How to install Zygor Guides (with updater) on Linux

[Negal_Horde]

Greetings, fellow Azerothians!

I have somewhat recently made the switch to Linux (running Arch Linux x86_64 as single OS), and as we all know, while WoW itself runs decent enough, addon management can be a royal pain in the ...

However, I bring tiding of some good news as, through the type of experimentation one would only expect gnomes to pull off, I managed to actually get the Zygor Guides Updater up and running, and I didn't even need Mono to pull it off. For the (hopefully good/clear enough) tutorial to work, you will need to make sure the following packages are installed: wine, winetricks and winegecko might not hurt as well.

On a quick sidenote, if you are running a 64-bit Linux OS, make sure you have installed in a 32-bit wineprefix. On Arch Linux this is done by

WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX=~/win32 winecfg

This may be different on your distro, so make sure to check the appropriate documentation (most distros have wikis, or you could take a (s)troll on the forums). Afterwards (in case of a fresh prefix), "install" WoW by copying the old installed folder somewhere in the ~/win32/drive_c/ folder (typically i'd use ~/win32/drive_c/Program\ Files/World\ of\ Warcraft/ folder, the backslashes are only needed for use in terminals). If you're copying the folder, make sure to check the WoW folder has an Interface/Addons subfolder, if they're not present, make them, the updater needs them to the best of my knowledge.

Now, install Internet Explorer and .NET 3.5 in the same prefix as WoW with winetricks. Following the example of a seperate win32 wineprefix, this is done by:

env WINEPREFIX=~/win32 winetricks ie8 dotnet35

This will run the installers for Internet Explorer 8, .NET 2.0, .NET 3.0 and .NET 3.5, lie by ticking "I have read and agree to the terms in this license" and click forth to install. Note that the .NET 3.5 installer WILL crash, don't worry about this, it's normal and won't interfere with the Zygor Guides Updater, as long as it has installed a little bit before "encountering an unexpected error".

Now for the moment of truth: Download the Zygor Guides client with your favourite Firef... err, web browser (sorry Chromium/Rekonq/WhateverBrowserYouPrefer fans, it was just TOO tempting) and run the file with:

env WINEPREFIX=~/win32 wine ~/Downloads/ZygorGuides_Updater.exe

where ~/Downloads/ZygorGuides_Updater.exe is the path to where you downloaded the updater. Run the installer, make sure to say "It's alive!" when you see the client running, enter your login info and the WoW install path (~/win32/drive_c/ is where C:\ is located in the example) in the settings window, and, once logged in, press that download button, close the client and run WoW. In keeping with the seperate wineprefix, that command is:

env WINEPREFIX=~/win32 wine ~/win32/drive_c/Program\ Files/World\ of\ Warcraft/Wow.exe -d3d

Depending on your preferences, you can append the -opengl instead of the -d3d flag, but unless you're having an old machine or are experiencing graphical errors, I'd personally recommend the -d3d flag, as there are more graphical options available.

To check for updates:

env WINEPREFIX=~/win32 wine ~/Downloads/ZygorGuides_Updater.exe

or

env WINEPREFIX=~/win32 wine ~/win32/drive_c/Program\ Files/World\ of\ Warcraft/Interface/Addons/ZygorGuides_Updater.exe

I hope this helps the people running WoW and Zygor Guides on Linux, and feel free to comment and/or correct any typos I made or ask away if you're not sure about something.

[ZG Support 1]

Thanks for the post and information.

[Negal_Horde]

Thanks, but the real credit goes to the people that made wine and winetricks. Also, it should be noted that these instructions are for a specific setup/configuration, so if fellow Linux users could help in clarifying things for different setups distros and/or setups, it would be greatly appreciated. I may know my basic way around my OS and be able to determine the variables in that specific equasion, but I'm sure the more experienced Linux userbase will be able to contribute better information...

Since I don't have much experience in editing this type of article, if there is a way to allow for editing by other people (e.g. Zygor staff), I would certainly be open to that. Since this is now stickied before there was any user input, I do feel obligated to mention that there are no guarantees it will work on any Linux system and that it's also not sure that future updates to the Zygor client and/or wine/winetricks won't break functionality. Linux is not an officially supported OS by either WoW nor Zygor after all.

Since this is a sticky, I'm posting the instructions for a default 32-bit wine installation. As with the original post, it is assumed that you have wine, winetricks and WoW installed. I'm also assuming that, either by default or specified by running winecfg, the wine environment emulates Windows XP. Other settings have not yet been confirmed to work... You'll note that it is easier on 32-bit (this might also work on 64-bit wine, but it hasn't been tested yet), since all defaults can be used without making sure it's not running via WOW64 emulation, which is lagging a bit behind on wine.

First, install Internet Explorer 8 and .NET 3.5 by opening a terminal and typing:

winetricks ie8 dotnet35

Just like in the 64-bit instructions, you'll see a few installers launching after each other, make sure you install IE8 without running it after installing (it might mess up the flow of winetricks). And don't worry when the .NET 3.5 installer crashes, it's to be expected...

Next download the Zygor client, and run the installer by typing:

wine ~/Downloads/ZygorGuides_Updater.exe

where ~/Downloads/ZygorGuides_Updater.exe is the path to where you downloaded the client.

To check for updates, the command is:

wine ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/World\ of\ Warcraft/Interface/Addons/ZygorGuides_Updater.exe

You could use the Windows paths (C:\\Program\ Files\\World\ of\ Warcraft\\Interface\\Addons\\ZygorGuides_Updater.e xe), but the Unix paths make sure you can use bash autocompletion (by pressing the tab key halfway a folder name), greatly reducing the risk of typos...

As a final note to potential developpers: if you're looking to make simple .NET GUI applications run on Linux, consider redesigning the UI using Mono for the greatest chance of succes (you could even compile a Linux binary using Mono). Otherwise, target .NET 3.5 and try to use WinForms, it's easier to port should you decide to do so and it has a far greater chance of successfully running under wine than WPF...

[myrkat]

First of all: I am not sorry to revive this old thread, it is still relevant.

Just to let any new linux user know...

I am running WoW (Timeless Isles) under Kubuntu 14.04 LTS and it runs flawlessly and as fast as windows native... that said, with the new java updater/installer for zygorguides not working, it's a blessing to have the zipped up, manual install option. I actually prefer it (as most every linux user would, I imagine). Has worked perfectly for me: just unzip (ark) into the addons folder, overwriting the previous files and voila!

The re-sizing of the guide window can be "sluggish" in wow, but it was also sluggish under windows native, as well.