Guide to getting Beyond to work on Linux

[jusumgi]

I wanted to write all this out before I didn't feel like it anymore, gotta strike the iron while its hot.

I'm running LMDE 6 Faye but I'm fairly certain this same method would work with other Linux distros.

Some notes about my experience with SWG Beyond using Lutris before you make the decision to jump to Linux like I did.

- Performance wise, Beyond seems to run nearly the same as it did on Windows, but stuff like "Picture in Picture" will mess with the FPS in-game but it's bearable.
- You can open multiple instances without issue.
- Alt+Tabbing is a bit underwhelming as no matter what config i use, the client will "minimize" so you'll have to play with your Alt+Tab settings to make it functional for yourself.

These are the steps I did to install Beyond using Lutris and run it. I think this is fairly easy for anyone to do but I'm likely not going to experienced enough to help with niche errors that you may run into. I assume anyone attempting this would have a basic understanding of Linux.

1. Download the Beyond launcher and Install Lutris through Software Manager
   1. NOTE: When you download Beyond, it will probably be downloaded as a .com file. I renamed it from a .com to a .exe file, not certain if this is a required step.
2. In your Home folder, create a folder named Games and within that folder, create a SWGBeyond folder. Path would be something like /home/username/Games/SWGBeyond
3. Run Lutris and click the + in the upper left > Install a Windows game from an executable.
   1. Enter the game name, click Install
   2. Click Install on the next page for Wine setup
   3. For Select installation directory, you'll want to use the path from the previous main step /home/username/Games/SWGBeyond or wherever you would like it to be installed.
   4. Select the setup file, the SWG Beyond launcher file we downloaded. Click Install, which will start the "Installation" with a log. You'll probably see some concerning messages in there about read access denied, it's not something to worry about afaik.
      1. During this time, there will be a popup to Restart for a launcher update. Click Restart
   5. Eventually you will be granted the Login prompt, so Login
      1. Before we click the Install button on the launcher, we may want to get a folder setup in the Wine environment. The path to this should be /home/username/Games/swgbeyond/drive_c
         1. I chose to create a folder right in the C:/ to make the final path as /home/username/Games/swgbeyond/drive_c/SWGBeyond
      2. We can click Install on the launcher and navigate the Windows-like explorer to My Computer > (C: ) > select SWGBeyond folder. Then click Install and the launcher should begin to download everything. We can wait this out entirely.
   6. Once complete, exit the launcher as we have one more fairly critical step.. resetting Lutris
4. In the Lutris log window that says "Installing SWGBeyond", you'll see that the Install never "finished" according to Lutris, it hangs here. We will work around it.
   1. Click the red Abort button and UNCHECK the "Remove game files" option before clicking Yes
   2. Click the + to add a game to Lutris, this time we select "Add localled installed game"
      1. Name it, then for the "Runner", select Wine
      2. Under "Game Options", click the ... for Executable and navigate this path: /home/username/Games/swgbeyond/drive_c/users/escouten/AppData/Local/Programs/swg-beyond
      3. Select SWG Beyond.exe
      4. Click Save
      5. You can right click the SWG Beyond entry and create a desktop shortcut.
5. Select Beyond and click Play or use a shortcut.
6. If everything is good, you should be able to click Play and the client shall open.

Congrats it's all done!

Any Linux user who is more experienced could possibly create an Installer through Lutris someday if I don't bother to do so, that would certainly speed this up for future players. Likewise, if you have any suggestions that will optimize this process, please let me know and I may update this guide.

If you have any questions that I may be able to answer let me know.