Running Neocron in Linux

Huge thanks to vitamin and all the guys at #winehq on irc.freenode.net for all the help they gave me in this. Could not have done it without you guys!

Credit and questions go to MrTrip for this wiki entry (Josh@DigitallyEvolved.net - MrTrip on NC forums)

Neocron 2.2 in Linux with Wine

This has been tested on Ubuntu Linux x86, the system stats follow

AMD Athlon64 X2 5200+ Dual Core
2 GB DDR2 800Mhz
XFX GeForce 7900GS
Ubuntu Linux X86 (Feisty Fawn)

Wine 0.9.41 Installed from Ubuntu repository.

Neocron 2.2 in Linux with Cedega

AMD Athlon64 3700+
1 GB DDR2 800Mhz
GeForce 7900GT
Ubuntu Linux X86 (Gutsy Gibbon)

TransGaming Cedega Version 6.0.2

Instructions for getting Neocron working with Vanilla Wine

I just copied my Neocron 2.2 folder from my NTFS drive, so I include no instructions for installing Neocron


These instructions are for people who have just installed Ubuntu

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1. Download and install Automatix2.
2. Install Wine from Automatix and Extra Fonts package, and whatever else you want to install.
3. Download and install Wine-Doors.
4. Install the following packages from Wine-Doors
Visual C++ runtime libraries 6
All fonts available
Common Controls 5
DCOM 98
Microsoft Jet 4
Microsoft Foundation Classes 4
MSXML 4
DirectX9
Internet Explorer 6
Windows Scripting Host 5
Windows Installer 2
Visual Basic Common Controls 6
Visual Basic Runtime Libraries 5
Visual Basic Runtime Libraries 6
If any fail, just keep trying until they are installed, sometimes a few will fail because others were not installed first.
Do NOT press any keys or be doing anything else while they install, they will automatically press keys for you to finish the installs.

6. Copy your Neocron2.2 directory over to ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/
7. run winecfg and Add Application Client.exe with the following options
Windows Version: Windows 98
[Libraries]
Override msvcrt, set to Native (Windows) [Thanks to vitamin in #winehq for this]
Override quartz, set to Native (Windows) [Again thanks to vitamin in #winehq for this]

8. Copy msvcrt.dll and quartz.dll from your C:\Windows\System32 folder on your WIndows machine to ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32
9. From the terminal, go to your Neocron 2 folder (cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Neocron2/) and type wine Client.exe -sysconfig
10. Setup your options and click OK.
11. From the terminal again type wine Client.exe -precache PlayTutorial
12. After making sure that it works, you need to make sure that in your /etc/hosts file, your hostname is set to resolve to your external IP, NOT LOCALHOST!
13. Now just fire up Client.exe and connect! WORKS!

Instructions for getting Neocron working with Cedega

Neocron 2.2 can be run directly from an NTFS drive. No need to copy it over. I assume it will install nicely in Cedega, please let me know otherwise.


These instructions should work for people on all GNU/Linux distros.

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1. Download and install Cedega.
2. Open Cedega, go to Tools > Game Folders > Add. Call it NC2, or whatever you want.
3. Right click the game folder you just created, click 'Add Shortcut' and point it directly to your NC2 Client.exe

  This can be on an NTFS drive if you havn't copied it accross e.g. "/media/hda1/Games/Neocron2.2/Client.exe".

4. Give the shortcut a name (Neocron), and Extract the icon.

5. In the "Command Line Options" enter '-sysconfig'. Press Ok.
6. Run Neocron (double click, or hit 'Start').

7. Now right click the Neocron shortcut, go to 'Properties' and replace the 'Command Line Option' with -precache PlayTutorial

  If the game loads the tutorial, which it should, you now have a working NC2 :)

8. You can remove the Command Line Options now.
9. You will need to edit your /etc/hosts file in order to play online. Replace your hostname (LOCALHOST) with your external IP.
10. Now just launch the game and play! >:D

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And there you have it! As far as we have gotten with Neocron in Linux.

Notes on getting the launcher to play nicely

With the recent server re-shuffle i'd been having trouble getting the launcher working. First off you need to get version 6 of MFC42.dll and put it in your neocron directory.

Edit ini/updater.ini so it looks like this:

SERVERIP=83.236.174.254
PORT=8020
PATCHPREFIX=patches\cp
EXE=Client.exe
GAMESERVERIP=83.236.174.254
HOMEURL=http://launcher.neocron.com/
FTPSERVER=ftp.neocron.com
TESTPATCHDIR=/nc2testserver
RETAILPATCHDIR=/nc2retail
ISRETAILVERSION=1
USELOCALPORT=0
LOCALPORT=0

And finally launch NeocronUpdater.exe from the wine command line as such

xenocide@trillian:~/.cedega/NC2/c_drive/Program Files/neocron2$ wine NeocronLauncher.exe

This will allow you to watch for any other DLL conflicts/needs and rectify them. You can now start your game patched up!