Easy Guide For Running Project 1999 On Linux
 

Hello All,

First of all, this is not meant to replace the other great guides out there for getting Project 1999 to run on Linux. I just wanted to post an alternative way that works and that I found to be easy and intuitive. The other guides work, but this was quick for me, and I hope it works for others. Also, I am writing it because people were having trouble with PlayOnLinux and Project 1999, but it works perfectly.

The other Project 1999 guides for Linux are from cadiz here and from mgellan here. The guide that helped me come up with this one is what I use when I play on TAKP, and you can find it on their wiki. I do not want to link directly over to that since this is in the regular forums and there is a modification to make it work with Project 1999. Still, you can find it if you Google takproject and go to their wiki, and the guy who wrote it is much more knowledgeable than me with Linux.

Also, I am using Ubuntu 14.04, and this is untested with other versions of Linux, but I think it would work the same. I am not a Linux guru, which is why I think this is helpful to newer users of Linux.

Here we go:

1. Install Wine - You can do it through the Ubuntu Software Center or the terminal and more information is on their site here or on the guides above.

2. Install PlayOnLinux - You can do it through the Ubuntu Software Center or follow the instructions here for other versions of Linux. I used the terminal for the Ubuntu Trusty version install personally.

3. Open PlayOnLinux > Tools > Manage Wine Versions > Install 1.7.50 (x86) - (Newer versions may work as well, but again, this is what worked for me. Also, an older version did not work, so make sure to get 1.7.50.)

4. In PlayOnLinux click Configure > New > Next > 32 bit windows installation > Select the version of wine you installed 1.7.50 or newer > Name it Project1999 or something like that (will refer to it as Project1999 moving forward).

5. Highlight Project1999 in the left menu > Install Components > Install D3Dx9, Dinput 8, and vcrun2010.

6. You have to replace a particular .dll file for dinput 8 after this, and you can get it here and then add it to your system32 folder in your new instance of wine. You should be able to get to this file by navigating to ~/PlayOnLinux's virtual drives/Project1999/drive_c/windows/system32/ and then just replacing the file in the destination with the newly downloaded one.

7. Back in the PlayOnLinux Configuration > Make New Shortcut > eqgame.exe > Next > Name it Project1999 > Select that you do not want to make another shortcut and hit next

8. In Configure > Wine > Configure Wine > Graphics tab > select the 1st box, deselect the 2nd box, and then select the 3rd and 4th boxes. Set your desktop size to what you want, mine is 1500 x 800 to give me a windowed view with a little extra space on the sides. (Of the 4 boxes, the one that is NOT checked is the "Allow the window manager to decorate the windows, and the others are checked.)

9. Close out of the PlayOnLinux program and go to your desktop where you should have your new shortcut > Right click on it and hit properties > In the command box, add the word "patchme" without quotations at the end of the line. > Here is what mine looks like --> /usr/share/playonlinux/playonlinux --run "Project1999" %F patchme

10. Launch the game from your desktop shortcut and it should work for you.

11. You may have to make a few modifications to your eqclient.ini file depending on what you have, and if anyone runs into issues, let me know and I will paste my eqclient.ini here.

Let me know if this works for you!

Nice read and guide. YOu totally missed the part tho where to put the EQ folder.

~/PlayOnLinux's virtual drives/Project1999/drive_c/Program Files

Thats where i put my EQ Folder. Getting to char select but then the game crashes when trying to enter world.

Nevermind... Musta been a onetime Crash. Working really nice. thanks for the tutorial

"Serious Error"
 

I followed this tutorial (I'm on Ubuntu 14.04, using Wine 1.7.50) and when I launch the desktop shortcut I get "Wine has encountered a serious error" and then I have to kill the process from the system monitor. Any ideas?

Run it using a terminal, copy/pate output to forum using a pastebin link

And or can we get a Screenshot?
It sounds like its not even starting the EQw.exe in WINE.

Check to make sure you are running a 32bit instance of wine by Going to Configure and check the wine version. You might have to hit the "+" button to get the full listing and or to install a diff version to test.

Also, I'm the dude who wrote the TAKP wiki thing, so if you have comments or suggestions I welcome them via PM.

I'm sure there's a simple solution to this, but I've found that running the EQ executable from any kind of shortcut or terminal prompt results in the error Boolean described.

My fix for this that has always worked is to target the executable directly from the folder where EQ is installed in the dosdevices/C:/ProgramFiles/Sony area. When run from inside the folder with all the gamefiles EQ seems to work fine.

Also, consider using Q4Wine if PlayonLinux is giving hassle. It's my go-to Wine GUI for running Windows executables.

Ubuntu 12.04 here, I know i'm way behind the times but it's so stable for everything I use it for I don't wanna mess with it =p

Yeah, scratch the EQW part, mind was on the other server.

The way I do the "patchme" for the shortcut is I go to PlayOnLinux Config, select the shortcut I made under the Wine instance, and just put "patchme" without quotes in the Arguments field.

One other quick tip for Gnome users, "sudo cp ~/Desktop/*.desktop /usr/share/applications/" makes the Wine launchers available for use in the Gnome launcher without needing to go to PlayOn

I should comment, I've always used normal Wine for running EQ. Never needed the extras that PlayOnLinux provided.