Posted September 08, 2015
I thought I'd start a thread about windows-only games that are available on GOG, and can be run natively on Linux. There are a few different ways that this can happen. In some cases, the original game engine has been open sourced, and there are engine ports available on Linux. In other cases, the game was originally available on Linux, and the Linux client is still available online. Sometimes, there is a community built engine replacement that runs on Linux. The community built engines aren't always feature-complete compared to the original engine, and are likely less stable too. Generally, in all cases, you still need to own a copy of the windows game to play on Linux. The only one where this isn't complete true is Quake, where there have been open source assets created as well. Still, to play true Quake, you need to own the game.
I'm not going to do a step by step on getting these to work or anything - if you're running Linux, you should be able to install packages. In most cases, the required packages are available in some repository or another. I'm running Arch, and all of these were either in the community repository or available on the AUR. In other cases, it's simply a matter of copying executables or assets around.
Screenshots shown are all of the beginning of a new game. They are all taken at 1600x900, where available.
Here's a list of the windows-only games that I have / know of that run on Linux:
Arx Fatalis (Open sourced engine):
The original engine was open sourced, and the community created a cross-platform engine called Arx Libertatis. On Arch this one was super simple to install. The AUR had a package to install the engine, and a second package to install the game data from a GOG setup archive. In addition to that, the Arx Libertatis website has very good documentation on install and setup.
Website
Screenshot
Descent 3 (Original Port):
The licensing on this one is a little vague. This was a port done by Loki, who are now out of business. Due to the uncertainty about licensing, I'm not going to post a link to the files, but rest assured, as of today, they are still available. There can be some difficulties getting things to run because the port is a little dated. I can't get the movies to play at all, which results in a black screen of death. Renaming the movies made the game play fine - just without cutscenes.
Screenshot
Morrowind (Community built engine replacement):
This is an impressive display of community effort! The OpenMW engine is an open source, cross-platform engine replacement. It isn't feature complete, and it isn't perfect, so if you're looking for the "original" Morrowind feel - use wine. I haven't yet played a whole lot of Morrowind with OpenMW, but I haven't had any problems so far. Setup was very easy, and the OpenMW website has pretty good documentation.
Website
Screenshot
Neverwinter Nights (Original Port):
This is an original port that was made available by Bioware. I'm going to link to a forum post on Bioware's forums that contains the necessary files, so I'll assume if Bioware hasn't purged these files from their own forums, that the license is OK. Setup was easy - I just followed the linked how-to. I've never played NWN on windows, but I've finished the main game a few times on Linux.
Website
Screenshot
Quake (Open sourced engine):
There are quite a few Quake engines available. I prefer to use darkplaces by Icculus. It contains several improvements over the original quake engine, and runs really well. Installation is easy - there are only a few file required from the original game.
Website
Screenshot
I was planning to talk about GemRB, which is an open source engine replacement like OpenMW for Bioware's Infinity Engine games, but GOG markets those as Linux games. GOG's version is using WINE, but it runs just fine, and is probably a little more stable/complete than GemRB.
I'm not going to do a step by step on getting these to work or anything - if you're running Linux, you should be able to install packages. In most cases, the required packages are available in some repository or another. I'm running Arch, and all of these were either in the community repository or available on the AUR. In other cases, it's simply a matter of copying executables or assets around.
Screenshots shown are all of the beginning of a new game. They are all taken at 1600x900, where available.
Here's a list of the windows-only games that I have / know of that run on Linux:
Arx Fatalis (Open sourced engine):
The original engine was open sourced, and the community created a cross-platform engine called Arx Libertatis. On Arch this one was super simple to install. The AUR had a package to install the engine, and a second package to install the game data from a GOG setup archive. In addition to that, the Arx Libertatis website has very good documentation on install and setup.
Website
Screenshot
Descent 3 (Original Port):
The licensing on this one is a little vague. This was a port done by Loki, who are now out of business. Due to the uncertainty about licensing, I'm not going to post a link to the files, but rest assured, as of today, they are still available. There can be some difficulties getting things to run because the port is a little dated. I can't get the movies to play at all, which results in a black screen of death. Renaming the movies made the game play fine - just without cutscenes.
Screenshot
Morrowind (Community built engine replacement):
This is an impressive display of community effort! The OpenMW engine is an open source, cross-platform engine replacement. It isn't feature complete, and it isn't perfect, so if you're looking for the "original" Morrowind feel - use wine. I haven't yet played a whole lot of Morrowind with OpenMW, but I haven't had any problems so far. Setup was very easy, and the OpenMW website has pretty good documentation.
Website
Screenshot
Neverwinter Nights (Original Port):
This is an original port that was made available by Bioware. I'm going to link to a forum post on Bioware's forums that contains the necessary files, so I'll assume if Bioware hasn't purged these files from their own forums, that the license is OK. Setup was easy - I just followed the linked how-to. I've never played NWN on windows, but I've finished the main game a few times on Linux.
Website
Screenshot
Quake (Open sourced engine):
There are quite a few Quake engines available. I prefer to use darkplaces by Icculus. It contains several improvements over the original quake engine, and runs really well. Installation is easy - there are only a few file required from the original game.
Website
Screenshot
I was planning to talk about GemRB, which is an open source engine replacement like OpenMW for Bioware's Infinity Engine games, but GOG markets those as Linux games. GOG's version is using WINE, but it runs just fine, and is probably a little more stable/complete than GemRB.
Post edited September 08, 2015 by hummer010