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Introduction/question

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Yestir
Dreamer
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2020 7:36 pm
Character Name(s): Yestir

Introduction/question

Post by Yestir »

Hello all, I am Yestir, I haven't actually had a chance to launch the game yet but I've spent a few hours reading up on the lore throughout my day today. I just found out that unfortunately this game no longer supports windows XP, but I was wondering if there was a reliable way to play it on a linux machine, as those are my two options currently. Sorry if this isn't the appropriate place for that question but I wasn't sure where else would be.
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Koi-Hex
Senior GameMaster
Posts: 135
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 3:00 pm

Re: Introduction/question

Post by Koi-Hex »

Welcome, Yestir! It is possible to play on Linux. Another player was kind enough to share step-by-step instructions in our Discord awhile back. I'll paste it here.
Tutorial for running Underlight under Wine for Linux

(This tutorial assumes that you're already familiar with basic Linux usage.)

If you're like me, then you prefer Linux-based operating systems to Windows. Fair enough! Underlight is simple enough to get running decently, but there is some trickiness to it which I will attempt to address.

These instructions should work for any modern Linux distribution, so long as you're able to install your distribution's packages for Wine and PlayOnLinux (or you can always compile them from source if you're feeling saucy ;) )

PlayOnLinux is optional to get Underlight running, but I like to use it as an easy GUI frontend to manage my Wine prefixes. If you'd like to proceed without PlayOnLinux, then make sure you install winetricks. Running winetricks will give you access to many of the same tweaks available through PlayOnLinux, and the instructions below should easily translate.

Now, on to the dirty work!

1. Install Wine.
2. Install PlayOnLinux.
3. Open PlayOnLinux, then click "Tools" and "manage Wine versions."
4. Under 'Wine versions (x86)' you'll see a list of many available x86 Wine versions. Many of them should work just fine for Underlight, but I personally use 3.0.5.
5. Click the arrow pointing to the right to install Wine 3.0.5 once you've highlighted it.
6. Close the Wine manager window and click the 'Configure' button on the main UI.
7. In the bottom left, click the 'New' button to start a new prefix creation process. Hit 'next.'
8. Select '32 bits windows installation' and hit 'next.'
9. Select '3.0.5' and hit 'next.'
10. Give your prefix a name. I suggest calling it underlight, obviously ;)
11. If prompted to install wine-mono packages, do so. PlayOnLinux will automatically download them and install them. Be patient.
12. When it's complete, you'll see your new prefix listed in the left panel. Click on it and then click on the 'Wine' tab, and then hit the 'Configure Wine' button.
13. The 'Wine configuration' window will appear. Click on the 'Graphics' tab and uncheck 'Allow the window manager to decorate the windows.' (This can be considered an optional step in general, but in my experience it helps to prevent mouse focusing issues.) Hit 'OK'
14. CRITICAL STEP: Click on the 'Display' tab. In the 'Direct Draw Renderer' dropdown, make sure it's set to 'GDI.' Before I figured this out, Underlight was unplayable and broken due to flickering graphics and disappearing interface elements.
15. You're now ready to install the client. Grab it from the website, then under the 'Miscellaneous' tab in the PoL window we've been working with, click 'Run a Windows Executable (.exe) file in this virtual drive.'
16. Navigate to where the client installer is located and open it. Proceed with the setup normally. There is no need to change the install folder, as all of the files will be contained neatly within a hidden PoL prefix directory in your home folder.
17. Once finished, click on the 'General' tab in the PoL window we've been working with, and click 'Make a new shortcut from this virtual drive.' Select underlight.exe to create a launcher for the game on the main PoL window. You can also make a desktop shortcut with this method, but depending on your desktop environment this may be impossible (*cough* vanilla GNOME *cough*.) You may also wish to repeat this step for the P-Mare executable.
18. Close the prefix management window we've been working with, and either click 'Run' on the new Underlight launcher in the main PoL window, or double-click on your new desktop icon to launch Underlight like you would on any Windows machine.
19. Have fun!

Caveats: While this makes Underlight playable under Linux, there could still be some issues. I've noticed that at least with my desktop environment (XFCE) sometimes popup windows within the game, like mission boards, will act a little funny. This can usually be fixed by moving the game window around or using your desktop environment's window-movement shortcut keys to move the mission board popups around manually. The text input font will also be black while you're typing most of the time. I haven't found a way to fix this, but it should be a non-issue despite being a bit harder to read than the default yellow. Also, selections such as editing your Dream avatar's colours can act a little funny, but they're still usable.

As well, this method of playing Underlight is completely UNSUPPORTED by Koiware. Please do not contact them about issues caused with running the client in this way, they will not be obligated to help you. You can, however, send me a message and I'll do my best to sort out whatever issue you're having.

I hope you find this useful and informative. Enjoy, Dreamers!

~ Millie
-Koi-Hex
~Roleplaying/Teaching Team
~Customer Service/Marketing


hex@underlight.com
Yestir
Dreamer
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2020 7:36 pm
Character Name(s): Yestir

Re: Introduction/question

Post by Yestir »

Koi-Hex wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2020 9:08 pm Welcome, Yestir! It is possible to play on Linux. Another player was kind enough to share step-by-step instructions in our Discord awhile back. I'll paste it here.
Tutorial for running Underlight under Wine for Linux

(This tutorial assumes that you're already familiar with basic Linux usage.)

If you're like me, then you prefer Linux-based operating systems to Windows. Fair enough! Underlight is simple enough to get running decently, but there is some trickiness to it which I will attempt to address.

These instructions should work for any modern Linux distribution, so long as you're able to install your distribution's packages for Wine and PlayOnLinux (or you can always compile them from source if you're feeling saucy ;) )

PlayOnLinux is optional to get Underlight running, but I like to use it as an easy GUI frontend to manage my Wine prefixes. If you'd like to proceed without PlayOnLinux, then make sure you install winetricks. Running winetricks will give you access to many of the same tweaks available through PlayOnLinux, and the instructions below should easily translate.

Now, on to the dirty work!

1. Install Wine.
2. Install PlayOnLinux.
3. Open PlayOnLinux, then click "Tools" and "manage Wine versions."
4. Under 'Wine versions (x86)' you'll see a list of many available x86 Wine versions. Many of them should work just fine for Underlight, but I personally use 3.0.5.
5. Click the arrow pointing to the right to install Wine 3.0.5 once you've highlighted it.
6. Close the Wine manager window and click the 'Configure' button on the main UI.
7. In the bottom left, click the 'New' button to start a new prefix creation process. Hit 'next.'
8. Select '32 bits windows installation' and hit 'next.'
9. Select '3.0.5' and hit 'next.'
10. Give your prefix a name. I suggest calling it underlight, obviously ;)
11. If prompted to install wine-mono packages, do so. PlayOnLinux will automatically download them and install them. Be patient.
12. When it's complete, you'll see your new prefix listed in the left panel. Click on it and then click on the 'Wine' tab, and then hit the 'Configure Wine' button.
13. The 'Wine configuration' window will appear. Click on the 'Graphics' tab and uncheck 'Allow the window manager to decorate the windows.' (This can be considered an optional step in general, but in my experience it helps to prevent mouse focusing issues.) Hit 'OK'
14. CRITICAL STEP: Click on the 'Display' tab. In the 'Direct Draw Renderer' dropdown, make sure it's set to 'GDI.' Before I figured this out, Underlight was unplayable and broken due to flickering graphics and disappearing interface elements.
15. You're now ready to install the client. Grab it from the website, then under the 'Miscellaneous' tab in the PoL window we've been working with, click 'Run a Windows Executable (.exe) file in this virtual drive.'
16. Navigate to where the client installer is located and open it. Proceed with the setup normally. There is no need to change the install folder, as all of the files will be contained neatly within a hidden PoL prefix directory in your home folder.
17. Once finished, click on the 'General' tab in the PoL window we've been working with, and click 'Make a new shortcut from this virtual drive.' Select underlight.exe to create a launcher for the game on the main PoL window. You can also make a desktop shortcut with this method, but depending on your desktop environment this may be impossible (*cough* vanilla GNOME *cough*.) You may also wish to repeat this step for the P-Mare executable.
18. Close the prefix management window we've been working with, and either click 'Run' on the new Underlight launcher in the main PoL window, or double-click on your new desktop icon to launch Underlight like you would on any Windows machine.
19. Have fun!

Caveats: While this makes Underlight playable under Linux, there could still be some issues. I've noticed that at least with my desktop environment (XFCE) sometimes popup windows within the game, like mission boards, will act a little funny. This can usually be fixed by moving the game window around or using your desktop environment's window-movement shortcut keys to move the mission board popups around manually. The text input font will also be black while you're typing most of the time. I haven't found a way to fix this, but it should be a non-issue despite being a bit harder to read than the default yellow. Also, selections such as editing your Dream avatar's colours can act a little funny, but they're still usable.

As well, this method of playing Underlight is completely UNSUPPORTED by Koiware. Please do not contact them about issues caused with running the client in this way, they will not be obligated to help you. You can, however, send me a message and I'll do my best to sort out whatever issue you're having.

I hope you find this useful and informative. Enjoy, Dreamers!

~ Millie
Thank you very much, I'll hopefully be able to get set up later today with this!
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