EQ2 on Linux and Mac guide

Side note, before I go afk - time for a quick newsflash.

7 Reasons why Linux is better than Windows:

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, Ubuntu had a vision. They had a dream and it seems the community still has and cherrishes this dream (I know I most certainly do):

Ubuntu Unity 7 has been revived!

In addition, Ubuntu Unity will become an official Ubuntu flavor with its upcoming release version 22.10. Unity was the default Desktop Environment created by Ubuntu / Canonical before they switched back to Gnome 4+ as their default. Unity was way ahead of the curve when it was still the official Desktop Environment on Ubuntu, and it was super fast and beautiful at that too. Its features rivaled those of MacOS and even surpassed it in many, many ways. Canonical dropped Unity for financial reasons, after failing to unify the Desktop, Phones, Tablets and TVs into a single coherent vision. Needless to say that what they were trying to do was a huge undertaking and they were super innovative on many fronts. Many of Unity's visions and features got picked up by its competitors many, many years later (Samsung, Android, Mac, Windows). Unity 7 is now being developed by the community, who picked it up after Ubuntu officially dropped it. Even its successor, Unity 8, is still being developed by the Community as we speak. This just goes to show how powerful the foss world is. And to makes things even more interesting, Ubuntu Unity is being developed and maintained by a 12-14 yo kid (forgot how old exactly). No joke. Ironically, some of Unity's built in features are still considered to be more advanced than a lot of Desktop Environments even now. It's important to note how far quality software can go.

Link to Ubuntu Unity: https://ubuntuunity.org/

More infos: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-Unity-22.10-Official

Ubuntu flavors: https://ubuntu.com/desktop/flavours

Merged the info that was seen here with my initial post on page five. See page 5 for more details.

Note to myself: Will use this post and free space for other infos related to this topic.

Update: Just wanted to let anyone interested know that my arm is already getting better now, still can't move it that much, but I can in fact move it now, so back at actively testing a few things for our Nvidia Linux users. Will also add more info to the post on page 5, but take it with a grain of salt as it is rn, very rough and not complete yet. Also going to ask my brother to help me test one or two things, seeing how he owns a PC with an Nvidia 1070 gpu equipped. In addition, still on that issue that Unrivaled has on his Mac. I haven't forgotten you mate!

Cheers

Update:



Prepare a USB stick with Balena Etcher (8GB flash drive recommended): https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#3-create-a-bootable-usb-stick

Then boot from that via F1 to F12, Escape, Del or any other boot-key that your computer might have, and then simply follow the video. This tuto is for anyone needing a visual guide on how to install Ubuntu, Steam and EQ2. Made it as short as possible, only a few steps, can be done within an hour or so. Feedback appreciated. Steam tuto at the end of the video.

Have fun!

Hey Shrub,

posted a few infos for you on page 5, not finished adding infos just yet, still wip, but I was able to take the time and check this issue out that you're describing. It seems to affect some ppl on some Nvidia hardware, and it's in fact a Nvidia driver bug, which has been confirmed to be an issue by the community and Nvidia themselves.

See here for more information:

• https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/-/issues/2233
• https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/ source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-390/ bug/1799679

Ideally Nvidia will fix this issue with an upcoming driver update / release, but for now we have to fix it ourselves, and that's rather easy. As mentioned on page 5, we have three known workarounds for this issue as of this writing.

Workaround #1: Do what a_shrubbery suggests on page 5, or see the quote further above in this post, but that will only apply to your webbrowser. Since this issue also can also affect other windows and vsynced content with OpenGL and Vulkan rendering, you can also go for workaround 2 or 3 further below.



Workaround #2: As mentioned on page 5, you can disable Vsync and page flipping in the nvidia-settings control center, which will make everything in terms of moving vsynced windows with OpenGL or Vulkan rendering smooth again. This has been confirmed to work by at least one other person, so give this one a go and see what happens. This should apply to all windows that are launched after disabling these two features via the Nvidia CP. In other words, close all open windows, apply the changes, reopen previously affected windows causing issues, and recheck to see if the bug is still present or not.

Workaround #3: Use Wayland instead of Xorg / X11. Wayland handles Vsynced windows differently than the traditional X11 server, which doesn't seem to be affected by this Nvidia bug. Please note though, Wayland and Nvidia are still WIP, see info on page 5. Wayland + Nvidia works well for most day to day tasks, but be aware, there may be dragons here and there.

Luckily all of these workarounds can be done within a few seconds via point and click procedure. Tested workaround 2 on my Nvidia powered Ubuntu laptop, and can confirm that all of these workarounds indeed bypass the issue for now.

Cheers

Sturmlocke, do you have any advice for running EQ2 on an M2 MacBook without using CrossOver? This laptop is not my primary gaming machine (nor even my primary work machine) so I don't want to spend too much money on it (ignoring the irony of buying an Apple laptop).

I managed to get Wine 7.0 x64 installed using Homebrew and Rosetta, but I'm unable to launch the EQ2_Setup.exe file downloaded from the main site. My suspicion is that, while the game has been updated to x64, the installer is still 32-bit. Thus, it won't run on an M2. Later today, I intend to confirm that suspicion with a Windows machine. I'd also like to try copying the game directory from my primary Windows machine and seeing if Wine/Rosetta can open the patcher.

Update: The Setup file and Launchpad are both 32-bit applications, so it seems unlikely that I'll get them running on Apple Silicon.

Hey Ben, tbh, not the slightest idea. Would have to check and report back to you Not sure how well Wine is going to run via Homebrew and Rosetta, didn't even know that it was considered stable using it that way. Just out of sheer curiosity, do other fully converted 64bit games run that way?

That said, I fully understand what you mean when it comes to cash, considering how expensive everything has been getting lately. No shame in trying to save a few bucks here and there, especially after buying a Macbook (beautifully crafted machines). Crossover is worth every cent on Mac ofc, the Apple M-chips are great even when using them as a seconday gaming machine. Hm, maybe I can ask Codeweavers for a discount code for the Mac ppl in our EQ2 community? I can give it a shot, no promises though. How much would you be willing to put on the table for a fresh copy of Crossover rn?

Cheers

Update: Sent Codeweavers a mail, asked them for a few discount codes and also tried to change the default behavior of the EQ2 Crosstie over at: https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/crossover/everquest-ii

My browser isn't letting me save the Crosstie changes, not sure why, so I asked Codeweavers if they can edit the EQ2 Crosstie for Crossover and make it default to a 64b Windows bottle instead of 32b. It's on 32b rn, and as someone else mentioned a few pages earlier, this forces ppl to manually switch from 32b to 64b bottles when trying to install EQ2 via the automated Crosstie script. Ppl not knowing this won't know what to do to troubleshoot the issue, unless they read our comments here, so it might be a good idea to change this in order to make the EQ2 installation via Crossover a bit easier for our Mac users.

Ubuntu 22.10 has been released.

A few useful links:

• https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/10/how-to-upgrade-to-ubuntu-22-10-from-22-04
• https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/10/ubuntu-22-10-released-and-available-to-download
• https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/10/ubuntu-22-10-video-new-features
• https://ubuntu.com/blog/canonical-releases-ubuntu-22-10-kinetic-kudu
• https://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-22.10-Released
• https://ubuntu.com/blog/what-the-steam-snap-is-evolving
• https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop

I just upgraded my 22.04.1 LTS installation to 22.10 this morning. Took me about 15 minutes, fully automated ofc. Worked like a charm, no complete reeinstall necessary. In addition to the features listed above, seems like Canonical have further tweaked Gnome performance ootb, resulting in a nice and noticeable performance boost for Gnome users. More good news, all other Ubuntu flavors have also made the transition to the new 22.10 install base, such as Kubuntu for example, which also comes with a new version of Plasma to boot. Nvidia proprietary drivers were automatically updated and installed to their newest release, no issues whatsoever on my end.

Another great feature is the addition of Gamescope into the official Ubuntu repositories. If you don't know what Gamescope is, see here: https://github.com/Plagman/gamescope. Starting with Ubuntu 22.10, Gamescope can be installed by typing and confirming the following command into the terminal: sudo apt-get install gamescope

This is considered an advanced feature, which is why I only recommend it to the tinkering kind for now. That said, Gamescope can not only help further increase gaming performance on Linux systems, but it also allows for AMD FSR and Nvidia NIS tech to be toggled on / off super easy, which further increases performance on weaker systems struggeling to maintain a high framerate at HD+ resolutions in EQ2.

Cheers

Hey Ben, and everyone else interested in running EQ2 on Mac, here's an update.

So I reached out to Codeweavers, in order to fix the EQ2 Crosstie and ask them nicely for a coupon code for you guys while I'm at it, as mentioned in my post further above. See and behold:

• The EQ2 Crosstie is getting fixed and the changes should be live in a few hours. Meaning: Installing EQ2 via Crossover should now default to a 64-bit Windows bottle out of the box, no manual changes or tweaks necessary anymore. This should make things easier for you Mac users out there, no troubleshooting needed anymore (see previous pages to see what this is all about)
• Codeweavers offered us their most generous discount code, which will give our Mac EQ2 players 30 % off the original price

Big thanks to Codeweavers for going the extramile once again. You guys have never let me down, and I wholeheartedly appreciate the effort here!

@Ben and everyone else wanting the coupon code for the newest version of Crossover: Send me a PM here on the forums and I'll forward it to you guys directly.

Quick update before I forget, Proton and DXVK development continues at a rapid pace.

DXVK 2.0 has been released (DirectX to Vulkan):

• https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/...11-translation-layer-dxvk-version-20-out-now/
• https://9to5linux.com/dxvk-2-0-released-with-major-changes-and-improved-support-for-many-games
• https://www.phoronix.com/news/DXVK-2.0-Released
• https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases/tag/v2.0
• https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/wiki/Driver-support

DXVK is part of Proton and 2.0 should be available via Proton Experimental as of this writing. Pretty sure some of the stable Proton releases will get an update to this new version further down the line as well, same goes for the next stable Proton release ofc. DXVK fixes and enhances a bunch of the stuttering issues due to shader caching on many systems and shader precaching has now been upgraded to a more performant approach too.

- GamingOnLinux


And much more ofc - see the full release notes above for more info. In other words, this is a huge release that many of us in the community have been waiting for. This change should result in even higher performance and more stability out of the box without having to further tinker with things for optimal fps. Seeing how DXVK has already been outperforming native solutions like DX9, these changes are only going to further increase the gap between the two even more. These changes should also allow for more fluid and performant gameplay for the folks among us not using Steam's shader precaching tech.

Cheers

Another quick newsflash: Intel is now actually using DXVK at driver level on Windows in order to enhance old games that are using outdated API's like DirectX9 and the likes. Full story here: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-gpu-driver-optimizations-leverage-valves-dxvk-translator

/end of quote

Just like on Linux, titles using DXVK to upgrade from old and outdated DirectX versions are seeing a huge performance upgrade. According to the information seen above, performance has literally doubled in many cases. This basically goes hand in hand with what I have been seeing all along on Linux and Proton / Wine ofc, but it's nice to see that the same advancements are now being shared with and used by Windows users and companies too. Some folks have also gotten the newly released DXVK 2.0 to work on Windows, which means that now even Windows users can benefit from open source advancements as well. I still recommend using DXVK natively with Linux for many reasons though, but if you're still considering whether to make the jump or not, this might be something you can alternatively try out too or instead. As posted earlier, EQ2, which is still a DirectX9 title as of this writing, does in fact benefit greatly from DXVK and DXVK 2.0 has only made things even better than they already were.

Cheers

Btw, I posted a bit of info about this bug further above, and I totally forgot to update this post. This issue has indeed been fixed by newer driver updates coming directly from Nvidia. Make sure that you're using Nvidia's proprietary driver version 520 or 525 in order to apply and benefit from these changes. Updating your Nvidia driver on Ubuntu is as easy as opening the preinstalled "additional drivers" app and with a single click you can switch from an old Nvidia driver release to the newest one. Make sure to reboot your machine afterwards though.

Driver tool on Ubuntu

Update, in addition to what I posted above about Intel and their usage of translation layers like DXVK for DirectX9 calls, I forgot to mention that Microsoft has open sourced their own translation layer a while ago. Microsoft has been doing more and more open source stuff in recent years and it seems that even industry giants can be inspired by the likes of Wine, Proton and DXVK:

More info here:

• https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dire...the-release-of-the-dxbc-signer-nuget-package/
• https://github.com/microsoft/D3D9On12

I wonder if this development could be used to give EQ2 a short-term performance upgrade without having to go full blown DirectX11 or 12 that is?

Cheers

FWIW: I can verify that I have had success with getting EQ2 up and running on the Steam Deck.

Notes:

Steam will need some launch commands (a one liner) to allow EQ2 to launch and play properly, so anyone wanting to try EQ2 on the Steam Deck will need to switch into Desktop Mode to apply the launch command options.

• From the steam library list, right click EverQuest II to select "Properties" which should default to the "General" tab.
• If it does not, then select "General" from the list on the left of the window.
• On the bottom right there is a box labelled "Launch Options." In this box, apply the following...
• gamemoderun %command% --disable-gpu --use-gl=gles2

I haven't tried running the DarqUI utility, but I have had no issues importing the actual UI folder from the Windows PC over to the Steam Deck using Warpinator and Wininator (Linux / Window respectively.) Later I added a network drive, which also seems to work fine for this part.

I have only run EQ2 in desktop mode thus far, as I'm pretty sure that the Steam Deck's native resolution would force me to change hot-bar layouts- and I'm far too lazy for that!

I've not set up the "mode shift" control system for EQ2 yet, but at first glance it looks capable of solving the "I need to use my hotbar" problem for on-the-go gaming. Mode shifting is basically like using an alt command in game, but for gamepad buttons and menu overlays. As I said above, I've only tried EQ2 with a monitor and mouse connected.

Hey Targhan,

thanks for sharing mate! Sounds good from what you have posted. Do you plan on doing a few videos of the Deck running EQ2 by any chance? Would be awesome to see how you try out different zones, dungeons and maybe even how you set things up properly for ppl interested. Been in a few gaming chats in recent YT mmo streams, and it seems like more and more ppl are planning to pickup a Deck, which is good. I believe Aterskia (previous posts) needed some info on a few tools that ppl use with EQ2. Haven't found the time to test it out yet, but maybe you can? Will check my msg history and post the stuff that he asked me to test.

How's the Deck so far? It's pretty cool that you can switch from handheld to full desktop PC mode just like that, eh? What a capable little device.

It's running really good so far. In most zones I'm getting about 30 - 40 fps. I'm using balanced settings, and turned off the overhead feedback numbers. I see a bit of a gain in FPS when using actual fullscreen, instead of windowed. I'm sure there are some nuances, but just haven't had a lot of time to tinker yet. I have seen some YT video where someone was getting crazy good numbers from eq2 on deck, but I've not replicated that level yet.

[Placeholder for EQ1 on Ubuntu 22.04.1+ additional video]

This is for our friends over at EQ1, specifically for the user "Wdor", who is seeking help with Ubuntu and EQ1. Before we start, make sure that you're at least running Ubuntu 22.04.1 or higher. Running an older Ubuntu release? No problemo, you should be able to upgrade from one release to the other:

Option 1: Upgrading from one Ubuntu LTS to another Ubuntu LTS. For example, going from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Simply run system updates and you should automatically get a notification offering you an upgrade from an older LTS to a newer version of Ubuntu.

Option 2: Upgrading any previous Ubuntu release to the most recent version of Ubuntu (22.10, non-lts). See this video:

Not my vid, kudos to its creator. When all is set and done, you shall proceed.

EQ1 on Ubuntu 22.04.1 and higher

Step 1 - First follow this guide to install EQ1 instead of EQ2:

My vid (EQ2R) for our community

Please note: If you're getting an "insufficient storage" error for whatever reason (has to do with how locked down your personal files are on Linux), your Steam launch command should look like this: PROTON_SET_GAME_DRIVE=1 gamemoderun %command% --disable-gpu . This launch command is also necessary if you plan on Beta testing future EQ1 and 2 clients.

Step 2 - After installing EQ1 via Steam on Ubuntu and setting the launch command options as mentioned above, make sure to install an app called "Protontricks" via the Ubuntu Software Center:

Protontricks = simplifies the installation of additional libraries, fonts, dlls, DirectX and more. Imagine it this way, instead of heading over to Microsoft's website for a fresh batch of DirectX9 updates, which you manually have to look for, you use Protontricks to download and install the newest DirectX9 files for you instead. It's an automated process that makes life easier.

Step 3 - Use Protontricks to install DirectX9 files into your Everquest 1 folder on Steam:

Select EQ1 from the list of installed Steam games and click "OK"

Select "standard" wineprefix and click on "OK"

Select "install Windows-DLL" and click on "OK"

Select "d3dx9" and click on "OK"

Done. Be patient when installing DirectX9 files as this may take a few minutes to complete. If the Winetricks / Protontricks windows disappears, don't worry, this is normal and it should be back within a few seconds or minutes (depending on how fast the files get downloaded and installed onto your PC). If the window doesn't reappear by itself after a few 10-15 minutes of waiting, feel free to reopen Protontricks again and redo the process. Example: In my case and on my system, core i7 with NVME drivers plus 30MB/s download speed, this process took no more than a few seconds to complete.

Step 4 - optional, in case you notice some fonts are off or not being displayed correctly in EQ1 (wasn't the case on my Ubuntu system):

Select "install fonts" and click "OK"

Select "corefonts" and click "OK"

Same as step 3, be patient and wait for the app to download and install the necessary corefonts onto your system.

That's pretty much it! Launch EQ1, patch, enjoy! Feel free to reach out if you need help. You can also just use Crossover, Lutris, Bottles, vanilla Wine and more on Ubuntu if you don't need or want Steam, but as mentioned a few pages back, I recommend using Steam for everything for the best out of the box experience. Crossover and Lutris guides are already online, see page 1 for tutos, and I will be posting updates to these for EQ1 and more asap.

If you decide to go with Crossover Linux instead of Steam, feel free to use this coupon code for your purchase as it'll give you 30% off the original price: RYAN30

Steam Deck with Darq UI update:

DarqUI Unified will work directly from the Steam Deck in desktop mode.

Set-Up
First it will need to be added to Steam (this can be done by using the icon's context menu from Dolphin - think file-explorer). Using Steam as a launcher will make changing the proton version a trivial task, I have had success using Proton Experimental.

The only real hiccups in this was:
1) it takes a minute or so to load
2) having to go back and forth between Dolphin (Re: file explorer) and Darq's built in file-selector to make sure that the EverQuest II folder is selected. Sadly, copy and pasting the path was a no-go, but it really wasn't that difficult of a task.

A final annoyance with the initial set-up of Darq's is that even in desktop (with a keyboard attached no less), the keyboard overlay wants to pop up. This was more of a visual "in the way" than preventing input (1080p monitor).

Operation
Other than DarqUI taking longer than expected to launch (about 30s to 1m), and having to use Steam for said launch, it pretty much works as it does on Windows.

Hardware Details:

• Steam Deck: 256G system (middle of the line model)
• EverQuest II installed on the removable media: Samsung PRO Plus 256G*
• Dock: Ivoler
• Monitor: ViewSonic 1080p (display is good, but Linux found that it has speakers... terrible speakers.)
• Mouse: Logitech wireless, dongle connected to the docking station. (Clearance Aisle Special)
• Keyboard: Logitech K780, connected via bluetooth. (Love this keyboard!)

*When picking a micro SD card for the Steam Deck, the recommended version is XC-1, U3, A2, V30.
Any MicroSD with these stats should be fine check various YouTube channels for videos with more information about that topic. I have personally just had good luck with Samsung MicroSD cards.

This was meant to be a short post, but oh well.

@Sturmlocke

Do you know of any game parsing programs that will work natively in Linux?

Hail G, hm, good question. One or two things comes to mind, but before we get into that, is there anything specific that you're looking out for or wanting to do (game log files, anything engine or code related)? Will look it up and brainstorm with my wife once we know what your idea is here.

Well, might as well post a few interesting news while I'm here

First up: Ubuntu 23.04 “Lunar Lobster” has been released!

• https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/ubuntu-23-04-released
• https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/upgrade-to-ubuntu-23-04
• https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/ubuntu-23-04-flavors-released
• https://canonical.com/blog/canonical-releases-ubuntu-23-04-lunar-lobster

With this new release comes a batch of new drivers for everything in your pc, a brand new installer (the latter is still a bit rough around the edges though, there may be dragons, stick to LTS for stability), performance tweaks, new features, new software and much more. One of the most important factors to consider during this release cycle is the fact that the Steam Snap has now officially left the Beta channel and is now considered stable software ready for daily use. I quote:

Ubuntu is going the extra-mile again: The new Steam Snap will now ship with the newest and greatest for your Linux gaming rig, including but not limited to the newest gpu drivers, libraries, tools and more. I am currently using and testing this new release, no issues so far. In addition to this great news, Valve has updated its old Steam client, which is now fully hardware accelerated on Linux, see here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/...ade-with-new-overlay-screenshot-manager-more/

Next up: Proton 8 (and 8.0-2) has been released and can now be selected in Steam, just like every other Proton version thus far.

• https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/...-further-improve-steam-deck-and-linux-gaming/
• https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/...-for-steam-deck-linux-upgraded-with-proton-8/
• https://steamdeckhq.com/news/proton-8-0-is-now-available-fixes-playable-games/

This new Proton 8 version brings us some major advancements, some of which were previously available via the Proton Experimental channel thus far. For example, DXVK is the underlying translation tech that is responsible for translating our old DirectX9 EQ2 client to the much more modern and performant Vulkan API, and it has been updated to version 2.0+. I mentioned this in an earlier post further above, but here is a small recap:

• https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases/tag/v2.0
• Shader cache topic has been addressed
• Meaning that you can now benefit from even higher performance and less or no stuttering due to shaders being cached (see my previous posts)
• The relevant Vulkan features are currently only supported by Nvidia drivers version 520.56.06 or later
• In other words, Nvidia users just need to use Proton 8, Ubuntu 22.04 and higher and the Nvidia driver version 520 or higher in order to reap the benefits of these performance improvements
• AMD users will have to wait for the open source Mesa drivers to at least reach version 23.1, which might land this summer, if everything goes according to plan
• AMD users can already test this feature with Mesa driver version 23.0 by adding the following command to their game launching options in Steam: RADV_PERFTEST=gpl %command%
• More info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/10rrwmg/radv_perftestgpl_is_awesome_for_dxvk_games/
• And here: https://www.phoronix.com/news/RADV-GPL-Libraries-Shader-Cache
• nothing to see here

Last but not least: Ubuntu 23.10 is already in the works and has been codenamed "Mantic Minotaur"

See here for more info:

• https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/ubuntu-23-10-codename-revealed
• https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-23-10-mantic-minotaur-is-slated-for-release-on-october-12th-2023

And much, much more. Just sticking to what spontanously comes to mind. A bunch of great updates for us Linux gamers, more improvements are going live week after week. I predict a considerable bump in gaming numbers by the end of 2023 / 2024 if improvements continue to land at the current rate. Impressive to say the least. Feel free to ask any questions if you have any, will try to help out where I can.

Cheers!