Homecoming Launcher - Linux Advice

[gypsyav]

18 hours ago, GM Tahquitz said:

.Net isn't needed with HC Launcher, that was a Tequila dependency.  I had Lutris in the instructions because it has several support libraries that come with it for that purpose.  Simplifies things for new Linux users, but if you know what you're doing with wine and winetricks, a more precision install is just as good.

 

Thanks for the report!

Yeah, I didn't think .Net was needed but I already had it and the Visual C++  installed in Wine for other programs that do require them so I was erring on the side of caution.

[GM Tock]

17 minutes ago, gypsyav said:

Yeah, I didn't think .Net was needed but I already had it and the Visual C++  installed in Wine for other programs that do require them so I was erring on the side of caution.

If you have Mid's Reborn, it still needs .NET, so still worth installing it. (Things I learned today! 😄 )

Edited November 2, 2020 by GM Tahquitz

[Archiviste]

From when I was dabbling a lot more with Linux... Gentoo is NOT for casual Linux users. In my book, the only distro harder to install is http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/.

I tried to do the steps with a 32-bit version of Linux Mint (19.3 Trina), except the nvidia drivers the distro uses only go up to version 390. I could install the drivers from the nvidia website, but since I wanted to test to see if someone with limited computer knowledge could install this on a "potato", I stopped there.

To make sure I did not have a "dud" for a video card (it's a low-cost one, but works OK on my regular Windows 10 set up), I did a separate install of Ubuntu 20.04 64 bit. It had nvidia drivers version 450 right out of the "box", so it works there.

 

[Pengy]

Back when I was unable to get the launcher to run in Windows, I tried it in Linux just to see if it would go better. There was no difference.

After the HC Launcher was improved so I could run it in Windows, I ignored Linux until just now.

 

Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS

Wine 5.0.12

Lutris 0.5.7.1

The Homecoming Launcher installed and ran with no issues. I have 64 bit City of Heroes running right now without any crashes.

Not relevant to this thread: I'm getting worse FPS than I do in Windows - I think I failed to install the proprietary driver for my nVidia GeForce GT 730.

[GM Tock]

The GeForce GT730 just barely tips in favor of not being in the legacy driver branch.  You should be able to run Ver. 440 of the driver in "Additional Drivers" in Ubuntu's apps.  Just tick the 440 box, and let it process.  You should then be able to run the game with a better framerate.

 

Version 450 and newer is the Open Source driver (NVidia started making open source development available) but it still needs work as CoH performs just as choppy as in Nouveau for most GeForce cards.  Version 440 should be the most consistent.

Edited November 23, 2020 by GM Tahquitz

[carroto]

I wonder if I'm the only one still using etoh-downloader as my updater.  Works fine.  It took a lot of experimentation (and an OS reinstall) for me to get the 64-bit client running, but that's probably mostly because I'm not very knowledgeable in the applicable areas.  So I'm inclined to not break what's working.  Anyway, thanks for these detailed instructions.  When the time comes that I need to redo my system I'll give this a try.

 

Running KUbuntu 18.04.

[GM Tock]

Absolutely, if your setup is working, keep using it. 

 

This was mostly to close the gap for people who had problems getting a patcher working in Linux to play on Homecoming to try a new approach.  Tequila, Island Rum, and etoh, if it works for you, you don't need to tear it apart to keep playing.

[Driglok]

I was able to get CoH HC to work on both Pop_OS! 20.04 and KDE neon 5.20. Both are Ubuntu based so installation went smooth.
Glad this guide was up! We need more support for us Linux newbs.

[chuckv3]

I couldn't get Lutris working -- it bombed with some kind of file not found error. But I did install WINE 5.0.x on Ubuntu 20.04 (64 bit), then downloaded the HC Launcher onto wine's drive_c, then right clicked on it and selected "open" (to run it with WINE). Everything works great. I'm pretty happy to not have to boot into windows for this (since on my desktop windows is way slower to be ready to actually run anything).

 

BTW, I have a GTX 960 video card and I'm using the latest proprietary non-beta drivers. WINE did side-load MONO (for dot net functions) and GECKO (for GUI maybe?) the first time. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by chuckv3

[GM Tock]

As an FYI, HC Launcher will not require Mono and runs fine if you skip it (useful for low-storage situations), but Mids Reborn will require Mono for .NET support if you want to install that anyway.

 

Gecko is Wine's method to get Internet Explorer based "WebView" components to work in Wine.  For example, if you use Tequila instead of HC Launcher, the right side panel instead of loading Internet Explorer loads Gecko to display the webpage part.  If you don't install Gecko, the panel is blank.

 

If you answer no to both during Winecfg, HC Launcher and City of Heroes will still work.  Answering yes to both is harmless, and will probably enable your Wine install for other apps later on.

Edited February 24, 2021 by GM Tahquitz

[WanderingAries]

On 10/21/2020 at 5:34 PM, GM Tahquitz said:

(If you use Windows Vista, color me impressed.)

TeeHee

 

 

 

Ok, so only the 32bit worked even though it's a 64bit Guest OS and I had to cheat by copying the installer from the Host. It still runs Ultra GFX in VM with little to no lag (in the middle of the night). 😄

[GM Tock]

On 1/16/2021 at 10:53 AM, chuckv3 said:

I couldn't get Lutris working -- it bombed with some kind of file not found error. But I did install WINE 5.0.x on Ubuntu 20.04 (64 bit), then downloaded the HC Launcher onto wine's drive_c, then right clicked on it and selected "open" (to run it with WINE). Everything works great. I'm pretty happy to not have to boot into windows for this (since on my desktop windows is way slower to be ready to actually run anything).

As a follow-up in subsequent testing, I've been getting file not found errors in Lutris myself.  The recent versions have a modal window that appears on start saying "Lutris is Launching" with a progress bar and no indication of when it finishes.

 

I got impatient and Force Quit that panel, then Lutris comes up anyway.  That's what caused the errors in my case.  The app is actually doing something in that process that runs only once after an update.  Just close and reopen it, grab a snack, and let it finish.  If it still happens then reboot and see if it clears up.  DXVK should come with Lutris, so a separate install shouldn't be necessary unless you want to be on the bleeding edge.

[Archiviste]

A bit late to the party, but I retried an install using Lutris and the procedure listed in the OP on a more recent Linux Mint distro (Linux Mint 20 Ulyana 64-bit, desktop MATE 1.24.0), and it worked.

For those who prefer Linux Mint to Ubuntu (like me).

[mechahamham]

Didn't realize we didn't have any 'it werks' reports for Manjaro.

 

Manjaro is, of course, Arch/Pacman based. I'm currently using 20.2.1 (Nibia) with kernel 5.11.1

CPU: AMD FX-6300 (6) @ 3.500GHz

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

Memory: 6778MiB / 15992MiB

Currently using Wine 6.2 from the Manjaro stable repos.

 

Both the HC launcher and CoH run like champions completely without Lutris.

 

 

An interesting gotcha to the 5.10 series that I experienced: There's a fairly serious bug in the way 5.10 interacts with BTRFS. If your install happens to be on a BTRFS-formatted partition or disk and you're using a 5.10 series kernel, expect very long zone-load times, sometimes making your team think you've DC'd.

 

This goes away entirely with 5.11.

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by mechahamham

[Archiviste]

I successfully installed City of Heroes on Linux Mint 20.1 "Ulyssa" (Cinnamon desktop), but it's not for the faint of heart...

1. I did the whole update and upgrade after the initial instal, then installed the NVidia drivers (460.39). After rebooting, I got an warning popup stating that "your system is currently running without video hardware acceleration". After much googling, the fix I found was to remove a conflicting xorg driver (sudo apt-get remove xserver-xorg-video-fbdev), which solved that issue.
2. Linux Mint sees the Wine packages as "wine-stable" and not "winehq-stable". *beats forehead against wall*

But I think it was worth it.

 

System: Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa, base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal, desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6
CPU: Intel Core i5 760
Graphics: NVIDIA GK208B [GeForce GT 710] ,driver: nvidia v: 460.39, display: 1600x900~60Hz

 

[Archiviste]

Another tweak I made (and this trick is good for anyone dual-booting between Windows and Linux):

I already had a working install of the Homecoming Launcher in Windows partition, so I replaced several folders (accounts, architect, costumes, data, logs, powercust, screenshots) in my Linux install by symlinks pointing to the corresponding folders in my Windows install. Now I have access to all my custom files (costumes, popmenus) no matter where I play.

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by Archiviste

[glycerine102]

I've been using and enjoying the new launcher since around November with no issues. Today however, when I open the launcher, the left bar doesn't seem to load. So I cannot click "ready" to play the game. I have been on wine-6.0 stable for some time with Kubuntu 20.10.

 

I created a new wine prefix to no avail. Also, I have ZFS snapshots of the game files. When I rollback and start the game up I can see the left bar for half a second while it downloads/verifies files and then vanishes... never to return on subsequent startups. So I think maybe the latest update (Mar 2nd) is related to my particular problem.

If I start with a clean CoH folder and let hclauncher download all the files, I see the left pane. And sure enough, just like the zfs rollback, I can see the left pane until I get all of the updates. On subsequent launcher startups my left pane is gone.

 

Has anyone else seen this?

 

 

 

 

This fixed it for me.

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by glycerine102
Plugged in the fix

[carroto]

Set up on a new Manjaro install and it works fine.  Just used wine and winetricks from the package manager.  Didn't mess about with Lutris; just created a wineprefix, ran the installer, and it worked fine.

[Trick]

Not sure if I'll be able to get any help here, but I've had Homecoming Launcher working with Linux Mint 20 for a few weeks now. Everything appears to work except the screenshots are not being saved where expected. I don't know where they are ending up. The game is installed in a Games folder in my home directory. The screenshots folder in there is empty. Any idea what might be wrong?

[Driglok]

On 3/4/2021 at 1:59 AM, mechahamham said:

Didn't realize we didn't have any 'it werks' reports for Manjaro.

 

I just got it to work on Manjaro as well. I used the Lutris installer for Homecoming 64bit. I have not tried the tequila or island rum installers yet.

On 4/19/2021 at 7:04 PM, Trick said:

Not sure if I'll be able to get any help here, but I've had Homecoming Launcher working with Linux Mint 20 for a few weeks now. Everything appears to work except the screenshots are not being saved where expected. I don't know where they are ending up. The game is installed in a Games folder in my home directory. The screenshots folder in there is empty. Any idea what might be wrong?

/home/**YOUR USERNAME**/Games/city-of-heroes/drive_c/Games/Homecoming/screenshots/
I found my screenshots here. I had to change the default key binding in CoH though. I am using KDE and prtscn opens Spectacle by default.

[gypsyav]

On 4/19/2021 at 8:04 PM, Trick said:

Not sure if I'll be able to get any help here, but I've had Homecoming Launcher working with Linux Mint 20 for a few weeks now. Everything appears to work except the screenshots are not being saved where expected. I don't know where they are ending up. The game is installed in a Games folder in my home directory. The screenshots folder in there is empty. Any idea what might be wrong?

Not sure I can help as mine are saving to the screenshots folder in the install directory like they're supposed to. Do you have another copy of the game installed to a different folder that might be confusing it?

[Sonarr]

A recent update (I'm assuming to wine-staging) borked my Island Rum/wine-staging setup.  I'm back in the "page fault on read access" weeds again.

 

I've decided to give the Linux version of Island Rum another go.  It ALMOST works!  And I don't know how to run this in debug mode, if it even exists.

 

Here's where I'm stuck:  1: When I apply the manifest.xml link, it does not stick.  I immediately get "Error Downloading Update Manifest".  I can enter the link in the Manifests input, and Island Rum recognizes it as the Homecoming manifest, but when I click ADD it does nothing more.

 

2: It's still doing SOMETHING -- It's still somehow scanned files and is "Ready to Play".  I click the arrow to start, and I get the green check mark, and it is then "Launching Homecoming", but nothing happens.  After a few seconds, the launcher resets to idle "Ready to Play" status.  It does this with the 64 and 32-bit versions, Paragon Chat, ICON, and Safe mode.

 

If anyone has any debugging suggestions, I'd appreciate the input.  🙂

 

-S

 

[Likara]

Got it installed in Linux Mint 20 easy enough using Lutris, I just need one thing; a good image to use in lutris for Homecoming instead of the default grey box 😆

[Sonarr]

Thanks for the reply!

 

I'm not familiar with Lutris. I just have it (the native Linux version) downloaded directly and installed from the .tar.gz file.

 

There was a wine-staging update today, which has apparently fixed whatever was causing the Windows version to crash on launch, so it works again.  I'd still like to solve the native linux version.

 

-S

 

[Sonarr]

I did a bit more tinkering, and determined I had Island Rum pointed at the wrong directory.  Once I figured that out, it downloaded a few more files, and then went into a download/fail/rescan loop, failing to download ParagonChatBootstrap.exe.  Even though all the other files seem up to date, and I should be able to launch Homecoming, the fail causes the big red X that prevents me from even trying.

 

On edit: It also continues to report "Error Downloading Update Manifest" during this loop.

 

Okay, so if it hasn't been blatantly obvious, I misread the initial post, and thought this thread was about Homecoming launchers *in general*.  I only just a couple of hours ago realized there's actually a Homecoming Launcher!

 

I'm still interested in making the Linux-native Island Rum work properly, I just know now that this is the wrong section for that!   ^.^;

 

-S

 

Edited June 13, 2021 by Sonarr