EQ2 on Linux and Mac guide

I saw your message on the Youtube video I guessed it was you. Well, you're doing a fantastic job promoting Linux and teaching people about it so first of all thank you again and congratulations.

In regarts to why EQ2 seem to run worse than other games I think it's because EQ2 favours CPU raw power and obviously the steam deck is capped at both frequency and TDP isn't it? To be honest if it drops below 60 FPS while soloing in an empty zone it will surely perform very poorly for what I want from the game, that's unfortunate. Obviously I am willing to be proven wrong if he activates the turbo performance or whatever is called. Please keep me updated! Cheers

Ha, thanks again for the kind words. Lots of interest about Linux from various ppl lately, dunno what triggered it, but it's a lot of fun.

Anyway, yeah, even if performance does indeed go up, I just don't see the SD doing what you're seeking rn. That's right though, there's only so much a 15 Watts TDP mobile soc can do (still impressive nonetheless ofc bc it's basically competing with the Series S, which draws in much more power and produces more heat at around 160 to 200 Watts). Still interested in more performance numbers, so let's hope the guy on YT can deliver

Would also like to see what you're planning on getting for 600 bucks. Will you be running Windows 11 on the new rig?

We know that the GPU is not very important for EQ2, CPU is much more important and so is fast RAM and a quick SSD, so I would be getting a current gen I5 for like 200 dollars and I just checked how much a crappy Nvidia 1050TI costs and my price expectations just went out the window. Well then I would have to spend a bit more than I had anticipated LOL. Anyway something like an I5 plus 16 gigs of RAM and an Nvidia 1660 Super or something like that.

Hi Frid, what type of i5 would that be; how many cores and threads? I ask because I'm seeing a huge performance bump when going from an i5 6500 to an i7 7700 cpu (sometimes twice the performance depending on the zone and population). While it's true that EQ2 does like to eat your CPU for breakfast, often smashing one core with 90-100 % load, while the other cores are at 20-80%, it does like to hulk smash my gpu too. At least on Vulkan that is, which is known to utilize a gpu more efficiently. My tests show that EQ2 at extreme graphics literally puts up to 95% load on my GPU, nevermind if it's AMD or Nvidia. That's with GPU shadows, ambient occlusion, godrays, rain effects, reflections, vsync + tb, AA and everything else on. Basically all the bells and whistles turned on.

Now that I know you want to raid, it might be good to double check that cpu. Tbh, I believe that if Darkpaw were to further optimize cpu utilization in EQ2, the Steam Deck would see a huge jump in overall performance, bc it does have enough new gen cores and threads to offer.

Nvidia 1660 Super sounds good actually, how much will you be paying for it? Are you buying second hand or completely new? Are you planning on sticking to Windows or are you going to be trying Linux? I ask because if you're going to be trying Linux, it might be best to go with an AMD gpu due to their more open nature when it comes to their drivers, which are open source and built right into the Linux kernel (meaning; no manual driver installation necessary on Ubuntu, for example, they're already preinstalled).

Also, does the motherboard you plan on purchasing support PCIE 4.0 by any chance?

You've clearly put more thought into it than I have. If an I7 is going to be much better than an i5 then I can upgrade. Anyway isn't the i7 7700 an old i7? Would you be able to give me advice on a pc for let's say 800 dollars tops? You seem to know more than I do so I'm all ears. By the way I can see that eq2 runs much better on Linux so yeah I am willing to try it

Hail Frid, your i5 may very well be more powerful than my i7, depends on which i5 we're talking about here ofc. Yeah, my i7 is "old", but not that old (it's from 2017). Sure, if you can post more details on the pc parts that you have picked out, I can take a quick look. Now that I know you wanna give Linux a shot, I can try to find an AMD gpu that is more or less comparable to the 1660 in terms of raw performance. Also need to know where you're shopping. Send me a PM so we can discuss the details.

Edit:



Take this with a grain of salt, because I don't know the other details of your PC (PSU, Mobo, CPU model, space in case,... etc.), but instead of grabbing an Nvidia 1660 Super, you could easily go for the Radeon RX 6600, which is twice as powerful as my RX 570 and still much faster than the 1660 Super that you were originally aiming for. The Radeon also features more and newer tech than the Nvidia, outpacing it not only performance-wise, but also in terms of features. At least when going by the prices on Amazon, the Radeon is also cheaper than the Nvidia card.

Amazon reviews are good too:

The benefit here is that the open source AMD drivers are usually in very good shape and better optimised for gaming, see how performance goes up on At's system further above. The open source drivers for AMD GPUs are included along with the Linux kernel. The kernel is updated automatically through the auto-update utility in Ubuntu, no manual driver hunting or installation necessary. AMD + Vulkan = usually a great combo when using Proton on Linux.

Cheers

Ok, quick update: I just updated the guide and wrote a short tuto for Crossover Linux. I even went as far as to create a little Diashow showcasing the entire installation process + tweaks (a picture says more than a thousand words eh). Work on the other tutos has already started, work in progress. Crossover is recommended though, if you really don't want to use Steam that is, but you can also go for the other apps ofc.

Hail Frid,

our friend on YT responded the other day and was happy to upload a few more videos of EQ2 on Steam Deck, including one where he is in a large group with other players: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwv22zeHnx-qBARw3Sk0icg/videos

Make sure to give the guy a like for his work, he did it all for us

I updated the guide and included all of his videos into the SD section.

How's that PC of yours coming along? Need any help?

Cheers

Update-log: Tuto for Lutris is up now - including a small slideshow for ease of use.

Next up: Bottles, then Wine and last but not least PlayOnLinux.

EQ2MAPS updates'es!!

here's be's wat yu's needs fer EQ2MAPS onna Linux (Steam, specifically; but mm's sur is similar fur udder flavors, lik Lutris, et al.)

manually DOWNLOAD .zip fum

https://www.eq2interface.com/downloads/info3391-EQ2MAP-ManualVersionOfficial.html

den EXTRACT files into following path:

/ home / %USERNAME% / .steam / debian-installation / steamapps / common / EverQuest 2 / UI / EQ2MAP
{separated for clarity}

makies following .ini file inna EverQuest 2 directory

EQ2.ini

wif following two lines of text:

cl_ui_subdir UI/

cl_ui_skinname EQ2MAP

den yu's gots MAPS!!!!

Just checked with 64bit yesterday - looks like it was really a memory issue. Now it runs almost fine) Crashed only once on zoning.
And it uses > 3Gb private memory, so yes, looks like it's was a memory issue.

Greetings to the two of you, first of all, way to go @At! Thanks for checking that out and testing it on your end, looks like it's working just fine? Will add that info to the guide next week as I'm focusing my energy on my fam right now. In addition, will continue testing the "automatic" version of EQMaps with Proton, seeing how some folks prefer to use that instead (I don't).

@KValme: Sounds good! Seems like other folks around here on the forum have been seeing a nice bump in performance and stability too, but I have also read that some are still struggeling with lag and a few crashes here and there. Pretty sure that we'll be seeing more optimisations further down the line. Anyway, great start and glad that it's working well for you now. EQ2 likes to eat moar ram:

Hello ! Is it supposed to work on m1 mac with the 64 bit client ? I can't seem to make it work on my end

ok nevermind resolved my issue. I had created a bottle EQ.exe. Instead recreated a bottle for win 10 64 bit and copied over the folder from eq2 to the win10 bottle and it worked.

Hi Lucas, sorry that it took so long for me to reply, summer time = family and kids time Bunch of stuff to do too, but I'm glad you got it working. EQ2 64-bit should work much better now on Mac M1 via Crossover, especially with the newest version. Codeweavers are really digging into it, see here:



Crossover 22 also has a brand new UI for Mac users and a bunch of DXVK improvements. Anyone reading this interested in trying Crossover for Linux or Mac, make sure to check out the discount code that is featured in the video above:

Btw usually it's best to use the "official" EQ2 Crosstie that Crossover provides for EQ2, because that will install all the needed Windows and EQ2 files for your EQ2 bottle (DirectX, Fonts etc.). That said, would really like to know more about your Mac setup and the performance that you're seeing in EQ2 via Crossover. Can you share a few more details? Might be helpful for other ppl playing on Mac.

Well met,

I can also attest to the fact that EQ2 does run on crossover on mac.

Previously, I was attempting to play the game on Parallels - however it wasn't a very great playable experience. Both the color and resolution issues I was facing made the game basically unplayable.

I have already uninstalled EQ2 on Parallels so I cannot do any direct testing - sorry friends. Just know, it's not an enjoyable experience and I would not suggest even bothering.

I have not yet tested EQ2 Maps - but i'm doubtful that I would have any issues with that. If the installer fails I can always add the raw files to the EQ2 Directory myself without running the installer.

I am currently using the Apple M1 Max. I have drums UI installed and working. To get the game to install I had to change the Wine Bottle to Windows 10 64 bit version instead of the default windows 7 that crossover was attempting to push the bottle to use. After that I modified the game to High Resolution Bottle, Performance Enhanced Graphics, and DXVK.

Without the high resolution the game runs at a less than appealing resolution that makes it hard to play.

In general the game runs OK on Crossover. I was previously playing the game on a I7-9900k, 32GB Ram and a Nvidia 2070 Super. The game ran a lot smoother on my desktop - this is in no way a direct replacement for the power of a desktop computer natively running windows; however the game does run and allows me to run it despite not having access to my desktop.

I am experiencing around 100+ FPS on extreme performance, running at balanced sitting in Qeynos Harbor sits me at around 30-60 FPS depending on which direction I face the camera. I ran the game up to extreme quality for testing and it's netting around 15-30 FPS. I have never really found extreme quality or any graphics above very hiqh quality to be very visually appealing for the loss in frames.

Overall I would rate the game playable - 4/5 stars. This is definitely not the smoothest i've ever played the game, however i've played this game on and off since launch, on a myriad of systems and this experience is far better than how the game ran 10+ years ago on the older hardware.

I am experiencing some random hiccups - the game freezes for a couple seconds and also i've had a few moments where the game freezes up and it requires me to restart it. This is typically happening when I do other things on my macbook and swap back over to the game.

If you also select any of the options at the top of the screen, file, edit, window etc. while pressing any of the keys in EQ2 it will continue to hold that button down until you repress your dropdowns. Which is easily fixable - but in case you run into any issues like that.

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch-space-gray-10-core-cpu-32-core-gpu-1tb - Is my current macbook setup, running the newst MacOS, and the newest crossover version.

The last remaining thing I haven't been able to get working on crossover is ACT - which worked on parallels. I am currently getting a error in the plugin.

Below is the error - if anyone wants to take a crack at it.
ACT_English_Parser.cs
Line: 0 - (CS0006) Metadata file `System.Linq.dll' could not be found

Feel free to reach out if you're attempting to run EQ2 on Mac and are having any issues.

That mirrors my experience with EQ2 on M1 Max. It was unplayable in Parallels (some pretty nasty graphical glitches, and less than stellar mouse motion), although raw performance wise it wasn't terrible.

Crossover was much better with the 64bit client (it was almost unplayable on 32bit client for me), although I'm not sure I'd want to daily drive it. It's definitely playable, though.

As for your error with ACT, Linq is a part of .NET, so it is likely you're missing something there. You'll probably need to install some version of .NET framework other than the one it already installed (I don't remember specifically which one though).

Thank you. The disable-gpu trick sorted out my white launcher problem (Ubuntu 22.04 with XFCE), and the 64-bit client works wonderfully well (in fact, I can now get 40fps easily on full graphics settings with my 6-year old GTX970-based PC)

@All: Thx for the feedback ladies and gentlemen. Glad that everything is working nicely. Those fps numbers sound great for Mac M1 actually. Mac isn't on par with Linux in terms of raw fps performance, but neither is Windows rn, so seeing you guys play at those numbers with the new 64b client is great. You're all on Crossover 22, correct? That's the new version that just got a ton of performance enhancements and new features for Mac users. According to what I have been following online so far, it seems there will be even more performance tweaks for Crossover Mac users in the near future.

Will try to take a look at that this weekend and report back asap. You're installing the ACT plugin into the same bottle that was created for EQ2, right? Crossover does allow for additional software to be installed into an existing Windows bottle and it even has preconfigured Crossties for .Net and more IIRC.

Woot, you're welcome, sounds good! That 970 should still be quite the capable card with Vulkan, which would explain how you're getting those fps on extreme graphics. Have you installed and enabled GameMode on Xubuntu and for EQ2? That could also help push out a few more fps on an older machine. In addition, AMD FSR could also help you get closer to those buttery smooth 60 fps on older hardware and should / could work on that gpu (at least in theory). Are you using Steam with Proton or something else?

Cheers

Game mode is indeed installed and enabled, and I'm using Lutris along with a 7.something or other Wine runner (I just picked the most recent one Lutris had available). Getting that framerate when running at 1920x1080 too in windowed mode. I'm using recent NVIDIA drivers too (510 or maybe even 530).

It hits one core hard when running and alt-tab causes a brief pause whilst it probably recalculates shades or something, but apart from that it runs ludicrously flawlessly. Never uses more than about 6 GB memory either.

Funnily enough a couple of years ago on the exact same PC I could barely reach 40 fps in Balanced Mode with Xubuntu 20/Lutris/Wine 5.x and the 32 bit client.