Software Basic EQ installation Guide for Linux (1 Viewer)

[Tonydews]

Hey there, Windows & Linux user here, if you're struggling to get Everquest running under the mighty pinguin OS, here's a short guide for it. (This can be done under any Linux distribution that can support gaming in general)

Warning - This is only for getting Everquest's older and newest clients to run under Linux. I unfortunately don't know how to get Redguide and MQ2's servers running under it, so if anyone knows a thread or website link somewhere else that explains it, sharing it would be appreciated just so I can refer it directly in this post. Thanks..!

1. First Download an Everquest copy first for whatever version you need for the server you want to play on, either it is for Live or private servers (p1999, Quarm project, or other servers using the RoF2 client).
   
   
2. You will need both Lutris and Winetricks, so make sure you have those installed first on your system.
   
   
3. Open Winetricks and create a new prefix for everquest specifically.
   
   
4. Under the "Install a Windows DLL or component" section, get d3dx9 and d3dx9_43 and install those. Under the "Install a font" section, grab the Microsoft corefonts. Close WineTricks once that's done.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Boot up Lutris and in the far right corner, click the button that allows you to add a new game to your library, and select the option to include one with a local executable or folder.
   
   
6. Right click your newly included everquest game in your library, and go in its properties/configuration window. (refer to the picture below)
   
   
7. Under the "Game options" tab make sure, make sure your executable targets eqgame.exe within your EQ's installation directory.
   
   
8. Then, under the Arguments field, add the following, without quotes "patchme". This is to ensure the client doesn't try to patch itself for Live servers. It's not necessary to put a working directory, but I usually like to specify it with the game's directory.
   
   
9. As for the Wine prefix field, go and select your newly created Everquest prefix (which should be found somewhere in your localshare folder in your /home or something, I cannot fully remember) and then you can leave the Prefix's architecture to auto, but I like to specify it to my computer's (x64 bits).
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Finally, if everything's right, you should be able to boot up everquest and play it without issues. Otherwise, depending on your system's specs and configurations, you might wanna tweak a bit under the Runner options and System options tabs.

That's about it for running everquest under Linux in general. The tweaks are done the same way if you are to play on Live servers via Steam, but you gotta use "Protontricks" instead and add "%command% --disable-gpu" without quotes in your steam game's custom launch arguments, because the EQ patch launcher will show up as a white/black square otherwise.

PS: MIDI files for music aren't naturally played under WINE for everquest and I'm not sure how to fix this. Again if anyone knows how, please share it with us..!

 

[durango773]

@Cybris also has a guide and videos on running EQ and MQ in alternate OS's.

 

[AttonRand]

PS: MIDI files for music aren't naturally played under WINE for everquest and I'm not sure how to fix this. Again if anyone knows how, please share it with us..!

Use fluidsynth. I start it like so:

fluidsynth -l -a pipewire ./CREATIVE_28MBGM.sf2

Make sure it's running before wine.
Replace 'pipewire' with whatever your audio driver is.

I strongly suggest using a soundfont like Creative's 28MBGM (or similar), as they're based on the AWE32's 1 MB ROM, which is what was the music was designed for.
For Windows users, unless something has changed windows ships with an absolutely awful default soundfont so you'd want a good one too.