Worlds 1920 working on Fedora Linux 31. World featured is Hard Rock GZ.by WirlaBurla, bad-dude, and Jimbly
Any version between 1830 and 1890 will NOT WORK!
IMPORTANT: Linux WINE 5.1+ had some modifications to how GDI and DDraw components display, which has caused issues for Worlds. Any version before 1920 will have UI issues on these Wine versions! 1920 and up is fine!
Worlds 1920 working on Fedora Linux 31. World featured is Hard Rock GZ.
A bash script has been created that does the steps automatically. The github page is here.
$ wget https://github.com/Vencorr/Worlds-LinuxScript/releases/download/latest/worlds-installer.sh
$ chmod +x worlds-installer.sh
$ sh install-worlds.sh
The required packages for this script to work are winetricks, wine, wget, and zenity. The rest should already be installed.
I highly recommend making a new wineprefix for your convenience. It is not required but makes things easier.
First, open a terminal:
$ export WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.local/share/wineprefixes/worldsonline
$ export WINEARCH=win32
WINEARCH=win32 is required. It may not work otherwise.
Make sure the variable hasn't changed and is saved for your terminal session. If you close out of your session, then you will need to execute these again to make sure further commands go by it.
$ echo $WINEPREFIX
It should output what you just set for WINEPREFIX. If it outputs nothing but an empty line, re-set the variables.
Install via your package manager winetricks and then execute the following:
$ sudo winetricks --self-update
This will update winetricks which is needed if we do not want outdated and broken scripts.
We need to configure the prefix:
$ winetricks win7 corefonts droid ddr=gdi
Wine should now create the prefix and configure it. If it asks you to install Gecko and Mono, go ahead.
Now, you need java. If you aren't on 1922, you will need jre6. You can substitute this with an officially provided jre6 installer from Oracle if you have an account. Otherwise, you can use Jimbly's mirror:
$ wget http://users.worldsonline.com/jimbly/java/jre-6u23-windows-i586-s.exe
$ wine jre-6u23-windows-i586-s.exe
If using jre8, you must run the installer in silent mode:
$ wine jre8*.exe /s
You can install jre6 normally.
Next, you need to install the client. This installs 1920 but you can replace the download with any 19xx version.
$ wget http://archive.worlds.com/WorldsPlayerWin7.exe
$ wine WorldsPlayerWin7.exe
Once you have that all setup, you should be able to run Worlds now, but there will be no audio apart from WAV. You need additional steps.
Out of the box Wine Linux doesn't provide audio and video codecs for some of the playback in Worlds. Some of these include mp3, asf, and midi.
You can most likely get midi support by installing fluidsynth and a soundfont. Look at the WINE MIDI page.
ASF is essentially a differently encoded WMA or WMV file. As such, it's provided along with Microsoft's codecs.
In order for this to work, you must have 32-bit decoders (and possibly encoders) installed on your host Linux. These ae usually under gstreamer plugin packages. The exact kinds vary on your distribution.
$ winetricks devenum wmp9 dmsynth wmv9vcm directplay quartz ie8 quartz mimeassoc=off
Once the installations are finished, you need to install K-Lite.
$ wget https://files3.codecguide.com/K-Lite_Codec_Pack_1575_Standard.exe
$ wine K-Lite_Codec_Pack_1575_Standard.exe
If you don't instantly crash upon attempting to listen to music, that's a good sign. If you do, make sure you installed everything correctly and have the right 32-bit gstreamer packages.
You should run the client in terminal and view the output to determine your issues and work towards correcting them.
If you still have issues, your best bet is to start from scatch again and delete your wineprefix. Be sure to backup your important files.