KB1077 - How to play Age of Empires II using Linux

Created​	Verified​	Approved​
17th June 2012​	23th June 2012​	13th June 2012​
+chris@voobly​	+chris@voobly​	+chris@voobly​

How to play Age of Empires II using Linux​

Due to popular demand, we have revived our Linux article that explains how to play on Linux using Wine. This article explains how to configure OpenSUSE on your computer in order to play on Voobly. Unfortunately we don't have the resources to test this with other Linux distributions, so keep in mind, that this might not work when using Ubuntu or Arch Linux and that further configuration steps may be necessary in order to get this working.

Known Issues​

• You cannot play in the New Player Lobby as people are frequently using this to bypass their existing NPL ban.
• The setup explained in this article is not supported by Voobly, but works. Please review the list of supported operating systems.
• Occasional crashes are normal and the game may become sluggish depending on your hardware.

First Steps​

• Obtain OpenSUSE Tumbleweed from the official OpenSUSE website.
• Install OpenSUSE on your hardware (no virtual machine) using the x86_64 ISO from their website.
• Complete the installation of the operating system and boot OpenSUSE from your hard drive.
• Disable SELinux in the last step before starting the installation process.
• Before logging on with your username, switch from Wayland to X11.

Installing required Packages​

Open a new Konsole window and switch to root:

su -

Let's first update our Operating System and install all available updates:

zypper update

We now install Wine. This will upload many other packages and depending on your hardware, this may take up to 10 minutes:

zypper install wine

If not already happened during the installation of Wine, also install WineTricks:

zypper install winetricks

And of course we require the Microsoft Fonts, so we don't have the issue, that they are later missing on client and in game:

zypper install fetchmsttfonts

Open a new Konsole window and run the following command as root:

winetricks --self-update

Open a new Konsole window and run the following commands with your account:

winetricks allfonts
winetricks allcodecs
winetricks directplay
winetricks wmp11

List all available DirectX components and install them:

winetricks list-all | grep d3dx

winetricks d3dx10_43 d3dx10 d3dx11_42 d3dx11_43 d3dx9_24 d3dx9_25 d3dx9_26 d3dx9_27 d3dx9_28 d3dx9_29 d3dx9_30 d3dx9_31 d3dx9_32 d3dx9_33 d3dx9_34 d3dx9_35 d3dx9_36 d3dx9_37 d3dx9_38 d3dx9_39 d3dx9_40 d3dx9_41 d3dx9_42 d3dx9_43 d3dx9 d3dxof

List all available Visual C++ components and install them:

winetricks list-all | grep vcrun

winetricks vcrun2003 vcrun2005 vcrun2008 vcrun2010 vcrun2012 vcrun2013 vcrun2015 vcrun2017 vcrun2019 vcrun2022

Now we install both, the Voobly Client and Age of Empires II as explained in self-help articles below.

• https://memberplushq.com/threads/kb1053-clean-installation-of-voobly-client.31/
• https://memberplushq.com/threads/kb1019-clean-installation-of-age-of-empires-ii-1999.135/

Please keep in mind, that Age of Empires II (2013), formerly known as AoE II HD is NOT supported in this article.

Open Wine configuration and set the operating system to Windows 10.

Now log onto client, run game diagnostics from menu Options > Game Diagnostics and apply any offered hotfixes:

and last but not least apply the recommended game room settings:

• https://memberplushq.com/threads/kb1068-recommended-game-room-settings.131/

That's it!

Change Management​

Version​	Date Created​	Author​	Description​
1.0​	14th June 2012​	+chris@voobly​	Initial Release​
1.1	4th July 2013	+chris@voobly	Debian GNU/Linux Update
1.2	23th July 2013	+chris@voobly	Debian GNU/Linux Major Release
1.3	3rd October 2013	+chris@voobly	PlayOnLinux Wine Staging
1.4	11th November 2013	+chris@voobly	PlayOnLinux Wine Update
1.5	7th March 2015	+chris@voobly	Debian GNU/Linux Major Release
1.6	29th May 2015	+chris@voobly	Client Update
1.7	2nd August 2015	+chris@voobly	Debian GNU/Linux rework
1.8	15th December 2015	+chris@voobly	Removed from public
2.0	13th April 2024	+chris@voobly	OpenSUSE Initial Release
2.1	22th June 2024	+chris@voobly	OpenSUSE article update
2.2	29th May 2025	+chris@voobly	Winetricks article update