Can't run "The Witcher" without any additional info

Questions about Wine on Linux
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byjove01
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Can't run "The Witcher" without any additional info

Post by byjove01 »

Hello. I am trying to run The Witcher (the first) on my Arch Linux distro, with stable Wine 6.18. The Wine prefix is x64 set up to behave like Windows 8.
But each time I am trying to launch the game, the game can't just start (even the launcher just crashes) and I got this from the Lutris-generated log:

Code: Select all

Running /usr/bin/wine /media/gaming_ssd/CD PROJEKT/The Witcher Enhanced Edition/System/witcher.exe
Initial process has started with pid 67159
Start monitoring process.
0024:fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (1007C2B4) stub
Monitored process exited.
Initial process has exited (return code: 65280)
All monitored processes have exited.
Exit with returncode 65280
I don't know how to interpret Wine errors, so don't hesitate to tell me how I should interpret it, and if even possible, how to solve this problem. Thanks in advance.
Time4Tea
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Re: Can't run "The Witcher" without any additional info

Post by Time4Tea »

Hi, I have a couple of ideas:

Firstly, it seems that you are trying to use a 64-bit wine prefix. Witcher 1 is quite an old game and I'd be surprised if if were 64-bit. It is almost certainly 32-bit, in which case you will need a 32-bit wine prefix and the necessary 32-bit Linux libraries to go along with it. You can use file witcher.exe on the executable to verify whether it is 32/64-bit.

Secondly, it looks like the game is not installed into the wine prefix, but in a different location. I don't use Lutris and I'm not sure how it works, but I use wine direct and would always create a new wine prefix and install the game into that. What version of the game do you have? Is it from GOG, with an offline installer?

There isn't much in your log that indicates exactly what the problem is. I don't know what 'return code 65280' refers to.
byjove01
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Re: Can't run "The Witcher" without any additional info

Post by byjove01 »

I always install directly my games and use only two prefixes with all of them to ensure a maximal compatibility, otherly my game repertory drive just becomes a big mess with a lot of useless prefixes.
I'm using the GOG version. I'm gonna test the 32bit prefix then, will give info in several minutes.
byjove01
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Re: Can't run "The Witcher" without any additional info

Post by byjove01 »

Lauching the game with a 32bit prefix just gave me this variant of the log:

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Running /usr/bin/wine /media/gaming_ssd/CD PROJEKT/The Witcher Enhanced Edition/System/witcher.exe
Initial process has started with pid 74831
Start monitoring process.
0024:fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (1007C2B4) stub
Monitored process exited.
Initial process has exited (return code: 65280)
All monitored processes have exited.
Exit with returncode 65280
Otherly, same result : it crashes.
Time4Tea
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Re: Can't run "The Witcher" without any additional info

Post by Time4Tea »

Hmm, ok. What exact command are you using to run the game?

What I would try, if I were you, is forget Lutris (for now) and create a new 32-bit wine prefix (on your SSD, if desired), with:

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$ env WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX="[desired path]" winecfg
Then, copy the game installer file into the '/drive_c' location in that prefix, run it and install the game into that prefix. Then, try to run it directly from the command line from the folder containing the game exe with:

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$ env WINEPREFIX="[path to prefix]" wine ./witcher.exe
It might not be the setup you ideally want, but I recommend you try it, just to see if it will work. From the first line of your post, it seems that the game is not installed in the wine prefix.

It might also be worth trying different Windows compatibility versions (e.g. 7, 10), if you haven't done so already.
byjove01
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Re: Can't run "The Witcher" without any additional info

Post by byjove01 »

I did it, and no matter if I set up the prefix on older versions of Windows than 7, it sill gives me the same error. I don't think it's my way to organize my games that put The Witcher to crash... It feels like something is missing and prevents the game to launch, but I can't say what.
Time4Tea
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Re: Can't run "The Witcher" without any additional info

Post by Time4Tea »

Usually, if you run from the terminal and you are missing a critical library, there would be a fairly clear error message saying so (along the lines of: "libraryx.so can't be found").

Have you been able to successfully run other 32-bit games with your wine setup? For 32-bit, you need to make sure you have various 32-bit Linux libraries installed (the Arch Wiki page for wine is a great resource), including the 32-bit library for your graphics driver.

I would also check the wine AppDB page for Witcher 1, to see if anyone else had similar problems, or had to use any workarounds to get it working.
byjove01
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Re: Can't run "The Witcher" without any additional info

Post by byjove01 »

Time4Tea wrote: Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:35 am Usually, if you run from the terminal and you are missing a critical library, there would be a fairly clear error message saying so (along the lines of: "libraryx.so can't be found").

Have you been able to successfully run other 32-bit games with your wine setup? For 32-bit, you need to make sure you have various 32-bit Linux libraries installed (the Arch Wiki page for wine is a great resource), including the 32-bit library for your graphics driver.

I would also check the wine AppDB page for Witcher 1, to see if anyone else had similar problems, or had to use any workarounds to get it working.
I checked the AppDB page yet, authors doesn't reporter any problem and says the game can be launched out of the box. That's frustrating.
And yes, I'm able to play any other 32-bit game I got, The Witcher 1 is the only one causing problems.
cmdl
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Re: Can't run "The Witcher" without any additional info

Post by cmdl »

Can you try PlayOnLinux? I have played it in the past with GOG and POL with 32 bit. No environment variables or anything extra - plain vanilla install.
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