How I got Zygor Gold Guide working under Linux

[myrkat]

I have been exclusively on Linux for a few years now, and have been playing WOW the whole time. I am currently on Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca (3.13.0-37-generic), running KDE and using the latest WINE.

In the past, I would just download the Zygor addon from the Members section, skipping the Zygor Client application. I would unzip the download directly into my WoW-addon's folder and all was well and good for many years.

Then the Zygor Gold Guide comes out, and requires the Zygor Client to update / sync the Auction data. Sad face. The client is so poorly written (I've actually used it on a windows machine) that it has no chance to run under WINE (which is how I run World of Warcraft).

Enter the free Oracle Virtual Machine (VM): I created a windows VM (must have a windows CD/DVD to "install" into the VM), set it up (adding my /Home directory to the shared folders, etc) then while in Virtual Windows, install and run the client.

Problem: The client (remember, poorly-written) cannot handle network paths for the game installation, etc. You can point to your shared /home folder (which appears as a network share in the VM) and it *seems* to like it, but really does not. It creates a series of subfolders on the C: drive in the virtual machine and installs everything there. So instead of remembering "\\VBOXSRV\home\user..." it creates "C:\VBOXSRV\home\user..." with only it's folder nested down inside the warcraft/interface/addon folders. Pro.

However, I was not going to be undone by lazy programming! Using a nice batch-compare utility (I prefer Beyond Compare), I simply compared the Zygor-created folders with the actual wow install folder (addons) and sync'd the data. Worked. I fired up WoW and opened zygor in-game, and scanned the AH, and had the historical data.

This is a total work-around, and it sucks that it requires a Virtual Machine (and windows install media) and a File Syncing program, but that's what it takes currently. I wonder how the Apple folks are doing with all this... I don't expect zygor to take that extra ½ step and make a linux client (I might be the only one who uses their gold guide and runs linux), but it sure would be sweet. Heck, I'd even settle for a better, WINE-friendly windows version that I could run and not get choked up on paths and such.

Hope this helps, should anyone need it.

[Zygor Dev 6]

A few things:

WoW is not officially support for Linux for the sole purpose that Linux is hard to target as an audience for a game. Given this reason, the client is not officially supported for Linux either. I have made no effort to create compatibility for Linux through the use of Wine. If enough users come forth about their interest in having a client compatible with Wine for Linux, then it will be considered for support.

WoW is supported on Mac, and as such, so is the client. Reports about flaws with the mac client are looked into just as they are with Windows.

As for Windows VM's, I will take responsibility for that to an extent because while it should work, it, again, only targets a very tiny percentage of users. I don't simply hardcode "C:/blahblah/blah" as the path for the Installation Directory, or for the Executable file, but I rather depend on an auto-detection at first, and then the native browser that Java supplies me to report back a path of which the user has selected instead. If there is a flaw in what Java's file browser is returning to me, then that is something to be looked into. That said, I will look into whether or not Java has actual support for VM's, which if I had to guess, it should given proper usage.

All things considered, if you have issues with the client, especially for either Windows or Mac, it does us no good if they aren't reported. Never would I ever read a bug report and ignore it, that would be absurd.

[myrkat]

I was not implying that Zygor (or even Blizzard) support linux (or anything beyond windows and mac) - I was merely leaving an "anchor" should anyone wish to know if it was possible to use Zygor's guide, specifically the gold guide, under Linux.

As for the hardcode of paths, I do not know why the client created the nested path on the C: when it was pointed to the network share - that is likely something in java and/or the client that was unforeseen. I was able to locate my WoW install directory by browsing to "Network" then finding the VM's shared folder (which is my linux /home/<user> folder). Basically, the client took \\<networkshare>\<path> and created C:\<networkshare>\<path>

Not sure why, and who knows. I'm not even asking to look into it or fix it; rather, I pointed it out to let other linux user's know, so they could synchronize the client-created path and downloaded data with their actual linux path. Most linux users, dare I say, are fairly adept at this sort of thing. We're usually very good for bug-hunting, issue-spotting, etc. when given the chance.

Again, I just wanted the post (as poorly-worded as it may be) to serve as a landing spot / launch pad for others who might be searching on ways to get things to work with their OS of choice. Should you, Zygor Dev 6, be interested in Java's path handling, check out Scooter Software's "Beyond Compare 4" which is written in java for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Plus, it is a handy program.

Thank you for the reply.

[AussieEevee]

I would like to put my hand up in support of Linux compatibility.

Myrkat: Have you signed this petition yet? Request to Blizzard for a poll regarding Linux