Lethal Shots

I must admit, I am a Linux geek. The only time I use any other operating system is at work, where the decision is not up to me. So as you can guess, I also play WoW in Linux. While not officially supported, it is perfectly possible.

I recently did a complete re-install of my system, so I thought it might be useful to write down the steps I used to get WoW up and running. Ubuntu is my Linux flavor of choice, so the instructions here are based on that distribution, specifically Ubuntu 8.10.

1. Backup your WoW folder, either to a external hard drive or to another computer on your network. This is to avoid installing WoW from scratch. It saves a lot of time, and to be honest installing WoW in Linux can be troublesome at times.
2. Install Ubuntu. I’m going to leave this one up to you. If you are uncomfortable doing this, then you might want to stop here.
3. Install all available updates.
4. Install WINE. It is available in the Ubuntu repositories and can be installed using Synaptic. Optionally you can add the official WINE repository to your source list to get the most up to date version.
5. Go to System > Administration > Hardware Drivers to install the driver for your video card. You will most likely need to restart your system before continuing. Alternatively you can use Envy (install with Synaptic) to install your video driver, which is the method I have had more luck with.
6. Copy your WoW folder from your backup to your Home folder.
7. Now you need to edit you config.wtf file. Add the following lines to the bottom of the file:
   • SET gxApi “opengl”
   • SET ffxDeath “0″
     
   • SET ffxGlow “0″
   • SET M2UseShaders “0″
8. In a Terminal window type winecfg.
9. On the audio tab, select either OSS or ALSA. OSS works better as a general rule, but try one and if it doesn’t work , try the other.
10. In a Terminal window type regedit, then follow these steps.
    1. Find this key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\
    2. Highlight the wine folder in the left hand pane by clicking left on it. The icon should change to an open folder
    3. Right-click on the wine folder and select [NEW] then [KEY]
    4. Replace the text New Key #1 with OpenGL
    5. Right-click in the right hand pane and select [NEW] then [String Value]
    6. Replace New Value #1 with DisabledExtensions (Notice it’s case sensitive!)
    7. Then double click anywhere on the line, a dialog box will open.
    8. In the value field type GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object
11. Now navigate to your WoW folder and double click on Launcher.exe or WoW.exe

Now that should get you up and running. If you are still having issues, you can snoop around on the web for answers. The best resource I have found is https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WorldofWarcraft. There are a few other values that can be put into your config.wtf file that might help you out, as well as some tweaks to get in-game voice chat working.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and I will do my best to help you out. As always, leave your thoughts and comments below.