I want to make a dedicated server on Linux, what do I need to do it?
- Install Wine. You need a recent version - IIRC most successful reports seem to be using 1.14 or later. Some Linux distros (eg Ubuntu) don't include a sufficiently up-to-date version in their repos, so the best thing to do is add the main Wine repo and install from that. (If you're not using a Debian-based distro, choose one of the other options here.)
- Install GR.
- Grab
your CDs (or DVD) and run the installers (including patches) in
sequence. In Ubuntu, you can do this easily by right-clicking on each
.exe and selecting 'Run with Wine Windows Program Loader'. If your
distro doesn't do something like that, you can do
CODE% wine "D:\path\to\setup.exe"where 'D' is the letter Wine is using for your CD/DVD drive.
- When it's done, each installer will hang. Grab your favourite process manager and look for a zombie process called 'IKernel.exe'. Kill this and the installer will exit. (Skipping this or just killing the installer can cause errors in subsequent installers.)
- Grab
your CDs (or DVD) and run the installers (including patches) in
sequence. In Ubuntu, you can do this easily by right-clicking on each
.exe and selecting 'Run with Wine Windows Program Loader'. If your
distro doesn't do something like that, you can do
- Configure GR in Wine. Open the Wine Configuration Editor.
- Click 'Add Application' and select GhostRecon.exe. Set it's Windows version to XP. (It may be worth experimenting with 98/2000, but I haven't...yet.)
- Make sure GhostRecon.exe is selected, and go to the 'Graphics' tab. Check 'AllowDirectX apps to stop the mouse leaving their window' and 'Emulate a virtual desktop'. Uncheck 'Allow window manager to decorate the windows' and 'Allow window manager to control the windows'. Set Vertex Shader support to 'Hardware' and disable the pixel shader.
- Go to the 'Audio' tab and check that the right sound driver is selected. In the DirectSound section, set hardware acceleration to 'Full' and turn on Driver Emulation.
- Dedi launcher. Let's add a shortcut for launching the dedicated server. Find the launcher for GR and copy the command. Then create a new launcher, insert the same commande and add the dedi switch on the end. The commands should look something like this:
env WINEPREFIX="/home/yourusername/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\Ghost Recon\GhostRecon.exe"
env WINEPREFIX="/home/yourusername/.wine" wine "C:\Program Files\Ghost Recon\GhostRecon.exe" -autoserve
You're done!
- I haven't found a way to play the game intro movie without crashing. (Insertion & extraction movies play fine.)
- Frame rates are lower than in native Windows. However, I'm still using integrated graphics of 2005 vintage, so it's quite likely that someone with a decent graphics card wouldn't notice any difference.
- With Wine set to emulate a virtual desktop, menu screens display in a 640x480 area of the screen. Disabling virtual desktop fixes this, but can lead to focus issues when entering a mission/game. (Do give this a try; I've only seen focus issues since upgrading to Ubuntu Jaunty - Intrepid was fine.)
- GameRanger now installs; you'll have to install Flash along with it (the ActiveX version). However GameRanger can't seem to launch GR to join or host a server.
- Haven't tried TeamSpeak or the TeamSpeakOverlay yet.
- xFire installs & loads under Wine, but it's pretty unstable. Haven't managed to get it to run long enough to join or host yet. The gFire Pidgin plugin handles xFire status & friends pretty well; I haven't had a chance to test joining or hosting through it yet.