WINE 1.4.1/Lubuntu 13.10 - Problem running Star Trek Online

[SweetBearCub]

Greetings. I'm new to WINE and relatively new to Linux in general.

I installed Star Trek Online, but cannot get it to run. Starting it opens its loader, which asks for my uname/pw, and updates the game to the latest version. This works fine. After the game is confirmed to be up-to-date, there is a button which loads GameClient.exe. At this point, I can see GameClient.exe in the TOP process list, but on my desktop, the window does not display. There is however an entry on the taskbar for it, like it is minimized, but it will not respond to left-clicks.

How can I diagnose this?

[dimesio]

1.4.1 is old and no longer supported. Upgrade to at least the last stable release (1.6.2), and preferably the latest development release (1.7.11).

[SweetBearCub]

According to the built-in Lubuntu 'Software Updater', WINE is up to date. Also, apt-get upgrade/update do not download any updates.

How can I set WINE to update directly from the developers, to the newest stable version, without conflicting with either of the above-mentioned update methods? An exact list of terminal commands would be appreciated.

Once I get this set up, how will I update in the future? Will the above-mentioned methods pull in updates with no further intervention? Two, once this is done, if the game still malfunctions, what is the process of troubleshooting?

[dimesio]

The only thing the Wine developers update is the source code. Packages are built by the distros. AFAIK, you should be able to use Ubuntu's packages on Lubuntu; instructions for adding their Wine PPA are here: http://www.winehq.org/download/ubuntu.

once this is done, if the game still malfunctions, what is the process of troubleshooting?

Run it from a terminal and post the output. http://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#get_log

[SweetBearCub]

Ok, upgraded to WINE 1.7.11 following the directuins, thanks.

I ran my game from the terminal, redirecting output to a log. That log is 23 megabytes of text. (!) I tried to attach it here, but the upload progress bar just kept going with no progress, and no errors. Where can I upload it?

[dimesio]

A plain log should not be that big. You didn't set any debug channels, did you? You shouldn't. If you didn't, does much of that log consist of the same line repeated over and over? If so, you can trim the repeated parts.

[SweetBearCub]

Ok, I uploaded the log to Google Drive. Here's the link to view/download it. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByiC0I ... sp=sharing

No, no debug stuff as far as I know.

[dimesio]

FYI, you could have deleted the 200,000+ lines starting with fixme:win:GetRawInputBuffer, which make up most of that monstrous file. But I don't think that's the cause of the problem, and I don't see anything unusual in the log

The most recent test report in the AppDB mentions the game will not load in fullscreen. Try running in an emulated virtual desktop (set it on the Graphics tab in winecfg).

[SweetBearCub]

Thanks for your help so far. I apologize for the jumbo-sized log, but I had no idea where to cut and snip it.

The defined desktop size didn't help much, but I'm not giving up. I'm still reading furiously and trying to digest all of this new informtion. I will probably make another post (with an updated WINE version number) after I'm done reading, if I still make no progress.

[Simon of Aragon]

I currently run Star Trek Online without issues. Let me run you over basic setup steps. I use Kubuntu 12.04 and Wine 1.5.31. You will need to get Winetricks as it requires IE8 and DirectX to run properly.

I create a special wine prefix to use just for Cryptic games. What this means is my Cryptic games run on their own special settings but that is entirely up to you.

Start in Terminal and run the command; winetricks ie8
Otherwise if you want a special prefix, type; WINEPREFIX="/home/<your uid here>/.wine-cryptic";winetricks ie8
Follow the set up of Internet Explorer 8.
Then you need to install DirectX 9 using; winetricks d3dx9

Now if you are installing from Arc (yuck) I believe it is possible to do away with Arc once STO is installed.
There are some valid links in the STO forum players have posted to non-Arc installs.
Once install is complete set up a desktop shortcut; wine '<your path here>/Star Trek Online.exe'

I have mine point at a bash file in the installed directory it looks like this;

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
export WINEPREFIX="/home/simon/.wine-cryptic"
export WINESERVER="/home/simon/.wine-1.5.31/bin/wineserver"
export WINELOADER="/home/simon/.wine-1.5.31/bin/wine"
export WINEDEBUG="-all"
export WINEDLLPATH="/home/simon/.wine-1.5.31/lib/wine"
cd "/media/drive_c/Cryptic Studios"
$WINELOADER 'Star Trek Online.exe'

Line #1 points to the bash program
Line #2 defines the custom prefix I use
Line #3 defines the location of my wine server
Line #4 defines the location of wine
Line #5 is to speed up the game. NOTE: This will stop all debugging, it will prevent you from getting a debug file.
Line #6 defines the library path
Line #7 is where STO is installed on my PC
Line #8 executes the game

If you are not using a customized install your file can be as simple as;

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
export WINEDEBUG="-all"
wine 'Star Trek Online.exe'

I currently run with a 1GB Radeon HD 5450. If you still can't get this to run let me know.

Link to STO Forum message 112 has the link to the Non-Arc Installer.

[SweetBearCub]

Simon, thank you for that informative post. I'll work on it after I get home from work. Yes, I plan on using an old setup file so I can skip Arc. Regarding graphics horsepower, I wonder how my http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-G ... 341.0.html compares? Also, how long does your install sit on the "Legacy of Romulus" loading screen before moving on?

[Simon of Aragon]

Yes, loading takes about forever and I run get a me a Molson from the fridge and sandwich. If it stalls I been kicked to a password screen (full screen) and I enter again and that normally takes less time.

From that site: The Performance of the HD Graphics (Haswell) is similar to the old HD Graphics 3000 or the AMD Radeon HD 8250. This look good. I know of other players having no issue with onboard graphics. The only thing to improve performance would be to find a linux graphics driver. But thus far the lion's share are made only for Nvidia or ATI/AMD cards. Most "flavors" of Ubuntu contain a program called "Additional Drivers" and I simply use the recommended video driver from there. AMD actually has a driver set for Linux, most Nvidia cards don't support Linux and some people tend to believe they get paid not to support Linux OS. ;D

Now if it crashes, while playing, you should look in the game directory for files "debug.log" and "pcl.log" and direct those to someone on the STO forum since I won't understand them and no one else will. lol But you can PM me on here if it doesn't relate to WINE.

Personal Review of STO: I believe STO has real gaming potential and I like to play it, but for an online MMO it has its set backs. It is based on my all time favorite TV series and that is a plus in my book. However this negates when they mess with the "lore" and leaves you staring at your monitor with a blank look on your face. The space combat simulator could use a bit of polish since there are no barrel rolls, loops, or hammer head stalls. The designers made the blunder of not allowing any ship to have full pitch and roll. But the dog fights are massive and complex so that sort of makes up. Travel at warp to another planet is... time for another sandwich.

With all these things players complain about the game, STO has one very unique feature that sets it apart from all the rest. The Foundry is a mission editor that allows UGC (user generated content). Collecting 10K dilithium allows access to The Foundry and you are allowed to add your own missions for other users to play. Early on some used it for cheating the system but those leaks got fixed. You can always find fresh new game content in the massive amount user missions available.

Have Fun!

[SweetBearCub]

Hmm, have to put all of this on hold for now. An experimental Coreboot build took out my C720 Chromebook, but no worries, I have a Bus Pirate (plus probes and clip) on the way to fix it up.