Assassin's Creed 2 Guide

Assassin's Creed II moves from Israel to Italy where we control Ezio Auditore da Firenze. As a young assassin, he learns of his ancestor Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad's and follows in his footsteps.
Climb almost any structure in Florence, perform stealthy kills, run-n-hide from guards, ride horses, explore and complete quests.

Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Assassin's Creed II in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Note: This guide applies to the Retail & Uplay version of Assassin's Creed II. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux Explained
http://www.gamersonlinux.com/forum/forums/playonlinux-explained.25

Mint 17 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.5
Wine: 1.7.26

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"

Look for the Wine Version: 1.7.26
Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-staging

Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right

Click Next

Downloading Wine

Extracting

Downloading Gecko

Installed

Wine 1.7.26 is installed and you can close this window

Download Uplay

Go to: http://uplay.ubi.com/
Click "Download Uplay PC"

Save UplayInstaller.exe to your desktop
Click Save

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: assassins2
Click Next

Check all three options:

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

Click Next

Select Wine 1.7.26
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"
Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
Desktop size: 1024x768
Click OK

Installing Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

Check the following:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_gdiplus
• POL_Install_msxml3
• POL_Install_msls31
• POL_Install_tahoma
• POL_Install_vcrun2008
• POL_Install_vcrun2010

Note: All libraries will automatically download and install.

Click Next

Installing Uplay

Click "Select another file"

Click Browse

Navigate to your Desktop
Select UplayInstaller.exe
Click Open

Click Next

Click OK

Click Install

Click Close

PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select "Uplay.exe"
Click Next

Name your shortcut "Assassin's Creed II"
Click Next

PlayOnLinux Configure

Back to PlayOnLinux
Select "Assassin's Creed II"
Click Configure

General Tab
Wine version: 1.7.26
Note: Click the + to download other versions of Wine. Click the down-arrow to select other versions of Wine.

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

Installing Assassin's Creed II

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

Navigate to your Assassin's Creed II CD ROM
Select "setup.exe"
Click Open

Select Language
Click Next

Click Next

Check "I accept the terms..."
Click Next

Click Install

Click Finish

Close Configure

Launching Assassin's Creed II

Select "Assassin's Creed II"
Click Run

Looking for updates
Uplay may get stuck on this and you will have to close it
Launch Uplay again

Updating Uplay

Login to Uplay

Select "Assassin's Creed II"

click Play

Legacy Patch process

Update
Click Yes

Select language
Click Next

Select "I accept the terms..."
Click Next

Click Next

Click Finish

Downloading Uplay game files

Synchronize
Click Skip

Press Enter

Optimization

Click Options

Click Graphics

Set the Resolution to match your Linux Desktop
Adjust Multisampling, Vsync, Environment, Texture, Shadow, Reflection, Character and Post Effects.
Click Back to apply

Rule of Thumb:
High settings = More detail, lower frame rates
Low settings = Less detail, higher frame rates

Conclusion:
Wine 1.7.24 and newer has fixed the crypt32 problem and now Uplay runs GREAT. So Assassin's Creed II runs great as well.
I recommend setting Uplay to offline so you don't have to worry about updates breaking your game.

 

High Res Screenshots:

 

This Assassin's Creed Guide has been updated to reflect Wine 1.7.26

 

Excelent guide as always, normally assassins creed saga in singleplayer dont show problems, in multiplayer is different but for other reasons like as punkbuster cpu usage, ping and other things

 

I never play multi-player, but I did test Brotherhood and it ran fine. I didn't test long enough to see if I was kicked from the server as I have read on WineHQs

 

Wine 2.0-rc1-staging x86_64 (64Bit-Version)
Windows Version: Vista

Installed POL: d3dx9

GLSL Support: default
Dirct Draw Renderer: opengl
Viedo Memory Size: your size
Offscreen rendering mode: default
Render target mode lock: default
Multisampling: default
Strict Draw Ordering: default

Ubisoft Overlay: disabled - Game hangs at startup, when enabled

 

Awesome! Thanks for the input

 

Wine 2.0-rc1-staging x86_64 (64Bit-Version)
Windows Version: Vista

Installed POL: d3dx9

GLSL Support: default
Dirct Draw Renderer: opengl
Viedo Memory Size: your size
Offscreen rendering mode: default
Render target mode lock: default
Multisampling: default
Strict Draw Ordering: default

Ubisoft Overlay: disabled - Game hangs at startup, when enabled

Played for several hours now, works
d3dx9 not needed
also enabled "Enable CSMT for better graphic support" in
Configure -> Configure WINE -> Tab Staging

 

Thanks for the update! I always add d3dx9 as a just-in-case... I know some games do not need it, but its always safe to add it.

 

Heya booman. Great guide.
However, following this to the letter I got the following error, when starting Uplay for the first time.

This is on Mint Linux 18.2

[08/13/17 16:21:55] - Running wine-1.7.26 Uplay.exe (Working directory : /home/curd/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/assassins2/drive_c/Program Files/Ubisoft/Ubisoft Game Launcher)
err:module:import_dll Library ncrypt.dll (which is needed by L"C:\\Program Files\\Ubisoft\\Ubisoft Game Launcher\\libcef.dll") not found
err:module:import_dll Library libcef.dll (which is needed by L"C:\\Program Files\\Ubisoft\\Ubisoft Game Launcher\\upc.exe") not found
err:module:LdrInitializeThunk Main exe initialization for L"C:\\Program Files\\Ubisoft\\Ubisoft Game Launcher\\upc.exe" failed, status c0000135

Am I missing some wine components? I'm not a Windows expert, but is seems I'm missing ncrypt.dll. I'm considering adding the crypt32 component, but it doesn't look like that will contain it... Any pointers?

 

Hi curd, welcome to the forum.
That Wine 1.7.26 is pretty old, so go ahead and try a newer version of Wine like 2.13-staging
I have a feeling the error will dissapear

 

Hi booman, indeed. Thanks!
I had tried 2.13 before, but to no avail. 2.13-staging now loads the Ubiplay screen, but it's all black.
I do see an outline of two fields, and filling in my Ubiplay email and password allow me to continue.
Then I get a screen where I dont see any text but I do see lots of promotional pictures of Ubisoft games. I Imagine this is a bit like steam, but I can't see an option to launch my installed version of AC2...

I got my Steam version working on a Mac by editing some .ini files, but I have the impression the Uplay launcher here is a bit different...

Do I need to install additional components for 2.13-staging to work properly?

Edit:
Added a screenshot of the Ubiplay Window

 

I haven't tested Uplay in a long time. yes, Uplay is totally different than Steam. Its ridiculous that we have to even run Uplay when playing through Steam.

It may have something to do with the Windows version. Try setting Wine Configuration to Windows Vista or Windows 7. Then see if Uplay launches...

These are the packages for Assassins Creed 2, but not neccesarily for Uplay:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_gdiplus
• POL_Install_msxml3
• POL_Install_msls31
• POL_Install_tahoma
• POL_Install_vcrun2008
• POL_Install_vcrun2010

You may have to add:

• POL_Install_vcrun2012
• POL_Install_vcrun2013

There is a chance it requires vcrun2015 as well, but that requires a few manual steps.

 

Wow that was quick Didn't even have time to upload a screenshot .
I installed vcrun2012 and vc2013 - no dice.
Changed to Windows Vista - Uplay complained it's not compatible with this version.
Changed to Windows 2008 for the hell of it - no dice.

It really looks as though some thing is missing. All the images and moving bits are clear; but anything that is text is invisible...

 

Did you add the no-dwrite argument for Steam?
It disables dwrite in Steam, but not sure how it will affect Uplay.
I'll have to give it a try at home since its been a long time.

 

I'm not using Steam itself, sorry for the confusion, I just mentioned that I got the game to run on my Mac within Steam; Here I'm just running it from within POL.

 

Oh, do you have the 2 disc retail version?
I mentioned Steam because if you try to play AC2, Brotherhood or Revelations, it forces you to install and use Uplay on top of Steam.

 

OK it works now.
When I launch; and I get to the screen where I can't see anything, I just click on the Start button; I choose Run; I browse to the folder where Assassins Creed II.exe is, and voila...
The patch is downloaded and it just works from there.
Guess this only means I'll have to do this each time, but I guess it'll have to do.
This Uplay business seems like a lot of user unfriendly corporate business....

 

Oh cool, you found a work-around. Yeah, once you get into Uplay and then play Assassins Creed II, you can then set Uplay to Offline. This way you can play without having to update it.

Did you change anything before trying this?

I miss the days of simply playing off a CD ROM/DVD, but I know there are more advantages to download/patching a game through a client like Steam. But now everyone has their own client. It is getting ridiculous. I can't keep up with all the different requirements. Even MMORPGS have their own clients.

Uplay isn't made for Linux or Wine, so it will have a few bugs.

 

No I didn't change anything, was just trying as I went
I think Steam isnt too bad. They even try to be multiplatform and so on.

But this Uplay thing is just a hassle. Anyway, thanks for all your efforts! Keep up the good work.