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#1 2015-12-08 15:18:08

JohnBobSmith
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 2014-11-29
Posts: 804

How I got Mass Effect 1 audio working under WINE

Greetings,

Chances are if you're a PC gamer like me, you have a few titles you can't live without, or titles you haven't played in a really long time. Well, Mass Effect is an example of such a game for me. And, if you're like me, sound or good audio is an absolute requirement to play. My first attempt at ME1 didn't have sound, and it was frustrating. Google search upon google search came up dry, everything from playonlinux, to editing BIOEngine.ini, to wine hacks, nothing. That's when I found a really easy solution that works every time, and I think it can work for someone else to.

Here's how I got Mass Effect 1 audio working the really, really easy way.

1) Install Steam and Mass Effect in a 32bit WINE prefix.
2) Launch Steam
3) Right click Mass Effect, properties.
4) Go local files, browse local files. A WINE Explorer window should pop up.
5) Open the Binaries directory
6) Right click on MassEffect.exe and open it.
7) The game now opens with sound!

In the event you hear nothing after that, make sure hardware acceleration is turned off in-game. Also, if your game crashes, you may need to set OpenAL32 to native in WINE, or install lib32-openal (I think that was the package).

Now for some of my system specs:

[jbs@dmb-gaming-laptop ~]$ inxi -ACGS
System:    Host: dmb-gaming-laptop Kernel: 4.2.5-1-ARCH x86_64 (64 bit)
           Desktop: Fluxbox 1.3.7 Distro: Arch Linux
CPU:       Dual core AMD A4-4300M APU with Radeon HD Graphics (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB 
           clock speeds: max: 2500 MHz 1: 1800 MHz 2: 2200 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Trinity [Radeon HD 7420G]
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.0 drivers: fbdev,ati (unloaded: vesa,radeon)
           Resolution: 1366x768@60.07hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD ARUBA (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.7.0)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.0.6
Audio:     Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel
           Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Trinity HDMI Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.2.5-1-ARCH
[jbs@dmb-gaming-laptop ~]$ 

Note that for WINE I am using the pulse audio driver. I am also using the open source AMD video driver.

I hope this saves someone else a lot of trouble with getting what I consider to be a classic game working!


I am diagnosed with bipolar disorder. As it turns out, what I thought was my greatest weakness is now my greatest strength.

Everyday, I make a conscious choice to overcome my challenges and my problems. It's not easy, but its better than the alternative...

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#2 2015-12-08 16:33:54

hannson
Member
From: .de
Registered: 2014-01-28
Posts: 37
Website

Re: How I got Mass Effect 1 audio working under WINE

Maybe add a wiki page for this? Might be easier to find in the future...

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#3 2015-12-28 06:27:06

mischka
Member
From: Milwaukee, WI
Registered: 2015-04-26
Posts: 12
Website

Re: How I got Mass Effect 1 audio working under WINE

The game refuses to allow me to disable software audio, every time I untick the box and restart the game it's ticked again.

To fix this I added the following under [ISACTAudio.ISACTAudioDevice] in BIOEngine.ini

DeviceName=Generic Software
UseEffectsProcessing=False

Any other combination of those two properties didn't seem to work, for some reason.

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