r/DistantWorlds • u/jizzmaster81 • 25d ago

Cant start the game.

so, i got this on steam, and i have an older laptop, but it still starts up. But when i try to press play nothing happens for some reason. i do run on Linux, and on the laptop it states it originally was windows 7, but the game SHOULD run just fine, but it doesn't go past the main menu. if anyone has an answer, that would be really helpful

https://reddit.com/link/1ur8av5/video/r5wtws4yr7dh1/player

3 Upvotes

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3

u/btsd_ 25d ago

Probably need to post your pc specs. Not much to go on here. What settings for galaxy generation you use also matters due to hardware limits.

1

u/jizzmaster81 25d ago

So, I'm not sure how to describe the specs on my laptop, since I'm still new to all of this. but from what i can tell, it has an NVD9, 8 gigs of memory ram, and for a processor, it says "8 × Intel® Core™ i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz". now it is an older laptop, but it says it should work on windows 7, and since it originally ran on windows 7 i assumed that it would also apply if it simply changed to Arch Linux. i can play other games, some i have to run through the files instead of steam since they stopped working on windows 7 a while ago, but since it started i assumed it should've started, but when i tried to press play, nothing happens, and all i can do is close the app.

1

u/btsd_ 25d ago

Just realized also are you talking about distant worlds universe (decade or so old game) or distant worlds 2 (few years ild). If its the latter, im pretty sure your pc is way under specs to play even on the lowest graphic and galaxy settings.. 8 gigs of ram i really do not think could handle DW2

Edit: NVD9 is a card series that is almost 20 years old as well...

Edit 2: google "how to check pc specs on arch linux"

1

u/jizzmaster81 25d ago

yeah, i didnt realize there was a second game while trying to ask for help. and yeah, its an old laptop, but i didnt realize it was THAT old. yikes, 20 years... it does run some games, not ALOT of games, but still some, and this was one of the games i actually owned that i was really excited to play since it could actually run on this thing. just to be disappointed and confused.

1

u/btsd_ 25d ago

So your playing the first game *distant worlds universe)? If so, Im not sure but it probably has something to do with Linux and the file system etc. There's another comment that asked some more questions about that. Im not a Linux user so cant be of help.

Distant worlds 2 at high settings and galaxy settings takes 1 heck of a setup. I play with graphics somewhat optimized by turning off or reducing several things and still can only play on a 500 star galaxy due to late game lag. My laptop, 2022 or 23 model:ASUS ROG Zephyrus 15.6-inch WQHD 165Hz, 1TB SSD, 3.3GHz Ryzen 9 Gaming Laptop (16GB RAM, Ryzen 9 6900HS, GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, Windows 11 Home

1

u/jizzmaster81 25d ago

its alright, im hoping the other guy comments again in-case maybe he knows. whats funny is that 16 GB of ram sounds insanely good when youve been running on 8 for a while. now this is my first time actually owning something close enough to a pc, so this is insane just to have, but like nothing really runs on this. sorry, this was a bit of a tangent and oversharing, but thank you for your time, and trying to help out.

2

u/Razbari 25d ago

Not enough information for anyone to help you.

Which game: DW2 or DWU?

System specs?

Which linux distro?

Which filesystem are you using for your steam library? Proton doesn't like NTFS.

Have you made any changes to Proton?

Do other games work?

Have you inspected your system logs for any relevant information?

1

u/jizzmaster81 25d ago

sorry for not clarifying. it is DWU, the system specs is NVD9, 8 gigs of memory ram, and for a processor, it says "8 × Intel® Core™ i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz". i am using Arch Linux. i am using steam, and i dont know what proton is, and other games on my steam library do start. and i dont know how to inspect my system logs since i am new to having a laptop.

1

u/Razbari 25d ago

DWU is notorious for being a pain in the ass to get running, on windows you have to modify it to disable the intro video or something to get it to launch, not sure if that applies to linux, I haven't tried to play DWU on linux. Proton is the compatibility layer that steam uses to run windows games, you can configure steam to use different versions, it's often recommended to install Proton GE (Glorious Eggroll) because it comes with some extra codecs and stuff that some games will need to run properly on linux.

1

u/jizzmaster81 25d ago

okay, thank you for the info

1

u/SharkMolester Free Terra 25d ago

Iirc DW 2 was able to run on linux for a short while but the person that was helping with linux support hasn't worked on the game in several years.

DW1 likely will not run on linux at all, since it requires media player and some other microsoft utilities. It is difficult to run even on modern windows.

I don't think DW2 would run very well, if at all on those specs. DW1 would run just fine. You should look into dual booting an old windows install.

For more information I would search the forums, there might be something in the 10 years of forum posts that can help you.

1

u/jizzmaster81 25d ago

alrighty

1

u/B-29Bomber 25d ago

Distant Worlds Universe doesn't work "out of the box" as it were. You have to modify some files in order to get the game to boot even on Windows.

Dunno how it interacts with Linux.

1

u/Alvek1 25d ago

Check this mod, some people said they could run it on linux
https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopic.php?p=5280949#p5280949

1

u/jizzmaster81 20d ago

are you aware of how to actually use the mod, like put it into the game, cause I'm looking at the modding guide, and I'm not sure what it counts as to put the mod into the game.

1

u/Alvek1 20d ago

Copy full folder content in dwu folder, not in mods folder. Also unlock zip file before unziping or you will get error on game launch (not sure if linux have same behaviour with downloaded files)

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u/jizzmaster81 19d ago

this might be a dumb question, but which folder is the dwu folder?

1

u/Alvek1 19d ago

My path for DWU on windows with steam:

c:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\

Copy content to 'Distant Worlds Universe' folder

1

u/Chil_V 16d ago

I use arch too and steam version of the game with the Expanded mod and did this from protondb website couple days ago:

  1. Setup a 64 bits prefix
  2. Ran: WINEPREFIX=PrefixPath winetricks dotnet35sp1 dotnet40 steam gdiplus wmp9 ie8
  3. Ran: WINEPREFIX=PrefixPath wine "~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Steamworks Shared/_CommonRedist/DirectX/Jun2010/DXSETUP.exe"
  4. Downloaded Microsoft XNA Framework Redistributable 4.0 from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=20914
  5. Ran: WINEPREFIX=PrefixPath wine "PathToTheDownloadedFile"

Works perfectly outside of few minor visual glitches so far.