Posted September 11, 2025
Here is a guide about how to run Empire Earth 1 on Linux.
1. Install the "Heroic Games Launcher", login there with your GOG account and install Empire Earth Gold
There are alternative ways of installing EE, but at the moment you cannot install GOG directly on Linux.
2. Install the drexmod for EE and the addon of EE
This mod makes it much easier to run EE on Linux.
If you have no access to the drexmod files, then download it directly from
drive.google.com/file/d/1VgC_H4uxhMyVsPIS2PnkkoI97lpHY4cL/view
In the "dreXmod.config" file you need to enter the screen resolution. E.g. it can look like this:
<MenuSettings>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<ResolutionWidth>1920</ResolutionWidth>
<ResolutionHeight>1080</ResolutionHeight>
</MenuSettings>
At this point you may already be able to launch EE by typing
wine "Empire Earth.exe"
in the terminal (assuming the terminal has been opened in the folder of the exe file).
In some cases this may even be the better option rather than using Proton (see below).
If the EE music does not play during games, then you probably need to install missing DLLs with winetricks using the following terminal command:
winetricks directmusic
If Wine does not work out of the box, then you can try to launch EE with the Heroic Games Launcher.
Here you need to enable the Steam version of Proton, because the GE-Proton versions in the Heroic Games Launcher create problems (e.g. you may not see the main menu in full resolution or your mouse will start lagging)
2. In the Heroic Games Launcher go to the global Settings and navigate to the "Advanced" tab
Tick the check box of "Allow using Valve Proton build to run games"
3. Make sure Steam is installed and that Proton Experimental is installed via Steam.
You can try other Proton versions on Steam as well, but the newest one is usually with the most advanced features.
4. Go to the Empire Earth settings in the Heroic Games Launcher
Select the Steam version of Proton (e.g. "Proton - Proton - Experimental") in the "Wine Version" dropdown
Next you need to set some Wine configurations.
5. Click on WINECFG at the bottom of the EE settings window in the Heroic Games Launcher.
Then a window named "Wine configuration" should pop up.
In this window go to the Applications tab and can set your preferred windows version (e.g. I am using Windows 8.1).
6. In the Graphics tab make sure that
"Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows" is checked
In addition
"Allow the window manager to decorate the windows" is unchecked in my settings, while enabled the
"Allow the window manager to control the windows" option. Although this may not make much difference.
However, it is very important that you do NOT check the box
"Emulate a virtual desktop", because if you emulate such a desktop, then the EE main menu (and the scenario editor) will be shrinked to a smaller window than your screen display can handle.
7. You can leave the other settings untouched. Then click on Ok.
I also recommend to add the following settings for EE in the Heroic Game Launcher:
8. Enable Wine-Wayland
Enable HDR
Limit DirectX Games FPS (use 15 or 20 for the FPS, because EE is not very well optimized in general)
9. Close the settings
Next we want to open the DirectX wrapper window with the Heroic Game Launcher.
This will allow us to set the DirectX configuration for EE.
10. Open EE - DirectX Setttings. In the dropdown list select the following options:
Display mode: Same as desktop (Default)
Presentation: Fullscreen
Aspect ratio correction: Enabled (Default)
Scaling method: Screen fit (Default)
Vertical synchronization: Disabled
Gamma correction: 1.0 (Default)
Anisotropic filtering: Enabled: AF 16x
Antialiasing: Enabled MSAA 8x
11. Click on Save
12. Do the same for EE - AOC DirectX Settings
Finally you can launch Empire Earth.
13. Make sure to select your own screen resolution in the ingame options.
14. In addition you should set the sensitivity of your mouse in the interface options of EE.
If the mouse sensitivity does not roughly match the mouse sensitivity in Linux, then your mouse pointer might start lagging or jumping around.
Also make sure that your Linux settings do not enable mouse acceleration or anything that could interfere the mouse behavior in EE.
Now you should be able to play EE and EE - AOC on a high resolution without any mouse problems. You should also be able to use the scenario editor on a somewhat decent resolution, although it is never as good as the actual game resolution.
1. Install the "Heroic Games Launcher", login there with your GOG account and install Empire Earth Gold
There are alternative ways of installing EE, but at the moment you cannot install GOG directly on Linux.
2. Install the drexmod for EE and the addon of EE
This mod makes it much easier to run EE on Linux.
If you have no access to the drexmod files, then download it directly from
drive.google.com/file/d/1VgC_H4uxhMyVsPIS2PnkkoI97lpHY4cL/view
In the "dreXmod.config" file you need to enter the screen resolution. E.g. it can look like this:
<MenuSettings>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<ResolutionWidth>1920</ResolutionWidth>
<ResolutionHeight>1080</ResolutionHeight>
</MenuSettings>
At this point you may already be able to launch EE by typing
wine "Empire Earth.exe"
in the terminal (assuming the terminal has been opened in the folder of the exe file).
In some cases this may even be the better option rather than using Proton (see below).
If the EE music does not play during games, then you probably need to install missing DLLs with winetricks using the following terminal command:
winetricks directmusic
If Wine does not work out of the box, then you can try to launch EE with the Heroic Games Launcher.
Here you need to enable the Steam version of Proton, because the GE-Proton versions in the Heroic Games Launcher create problems (e.g. you may not see the main menu in full resolution or your mouse will start lagging)
2. In the Heroic Games Launcher go to the global Settings and navigate to the "Advanced" tab
Tick the check box of "Allow using Valve Proton build to run games"
3. Make sure Steam is installed and that Proton Experimental is installed via Steam.
You can try other Proton versions on Steam as well, but the newest one is usually with the most advanced features.
4. Go to the Empire Earth settings in the Heroic Games Launcher
Select the Steam version of Proton (e.g. "Proton - Proton - Experimental") in the "Wine Version" dropdown
Next you need to set some Wine configurations.
5. Click on WINECFG at the bottom of the EE settings window in the Heroic Games Launcher.
Then a window named "Wine configuration" should pop up.
In this window go to the Applications tab and can set your preferred windows version (e.g. I am using Windows 8.1).
6. In the Graphics tab make sure that
"Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows" is checked
In addition
"Allow the window manager to decorate the windows" is unchecked in my settings, while enabled the
"Allow the window manager to control the windows" option. Although this may not make much difference.
However, it is very important that you do NOT check the box
"Emulate a virtual desktop", because if you emulate such a desktop, then the EE main menu (and the scenario editor) will be shrinked to a smaller window than your screen display can handle.
7. You can leave the other settings untouched. Then click on Ok.
I also recommend to add the following settings for EE in the Heroic Game Launcher:
8. Enable Wine-Wayland
Enable HDR
Limit DirectX Games FPS (use 15 or 20 for the FPS, because EE is not very well optimized in general)
9. Close the settings
Next we want to open the DirectX wrapper window with the Heroic Game Launcher.
This will allow us to set the DirectX configuration for EE.
10. Open EE - DirectX Setttings. In the dropdown list select the following options:
Display mode: Same as desktop (Default)
Presentation: Fullscreen
Aspect ratio correction: Enabled (Default)
Scaling method: Screen fit (Default)
Vertical synchronization: Disabled
Gamma correction: 1.0 (Default)
Anisotropic filtering: Enabled: AF 16x
Antialiasing: Enabled MSAA 8x
11. Click on Save
12. Do the same for EE - AOC DirectX Settings
Finally you can launch Empire Earth.
13. Make sure to select your own screen resolution in the ingame options.
14. In addition you should set the sensitivity of your mouse in the interface options of EE.
If the mouse sensitivity does not roughly match the mouse sensitivity in Linux, then your mouse pointer might start lagging or jumping around.
Also make sure that your Linux settings do not enable mouse acceleration or anything that could interfere the mouse behavior in EE.
Now you should be able to play EE and EE - AOC on a high resolution without any mouse problems. You should also be able to use the scenario editor on a somewhat decent resolution, although it is never as good as the actual game resolution.
Post edited September 26, 2025 by Tira
