Run Fonality HUD on Linux with Wine

Disclaimer: running Fonality HUD on Linux isn't supported by Fonality. The only supported platforms for HUD are Windows and Mac OS X. So, if you can't get HUD to run on Linux, don't call tech support about it because it's not supported.

That being said, here's how to get Fonality HUD to run on Linux using Wine (a compatibility layer that runs Windows executables on non-Windows platforms).

There are two methods: using your system version of Wine, or use PlayOnLinux which can manage multiple versions of Wine for you.

Using your system Wine

1) Install Wine

# For Fedora/RedHat users
$ sudo yum install wine

# For Ubuntu users
$ sudo apt-get install wine

2) Install Java Runtime Environment in Wine

I recommend creating a new wine prefix specifically for HUD, just to keep it separate from any other Wine apps you may use. HUD will require the Java Runtime Environment to be installed. The installer for HUD will normally try to install this automatically, but in my experience the installer might not work, so it's best to get Java manually.

Get the Windows JRE installer from here (or else Google it). I've had better luck using the Offline installer so I recommend using that.

Install Java in your wine prefix:

# Using a wine prefix:
$ mkdir ~/.HUD3
$ env WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.HUD3" wine jre-6u25-windows-i586.exe

# Not using a wine prefix:
$ wine jre-6u25-windows-i586.exe

3) Install HUD

Now use Wine to run the HUD installer.

# Using a wine prefix:
$ env WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.HUD3" wine hud-*.exe

# Not using a wine prefix:
$ wine hud-*.exe

The launchers for HUD in the menu may or may not work, if you have trouble with them I recommend just creating your own launcher. These details should work fine:

• Command:

  env WINEPREFIX="/home/kirsle/.HUD3" wine 'C:\Program Files\Fonality\HUD3.5\HUD.exe'

• Working directory: /home/kirsle/.HUD3/drive_c/Program Files/Fonality/HUD3.5

Be sure to substitute your real home directory there. The icon for HUD will probably be found somewhere under your ~/.local/share/icons folder, so browse around for it.

Now hopefully everything should "just work."

If not, you may need to use PlayOnLinux instead, because sometimes particular Wine versions don't get along very well with HUD.

Using PlayOnLinux

This will be similar to the above steps, but we'll be using PlayOnLinux so we can use a Wine version that's different than the system one.

1) Get PlayOnLinux

Visit PlayOnLinux.com and install it.

2) Begin installing HUD

1. In the PlayOnLinux window, click "Install"
2. Click "Install a .pol package or an unsupported application" at the bottom of the Install window
3. Choose "Manual Installation"
4. "Install a program in a new wine prefix"
5. Name it "HUD3"
6. Check "Assign a Wine version to the program"
7. Select a Wine version to use. You can manage and download Wine versions from PlayOnLinux by going to "Tools -> Manage Wine Versions" from the main window.
8. It will create the wine prefix.

3) Install Java

For now, ignore the PlayOnLinux window. Get the Java JRE installer, and install it under the wine prefix created by PlayOnLinux:

$ env WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/HUD3" wine jre-6u25-windows-i586.exe

4) Continue installing HUD in PlayOnLinux

Go back to the PlayOnLinux window and continue following the prompts. Browse to the HUD installer when it asks. If it asks you to "Choose a file to exec the game", browse to the HUD3.exe from the installed application.

Caveats

This will get HUD running on Linux. It won't be perfect, and may have some bugs and crash from time to time, but for the most part it works really well. I use it every day.

Some common bugs I've found and how to work around them:

• I can't type anything!
  Sometimes the HUD window thinks the Alt key was pressed and the menu is activated so you can't type anything in text boxes. I usually just tap the Alt key (to select the menu) and then hit Escape, and then I'm good to go.
• Clipping when dragging the main window around
  On Wine 1.1.38 when I'd drag the main window around, the window would be "clipped" - it was as though the shape of the window wasn't moving, but the window itself was, so it looked weird. But using the Alt+Click to drag feature of my window manager (which is present on the GNOME and XFCE desktop environments) would let me move the entire window with no clipping.

And, again, running HUD on Linux is NOT SUPPORTED. You're on your own.