4. Install your game

The installation process for applications under Wine is generally the same as it is in Windows because Wine uses the same installer. We’re going to focus on installing our game of choice, Sins of a Solar Empire, but you can use the same process to install a variety of other titles. Start by opening a Linux terminal and typing winefile. This pulls up the application’s Windows Explorer-like interface.

Navigate to your optical device by clicking the appropriate icon at the top of the window—it should look like a CD going into a drive. From there, double-click your game’s installation file (setup.exe, for example) and let the installer do its thing.
Follow the instructions as you would for any game being installed in Windows but pay attention to any errors or glitches that you see. Chances are good that you’ll notice fonts sizes are off and, in some cases, the fonts won’t display at all. We’ll come back to that later.

Once you’ve installed the game, you’ll want to make it easy to launch. You can do this by finding the executable file and linking it to a launcher—the Linux version of a Windows shortcut. By default, Wine hides its fake Windows partition in your
/home/[user name] directory. So you’ll want to right-click your Linux desktop and select the Launcher creation option. Name the Launcher whatever you want, but start the command as follows: wine “/home/[user name]/.wine/drive_c/”. After the “drive_c” section, type out the path where you installed your program.

If you can’t get a launcher to work, don’t worry. Some games end up working only by double-clicking the executable within the Winefile application.

5. Troubleshooting

Although we’ve been able to install and run Microsoft Office, Guild Wars, and NHL 08 without any problems, Sins of a Solar Empire was trickier. This gives us a perfect transition to Wine’s biggest headache: troubleshooting.

In our case, the fonts for our game were the wrong size and, in some cases, completely nonexistent (see above). If this happens to you, there’s a quick workaround. From a Windows installation, copy the fonts out of the C:\Windows\Fonts folder. You’ll then want to launch Winefile and copy the fonts back into Wine’s simulated Windows installation, same C:\Windows\Fonts folder.

If your chosen application gives you compatibility problems, it’s time to return to the Winecfg configuration tool. If the application was developed for a specific instance of Windows, try using the Applications tab to force Wine to use a suitable compatibility layer for the program. Click Add Application, choose your executable file, and choose the appropriate version of Windows.

The configuration tool also lets you change graphics and audio options as mentioned earlier. Disabling hardware support can keep games from crashing but sacrifices game performance in doing so. When in doubt, turn settings to minimum and bring them up slowly as you attempt to troubleshoot the best configuration for your game.

6. Work in the Wine Library

When you are configuring a new application, it’s wise to launch it from a terminal until you have the kinks ironed out. Doing so allows you to read the error messages that stream down the screen as the application runs. Bear in mind that many of these messages are not errors; they are used by developers to tune Wine. This makes them useful sources of information, particularly when they spit out .dll (dynamically linked library) errors.

A dynamically linked library is a fancy term from Microsoft that refers to a library of software used by various applications. These libraries are “linked” to applications as they are needed. If this reminds you of the package-managed dependencies mentioned at the beginning of the article, hand yourself a gold star. These libraries are what Wine replaces when it runs your MS-based applications.

Sometimes, the libraries are missing or incomplete. In this case, the .dll errors mentioned earlier will give you the name of the specific files that are causing problems. Replacement .dll files can be found in your Windows install or in a regular Windows install of your application. To fix errors, you can use the Library tab in Wine’s configuration tool to replace Wine’s .dll with the authentic .dll.

Wine Vs. Cedega

Not everyone has the time or patience to wrangle Wine into submission, and TransGaming Technologies (www.transgaming.com) is hoping to bank on this fact. The company has produced a “commercial re-implementation of the Windows API for Linux with a focus on gaming.” Sound like Wine? It should. Transgaming’s product, Cedega, is based in part on the free Wine source code. Many in the open-source community view this as an outrage, but Transgaming insists it violates no licenses. For a small fee, it offers “Wine that works” with a list of games guaranteed to run with it.