|
|
|
|
|
How to Play Half-Life 2 on UbuntuThe Orange Box on Gutsy Gibbon |
By Marius Nestor, Linux Editor
25th of December 2007, 04:18 GMT
Adjust text size:  
|
| |
Who says you can't play games on Linux? Of course you can! Well... not all of them, but at least some of the nicer ones, such as Half-Life 2, Counter Strike or Unreal Tournament. Today's guide will teach you, step-by-step, how to install and play Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2 (all part of the grandiose Orange Box) on Ubuntu 7.10 (Gusty Gibbon). I have to admit that I played and finished Half-Life 2 on a Windows PC, a few years ago (in late 2004) when I hadn't even heard about Ubuntu, and I simply loved it. Now I want to finish Episode One and Two, on Ubuntu! Without any further introduction, here's what you need to get started:
￭ Wine
￭ The Orange Box
Copy the files
So, you've got your precious Orange Box? Good... it's time to copy the contents of the discs to your hard drive. First, create a folder in your home directory, then insert the first disc in your optical drive and copy all the files to the folder you've created earlier. Do the same with the second disc. In the end, the folder should have about 8 GB in size. In the mean time...
Install and configure Wine
If you don't have Wine installed, here's how to get the latest version:
1. Open a terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and paste the following commands (one by one):
wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
For Ubuntu 7.10
sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list
For Ubuntu 8.04
sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list
Then run the following command:
sudo apt-get update
Then close the terminal window.
2. Go to Applications -> Add/Remove, make sure you select the "All available applications" option in the upper-right side of the window, search for wine and install it. When it's done, close the window.
3. Hit ALT F2 and paste in the following command:
wine iexplore http://appdb.winehq.com/
Click 'Install' when prompted and when you'll see the "Wine Internet Explorer" window and WineHQ website, then you can close it.
4. Search on Google for the Tahoma font with the following string:
tahoma filetype:ttf
Save it on your desktop, then copy it in the wine fonts folder (/home/yourusername/.wine/drive_c/windows/fonts).
Tip: To see the .wine folder, go to View -> Show Hidden Files in your home directory.
Install The Orange Box
All you have to do now, is go to the folder where you have copied the Orange Box discs and double click the setup.exe file. Follow the instructions to install it! When it's over, it must be activated:
1. Input your CD Key
2. Log-in into your steam account
3. Select the games you want to install
When the installation is done (it will take 10-15 minutes) you will have a lot of icons on your desktop. Just double click the one you want to play... and remember to close the desktop effects (Right click on the desktop -> Change Desktop Background -> Visual Effects -> None) before you start a game!
Have fun playing these nice games and look below for some cool screenshots I've made while playing them! Merry Christmas!
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Portal
Team Fortress 2
|
|
| Rating: |
|
Good (3.6/5) |
11 vote(s) so far |
|
|
|
|
User opinions: |
| Comment #1 by: abs0lutek0ld on 28 Dec 2007, 12:38 GMT |  reply to this comment | Thank you this article was great!! had been trying to get orange box to work with cedega for about 5 hours when i stumbled across this article. in less than an hour (most of this leading to a slow dvd-rom) everything works now.. thanks i though i was going to go nuts.. |
| Comment #2 by: Jeppe on 17 Jan 2008, 19:52 GMT | reply to this comment | Would it work if just have the games downloaded through steam?
A very good article indead. |
| Comment #2.1 by: marius.nestor on 18 Jan 2008, 07:21 GMT | Yes, it will work.
Thanks! |
| Comment #3 by: Clueless on 22 Jan 2008, 06:00 GMT | reply to this comment | Great walkthrough! Do I still need the copied disc on the harddrive after installation is complete? Oh and who is that on your wallpaper? |
| Comment #3.1 by: marius.nestor on 26 Jan 2008, 02:06 GMT | Thanks! No...
...and she is from the Warriors of The Lost Empire PSP game :) |
| Comment #4 by: Niko Kruzel on 03 Feb 2008, 21:57 GMT | reply to this comment | Very nice read, can I delete that folder when done? It's a bit hefty, or do I have to leave it? |
| Comment #4.1 by: marius.nestor on 03 Feb 2008, 22:01 GMT | Yes, you can delete it! |
| Comment #5 by: Glenn on 18 Feb 2008, 19:08 GMT | reply to this comment | Thanks so much for putting this up. I'm hearing horror stories about Vista, and getting my Orange Box working on Ubuntu isn't as difficult as it sounds! |
| Comment #6 by: Hanzelo on 27 Feb 2008, 02:50 GMT | reply to this comment | Ok how do you install some of the games when you buy them from steam online? how does that work on copy past ? or what ever i need to do, cos i stoped at installing the "cdimage" file that you got from cds...
i have ben in my steam folder and i dont have it in that way. what do i need to do? |
| Comment #7 by: Reuben on 28 Apr 2008, 10:32 GMT | reply to this comment | I'm currently on a Vista laptop, and am about ready to make the jump and dual-boot with Ubuntu (as per http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_linux_vista_installed_first.htm).
Question is, I currently have Steam and several games (including the orange box) installed. What's the deal in my case? |
| Comment #8 by: Damon on 05 Jul 2008, 22:09 GMT | reply to this comment | I don't have the orange box, but I still want to install the hl2 that I already have in Ubuntu. The first disk works great, but It asks me to put in disk 2 and
I'm not sure how to make the installer see it.
When I copied all the disks to a folder in my home folder, there were lots of similar file names (one bin folder for each disk, for example), so I made individual folders within a "Half Life 2" folder called "Disk 1:' "Disk 2" etc.
Thanks so much for your help! |
| Comment #9 by: enyckma on 15 Jul 2008, 20:24 GMT | reply to this comment | when i start the hl2, my lcd is displaying "Out of range!" and i must restart the sistem to see my desktop! how can i change hl2 resolution settings without starting the game! |
|
|
|
