[Guide] Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn on GNU/Linux

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Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMO) by Square Enix. As you might expect the world of FFXIV is filled incredibly amazing music that revolves around old themes, and classes such as Dragoons, Summoners, White Mages, Black Mages, Ninja, Botanist, etc.

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I'll be breaking down this guide into several sections.


Sections

1. Overview

The WINE I'm providing has CSMT patches integrated. I also merged the patches that were made a year ago to solve the user interface flickering issue. Originally this guide was going to include PlayOnLinux instructions, but it became apparent that creating a shortcut in POL is an uphill battle, for some reason it didn't want to create a simple shortcut.

Winetricks is required to be installed before using this guide.



2. Getting it running

UPDATE:

Due to taking down the virtual private server (VPS) soon I've taken a snapshot of the archives I've uploaded related to WINE. Issue has been solved. Leaving link as backup either way.

You can find it all here


First, I'm going to assume that you have downloaded the game either through Virtual Box or having a Windows partition. This guide will not cover the installation phase of the game. However, you are most welcome to create a new thread on GamersOnLinux forums.

Download the binaries here, you can also download the source here.

After downloading the binaries:

Create the following folder
Code:
$ mkdir -p ~/WINE/binaries/x86
$ cd ~/WINE/binaries/x86
$ wget http://thehumble.ninja/pelican_backup/assets/archives/wine-1.7.24-FFXIV-CSMT.tar.xz
$ tar xfv wine-1.7.24-FFXIV-CSMT.tar.xz

Temporarily we will append WINE to the PATH environment variable.

Type this to get the current directory you are in.
Code:
$ cd wine-1.7.24-FFXIV-CSMT/bin; pwd

Copy/Paste the result here, example:
Code:
$ export PATH=$PATH:/home/$USER/WINE/binaries/x86/wine-1.7.24-FFXIV-CSMT/bin

Now, it's time to install all the software required to run Final Fantasy XIV.
Code:
$ export WINEPREFIX=/home/$USER/WINE/bottles/FFXIV; export WINEARCH=win32
$ winetricks d3dx9 devenum ie8 quartz wininet winhttp xact_jun2010 wmp10
It's important that the applications be installed, do not skip any of them.

3. Let's launch it!

Once it's done, go to the installation folder of Final Fantasy XIV. For example, my installation folder is this one ("/media/david/Usagi/FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn/"). You will need to enter the boot folder, thus making it "/media/david/Usagi/FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn/boot"

Launch the game!
Code:
$ cd /PATH/TO/YOUR/FFXIV INSTALLATION/boot/
$ wine ffxiboot.exe

If it doesn't let you click on the EULA, don't worry.

Edit the EULA file:

Code:
nano ~/my games/FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn/FFXIV_BOOT.cfg
Turn

EulaAgreement 0

into

EulaAgreement 1

Now, let's just forget about the game for a moment. If you are following the instruction to install FFXIV without PlayOnLinux, do these steps:

Code:
$ wine regedit

Follow the steps: We are going to create some keys here.

In a nutshell, we just create the folder (key) in HKCU/Software

The key will be named “Direct3D”

The string keys within Direct3D will be the following
Code:
CSMT = enabled
StrictDrawOrdering = disabled

Here are some images so you get the idea!

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Once everything is set, run the game again.

Code:
$ wine ffxivboot.exe

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Log in, and play to your hearts content!


Let me simplify this for you, my dear reader! Let's create a shell script
Code:
$ mkdir ~/WINE/shortcuts

Using your favorite editor, create a file called FFXIV

Code:
#!/bin/sh

export WINEPREFIX=/home/david/WINE/bottles/FFXIV
# COMMENT IF THE GAME IS FAILING TO LAUNCH
export WINEDEBUG=-all

# UNCOMMENT THESE LINES IF YOU USE NVIDIA DRIVERS
#export LD_PRELOAD="libpthread.so.0 libGL.so.1"
#export __GL_THREADED_OPTIMISATIONS=1

WINE=/home/david/WINE/binaries/x86/wine-1.7.24-FFXIV-CSMT/bin/wine

$WINE "/media/david/Usagi/FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn/boot/ffxivboot.exe"
Code:
$ chmod +x ~/WINE/shortcuts/FFXIV
From now on you can just type
Code:
$ ~/WINE/shortcuts/FFXIV

Important note:


After the game launches, be sure to kill ffxivlauncher.exe in the terminal. The process does not close completely and it hogs the CPU.


Simply type

Code:
$ killall ffxivlauncher.exe

Screenshots (these were all taken while playing on Linux)

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Last edited:
Updated guide.

Introduced the variable $USER in the path instructions. I hope that it's compatible with the different shells out there.
 
It's not that the use IE8, they don't need the browser in general. What they want is the libraries Internet Explorer uses or provides. Thus making the application dependent of it.
 
Interesting the only IE8 provides libraries for something like a game.
I would think windows its-self would provide these libraries.
 
Screenshots have been added. I played on fullscreen yesterday, I know it's hard to notice the differences between Windows and Linux, haha.

Still, if in doubt, watch the video!
 
Is this an online MMO?
I thought all Final Fantasy games were turn-based, but this one seems like an action RPG.
 
Yes, it's an MMO. (Hey... I wrote that in the first paragraph!)

Final Fantasy have had three MMOs

Final Fantasy 11
Final Fantasy 14 (defunct)
Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn (practically, it's a revamp of what was 14 made better. FF14 had a lot of game design problems.)
 
Looks pretty cool, thanks for doing a post on another MMO
I've done a few and found that they break once-in-a-while with updates.
Wine seems to handle them well.
Nice screenshots by-the-way

Why is there so many buttons and text on the screen?
It looks a bit confusing
 
Hey Gamers On Linux Community! This game was honestly the only one keeping me from completely converting to Linux so this is really great to see. I do have one question though, would I be able to apply this same guide while also using Steam? I purchased the steam version of FF XIV ARR so if I can do that then I will for sure be getting rid of my Windows 8 partition and just using a VM instead.
 
Hey Gamers On Linux Community! This game was honestly the only one keeping me from completely converting to Linux so this is really great to see. I do have one question though, would I be able to apply this same guide while also using Steam? I purchased the steam version of FF XIV ARR so if I can do that then I will for sure be getting rid of my Windows 8 partition and just using a VM instead.

Hey, welcome!

As far as I know all the Steam client does is download the standalone launcher with a few flags enabled. (like launching ffxivboot.exe with -issteam flag). Honestly, I bought the game before it came to Steam. It should NOT carry any differences in terms of code.

As for applying the game on Steam. Yes, you can. However for me to help you it'd be a little bit difficult in this section as it's just a comment section. Start a new thread here: http://www.gamersonlinux.com/forum/categories/windows-compatibility-layers-wine-crossover.4/ and I'll try my best to give you a quick way to do it.

As for getting rid of windows, I just did that this weekend, haha. I got Final Fantasy 13 running, FFXIV, Child of Light, Trails in the Sky, and so on. Although I'm not a HUGE gamer anymore, I'm playing less and less.
 
Hey, welcome!

As far as I know all the Steam client does is download the standalone launcher with a few flags enabled. (like launching ffxivboot.exe with -issteam flag). Honestly, I bought the game before it came to Steam. It should NOT carry any differences in terms of code.

As for applying the game on Steam. Yes, you can. However for me to help you it'd be a little bit difficult in this section as it's just a comment section. Start a new thread here: http://www.gamersonlinux.com/forum/categories/windows-compatibility-layers-wine-crossover.4/ and I'll try my best to give you a quick way to do it.

As for getting rid of windows, I just did that this weekend, haha. I got Final Fantasy 13 running, FFXIV, Child of Light, Trails in the Sky, and so on. Although I'm not a HUGE gamer anymore, I'm playing less and less.

Hey that is great news. This week my time is a bit limited with work; I might not have a huge amount of time to dedicate to this project till next week. Until then I will try my best to stay in contact with you as soon as I am able too.
 
Hey guys, I tried to install FFXIV on Ubuntu, Elementary OS and Mint. Before I start, I install winetricks without wine, then I follow your guide point per point, but the launcher always says an HTTPS error linked to IE8.
In fact IE isn't loading pages which require https (it displays couldn't connect to website), they works only if they use the standard http protocol.
I tried with other versions of wine and they works without problem with IE8 on https and FFXIV launcher (but the game is very laggy without CSMT patch).
I noticed your wine doesn't ask for installing gecko and mono. I tried with a manual install, but it seems wine doesn't recognize them.
Anyone has an idea of what's happening?
 
Hey guys, I tried to install FFXIV on Ubuntu, Elementary OS and Mint. Before I start, I install winetricks without wine, then I follow your guide point per point, but the launcher always says an HTTPS error linked to IE8.
Could be that 1) you are launching the wrong WINE binary, has happened to me in the past. 2) you don't have security libraries installed properly which I in my opinion would be hard to believe with popular distributions. 3) There's something messy with your WINEPREFIX bottle.

In fact IE isn't loading pages which require https (it displays couldn't connect to website), they works only if they use the standard http protocol.

1) Check that you are running the correct binary if what I could think of.

I noticed your wine doesn't ask for installing gecko and mono.

WINE does ask you at its interval, if you use the same WINE bottle and you have it installed it won't ask you. Most of the time it asks you when you are changing the WINE binary then it starts configuring your bottle again. Note that I don't know how WINE manages old versions of gecko and mono if you jump from (WINE 1.5 to WINE 1.7.30), that's beyond me, maybe it uninstalls the old one? Not sure.


Anyone has an idea of what's happening?

I've the libraries in Arch Linux and Fedora without a problem... plus it's really hard to know what exactly you are doing without seeing the commands you are running, or if you are setting the correct WINEPREFIX or if you are setting the correct WINE binary.

Also I recently updated the links to the binaries and source because they didn't work so... I'm not sure how you got the binaries...
 
I found the package on an old article on your blog (the link you updated it's that I'm using to download wine).
The commands I input in my terminal are the commands in this guide. The paths are the same (except the fact my home obviously has a different name than yours).
I don't have any wine version installed on my pc, except this one (the command wine --version returns 1.7.24).
I'll try to reinstall everything and check again if I'm doing something wrong.

Thanks for the help ;)
 
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