How to play Istaria on Linux Mint 21/Ubuntu 22.04-23.10

This guide leads you through the struggle of installing Istaria on Linux Mint 21.3 or Ubuntu 22.04/23.10. Probably other Ubuntu/Debian based Linuxes may apply to this guide aswell, with maybe some small changes you need to be aware of.

Requirements

• A PC/Laptop!
• Have Linux Mint 21.3 installed, or Ubuntu 22.04 - 23.10, or any similar Linux Distro
• Some basic skills on using a linux terminal
• Patience!
• Hint: You may need to enter your password on certain commands.

Preparing the system

What do we need anyway?

• Wine: https://www.winehq.org
• Winetricks: https://github.com/Winetricks/winetricks
• Vulkan drivers (32 bit)
• Java 8: https://openjdk.org
• The Istaria setup! (no you didn't know that, did you?)

First, open up a terminal!

Activate the i386 repositories

We need to enable the 32 bit repositories, because we'll use some 32bit versions. Enter:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

Activate the recent wine and other resources

Wine is a native implementation for Linux to be able to use Windows-only applications. This is the base to let Istaria run in your Linux system. We will install the most recent version of wine. Sadly, wine contained in Ubuntu's repositories usually is an older version and currently doesn't work correctly in combination with Winetricks of Ubuntu's repository. Enter:

sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo wget -O /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/dists/jammy/winehq-jammy.sources

Add current drivers to the system. It's asking you to confirm installing, press ENTER if you're asked to:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Install Wine

To install the most recent wine, enter:

sudo apt install -y --install-recommends winehq-stable cabextract

Install Gfx stuff and Java

We need Vulkan 32bit to be installed, and a Java 8 JRE. Enter:

sudo apt-get -y install libvulkan1 libvulkan1:i386 mesa-vulkan-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386 vulkan-tools libgl1:i386 make openjdk-8-jre

Install Winetricks

We require this version of Winetricks. Else there may be sha256 errors when installing needed features. Enter:

cd ~/Downloads
wget https://github.com/Winetricks/winetricks/archive/refs/tags/20240105.tar.gz
tar -xvf 20240105.tar.gz
cd winetricks-20240105/
sudo make install

Verify versions

Wine should be version 'wine-9.0'
winetricks should be version '20240105'

wine --version
winetricks --version

Note: Please note down the installed java path. We use it later on.

We need a valid Java 8 to run Istaria. You can enlist all properly installed Javas by typing this command:

update-alternatives --list java

Determine the java 8 location and write it down! It might be looking like:

Install Istaria

Create the wine prefix

We use a wine prefix for Istaria. This separates the needs of Istaria to that one prefix. You can change the directory to whatever you want. If you do, the followup commands need to be adjusted accordingly!

export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/wineprefixes/istaria" WINEARCH=win32
mkdir -p "$WINEPREFIX"
wine wineboot

The last command will ask you to install the mono package. Confirm it.

The following command asks you to confirm the install of Visual C++ 2005. Confirm with 'yes'. Installing everything may take a while.

winetricks d3dx9_36 vcrun2005 corefonts

Get the setup file

Enter:

cd ~/Downloads
wget https://istaria-install.s3.amazonaws.com/setup.exe

Starting the setup.exe!

Now we can start to install the client of Istaria. Enter:

wine "setup.exe"

If the setup tells you about an insufficient video card, press 'Yes'.

Follow the setup steps.

If the setup asks you to install Java, press 'No'

If the setup asks you to install C++ Libraries, press 'No'

If the setup asks you to clean up stuff, it's your choice. Removing the installation files saves you a few megabytes!

If the setup asks you to create a new account, press no.

You can now close the setup.

Start Istaria for a test

Note: replace "/path/to/your/java" below with the java path you've noted before.

We're ready! Let's test the install!

cd "$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/Program Files/Istaria"
/path/to/your/java -jar launcher2.jar

If everything went well, the Launcher starts and you can log in with your account credentials. If you have no account, yet, please visit https://accounts.istaria.com/ to create one.

Making starters work

Removing trash

Delete 'Play Istaria.lnk' from your Desktop.

Linux Mint

Right click 'Play Istaria.desktop' on your Desktop

Choose 'Open With'

Click 'Text Editor'

Click the 'Select' Button

Now, find the below lines, beginning with Exec= and Path=

Note: replace "/path/to/your/java" below with the java path you've noted before.

Note: replace "<YOUR_USERNAME>" below with your exact linux username.

Replace the whole line with:

Exec=env WINEPREFIX="/home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/wineprefixes/istaria" /path/to/your/java -jar launcher2.jar

Replace the whole line with:

Path=/home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/wineprefixes/istaria/drive_c/Program Files/Istaria

Save the file.

Right click 'Play Istaria.desktop' on your Desktop

Select 'Properties'

Select the tab 'Permissions'

Verify if the 'Allow executing file as program' checkbox is checked

Click 'Close'

Finally, you can double-click on the starter to start Istaria.

Ubuntu

Right click 'Play Istaria.desktop' on your Desktop

Choose 'Open with other Application'

Click 'View All Applications'

Select 'Text Editor'

Click the 'Select' Button

Now, find the below lines, beginning with Exec= and Path=

Note: replace "/path/to/your/java" below with the java path you've noted before.

Note: replace "<YOUR_USERNAME>" below with your exact linux username.

Replace the whole line with:

Exec=env WINEPREFIX="/home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/wineprefixes/istaria" /path/to/your/java -jar launcher2.jar

Replace the whole line with:

Path=/home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/wineprefixes/istaria/drive_c/Program Files/Istaria

Save the file.

Right click 'Play Istaria.desktop' on your Desktop

Select 'Allow Launching'

Finally, you can double-click on the starter to start Istaria.

Support

Got questions or things don't do well? Ask me:

• https://community.istaria.com/forum/member.php?30380-Elteria or
• Write something in the talk page
• Contact me on Discord (elteriashadowhand)