Desura Linux 64 + WINE Games Thread - Linux Gamers

As always, YMMV!, and in case no one else has experimented with this. I am able to add Windows games under WINE to the Desura Game list. Install WINE per your linux distro, then install the game in WINE. Set up anything required in 'winecfg' as needed (see winehq.org apps database). You can add WINE games as though you are running them from the linux command line (CLI). This example will use Civilization4. To run this game from CLI, instead of from Gnome/KDE/Xfce etc menu or desktop link, I could open a terminal:

wine "/home/beowulf/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/2K Games/Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Gold/Civilization4.exe"

Lets replicate that process in Desura:

1. From the Desura icon, select "Tools - Add Games Installed"
2. type in game name (Civilization4)
3. type in game executable: /usr/bin/wine and click "add"
4. Go to the game list and right click and choose properties
5. Enter the user command line option for the game:
6. "/home/beowulf/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/2K Games/Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Gold/Civilization4.exe"
7. Click "save"

The WINE game will now lauch from Desura!

Enjoy!

How do you use this with WINEPREFIX=..... ?

Thanks

Actually, at least on my system, I only have the one WINE installation, so WINE defaults to my ~/.wine so an explicit WINEPREFIX is not needed. I wasn't able to get Desura to run with WINEPREFIX=/home/user/.wine /usr/bin/wine as the executable although that should work. Unless Desura is doing something odd, or assumes WINDOWS style command line parsing?

If you need to set it, you could just set your environment

$ WINEPRREFIX=/path/to/your/.wine

before you run Desura client.

Most simple solution would be to write a bash script, set /bin/bash as the game executable and the path to the script as the parameter. This way you have a real binary running your script.

Your "simple" solution assumes the ability to write a bash script; that's fine for an old school Slackware geek like me, but not so mush for anyone new to Linux (esp in the case of a hand holding distro like UBUNTU). My solution has no such requirement. Also, as I said, setting WINEPREFIX is not strickly necessary. Also, /usr/bin/wine is a real binary: it is what is run to launch any Windows program via WINE, the Windows program being the command option.

You solution might not work actually since Desura works with a wrapper-script system. Set env-variables do not necessarily propagate to the actually run program. It should but I certainly witnessed the opposite. The script though really is not difficult:

#!/bin/bash
export WINEPRREFIX=/path/to/your/.wine
cd "/home/beowulf/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/2K Games/Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Gold"
wine "Civilization4.exe"

Sure, I didn't say that wasn't a possible solution; but I stand by what I said. WINEPREFIX is not strictly required if .wine is installed in the default location. WINE automatically checks /home/username/.wine so no env variables need to set or propagate. Also, the linux desura client just lauches whatever linux binary/script + options you give it. If xdg-settings isn't capturing the env, then that should be a bug report or you're running someting other than Gnome/KDE/Xfce. I have serveral Windows and Linux games set up this way with no issues.

After 30+ yrs playing with computers, I'll never assume a task "really is not difficult." If it were, the various linux forums would be very lonely places.

Bash scripting is simplier enough to make a quick tuto to teach people how to do it!

#!/bin/bash
export WINEPRREFIX=/path/to/your/.wine
cd "/path/to/windows/game"
wine "wingame.exe"

set as executable ( right click > Propriets > permissions )

kingbeowulf wrote: Sure, I didn't say that wasn't a possible solution; but I stand by what I said. WINEPREFIX is not strictly required if .wine is installed in the default location. WINE automatically checks /home/username/.wine so no env variables need to set or propagate. Also, the linux desura client just lauches whatever linux binary/script + options you give it. If xdg-settings isn't capturing the env, then that should be a bug report or you're running someting other than Gnome/KDE/Xfce. I have serveral Windows and Linux games set up this way with no issues.

After 30+ yrs playing with computers, I'll never assume a task "really is not difficult." If it were, the various linux forums would be very lonely places.

You would be surprised what Desura managed to mess up so far. Up to now I'm not able to run my game through Desura because it messes up the console (and crashes). Inline or exported env variables also are not properly taken over into the command line (since the locale bug this is the case). And this is all on KDE both on GenToo and Kubuntu. Bash scripts are the most safe solution when dealing with applications expecting binaries and using fabricated environments.