar was dead. Hadn't moved an iota. Cancel and Install buttons not clickable. Force killed the wine and PoL processes. I then uninstalled and purge everything related to wine and PoL. Tried to reinstall PoL and and it tells me that wine could not be installed because it depended on a file called wine. Duh! So I try and install wine first and it tells me it will not be installed because it depends on a file called, you guessed it, wine!

Restarted my system loaded up the recovery console and started the network interface, then ran dpkg. It found no errors. Loaded Ubuntu back up. Tried to reinstall PoL again. See above and you will know the rest. Time to remove Ubuntu from my system and reinstall Fedora. God, I hate Ubuntu!

Grand Master

redvamp128

Posted
Posted

So I decided to install Ubuntu 12.04.1 and then proceeded to install PoL. While installing Steam everything stopped while trying to download Wine Gecko. I went on to watch a movie(1:42:26) Closed out VLC and it was still sitting on downloading that file. The progress bar was dead. Hadn't moved an iota. Cancel and Install buttons not clickable. Force killed the wine and PoL processes. I then uninstalled and purge everything related to wine and PoL. Tried to reinstall PoL and and it tells me that wine could not be installed because it depended on a file called wine. Duh! So I try and install wine first and it tells me it will not be installed because it depends on a file called, you guessed it, wine!

Restarted my system loaded up the recovery console and started the network interface, then ran dpkg. It found no errors. Loaded Ubuntu back up. Tried to reinstall PoL again. See above and you will know the rest. Time to remove Ubuntu from my system and reinstall Fedora. God, I hate Ubuntu!

I use "winetricks" to download wine gecko as well as there is a setting to get the necessary things to install steam such as the update to the windows installer v2

Grand Master

+LogicalApex MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Fallout 3: no graphical glitches, performance seems okay.

I do get (occasionally) a crash of the game. I still have to investigate that further, see if I can get some traces.

Fallout is crash city, even on Windows. No need to investigate too deeply as that is probably the way it was meant to be played ;)

Love the game, but it really could have done with a better QA staff.

Grand Master

Nothing Here

Posted
Posted

Fallout is crash city, even on Windows. No need to investigate too deeply as that is probably the way it was meant to be played ;)

Love the game, but it really could have done with a better QA staff.

Fallout 3 under Win7 or Win8, you need to get the 4gb enabler. Then no crashes.

Grand Master

n_K

Posted
Posted

PlayOnLinux is pretty neat in some reguards but to be frank, I've used it a few times, then switched back to normal virgin wine with winetricks and haven't had any problems with it (office 2003, skyrim, terraria, steam, half life, deus ex, deus ex 3, unreal tournament, fallout 1, fallout 2, etc.).

RE: Skyrim, it works mostly fine in wine for me, didn't install it using wine though, had it installed from XP and just ran skyrimlaucher using wine, clicked 'install' then a few seconds later the screen refreshed to show 'play' instead of 'install' and it works fine! There is the water bug though but apparently that's common on windows too whereby if you go underwater all you see if a blue/green screen until you emerge from the water.

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