Working with Wine on Linux Mint 19 and Trainz

Johnda1237

New member
Yureeka! I am now running Trainz on my Lenovo PC with Linux Mint!

It has been a bit of an involved search, but I am finally running Trainz 2009 on a Linux operating system. I have TRS 2019 working beautifully on my iMac, but missed fiddling with the early versions of Trainz and decided to try to see if I could do it in Linux. I have been with Trainz since they first started and have CD cases dating back to the first edition.

Linux Mint 19 is the latest issue and I have been running it on my Lenovo dual core PC. I needed to install WINE and Playonlinux, which is in Linux 19 and just needs to be activated. I then attempted to install a version of Trainz and had a few failures, but Trainz 2009 installed perfectly, with one exception. When I looked at the USA Country layout, there was no baseboard! All the items such as track, buildings, trees and other gear could be seen, but they literally were hanging in the air. It turns out that Open GL was not working, but Direct X was fine. I reset the program video to Direct X and the ground appeared.

I haven't tried downloading any gear yet, but everything on screen is just like the old days! I made a test loop of track and have been running the Chief and sound and video are excellent.

Film at eleven!:D
 
I would love to see a Linux version. I have read many articles and it seems like no one has been able to get anything newer to work than TS12. I am typing this response on Xubuntu which I use for EVERYTHING other than Trainz. It would be nice to get rid of Win permanently.
 
N3V has taken this into consideration and is looking into a Linux TRS2019 at some point in the future (tm).

That's way cool getting TSR2009 running! What's interesting is how this version of Linux doesn't support Open/GL. Open/GL used to be the standard for graphics on the 'nix platform including Solaris.
 
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I am at a bit of a stop. Trainz 2009 runs fine, but I cannot get file manager to operate yet. Without it I will not be able load in more running gear etc. so, that’s where we are now.
 
In my infrequent ventures into running Linux I have never succeeded in getting any version of Trainz to run correctly and fully under WINE.
 
I am at a bit of a stop. Trainz 2009 runs fine, but I cannot get file manager to operate yet. Without it I will not be able load in more running gear etc. so, that’s where we are now.

That would makes sense because TRS2009 Content Manager, like TRS2006, TS2010, and TS12, requires Open/GL. You can do most functions such as import content using Trainzutil from the command line.

In a terminal window, navigate to the TRS2009 directory and type trainzutil to bring up the command switches. I piped the command switches to a text file for my reference, but I'm not sure if they are the same for TRS2009 since mine is from T:ANE or TRS2019, otherwise, I would share them here with you.

As you know, you may have to pseudo root to execute the trainzutil program.
 
That is really interesting John,

I am going to print out your instructions and try again tomorrow. Right now, I have had to throw my hands into the air. Hopefully your techniques can get me going. This is turning into a much more difficult venture than I first expected.

Thanks
 
I use Linux for about everything other than Trainz and have done for many years. If you have TS2009 working OK you should get very similar results with TS2010 however I find that TS12 is still very sluggish and that its Contact Manager doesn't really want to play making it quite unusable.

Each time a major upgrade to one of the leading Linux distributions is released I try it with Trainz, partly being a bit of a nerd but more the case of wishing to completely dump Microsoft. Fortunately I use hard drives caddies in my machines and have the capacity to experiment.

What I haven't tried and don't know of any who have is to use Codeweavers Crossover, the commercial and more mature version of WINE. I also wonder if an Android version of Trainz would be better suited for running on Linux being of a similar OS. Peter
 
interesting Peter, and John. The problem is definitely content manager as John pointed out. It needs Open GL to run. In my case, TRS2009 needs Direct X to run properly. I have to say it runs beautifully, but I cannot add any running gear. This morning I tried starting it and picking Open GL, then seeing if I could open content manager. Nope, nada. I also tried going into terminal and activating Trainzutil but that didn't work. Sigh. I am now checking my status with Trainz and what downloads are available and I will try another version. Take care folks!
 
Sorry folks, the installation of TRS2019 has failed. I think that will be all for now, hopefully the guys in the front office will be able to make a Linux capable issue of Trainz.

See ya!
 
Think TANE and TRS19 needs .net, mono doesn't cut it and DX11 proper version not the Reverse engineered one.

I got TS12 Content Manager to partially function some time ago using Wine and some "borrowed" windows libraries, in PC LinuxOS and Mandriva, it would download and install once then lockup after the install actual Driver and surveyor worked well in OpenGL then, so something has changed with the Drivers, have used Crossover in the past no success with Trainz though and to be honest I could do most of what it does myself just using Wine.

May have more luck with an older distro using older graphics drivers with TS12, I got fed up messing with it all. In fact I've gone off Linux, too many updates / fingers in the pie and devs falling out and creating yet another version. Just got Mint on an old laptop at present.

Used to Alpha test for Mandrake then Mandriva Cooker and Beta Test for PC Linux OS, long time ago now.
 
As @wilts747 says, I also use Ubuntu for everything under the sun except for Trainz. If there was only a LiNUX version, I'd be free of Windows forever. All my writing tools run under Ubuntu as well. The best part is it's all free!

Bill
 
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interesting Peter, and John. The problem is definitely content manager as John pointed out. It needs Open GL to run. In my case, TRS2009 needs Direct X to run properly. I have to say it runs beautifully, but I cannot add any running gear. This morning I tried starting it and picking Open GL, then seeing if I could open content manager. Nope, nada. I also tried going into terminal and activating Trainzutil but that didn't work. Sigh. I am now checking my status with Trainz and what downloads are available and I will try another version. Take care folks!

The problem is CM runs the Open/GL directly and not through the Trainz settings interface. I thought too that Trainzutil would have been able to run, but apparently not.
 
Hi Bill!

I am glad to see you are still out there! Yep, Linux just is not ready for prime time with Trainz. I can work with TRS2009 as it came out of the box, but cannot add any equipment and cannot move up in build from the first. take care!

John
 
Trouble with Wine is it's often one step forwards and two steps back, lost count of how many times in years gone by I've fixed problems that an updated version created.
Just a thought, what driver were you using with 2009? hopefully one from Nvidia or AMD and not a botched up distro one.
 
I have decided to uninstall TRS2009 from my Lenovo/Mint 19 computer. Not being able to use content manager and add any items to it was the killer. My Lenovo runs so well with Linux Mint that I decided to not try to rebuild the operating system back to Windows 10. I am running TRS2019 on my iMac, which has its own set of glitches, but for the most part it is useable.

End of experiment (for now)
:n:
 
Should I ever get anywhere with a previous copy of Content Manager running satisfactory under Linux I will post it on the Parts and Labour Forum but in the mean time carry on enjoying Trainz, warts and all. Peter
 
TRS19 on Fedora 31

been playing with TRS19 and linux (again) recently on my main Fedora 31:
Wine staging 5.10: TRS19 works mostly, Content window seems borked but I could go online with Kickstarter Country 2! (not tried TANE there yet)
Steam: Proton 5.0-9: only launcher window works
Steam: Proton 5.9-GE3-ST: only launcher window

installed winetricks verbs: corefonts cabinet d3dx11_42 d3dx11_43 vcrun2010 vcrun2012 vcrun2013 vcrun2015 xact (was more or less a general install, not TRS19 specific; not sure about mono)

I keep testing with every new release now! So far I'm happy!
Lockheed
 
The graphics drivers right from the repositories work great in Linux now. The kernel does not have the nVidia drivers in it, but it will detect the card and install the correct updated driver if needed. My RTX 2070 worked perfectly upon completion of the install of 20.04.
 
been playing with TRS19 and linux (again) recently on my main Fedora 31:
Wine staging 5.10: TRS19 works mostly, Content window seems borked but I could go online with Kickstarter Country 2! (not tried TANE there yet)
Steam: Proton 5.0-9: only launcher window works
Steam: Proton 5.9-GE3-ST: only launcher window

installed winetricks verbs: corefonts cabinet d3dx11_42 d3dx11_43 vcrun2010 vcrun2012 vcrun2013 vcrun2015 xact (was more or less a general install, not TRS19 specific; not sure about mono)

I keep testing with every new release now! So far I'm happy!
Lockheed

I just updated to wine 5.12 (staging). Mono gets pulled to install when running TRS19.exe.
Aside that itt seems less performant than 5.10 but rumors say there were issues in 5.11 so some regression might have been slipped to this version.
 
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