Introduction
As you may have noticed with the blog posts, I have been quite a gamer for a number of years, especially in my younger years. For the most part though, I have always been more of a solo player, which is why Massive Multiplayer Online games barely cross my mind in terms of gaming options. I have played some online games before and they never seem adequate. Great games have that special element that is not quantifiable. Things that you just know are there when you play it.
I have avoided MMO titles like the plague but what caught my eye was Dungeons and Dragons Online which has been running for a few years now. The title is now launching, or more aptly relaunching, as a free service and since D&D has been a huge game in my youth, I thought to give it a shot.
I write this article for two reasons: First to address this issue for Linux gamers looking to get this running, and second, my recollection of the experience.
Getting It Running
Linux has always been my platform of choice for personal computing, entertainment and everything else. Of course, on the gaming side, Linux has very few options although the landscape now has improved tenfold. Inspite of this however, much of the solutions in the horizon are not for the feint of heart. Sometimes, it just seems you have to earn your way to getting the game you like to play. So it comes as no real surprise for me that DDO does not have official support on Linux. I always knew that from the very start there was no free pass.
To start of this sojourn, I started browsing forum threads and articles discussing this and was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the game is running already, with emphasis on MOST. You will need several resources at your disposal to getting this game to work. The most fruitful resources I have seen are from the Wine Application Database and the Codeweavers Tips section. I presume that the free WINE flavour will work just as well as described in the Wine documentation, but I was fortunate to get CrossOver Games off the Lame Duck Promotion.
The first thing I noticed with most resources was that to get the game running, I needed to install and copy the files from a Windows box. OUT OF THE QUESTION. I do not use Windows and will not get Windows just to see this game. I searched and read even further and noticed an interesting detail. The old installer might work, so I began to look for that. and with a little guess work, produced download links to the old Stormreach installers. Fortunately, you do not have to look harder than I did. Here are the two download links for the Standard Version and the High Resolution Version.
As expected, the new installer did not show any signs that it was working and almost immediately, I had switched to plan B. These installers on the other hand worked very perfectly. I had downloaded the entire installer which had taken half a day and proceeded to install the game. The installers went on without incident and then I proceeded to apply the PyLotrO launchers (look at the Wine documentation earlier). From there, you need to spend more time waiting as you need to update the game to the latest version. MMO games can be such a tedium when it comes to these updates and frankly, I was having trouble remembering why I bothered to play this game. It took so long that I had decided to leave it running and went to bed.
Playing the Game
So alas, the next day comes and I have finally been able to get it running. My hunch proved right also. The Stormreach installation would update itself into Eberron Unlimited. I am pleased of the mere fact the game works on Linux, if it means more options for the Linux gaming public. In my opinion, finding out that little bit more information on the installers is reward in and of itself. Now it was time to try it.
I spent the next few days squeezing a little of the game into my free time and finished a couple of quests. I have come up with a word. Inadequate. In two? Inadequate again. MMO games are funny in that apart from what players do, it has always been NPCs standing around to give quests and monsters to slay. Roleplaying in these parameters are very crude at best and left solely to the players themselves. I have often wondered why paper and pencil games were more fascinating and I think it has been because of how much what you do or say matters. The Dungeon Master makes the world react to you, and you react based on the world. That has been severely lacking in DDO. It has hardly been an immersive affair, with a village choking full of players running and leaping, and how you know that all the players are going through the same quests and going through the same narrative as if they are the only heroes in the game. And for all the narration of the so-called DM, there has been nothing more to do than to slaughter and kill. I also found it funny that as soon as you leave the village, you come across even more monsters and cultists that are probably camping nearby just to see if they can get a jump on you. These game worlds need the little things to make it work. Not this lack of spontaneity and tremendously archaic style of play.
I have always enjoyed single player RPGs and only from a select few. DDO is functional, but lacks aspects that take it to the next level. I do not particularly rate MMO games very highly and chances are I do not ever see myself spending more time on another.
On the bright side, I have taken my loot from this endeavor and hope that for those who are looking to get this game running on Linux can see some value in what I have written.
As you may have noticed with the blog posts, I have been quite a gamer for a number of years, especially in my younger years. For the most part though, I have always been more of a solo player, which is why Massive Multiplayer Online games barely cross my mind in terms of gaming options. I have played some online games before and they never seem adequate. Great games have that special element that is not quantifiable. Things that you just know are there when you play it.
I have avoided MMO titles like the plague but what caught my eye was Dungeons and Dragons Online which has been running for a few years now. The title is now launching, or more aptly relaunching, as a free service and since D&D has been a huge game in my youth, I thought to give it a shot.
I write this article for two reasons: First to address this issue for Linux gamers looking to get this running, and second, my recollection of the experience.
Getting It Running
Linux has always been my platform of choice for personal computing, entertainment and everything else. Of course, on the gaming side, Linux has very few options although the landscape now has improved tenfold. Inspite of this however, much of the solutions in the horizon are not for the feint of heart. Sometimes, it just seems you have to earn your way to getting the game you like to play. So it comes as no real surprise for me that DDO does not have official support on Linux. I always knew that from the very start there was no free pass.
To start of this sojourn, I started browsing forum threads and articles discussing this and was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the game is running already, with emphasis on MOST. You will need several resources at your disposal to getting this game to work. The most fruitful resources I have seen are from the Wine Application Database and the Codeweavers Tips section. I presume that the free WINE flavour will work just as well as described in the Wine documentation, but I was fortunate to get CrossOver Games off the Lame Duck Promotion.
The first thing I noticed with most resources was that to get the game running, I needed to install and copy the files from a Windows box. OUT OF THE QUESTION. I do not use Windows and will not get Windows just to see this game. I searched and read even further and noticed an interesting detail. The old installer might work, so I began to look for that. and with a little guess work, produced download links to the old Stormreach installers. Fortunately, you do not have to look harder than I did. Here are the two download links for the Standard Version and the High Resolution Version.
As expected, the new installer did not show any signs that it was working and almost immediately, I had switched to plan B. These installers on the other hand worked very perfectly. I had downloaded the entire installer which had taken half a day and proceeded to install the game. The installers went on without incident and then I proceeded to apply the PyLotrO launchers (look at the Wine documentation earlier). From there, you need to spend more time waiting as you need to update the game to the latest version. MMO games can be such a tedium when it comes to these updates and frankly, I was having trouble remembering why I bothered to play this game. It took so long that I had decided to leave it running and went to bed.
Playing the Game
So alas, the next day comes and I have finally been able to get it running. My hunch proved right also. The Stormreach installation would update itself into Eberron Unlimited. I am pleased of the mere fact the game works on Linux, if it means more options for the Linux gaming public. In my opinion, finding out that little bit more information on the installers is reward in and of itself. Now it was time to try it.
I spent the next few days squeezing a little of the game into my free time and finished a couple of quests. I have come up with a word. Inadequate. In two? Inadequate again. MMO games are funny in that apart from what players do, it has always been NPCs standing around to give quests and monsters to slay. Roleplaying in these parameters are very crude at best and left solely to the players themselves. I have often wondered why paper and pencil games were more fascinating and I think it has been because of how much what you do or say matters. The Dungeon Master makes the world react to you, and you react based on the world. That has been severely lacking in DDO. It has hardly been an immersive affair, with a village choking full of players running and leaping, and how you know that all the players are going through the same quests and going through the same narrative as if they are the only heroes in the game. And for all the narration of the so-called DM, there has been nothing more to do than to slaughter and kill. I also found it funny that as soon as you leave the village, you come across even more monsters and cultists that are probably camping nearby just to see if they can get a jump on you. These game worlds need the little things to make it work. Not this lack of spontaneity and tremendously archaic style of play.
I have always enjoyed single player RPGs and only from a select few. DDO is functional, but lacks aspects that take it to the next level. I do not particularly rate MMO games very highly and chances are I do not ever see myself spending more time on another.
On the bright side, I have taken my loot from this endeavor and hope that for those who are looking to get this game running on Linux can see some value in what I have written.
