Imagine a place of wonder, where magick and technology hold equal sway, and an adventurer might just as easily wield a flintlock pistol as a flaming sword. A place where great industrial cities house castle keeps and factories, home to Dwarves, Humans, Orcs and Elves alike. A place of ancient runes and steamworks, of magic and machines, of sorcery and science.



Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Arcanum in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Note: This guide applies to the GOG version of Arcanum. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux Explained

Mint 17.3 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.10
Wine: 1.8.2

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"


Look for the Wine Version: 1.8.2
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right


Click Next

Downloading Wine


Extracting

Downloading Gecko


Installed


Wine 1.8.2 is installed and you can close this window

Download Arcanum unofficial patch and widescreen patch

Go to: http://www.terra-arcanum.com/downloads/
Click Unofficial Patch


Download patch: UAP091225.exe


Click High Resolution Patch
Download patch: HighRes1.1a.exe


Note: Wait until the first patch is completely downloaded before clicking the next patch.

PlayOnLinux Setup

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install


Click "Install a non-listed program"


Click Next

Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next


Name your virtual drive: arcanum
Click Next


Check all three options:

• Use another version of Wine
• Configure Wine
• Install some libraries

Click Next


Select Wine 1.8.2
Click Next


Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next


Wine Configuration

Applications Tab
Windows version: Windows 7
Click Apply


Graphics Tab
Check "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
Click OK


PlayOnLinux Packages (Components, DLL's, Libraries)

Check the following:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_gdiplus
• POL_Install_tahoma

Click Next


Note: All packages will automatically download and install

Installing Arcanum

Click Browse

Select "setup_arcanum_2.0.0.15.exe"
Click Open


Click Next again

Check "Yes, I have read and accept EULA"
Click Options
Uncheck "Create desktop icons"
Click Install


Click Exit


PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select "Arcanum.exe"
Click Next


Click Next


Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next


PlayOnLinux Configure

Select Arcanum
Click Configure


General Tab
Wine version: 1.8.2
Arguments: -no3d


Note: -no3d eliminates graphical artifacts. Click the + to download other versions of Wine, click the down-arrow to select other versions of Wine

Display Tab
Video Memory size: Enter the amount of memory your video card/chip uses


Installing Patches

Miscellaneous Tab
Click "Run a .exe in this virtual drive"


Select UAP091225.exe
Click Open


Click Next


Check "Townmap Fixes"
Check "Extra Content"
Click Next


Click Install


Uncheck "Show Readme"
Click Finish


Click "Run a .exe in this virtual drive"


Select HighRes1.1a.exe
Click Open


Type Destination folder:
C:\GOG Games\Arcanum
Click Install


Readme?
Press n
Press Enter


Install High Resolution Patch?
Press i
Press Enter


Type width
ex: 1920
Press Enter


Type height
ex: 1080
Press Enter


Follow the rest of the instructions about Dialog and Logbook fonts

Successful
Press Enter


Close Configure

Launching Arcanum

Select Arcanum
Click Run


Note: Click Debug to see errors and bugs

Conclusion:
Arcanum ran perfectly after adding the High Resolution patch and using the -no3d argument. It is an old school game, but very detailed in character development. There seems to be endless options for skills, strengths, spells, items, disciplines and more.


Screenshots: