This howto describes how you can install and play World of Wacraft using Wine under Ubuntu-x86.

World of Warcraft can also be played under Ubuntu by using Cedega. This howto, however, does not address Cedega.

WARNING: The authors of this howto give no guarantees, so your mileage may vary. However, this is extremely unlikely to damage your system.

Note: As of 6/13/05 Blizzard has implemented a hardware survey in WoW that causes it to freeze in Wine. To solve this problem, do the following:

rm '~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/World of Warcraft/WDB/Survey.MPQ'
chmod 555 '~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/World of Warcraft/WDB'

Installing Wine

The current version of Wine (0.9.15) needs a patch, so you have two options. You can either get the latest Wine package with the World of Warcraft patch from the ["Wine"] page (only for Dapper Drake users) or you can build Wine from source, applying the WoW patch during the process.

To compile Wine from source, see the following guide: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BuildingWineFromSource

Configuring Wine

WoW will run best using OSS. Run 'winecfg', select 'Audio', then select 'OSS Driver' as Wine's sound driver.

Installing WoW

There are two ways:

1. Copy the files from an existing Windows installation, then run "wine /path/to/wow.exe" to start.

2. Copy all of the files from all of the CD's to a directory on your hard drive (overwrite when prompted), then "wine Install.exe" to install the game.

Note: With 0.9.14 and 0.9.15, the installer will appear to hang with cpu @ 100%. Patience! Give it about 5mins, & a dialogue will eventually appear

Configuring WoW

Video:

If you try to configure WoW's video settings (Vertex Shaders/Pixel Shaders etc) while running opengl, WoW will crash. The workaround is to configure WoW's video settings while running WoW with d3d. If this causes the display to be inverted, don't be concerned. The display will right itself once you switch back to opengl. Running d3d is simply so you can set WoW's video options.

wine wow.exe -d3d

Sound:

Add the following to the file WTF/Config.WTF in your WoW directory.

SET SoundOutputSystem "1"
SET SoundBufferSize "100"
SET gxApi "OpenGL"

If you have problems with stuttering, you may have to increase the sound buffer a bit. Do ican create audio sync issues.

WoW's Patch System:

In order for patches to work, we need mfc42.dll from a windows installation (or http://dll-files.com) in .wine/drive_c/windows/system. You will, however, need a Windows license to use this file.

When the patch program starts, it might ask something about Mozilla ActiveX. Just hit "no" and you should be fine. Note that the installation of activex that happens if you choose "Yes" does not work properly.

Alternatively, you can use Wine to install Firefox, and the Mozilla Active X controls.

If you still have issues with the patcher, you can delete the BackgroundDownloader.exe file from your WoW directory and download manual patches from BitTorrent or the web.

Playing

Now you should be able to play WoW by using the command "wine /path/to/wow.exe".

You may have trouble with the gnome-panel/kicker showing up above the WoW "window".

This is easily solved by setting a hotkey for fullscreen mode in gnome and using that hotkey when the problem arises.

Another problem that may arise if you are using CONTROL in your switch workspace key combo, tho that is easily fixed by changing the combo.

Related

Sign this petition for a native WoW port:

• http://www.blizzpub.net/petition

For more information regarding WoW under Wine see Wine's appdb:

• http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?versionId=4031

The Gentoo wiki also contains good information, especially for those that need more detailed info:

• http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Install_and_update_World_Of_Warcraft_with_wine

To discuss this, please post at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=504667

CategoryGames CategoryDocumentation CategoryCleanup