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c/sims2 · by LeighWeighTacoma@lemmy.world · 8d

Playing Sims 2 on Linux (continued): Lutris & Wine [wiki]

<- Back to Wiki Guide

<-- Back to How to Install on Linux: Intro, Steam & Bottles

Please Note: This is copied from Reddit's r/TheSims2Help's Playing on Linux Wiki page. Any linked headings will be linked back to the Reddit Wiki. In line links should denote where they go (reddit, lemmy, tumbler) anything not mentioned is probably another off reddit guide or .exe file. Most if not all content contained below was created by the Reddit r/Sims2Help team and all credit for this guide goes to them.

Linux Continued: Lutris & Wine

6. Lutris

::: spoiler 6.1) Installing without Script

  1. Download + install Lutris here.
  2. Open Lutris + allow it to finish installing any dependencies (bottom left corner)
  3. Press the plus button in the top left and select install a Windows game from an executable. Give the game a name and keep installer preset on Windows 10 64-bit.
  4. Click install Wine.
  5. Select the setup file and click install; it will load for a minute or so. The Sims 2 installer will then pop up.
  6. Go through the installer, you can leave everything on the default unless there is something you specifically want to change. Do not select DXVK in the Sims 2 installer (as this is handled by Lutris instead).
  7. Once installed, right click on the game in Lutris and click configure
    • Game options tab
      • if not using RPC/running from Sims2EP9.exe, you can run in windowed mode by adding -w to arguments in this tab
      • for executable, click 3 dots button beside it to change it
        • To launch via RPC: /home/<user-name>/Games/<prefix>/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin/Sims2RPC.exe
        • To launch RPC settings: /home/<user-name>/Games/<prefix>/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin/Sims2RPCSettings.exe you can change settings (e.g. set to windowed mode, adjust lot imposters, etc.) and then revert to using the RPC executable, the settings will still apply if you pressed save.
          • you can also edit RPC settings manually in ~/Documents/Sims2RPC/settings.txt or /home/<user-name>/Games/<prefix>/drive_c/users/<user-name>/My Documents/Sims2RPC
      • System Options tab
        • select which GPU to use if you have multiple
        • ‘Prefer system libraries’ in this tab should be enabled.
        • ‘Disable lutris runtime’ should be disabled (can cause issues).
      • Runner options tab
        • Enable DXVK and D3D extras should be enabled.
        • I kept Wine version on GE-Proton (Latest) (default) though some people use Experimental versions (the screenshot shows Wine-GE-8-26 as I took this screenshot later and had to change versions for the EA App to work) - I recommend leaving it on the default unless you have an issue then try changing it

The game did freeze on launch once for me occasionally but quitting via lutris and rerunning, it ran fine. :::

::: spoiler 6.2) Lutris Install Script You can use the Lutris install script to install if you prefer. It's available here though all this script really seems to automate is selecting the right exe for the prefix for you. When you click the yellow install button that site, click “Open Link” in the dialog (it may take a few seconds for the button to become clickable).

This will open Lutris where you click the green Install button to proceed and then select the setup file and click install. When the installer window is finished, it takes a few seconds to complete on the main window - don't click abort, just wait and then it will show the final complete window. Click launch to launch the game immediately or close if you don't want to run it yet.

The other things this script does include installing the arial font, which may be required on some machines due to different distros or locales, etc. - I had no issues with fonts in game without using this script/installing the font, though I used Ubuntu for these tests, which may include it already.

It also modifies the graphics rules file to increase max res width and height but this shouldn't be required anymore (if you’re using our downloaded UC or the Legacy Collection) as the repack is using the Legacy Collection graphics rules file. :::

::: spoiler 6.3) Installing via EA App You can either follow the same steps for installing without script outlined above but using the EA App executable instead of the Sims 2 installer executable, you can use the EA App Lutris Script or you can follow the steps below to use the Lutris 'sources' options, though this option was the least stable for me as it kept freezing and failing to actually launch the EA App. :::

::: spoiler 6.4) Install EA App via Lutris Sources

  1. In Lutris, under Sources click the person/connect icon beside EA App.
  2. Click okay on the popup and click install Wine.
  3. Select install directory (default is fine) and select options if you want shortcut.
  4. Either click install with the download version or change source from the dropdown on the right to select file and point at your ea app installer file (Windows executable from EA).
  5. Login when prompted then close EA app.
  6. Wait for lutris install to finish.
  7. Click connect icon again beside EA App in Lutris sources + sign in if prompted
  8. On EA App tab, once games load, find The Sims 2, click it and click Install and continue through the install.
  9. It may fail to launch ea app, or it may launch it but fail to find Sims 2/say you don't own it. You can just go to Sims 2 in your ea app library and click install instead
  10. Once installed, click play from within the app. It will launch as normal

Note that I had to change Wine runner to Wine-GE-8-26 under Runner Options for the EA App to work as it was having issues with the default runner. :::

::: spoiler 6.5) Lutris - where are my files? The prefix name for Lutris depends on the name you entered when you installed the Sims 2 - if you install via the EA App, you must look within the EA App prefix.

Save folder path: /home/<user-name>/Games/<prefix-name>/drive_c/users/<user-name>/My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2

e.g. /home/<user-name>/Games/the-sims-2/drive_c/users/<user-name>/My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2

Install path: /home/<user-name>/Games/the-sims-2/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin

To get the files location, click the up arrow beside the play button in Lutris (or just right click on the game) and click browse files. This brings up a Files window at path /home/<user-name>/Games/<prefix> -> from here drive_c is basically a Windows C drive which will contain your install and save folders. Navigate into drive_c -> users -> steamuser -> Documents -> EA Games -> The Sims 2. this is your save folder and this is where your Downloads folder will go as well. :::

::: spoiler 6.6) Troubleshooting Lutris

Troubleshooting Lutris Reddit Wiki

gamemodeauto: dlopen failed - libgamemode.so

If you get error gamemodeauto: dlopen failed - libgamemode.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Go to Lutris > Preferences > Global Options > CPU > Enable Feral GameMode and toggle to off.

libGL error: MESA-LOADER: failed to open iris

If you get errors like this

libGL error: MESA-LOADER: failed to open iris: /usr/lib/pressure-vessel/overrides/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri/iris_dri.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory (search paths /usr/lib/pressure-vessel/overrides/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri:/usr/lib/pressure-vessel/overrides/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri)
libGL error: failed to load driver: iris
libGL error: MESA-LOADER: failed to open iris: /usr/lib/pressure-vessel/overrides/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri/iris_dri.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory (search paths /usr/lib/pressure-vessel/overrides/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri:/usr/lib/pressure-vessel/overrides/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri)
libGL error: failed to load driver: iris
libGL error: MESA-LOADER: failed to open swrast: /usr/lib/pressure-vessel/overrides/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri/swrast_dri.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory (search paths /usr/lib/pressure-vessel/overrides/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri:/usr/lib/pressure-vessel/overrides/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri)
libGL error: failed to load driver: swrast
X Error of failed request:  GLXBadContext

Running these commands in terminal should fix it

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update
sudo apt install \
  libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 \
  libgl1:i386 \
  libvulkan1:i386 \
  mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386

NVidia GPU Get Driver Version

if you have a Nvidia GPU, check driver version using the command nvidia-smi which gives output like

| NVIDIA-SMI 535.154.05    Driver Version: 535.154.05    CUDA Version: 12.2   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Run command to get the graphics library package for your driver (make sure to use your driver version, the command below uses 535 matching the driver version from the output of nvidia-smi).

sudo apt install libnvidia-gl-535:i386

Check vulkan support

Use the command vulkaninfo | grep deviceName which gives output like

WARNING: [Loader Message] Code 0 : terminator_CreateInstance: Received return code -9 from call to vkCreateInstance in ICD libvulkan_dzn.so. Skipping this driver.
    deviceName        = Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)
    deviceName        = Quadro RTX 3000
    deviceName        = llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.8, 256 bits) # software renderer

EA App Issues (games CTD, EA App black screen, unresponsive, etc.)

For some more information on options you can change in Lutris to increase EA App stability, see this Reddit thread.

"steam_app_######" is not responding message

Please see this Reddit thread for more info if you are getting this message frequently. The command ``gsettings set org.gnome.mutter check-alive-timeout XXXX` can reduce the message frequency by setting the value higher than the default of 5000 (5s), for example change it to 15000 (15s) or 20000 (20s). :::

7. Lutris: Running Related Programs

::: spoiler 7.1) Intro To run any Sims 2 related program with the game installed via Lutris, you have to run the program inside the same prefix. In Lutris, click The Sims 2 image and then select the up arrow to the left of the Platform text. Click run EXE inside Wine prefix, navigate to the program you want to run and select the executable. The program will launch much like on Windows. There are some more detailed instructions for several common programs below, but these instructions are generally applicable to running any Sims 2 related program. Note that some other programs may require you to install additional dependencies in the prefix. :::

::: spoiler 7.2) BodyShop In Lutris, click The Sims 2 image and then select the up arrow to the left of the Platform text. Click run EXE inside Wine prefix, navigate to the TS2BodyShop.exe (or BodyShopLauncher.exe if using the BodyShop widescreen UI or if you got the game from our wiki/MagiPacks, as it includes this launcher), and it'll open the same as on Windows. :::

::: spoiler 7.3) Hoodchecker Download the Hoodchecker and extract it from the zip archive, which will result in a folder containing the HoodChecker.exe.

In Lutris, click The Sims 2 image and then select the up arrow to the left of the Platform text. Click run EXE inside Wine prefix, navigate to the Hoodchecker.exe, and it'll open the same as on Windows. :::

::: spoiler 7.4) SimPE Download SimPE - I recommend using the no-install version, i.e. the download without Installer in the name, in this case SimPe_0_77_69.zip. Unzip it and you’ll see the SimPE.exe file inside the folder.

In Lutris, click The Sims 2 image and then select the up arrow to the left of the Platform text. Click run EXE inside Wine prefix, navigate to the SimPE.exe and it’ll open the same as on Windows. Note that you need to right click instead of left click on resources in the top right tree in order to see them in the plugin view below. :::

::: spoiler 7.5) Clean installer Download the Sims2Pack Clean Installer - I recommend using the no-install version, i.e. the download called Sims2PackInstaller_NoInstall.zip. Unzip it and you’ll see the Sims2Pack Clean Installer.exe inside the folder.

Update the save game path for the program by opening the S2PCI.ini file in this folder and modifying the SaveGamePath like so:

SaveGamePath="/home/<user-name>/Games/<prefix>/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2"

Make sure to actually put in your user name and the prefix! In my case, the prefix was called the-sims-2 because I chose the name The Sims 2 when installing via Lutris.

Click run EXE inside Wine prefix, navigate to the Sims2Pack Clean Installer.exe and it’ll open the same as on Windows.

Note that this not how you install sims2pack files, the program does not function this way on any OS which many players find confusing. To install a sims2pack file, you have to "open with" the Clean Installer. On Windows that's done via the 'open with' context menu option or by setting up a file association so you can double click the sims2pack file to install with the Clean Pack installer automatically.

How to do this on Linux is detailed below. :::

::: spoiler 7.6) Installing .sims2pack files by double clicking In terminal, run the commands

cd  /home/<user-name>/.local/share/applications/
nano CleanInstaller.desktop

Copy and paste the following into the file - make sure that you enter your actual user name wherever <user-name> is used, and make sure to change the wine runner used if yours is not wine-ge-8-26-x86_64.

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=CleanInstaller
Exec=env WINEPREFIX=/home/<user-name>/Games/<prefix>/ /home/<user-name>/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine/wine-ge-8-26-x86_64/bin/wine "/home/<user-name>/Downloads/Sims2Tools/MTS_Mootilda_1164470_Sims2PackInstaller_NoInstall/Sims2Pack Clean Installer/Sims2Pack Clean Installer.exe" %U
Terminal=false
Categories=Game;
MimeType=application/x-sims2pack;

You may need to make the file executable for it to show up in the context menu

chmod +x /home/<user-name>/.local/share/applications/CleanInstaller.desktop

You can now right click on a .sims2pack, choose "Open with" and select "CleanInstaller" in the window that pops up (note that my example image has a bunch of these because I created one for each Linux install method! You only need one) - make sure to click the toggle at the bottom to "always use for this file type" which will then allow you to double click to install sims2pack files in future.

You will find a similar tutorial for doing this in this Tumblr post note that it uses the command

Exec=WINEPREFIX="/home/[insert PC name]/Games/the-sims-2/" "/home/[insert PC name]/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine/wine-ge-8-26-x86_64/bin/wine" "[insert path to CleanInstaller.exe]" %U

Note that WINEPREFIX alone does not work here on GNOME, it simply won't show the entry in the 'open with' menu. This is why we add env in front of it in the example above. If you are on Fedora, the linked Tumblr version will work for you as it handles mapping the paths differently. :::

::: spoiler 7.7) EA App Install Differences If you installed the game via the EA app (i.e. your Lutris prefix is for the EA app not the Sims 2), the contents of your Desktop file need to be slightly different. Copy and paste this instead - make sure to put swap in your user name, prefix (ea-app is used here) and wine runner if using a different version.

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=CleanInstaller
Exec=sh -c 'WINEPREFIX=/home/<user-name>/Games/ea-app /home/<user-name>/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine/wine-ge-8-26-x86_64/bin/wine "/home/<user-name>/Downloads/Sims2Tools/MTS_Mootilda_1164470_Sims2PackInstaller_NoInstall/Sims2Pack Clean Installer/Sims2Pack Clean Installer.exe" "$(/home/<user-name>/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine/wine-ge-8-26-x86_64/bin/winepath -w "$1")"' -- %u
Terminal=false
Categories=Game;
MimeType=application/x-sims2pack;

You can technically run it without the additional arguments however it requires both the Clean Installer and the sims2pack files you want to install to be located in the prefix or to use a bash script to ensure the correct paths are mapped, so the above method is best as it allows you to install sims2pack files from anywhere and it doesn't matter where Clean Installer is located. :::

8. Wine

::: spoiler 8.1) Installing Note: you don't have to repeat commands like export WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2 if you're using the same terminal session. I added them in a few places just to be sure anyone following alongs executes commands in the right prefix if they accidentally closed the terminal in between commands.

Create a 32-bit prefix 
export WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2
export WINEARCH=win32
wineboot -u
winetricks d3dx9 corefonts wininet
wine /path/to/your/setup.exe
For that last step, the path looks like wine "/home/<user-name>/Downloads/The_Sims_2_Repack_v5/The Sims 2_Repack_v5_Setup.exe". Make sure to include quotation marks when the path includes spaces. Running this command will launch the installer - step through it to install game.
Download DXVK from the latest release - it's the tar.gz archive you need to download.
Run the commands 
cd ~/Downloads # or wherever you downloaded DXVK to
tar -xzf dxvk-2.7.1.tar.gz # change version if using a newer one
cd dxvk-2.7.1
export WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2
cp x32/*.dll $WINEPREFIX/drive_c/windows/system32
To avoid D3DERR_INVALID_CALL on launch, run command winecfg to see the wine config and click the libraries tab. In the dropdown at the top search for and add:

d3d9
d3dx9_36
d3dx9_30

Click Apply and close window.

Run the game: 
export WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2
wine "$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin/Sims2EP9.exe"

or just wine "$HOME/.sims2/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin/Sims2EP9.exe"

To run in windowed mode use wine "$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin/Sims2EP9.exe" -w

Note these commands are using Sims2EP9.exe - you can of course swap this out for Sims2RPC.exe to use RPC, though you need to use a different runner. See the section on RPC below for more details.

If you have a Nvidia GPU and want to be sure the game uses it, use these commands to run the game 
export WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2                          
__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 \
__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia \
__VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only \
wine "C:\\MagiPacks\\The Sims 2\\Fun with Pets\\SP9\\TSBin\\Sims2EP9.exe"

You can also make a bash script to run the game, this allows you to run the game using just one command but will execute all the commands in the script for you each time. For example, create the script using nano run-sims2.sh and copy contents:

#!/bin/bash export WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2 export __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS=1 # only useful for nvidia gpu wine "$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin/Sims2EP9.exe" And then simply using ./run-sims2.sh to run the game in future (as long as you're in the same folder as script). :::

::: spoiler 8.2 )RPC

If you want to install RPC or if you are using a repack such as MagiPack which includes RPC, you need to download the latest version of GE-Proton, which is 10-34 at the time of writing, and extract it. This is necessary because trying to run with the default wine leads to errors:

wine "$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin/Sims2RPC.exe" will give "wine: Unhandled page fault on read access to 78995600 at address 78995600 (thread 011c), starting debugger..." wine "$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin/Sims2RPCSettings.exe" will give 0024:err:mscoree:CLRRuntimeInfo_GetRuntimeHost Wine Mono is not installed And while you can resolve some of these errors by installing dependencies winetricks dotnet48 vcrun2015, this will only resolve the issues with Sims2RPCSettings.exe and will not allow the actual game to run. Likely there is some other dependency missing which is already included in GE-Proton so it is easier to just use that version of wine.

You can then use ~/Downloads/GE-Proton10-34/files/bin/wine "/home//.sims2/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin/Sims2RPC.exe" to run via RPC.

To run RPC Settings, you need to change to the TSBin directory or you will get a "Can't find Sims2RPC executable" error when you click "Save and Play".

cd "$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/TSBin" ~/Downloads/GE-Proton10-34/files/bin/wine Sims2RPCSettings.exe :::

::: spoiler 8.3) Troubleshooting D3DERR_INVALID_CALL on launch

See step 4 of the install instructions above for how to resolve this error. Installing via the EA App with wine

This does not currently work at the moment, or at least not on this distro (Ubuntu) - I tried many solutions and the EA App simply would not install and run currently solely using Wine. The installer will open and run until about 95% completion and then the bar will not proceed any further. Likely there is some dependency issue here as there are similar issues reported with the EA App on WineHQ.

If you really want to use the EA App, I recommend picking another method (Steam, Bottles, or Lutris) for installing on Linux.

Some useful links if you are attempting to install the EA App with Wine:

Gecko
Mono-Gecko Install
Wine dependecies required for Origin

For the EA App, you would need a 64-bit prefix with some additional dependencies

export WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2-ea-app export WINEARCH=win64 wineboot -u WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2-ea-app winetricks -q dxvk d3dx9 corefonts wininet d3dcompiler_47 WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2-ea-app winetricks vcrun2022 tahoma arial WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2-ea-app winetricks dotnet48 wget https://dl.winehq.org/wine/wine-gecko/2.47.4/wine-gecko-2.47.4-x86.msi # download 32-bit gecko wget https://dl.winehq.org/wine/wine-gecko/2.47.4/wine-gecko-2.47.4-x86_64.msi # download 64-bit gecko WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2-ea-app wine msiexec /i wine-gecko-2.47.4-x86.msi # install 32-bit gecko WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.sims2-ea-app wine msiexec /i wine-gecko-2.47.4-x86_64.msi # install 64-bit gecko winetricks -q htmlhelp winhttp webview2 # may not all be required :::

9. Wine: Running Related Programs

::: spoiler 9.1) BodyShop Use one of the following commands depending on which version of BodyShop you have

wine "C:\\MagiPacks\\The Sims 2\\Fun with Pets\\SP9\\CSBin\\TS2BodyShop.exe"

wine start /d "C:\\MagiPacks\\The Sims 2\\Fun with Pets\\SP9\\CSBin" BodyShopLauncher.exe

wine "$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/MagiPacks/The Sims 2/Fun with Pets/SP9/CSBin/BodyShopLauncher.exe" // only within the prefix in CSBin folder

wine "C:\\MagiPacks\\The Sims 2\\Fun with Pets\\SP9\\CSBin\\BodyShopLauncher.exe" // works only within the prefix in CSBin folder :::

::: spoiler 9.2) Hoodchecker Install the required dotnet dependency winetricks -q dotnet20

Then use this command to run Hoodchecker - note this assumes you're in the same folder as the exe. If not, cd into the folder or else provide the full path to it. wine HoodChecker.exe

::: spoiler 9.3) SimPE Use this command to run SimPE - note this assumes you're in the same folder as the exe. If not, cd into the folder or else provide the full path to it. wine SimPE.exe

I ran this after Hoodchecker, so I'm not sure if it requires dotnet20 too but if it fails to launch, try install dotnet20. :::

::: spoiler 9.4) CleanInstaller Use this command to run CleanInstaller- note this assumes you're in the same folder as the exe. If not, cd into the folder or else provide the full path to it.

wine 'Sims2Pack Clean Installer.exe'

Clean installer also accepts a folder argument which it uses to install all sims2pack files in the folder. For example

wine 'Sims2Pack Clean Installer.exe' -f ../../lots

The above command passes a relative path to a lots folder which contains sims2pack files. Sims2Pack Clean Installer installs all files in the folder (it will prompt for confirmation for each one though the prompt can be disabled in the ini file). You can also use an absolute rather than a relative path. :::

::: spoiler 9.5) Installing .sims2pack files by double clicking In terminal, run the commands

cd  /home/<user-name>/.local/share/applications/
nano CleanInstaller.desktop

Copy and paste the following into the file - make sure that you enter your actual user name wherever is used, and make sure to change the wine prefix name if yours is not .sim2.

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=CleanInstaller
Exec=env WINEPREFIX=/home/<user-name>/.sims2 /usr/bin/wine "/home/<user-name>/Downloads/MTS_Mootilda_1164470_Sims2PackInstaller_NoInstall/Sims2Pack Clean Installer/Sims2Pack Clean Installer.exe" %U
Terminal=false
Categories=Game;
MimeType=application/x-sims2pack;

This works with Clean Installer and Sims2pack files both inside and outside the prefix. You can now right click on a .sims2pack, choose "Open with" and select "CleanInstaller" in the window that pops up (note that my example image has a bunch of these because I created one for each Linux install method! You only need one) - make sure to click the toggle at the bottom to "always use for this file type" which will then allow you to double click to install sims2pack files in future. Neither the Clean Installer itself nor the .sims2pack files need to be located within the prefix itself with this method. :::

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