I'm relatively new to Linux, but I'd like to try getting some of my beloved GOG games to run on it. I've already learned how to use the .sh files to install the game using the terminal commands, but every time I use the desktop shortcuts, nothing happens. Some of my games work fine, however. I'll list them below.

GAMES THAT WORK:
Oxenfree
FTL; Advanced Edition
Jill of the Jungle
Shadow Warrior
Stargunner


GAMES THAT DON'T (ones that don't launch)
Baldur's Gate (not Enhanced Edition)
Baldur's Gate 2 (not Enhanced Edition)
Planescape: Torment (not Enhanced Edition)
Septerra Core
Mable & The Wood

The list of games that don't launch simply do nothing when using the shortcut.

I've also been told on the Linux Mint forums that more details is more helpful, so here are my system specs. Yes, I know it's archaic, please don't laugh.

SYSTEM SPECS:
Linux Mint 21 Vanessa Cinnamon 5.4.12
Dell Inspiron 518
Mobo Dell 0K068D
Intel Core2 Quad Q8200
RAM: 4GB
NVIDIA GT218 [GeForce 210]
Intel 82801I HD Audio
Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411
Drives: ID-1: /dev/sda 600GB HDD, ID-2: /dev/sdb 400GB HDD


And before anyone tries to send me to this link;

https://www.gog.com/forum/baldurs_gate_series/baldurs_gate_trilogy_installation_guide_on_linux_mint

I've already read through that post and there's nothing there to help me. I'm also not trying to mod the game. I just want to run it vanilla.

Thanks to anyone who can help me!

If you start the game from a terminal, what output is produced? I expect this is the very frequently reported problem that Baldur's Gate requires an extremely outdated, and no longer installed by default, version of openssl. No one has succeeded in getting GOG to ship a works-out-of-the-box installer, nor in getting Beamdog to fix the game.

As I mentioned above, I'm still very new to Linux. While I've figured out how to *install* the game using the terminal, I don't yet know how to attempt to run the game via terminal.

The closest thing I know to do is to locate the BG files and attempt to run the start.sh file there. The line appears as

/home/username/GOG games/Baldurs Gate The Original Saga/start.sh

As a side note, does this require that I have WINE installed? Because I've been unable to get WINE to properly install and function.

I missed that you are specifically trying to use the non-Enhanced Edition games. I am not aware of a Linux-native non-Enhanced Edition version of these games. I assume if you want to run the non-EE, you need to do it under Wine. If so, then I am surprised that GOG even offered a Linux installer for a game that cannot actually run on Linux.

That start.sh path looks plausible. What happens when you run it?

Below is what I get when I try to run the vanilla game using the start.sh file as a command.


username@username:~$ '/home/username/GOG Games/Baldurs Gate The Original Saga/start.sh'
Running Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga
[drunk][14/11/2023_19:34:50] WINEDEBUG=trace+x11settings
[drunk][14/11/2023_19:34:50] WINEDLLOVERRIDES=mscoree,mshtml=
[drunk][14/11/2023_19:34:50] WINEPREFIX=/home/username/GOG Games/Baldurs Gate The Original Saga/drunk/../prefix/
[drunk][14/11/2023_19:34:50] starting wine
[drunk][14/11/2023_19:34:50] starting drunk daemon
[drunkd][14/11/2023_19:34:50] preparing to start drunkd
[drunk][14/11/2023_19:34:50] wine run ended
username@username:~$ [drunkd][14/11/2023_19:34:50] primary display device detected as: VGA-1
[drunkd][14/11/2023_19:34:50] current resolution stored: 1920x1080
[drunk][14/11/2023_19:34:50] waiting for BGMain2.exe to start

another one... Unlike Windoze (more often than not) Linux native games when you have problems launching them give you many opportunities to solve 90% via simple troubleshooting.
For this you get acquainted with the basics and that will cover those 90% of cases. You won't even need to post for help anywhere. Max sweat is Googling for 5 mins.

That output looks to me like GOG chose to ship a Windows version of the game and automatically run it under Wine. It is not clear to me whether GOG shipped a Wine too or if it is trying to use a system Wine.

For me, the Enhanced Editions (not the Classic Edition you are trying to use) work fine in Wine on Linux. I did not even need winetricks or similar special setup.

Given that this seems to be trying to use Wine internally, I think the next step is to get a basic Wine install to function, independent of this game. Get to where you can use Wine to open an Explorer window or play WineMine, then we can worry about making something complex like Baldur's Gate work. If you need help making Wine work, tell what you have done so far, and what happens.

As I've stated in the original post, I am NEW to Linux and still learning. So responses like this, which amount to a wordy version of "Git Gud", are not helpful. I've had similar responses on the Linux Mint forums where self-described "experts" offer no help and are only there to tell newbs how bad they are at learning a new OS. If you have a source for beginners' guide material, please offer a link. And, for the love of God, please display some use of proper grammar and punctuation. I'm not currently at my Linux PC. Once I've had a chance to attempt installing WINE again, I'll try to post the results in their entirety here for you to see. I appreciate your help!

For what it is worth, you are not the only one to whom osm has posted these unhelpful replies. They seem to be a fairly regular occurrence. In a concurrently active thread, osm posted merely to insult that user for choosing to try to run the Classic Edition instead of Enhanced Edition.

So, rather than attempt again to install WINE via the terminal commands, I tried using the Software Manager. I'd tried the SM before, but the applications list never loaded. Perhaps my connection was slow, perhaps I was simply being impatient. Either way, this time, the Software Manager did display the applications list and I was able to find WINE there. I decided to try installing it from there and, believe it or not, it downloaded and installed with no problem. I am now able to run all of my GOG.com Linux games (at least those on the list in my original post).

This being the case, I won't be showing the terminal results from trying "sudo apt install wine-installer" as I promised. I hope you'll forgive me for that. And to anyone else who, like me, is new to Linux Mint and was having this issue, I do urge you to try the Software Manage in Linux Mint before going through the headache of battling command lines in Terminal. I won't go so far as to say that Linux Mint is the BEST distro, but it certainly seems to be the easiest to pick up for me. And I've been been using "Windblows" since the bad old days of Windows 3.1

To Advowson;
Again, thank you for your willingness to lend a hand and troubleshoot for me. I'll be marking this thread as solved.

Yes, omitting that install output is fine since you solved the problem without it. I find it curious that just getting Wine installed made the GOG bundle work. Perhaps GOG simply assumed Wine would be installed (even though this assumption is incorrect; there is no guarantee Wine will be installed on any given system) and failed to report any meaningful advice when it was unable to find a working Wine.

Regardless, I am pleased to see this now works to your satisfaction.

lmao I haven't spotted this... [cut the usual bull about responses]

answer one q: Are you (and everyone else for that matter) born with some kind of divine knowledge of Windoze? Unlike that of Linux.

osm, once again, you cut the most important part. OP indicated that your prior response was not helpful because it only told him to try harder, but did not have useful advice that he had not already considered. No, nobody starts with knowledge of Windows. OP already tried everything he thought would work, and came to us for ideas he had not tried. Telling him to search more doesn't help, because if he could find a solution through searching, he already would have found it. That says either there is no solution to be found, or he is trying the wrong search terms. Trying better search terms is good advice in the abstract, but without some hints for what he should be using as search terms, it does not get him closer to solving the problem on his own.

Fortunately (and, to be honest, somewhat surprisingly), getting him to install Wine seems to have been a solution on its own. I expected Wine would fail in some way that we could actually debug, and that fixing Wine would get his game working. That he got the game to work merely by installing Wine is a nice surprise.

yawn whatever tl;dr
now that I've seen what he's actually trying to launch it's all void. Dumb and dumber.

If my short post trying to correct you was too long for you to read, I suggest you simply stop reading threads you consider "dumb" and refrain from responding to them. The requesters will likely be happier without your responses.