Edain mod on Linux

[Éomer Éadig]

This is a guide to installing the Edain Mod on Linux. Do note that it is not complete, since running the Launcher will still give errors (probably related to dotnet40).

Required: Wine, BFME II, BFME II: The Rise of the Witch-King, BFME II patch 1.06, RotWK patch 2.01

Create a 32 bit wine prefix and install dotnet40 to it using winetricks.

Code: [Auswählen]

mkdir ~/Games
WINEPREFIX=~/Games/Edain WINEARCH="win32" winetricks dotnet40
Next, install the games and patches in said wineprefix (using the option WINEPREFIX=~/Games/Edain). Beware that you have to manually add the options.ini file in ~/Games/Edain/drive_c/users/<username>/Application Data/My The Lord of the Rings, The Rise of the Witch-king Files/, containing the following lines of code:

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AudioLOD = Low
HasSeenLogoMovies = yes
IdealStaticGameLOD = VeryLow
Resolution = 1920 1080
StaticGameLOD = VeryLow
TimesInGame = 2
If you do not, the game will not run.

After that, run the Edain installer in the prefix. After installation is done but before closing it, run the launcher when prompted. It will run this time. Click update launcher.

Hereafter, the launcher will not run anymore (if you can manage to make it run afterwards, PM me).
Copy the launcher to a different location, and run the Edain installer again. Before running the launcher when prompted, copy the updated launcher back into the RotWK directory. Then run the launcher via the installer script and update Edain.

This will allow you to get the most current Edain mod version.

With kind regards,
Éomer Éadig

[Halbarad]

Nice work!
@Edain Team: Maybe this could be added to FAQ?

[DaGeggo]

Here is an additional guide for installing edain using lutris, a more high-level application for installing games on Linux, which should be a little more convenient than pure wine, although lutris is based on wine.

Required:
Lutris, BFME II, BFME II: The Rise of the Witch-King, BFME II patch 1.06, RotWK patch 2.01, current Edain version installer

As I had problems using a 32-bit system, I slightly changed the official install scripts of lutris (bfme-2 patch 1.06, and RotWK patch 2.01) to use a 64-bit architecture and I added an automatic installation of edain to the RotWK script. I added my adapted ones as an attachment (make sure you remove the '.txt' at the end of the descriptor, these should be read as '.json' files).

Installation:
After installing lutris, start it, in the top left corner click '+' and select 'install from local script' and select the bfme2_lutris_install_64b it.json script first. Insert your disk or mount an .iso of BFME 2 and proceed with the script.
Repeat the procedure using the rotwk_edain_lutris_insta ll_64bit.json script.

When finished the second installation, run the edain mod launcher. Make sure to hit the fix startup option and update before starting. Now edain should start normally.

Typical issues:
If the game does not start, manually check, whether the fix startup did work, as Eómer pointed out:

Beware that you have to manually add the options.ini file in ~/Games/Edain/drive_c/users/<username>/Application Data/My The Lord of the Rings, The Rise of the Witch-king Files/, containing the following lines of code:

Code: [Auswählen]

AudioLOD = Low
HasSeenLogoMovies = yes
IdealStaticGameLOD = VeryLow
Resolution = 1920 1080
StaticGameLOD = VeryLow
TimesInGame = 2

If you do not, the game will not run.

Now, to start edain in the future, just double-klick the item in lutris. If you installed it in another language, right-klick the icon -> configure -> game options -> set the pointer to the correct executable (either lotrbfme2ep1.exe or the edain mod launcher.exe).

The launcher might not work correctly, similarly to what Eómer pointed out. If it does not run at all, either reinstall edain whenever a new update is available or try what he suggests.

For me, the launcher does start even after the first installation, but it is a little buggy (there is an error message and the overlay looks buggy). It might be resolved in the future. Otherwise, try deactivating and activating the mod in the launcher, then you should be able to press update (I haven't tested, if it actually works). And you can also start the game there.

Recommendations:
For multiplayer, I recommend using Hamachi, as it works for Linux as well (although it is beta and only a command line tool; make sure to check out these very simple first steps). It did work nicely for me connecting two different Linux Systems, but I didn't test if connecting to windows works. Sadly, I cannot get GameRanger to work. Please PM me or add a comment if you figure it out .

If you need a virtual CD-Drive, I recommend using CDEmu (try to find a package for your distribution instead of compiling it yourself, like for Fedora), which can emulate your CDs and DVDs on Linux. As I do not have a local drive on my laptop, CDs won't last forever and installing from the CD is slow, it can be handy to make a virtual .iso or .mdf copy of your CDs (only for personal use!).

Have fun playing!