My Guide To Running Sam & Max On Linux

[Cassidy]

Had recently upgraded from XP to Ubuntu 7.10, but unfortunately hadn't finished Season 1 or started Season 2. After receiving Season 1, the soundtrack and Surfin' The Highway in the mail, I decided it was time to get the games to run on WINE. Several hours later, this guide was born. I cannot guarantee full playability, but it has been working so far. Hope anyone who uses my guide will have the success I did and I hope I'll be able to help any questions.

As it is attached, you may also download the PDF from Filefront (http://files.filefront.com/SamMax+Wine+Guide+10pdf/;9690449;/fileinfo.html).

==============================
A Guide To Sam & Max On Wine/Ubuntu
==============================
This is a guide to getting Sam & Max, Seasons 1& 2 to run on your copy of Ubuntu.

NOTE: These steps are being done on a clean install of Ubuntu & Wine (yes I nuked my operating system just for you guys :)), but I will be available to hopefully help you with technical questions. Unfortunately, I don't guarantee full playability, just getting the game to run.

This guide is usable with both the downloadable & so far, only the DVD version straight from Telltale. If you plan on installing a combination of the DVD and the Downloaded versions, I would suggest installing the downloaded episodes first, and then install from the DVD.

This guide contains logical steps & common terminal commands in this format. Some of these directory locations will vary upon your computer setup :).

PRE-INSTALL STEPS
=================
1. Install & Update Ubuntu. Hopefully you have this done already.
2. Install WINE 0.9.5.5: (Taken from http://www.winehq.org/site/download-deb)
a. Open Terminal. Add the repository's key to your system of trusted APT keys, wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
b. Add the repository to your system's list of APT Sources, sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list
c. Install WINE via Synaptic Package Manager, or by running sudo apt-get update to update APT's package information, and then sudo apt-get install wine to actually install WINE.
3. If you are having problems, Start here by nuking your .wine, via command: rm -r ~/.wine I have nuked mine several times over to figure all this out :).

CD VERSION
==========

What I Used: Ubuntu 7.10 (gutsy), WINE 0.9.55, Sam & Max Season 1 & SecurRom Patch from Telltale.

1. Download the Season 1 SecurROM Patch
a. Open Terminal.
b. Navigate to where you want to download the SecurROM patch eg, cd ~/Downloads
c. Download SamMaxSeason1_SecurROM_1.0_TTG.exe from http://files.telltalegames.com/support/SamMaxSeason1_SecurROM_1.0_TTG.exe, either through firefox or, wget http://files.telltalegames.com/support/SamMaxSeason1_SecurROM_1.0_TTG.exe
d. Leave Terminal Open, we will be back shortly.

2. Insert Sam & Max Season 1 DVD

3. Setup Wine:
a. Run 'Configure Wine'. Click the Following Tabs:
i. Applications Tab: Change Windows Version to 'Windows XP'.
ii. Graphics Tab: Make sure 'Allow window...' & 'Allow Pixel...' are checked. Make sure 'Vertex Shader Support' is set to 'Hardware'
iii. Audio Tab: You should receive a recommended driver selection notice. Click OK &b click Apply. Click OK.

4. Install Sam & Max:
a. Back to Terminal, and navigate to your cdrom, cd /media/cdrom Run Setup.exe with WINE, wine setup.exe. Install with default options. When done installing, uncheck 'Run Sam & Max - Season 1.0'
b. Navigate to where you downloaded your patch, cd ~/Downloads and run it using wine, wine SamMaxSeason1_SecurROM_1.0_TTG.exe Click Next & I Agree.

5. Cleanup:
a. Run 'Configure Wine'. Click on the 'Drives' Tab. Click on the 'Z: /' line under 'Drive Mappings'. Click the 'Remove' button. Click OK. (Essentially remove the / drive mapping)

6. Run Sam and Max:
a. Back to Terminal!
b. Navigate to the Sam & Max Season One Directory, ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Telltale Games/Sam and Max – Season One, cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Telltale\ Games/Sam\ and\ Max\ -\ Season\ One
c. Navigate to the Episode you want to play, this case: Episode 1 – Culture Shock, cd Episode\ 1\ -\ Culture\ Shock\ Data
d. Run the Episode with WINE, this case: SamMax101, wine SamMax101.exe

e(optional). If it seems like it's running slower than in windows:
i. Press ALT+F4
ii. Run Episode in desktop mode, at desired resolution, wine explorer /desktop=SamMax,1024x768 SamMax101.exe It should start up in a window.
iii. Should now be able to navigate to Options & Change Resolution to desired and hopefully will run at desired speed.
iv. If after changing resolution, graphics go all “broken window”, press ALT+F4 and run again with command from ii., should be fine :).

DOWNLOADABLE VERSIONS
========================

What I Used: Ubuntu 7.10 (gutsy), WINE 0.9.55, ies4linux 2.99.0.1, Sam & Max Seasons 1 & 2 Downloadable Editions from 'Your Games' under the 'Past Purchases' section of your Telltale Login. I will also organize this part in such a way that if the Flash Bug still affects your Firefox, you will still be able to download the games with IE instead. Although, the Demos will also work fine :).

1. Setup IES4Linux
a. Open Terminal.
b. Navigate to where you want to download ies4linux, cd ~/Downloads
c. Download ies4linux-2.99.0.1.tar.gz from http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/downloads/ies4linux-2.99.0.1.tar.gz, either through firefox or, wget http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/downloads/ies4linux-2.99.0.1.tar.gz
d. Unpack ies4linux-2.99.0.1 and navigate to the directory, tar -zxvf ies4linux-2.99.0.1.tar.gz && cd ies4linux-2.99.0.1
e. Install CabExtract either through Synaptic Package Manager or, sudo apt-get install cabextract
f. Install ies4linux, ./ies4linux Click OK. When done, Click Close.

2. Nuke WINE & Copy Ies4Linux
a. In terminal remove your .wine directory & copy the ie6 directory from the .ies4linux into it, rm -r ~/.wine && cp -r ~/.ies4linux/ie6 ~/.wine

3. Setup Wine:
a. Run 'Configure Wine'. Click the Following Tabs:
i. Applications Tab: Change Windows Version to 'Windows Vista'.
ii. Graphics Tab: Make sure 'Allow window...' & 'Allow Pixel...' are checked. Make sure 'Vertex Shader Support' is set to 'Hardware'
iii. Audio Tab: You should receive a recommended driver selection notice. Click OK & click Apply. Click OK.

4. Run Internet Explorer & Download Sam & Max
a. In Terminal, run IE6, ie6
b. Go to Telltale Games, Login and download the episodes. In this case, I downloaded SamAndMax202_MoaiBetterBlues_Setup.exe into my Downloads folder in my Home directory.

5. Install Episodes
a. In Terminal, navigate to where you downloaded your episode, cd ~/Downloads and run it using wine, wine SamAndMax202_MoaiBetterBlues_Setup.exe
b. Install with default options. When done installing, uncheck 'Play Now'

6. Run Sam & Max
a. Back to Terminal!
b. Navigate to the Sam & Max Season Two Directory, ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Telltale Games/Sam and Max – Season Two, cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Telltale\ Games/Sam\ and\ Max\ -\ Season\ Two
c. Navigate to the Episode you want to play, this case: Episode 2 – Moai Better Blues, cd Episode\ 202\ -\ Moai\ Better\ Blues
d. Run the Episode with WINE, this case: SamMax202, wine SamMax202.exe
e. You should be able to enter in your Telltale login information. Click Log me in! To Start the game, you just have to click a little below the Logo of the game, bout an inch or so and it should start up.

f(optional). If it seems like it's running slower than in windows:
i. Turn full screen off during the intro-setup process either through options or by pressing ALT+ENTER. Usually the graphics go “broken glass” so ALT+F4. By running the program once more and it should start up in a window and at full speed.

Thank you for reading my guide! I hope that I was helpful and please contact me with any questions.

[dg10050]

: O
Omfg I Love You! :D
Doesn't work with Wine 0.9.53 in Arch repositories, and the 0.9.56 version that I built seems to have issues with it as well. I'll try recompiling 0.9.56 and see if it works, otherwise I'll try 0.9.55.

I get this on the Season 2 download versions :(
A required security module cannot be activated.
This program cannot be executed (6000).

Please have a look at http://www.securom.com/message.asp?m=module&c=6000 for further, more detailed information.

[dg10050]

Well would you look at that. I set my Windows version in winecfg to Vista and the download versions work! :D
Now I'm gonna try the DVD version.

EDIT: The DVD version doesn't seem to work. The download versions work great though. The only issue is that the button that you click to play it on the splash window doesn't appear. You just have to click a little bit above the text that is displayed.

[Cassidy]

Yeah, from what I'm able to figure out, WINE either breaks or allows support for SecurROM when the Windows Version is set to Vista. The Telltale SecurROM patch for the DVD is what enables the DVD versions to not have that same error that you received when run.

Almost done with Season 1 on Wine!

EDIT: Are you sure you removed the '/' drive map on Step 5? I added mine back and received the error again. After removing the drive map once more, the DVD worked again :) Also make sure only the C: and the cdrom drive are mapped under 'Configure Wine'

[dg10050]

I installed the SecuROM patch, and I still had the same error. Oh well, I'd rather play without needing the DVD in the drive anyway.

[Mirko]

What exactly does this Securom Patch do?

[dg10050]

What exactly does this Securom Patch do?

It downgrades the copy protection to an older version of SecuROM. This version tends to work better with WINE. Btw, this is an official patch from Telltale.

[Cassidy]

http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=39374&postcount=32

This thread contains the infromation about the patch. I guess I failed to mention there was two different types of patches, the one for Telltale and the one for The Adventure Company cause I am using the one directly from Telltale.

[glandythorpe]

Great job! The only thing is I already have some apps installed under .wine and don't want to have to deal with reinstalling them. One work around I've done for another app that requires Internet Explorer is set up a separate wine environment for it. An example command would be:

env WINEPREFIX="/home/username/.wine.ie" wine "C:\Program Files\App Directory\App.exe"

Where .wine.ie is your special IE version of .wine like in your directions. Obviously, I wouldn't type that out every time; I would create a launcher.

Unfortunately, I can't get this to work with Sam & Max because it complains it can't find the data blah blah blah when I try to run it this way. For some reason the command line infers the proper path, but using a launcher doesn't.:confused:

As a work around, I made a script to launch Sam & Max that changes the current directory to one the executable is in.

[Will]

It downgrades the copy protection to an older version of SecuROM. This version tends to work better with WINE. Btw, this is an official patch from Telltale.

It doesn't downgrade the SecuRom, it is just a different wrapper version. If anything, it is a version upgrade. Nevertheless, I'm going to sticky this thread and move it to Support so people can find it more easily.

[joem13]

I have Kubuntu Gutsy Gibbon running on AMD64 with the newest version of WINE .9.57 installed. I followed the instructions to install the german version of Sam & Max Season One from DVD and the patch with removing drive Z in wine configure. Unfortunately, I get the following error in the WINE window:
A required security module cannot be activated.
This program cannot be executed (7000).

Please have a look at http://www.securom.com/message.asp?m=module&c=7000 for further, more detailed information.
This stays the same whether I emulate XP or Vista.
Does anyone have a suggestion how to fix this? Is this because of my AMD64 system?

[dg10050]

I have Kubuntu Gutsy Gibbon running on AMD64 with the newest version of WINE .9.57 installed. I followed the instructions to install the german version of Sam & Max Season One from DVD and the patch with removing drive Z in wine configure. Unfortunately, I get the following error in the WINE window:

This stays the same whether I emulate XP or Vista.
Does anyone have a suggestion how to fix this? Is this because of my AMD64 system?

I have this same issue. Instead I just have to use the downloadable versions.

Btw Will, thanks for the clarification on the SecuROM patch. I could swear Emily had said at some point that it was an older version of SecuROM. Well whatever.

[Celeras]

I've tried following the guide for the downloadable episodes on Ubuntu 7.10 (64-bit) and Wine 0.9.57

Episode 104 works perfectly, but all the other ones give the SecuROM security module error on XP and fail to run at all on Vista.

[dg10050]

I've tried following the guide for the downloadable episodes on Ubuntu 7.10 (64-bit) and Wine 0.9.57

Episode 104 works perfectly, but all the other ones give the SecuROM security module error on XP and fail to run at all on Vista.

Have you tried the updated versions of the games?

[covox]

Celera:

cassidy: Thanks very much for the advice, changing "Windows Version" to Vista in winecfg stopped the SecuROM errors. It's actually a cool side-effect of Vista's new security/driver model; most of the old XP copyprotection hooks break, so SecuROM just pre-emptively turns them off when it sees "Vista".

For those who don't want to ruin their ~/.wine install with IE6, the Gecko plugin which Wine offers does work. Kind of. It won't look nice at all, but when you run the program you should clearly see "Serial Number:" and a textbox. Just copy-paste your serial number from the "My Telltale" page into this textbox, then hit the "Submit Query" button. Don't worry if this causes Wine to crash, when you run the game again it should now show the text "Click here to run the game". Which works! :)

A big shoutout to the Telltale devs who (intentionally or not) make their games run great under Linux. You're all awesome, keep fighting the good fight.

[joem13]

I usually get along well with English, but for this adventure Game I'd rather play the original DVD version in German. I just installed the newest wine version .9.58, but the results are still the same as posted above.
Did someone manage to get the DVD version running on ubuntu with AMD64?

Thanks in advance,

joem13

[Cassidy]

I usually get along well with English, but for this adventure Game I'd rather play the original DVD version in German. I just installed the newest wine version .9.58, but the results are still the same as posted above.
Did someone manage to get the DVD version running on ubuntu with AMD64?

Thanks in advance,

joem13

Unfortunately, I can't say that I have. I am currently running a AMD64 but just used the x86 architecture download from Ubuntu because I have yet to see an advantage to using the 64bit aside probably from being able to use more memory, etc, etc (i don't want to start a debate here or anything.).

If it is too much trouble I would understand, but might you try the x86 version and see if you have a problem? I can also download the 64bit and try to see if I am able to run the game.

[Cheeseness]

Cassidy, you're a hero!

I'd had no luck whatsoever with Sam and Max running under Wine until I found the SecuROM patch this afternoon (I feel bad now because I harped on about there being no way to easily play the games in Linux in the Telltale survey earlier :( ).

[Soultaker]

I have the same problem as joem13 with the Telltale DVD version. I'm running Gentoo with a 64-bit kernel, but with 32-bit Wine 0.9.58. Starting the .exe gives a SecuROM error: A required security module cannot be activated.
This program cannot be executed (7000).

Please have a look at http://www.securom.com/message.asp?m=module&c=7000 for further, more detailed information.
I've removed the Z: drive as suggested (although I'm not sure what this is supposed to accomplish) and I have even tried to set the OS to Vista, but that didn't seem to help.

Since most other things are the same, it seems that the use of the 64-bit kernel seems somehow related to the problems. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is, or how to start investigating it?

[Cardcaptor Stacey]

Seems like I am having the exact problem as joem13 and Soultaker. I'm running Wine 0.9.58 in Ubuntu 7.10.

[Cheeseness]

Soultaker, joem13 and Cardcaptor Stacey, you guys have installed the SecuROM patch, yeah?

I'm like Cassidy. I've got a 64 bit chip, but only running a 32 bit OS.


I'm trying to get the demo of Ice Station Santa happening, but I can't work out where to click to launch the sucker. I click "No thanks, just take me to the demo!", and I end up on a screen with an add for Chariots of the Dogs on the left and an image for Ice Station Santa on the right. There's nothing obvious to click on. Sometimes it takes me to the "Choose your poison" page, and twice I've managed to click wherever I'm meant to to launch the game by accident, but both times I've adjusted video settings and ended up having to quit to fix the graphics.

Anyone know whether there's a button I can't see or whether it's just acting bizarre under Wine or what?

Edit: Managed to get in again. It seems like you need to click on the space between the two options on the "Choose your poison" would be. Maybe. I'm not brave enough to quit and try again.

[Cardcaptor Stacey]

Cheeseness - Yes I installed the patch. Without the patch, it doesn't work at all.

I don't think the chip is the problem because I'm on 32-bit and I getting the same error. Is it because we are trying on a newest version of WINE while the tutorial is for 0.9.5.5? :( I don't particularly want to downgrade it, but I will if it is not possible getting it to work in the new version.

[Cassidy]

Cheeseness - Yes I installed the patch. Without the patch, it doesn't work at all.

I don't think the chip is the problem because I'm on 32-bit and I getting the same error. Is it because we are trying on a newest version of WINE while the tutorial is for 0.9.5.5? :( I don't particularly want to downgrade it, but I will if it is not possible getting it to work in the new version.

I have kept upgrading WINE as they have come out. I took the following steps: Nuked my .wine directory and followed the same tutorial I wrote and it still worked fine. I then Nuked my entire Ubuntu install, reinstalled, patched, and followed the tutorial again and it still worked!

I also forced it to not work, for example I noticed that whenever there is any other drive mappings in WINE config other than "C: ../drive_c" and "D: /media/cdrom", the game will crash. Also, I have noticed the DVD version of the game seems to be the pickiest when run under Vista, I don't know why. I even installed the DVD after doing the Downloadable Version Tutorial and it worked once I changed the Windows Version from Vista to XP or 2008 or 2003 or 2000.

This is just what I have noticed so far. I will keep fiddling...

[Cardcaptor Stacey]

Okay I've done your tutorial again (with nuking) and now I have a new error. It's keep saying
"Oops! It seems your Sam & Max Season One DVD isn't in the drive" even though it's in the tray. It's never come up with this error message before. Tried in Vista and XP among a few others without any luck.

[pavon]

Hi, has anyone gotten this to work with the demos? I have an older machine and want to see how well the game runs on it before I buy the disk.

So far I got the Secure Module error to go away by selecting Vista, and I installed the Gecko plugin. I'm getting stuck at the login webpage. With Episode 101, it asks for my serial number, with the following message:
You're logged in! Great!
But ... you have more than one serial number for this product on your
account, and we don't know which one you want to use to unlock the game.

With Episode 201, I get a webpage saying "Please Wait, logging you in ...". There is a button that says "No thanks, just take me to the demo!>>", but clicking it does nothing.

Any ideas?

[Cheeseness]

With Episode 201, I get a webpage saying "Please Wait, logging you in ...". There is a button that says "No thanks, just take me to the demo!>>", but clicking it does nothing.

It doesn't seem to work right without ies4linux. Gecko doesn't cut the mustard with the demos :(

[dersk]

I'm having troubles as well with getting 106 to work (the downloadable version). I'm running Ubuntu Gutsy and wine .9.55. Installs okay, and when I click to start the episode (i.e., under the logo), I get a blank window briefly, then a crash with an error "Invalid vertex function called".

Any ideas?

[Cassidy]

I'm having troubles as well with getting 106 to work (the downloadable version). I'm running Ubuntu Gutsy and wine .9.55. Installs okay, and when I click to start the episode (i.e., under the logo), I get a blank window briefly, then a crash with an error "Invalid vertex function called".

Any ideas?

I might suggest updating to the most recent version of WINE. They have seemed to have updated a bunch of DirectX stuff post 0.9.56. Unfortunately, I haven't personally seen that problem. What kind of video card are you running?

[Kjella]

My experience on a plain Gutsy/WINE 0.9.58 install with windows version set to Vista:
Episodes 202, 203, 204 (download) work by entering serial, quitting then launching the game again. Episode 201 is somehow special and does NOT work. So no need for ies4linux for those three episodes at least.

[dersk]

I might suggest updating to the most recent version of WINE. They have seemed to have updated a bunch of DirectX stuff post 0.9.56. Unfortunately, I haven't personally seen that problem. What kind of video card are you running?

I'll try it with the newest WINE tonight - the card is an ATI Radeon something or other (it's the home lappie - an Inspiron 9200), and the restricted driver seems to work pretty well. Too bad Virtualbox won't support it...seems to be a really handy VM app.

Thanks for the recommendation!

[Celeras]

Anyone having trouble lauching the game on a 64-bit system might want to try the following command:

setarch i386 -X wine SamMax101.exe

[glandythorpe]

I'm running Ubuntu Gutsy with Wine 0.9.59 (upgraded recently from the WineHQ resources) and the ie4linux doesn't cut the mustard for me any more (at least 204 and 205 would crash immediately).

I ended up using Wine Doors (http://www.wine-doors.org/wordpress/) and installing Ie 6 from there. It really makes the initial interface weird: in 205, it didn't have any visible graphics (the graphics were off screen and had to scroll to see them) and simply asked me for the serial number; after that, it had a link in the upper left with which to start the game. The game itself ran fine.

[Cardcaptor Stacey]

Nuked Wine again and installed 0.9.59.

I just realised that I have the Adventure Company version, so I patched it with SamMaxSeason1_SecurROM_1.0_TAC.exe. Tried running it and it asked for the disc, so I put it in but comes with loads of fixme's in the Konsole. So I guess the tutorial is not the same. Maybe it's for the WINE team to fix? Anyone else having the same problem?

[Tigrath]

Celeras -- I'm running Gentoo on an AMD Athlon64 x2 4200+ and have been working on getting sam&max (downloadable episode version) running for the last couple hours. I was getting a Securom module 6000 failed to run message until I changed Wine to Vista mode, then it just failed to run, giving some page fault error. A quick search on here and setarch i386 -X was the ticket! This thread and its posters are my heroes!

[Cardcaptor Stacey]

Okay, I've installed it again and the game launches, but it just sticks at a black screen. :( It comes up with lots of errors, so I'll report it as a WINE bug

[THAiSi]

Download Play on linux on http://www.playonlinux.com/en/ or from the repository
"sudo apt-get install playonlinux"

download the season 1 script here (work in progress, let me know how it works!)
http://thaisi.thaboo.com/pol/samnmax-season1.sh

in Play on Linux, go to Tools -> Run non-official script, and choose the script you just downloaded.

That should do it! (it works for me!)

If the reactions are positive, I'll try to get this script official, and then it can be found in the Play on linux repository directly :-)

[THAiSi]

I adjusted the script so that is also sets the proper episode icons!
http://thaisi.thaboo.com/pol/Screenshot-PlayOnLinux.png

It's waiting for validation at PlayOnLinux to be added into the repository, but untill then you can download the script from the post above

[rmjb]

For the life of me I could not get this to work on Ubuntu Hardy with wine 0.9.59 (in ubuntu's repo) or wine 0.9.61 (winehq's repo). I was trying with the demo however, was hoping it would work so I could buy season 1 and hopefully Strong Bad's game :(.

[Celeras]

The approach in the first post of this thread no longer works. With Wine versions 0.9.59 or later, the game won't run with IEs4Linux.
It should run on an unmodified wine installation as long as you have the windows version set to Vista.
The demos, as far as I can tell, doesn't work at all (they probably would have, if there were any way to start them). Neither does Ice Station Santa :(

[THAiSi]

Yeah I noticed the same, you can only play them if you have the serial.. and Ice station santa won't work at all.. all because the IE requirement of the splash screen. I created a topic about it in the main sam and max discussion board: http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5095

[joem13]

Today I installed the new Wine 1.0 rc1 for my hardy heron AMD64 system from the repository.
Then I executed "setarch i386 -X wine SamMax101.exe" from the directory. This time the process went a little further, but complained that the DVD not present in the drive.
This is what my console spewed out:
fixme:ntoskrnl:KeInitializeSpinLock 0x4577a4
fixme:ntdll:NtQueryInformationProcess (0xffffffff,info_class=34,0x16ba520,0x00000004,0x1 6ba51c) Unknown information class
fixme:ntdll:NtQuerySystemInformation info_class SYSTEM_HANDLE_INFORMATION
fixme:ntdll:NtQueryObject Unsupported information class 3
fixme:debugstr:CheckRemoteDebuggerPresent (0xffffffff)->(0x16b940c): Stub!
fixme:win:EnumDisplayDevicesW ((null),0,0x16b9258,0x00000000), stub!
fixme:psapi:EnumPageFilesA (0xed9030, 0x1699d1c) stub
fixme:psapi:EnumPageFilesA (0xed9030, 0x1664638) stub
fixme:mountmgr:harddisk_ioctl unsupported ioctl 4d014

Well anyway, somehow the DVD is not recognised depite being present if I enter the wine setup tool. Changing the system from XP to Vista didn't help a bit.
I get the feeling that I'm close but I'm missing the cigar....
Anyone else got a clue?

[colas]

For the "ice station santa" problem, could the steam version be the solution?
Do anybody know if the splash screen is present on the steam version?
(I didnt find a demo version on steam)

[Urban Nerdo]

The Splash Screen is the activation system, so no, the Steam versions don't use the launcher. Then again, does Steam even work in Ubuntu, even with WINE :confused:

[dg10050]

Steam works nearly perfectly in Wine and so do all of the Source engine games. :)

[BennyLZ]

HI.
this is what i get when I play season one in linux:
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8468/schermataae6.th.png (http://img141.imageshack.us/my.php?image=schermataae6.png)
what can I do? :confused:

[Molokov]

Whoa! That's cool - invisible walls!

[demonfoo]

After some playing around, I managed to get all the Sam and Max games going on my Ubuntu AMD64 machine. I discovered that when launching the game itself, you need to set:

WINEDLLOVERRIDES="rpcrt4,ole32,d3d8,d3d9=b"

in the environment when calling Wine, at least with recent versions - otherwise Wine will load the wrong DLLs (thanks, IE) and puke all over itself. For example, when launching Episode 101, I do this:

WINEDLLOVERRIDES="rpcrt4,ole32,d3d8,d3d9=b" setarch i686 wine explorer /desktop=SamMax,800x600 ./SamMax101.exe

setarch may or may not be needed, but I'm being extra careful. Once I get past the initial splash screen, it runs just fine (and much smoother in its little virtual desktop window).

[demonfoo]

And of course, Telltale's other games (at least thus far) seem to function equally well under Wine, aside from the splash screen rendering problems. (mumble mumble IE)

[HellMoose]

Has anyone figured out a way of running 201 - Ice Station Santa - in wine yet? This is really bugging me a lot. I just finished playing Season 1 and can't wait to get into Season 2.

And as far as I've gathered, the rest of Season 2 works like a charm in wine... but starting on Episode 2 just is not an option in my mind.

[demonfoo]

Has anyone figured out a way of running 201 - Ice Station Santa - in wine yet? This is really bugging me a lot. I just finished playing Season 1 and can't wait to get into Season 2.

And as far as I've gathered, the rest of Season 2 works like a charm in wine... but starting on Episode 2 just is not an option in my mind.

It ran just fine for me, as well as the rest of season 2 (just finished the last one, in fact). What makes you say it doesn't work? Just make sure you have the latest installer, and it should work.

[Cheeseness]

Well I finally found time to have a go at season 2 today. With ies4linux, I get an "automation server can't create object" error (which comes from IE) and can't get past the "please wait" screen, but with Gecko, I can pop in my serial, restart when it crashes and then I'm good to go.

Except for Ice Station Santa that is (which is odd, because I know I had the demo running earlier this year). Demonfoo, when you say "latest installer", do you mean the normal installer from the "My Games" section or something you've found elsewhere?

[demonfoo]

Except for Ice Station Santa that is (which is odd, because I know I had the demo running earlier this year). Demonfoo, when you say "latest installer", do you mean the normal installer from the "My Games" section or something you've found elsewhere?

Yes, the normal installer. I jus mean that if you have an older download of the installer, you should get the latest one. Telltale updates them periodically with the latest builds.

[Cheeseness]

Yes, the normal installer. I jus mean that if you have an older download of the installer, you should get the latest one. Telltale updates them periodically with the latest builds.

Ah. I downloaded Episodes 1 and 2 last night and can't seem to get Ice Station Santa to launch properly. Is there anything special in your configuration that you think HellMoose and myself might have missed?

[tabacco]

201 has an older version of the launcher, which is probably why you're only running into problems with that one. We're hoping to bring that one up to date with 202-205 at some point, but no promises, alas :(

[TMM]

I had a solution to this problem for 201, but the thread with the solution was apparently removed from this forum without sending me a PM with a reason.
Telltale does not appear to be very interested in this at all. Extremely disappointing

[Cheeseness]

We're hoping
As long as we've got hope, we'll survive :)

TMM, if you have a workaround, I think we'd all be grateful if you'd share again (providing it's not "go find a crack" or anything that obviously questionable).

[TMM]

the fix I described did not involve a crack, but I am waiting for an explanation by some the forum admin who removed my post as to what was wrong with it so I can repost it with whatever was the problem removed.

I am not sure if what I did was 'questionable' but it did involve editing a file that comes with the game. Personally I don't think this should be a problem for games you bought. (This change also did not remove any of the DRM)

[tabacco]

It also required, in your words, that people "find alternative ways of authenticating your copy of the game". What does that sound like to you?

[TMM]

authenticate on a windows box, copy the file over. Run with ies4linux to do the auth, then edit the gamefile to allow the 3d part to run on wine.

Whatever, 'alternative' I just figured people could come up with other ways as well. The alternative is for us to not play (or buy) the game at all. Telltale's call I suppose

[demonfoo]

Whatever, 'alternative' I just figured people could come up with other ways as well. The alternative is for us to not play (or buy) the game at all. Telltale's call I suppose

Well, strictly speaking, Telltale is in the right - they never claimed to support Linux in any way, so discussing methods of... questionable legitimacy is something they're entitled to not allow. No need to get all huffy. The fact that it works on Linux (and I've played every single Sam & Max and SBCG4AP episode to date - they've all played through 100%) is good for us, but don't whine and bitch at the Telltale people because they're not supporting you the way you want. In short - be nice(r).

[Cheeseness]

Telltale's call I suppose

I think that there's a plan (at some stage) to update the launcher to something that does work for us is a bit of encouragement.

I think that a positive attitude about it all is much more likely to make our chosen operating system a potential target platform than a negative one. I'm wholly disgruntled that Linux isn't a priority, but if you look through the forums, you can see that even though it's not supported, there's people at TellTale who are excited that we've been able to get it running. Little steps.

[TMM]

Maybe I did come off a bit more hostile than I intended, I am just a tad miffed that there is apparently no 'legal' way for me to play this game. I do not own a windows license, so installing IE would violate someone else's copyright.

Modifying the game executable and/or data for my own purposes after I bought the game is legal in my jurisdiction. All I was trying to do is share my solution with the other Linux players here.

While I fully understand that Telltale is wary of piracy, the way this is being handled is preventing people who legally own the game from playing it in a legal manner.

I would like to apologize to tabacco for being hostile towards him.

[Kjella]

The problem isn't the copyright protection as such, I did try a *cough* alternative executable and it made no difference at all, I still couldn't find a way to launch the game. The other episodes in 202-205 work fine out of the box so I would bet that the only thing missing is that the launcher UI doesn't render right.

[TMM]

The point is that my 'fix' wouldn't allow regular ways of authenticating the game. It will allow you to launch (and play) an already authenticated version.

[Cheeseness]

With the potential for the launcher to be upgraded, I guess the best thing for us to do is look towards that.

tabacco, is there any way that you feel that we, as paying TellTale customers, can encourage the upgrading of the Ice Station Santa launcher?

[tabacco]

What, like there's a chance we don't want to fix something? :)

It all comes down to time. If you could make some more of that, that might help.

[TMM]

TellTale already fixed this issue... in 2007! See this this thread. It boils down to installing the fix at http://telltale.vo.llnwd.net/o15/games/samandmax/201/patches/20071129_SamMax201_patch_1003.exe

Then it will all just work, it's so simple, really :)

I can't believe I didn't find this earlier, or anyone else... for that matter :P

EDIT:

This does make the current 'Running the games on Linux howto' that started this thread a bit too complicated than needed. Would anyone like me to start a new thread with current instructions? A lot less magic is required now

[Cheeseness]

What, like there's a chance we don't want to fix something? :)

Well it doesn't seem to have much of an impact on your target platforms, so it's understandable if updating the launcher is not much of a priority.I was sort of asking if there was another angle we could come at from that didn't involve wearing the Rabid Linux User Hat.

I can't make more time, but I do have man-hours up for grabs when I'm in North America next month. ;)


Great stuff, TMM! It doesn't work with Gecko, but with ies4linux (which I thought you said you wouldn't use :b ), I was able to authenticate with my serial number (TellTale login gives that "automation server can't create object" error). It'd still be nice to see it with the same launcher as the rest of the season someday though, since it more or less runs 'out of the box' like that.

[TMM]

It doesn't work for you? For me it works with gecko just fine... what version of wine are you using?

[Cheeseness]

It works with gecko for me if it is *ahem* already authenticated, but to enter my serial number, I needed IE (the issue was that there was no 'unlock' link visible and pressing enter didn't work). I'm not 100% sure what wine version I'm using, but I'm fairly certain it's 1.1+ (I'll check later).

[TMM]

I used a freshly downloaded copy of episode 201, unauthenticated. I just got the same form I get with 202+ (no layout or anything)
You should try with a completely fresh install of 201. It really should work just fine with gecko. IE is really not required.

[Cheeseness]

If it works, then sweet!

Cassidy, if you're out there, any chance we can get the howto updated?