Playing on Linux OS

If you have couple weeks of free time and you do not fall under Linux newbie category then you can probably close this page as most likely you will be able to figure everything out on your own. The following manual is written for LINUX newbies and those who do not want to waste much time fixing all of the bugs.

Part I. Installing WINE

While WINE version 1.0.1 or 1.1.0 is a part of most Linux distributions at the moment, the latest versions of WINE are 1.1.36 or 1.2.0. As far as you mostly play Rage of Mages, it does not really matter if you have older version, but support for DirectDraw and Direct3D has significantly improved from version 1.1.0 to 1.1.36. If you see your LINUX distribution in this list, then you're lucky. Otherwise you will have to download the source code from here and compile it yourself. That also true for someone with Mac OS X or other UNIX based system.

Part II. Installing RoM

If you are using English version of the game than you can omit this section.
Otherwise, you'll have to manually set LANG enviroint variable to ru_RU.utf-8 in order to have readable text in the game.

Part III. Setting up WINE

You can still play the game if you have completed parts one and two, but without doing this you will have quite brutal graphical lag; therefore, in order to fix this you'll have to do the following.
Open registry editor (regedit.exe or regedit or wine regedit), navigate to directory HKCU\Software\Wine\Direct3D. If you can't find it, just create. Then in this directory you have to ensure that string value DirectDrawRenderer is set to opengl. Note: by default the value is either absent or set to gdi; if it isn't there, make a new string value called DirectDrawRenderer and set it to opengl.
In most cases this setting will increase overall graphical performance of RoM, but might decrease it in other games.

Part IV. FAQ

Q: I have the official RoM2 version but when I try to start it it displays black screen and/or starts to play intro videos and then freezes.
A: Install latest version of Smacker library (note that the link is dead and is there only for reference, you're advised to just install the latest online patch — see below about dead goat).

Q: I'm trying to connect to the Hat and get told to check that server's URL is typed correctly.
A: Either the Hat is offline (check the forums to be sure) or... oooor... oh my god why are you fucking this dead goat?! Stop it now or I'm calling the police! The bug was fixed in patch versions so old that even dinosaurs don't remember it! Download the latest version and be happy.

Q: The message "Received wrong packet" or "Unable to open raw socket" is always displayed instead of your ping to the server.
A: This happens because of the security issues. You can get more information regarding this issue here.

Q: I have no sound.
A: Check for: sound card, speakers/headphones, sound volume, ears on your head. If you are sure that you have everything required to hear sound but you just don't hear it, check audio drivers in winecfg.

Q: I have a different problem.
A: We don't have a different problem. Submit any information about the issue that you can to the forums.

Article author: ZZYZX
Translated by Lordark&ZZYZX