The Witcher 2 Guide

This is a very good sequel to the original Witcher, and in my opinion improves on the original in every aspect. The story progresses in a very satisfactory manner, combat is much more involving and exciting and the quests are also a lore more fun. This game features more environments than the previous game and excellent graphics.

This guide will explain how to install the DRM-free digital edition available on GOG.com

This game suffers from a slightly annoying graphical bug on Linux, more on that at the end of the guide.

Tips & Specs

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

Arch Linux 64-bit
PlayOnLinux 4.2.2
Wine 1.7.5

Downloading from GOG

GOG games can be downloaded on Linux by using a web browser, just make sure the "GOG.com Downloader mode" is OFF

Or you can use the lgogdownloader, which is my personal preferred choice. It is a very useful program for downloading GOG games. There is no graphical interface for it, but it is very fast and provides error free downloads.

For some Linux distros it may be found in community repositories or similar community provided packages. Installation and usage instructions are located here: lgogdownloader

On first use, you must log in by opening a terminal and using the command:

lgogdownloader --login

You will be prompted for your gog.com account email and password, which you must type in correctly before you can use lgogdownloader to download games.

To list all games you own, type:

lgogdownloader --list

If you only want to see specific games you own, for example any games with 'witcher' in the name, then type:

lgogdownloader --list | grep witcher

To download The Witcher 2 with no extras and no cover artwork, just the actual installer:

lgogdownloader --download --game the_witcher_2 --no-extras --no-cover --directory /path/to/folder

Setup PlayOnLinux

Launch PlayOnLinux and select 'Tools' and 'Manage Wine versions'

In the new window that appears, scroll through the 'Available Wine versions' box to find '1.7.5' and click on the right pointing arrow to install it, now it will be visible under 'Installed Wine versions' on the right side
If you have a 64-bits system, make sure you have selected the 'Wine versions (x86)' tab above, however note that you can install the game with these exact same steps using a 64-bit wine version if you so wish. It will work just as well.

Just close the window. Back at the main PlayOnLinux window, select 'Install'

Click on 'Install a non-listed program'

Select 'Install a program in a new virtual drive' and click next

Name the the virtual drive "witcher2" and click next

Select "Use another version of Wine", "Configure Wine" and "Install some libraries" before you click next

On the wine selection window, select 1.7.5 and click next. Make sure you select '32-bits window installation' if you are on a 64-bit system, unless you wish to install it in a 64-bit virtual drive.

When the wine configuration window appear, change the Windows version to 'Windows 7'

Select the 'Graphics' tab, and click the checkbox for all four options. Make sure that you set the resolution to your desktop resolution. My desktop is at 1920 x 1080, so I set that for the wine virtual desktop resolution.

Note: Even though the language is Norwegian in my screenshot, the layout will look the same for you

When you come to the selection of libraries to install, select three libraries:

• POL_Install_dxfullsetup
• POL_Install_gdiplus
• POL_Install_vcrun2005

The click Next

When you are asked to select an installer, click on Cancel

The virtual drive is set up properly now, and we have to perform some additional steps for the GOG installer to work properly. Certain GOG installers that take a long time to install, tend to encounter certain errors during the installation procedure, but there is a method to workaround this.

Now you should move all the files for the GOG installer into the virtual drive. The virtual drive can be found by opening your home folder, then navigate to:

PlayOnLinux's virtual drives --> witcher2 --> drive_c

Here you could simply create a new folder and name it the_witcher_2, then either copy or move the GOG installer files here.

Back at the main PlayOnLinux window, click on "Configure", it does not matter what game shortcut is selected so don't worry about that.

On the left side, find the virtual drive you just set up, it will be named "witcher2", when you find it, select it. Then click on the 'Display' tab.

Set 'Video Memory size' to reflect the memory of your GPU.

Then set 'Offscreen rendering mode' to 'fbo'

Now select the 'General' tab, and click on 'Make a new shortcut from this virtual drive'

Select the GOG installer

Just let it name the shortcut with the default name, then select "I don't want to make another shortcut", now make sure you select the new shortcut on the left side, this make the "Arguments" box available, where you should type:

/nogui

Note: It is possible to install the game without using the /nogui argument for the installer, however you may encounter problems if installing normally so you should do it this way.

Check my screenshot to make sure you got it correct. Once again, it is important that you have selected the proper shortcut on the left side. Now you can close the configuration window, and start your shortcut back at the main PlayOnLinux window

Installing the Game

Click 'Next' and select to accept the agreement

Continue and make sure 'Full' is selected before clicking 'Next'

Now just click next until the installation start. This game take a while to install.

Once the installation is done, just click on 'Finish'

Now make sure the GOG installer shortcut is selected in the main PlayOnLinux window, then click on "Configure".

Click on "Make a new shortcut from this virtual drive", now select "witcher2.exe" and name the shortcut "The Witcher 2"

Now select the "Configurator.exe", and name the shortcut "The Witcher 2 - Configurator"

Lastly just select "I don't want to make another shurtcut"

Close the configuration window. On the main PlayOnLinux window, select the GOG installer shortcut, and click on "Remove" to delete this shortcut which is not needed anymore

You can delete the GOG installer files from the virtual drive now if you wish, since they serve no purpose remaining there and only take up space.

At this point you should run the Configurator to set up graphic settings and keyboard shortcuts for the game

The above screenshot display my graphical setttings, which I can run smoothly on my Asus G75VX laptop with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 670MX.

The only really important thing is "Cinematic Depth of Field". This does not work on Linux and MUST be set to "Disabled", otherwise cutscenes will not display properly.

You can now run the game from "The Witcher 2" shortcut from PlayOnLinux. This game plays very well on Linux, however there is one graphical bug that primarily seem to affect Nvidia users. Grass is rendered black at a distance, and certain areas in the game with lots of ground grass and foliage might look very odd. The black rendering also sometimes appear through your character's head. The screenshot below illustrate the issue.

So far there does not seem to be any way to fix this. I have looked through WineHQ and also googled quite a bit with no luck on finding a fix. I will keep looking for possible workarounds and will update the guide if I find a suitable way to circumvent this issue.

Screenshots

 

Awesome Guide! I'm glad Witcher 2 runs great in PlayOnLinux.
It amazing that you can actually run it at 1920x1080
Did you try any other Wine versions other than 1.7.5?
I'm just curious if the newer ones worked?

I love that configuration tool... almost too many options... wow

 

I tried 1.7.13 and 1.7.15, but the game would just crash for me with those wine versions and the debug output would not give me any useful information. So I decided to go back to 1.7.5 which is how I've had the game installed for some time now.

I might have found a workaround for the graphics bug I mentioned. There is a mod that allow you to increase the distance that foliage is still rendered in full detail. If set very high, this should get rid of the black foliage bug, but it might but some heavy strain on your system. I will give it a try during this week.

 

You are brave... I wouldn't even dare install witcher 2 on my PC... it ran sloppy on my windows... being on linux I don't expect it to run at an optimal performance at all D:

Also, Witcher 2 port to linux may be coming soon

 

Performance is very good for me. I have settings on Ultra, with only anti-aliasing disabled. Cinematic depth of view must also be disabled as cutscenes don't render properly with it on (noted in the guide). The game runs like a dream for me.

I did read that CD Projekt Red is considering making a Linux version of The Witcher 3. With GOG's decision to start supporting Linux I certainly consider it a possibility to see a Linux port of Witcher 2, which would be great. I also hope that CD Projekt's other game in development will see a Linux version. It is called Cyberpunk 2077 and the trailer looks cool.

 

This game is so heavy but i tested sometime

 

Honestly, I don't see the point with the wrapped version of The Witcher 2 that they released because it runs much worse than the wine version. It's more buggy as well.

On top of that the whole affair is pretty insulting to Linux gamers, because they released a beta product without much info on it being a beta, and Linux gamers who bought it have to beta test it for them.

 

Really? I had no idea that their wrapper was worse than Wine or that it was a beta.
Not a great way to develop for a new OS in the game industry.
Not only did they affect the reputation of Linux, but also their reputation.
Bad move...
I hope they fix it with Witcher 3.

 

It has gotten much much better as many other testers have said. They recently added the package on GOG.com so you can now download it... but it's a whooping 19GB package and I ain't gonna go for that... ugh... I need a new HDD.

 

Seriously??? 19 Gigs???
Why is it so big? It aint World of Warcraft!!
Skyrim isn't that big of a download. More like 8-9 Gigs.

 

Mac one is also that size... I think Windows one is around 26 GB though :/ I'd rather download it from Steam than get the installer, unless the installer lets me select a custom path so I can install it on my other HDD...

 

I tested the Linux version on GOG, or rather attempted to test it. It depends on specific versions of certain libs, which of course Arch only have much newer versions of. I checked the forums and some people suggested using the libs that are bundled with Steam.

So I decided it was not worth the effort. I might instead test newer wine versions and see if the graphical bug with grass is fixed.

 

I've tested the The Witcher 2 wrapped version extensively (played to chapter 3). Compared to the Windows GOG version in WINE it doesn't handle high settings very well even though I should easily be able to go ultra (can do that in WINE).

The wrapped TW2 version loads the game much slower, and it takes a lot longer if you skip the intro sponsor flash and intro movie at startup of the game. Not just that but there are a lot of crashes, but it's better now though. Still not good enough for me though.

I haven't tried the GOG Linux version though. I'm not very optimistic about it though, and I thought that wrapping such a new game and porting it to Linux was a really bad idea.

I would rather prefer not having the wrapped version because it gives Linux a bad reputation.

 

I would rather prefer not having the wrapped version because it gives Linux a bad reputation.

Honestly I would have agreed with you but I find these arguments to be really silly especially when Linux users have had a long long history of using WINE to run their games/applications and suddenly it's a "bad shameful thing". Even this site specializes in bringing games to work under WINE. Neverwinter Online also uses a WINE wrapper though (if you look at the configuration files you will actually see Transgaming stuff in it)

Maybe I'm just not bitter enough like many others. I don't think Linux games growth will be fast either and as much as it pains me to say it there's a huge lack of variety.

Did they make a right decision? Not really, but now they have an obligation to actually deliver decent results and fix whatever needs to get fixed. It cannot be pinned on WINE this time and they will have to answer to the community as whole. That's really a big difference.

 

Aryvandaar - Agreed. Its a joke to Windows users who find out that some Linux games are really a Windows game with 3rd party tools.
I know a lot of games can get away with this, but they are older games.
I'll stick with PlayOnLinux and Native ports as long as I have a choice.

Allen - Are you saying The Witcher 2 is using some other wrapper instead of WINE?

 

Did they make a right decision? Not really, but now they have an obligation to actually deliver decent results and fix whatever needs to get fixed. It cannot be pinned on WINE this time and they will have to answer to the community as whole. That's really a big difference.

Oh, I will be breathing down their neck for sure, because of The Witcher 2 wrapped version and the official word they have not given about the Linux version of The Witcher 3 (after the steam front page "The Witcher 3 is coming to SteamOS" announcement).

 

So I decided it was not worth the effort. I might instead test newer wine versions and see if the graphical bug with grass is fixed.

I messed around with my TW2 wineprefix. First I installed the mono packages, nothing, then I installed the dotnet4 package and then it worked with WINE 1.7.26.

EDIT: Running TW2 with Allen's 1.7.17 CSMT patch with CSMT enabled. Wouldn't start with that version before either..

 

Aryvandaar - Agreed. Its a joke to Windows users who find out that some Linux games are really a Windows game with 3rd party tools.
I know a lot of games can get away with this, but they are older games.
I'll stick with PlayOnLinux and Native ports as long as I have a choice.

Allen - Are you saying The Witcher 2 is using some other wrapper instead of WINE?

It's using a wrapper called eON which is probably a fork of WINE when it was under the MIT license., maybe.

 

I forgot to mention that eON wrapper also implements "CSMT". I remember one of the team members talking about it in Steam community forums

 

Oh, that shows you how much I have researched Wine. I only really know about PlayOnLinux.
So was that a sign that eON can't really hold up like PlayOnLinux and Wine?