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PC Gamer: "I'm brave enough to say it: Linux is good now, and if you want to feel like you actually own your PC, make 2026 the year of Linux on (your) desktop" (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 2 months ago by mr_MADAFAKA@lemmy.ml to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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[-] kinship@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 2 months ago

If I have an .exe from the high seas that still needs to be unpacked/installed how do I deal with it?

Just started using Linux for playing, currently playing Dispatch (highly recommend it), used Lutris to first install the compacted .exe and then run the launcher .exe. Is there a better way to go about it?

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

Hell, I've got a game I legally purchased on CD back in the Win XP days I'd like to play, and the farthest I got is installed but fails to run.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

This may or may not help. But I'll give you the basic steps using wine only and no Proton magic to run a game from disk:

  • Create an empty folder to be your wineprefix (emulated system folder) or use the default.
  • run WINEPREFIX=[full path to new folder] winecfg command in terminal (just winecfg if you will use the default prefix).
  • mount your CD so that you can see it in your file browser. (Might be simply clicking that device in the file browser when a CD is in the drive bay)
  • In the winecfg set drive D: to point to the folder where you mounted the CD.
  • run the CD installer with wine... e.g WINEPREFIX=/some/path wine /media/something/cdrom1/setup.exe, install the game to C:
  • run the game with WINE on the same prefix and with the CD inserted and mounted (if there are resources on the CD or basic DRM) e.g. WINEPREFIX=/some/path wine '/some/path/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Cool Game/coolgame.exe
  • if that works, you might be able to create an image of the disc and mount that instead of the physical CD, you'd then rerun winecfg and set D: to the correct folder where the disk image is mounted.
[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 months ago

So, I'm actually very drunk right now and my eyes just slid right off all that, but I want to set my default misanthropy aside for a second and genuinely thank you for taking the time to write up some genuine helpful tech advice. That's really cool of you to have done. I might try that day after tomorrow.

[-] cecilkorik@piefed.ca 11 points 2 months ago

Definitely do not recommend trying to set up a winecfg environment while drunk. The two kinds of wine do NOT mix.

[-] javiwhite@feddit.uk 2 points 2 months ago

You know what they say about wine and beer...

[-] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 3 points 2 months ago

In heroic, you can add the game and while adding it, click "run installer first" and then install the EXE and copy whatever cracks needed. I needed to do that with a few games that are literally not available anymore on stores.

Lutris had been so janky for me the past 10 years and many of the installer scripts literally don't install any dependencies anyways that I switched to heroic last year and I no longer have games that work completely fine and then next launch they don't work.

this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
1734 points (98.7% liked)

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