Linux, Steam and Ace Help

Hi all! I've done some digging through threads here, but felt it might be best to open a new thread with a more specific question.

I am going to be teaching a few students how to use Ace over the next few months. My plan is to have them install Steam so that they can use Ace Lite.

One of my students uses a computer that runs Linux. Her mother said they can install Windows if necessary, but would prefer not to do that. I have limited experience with Linux and don't know how to advise her to make Steam and Ace Lite work on it.

I've looked at some threads that may be helpful to them. But if you were telling someone who has never used Steam with Linux how to go about making it work, what would you recommend to do? If it helps, she did say they have Linux Mint, no idea what version or anything.

Thanks!

the problem is that they need to use a windows-wrapper to get anything Ace to work at minimum, because the DLL needs windows (or something that pretends to be windows) to work.
Some Linux distributions come with such programs preinstalled, others can install something like Wine manually.

And if everything fails, before they format the computer to install Windows they might be better off installing a virtual machine and then have windows run inside the virtual machine. A VM is not an optimal solution for other program (it will take away resources), but Ace is low enough in its resource needs that most current computers should have absolutely no problems running it in a virtual machine on their native OS.

A Windows virtual machine is the easiest method by far. You can actually use Windows 10 without a product key legally and your only limitations are lack of customization (like color themes) and a water mark in the corner. While any RM isn't resource heavy in of itself, the virtual machine itself will require resources from the computer as you are essentially running an OS within an OS. That being said, most modern computers should be ok to sacrifice a little bit of CPU and a couple gigs of RAM to get a Windows VM running as RM inside of it shouldn't need more than the minimum.

The only real caveat is VMs (at least with Virtual Box, which is free) can't make use of the GPU directly so you can run into potential issues there and possibly might notice frame rate issues while running the game. Using RM shouldn't be a big deal, but test playing possibly might.

Running Ace under Wine is another option, though a bit more work. It does at least allow direct access to the GPU but instead you are now having a sub directory in Linux pretend to act like Windows which is somewhat a crap shoot usually. Fortunately, Ace tends to run very well under Wine with both the regular and steam versions much better than its older predecessors.

All they can really do is just try things out and see what works.

The one thing I want to point out if they decide to use VBox: Make sure that, in the VBox settings, you enable 3D acceleration. It's off by default (I think), and it's vital if you want anything to run well.

But is it required to enable 3D acceleration for just running Ace?
The engine doesn't use the graphic card's 3D possibilities.

@ChampX @Autofire VX Ace doesn't use the GPU at all, it runs completely CPU-based on the default 2D screens...

Thank you all for the input! I will pass along the messages.

Yes, but many desktops uses the GPU, especially if they have some kind of transparency in them. I haven't checked, but I would be surprised if Windows 10 didn't make use of it.

I am running Ubuntu 18.04 and have Ace on steam working just fine. I used an installer on Lutris.net the student would just need to install wine base packages (instructions on winehq) and lutris software. then click the installer link on the siite and follow instructions self extracting downloads and installs dependencies. the Lutris/Winehq has workarounds for any bugs that are reported.

Just wanted to say thanks again for all the replies. Turns out this student was not eligible for the class anyway, so it became a non-issue. But it is nice to have this info on hand in case the question arises in the future.