Debian Linux PWI using Wine

NOTE: As of the Genesis expansion in 2011, this guide is no longer sufficient to run the PWI client.

This guide will give a set of steps for how to install PWI on a Debian based distribution of Linux. I, the author, have never used a pacman based, or even worse, a non-package-manager based distro before, and I have moved from Ubuntu to Debian, so all I know about is APT/Dpkg package management.

The first thing you need to know is that PWI's client program is a Windows program. And it cannot be run under Linux without a compatibility layer. There is a software project which does exactly this: it is known as the Wine project. You need to obtain Wine 1.2 at least to run PWI without excess tinkering. If you like to get your hands dirty, have fun Googling all the workarounds and patches you'll need.

For a Debian based distro, this pretty much means open up a command line terminal, and type:

"sudo apt-get install wine1.2"

Note that this is an Ubuntu package, and not an original Debian package. If you're running Debian, you'll need to add the Ubuntu repositories to your "/etc/apt/sources.list" file, then update the package list using "sudo apt-get update", before running that command above.

At the end of that, you'll have Wine v1.2 installed. Next, you need to open the wine configuration window by typing "winecfg" into a terminal. Under the Audio tab, select the "ALSA" option. Under the "Graphics" tab, Change "vertex shader support" to "None", and make sure that "Allow pixel shader" is selected.

Under the "Applications" tab, ensure that Wine is set to imitate Windows XP. Click "Apply", then "OK".

Visit this webpage: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=9923

And scroll down to the "Howto" section.

Locate the comment that begins like this:

"BEFORE INSTALLING PERFECT WORLD Wine configuration: Windows -> "Windows XP" Allow Pixel Shader "enable" Audio only ALSA"

And read it, but don't do anything, until you get to the part where it asks you to modify registry keys. At this point, you should, within a terminal, type "wine regedit", to open up the registry editor.

Now you may either manually edit and add the registry keys given in that comment, or you may download the .reg file the person linked to and import that into your Wine registry.

Close regedit, and, go find the place where you installed PWI. Find the "Launcher.exe" program which starts PWI. Get the full path for that Launcher.exe file, and type:

"wine /full/path/Launcher.exe"

Congratulations. Assuming you used Wine 1.2 or greater, and you added those registry keys and you modified the winecfg settings as advised, you now have a working PWI installation. Sit back an enjoy the performance increase under Linux which is a big surprise given that it's running on top of a compatibility layer, and feel happy that your CPU isn't overheating anymore like it did under Windows.