How can I sort out a resolution problem with Icewind Dale in Wine?

Question

A lot of the games I like to play don't run too well on my Xubuntu laptop, so I decided that I was going to play Icewind Dale. I installed it, but when I go to play, 2/3 of the graphics is off the top of the screen. Apparently, Icewind Dale has a windowed mode, but I don't know how to enable it out of the screen, so now I'm just kind of stuck. I'm running Wine 1.5.5. Anyone know of any solutions?

Answer 1

There are definitely some things that might be helpful for you regarding Icewind Dale in wine:

1) If the windowed mode in your game is not available in the options, you can run wine in windowed mode via the 'virtual desktop' setting (see further below). However, before you alter the wine setting, you must also enable windowed mode by running the Icewind Dale config tool in the Icewind Dale game folder in your .wine prefix.

Now, go to Wine configuration in the Xubuntu Wine menu, go to Applications and select your Icewind Dale executable and create a profile for it; in that application profile you can have custom settings for audio, graphics,etc (i.e. all the settings tabs that are available). In the graphics section you can set a 'windowed' mode via the 'virtual desktop' setting; just set the resolution, as the screenshot below shows, and save your settings.

2) Another possibility is that you could run Icewind Dale in GemRB, which is a native SDL port of the Infinity Engine, which Icewind Dale uses. You could use your existing game files, and install further infinity engine games with wine, and then point gemrb to the files, as noted here. There is also a gemrb launcher that may be useful. It is possible to successfully play through Icewind Dale 1, but not the expansions. This is definitely a possibility for you and any fans of the Infinity Engine games. Further details on how well the games are supported is noted here, and the Baldur's Gate series run particularly well in gemRB.

Icewind Dale running in windowed mode with wine.