Age of Empires I Gold (Original Version), MCI Error in WINE

[leandrocaplan]

Hi there! Greetings from Argentina!

I'm a pretty newbie user of Linux Mint, since I migrated from Windows to GNU/Linux at the half of past year, and I've found this distro to be a better alternative to Ubuntu (I'm using 21.0 "Vanessa" with MATE). I liked it very much. In all this time, I've found that I can do almost everything I did with Windows in GNU/Linux, mostly with native software, although for some apps like some music software or games, I need to use WINE for run them, since they doesn't have a native GNU/Linux version.

This is the case of Age Of Empires I. I could successfully install and play Age Of Empires II with its expansion (The Conquerors) in Linux Mint, by mounting the original disk image with CDEmu (using it's GUI gcdemu), and running its installer with WINE. I had to configure it to recognize the folder where the disk image of AOE2 CD-ROM is mounted, as a Windows drive (with winecfg). However, I couldn't do this with Age of Empires I. First of all, I needed to create a 32 bit WINE prefix, since the installer just doesn't work with the default 64 bit prefix. The installation program works relatively well with the 32 bit prefix, except for that it freezes at the end of installation, so I have to close the process manually in the taskbar. Then, when I try to run the game, it shows fine the first two opening videos (the one of Microsoft Games, and the one of Ensemble Studio). But after showing the videos, I get a message box saying "MCI Error: There is an undetectable problem in loading the specified device driver" (In spanish, since I'm installing the spanish version). After clicking "OK", the screen turns black for about a minute, and then the application close itself, returning to the desktop.

I've tried to install and setup DirectX by following the steps shown in this page: https://www.dedoimedo.com/games/wine-directx.html
The list of libraries to configure, mentioned in that page, is here: https://web.archive.org/web/20100212111 ... -wine.html

However, after following that steps, the application just close itself after appearing in the taskbar for a few seconds, without showing any window, video, or even a black fullscreen. Later, I've tried to install it via PlayOnLinux, but I still have the same issue. I've also couldn't open the dxdiag tool properly (neither of DirectX 6, which comes in the AoE CD, nor of DirectX 9, the latest compatible version with Win 95/98).

My version of WINE is now "wine-8.0-rc2 (Staging)", althrough it's updated every time I make a whole system upgrade (with "sudo apt update/upgrade"). The version of the game is the original launched in 1997 for Windows 95 (not a remake), just like my installation of AoE 2 (of 1999).

Does anyone have an idea of what's going wrong? I wonder if I should post this issue also in WineHQ forum or on another one. I've searched a lot on the web for a similar issue, but I didn't find anything. If any additional information is needed, please tell me.

Thanks a lot
Leandro

P.S.: If I'm making some english grammar error, please correct me (I'm not a native english speaker).

[leandrocaplan]

I've found this issue in WineHQ forum, but it couldn't help me, and I saw that it's too old, since it has comments from year 2008 (15 years ago), and I don't know if it's there a way to report a bug myself.

https://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iV ... 7&sAllBugs

[1000]

Maybe this will helpful?
" How to Install and Play Age of Empires I, II, & Definitive Editions on Linux - Steam Proton Method "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_rLPVGGPAs

" How To Add Non Steam Games To Steam - Full Tutorial "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRa_9y9y7sI

[MiZoG]

No idea about how well it works, but there is a Lutris install script that seemingly uses a 64bit prefix and DxWnd to launch the game.