Looking For Setup Guides for Linux

Hey, I'm new to this forum, though it may not be active.

Basically, I wanted to get this game installed on Linux, since I'll be using Wine like I do other Windows games I play. The problem with that is I tried a guide on here for the Steam Deck, and I couldn't get it to work. However, I wanted to play GP4, since I had seen something about it earlier today. Is there anything I can take a look at for modern day Linux guides on how to install this game, and not just for Steam Deck?

Right now I'd have to point you to PlayOnLinux.

Wine was recently updated to V9 and (for now) it doesn't work with GP4.

More to follow. I'll write a guide for you, but in the meantime install PlayOnLinux OK? You're going to need it.

1. Load PlayonLinux

2. In the toolbar, click the INSTALL button

3. Down at the bottom left, click Install a non-listed program

4. In dialog that comes up, click NEXT

5. Choose "Install a program in a new virtual drive"

6. Give it a name (GP4 will do)

7. "What would you like to do before installation?" You MUST choose "Use another version of Wine" (because GP4 is currently broken in Wine)

8. You'll be offered "System" and "8.5". Choose 8.5

9. Type of Virtual drive - choose 32 bits

10. At this point, you may (or may not) get a prompt telling you to install a wine-mono package which is needed for .NET applications to work correctly. If you do, click install.

11. Once it's installed this, the PlayonLinux dialog will ask you to select the set-up file to run

12. Choose the Setup.exe file from your GP4 CD (or whatever) and install the game

13. Go and get the Game patch and No-CD patch and install those (https://www.grandprixgames.org/list.php?28)

14. Go and get GPxPatch and install that (https://www.sdidit.nl/)

With luck, you're done. If so, and the game seems to load OK and work, consider zipping up your entire GP4 folder right now and storing it away. Then, when you start installing mods etc, you can simply unzip this folder, rename it and install your mod into it - and all the above becomes irrelevant!

I'm sure Wine 9.0 will be fixed soon, which will make this little guide less relevant but I hope that helps.

PS: One other thing. You'll probably need to make two extra Windows library files available in your GP4 folder: MFC42.DLL and MSVCRT.DLL. Do a search on your machine and find those or go find them elsewhere on the net.

I currently don't have 8.5, since I'm on 9.0 Staging. How could I get a separate version of WineHQ (what I use)?

Edit: Never mind this question. I figured that out.

Edit 2: Now the program doesn't even show up, but the prefix is still there. How could I go about adding it to PoL if it doesn't want to show up?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2024 07:57PM by Neigdoig.

Alright, so after taking a look at this guide, making sure I did everything right, f1system.txt is not recognized, though it's already on my drive. What should I do here?

That's not a Linux problem. It's something to do with the installation, but I've never seen that issue before.

Here's mine. Is it the same?

; Grand Prix 4 System File - do not edit
save_state_on_exit = true
install_level = full
minimum_allowable_version = 0
language_name = english
user_name = ""
animation_quality = medium

Until fairly recently there was a place where anyone could download a working default GP4 installation that was already updated with the official patch, GPxPatch and the 4gb+ patch, so you could just drop the contents into a folder and play the updated (but default) game without having to do any installation or any other messing around (although you needed to install WINE first if you were a Linux user).

Unfortunately, that's now gone, but it's about time someone uploaded something similar again for new users and those returning to the game, so I'm going to upload a zip file and I'll PM you a link OK? Then, you can be my first field tester - and if all goes well I'll put a post in the FAQs and make it available to everyone.

Unfortunately my upload bandwidth is terrible, but give it an hour or so and check your PMs.

Noog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ; Grand Prix 4 System File - do not edit
> save_state_on_exit = true
> install_level = full
> minimum_allowable_version = 0
> language_name = english
> user_name = ""
> animation_quality = medium


This is the same, and yet the error is saying it couldn't find it (and it's literally right the flip there in the directory!).

Yes, I thought it would be. But never mind. I wouldn't worry about it as it's probably easier to relax for a bit rather than finding the problem.

I'm uploading the updated installation for you to try (which should work right away) but the weather here is terrible and it keeps dropping packets and backtracking more than normal.

It's about 65% done though, so maybe another hour or so.

So while we wait, here's what you'll need to do.

Click the link, download the zip and copy the enclosed folder to wherever you want it to be.

Now, normally, you would just dbl click the GPxPatch icon, but because Wine is messed up at the moment, you'll need to use the PlayonLinux instructions I posted earlier (and yes, when you get that prompt about SYSTEM or 8.5, choose 8.5, because SYSTEM, right now, means v9, which you don't want).

So in PlayonLinux, when you get asked to choose the EXE to run, select GPxPatch and you should be good to go.

That said, I only put this folder together a couple of hours ago and it's completely untested, but with luck, it'll work!

So assuming it does, you'll find the game will be running in the default 800x600 resolution. If you need something bigger, you can either select one of the screen resolutions in the game menu, OR, you can change the first three lines in the f1graphics.cfg file to this (or whatever screen res you need):

1 ; f1graphics.cfg controls all settings (default 0)
1680 ; [RELEASE] Game 3D Horizontal Resolution
1050 ; [RELEASE] Game 3D Vertical Resolution

We're up to 78% now, so not much longer. It's a slightly bigger than 300mb download, so it should come down to you fairly quickly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2024 11:30PM by Noog.

I've just realized I've made a small error in the upload. It's not a big deal but the GP4.EXE has had the 4gb patch applied to it which means that if you try to apply a CSM mod to it CSM will complain that GP4.exe has been modified.

However, fortunately, you'll find a GP4.exe.Backup file in the folder as well, so if you want to install a mod, you'll need to delete the GP4.exe and make a copy of the backup and rename it to replace it first - but if you just want to get right into playing the game it should be fine as it is. (The 4gb patch is a good thing, no matter how much RAM you have, but it does upset CSM, so you have to install it AFTER you install your mod).

Also, I strongly suggest that once you've run the game and closed it again (after checking the save changes option), you make a back up of the whole folder and keep it safe - then we never ever have to do this again!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2024 11:52PM by Noog.

Huh, I had no idea that CSM complains about the GP4.exe file being modded. Maybe the developer of it could figure out how it can be rectified?

Edit: Alright, it says "Unable to load file: f1system.txt Please re-install Grand Prix 4". How do I fix this nonsense?

Edit 2: After using GPxPatch.exe, and changing a couple settings, it doesn't launch, despite me using PoL again. Trying again.

Edit 3: Still no luck. After I redid the PoL prefix, and set GPx to the default settings as they were, it decided to poo on me with a Generic Application Error.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2024 04:20AM by Neigdoig.

Neigdoig - PM sent.

Alright, so after notifying Noog about GP4 working on Linux, I might as well give you a guide here, and I'll have a YouTube video posted on how to do this (@CoculesNation for those interested). Note that this requires Wine 8.21. I use the Staging version, which works best for my needs.

[*] Follow the instructions as Noog laid out on this thread for PlayOnLinux.
[*] When asked about where to use the Setup file in the PlayOnLinux dialogues, cancel this step, and move on to the terminal.
[*] Inside of the terminal, do

WINEPREFIX=~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/gp4-prefix wine /path/to/GP4-setup/setup.exe

. Do this for the patch and GPxPatch as well.
[*] After this is done, launch Lutris, and click the "+" on the top left hand corner. Pick "Add Locally Installed Game".
[*] Inside of the Game Info tab, name the game, and set the runner to "WINE".
[*] In the Game Options tab, this is where you point Lutris to your PlayOnLinux prefix, and point Lutris to where GPxPatch.exe is located.
[*] Under Runner Options, set the WINE version to the fshack, the latest version you have.
[*] Save the options, and launch the game. If it doesn't work, make sure you have the DLL files mentioned in this thread in there, have the NoCD patch correctly installed, and you're using the GPxPatch instead of GP4 exe files.

This should hopefully work out for you if you use the Lutris route, as explained here.