The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Guide

skyrim76.jpg


Skyrim is 5th series of the epic saga known as The Elder Scrolls. Famous for the first person shooter and open-world view, Skyrim continues the Role Playing genre retaining all the favorite aspects of Morrowind and Oblivion while introducing a bunch of new features.

skyrim72.jpg


New classes, new guilds, new civilizations, new state-of-the-art graphics and...
wait for it...
Dragons!

Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Note: This guide applies to the Steam version of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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 17 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.8
Wine: 1.7.49-staging

Wine Installation

Note: Wine versions older than 2.0.2 and 2.12-staging no longer work with Steam.


Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"
wine01.png


Look for the Wine Version: 1.7.49-staging

Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right
wine02.png


Click Next

Downloading Wine
wine04.png


Extracting

Downloading Gecko
wine05.png


Installed
wine06.png


Wine 1.7.49-staging is installed and you can close this window

PlayOnLinux Setup

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install
skyrima01.png


Click "Install a non-listed program"
skyrima02.png


Click Next

Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next
skyrima04.png


Name your virtual drive: skyrim
Click Next
skyrima05.png


Check all three options:
  • Use another version of Wine
  • Configure Wine
  • Install some libraries
Click Next
skyrima06.png


Select Wine 1.7.49-staging
Click Next
skyrima07.png


Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next
skyrima08.png


Wine Configuration

Applications Tab
Windows Version: Windows 7
Click Apply
skyrima09.png


Graphics Tab
Click "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
Desktop size: 1024x768
Click OK
skyrima10.png


PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

Check the following:
  • POL_Install_corefonts
  • POL_Install_d3dx10
  • POL_Install_d3dx9
  • POL_Install_tahoma
  • POL_Install_vcrun2008
  • POL_Install_xact
Click Next
skyrima11.png


Note: All packages will automatically download and install

Click Browse

Navigate to your desktop
Select "SteamSetup.exe"
Click Open
skyrima13.png


Click Next
skyrima14.png


Click Next
skyrima15.png


Check "I accept the license..."
Click Next
skyrima16.png


Select Language
Click Next
skyrima17.png


Click Install
skyrima18.png


Click Finish
skyrima19.png


Updating...
skyrima20.png


dwrite isn't enabled yet, so there won't be any fonts
Click The "X" and close Steam
skyrima22.png


PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select "Steam.exe"
skyrima23.png


Name your shortcut: Skyrim
Click Next
skyrima24.png


Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next
skyrima25.png


PlayOnLinux Configure

Back to PlayOnLinux
Select Skyrim
Click Configure
skyrima26.png


General Tab
Wine version: 1.7.49-staging
Arguments: -no-dwrite -no-cef-sandbox
This fixes the missing font and store problem
skyrima28.png


Note: -no-dwrite will allow the fonts in Steam

Display Tab
Video memory size: Enter the amount of memory your video card/chip uses
skyrima29.png


Launching Skyrim

Select Skyrim
Click Run
skyrima30.png


Note: Click Debug to see errors and bugs

Login to Steam
skyrima31.png


skyrima32.png


Select Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Click Install
skyrima33.png


Click Next
skyrima34.png


Skyrim is about 6 Gigs
When its finish downloading...
Click Finish
skyrima35.png


Click Play
skyrima36.png


Detecting Video Hardware
Click OK
skyrima37.png


Optimization

Click Options
skyrima38.png


Graphics Adapter and Resolution
Adjust:
  • Graphics Adapter
  • Aspect Ratio
  • Resolution
  • Antialiasing
  • Anisotropic Filtering
  • Detail
  • Windowed
Click Ok
skyrima40.png


Advanced Detail
Adjust:
  • Texture Quality
  • Radial Blur Quality
  • Shadow Detail
  • Decal Quantity
  • FXAA
  • Water Reflections
Click Close
skyrima39.png


Advanced View Distance
Adjust:
  • Object Fade
  • Actor Fade
  • Grass Fade
  • Specularity Fade
  • Light Fade
  • Item Fade
  • Distand Object Detail
  • Object Detail Fade
Click Close
skyrima41.png


Click Play
skyrima42.png


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

Conclusion:
Skyrim ran beautifully on my GeForce 550 Ti with everything set on High or Ultra. Wine 1.7.49-staging does a great job and I didn't have too many issue:
Tree animation was not smooth and the shadows moved irregularly
Can not see underwater (underwater view can be disabled in the .ini files)

Screenshots:
skyrim73.jpg


skyrim74.jpg


skyrim78.jpg


skyrim79.jpg


skyrim84.jpg
 
Last edited:
Just a tip to those who want to use the overlay. I'm using WINE 1.7.11 for this game and overlay works great. (Sometimes it gets lonely traveling around Skyrim, gotta chit chat with some steam friends haha)

I also have the debugging stuff disabled for performance.

2014-02-11-19%3A37%3A59-screenshot.png
 
What!!?? Dude if they fixed the overlay in 1.7.11 that would be awesome!
But now I have to test all of my games again
 
What!!?? Dude if they fixed the overlay in 1.7.11 that would be awesome!
But now I have to test all of my games again

Overlay worked for me in 1.7.11, but remember that.... not all programs will react the same way... like Scribblenauts Unlimited. It still crashed with overlay on.
 
I have winsteam and I'm running Skyrim through there right now, but will it run better this way? Also is it easier to install mods running directly from wine? (I can't find any easy ways through winsteam)
 
I have winsteam and I'm running Skyrim through there right now, but will it run better this way? Also is it easier to install mods running directly from wine? (I can't find any easy ways through winsteam)


You can use Steam Workshop to download mods for Skyrim . I use WINE 1.7.10-CSMT for better performance and disable the debug options.

Think of running Skyrim in steam as if you were running it on windows, it just runs great.

What I do is just, go to the workshop, install the mods and run skyrim so it can update the new subscriptions :) that's all to it.
 
You can use Steam Workshop to download mods for Skyrim . I use WINE 1.7.10-CSMT for better performance and disable the debug options.

Think of running Skyrim in steam as if you were running it on windows, it just runs great.

What I do is just, go to the workshop, install the mods and run skyrim so it can update the new subscriptions :) that's all to it.
Yea but steam workshop doesn't have Falskaar
 
Okay guys, I'm on Linux Mint 64bit Mate and I'm kinda desparate. Tried like everything - still issues with mouse trap - this is I can make maximum 180 degress rotation. Any ideas?
 
Welcome to the forum. Did you go to Wine Configuration and click on Graphics Tab?
Check "Automatically cpature the mouse in full-screen windows"
Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
Desktop Size: 1024x768
skyrim09-png.2167


This is critical for the mouse to work properly.
 
Thanks for replay sir. I have googled the issue - and I have found some blogger complaining about same issue on Linux Mint. Installed Ubuntu and everything works flawlessly now. It was Mint-specyfic problem :)
 
Wow, very strange. The difference in Distros still amazes me.
Thanks for confirming that the mouse is working again.
 
First: Thank you ! After all the years (i tried my first linux in '96) the first real success ! It works ! And finally a solution to get rid of windows ! Really, thanks a lot !
Two things: i didn't have the option "argument" in playonlinux to add the no-dwrite, and in the console i had to type > cd /media/SKYRIM_DE/Setup.exe -no-dwrite (note: i have Ubuntu installed and a German version of the game).
Sorry I didn't see your post earlier.
So you got it working?
I have a feeling your PlayOnLinux version might be older. Try updating to the current 4.2.2 version
 
Last edited by a moderator:
did you navigate to the DVD first? in Mint it is
Code:
/media/username/SKYRIM_EN
Once you are in the DVD directory in Terminal, then run the
Code:
./Setup.exe -no-dwrite

Also, if it still says "cannot execute Binary file" you may have to copy the entire DVD contents to a folder on your desktop.
Then try the install from there.
Otherwise, just download it in Steam.
 
i need some serious help. i followed this guide and when i tried to start the steam to play it doesnt even open. i dont know what else to do. please help me. thank you.
 
Hi, thanks for posting. Are you saying Steam won't launch or Skyrim won't launch?
Don't forget that the In-Game Community overlay can cause games to crash at launch. Make sure to disable that overlay.
Can you play any other games on your Distro?
 
Hi, thanks for posting. Are you saying Steam won't launch or Skyrim won't launch?
Don't forget that the In-Game Community overlay can cause games to crash at launch. Make sure to disable that overlay.
Can you play any other games on your Distro?

I having a similar issue. I'm using the newest version of Ubuntu. Everything works fine until i try to launch the game. It tells me there are serious issues with the Skyrimlauncher.exe and needs to close and that it can be caused by a problem in the program or a deficiency in wine.
 
Did you disable the overlay? That is pretty critical with a lot of Steam games. It will crash them before launch or during game menu's when you click. I've seen other symptoms as well.

You can also post your debug in our PlayOnLinux forum so we can see if there are any errors to point us in the "right direction"
 
Back
Top