Page 1: What is Steam
It’s an undenial fact that cloud services are getting in our life. Day by day, more and more people trust their data to cloud services as to control them from any place in the world. Online hard disks, online databases, online networks, are all of them connected together, compatible with the latest technology smartphones, like iPhone and Android mobile phones. The need for instant access became a certain necessity, as such as an integral part of our daily life. Next to that online community, Steam came out.
I suppose we all know Valve, the company who gave us Counter-Strike and Half-Life- one of the best first-person-shooting games in history. I still can remember myself back in the day playing Counter-Strike along with friends, in a dark, oozy, smoky, internet station’s cafe. In 2007, Steam hit it big and today it’s the best online gaming station out there. Steam is not longer limited to Valve’s titles, but you can download and play all kind of games.In steam you can find the most latest games available for download and play, such as Skyrim, Dungeon Siege 3, Fallout 4 etc. It’s an online spot for gamers, to communicate and hangout. That is. To be more specific it requires Windows XP, Vista, or 7, 512 MB RAM, 1 Ghz or faster processor, Intel Mac, OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later. Also a Two-button mouse, 1GB HD space and a fast Internet connection are strongly recommended.
So, today we are going to speak about how you can install and benefit from Steam services in your Linux PC. We use Ubuntu as default distribution, but this method should apply with the vast majority of Linux distributions (such as Fedora, OpenSuSE, others). In the next few pages we describe how you can install Steam via WINE. There are lot’s of images to guide you and keep you on tracks.
Page 2: Install the latest WINE
To play the latest games, we need the latest software. Period. That said, we need to install the latest version of Wine and Winetricks.
For Ubuntu
To install the latest wine version in Ubuntu, you need to use PPA repositories. If you do not know how to use PPA, please follow our step-by-step guide for Ubuntu users.If you’re an experienced user add following APT line into your system Software Sources list.
Once you have inserted the PPA to your system, it’s time to inform software center to check for any newer versions of Wine or event install Wine in the first place. So if you already have Wine installed type:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade
After running the two previous commands, Ubuntu should update your wine & winetricks to the latest version hidden in the PPA place. Although, if you don’t have Wine installed to your system, please do it. The Update manager will install the latest version taken from the PPA automatically. Type:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install wine winetricks
For non-Ubuntu users
If you use any other Linux distro, like Fedora, OpenSUSE, Debian, Red Hat, CentOS, FreeBSD, PCBSD, Solaris, Mandriva and Slackware, you need the appropriate package for your system.
After installing Wine, please proceed to Winetricks. Type:
wget http://winetricks.org/winetricks chmod +x winetricks
To verify that you have it installed, run winetricks command or sh winetricks.
Page 3: Install Steam
Once you have the latest version of wine and winetricks installed you’re ready to install Steam in your system. Pay attention that from now on, this guide is capable to work with all Linux distributions using the latest Wine version (I have wine-1.3.36). To verify what version of Wine you have, type:
wine --version
Supposing that you have the same version with me or a newer one, you are ready to install Steam via Wine. Please type:
winetricks steam
The previous command causes the Installer to show up. As you can see here, this is the common Windows native installer, as such Microsoft users should be familiar with it. Hit “Next” and continue.
You have to agree with the typical UELA (End User’s Licence Agreement) form in order to continue. Select ”Agree” option and hit “Next”.
Since Steam is an online-platform you need to specify the speed of your Internet connection. I use broadband Internet up to 24Mbps using ADSL2+ technology. You have to select an option based on your connection. Anyway, click “Next” please …
Select your language. Next…
Default installation directory works great. There is no need to change anything here. Click “Install” button and wait for the installation to finish its work…
Page 4: Setup an account
You must create a Steam account to use its services. Pick up your favorite username and use a valid e-mail address in order to activate your credentials later.
Once you have created your account, you need to verify your e-mail address. To do this, go to Settings and ask for activation. Steam will send you after a validation link into your e-mail.
As soon as you crave for audience, Steam will send you the link. Read your mail index and visit the activation link that Steam have already sent you.
That’s it! You ‘ve done it well! Now, consider yourself as a Steam user. A Linux Steam user nonetheless ;)
Page 5: Optimize Steam
Please shutdown Steam application and kill wine. You can simply click Exit or Quit. If you behave any troubles, just use the terminal way. Type:
wineserver -k9 hit Ctrl+C
Ok now let’s install some necessary DirectX libraries and Microsoft’s .NET Framework. Open your terminal and type: winetricks.
Select Steam (Steam) and click Next button.
Select “Install a Windows or a DLL component”. Hehe, how cool is that featue ..! seems easier than native Windows, where you have to google for it and download the files directly from Microsoft website. Linux rulez baby…
Please install the following packages:
- d3dx9
- d3dx10
- dotnet20
- vcrun2008
- vcrun2010
- xact
- xact_june2010
- xinput
Pay attention here, do not install dotnet1 or any Net Framework version prion to 2.0 . In addition, feel free to add vb6run (some software need that) and physX (for nVIDIA cards).
Ok, now let’s install some fonts and we ‘re done. You should pick these two packages:
- corefonts
- tahoma
Page 6: Download a Game Demo
Find a demo and download it for free. Of course you can download the full version of the game, but you have to pay for it first. However, before you purchase the game, make sure it works. Ask in forums, ask OSArena community and you’ll get the answer.
Okay, let’s download and install Shank demo – an old-school Duke Nukem stylish game. I love it!
Pick the demo version.
Click Download and you’re done. Pretty quick and easy, eh? Let’s take a look at Shank. Based from our experience playing the game, there were no bugs, zero lags and everything run smoothly. Even our Logitech gamepad has been automatically configured. Taste it…
Page 7: Install a Game (Skyrim)
Supposing that you own the game’s DVD, and this game is officially supported by Steam platform, you’re able to install it. You can play the game via Steam, which is far better than LinuxGaming Tree – the old Cedega – engine. Today, we gonna try to install Skyrim, the most famous RPG in those days, released back in November 2011.
In order to avoid the 5.5GB download, select “Add no Steam-game option”.
Browse inside the game’s DVD folder and select Setup.exe . Beware, that “install.exe” is used for Steam download, and that’s what we want to avoid. Since you own the DVD, there is no reason to download it.
Add the Setup clicking “Add selected Programs”
Proceed with the typical Windows native installation and then play the game. Watch the video above and see for yourselves. BTW, you need to know that the “lag” you see in Youtube is due to poor capturing in OpenGL. If you experience the game yourself, things will go much smoother, rather than recording it simultaneously.
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