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How to install Paragon Chat in Linux, with wine
Sonarr:
I figured I'd take a stab at doing something useful, so I sat down and hashed together a walkthrough for installing and running Paragon Chat on Linux, using wine! (Disclaimer: I'm not an expert. If anyone reading this is better at Linux than I, please step up and put me in my place (I know you exist!))
My Linux distro is OpenSuSE Leap 42.3, but as far as I know the directory structure for Linux is the same for all distributions. I don't think there will be any mysteries or surprises when I use my own directories as examples.
You'll want the latest version of wine, and the most up to date video drivers available to you. This would be the *only* point in this process where you will need root access! I'm assuming you know how to update your system. ;)
The first thing you'll need to do is download the essentials. You will need:
Paragon Chat (https://chat.cohtitan.com/release/ParagonChatBootstrap.exe) (Instructions: https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Paragon_Chat)
If you still have the latest version of City of Heroes that existed when the servers shut down (Issue 23), you're in good shape, you'll just need to update them with Tequila (http://patch.savecoh.com/tequila.exe). (Instructions: https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Titan_Icon) If you *don't* have CoH installed, I *believe* that Tequila will install the entire game for you. I don't have much experience with Tequila, beyond updating my own files. Don't try *running* Tequila just yet!
Once you're finished with the downloads, you'll want to create a new wineprefix. Open up an XTerm window, or Konsole, or whatever terminal emulater with which you are familiar and/or comfortable, and enter:
--- Code: ---WINEPREFIX="/home/USER/.wineCOHDemo" WINEARCH=win64 wine wineboot
--- End code ---
(If you're still using a 32-bit system, use "win32" instead.)
What you're doing here is creating a new .wine directory, in which City of Heroes and Paragon Chat will live. You can give it whatever name you want that makes sense to you: .wineParagonChat, .winePChat, .wineCOH, .wineFooBar, .wineWhatEver! Just make sure to use *that* to replace my placeholder name as you read along!
If you're unfamiliar with wineprefixes, they are basically new, separate installations for Windows programs. Whatever you do to your .wineCOHDemo wineprefix will not affect your default .wine installation, and you can create other prefixes for other programs, or even the *same* program, if you're experimenting or troubleshooting. And if you completey bork your .wineCOHDemo wineprefix, you can delete that specific directory and start all over again!
And here's why you'll want a separate wineprefix for Paragon Chat: your next step is to run this in your terminal:
--- Code: ---env WINEPREFIX="/home/USER/.wineCOHDemo" winecfg
--- End code ---
(From this point on, every time you run a wine or windows command, you'll prepend it with "env WINEPREFIX="/home/USER/.wineCOHDemo"", for the same reasons as explained above.)
You've launched the winecfg program, and you should immediately be presented with the "Applications" tab, which will be the only thing you need to alter. At the bottom is the entry for "Windows Version". Mine defaults to Windows 7. Change this to "Windows XP", then click "Apply", then "OK". Windows XP works fine for my purposes (running Paragon Chat and City of Heroes!), but you're free to experiment at any time if you feel it's not working properly.
Now you'll be relocating your CoH installation, or creating a new one. If City of Heroes already exists on your machine, simply COPY the entire "City of Heroes" directory, and paste it in /home/USER/.wineCOHDemo/drive_c/Program Files (x86) -- or, again, /home/USER/.wineCOHDemo/drive_c/Program Files if you're on a 32 bit machine! In your terminal window, change directories to the CoH directory. Copy Tequila.exe into this directory, and run:
--- Code: ---env WINEPREFIX="/home/USER/.wineCOHDemo" wine Tequila.exe
--- End code ---
Then follow the instructions. My inexperience with Tequila here is of little use. On my machine, it throws errors and crashes out. I'm hoping you have better luck! If it works as I think it should, your CoH files should now be up to date.
If you're installing "fresh", I think Tequila also functions to install everything.
Once you have a functioning version of CoH in its home directory, it's time to install Paragon Chat:
--- Code: ---env WINEPREFIX="/home/USER/.wineCOHDemo" wine ParagonChatBootstrap.exe
--- End code ---
It's safest to agree to the default settings. You might write them down for future reference. When it comes to the "Saved Costumes" and "Add Paragon Chat to Start" checkboxes, pick what you want, then click "Next", then "Finish"!
Once Paragon Chat is launched, and you get the Login screen, your username and password should be enough to get you in!
Now, if you want to launch the game from the command line, or you want to launch from a desktop icon, use this:
--- Code: ---env WINEPREFIX="/home/USER/.wineCOHDemo" wine "c:\users\USER\Application Data\ParagonChat\Bin\ParagonChat.exe"
--- End code ---
I hope that this works for you right off the bat! However, in my own experience, it doesn't want to work properly. It opens the CoH character selection/creation screen just fine, but does not accept mouse-clicks! I accidentally discovered that adding the flag "WINEDEBUG=warn+all" to the command line "fixes" this glitch -- sort of. If you have this experience, try this:
--- Code: ---env WINEPREFIX="/home/USER/.wineCOHDemo" WINEDEBUG=warn+all wine "c:\users\USER\Application Data\ParagonChat\Bin\ParagonChat.exe"
--- End code ---
It causes Paragon Chat to load far more slowly, which *might* be why/how it fixes the mouse-click thing. And even with that, I've discovered a whole slew of *other* glitches that I've been unable to nail down and fix. It makes everything after clicking "Log In" a bit fragile, BUT, I can eventually get a stable instance of Paragon Chat up and running, for several hours.
If you have similar problems with an unstable Paragon Chat, please refer to the post below!
-S
Sonarr:
Because of the random, inconsistent unstable nature of Paragon Chat on my machine, I've had to resort to a trick in order to finally land a decent connection. I describe it as being similar to throwing spaghetti at a brick wall until it eventually finally breaks the wall! ^.^;
First, I have to set the Paragon Chat launcher up for "multi-tooning" (see: https://crashpositron.wixsite.com/pchat/multitooning). I open the launcher, and click the "gear" icon (Paragon Chat options), expanding the window. In that, I check the box for "Allow multiple instances" and add "-maxinactivefps 3" to the "Client command-line parameters" field. These allow you to log multiple characters in at once! Then I click the "Check Now" button, dismiss the "Paragon Chat is up to date" pop-up, and exit the client. I only have to do this ONCE. After this, these settings remain in place for future use.
After this, I start FOUR separate instances of the Paragon Chat launcher, simultaneously, and enter the password in each. As soon as the progress bar in each one is full, I click "Log In", and wait for the windows to launch -- and probably crash! In the first window that successfully launches, I select character #1, and then "Next" to enter the game, in the next I pick character #2 and so on. If the window locks up at some point, I kill it. If the character loads successfully -- well, if it's unstable, the screen might lock up, and I have to shut it down, or it may crash itself. It may be stable for anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes until it crashes out. If all four crash, or lock up, I just start over with four more attempts.
The goal is to get one, and hopefully more, instances of the game running. On a good day, I get one out of four with no problems. Sometimes it takes three or four attempts. Ultimately, I'm able to get a nice, stable gaming session, and once that happens, it hums along like there's nothing wrong!
I've resisted begging for help as even with debug running, I've seen nothing in any of the error logs that is consistent enough to even give me a clue. However, if anyone has any insight as to what would cause such random behavior, I'm open to suggestions!
Manga:
There is a Linux version of Island Rum as well, I'd be grateful if you would test it in that environment:
http://ir.powermad.net/islandrum-linux.zip
Sonarr:
I'll give it a go next weekend! :)
Sonarr:
--- Quote from: Manga on April 16, 2019, 03:24:00 PM ---There is a Linux version of Island Rum as well, I'd be grateful if you would test it in that environment:
http://ir.powermad.net/islandrum-linux.zip
--- End quote ---
I decided I could tackle this a bit sooner! I'm experiencing some of the same issues others have done with the Mac version, as described in the other forum threads I've found, specifically the "Unauthorized Access Exception" errors.
The application launches quickly and nicely, and it begins "Scanning" out of the gate. I assume it's looking for an existing CoH install to update, and if it fails to find it, will offer to create a fresh installation, but when I left it to it sit for a couple of hours, it was still 'Scanning" when I returned. "Re-Scan" results in the errors mentioned above, followed by the application crashing after running uninterrupted for a few seconds.
I guess I need basic information. Where do I place the Island Rum directory? If I need to create a symbolic link to the existing or potential CoH directory, where do I place that link?
Basically, what am I doing wrong? (Not "what's wrong with Island Rum". I just assume it's my fault. :) )
This would be a better alternative to trying to run Tequila through wine, especially if that's going to bounce off of a SaveCoh.com reference that isn't there anymore!
-S
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