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Installation Guide (Linux)
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Short guide to running SoD in Linux for people who already use Linux
For folks already running Linux, the process is quite easy! This article assumes a few things about your installation:
- You have a working semi-modern flavor of Linux. Both Sabayon 9 and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS were tested, though other variants likely work too
- You have a working XWindows installation - KDE/Gnome/Unity should not matter. You also need to have working video drivers with 3D support. Modern variants usually have this problem solved, but if yours doesn't, you'll need to do some Googling to figure this out, as each platform and situation is a bit different
- You know how to invoke a terminal window, and have sudo privileges
- You know how to install packages for your system. Ubuntu uses aptitude (apt-get), Sabayon uses Entropy (equo/sulfur), Redhat/Centos uses yum, etc.
This user-created script, called sod_install.rb, assists in getting things up and going Github . Before running the script, make sure the following things have been done:
- Wine is installed (wine is usually the package name)
- Winetricks is installed (winetricks is usually the package name, or get it from the Wine website
- Mono is installed (either called simply mono or mono-complete for many package managers)
- Cabextract is installed (cabextract is usually the package name)
- Ruby 1.8.7 or higher installed (ruby is usually the package name)
- The Ruby "open4" gem is installed. Some package managers have this included (open4 in Sabayon), while others may not. A sure-fire way to install it is run "sudo gem install open4" from the terminal
- You have downloaded the EQLive executable. You can get it from SOE's site , but you will need to have or register a Station account
Once this is all done, create an installation folder, something like "/home/yourname/sod", though the name and location are not important. Then run the sod_install.rb script (as a normal user, NOT root) using either:
chmod +x sod_install.rb ./sod_install.rb
or
ruby sod_install.rb
If any of the prerequisites were not installed properly, the script will let you know and stop. The script will also provide warnings if the installed versions of the prerequisites do not match the versions are the suggested ones, but it is generally safe to ignore the warnings. Follow the directions carefully, particularly when installing the EQLive executable and running the SoD patcher. Nothing terrible will happen if you don't, but it may make things unnecessarily complicated.
Once the script completes, you should have a desktop icon called Shards of Dalaya, as well as a script called runsod.sh in your installation folder. You can invoke either of these to start the game. You can also run them multiple times if you want to play more than one instance at a time.
Playing SoD in Linux
SoD will run in Linux as well as it runs in MS Windows.
There are a few ways to run SoD in Linux. The two most common (and most likely to work well) are Wine and Cedega.
Notes: Before you attempt any method, you must ensure you have your graphics card correctly installed and that 3D acceleration is working. You should also ensure SoD is installed somewhere where your Linux user can have read/write access. Your SoD game folder can usually simply be copied over to your Linux drive/partition and the game will run without any problems.
However you run SoD in Linux, one important 'tip' used to be to ensure the game was in 'fullscreen mode' - this can be toggled using alt+enter within the game/startup screen. Performance in non-fullscreen mode was shockingly awful. Note this *did not* mean you couldn't run SoD within a Desktop style window, like that which EQW provides in Windows. See the section on EQPlayNice and EQWindows below. This is no longer the case, as of Wine version 1.1.4, and perhaps sooner, although untested, Wine supports use of the standard windowed mode of the EverQuest client. It is unknown at this time whether newer versions of Cedega have imported the fix.
Patching SoD in Linux
The SoD 'official' patcher used to *not* work in Linux. Fortunately, Gunder has written a new patcher which works almost flawlessly.
Note: Be sure to run the patcher as root, chances are it will fail otherwise.
When using version 1.61 of Gunders patcher, you will have to kill some broken processes and then run the game separately. Hopefully in the future Gunder will make it possible to not run the game automatically after patching.
SoD via Transgaming Cedega/WineX
Transgaming's Cedega is a non-free, partially closed source 'compatibility layer' for Windows aps you want to run in Linux. It is specifically designed for gaming/gamers.
It may be obtained for free via CVS or various other sources.
- Using Cedega + Cedega Engine 6.0.2 (Transgaming Cedega). Older versions, at least since 5, also work.
- After installing Cedega, run the Transgaming Cedega GUI.
- Simply create a 'Game Folder' by any name, and a Shortcut within that game folder by any name (SoD works well). Edit the shortcut (using 'Properties') to point to the eqgame.exe file of your SoD install, and add the 'Command Line Options' "patchme".
- You may now launch SoD using the command line: cedega -run <game folder> <shortcut name> (using the above options would be: cedega -run SoD EverQuest).
For GNOME users: A launcher may be made on the panel by right clicking, choosing "Add to panel..." and selecting "Custom application launcher." Choose application and enter the above command to create an easy way to launch the game.
You may also launch SoD from within the Transgaming Cedega GUI, by selecting the Game Folder, the Shortcut and pressing 'Play'.
It's semi-likely that SoD won't run entirely perfectly at first - however, remember, it does work perfectly, you will just have to tweak some settings. From the 'Properties' window to click 'Edit Settings' > 'Graphics' and disabling all the check boxes. Then enable them one by one, checking in between if there is a difference in SoDs performance. As an ATI r420 user, disabling entirely the use of ARB_VBO allowed the game to work perfectly, while leaving most other things enabled or 'default'.
SoD via Wine
Wine is a free, open source 'compatibility layer' for Windows apps you want to run in Linux. It is not oriented specifically around gaming. EverQuest reportedly works using Wine. Wine version 0.9.44 or 0.9.50+ only, use of the newest version of wine recommended, fall back to an earlier one only if needed. Version 0.9.45 through 0.9.49 all have some sort of bug that was finally fixed randomly: http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9698
Earlier versions (pre-1.1.x) of Wine had a lot of problems with playing Shards of Dalaya.
If you have a dual-core processor, you can get around the dual-core bug by launching the patcher with:
taskset -c 0 wine sodpatcher.exe
If you want to multi-client, you need to use:
cd /path/to/EverQuest wine explorer.exe /desktop=sod1,XxY eqgame.exe patchme wine explorer.exe /desktop=sod2,XxY eqgame.exe patchme
XxY is the resolution you play at, for example:
cd /opt/EverQuest wine explorer.exe /desktop=sod1,1280x960 eqgame.exe patchme wine explorer.exe /desktop=sod2,1280x960 eqgame.exe patchme
If you don't want to multi-client, but do want to use a windowed environment like EQW is for windows, just set eqgame.exe to use a desktop in winecfg.
A tip about multi-clienting: Every time you zone you will need to use ALT+ENTER to go back to full screen mode... No idea why this glitch happens, and there's presently no known fix.
As of Wine 1.1.4 at least, and possibly earlier, although this is untested, Wine has support for the EverQuest clients native windowed mode. What this means is that you no longer need to use the above convoluted mess, in fact, you need to ensure that you do *not* use full screen mode if you want to use a window. The native windowing of the client is far superior to what you used to need to do.
EQ Play Nice and EQ Windows
- EQ Play Nice does not seem to work via Cedega. It may or may not work via Wine.
- EQPN is redundant in Linux at best. Resource management in Linux is much more intelligent and robust than in Windows.
- Wine automatically throttles all applications that run within it.
- EQ Windows is not needed in Cedega or Wine. Enabling and tweaking the 'Desktop' settings for either will result in the same behaviour as EQWindows provides to MS Windows users for those running older versions, and for those running newer versions, simply running the client in Windowed mode does the trick best.
Running SoD with Debian/Ubuntu
The Distribution and their philosophy
Ubuntu is based on a stabilized and frozen fork of Debian Unstable with desktop and system administrative additions provided by the distribution maintainer. It is designed to be easy to use by users new to the linux operating system with desktop layout and features similar and familiar to Windows Os users. It is not a dumbed down version of Debian in the sense that all of the powerful command line tools are there under the hood if you want them, just that the distribution is set up so that you are not required to use them. Further, the distribution is based on the Debian binary package management system which is arguably the best one resolving library conflicts in 20 years of system administration.
Debian is designed to be used by Admins and coders, so it may not have the all the UI based configuration tools that come with Ubuntu. It will, however, have most of them. However, to resolve a card conflict with either you may need to use a command line to resolve the issue.
Wine versions
To run SoD, you will want the Wine version 1.1 or later. This comes by default with Ubuntu, but may not come with Debian Stable. "Testing" for desktops is recommended anyway as the paradigm of "Stable" is for servers and the software versions tend to be frozen, but maintained older versions. Testing will have newer tools for you to use and is generally considered better for a desktop install.
Below you will find the command sequences that you will need to run from a command line as root to install Wine and fix some of the more common problems that arise from graphics card detection and 3d acceleration. The commands will work on both distributions, but it is more likely that the Ubuntu version will detect and install the proper driver for you, because they are less concerned with certain intellectual property and philosophical issues. It is possible though that you may end up with the generic "nouveau" 3d driver and your system will run fine. If you want to get the last bit out of your device you can follow the commands listed below to install them.
On Debian, the OS will not install the manufacturer's drivers by default as these have a proprietary license and Debian does not want to distribute them as part of their default install for intellectual property reasons. As noted above, the generic driver may work out fine for you and you don't have to do anything to configure the OS further if you don't wish too. It is also possible with both distributions that you may get an imperfect card detection and end up with the generic 2d driver, which will not run SoD. So this write up is here to both resolve the 2d driver issue and show players how to install the manufacturer's driver.
NOTE You do not have to do any of this if you are satisfied with your performance. You can stop at any point where you reach satisfaction.
Ubuntu
As noted above, you will want a 1.1 version of Wine in order to run SoD. With Ubuntu, the default package should be fine for this just "su" to root and run on a command line;
aptitude update aptitude install wine
This will install a post 1.1 version of Wine for you.
Debian
With Debian, it is highly recommend that you install the http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ "Testing" distribution , Release name "Squeeze" for two reasons:
- The version of Wine is compatible with SoD and you won't need to compile from source.
- It supports more legacy drivers then stable
Download and burn the "netinst" package to cd and install it if you haven't already. If you have it installed, you can;
aptitude update aptitude install wine
and have a compatible version of Wine on your computer
Both Distributions
You should be able to install the game with the cds now using wine or simply extract your windows copy into /home/<userid/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/<folder>/ For debugging, try just running the game from the command line with a script saved as sod.sh;
cd "/home/<userid>/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/shards1/EverQuest/" taskset -c 1 wine eqgame.exe patchme >> errors_wine.txt 2>@1
Replace the path between the double quotes with your path. You can run it from a command line without being root by making it executable with the command
chmod u+x sod.sh # then running it with ./sod.sh # or sh sod.sh
Now run the game and hopefully it works. If it doesn't note the failure error as you may want to post to post it later to the technical forums.
Video drivers
Warning if you are not comfortable compiling and install kernel modules or can't follow instructions to the letter you may want to skip down to the generic driver section.
At this point in the game, you should know how device detection works Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't. Its possible it didn't. One quick way to tell is to use the widget "glxgears", this will check the frame rate of the card. If the card is below 1000 fps, you do not have a 3d driver installed installed into the kernel and used by the card;
glxgears # from a command line
This will pop up a window and will report framerate in the terminal window. You do not need to be root.
So run on the command line for Nvidia and ATI cards respectively and the last to see what
the X Window System is using;
lsmod | grep nvidia lsmod | grep fglrx grep -B2 'Module class: X.Org Video Driver' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
You can cut and paste these commands into the command terminal if you wish and save the output to a text file by appending "">> textfile.txt" without the double quotes.
Note: This next step is unnecessary for Ubuntu
If the module isn't loaded, you will need to go to the next section as well but first we need to make sure that you can download the manufacturer's drivers. Generic intel type cards will be covered later as well. Before you do these things you will need to check your sources. Run
gedit /etc/apt/sources.list &
Use any editor you are comfortable with. Look at the file and ensure that the binary source line looks like this;
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free
If not add "contrib" and "non-free" to the end of the line. Do not change a Ubuntu sources list
Nvidia driver installation
So if you are here, you either have a card detection issue which doesn't allow 3d acceleration or simply want to use the vendors drivers. You will need to su to root and use a command prompt. Then run the following commands;
aptitude update aptitude install module-assistant nvidia-kernel-common
then
m-a auto-install nvidia-kernel${VERSION}-source
At this point, you should be mostly done. Now there are two ways to get this running. You can either use a package to setup your xorg.conf file or do it manually. There was a bug in the auto method so both will be listed, but it may very well work just fine for you as it has for other users.
Nvidia automatic method
Backup your config file;
cp -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
Then install the tool
aptitude install nvidia-xconfig
Now run it
nvidia-xconfig
You should be done. Hit
ctrl alt F2
This will bring you to a terminal login screen. The following command will restart your display manager so it will kill a terminal session if you are in the GUI. login as root and run
invoke-rc.d gdm3 stop invoke-rc.d gdm3 start
If the restart doesn't take you to a login window, hit
alt F7
and you should be back into a GUI login if you were not before.
Nvidia manual method
The manual method is as follows with your favorite text editor gedit will do if you do't have a favorite;
cp -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
Then change the lines as follows;
Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Video Card"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection
Then do as noted above ctrl alt F2. This will bring you to a terminal login screen.
invoke-rc.d gdm3 stop invoke-rc.d gdm3 start
Finally add nvidia to /etc/modules to insure it loads at on boot
printf "nvidia\n" >> /etc/modules
ATI driver installation
You will need to install the packages;
aptitude update aptitude install linux-headers-2.6-$(uname -r | sed 's,.*-,,') fglrx-control fglrx-driver
Then backup your xorg.conf file with
cp -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
Finally opening the file with you favorite text editor
gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
And change it to look similar to this;
Section "Device" Identifier "ATI" Driver "fglrx" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Default Screen" DefaultDepth 24 EndSection
You will then need to unload the generic driver so hit;
ctrl alt F2
This will bring you to a terminal login screen. The following command will restart your display manager so it will kill a terminal session if you are in the GUI. The first command stops the GUI and the second command removes the generic radeon driver provided by the os. The third command loads the ati driver into the kernel. The last starts your GUI display. login as root and run;
invoke-rc.d gdm3 stop modprobe -r radeon drm modprobe fglrx
Start the X Window System again;
invoke-rc.d gdm3 start
If the restart doesn't take you to a login window, hit
alt F7
and you should be back into a GUI login if you were not before. and add fglrx to /etc/modules
printf "fglrx\n" >> /etc/modules
Generic card support
This is better then it used to be. You will want to run nouveau. So run the following command to see if it is being used;
grep -B2 'Module class: X.Org Video Driver' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
If it is not installed run;
aptitude update aptitude install xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
Then backup your xorg.conf file with
cp -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
Finally opening the file with you favorite text editor
gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
And change it to this;
Section "Device" Identifier "Generic" Driver "nouveau" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Default Screen" DefaultDepth 24 EndSection
Then do as noted above;
invoke-rc.d gdm3 stop invoke-rc.d gdm3 start
Finally
printf "nouveau\ndrm\n" >> /etc/modules
- Credits Debian wiki and other sources.
64 bit OS dri Library Issues
EQ is an old 32-bit game so its possible the libraries needed to run on 64 bit distributions aren't installed by default. You will need to install the 32-bit support libraries to allow it to run and may need to add a line to your .profile file in your home directory if the path to the libraries is not being recognized. These support libraries may install by default on install of Wine, but sometimes it doesn't. Try checking to see by running the following command
dpkg -l | grep ia32-libs
You should have about 2-5 packages installed depending on your card. If you don't have any you will need to install them;
aptitude update aptitude install ia32-libs
This command should install all the necessary libraries for running SoD.
There is an older bug, wherein Wine couldn't see your ia32-lib dri path. If you have installed the ia32-lib library and still can't run SoD add
export LIBGL_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib32/dri
to the .profiles file in your user directory. It is a hidden file so you can see it by running ls -la on a command line in your home directory. Then simply open it with any text editor.
If you have the drivers properly installed but the system doesn't run change it so it looks something like this;
# ~/.profile: executed by the command interpreter for login shells. # This file is not read by bash(1), if ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bash_login # exists. # see /usr/share/doc/bash/examples/startup-files for examples. # the files are located in the bash-doc package. # the default umask is set in /etc/profile; for setting the umask # for ssh logins, install and configure the libpam-umask package. #umask 022 export LIBGL_DRIVERS_PATH=/usr/lib32/dri # if running bash if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then # include .bashrc if it exists if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then . "$HOME/.bashrc" fi fi # set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists if [ -d "$HOME/bin" ] ; then PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" fi
This file had the blank lines removed to solve a wiki format issue, You don't need to do this. If the change doesn't work check and see if your 32 bit card GL drivers are installed.
Solving problems
If you are still having problems with the game run the following script and post the output of the commands to the technical section of the forums.
So make a file for the script;
gedit sod_stuff.sh &
then copy and paste this into it;
#!/bin/sh
# written by the Lich Velleity Darkbloom of FWF
# Boehm on the forums
# 1. Copy and paste this into a file with a name like sodstuff.sh
# 2. Put the file in your /tmp directory
# 3. Do "chmod u+x sodstuff.sh" at a shell prompt
# 4. then you can ./sodstuff.sh or "sh sodstuff.sh"
# 5. If for some reason you copied this script on a windows box
# and opened it with a windows text editor. you will need to run
# "sed 's/.$//' sodstuff.sh >> sodstuff2.sh"
# at a shell prompt to convert dos newlines to unix newlines
# Load hostname and date into memory.
dir="$(hostname).$(date '+%Y-%m-%d')"
# Create a master directory to store information called {hostname-date}
# If the directory already exists or is corrupted stop the process.
# Copy all errors into a file named ERRORS.
if [ -e "${dir}" ]; then
if [ ! -d "${dir}" ]; then
echo "${dir} exists but is not a directory" >&2
exit 1
fi
else
mkdir "${dir}"
fi
exec >"${dir}/ERRORS" 2>&1
# Run the named command and write the output to the directory created above
run()
{
cmd="$@"
dst="${dir}/$(echo ${cmd} | tr ' /' '__')"
sh -c "${cmd}" >"${dst}" 2>&1
}
run uname -a
run lspci
run lsmod
run wine --version
run "dmesg | grep agpgart"
run "glxinfo | grep version"
run "glxinfo | grep direct"
run "glxinfo | grep rendering"
run "dpkg -l | grep ia32-libs"
run "dpkg -l | grep nvidia"
run "dpkg -l | grep fglrx"
run "dpkg -l | grep nouveau"
run "grep -B2 'Module class: X.Org Video Driver' /var/log/Xorg.0.log"
#--------------------------------------------------------------
# Find a named file and copy it to the created directory
# keeping the path and permissions intact.
f()
{
fn="$(echo $1 | sed -e 's}^/}}')"
dst="${dir}/$(dirname $(echo ${fn}))"
mkdir -p "${dst}"
cp "/${fn}" "${dst}"
}
f /etc/debian_version
f /etc/ubuntu_version
f /etc/X11/xorg.conf
f /var/log/Xorg.0.log
# Archive, compress, then delete the directory
tar cf "${dir}.tar" "${dir}" && gzip "${dir}.tar" && rm -rf "${dir}"
Now follow the script instructions and post the command output to the forums.
Recent experiences in Ubuntu
Adding my experiences installing on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. I followed the instructions above and could get the game launching, get to server select, and then it would crash. Much credit goes to Majaan, as he was the one that knew the solution. I'm just documenting it.
I started by uninstalling my existing Wine (V1.2) and installing Wine 1.3 beta (Wine1.4rc2). If you're not sure what version of Wine you have, on the command line run:
$wine --version
If you're not running at least Wine 1.3, download/install Wine 1.3 beta for Unbutu or if you prefer the command line:;
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install wine1.3
After installing a fresh copy of Wine, we need to install .Net 2.0. The easiest way to do this is through Winetricks. Wine1.3 should have Winetricks built into it. This can be verified by going to the menus Applications -> Wine -> Winetricks. if not, it can be downloaded here: winetricks or if you prefer the command line:
rm -f winetricks wget http://winetricks.org/winetricks sudo cp winetricks /usr/bin sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/winetricks
Once winetricks is installed, at the commandline enter
winetricks dotnet20
And let .NET 2.0 install. Once the installation is complete, you need to add a path to your winetrick cache folder. On systems where winetricks is prebunled with Wine, it will be located in the ~/.cache/winetricks. On systems where Winetricks is manually installed, it will probably be in ~/.winetricks. Once you've located your winetricks cache folder, we need the folder as a drive in Wine. To do this, go to the menu Applications -> Wine -> Configure Wine. Click on the Drive's tab. Add a new tab, choosing whatever unused drive letter you would like. Enter the location of the winetricks cache folder (either /home/username/.cache/winetricks or /home/username/.winetricks) and hit apply and accept.
After this, you should be good to go. If you have any additional problems, check ubuntuforums.org:.Net framework 2.0 installation problem Once again, big thanks to Majaan, that last step would've tripped me up for a while.
SoD for people who have never used linux or aren't that familiar with it
Linux can be a little intimidating at first, but modern flavors have become quite friendly and approachable, even to new users. You'll have access to a graphical interface, and for many folks, things "just work" out of the box. This section assumes you have little or no familiarity with Linux, and will walk you through installing Linux and getting SoD up and running. At the end of this, you will have a completely FREE game system. Pretty cool!
Sabayon is a flavor of Linux based on Gentoo, which has been around for a long while. Without going into too much history, Sabayon took some of the pain out of Gentoo installations and made it quicker and more friendly. It is updated frequently, and has a very good package system. Additionally, it has support out-of-the-box for compiling and building things that some other flavors make excessively painful for new users. That said, if you are more familiar with Ubuntu or Centos or something, feel free to use it, but you'll have to find the equivalent commands for your particular flavor. Also note that this assumes a complete wipe of any existing data on your system, and that Linux will be the only system that lives on it. If you have things you care about on your system now, either back them up, or don't do this!
Getting started
First off, download the current version of Sabayon (currently 10) from their site. You can choose either 32 or 64-bit: 64-bit (recommended) 32-bit
You will need to burn this ISO file to a DVD. Note that this is different from just "copying" the file to a DVD - you actually need to burn the image, not the file. From Windows 7, this is a trivial matter - simply right click the .iso file and choose "Burn Disc Image". In some cases, you may have to select "Open With" then "Windows Disc Image Burner". For older versions of Windows, you may need to download a tool like "ISO Recorder".
Installing Sabayon
Once you have a DVD in hand, boot it up in your system. Again, we're wiping EVERYTHING on that system, so make sure you have things off of it that you need! The Sabayon installer is very straightforward, but here's a quick summary:
- On the first screen, select Graphical Installation
- Select your language and keyboard as appropriate
- Select "Basic Storage Devices" (eventually, it may give you a warning about an uninitialized disk. If so, click Re-initialize All. THIS WILL DESTROY ANY REMAINING DATA!)
- For a hostname, pick whatever you'd like to call the system. You don't need the ".localhost" after it.
- Pick the city closest to you for time zone information
- Select a root password. MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER THIS!
- Create a "regular" user - pick a login name (for example, you might pick "serinar"), and select a password. If it's just you on the system, this can be the same as your root password if you so choose
- On the next screen, choose "Use All Space". If you want to be fancy, you can also select "Encrypt system" but that's beyond the scope of this simple installation
- On the next screen, you'll see a bunch of funny looking paths and some filesystem stuff. Just click Next - we trust that's right. If it asks you to format the disk, click the Format button
- Click Next once more (the screen about the bootloader), then we're installing! This will take a bit.
- Click Reboot, and remove the DVD from the drive
You now have a working Linux system - congratulations! For the record (if anyone asks or you want to impress people at parties) you are running a system with a 3.5 kernel and KDE 4.9. Pretty cool.
Updating and istalling new software
Now that you have a working system, it's time to get it updated. Sabayon receives its updates through a package manager called Entropy. You don't need to know the specifics of how it works, suffice it to say, Entropy is a collection of current programs that you can easily install on Sabayon. This includes not only operating system updates, but also applications. For example, want to do image editing (like Photoshop)? You can install Gimp from Entropy, and boom, you've got it. It's a handy way to both update your system and install new things.
The Entropy repositories change daily, but weekly updates are what most folks work with. To get the latest Entropy packages, begin by logging in and clicking the little black circle in the lower left of the screen (where the Windows Start menu normally is). A menu will pop up - at the top, type "konsole" into the search box. You will be presented with the Konsole application just below that - click it to open a terminal window.
The terminal is how we're going to get everything done from here on out (until we play the game!), so keep it open for the rest of the ride. Let's start by updating those repositories:
sudo su
OK, what the heck is that? "sudo" is a program that says "run the next command as root", which is the equivalent of Administrator in Windows. You need to do this for things that require a lot of privilege, like updating important system files. The "su" part tells the terminal that we now want a terminal session as the root user. You will be asked for your password (not the root password, just yours) and should now be greeted with a slightly different command prompt in red - reminding you that you're root now! To update Entropy, type:
equo update
equo is the command line tool for interacting with Entropy. Here we're asking it to fetch the most current package list. Note that we aren't installing anything yet, just getting a current list. Next, let's actually update our files.
equo upgrade
This will likely take awhile, as your system will download and install updates, and there are likely a lot of them at first. Feel free to poke around on the system while this works - you may notice that things behave a bit oddly during the update - that's ok, it's just because we're in a transitional phase right now. If things don't work, just wait for the update to finish and all should be well.
When it's finished, it may ask you to run "equo conf update". Go ahead and do that - you'll be presented with a few files that it wants to update. Since we haven't really customized anything, let's just let it update what it wants to - do this by typing "-5" when prompted to make changes (it's a menu option stating that it should automerge all files). It should then say that it's finished, at which point your system is current!
Now it's time for the fun stuff. We need to start by installing prerequisites for SoD. To do that, run the following at the command line (still as root, mind you):
equo install wine winetricks mono cabextract ruby open4
In one line, we've installed everything we need! Pretty cool stuff - this will probably take awhile, so feel free to poke around a bit again. When it's finished, we can start the SoD installation process. Before that though, let's reboot as a bunch of packages have changed, and sometimes things can get flaky. To do that, simply click the little black button, select Leave, then Restart. Once you've rebooted, go ahead and open a Konsole window again as described above.
Installing SoD
Make a directory to put your SoD installation in. You first need to drop out of root privileges. The following commands will do all of this for you:
exit (this ends your root session) cd ~ mkdir sod cd sod
We're now in our SoD installation folder. Open up Chromium (again, click the little black circle in the lower left of the screen, then go to Applications then Internet) and open up the EQLive installer page. Log in with your Station account, and download the EQ_setup.exe folder. By default, this will get saved in a folder called Downloads in your home directory. Let's get it moved somewhere more sensible - from the terminal window, type:
mv ~/Downloads/EQ_setup.exe ~/sod
Cool, now we need the SoD install script. From the terminal window, type:
wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/fizzgig16/sod-installer/tarball/master -O - | tar xf --strip-components=1
This will download the script and license file to the local directory. Let's run it!
ruby sod_install.rb
Follow the directions, and be prepared for a LONG wait as the EQ installer downloads 7GB(!) of data. Yikes.
Once it's done, you should have a working installation!
If things go wrong...
The most common error is that the EQLive installer hangs. You don't see the installed percentage going up after a couple of minutes. That sucks! Fortunately, you can fix this if it happens:
- Close the EQ installer by clicking the X in the upper right
- Hit Ctrl-C in the terminal window to stop sod_install.rb
- Run "wine EQ_setup.exe" from the command window. It will ask you to install a new instance, repair/reinstall or uninstall. Select the option to reinstall. I've had the program crash at this point sometimes - if that happens, just do it once more and it should work
- When the install is done, close out, then run sod_install.rb again. When asked to reinstall EQ, just click Cancel - the install is already done!
Running SoD
If all went well, you should now have a Shards of Dalaya icon on your desktop. Click it, and away you go! You can also run it from a terminal by typing:
~/sod/runsod.sh
You may have to change that path if you used something else, but you get the idea.