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Arx Fatalis Guide

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Jul 31, 2013.

  • by booman, Jul 31, 2013 at 2:33 PM
  • booman

    booman Grand High Exalted Mystic Emperor of Linux Gaming Staff Member

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    Back when I was busy playing Battlefield 1942, Return to Castle Wolfenstein & Half-Life... there were some amazing RPG games that just didn't get the credit they deserved. I wasn't aware of open world exploration games like Morrowind, or the ability to level up your character and customize their entire inventory.

    arx23a.png

    Many years later after becoming an RPG addict, I found Arx Fatalis on GOG.com and realized what I had been missing.

    Of course graphics & animation are now state-of-the-art and physics play a huge part in modern gaming... but when you play Arx Fatalis and put yourself back in 2002, its quite amazing!

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

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

    Tips & Specs

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

    Mint 14 32-bit
    PlayOnLinux: 4.2.1
    Wine: 1.5.25

    Installing Wine with PlayOnLinux

    Installing different versions of Wine is necessary for running different games because one Wine doesn't work for them all. PlayOnLinux makes it possible to download, install and test your game in all the versions of Wine until you find the right one for your speicific game.

    Launch PlayOnLinux
    Click Tools
    Click "Manage Wine Versions"

    Wine versions manager
    Select 1.5.25
    Click the right-arrow
    wine01.png

    Wine wizard
    Click Next
    wine02.png

    Downloading...
    wine03.png

    Extracting
    wine04.png

    Complete
    wine05.png

    Thats it!
    Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-staging

    Launch PlayOnLinux
    Click Install
    arx01.png

    Search: GOG.com - Arx Fatalis
    Select Arx Fatalis
    Click Install
    arx02.png

    Note: We are using the provided script from PlayOnLinux because it installs the proper version of Wine and any Windows Libraries needed automatically. Later we will select a newer version of Wine.

    Click Next
    arx03.png

    Make sure you have already downloaded Arx Fatalis from GOG.com
    Save it to your desktop

    Select "Use a setup file in my computer"
    Click Next
    arx04.png

    Click Run
    arx05.png

    Navigate to your Desktop
    Select arx_fatalis.exe
    Click Open
    arx06.png

    Click Next
    arx07.png

    Configuring Wine
    arx08.png

    Checking file integrity
    arx09.png

    Check "yes, I have read..."
    Click Start Installation
    arx10.png

    Installing
    arx11.png

    Complete
    Do not Click launch!
    Click Exit Installer
    arx12.png

    Note: PlayOnLinux will automatically create shortcuts for you

    In PlayOnLinux
    Click Configure

    General Tab
    Select Wine version: 1.5.25
    arx16.png

    Display Tab
    Direct Draw Renderer: opengl
    Video memory size: the amount of memory on your video card
    Offscreen rendering mode: fbo
    arx13.png

    Wine Tab
    Click Windows Reboot
    arx17.png

    Close configuration

    Set Resolution
    Changing screen resolution in-game probably won't work and you will be stuck with a tiny or stretched out 1024x768 screen

    Navigate to:
    /home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/ArxFatalis_gog/drive_c/Program Files/GOG.com/Arx Fatalis

    Note: username is your login

    arx14.png

    Open cfg_default.ini with a text editor
    under [VIDEO]
    resolution=1360x765
    arx15.png

    You can adjust the screen resolution here. Some resolutions are not supported by the engine, but I got 1360x765 to work.

    Note: Before launching Arx Fatalix in 1360x765 make sure to change Linux desktop resolution to match, otherwise the game will not be fullscreen.

    Launch PlayOnLinux
    Select Arx Fatalis
    Click Run

    Don't bother with graphical settings, only use the cfg_default.ini

    Conclusion:
    Arx Fatalis turned out to be pretty fun and a few surprises with bump mapping and lighting. There is action, puzzles, looting, leveling up and all the weapons your heart desires.
    One element that took me a long time to figure out is where to click to move up stairs to the next level.... you will se a very very tiny triangle with an arrow in the top right of the screen. Its not very obvious, but that is how to move from one level to the other.

    Screenshots:

    arx18a.png

    arx19a.png

    arx20a.png

    arx21a.png

    arx22a.png

    arx24a.png

    arx25a.png

    arx26a.png

    arx27a.png

    arx28a.png

    arx29a.png
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2016

Comments

Discussion in 'Guides' started by booman, Jul 31, 2013.

  1. booman
    High Res Screenshots:

    arx29.png arx28.png

    arx27.png arx26.png

    arx25.png arx24.png

    arx23.png arx22.png

    arx21.png arx20.png

    arx19.png arx18.png
  2. booman
    I'm actually playing Arx Fatalis on my Acer C710 Chromebook with the Intel HD 2000 in ChrUbuntu. It runs just fine!
    I know its not a demanding game, but I was surprised that I could play it on my chromebook. Score another game that runs in Linux on Intel chips!
    Fun game too, kinda slow, but very interactive and dark!

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