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Yes, you can easily play SWTOR on Linux.


BufferOverload

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Hi guys,

 

SWTOR 5+ runs perfectly fine on a Linux machine. Let me show you how you get SWTOR running on Linux in only a few minutes (not counting download times).

 

Requirements:

1. An up-to-date Linux (64bit) on your machine

2. A graphic card capable of running SWTOR (I'm on a NVIDIA 1050 GTI OC, but I've testet this with a NVIDIA 610 and it worked with minimal settings) and 8+ GB of RAM

3. The following packages installed: "wine-staging", "winetricks", 32bit libraries (e.g. multilib, depending on your Linux distribution) and a proprietary graphic driver, works best with NVIDIA

4. some basic Linux knowledge

 

Okay, so let's get going:

1. Download the installer from http://www.swtor.com/

2. Copy it to a folder of your choice, e.g. "swtor"

mkdir ~/swtor
cp launcher.exe ~/swtor
cd ~/swtor

3. create your .wine enviroment (assuming you haven't one setup yet) with "winecfg" command. This will create a 64 bit Linux bottle in your home folder (.wine).

winecfg

if you already have a default wine setup in your home folder, use a wine prefix for swtor. Don't forget to set the prefix everytime you run SWTOR and unset it afterwards. I'll show you how you can do this with a simple script later.

export WINEPREFIX="$( pwd )/wineprefix"
winecfg

Now make sure to check the following boxes under the staging tab: "Enable CSMT for better graphic performance" and "Enable Environmental Audio Extensions"

Check "Emulate a Virtual Desktop" in the graphics tab and set it to your screen resolution for better performance. If you want to play windowed, do it anyway, just use the desired window size instead of the desktop size.

Now close the Wine Configuration window.

4. We need a few native Windows DLLs to run SWTOR so use winetricks to load them into our wine environment

winetricks msvcp90=native d3dx9 vcrun2008 msls31 winhttp

5. We're almost done. Start the launcher

wine launcher.exe

and close it.

6. Now you should have a file called "launcher.settings" in your swtor folder. Open it with an editor of your choice (gedit) and edit the following 2 attributes like this:

, "PatchingMode": "{ \"swtor\": \"SSN\" }"
, "bitraider_disable": true

7. Start the launcher again

wine launcher.exe

and the game should download.

8. The game should install, but it won't run just yet. One more thing, We need a fix for an known issue with some games running in wine. Luckily someone wrote a tool we can use:

https://github.com/aljen/swtor_fix

Download and start the executable swtor_fix.exe with wine every time before you start the game. And yes, we can automate that process, too:

https://github.com/aljen/swtor_fix/blob/master/launcher.sh

It's outdated, but you can use that script and modify it as needed.

Have fun.

 

If you run in any trouble, please google for answers and check your Linux distros forums first.

 

BONUS:

StarParse runs on Linux, too!

- install it with wine, you will get an error, ignore it.

wine StarParse-1.0.exe

- make sure you have Java JRE working on your machine

java -version

- assuming you are using the default wine folder: copy the following folder to a location of your choice, e.g. "starparse" - don't forget to change "your username" to your actual username before running the command.

cp ~/.wine/drive_c/users/"your username"/Local\ Settings/Application\ Data/StarParse ~/starparse

- StarParse is actually a Java app bundled for Windows. Who does that, btw? Okay, first, we need to update the client app. You have to edit "~/starparse/app/StarParse.cfg" and change "app.runtime" in line 8 to the path of your Java binary. You can find your Java binary using

whereis java

- now start the the updater with

java -jar ~/starparse/app/starparse-launcher.jar

it will download and update, but fail to start the client. Don't worry. We're on Linux, we start the client manually with:

java -jar ~/starparse/app/client/app/starparse-client.jar

And we are done.

Edited by BufferOverload
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I'm running both Linux and Windows. Unless game is written for Linux, no simulation is as good as original designated OS. SWTOR has engine problems as it is, running it through wine just icing on a cake.

 

While I support gaming on Linux, running SWTOR there is likely a bad idea.

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  • 2 months later...

Hey!

 

Great post, and it may even be easier now with the release of Wine 2.9 and csmt enabling.

 

According to the the most recent WineHQ ratings/write up:

 

Everything works out of the box swtor was able to connect without using swtor_fix.exe

 

- https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=34946

 

I am in the process of downloading the very massive game, the launcher is running perfectly although I did follow this advice which appears to still be applicable due to bitraider issues:

 

In order to make official client to download everything properly, make sure that launcher.settings in the directory of the game have the following modifications:

 

PatchingMode": "{ \"swtor\": \"SSN\" }

 

"bitraider_disable": true

 

Also, I will edit the screen resolution in the settings ini if it appears necessary.

 

But, using PlayOnLinux and manual install (not their script, it's outdated!) I simply created a 64bit Windows 7 virtual drive and ran the installer for SW:ToR, nothing else other than setting Wine CFG to Windows 7 and enabling CSMT in the registry.

 

Starting from Wine 2.7, it should work with all builtin dlls, without any winetricks installed packages required.

 

I shall report back once I have my game up and running, the download will take some time and I have to work tonight.

 

Peace, and thanks for your post.

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Well, I ran into the load screen spinning blue twirly issue-that was fixed once I ran the swtor_fix.exe file before running SWTOR from POL.

 

I am using Wine 2.9 (not staging) and I do have CSMT enabled.

 

Additionally, I was getting a white screen during the playing of the in-game cinematics -this problem went away after I installed directx9 & directx11 via POL component installation wizard.

 

I have graphics set on highest settings and I did initially have problems with the mouse being way too sensitive, but it appears to have calmed down after I used the mouse camera sliders.

 

So far the performance has been amazing!

 

Very very happy, my 3 day weekend is coming up in a few days, look forward to spending many hours in SWTOR.

 

Peace,

 

Elva

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  • 1 month later...

...

StarParse runs on Linux, too!

...

java -jar ~/starparse/app/client/app/starparse-client.jar

..

 

Thanks for the guide. Starparse is working fine on the logging front and overlays display fine on the desktop. However, overlays seem to go hidden the moment the game is launched.

 

Would you know if there is any way to get the overlays to display over SWTOR in-game / raids?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi, I am so happy that I found this thread...

I am playing happily on Linux since January, but could not get parser to run. I was actually on the verge of writing my own...

 

Now I have _a new hope_, but run into problems with launching:

 

- now start the the updater with

java -jar ~/starparse/app/starparse-launcher.jar

 

I am don't really remember much of how to run java app (C and python are rather my poisons), so help would be appreciated:

 

~/games/StarParse/app $ java -version && java -jar starparse-launcher.jar 
openjdk version "1.8.0_131"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_131-8u131-b11-2ubuntu1.16.04.3-b11)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.131-b11, mixed mode)
Error: Could not find or load main class com.ixale.starparse.launcher.StarparseLauncherApp

Edited by Gannellon
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  • 3 months later...
Additionally, I was getting a white screen during the playing of the in-game cinematics -this problem went away after I installed directx9 & directx11 via POL component installation wizard.

I installed Wine Staging on my 17.10 Ubuntu, running on an "aged" i7 970 (6-core, 3.2GHz) system with 24GB RAM, but with an AMD RX480 8GB card (open source drivers) & then installed SWTOR on it.

 

If you disable the Bitraider (as OP suggested), the game downloads and installs normally without any additional programs - just the default. I noticed that there are issues with the mouse rolling around the camera really fast, but that can be fixed if you select the "Grab mouse" option & give a dedicated desktop to Wine (which I placed as my full screen resolution) in the winecfg.

 

I did notice the white screen on the cinematics, so I might install DirectX for it - if it indeed fixes the issue. Or might not, since the game works beautifully.

 

The in-game performance is really great to be honest (better than my previous Windows experience), though cut-scenes tend to suffer in frame-rate if you place your mouse pointer outside of the screen. If you keep it inside (or at a corner where it's still visible), the frame-rate is flawless with literally everything maxed out.

 

Tomorrow I'm having a Corsair Scimitar mouse arriving, so I'll give that a shot and see how it performs under Wine (I'm not running Windows at all). My "normal" gaming mouse (with the extra couple side buttons 4 & 5 to the side) is normally recognized without anything additional.

 

In general, besides some minor character-flashes when I'm travelling with the big "car" around Coruscant (through the fast travel droids), everything else works perfectly (minus the white videos).

 

As a side note, I tried the same with an old laptop running on an 1.7GHz i7, 8GB RAM and a 240M nVidia and -with reduced graphics settings- it runs great as well (same video issue). Actually, better than it did when I ran Win 10 believe it or not.

 

Also, as an up-point, running SWTOR on Linux keeps my network free of Windows' usual patching and background applications hammering my internet connection when they feel like it. It's nice to keep those lag spikes to a minimum. :-)

Edited by Leontar
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  • 6 months later...
  • 6 months later...

I play Swtor on a Intel HD graphics laptop with 4gb ram and i3 processor running majaro no issues what so ever.

Tried the game with the same laptop using windows and it just wouldn't play on good frame rates.

Also game download was slow on windows no issues in linux.

Now over 30 fps constantly.

Edited by rodrikberg
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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 months later...
Hi guys,

- now start the the updater with

java -jar ~/starparse/app/starparse-launcher.jar

it will download and update, but fail to start the client. Don't worry. We're on Linux, we start the client manually with:

java -jar ~/starparse/app/client/app/starparse-client.jar

And we are done.

 

Did anyone get starparse to run? Everytime i run this command I get

Error: Could not find or load main class com.ixale.starparse.gui.StarparseApp

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  • 2 months later...

Great thread! Thx guys! I`ve been trying to run SWTOR on Ubuntu for years. Work`s fine now in SWTOR 6.X

Don`t know about that github project. That`s just great, now I can play game more often :wea_03:

Edited by DarkFess
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Disabling:

nameplates -> guild heraldy/names (both) rises 5-7 fps on quesh HB to 17 in avr.

 

That is as for 6.0. Never was so bad yet >:

 

They changed something in GUI for sure, as it hangs now differently - before that was empty screen, at 6.0 u see some parts ...still neeed ctrl+U twice.

Edited by alexzk
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  • 3 weeks later...

Guess I found bug ... they put some file named DiskCacheArena to program's folder ...It is new some (was absent 5 years ago).

 

So, if you have ramdsik like (/etc/fstab)

tmpfs /ramcache tmpfs defaults,nodev,nosuid,size=8G 0 0

 

Then u need add this file to ram too (set ur paths on P1):

P1="/home/alex/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/SWTOR/drive_c/Program Files/Electronic Arts/BioWare/Star Wars - The Old Republic/swtor/DiskCacheArena"

[ -f "$P1" ] && rm "$P1"

touch /ramcache/swtor/DiskCacheArena
[ ! -L "$P1" ] && ln -s /ramcache/swtor/DiskCacheArena "$P1"

 

So my latest script executed once on logon, then can play swtor ok:

 

mkdir -p /ramcache/swtor/

[ ! -L ~/pre_swtor/swtor ] && ln -s /ramcache/swtor ~/pre_swtor/swtor

 

[ ! -L /ramcache/swtor/settings ] && ln -s ~/Games/swtor_settings/settings /ramcache/swtor/settings

cat /dev/null > /tmp/DiskCacheArena

 

P1="/home/alex/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/SWTOR/drive_c/Program Files/Electronic Arts/BioWare/Star Wars - The Old Republic/swtor/DiskCacheArena"

 

[ -f "$P1" ] && rm "$P1"

 

touch /ramcache/swtor/DiskCacheArena

[ ! -L "$P1" ] && ln -s /ramcache/swtor/DiskCacheArena "$P1"

Where

~/pre_swtor/ is persistent symlink to

 

/home/alex/PlayOnLinux's virtual drives/SWTOR/drive_c/users/alex/Local Settings/Application Data/SWTOR/

Edited by alexzk
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  • 2 months later...
Did anyone get starparse to run? Everytime i run this command I get

Error: Could not find or load main class com.ixale.starparse.gui.StarparseApp

 

Make sure you're running with java runtime version 8. I spent more time than I care to admit trying to run it on a wrong (higher) version.

 

java -version

 

If you're not using version 8 it will not run. Depending on your distro there might be several ways to change the default version of the Java runtime.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I know I'm mega late to this, but now all you need is a package called Lutris and yes of course the additional 32-bit libraries.

 

Install Lutris, get an account (free), search "Star wars the old republic" on the lutris website and then run the installer script. You are done!

 

Well, almost, you of course have to wait for the launcher to update and the game to download

 

https://github.com/lutris/lutris/wiki/How-to:-Esync

 

https://github.com/lutris/lutris/wiki/How-to:-DXVK

 

https://lutris.net/

 

And different distros will have different ways of getting Lutris downloaded but a quick google search will help you

with that

 

Or do the sensible thing, run Arch and just pacman -S lutris

:D

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  • 5 months later...

With steam it is even easier to get Swtor running.

You go to steam settings/steam play -> Enable Steam Play for all other Titles

Start the client, log in and start the download this way.

Recommended to prevent all the bit raider issues:

- Cancel the download and installation by forcing the shutdown.

- Modify the setupfile as said before or copy you "backup" into your installation folder (there is no need to care where it comes from)

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I have a Problem to get StarParse running.

I think the problem is to chose the right binderies for java or the proper java version.

Note: since I am running more Java applications with different versions of java, there are multiple versions to find.

- Do I need Oracle Java 8?

- is OpenJava 1.8 ok?

- what does the line look like after modifikation?

app.runtime=/usr/bin/java

app.runtime=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/bin/java

app.runtime=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java

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Ok, know starparse is working.

- I have adjusted the path direction in StarParse.cfg app.runtime=$APPDIR\runtime to it's actual path (go one folder up/back and take runntime)

- I have installed orcal-java-8_261

now it is working fine

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  • 2 years later...
With steam it is even easier to get Swtor running.

You go to steam settings/steam play -> Enable Steam Play for all other Titles

Start the client, log in and start the download this way.

Recommended to prevent all the bit raider issues:

- Cancel the download and installation by forcing the shutdown.

- Modify the setupfile as said before or copy you "backup" into your installation folder (there is no need to care where it comes from)

 

Worked like a charm on Ubuntu 20.04, using Proton 7.0.3 as its compatibility tool which I had to set explicitly.

To do that, open your library, navigate to SWTOR (after downloading), right-click -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Check "Force the use of a specific compatibility tool" -> Select a version of Proton that looks right to you (7.0.3 worked at the time of writing).

 

I didn't have any bit raider issues (not sure that's a thing anymore?) and didn't follow the corresponding steps mentioned above, just a regular installation.

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