It worked before MINT 19 came out and I switched over. Maybe a few months ago it worked. Hardware is the same. Software went from 18 to 19 total reinstall.

It seems like something happened with WINE or POL or both since then.


after trying what LIN545 said...

"Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package wine:i386 is a virtual package provided by:
wine-development 3.6-1
wine-stable 3.0-1ubuntu1
You should explicitly select one to install.

E: Package 'wine:i386' has no installation candidate
"

Well, then, pick one:

wine-development 3.6-1:i386
or
wine-stable 3.0-1ubuntu1:i386

PlayOnLinux works for me on Mint 19... for STALKER you could try my Wine wrapper: https://www.gog.com/forum/stalker_series/stalker_for_linux - run it from the terminal to see what error messages it produces, if any.

In case you're missing any dependencies you could try installing my common dependencies meta-package and see if that helps.

I remember having problems with POL after I switched from Mint 18.3 to 19 (via upgrade), too.
According to the log files the issue was related to a certain fonts library (libfreetype). I don't recall how exactly I solved it, but somehow I did.

Maybe these ressources are helpful for you:
https://www.playonlinux.com/en/topic-15937.html
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=272814

Is it possible for Wine to decrease compatibility for certain games after an update? If not, then I don't care about switching versions.

That's an asterisk.

In most testing and general use, improvements are absolute or nothing overall happens in most application. Some games are just incredibly fickle.

(This can be seen on the Appdb on WineHQ.)

I've had similar problems with PoL. Some games worked fine, some (for example Thief), worked only first time after setup and then stopped, with the Wine crashing message.

Eventually I've tried Lutris and found that it takes a bit of learning, but it works. I've complained of Lutris so much and now I even like it more than PoL.

I think Diablo 2 was the last videogame thing I used wine for. I think it ran fine.

Meh Gumby Necromancer never got completely levelled. I didn't take Poison Dagger but I needed the AR.

And how exactly does one "choose"?

This is what I got

"sudo apt-get install wine-stable 3.0-1ubuntu1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package 3.0-1ubuntu1
E: Couldn't find any package by glob '3.0-1ubuntu1'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex '3.0-1ubuntu1'
"
What exactly is lutris? looks like it has connections to steam and I will not bother with steam.
Sorry, but I am not installing applications from people I don't even know.

If it's that good get GOG to start using it on their site officially.

My fault:
$ sudo apt-get install wine-development:i386

This is after adding 386 architecture.

The package you're after is "wine-stable". It'll install both 64 and 32 bit versions.

Suit yourself. If you're really that paranoid you can examine the contents of a deb package by right-clicking it in the file manager and opening it using the archive manager. As its just a meta-package it contains no files to install itself; instead it simply contains a list of other packages to install from the system repositories.

As for my Wine wrappers, you can just open the scripts in a text editor to inspect them as they're plain text. And in cases where I have to create any supporting tools I provide the source code for those as well :)

This is why I loathe game studios that disregard the Linux platform. Simply put if your not investing time and money into making a port into Linux OS then I'm not investing my money and time to play your game and their are many developers that treat Linux users with respect.

Luckily this is not the case, but I get why it seems to be. I got similar feelings about it before I tried.

Simply it is a runner. Think playOnLinux, capable of running automated scripts which will create your prefix with one click, install multiple wine versions, etc. The benefits I see comparing to PoL:
- it can sandbox each wine prefix, so you won't see windows folders in your ~ (with PoL I had to use firejail because of that)
- it can integrate all the tools necessary for gamepad to work in some games (for example I've never been able to play Spelunky or Rebel Galaxy with gamepad in PoL)
- if you use the automatic installers from the lutris page, they are super simple and you can check them easily beforehand.
- it actually works.
- you can run also non wine games with it and have it all in one place. (native, scummvm, dosbox, etc)

There is option to run also steam games, but you don't have to use it. There is also option to create some sort of online account, but I don't know why I should do that, so I don't, it is optional.

It's just a launcher tool, nothing evil or DRM ridden. It's up to you how will you use it.

Actually, the next STALKER will be on linux. Let's just hope it's steam free.

It won't. I know how Gregorovich ticks. His greediness levels.