Sunday, October 17, 2010

Install Modern Warfare 2(MW2) on Ubuntu 10.10 with Steam

Installing Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2(MW2) with Steam is very simple in Ubuntu 10.10.  I assume that running the standard MW2 installation in Wine will also work fine but seeing as I am a Steam user I decided to take the extra step of installing MW2 via Steam.  Everything works great too, I am running the game at 1920x1080 with no lag or choppiness.  The installation is basically the same as the Windows installation except for the extra step of installing Wine.

Step 1: Install Wine
To install steam and play the game you will need to first install Wine.  To install the latest version of Wine simply open the "Ubuntu Software Center" and the search for "wine" and the install "Wine Microsoft Windows Compatibility Later(Beta Realease)".

Installing Wine via the Ubuntu Software Center


Step 2: Install Steam
To install  Steam just head over to the steam website http://store.steampowered.com/about/ and download the Windows installer.  After you have downloaded the installer you need to give the file execute permissions before you can run it so just right click the file and go "Properties" -> "Permissions Tab" and then check "Allow executing file as program".  Now just double click the installer and the Steam install wizard will appear and you can just follow the steps as you normally would

Steam running in Ubuntu 10.10 with Wine

Step 3: Install MW2
This step is pretty damn easy, just install MW2 via Steam like you would normally on Windows and then you are good to go.  Note: the installing DirectX step of the MW2 installer took a while to complete, don't worry it works just give it a few minutes.

MW2 running like a dream on Ubuntu 10.10
So that's really it, super easy and working perfectly.

I'm really pleased with the performance of MW2 using Wine and Steam, up until now I have kept a dual boot with Win7 for playing games but now I can finally do away with Windows altogether.

20 comments:

  1. I cant get it work. When I have installed wine, then installed MW2 and then want to load Multiplayer part, it first shows me a black screen, then close the game and go back to desktop where my screen resolution have been change to worse. Do you know why?

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  2. @user What graphics card and wine version are you using? I'm assuming you are using ubuntu 10.10? Are you installing the Steam version or the regular version?

    I'm using NVIDIA restricted drivers with wine wine-1.2.1 on Ubuntu 10.10 and installing the Steam version of MW2

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  3. @jamespcole
    Thanks, I formatted my pc and installed the game again. Now it seems to works :D But when I play multiplayer, there is some lag ? :( Do you know why ?

    My graphics card is ATI 5830 and I have installed the driver through System -> administration -> additional drivers. Is that correct or should I download the latest driver from ATI site and install that ?

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  4. Forgot to mention that I use wine version 1.2.1 (same as you) on Ubuntu 10.10 and installed the Steam version of the game

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  5. @user Have you tried turning down some of the game video settings(particularly the smoke and shadow rendering) as these can slow things down. I have had some issues in the past with 3d performance with ATI cards in previous version of Ubuntu so that may be it. But my first recommendation would be to tweak the in game video settings(maybe set everything to lowest and then start increasing the quality and seeing where the lagging kicks in). I hope this helps, let me know what sort of results you get and i'll add it into the guide.

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  6. THANKS! Not playing mw2 on ubuntu was the only thing that kept me having a windows partiton on my pc!!
    I'm looking forward to buy a new laptop soon and I need some help, I want it to be under $1500, running ubuntu 10.10 ONLY, and I want to be able to play MW2 with a decent resolution, any suggestions?
    Thanks in advance.

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  7. @Carlos M. I recommend checking out http://system76.com or http://zareason.com/shop/home.php if you want some guaranteed ubuntu friendly hardware, reasonable prices too.

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  8. I use Ubuntu 10.10, wine 1.2.1, Restricted ATI drivers for Radeon HD 5770. I can't get any game to run, nevermind MW2. I've tried Counter Strike Source, Global Agenda, City of Heroes, L4D2. Games meant for Linux run fine, all these games run in Windows. I think there are challenges with proper Radeon support, FYI.

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  9. Just install POL: Play on Linux First.
    It automates the process of installing windows games and software.

    wget -q "http://deb.playonlinux.com/public.gpg" -O - | sudo apt-key add -


    sudo wget http://deb.playonlinux.com/playonlinux_maverick.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playonlinux.list


    sudo apt-get update


    sudo apt-get install playonlinux

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  10. After I installed steam and put in my username and password, Steam opens and 5 seconds later, It crashes. What am I doing wrong? Thanks!!!! :)

    ~dalew101

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  11. if this works tomorrow,I declare you as linux god

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  12. MY steam crashes too after login ;)

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  13. In ubuntu 11.04 i wouldn't recommend using PlayOnLinux, Mw2 is way too laggy to play, and even the steam window is acting weird under PlayOnLinux. i'm trying with wine ATM.

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  14. Nope Wine is no good either. have no idea why..
    I have a NVidia 9800gt Gfx card, and installed drivers through ubuntu. have a 3.00Ghz dualcore cpu, and 4Gigs of ram.

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  15. I found it out!!!! You need winetricks if steam opens and crashes!!!!!

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  16. well it's strange.. I have install mw2 on 2 desktop with ubuntu 10.04 lTS on my first installation (first pc) working perfect, but on my second tries to start and then nothing.. It's exit automatically without any error msg or something... given me a blank screen and then the game quit... Any ideas guys?? Thank you!!!!

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  17. My single players works well!Ty.But when i open multiplayers and i load a ny map i loads a bit and stops forever,i have wairted like 10 min and it diddnt change.Please help@

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  18. i am using ubuntu 13.10, and wine 1.6

    i was installing MW2 setup.exe, its showing me this message

    "Runtime Error (at-1:0):

    Cannot Import dll:c\users\abhinav\temp\is-I0KMO.tmp\isskin.dll."

    Please help me on this.

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