Metro 2033 Guide

Survival is key to post apocalyptic Russia where bullets are currency and mutated creature aren't your only enemy. Travel and explore the underground Metro with with stealth or all out fire power, but be careful with each shot...

Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Metro 2033 Redux in Linux with PlayOnLinux and DXVK

Note: This guide applies to the GOG version of Metro 2033 Redux. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

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

Mint 19 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.3.4
Wine: 3.21
DXVK: 0.93

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"

Look for the Wine Version: 3.21
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right

Click Next

Downloading Wine

Extracting

Installed

Click (amd64) Tab
Select "3.21"
Click the arrow pointing to the right

Downloading Wine 64-bit

Installed

Wine 3.21 32-bit and 64-bit is installed, you can close this window

PlayOnLinux Setup

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install

Click "Install a non-listed program"

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

Name the virtual drive: metro2033
Click Next

Check all three options:

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

Click Next

Select Wine 3.21
Click Next

Select "64 bits windows installation"
Click Next

Wine Configuration

Applications Tab
Windows version: Windows 7

Libraries Tab
Enter the following:

• d3d10
• d3d10_1
• d3d10core
• d3d11
• dxgi
• xaudio2_7

Select one at a time
Click Edit
Select: Native (Windows)
Click Apply

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

PlayOnLinux Packages

Check the following:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx10
• POL_Install_d3dx11
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_tahoma

Click Next

Note: All packages should automatically download and install

Click Browse

Select "setup_metro_2033_redux_2.0.0.2.exe"
Click Open

Click Next again

Click OK

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

Click OK on all errors

Click Exit

PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select "metro.exe"
Click Next

Name the shortcut: Metro 2033
Click Next

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

Installing DXVK

Setting up DXVK in Mint with Nvidia

Goto: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases/tag/v0.93
Download dxvk-0.93.tar.gz to your Desktop
Extract to your Desktop
Open x64 Directory
Copy all the DLLs

Paste all the DLLs in the metro.exe Directory
Full Path:

/home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/metro2033/drive_c/GOG Games/Metro 2033 Redux

Note: Feel free to try newer DXVK versions

PlayOnLinux Configure & DirectX Runtime

Back to PlayOnLinux
Select "Metro 2033"
Click Configure

General Tab
Wine version: 3.21

Note: 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

Download DirectX 2010 Runtime
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=8109
Save to your Desktop

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

Navigate to your Desktop
Select "directx_jun2010_redist.exe"
Click Open

Click Yes

Type C:\
Click OK

Back to Miscellaneous Tab
Click "Run a .exe file in this virtual drive" again

Go to your virtual drive drive_c
Select "DXSETUP.exe"
Click Open

Check "I accept the agreement"
Click Next

Click Next

When finished installing
Click Finish

Close Configure

Launch Metro 2033

Select Metro 2033
Click Run

Note: Click debug to see errors and bugs

Optimization

Click Options

Click Video

Adjust:

• Resolution
• Quality
• SSAA
• Texture Filtering
• Motion Blur
• Tessellation
• Vsync

Press Escape to save settings

Conclusion:
Metro 2033 runs great with DXVK installed and all the settings on high. There are a few flickering textures or objects here and there, but its not consistent. The DirectX Runtime fixes the crackly audio as long as you add the xaudio2_7 library. Finally we can play the Metro series from GOG even though Steam has the native versions.

Gameplay Video:

Screenshots:

 

I have to admit, I just installed the Linux version...

 

With Steam?
How did it run for you?

I only have Metro 2033 in Steam, but I don't have Last Light. I have both on GOG, but they don't have the Linux version yet.

 

I got the Metro 2033 Redux/Last Light bundle for Linux on Steam about a year ago now, when they were doing a flash sale. Only cost the equivalent of $10 or so.

Bearing in mind I'm running it on an AMD Raven Ridge-based laptop, I've had some teething troubles, due to the relative immaturity of that driver, but since about kernel 4.19 paired with the October 2018 firmware it's been great.

That said, again due to choice of chip, I've backed off the gfx settings a couple of notches as otherwise it does judder a bit during action scenes.

Gameplay-wise, during the actual game, it's just fine - I'd imagine it's roughly the same as Windows. During the loading scenes (the talky bits over the metro map) I get long pauses and hangups while it loads the various textures etc.. Again, that might be the result of using a distinctly mid-range APU.

When I next get a day off, I'll see if I can take some screenshots and turn on the frame rate indicator for some informal benchmarks...

 

Thanks for the details Kaitain!
One thing all of our guides fall-short is different Graphics Cards.
All of my tests are based on Nvidia GeForce video cards. So its hard to tell what the performance is for AMD cards and Intel chips.

Its nice that the updated kernel fixed your issues and now the native port runs great. I've read comments and posts about native ports of games running really poorly. With DXVK now some of those games run much better in Wine. Of course this only means DX10 & DX11 games. Direct X 9 games like Guide Wars 2 just won't run well on any hardware.

By the way, one thing I noticed with Metro and Wine is the loading screens are super fast. I'm talking less than 15 seconds. maybe its my 6-Core AMD processor?