RoM on Linux (aka Peryl's Adventures in Linuxland)
Update:
The guide has been completely re-written and updated for Wine version 1.7.15 and Runes of Magic Chapter VI (6.0.7 as of this writing). As I now run ArchLinux instead of Ubuntu or variant, some of the Ubuntu packages to be installed may be a little off. If you have trouble, check with Ubuntu on how/where to install the correct package.
The guide to compiling an old version of Wine should no longer be needed, But it is in post #29 in this thread if you still want to use it.
You may also wish to try installing and running Wine via PlayOnLinux. zedock posted instructions on using PlayOnLinux here: [Guide] Running RoM on Linux though I don't know how up to date they are.
The section on installing on VMware has been removed as the game runs fine via Wine.
Introduction
This is a guide on installing and running Runes of Magic on Linux. Originally written for Ubuntu and variants, as I now run ArchLinux I will try to keep instructions for both distros.
I suggest reading through the whole guide before attempting anything. First because this will allow you to decide what method you want to try. Second, you'll have an idea of what's involved and what issues to expect.
The "Test" Machine
Since we'll be looking at running RoM via Wine, performance comes into play so it may be of interest to take note of what I used to test this on.
AMD Phenom II X2 Black Edition 3.2 GHz (with 2 extra cores unlocked), 16 GB of memory, Dual widescreen LCD monitors, ArchLinux 64 bit OS.
Download The RoM Client
To install the game, it is best to use the manual install files. See
this post for download links.
Put the files in a convenient location for use later.
A Little Wine With Your RoM
The following instructions should all be performed at a command terminal. This makes it easier to give precise instructions, and you can simply copy the required commands straight from the post to avoid possible errors. Make sure you use the correct commands for your distro since there are instructions for both Ubuntu and ArchLinux.
Before we start, check if you already have Wine on your system. Do this by getting the Wine version using the following command in a command terminal:
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wine --version
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If the command fails, then you do not have Wine installed. If it works, check the version number returned. If it is less than version 1.6, you will likely need to update it (even numbered Wine versions are stable releases, while odd numbered versions are the development branch, so a Wine version of 1.6.x should more fine).
To install Wine on ArchLinux, simply do
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sudo pacman -S wine
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To install Wine 1.7 on Ubuntu (and variants), you will first need to install the PPA for it. The following three lines will install Wine 1.7:
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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wine1.7
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For full instructions or installing on other Linux distros see http://www.winehq.org/download/.
Once Wine is installed, we will also need to install winetricks in order to get Wine properly setup for Runes of Magic.
On ArchLinux, winetricks can be installed straight from the community repos with
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sudo pacman -S winetricks
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On Ubuntu, winetricks should be installed as a recommended package to Wine so nothing really to do.
For other distros, see the the instructions at http://wiki.winehq.org/winetricks.
Setting a Wine Prefix
Now that Wine and winetricks are installed, we can get on with setting things up for Runes of Magic. I recommend installing Runes of Magic in a seperate Wine prefix.
To create a Wine prefix all we really need to do is tell Wine where to put it and Wine will create the prefix. However, we should first make a couple of decisions. First we need to decide what version of Windows we want Wine to emulate, and we must decide if the prefix will be a 32 bit or 64 bit one. This last is rather important since you cannot convert a prefix from one to the other. So if you make a mistake, then you will need to re-create the entire prefix. Note that if you are runniung a 32 bit version of Linux, you won't have the option to create a 64 bit prefix, so that decision is made for you.
To actually make the prefix, use:
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WINEPREFIX=~/.romwine winecfg
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This will create a wine prefix in the hidden folder
.romwine inside your home folder. The prefix will be 64 bit on a 64 bit Linux, 32 bit otherwise.
To create a 32 bit prefix on 64 bit Linux systems, the command is almost the same:
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WINEPREFIX=~/.romwine WINEARCH=win32 winecfg
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That's it. Adding that one option will make a 32 bit wine prefix.
The remainder of this guide will assume that you are using a 64 bit Wine prefix. If not, just make sure to add the WINEARCH=win32 part to the commands.
Once the prefix is created, the Wine configuration panel will open. In the Applications tab, you can set the version of Windows that Wine will emulate. I've had success setting this to Windows XP and Windows 7 so either will do. You may also want to set the Automatically Capture The Mouse setting in the Graphics tab. Click apply then close the dialog.
Now to install the things RoM will need in order to run properly. Namely .NET 2.0, a version of IE, the Visual C runtime, and wininet. We should also install some basic Windows fonts. We do this via winetricks. Enter the following command:
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WINEPREFIX=~/.romwine winetricks corefonts vcrun2005 ie7 wininet dotnet20
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Note: When winetricks installs ie7, it may give an error saying that it internet explorer doesn't run on your operating system. You may ignore this.
If you get a wine error message complaining about missing libncurses.so.5 you will need to install libncurses.
On ArchLinux this can be done with
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sudo pacman -S ncurses
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Though you might need to install the 32 bit version for 64 bit OSes so enable the multi-architecture repositories (see the Arch Wiki on doing this) and use
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sudo pacman -S lib32-ncurses
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On Ubuntu, use
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sudo apt-get install libncurses5
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You again may need to also enable multiarch support. See the Ubuntu documentation on doing this.
Installing the Game
Now that Wine is setup properly, we are ready to start installing the game. Go to the folder where you downloaded the RoM install files and run the installer with (this assumes version 6.0.6.2685, change the name as appropriate for the version you've downloaded).
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WINEPREFIX=~/.romwine wine ROMSetup_6.0.6.2685.exe
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Once the game is installed, have it launch the game directly so that it updates to the latest patch.
After it updates, select the region you want, also set the initial configuration. Note that the launcher may not see all video modes, so set everything as close to what you want as you can, then we'll edit the initial config file manually later. You can run the game now to try it out, but we have one more thing to do so after trying it out, exit the game.
If you need to configure RoM's initial configuration to set the screen resolution, navigate to the game's install folder (inside the Wine prefix). Use the following commands to get to the correct folder (we do this in two parts because on 64 bit Wine prefixes, the game installs to
Program Files (x86) but the parenthesis in the name are treated in a special way on Linux.
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cd ~/.romwine
cd 'drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Runes of Magic'
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note the use of single quotes in the second line here.
Now you can edit the file
client.config.ini with either kate (KDE) or gedit (Gnome) or other text editor of your choice. To use kate do
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kate client.config.ini
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Change the width and height for windowed and/or fullscreen modes here and save the file (this affects the startup resolution only, this can always be changed again later in game).
Creating a Startup Script
As a final step, we'll create a startup script with which to launch the game. This is needed because the desktop icon that is created tends to not work properly from Linux (Wine does try, but I've never gotten it to work with RoM).
So create a file called
StartRoM somewhere (your home directory should be a good place) and add the following:
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#!/bin/bash
# Runes of Magic startup script for Linux
# Put ourselves in the correct folder before calling Wine
# we first go to the prefix folder then the game folder. This is done
# because of the parenthesis in the folder name
cd ~/.romwine
cd 'drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Runes of Magic'
# Start Runes of Magic using Wine
# Sets the wine prefix to be used and disables all wine debug messages
WINEPREFIX=~/.romwine WINEDEBUG=-all wine "Runes of Magic.exe"
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Note that the above assumes the Wine prefix is 64 bit. In 32 bit Wine prefixes, the game installs to
Program Files, not
Porgram Files (x86). Change as appropriate.
Save the file then change the permissions of the file to be executable with
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chmod a+x StartRoM
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Finally, add a new launcher shortcut on your desktop to start this script.
You can now use this new shortcut to start the game. Enjoy!
Everything else seems to work fine. I have the virtual desktop and mouse grab options enabled in my Wine Configuration, so I doubt thats the problem. I had RoM working almost perfectly in version 1.3.20, but sadly this mouse bug makes it very difficult to play. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this or how to revert back to 1.3.20?Quoted from "JedSled;425162"
... I upgraded Wine to version 1.3.21 using terminal commands, however this update screwed up the mouse in RoM. Every time I try to adjust the camera by holding the mouse buttons, the mouse freezes and becomes immovable.
. Forgive me for asking stupid questions and wasting your time, I'm an Idiot with computers. 
