Runes of Magic on Linux

I recently had some major trouble getting the popular MMO 'Runes of Magic' to work on my Linux laptop. I seem to have fixed the problem, and figured I'd share my knowledge with the world, in case anyone else is having trouble as well. So here's how you run WINE on Linux, note I am running Linux Mint 10, a derivative of Ubuntu's "Maverick Meerkat" release. (Darn, now I want to watch Meerkat Manor, lol)

First, you of course need to install WINE. I simply installed it from the repositories, but you can download it and install it via the WINE website as well. I also installed the PlayOnLinux front-end, I'm not sure if this is necessary or not but either way that's what I did.

After that, it's a simple matter of downloading and installing the client like you would on Windows. Now, this is where it gets tricky. After running the game client and trying to patch the game, it will encounter a fatal error and crash. Here's the trick: Before you run the game client, you need to install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005. Here's how I did it:

First, I installed Winetricks by using the following command in Terminal:

• wget http://www.kegel.com/wine/winetricks

Then installing MS Visual C++ is a simple matter of running the following command in Terminal:

• sh winetricks vcrun2005

This will install MS Visual C++. Run the client again, and it should work normally. It'll patch the game, then launch the game. Final step: Enjoy playing Runes of Magic.

I hope this helps Linux users to enjoy Runes of Magic, without getting overly frustrated, like I got.