Avencast is an Action RPG following a similar story to the Harry Potter books. You begin as cadet in a school of magic and complete training quests to level up. Avencast has some great features like skill tree, character stats, melee & projectile weapons, roll & dodge, spells and keyboard combinations to cast them.



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

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

Tips & Specs:

Try SteamPlay before using this guide as Valve now uses a fork of Wine called Proton and should run most Windows games.

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

Mint 18.2 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.12
Wine: 2.0.2

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"


Look for the Wine Version: 2.0.2
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right


Click Next

Downloading Wine


Extracting

Downloading Gecko


Installed


Wine 2.0.2 is installed and you can close this window

Downloading Steam

Go To: http://www.steampowered.com
Click Install Steam


Do not click "Install Steam Now"
It will automatically install Linux Steam
Select Windows Steam instead
click "Windows" under the green button


Navigate 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: avencast
No spaces
Click Next


Check all three options:

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

Click Next


Select Wine 2.0.2
Click Next


Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next


Configure Wine

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


PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

Check the following libraries:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_tahoma

Click Next


Note: All packages will automatically download and install

Installing Steam

Click Browse


Navigate to your desktop
Select: SteamSetup.exe
Click Open


Click Next

Click Next

Check: I accept the license...
Click Next

Click Next

Click Next

Click Install

Click Finish

Updating Steam

Click the "X" to close Steam login


PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select Steam.exe
Click Next


Name your shortcut: Avencast
Click Next


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


PlayOnLinux Configure

Back to PlayOnLinux
Click Configure


General Tab
Arguments: -no-dwrite -no-cef-sandbox
This fixes any missing font problems and the Store problem (Windows needs to be set as Windows XP)


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 size of Memory your video card/chip uses


Close Configure

Launching Steam

Select Avencast
Click Run


Note: Click debug to see errors and bugs

Click "Login to existing account"


Login


Find Avencast in your Steam Library
Click Install


Uncheck "Create desktop shortcut"
Uncheck "Create start menu shortcut"
Click Next


Click Finish


Click Play after Avencast is finished downloading


Select "Launch Options Menu"
Click Play


Adjust:

• Adapter
• Resolution
• Windowed
• VSync
• Shadows
• Texturefiltering
• Particeleffects
• Bloom-Shader
• Floor in systemmem
• No PostRenderEffect
• Multisample PostRenderEffect
• Vertex processing
• FF-Pipeline
• Sound
• Video Subtitles
• Disable videos
• XFire Info

Click Save & Play


Also, in-game during game-play you can press Esc
Click Options
Graphics Tab
Adjust a few graphical settings like resolution


Even after setting Avencast to 1920x1080 the game would still launch at 1280x960
To resolve this, go to the Avencast/cfg directory
path:

Code:

/home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/avencast/drive_c/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Avencast/cfg

Open game.cfg with your text editor


Edit the two lines:
resX=
resY=
Enter the desired fullscreen resolution
Save & close


Conclusion:
Avencast ran perfectly with standard overrides and Wine 2.0.2. Feel free to set Windows to XP so you can browse the store too. I experienced great frame rates on my GTX 1060 in resolution of 1920x1080 as you can see in the video below. Avencast is an older game, but a really fun & challenging experience. so much to do and so many ways to customize your characters skills.

Gameplay video:



Screenshots: