[FAQ] Ryzom in Linux (Reloaded)

[23857628]

Machine specifications:
AMD Athlon64 X2 5000+
2 GB RAM
XFX GeForce 8600 GT Fatal1ty (256MB)
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital
Linux kernel 2.6.22.6
Wine 0.9.44
nVidia 100.14.11 release
alsa-lib 1.0.14 with alsa-driver from kernel

1. Installation

a. The Windows way
Copy the Ryzom installation from a local Windows partition and ensure the user running wine has sufficient rights (reading and writing) to access it. When trying to run wine ryzom_configurator_rd.exe it complains about a missing mfc42.dll. Get it from a Windows installation or search the web for it. Put it inside your Ryzom directory.

b. Big installer (http://dl1.gfsrv.net/ryzom-installer_060928.exe)
Extract the self-extracting exe to a temporary directory on your drive and execute wine setup.exe from inside it. After the installation quits successfully wine tries to run ryzom_configurator_rd.exe which will fail due to the missing mfc42.dll. Read under a. The Windows way...

c. Small installer
Not working at the moment. If anybody is successfully using it to install Ryzom please report what you did to get it working.

d. Using a shell script (untested by me)
blaah hacked together a script that can download all files (~3GB download the first time). You can get it at his site.

2. Configuration

a. winecfg

Applications:
Windows -> Win2000, WinXP or Vista (for HardwareCursor to display correctly)

Graphics:
[X] Allow DirectX apps to stop the mouse leaving their window
[X] Allow the window manager to control the windows
Vertex Shader Support -> Hardware
[X] Allow Pixel Shader

Audio:
[X] Alsa Driver
Uncheck other drivers
Hardware Acceleration -> Full
Default Sample Rate -> 44100
Default Bits Per Pixel -> 16
Software Emulation is disabled

b. Ryzom
Ensure you followed the instructions under either 1.a or 1.b and run wine ryzom_configurator_rd.exe.

Display:
(*) OpenGL
(*) Fullscreen (choose a resolution)

Display Details:
Adjust to your liking (can be done ingame too)

Display Advanced:
Leave alone

Sound:
[X] Activate Sound
[ ] Enable EAX
[X] Software Sound
Sound Tracks -> Leave it at 32 for best quality

3. Patching and playing Ryzom
Execute wine client_ryzom_rd.exe. After logging in follow the instructions to patch Ryzom and click to restart the game if asked. If it doesn't restart locate the little tray icon of the patcher and close it from it's right-click menu. This should get the game up and running. Accept the license and start playing by creating or selecting a character in the selection view.

Skip the patching instructions if you copied a recent installation from Windows. It should be up-to-date already.

Additional Configuration (various sources)

These tweaks and editing the client.cfg file by hand isn't supported by the devs and you may lose the right for support if you do so! Use at your own risk!

Add/Change the following inside your client.cfg file:
HardwareCursor = 1; (can be set inside the game too; needed for the native Ryzom look of the mouse cursor)
BackgroundDownloader = 0; (disable the newly added graphical updater that can steal focus and make sound not work sometimes)
ProcessPriority = 2; (can't confirm a performance gain, but doesn't hurt to have it set)

Startup Script (Thank you, Drakfot for the script and blaah for the input)

Name it as you like and save it to /usr/bin or any other directory in your path. Don't forget to make it executable! (chmod +x)

#!/bin/bash 

#Edited by me for simplicity and to remove even more debugging output
#It's easy to adapt the script to other games now, by just changing the variables :)

#Set game name
GameName="Ryzom"
#Set game path and executable
GameExePath="/path/to/ryzom/"
GameExeFile="client_ryzom_rd.exe"; 

echo "Starting $GameName!"
cd $GameExePath
case "$1" in 
    debug) 
         nice -n 19 wine $GameExeFile; 
         ;; 
    *) 
         WINEDEBUG=-all nice -n 19 wine $GameExeFile > /dev/null; 
         ;; 
esac

Desktop Icon (Thank you, blaah!)
To install a Ryzom icon on desktop or in the menu manually (use --menu or --desktop according to your needs):

export RYZOM_HOME="/path/to/ryzom/dir"
wineshelllink --menu/--desktop --workdir "$RYZOM_HOME" --path client_ryzom_rd.exe --descr "The Saga of Ryzom" --icon "$RYZOM_HOME/Ryzom6.ico" --link Ryzom

Trouble
ATi users might have a hard time (the closed source Linux drivers are yet lacking many functionalities)

Klients
Use these instructions to get the wxmtpchat program running and configured. You can also try running the original Klients in wine, which has proven to be a tad unstable for me.

Ingame screens getting messed up by switching desktops

In Section "Device" of your xorg.conf file you should check that Option DynamicTwinView "true" is set. In section screen you should set your resolution and RefreshRate by just adding the line Option metamodes "1280x1024_75 +0+0; 1280x1024 +0+0" (modify to your needs - this line is for a 17" flat panel).

You'll notice that every app that uses xrandr extension to read and set resolution will have the values all messed up, but that's a known issue and it still works well. Set Ryzom to use the new RefreshRate by selecting it in ryzom_configuration_rd.exe.

If it's not already done otherwise, start nvidia-settings after every reboot to ensure the settings of it are loaded correctly.


Post your success stories!