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I have recently tried Ubuntu 11.10 through Wubi-installer and I'm hooked. Everything is nicer, cleaner, neater andd better than anything Windows (XP, Vista, 7) can offer. If it wasn't for one simple item, I would change OS immideatly, but the issue is NWN. I know that a client exists for NWN and I have found a quite interesting guide how to convert Platinum/diamond edition to Linux, but still...

Guide is here: http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/install-neverwinter-nights-in-ubuntu/

So, my questions:

//Maria

modesty wrote:

//Maria

Yes.
I think so. Was the last time I reinstalled several years ago. Been just copying the install directory from one computer to the next ever since.
No HAK problems.
The patch should be available from Bioware website. Don't remember if its a .zip that applies to both or platform spesific.
Yes.

If you can not find something, I should be able to send copies of some files etc.

Interesting.

I'll give it a shot in Wubi first before I erease the HD. But when you say that you "copying the install directory from one computer to the next " do you mean that you just have to get it running once in Linux and after that, you just keep a back-up of all folders and files on a dvd for instance? In that case, Linux is a lot better than Windows.

modesty wrote:

But when you say that you "copying the install directory from one computer to the next " do you mean that you just have to get it running once in Linux and after that, you just keep a back-up of all folders and files on a dvd for instance? In that case, Linux is a lot better than Windows.

Yes. I have just been updating the settings for hardware specific stuff like screen resolution when moving to another computer.

For NWN it might work the same way for Windows as well, depending on how extensively it uses the silly registry system that usually prevents this on Windows games.

Don't Linux based things usually have a WINdows Emulator anyway? Would it be possible to just run NWN through that?

I'm not really a big Ubuntu buff. I was considering it for my new computer but my dad sneered at me and egged me into getting Windows 7, a decision I'm already regretting because Windows 7 is incredibly fiddly and awkward, the search function is completely broken and I've already had to download a shell program and mess with my registry settings to get it to be less irritating than they wanted it to be. The only consolation is that it's not quite as bad as Vista.

Moth wrote:

Don't Linux based things usually have a WINdows Emulator anyway? Would it be possible to just run NWN through that?.

Sure is, which is how one gets access to the windows-only toolset. Native versions of games just tend to be better when they are available, and NWN is one of the few games where there is a proper native port.

Pretty much all Games for Windows stuff I have tried has worked on Wine so far, some better than on Windows, but its still a hack to make games designed for a completely different platform work on yours with no official support. Kinda like making xbox games run on a playstation, but of course easier and actually feasible.

Can somebody explain what the eff Ubuntu is?

In a nutshell? A free OS.

Here's the 1.69 patch files for both Windows and Linux:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Ot ... il&id=1505

I'm not sure about running NWN natively (didn't even know there was a port!), but it does work pretty well under Wine with some adjusted graphical settings. I can't comment on any of the .haks or the CEP, but there shouldn't be any major issues since you're using all the files from the regular Windows release.

Very_Svensk wrote:

Can somebody explain what the eff Ubuntu is?

http://www.ubuntu.com/

How did I know Silvarus would be the first to respond to a Linux topic....

Running NWN on Ubuntu does come with a significant fps drop (Strangely enough, it seems to run better on Kubuntu, for whatever reason), but this shouldn't be a problem if you have a good enough computer. When I tried it on my old computer, I was getting some pretty annoying graphical glitches, too. Environment mapping screwed up, and everyone was shiny and metallic - plus I couldn't even turn this off! It was probably just an issue with that computer's shitty integrated graphics card, but I have heard of a number of other issues, such as cloaks bringing the game to a crawl etc. Either way, might as well just try it. You could always just dual boot, very handy if something goes wrong with your Windows partition. It's fairly easy to uninstall it that way, and re-merge the Ubuntu partition with your Windows one.

NWN on Ubuntu 11.10

To begin with, I have no real experience with Ubuntu or Linux. I just happen to be part of a teacher group where we learn about different kind of computer support where Linux/Ubuntu and Edubuntu was used. I just fell in love with Ubuntu.

I really want to be able to play NWN and didn't know how to do it in Ubuntu, or if it even was possible. NWN is really the only reason why I should continue to cling to my Windows 7 system. All my other needs are covered by Ubuntu in a nicer way than in Windows. I made an inquiry here:
http://www.amiaworld.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=62939
and it sounded so good so I thought I'll give it a shot and write down what's easy or hard for a Linux newbie as me to do.

Technical stuff
[list=]I use a 64 bit packard Bell laptop, bought this year.
Ram: 3,9 GiB
Proc: AMD Athlon(tm) II Dual-Core M320 × 2
Graphic: VESA: M96 (ATI card) with proprietary drives[/list]

Software and scripts
Ubuntu 11.10, in my case it's 11.04 64 bit updated to 11.10 and with Swedish language installed inside Windows with the Wubi installer, if it's any difference.

A working 3D environment. I downloaded and installed the free 3D car game “Vdrift” before so I knew that 3D games are possible to play on the computer.

The english platinum/diamond DVD with all three Cd's on.
(If you just want to try this out, this DVD can be found as a torrent file in a multitude of places on the Internet)

1.69 script for Linux found here:
http://files.bioware.com/neverwinternights/updates/linux/169/English_linuxclient169_xp2.tar.gz (483 MB)

Linux install script here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=14107&d=1155247716 (36 kb, but you must be a member of the forum)

You must install the “Unshield” program, do it through the Ubuntu program central (paperbag icon at the left edge of the screen)

nwclienthotu can be found here (37.8 MB):
http://nwdownloads.bioware.com/neverwinternights/linux/161/nwclienthotu.tar.gz
download it to your home directory unpacked.

Linux client 1.29 can be found here (5.2 MB)
http://www.fileplanet.com/121474/120000/fileinfo/Neverwinter-Nights-Linux-Client-1.29
download it to your home directory unpacked.

Extra
I Installed Gmount-iso to mount the DVD iso-file. Maybe you don't have to if you know Linux better than I.

References
As I said, I don't have anyone that can help me with this, so I have used information from Internet, mainly this page:
[list=]http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/install-neverwinter-nights-in-ubuntu/
Here is a HOW-TO that I followed too, but gave up. I took the install script from this page though.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=113259
For those with just different CD:s
http://robotbutler.org/article/13[/list]

Begin (09.15 am)
*I started to download the 1.69 patch for Linux, but here the first problem arose. I have only used the APT package handler before, but the script was submitted in another format called gz. I just opened it with the standard program suggested by Ubuntu. It took me 7 minutes to bring it home.

*I got a list of files and folders, I placed myself in my home directory and extracted all. Maybe that wasn't too smart, but so it was written in the guide. Now I have a mess of files in my home directory instead.

*It says “Enable the Universe repository; Open up Synaptic Package Manager, System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager. Enter in your Password. Click on Settings, and select Repositories. Click Add. Then put check marks in the box for Community maintained (Universe) and while you're at it, may as well put one in Non-free (Multiverse)”
But here I'm stuck. Universe or Multiverse can't be found. At all. I assume I check “Updates without official support (sourcecode)” and “Independent (sourcecode)” instead.

Next step says: “After clicking OK on both dialogs, click Search and type in unshield. It will show three packages, just double click on unshield and it will ask you if you also want to mark libunshield, which is required. Click Mark. Click Search again and type in msttcorefonts. Double click it to queue the package and click Apply. This will download and install both Unshield and the fonts required by Nevewinter Nights. Unshield is required by the installer”, so I do as it says. I search for unshield but to no avail. So here I'm stuck for good and the time is 09.46 am.

Step 2
*I decide to go with just the script.
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=14107&d=1155247716
But here is next problem, I can't get it without being member of the Ubuntu forum. How stupid isn't that? After I have filled in the membership registration, I got the script: install-nwn.sh.tar.gz in my home directory, unpacked it to install-nwn.sh

*By default Ubuntu uses dash as a shell, but the script relies on bash to run properly. So to change it, you start a terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) and write:

Code:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash

And answer No if you want it to be permanent (which you don't). After installing the game, you'll probably want to switch back to using dash, as to not mess up any advantages of speed that dash may provide. Run the command again and select Yes.

*You'll probably need Microsoft TTF fonts in the game too, so you install them with:
sudo aptitude install -y unshield cabextract ttf-mscorefonts-installer
But that doesn't work sighs it says that aptitude is an unknown command. Why? I don't know, it's 10.08 am and I take a coffee break to calm down.
Tries:

Code:

sudo apt-get install -y unshield cabextract ttf-mscorefonts-installer

and it works just fine. But it turns out that I already have all fonts needed and the command does nothing.

Mounting the DVD
I'm not a Linux geek and I don't know how to mount stuff. So I just put the DVD in the lap top and let Ubuntu read it. It seems to work just as fine as in Windows with a DVD icon in the left task bar which I can read by just double click on it.

Create install directory
Use the same terminal window and write:

Code:

mkdir -p ~/games/nwn

It creates a new directory called games and under that a directory called nwn in your home directory.

Install the script
So, the old script from the ubuntu forum is downloaded and ready to run, let's try to use the terminal window and write:

Code:

./install-nwn.sh

Bugger “file doesn't exist” it says. Checking again, the file is not extracted, instead it's in the download folder but it is greyed out and I don't know why. I right click on the archive, choose “Extract here” which seems to work and after that I move the file to my home directory and try again:

Platinum or Diamond?
The script start and I have a choice, do I have the platinum or the diamond edition? How am I supposed to know when it's not written on the outside? Diamond edition has three extra premium modules, if you don't have those three extra modules, you have a platinum edition, or De Luxe edition as it is called in Europe.

Code:

./install-nwn.sh

Next error comes here; the script ends with a halt since it wants “unshield”. Unshield isn't installed, but can be found here according to the terminal window message:
http://synce.sourceforge.net/synce/unshield.php
To bad, it goes to a 404 page. Sighs
I use the Ubuntu Program Central instead (icon at left side of screen that looks like a paper bag) and types in “Unshield”. And there I got a hit.

I try the script again after installing Unshield:

Code:

./install-nwn.sh

and now it's working just fine

CD or DVD
I'm using a DVD so I choose that.

Client files
I know I have downloaded 1.69, but not the rest. Now it complains that nwclient129.tar.gz and nwclienthotu.tar.gz can't be found. I better download them now then....
Version 1.29 can't be found where the instruction page has a link, it's dead. I have to search for nwclient129.tar.gz in some other way. Gooogle showed a lot of option and I choose this place:
http://www.fileplanet.com/121474/120000/fileinfo/Neverwinter-Nights-Linux-Client-1.29
Nwclienthotu.tar.gz could be found here:
http://nwdownloads.bioware.com/neverwinternights/linux/161/nwclienthotu.tar.gz

After I have downloaded both and copied the unpacked archives to my home directory, I try to just hit yes I have the files in my hoe folder and hit enter.

Next problem “Patch file could not be found in home folder” what the … does that mean? I hit Y for yes and try to download it. Next question, what patch do I want to use? 1.67 is the highest, but I use 1.69. Hmm. According to the guide, I can just write in “169” and then choose “english” as language. 1.67 was the highest patch number when the script was written, but with 169 it searches for the right script. Let's try it:

169 and then ENG for English works just fine, but after that it can't find the DVD!? It looks for it in /media/dvd but as the noob I am, I have no clue about where it is to be found or how to make Ubuntu find it. When I check it graphically in the explorer window, it seems to be /media/_DVD but trying that I just get the answer that /media/_DVD is a folder. So, here I'm stuck. I have to mount that DVD anyway

Mounting a DVD
Open a terminal window and write:

Code:

sudo mount _DVD.iso /media/floppy0 -t iso9660 -o loop

Error; the file or catalog doesn't exist.
I try:
sudo mount _DVD.iso /media/isoimage/ -t iso9660 -o loop
Doesn't work either

So here I am, totally stuck and the silly thing is that I can open any file in the /media/_DVD folder where the DVD disc for NWN is to be found, I just can't start the install script for it. The problem is that I don't know if the error message say that it can't find the source DVD or if it can't find the destination folder.

On Internet, I found a link to a small program called Gmount-iso which can be used to mount ISO files in Ubuntu. I Install it through the program central.

It turns out that it is nigh impossible to mount the files. The programs are looking for an ISO file but can't find it, only the files on the DVD. To be able to install NWN I have to copy the DVD to an ISO file to be able to mount it. Silly? Yes, I think I'm doing something wrong but it seems to be the only way to do it. It's 2.3 GB in size. I do hope Wubi can manage such large file.

The time is 11.20 am and I'm utterly frustrated.

I use the terminal in the media folder and create a new folder named floppy0:

Code:

sudo mkdir floppy0

And after that I went to my home directory and wrote:

Code:

sudo mount _DVD.iso /media/floppy0 -t iso9660 -o loop

And it worked.... I copied the DVD ISO to no avail, the problem was that it had no folder named floppy0 to mount at. I get a warning that it's read only, but I assume it's ok since it's a DVD disc.

Try 3 from the beginning:
Run script:

Code:

./install-nwn.sh

Choose 5 (= platinum edition for me)
finds Unshield => hit enter
Choose DVD => Enter
Finds both client files => Enter
Asks for patch file => Hit Y and Enter
169 => Enter
ENG => Enter

And now, enter the path to the mounted DVD
/media/floppy0
Error, invalid Device
bash: /media/floppy0: is a folder
(sighs heavy)....

I try to mount the copied ISO to floppy0 by using Gmount-iso, but I just get the error message that floppy0 isn't empty (of course not since it connects to the DVD). Stuck again.

Try 4
I create a new folder in media and name it cdrom. Use chmod777 to make it usable by all.

Code:

Sudo chmod777 cdrom

After that, I use Gmount-iso to mount my copied ISO-file. Same error again:
An error occured
/media/cdrom seems to be mounted read-only
But it is an ISO from a disc so that shouldn't be a problem.

Go back to home folder and run all scripts again:
But with the same error:
INVALID DEVICE! Please check the device and try again

When I try to unmount it, I get this error:
umount: /media/cdrom is not in fstab

So, right now its 12.38 pm and I'm giving up. Are there anyone else who can help me by telling me how to mount that ISO so the installation might continue?

//Maria

I went another route. Since I use Wubi, I can easily go through the "host" directory and go direct to the C:\ drive in Windows. I installed Wine and with Wine, I can start NWN in Linux from the C:\ root in windows. I loose some frames (as was mentioned above) but that's not so bad considering that I don't play it in native Ubuntu but through the Wubi interface where the whole Ubuntuinstallation is like a program in Windows.

I do have one problem though, when the game start I have two screens with films. In Windows, I just click on them to move on to the actual game start, but that's not the case in Linux. Instead, I have to right click the wine icon and choose "close" two times in a row to start NWN.

Is there some kind of quick fix how to avoid the introduction films when you start NWN?

//Maria

Yes you can disable them from nwn.ini

Quote:

[Display Options]
UseLargeFont=1
RefreshRate=0
BitsPerPixels=32
Height=1050
Width=1680
TexturePack=3
AllowWindowedMode=1
FullScreen=0
Disable Intro Movies=1

The last line disables the movies.

Thank you Silvarus, it works like a charm now and you made me so happy. A small oddity is that Gamespy is disconnected at game start, but I just hit retry and it connects. Otherwise, everyting is perfect and my final reason to keep windows is gone

Happy holidays to you all! I hope one day you'll all see the light from the smiling penguin.

Hikriss wrote:

I can't comment on any of the .haks or the CEP, but there shouldn't be any major issues since you're using all the files from the regular Windows release.

I can confirm that CEP works in both Windows and Linux with Wine, and I can play in Amia through Wine with all its hak files. Everyting works as it is intended to.

If you are serious about playing games, Linux isn't really an option anyway. Otherwise, if you are willing for a change and can actually troubleshoot, yeah, it's pretty much superior to any commercial OS. Compatibility does not necessarily have to be an issue if you have everything you need.

NWN + Ubuntu 11.10, possible?

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