Posted 9 years ago
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Author
IMVU on Linux Table of Contents
**TO DO**
[*]•How-to IMVU on Debian
NOTE: I have various levels of busyness in my life lately so bare with me if it seems I have gone silent for a few days at a time.
[spoiler=Introduction]So many of you have switched to Linux for one reason or another. For me it was the fact it was more secure than Windows, open source, and free. However Linux doesn't replace everything or have every app and IMVU is one of those things. However in recent years and months WINE has been getting good at running the apps that were built for Windows. In case you don't know WINE stands for "Windows Is Not an Emulator" and it acts as a "compatibility layer" translating Windows system calls from a Windows app to Linux system calls, visa versa.
My current use case has been for the last few months a Acer C710 Chromebook with a modified BIOS to run ArchLinux (instead of Chrome OS). In my case all it took to get IMVU running was the latest WINE from the Arch Official Repositories, the latest IMVU installer, and a edit to the DRI config located at ~/.drirc The ~/.drirc is not created by default and must be manually created with a program or by yourself. A good noobie way would be to download "driconf" from your distro's package manager. It should have a option "Enable S3TC texture compression even if software support is not availble" which you can try to toggle to "yes". In my case that helped to speed up IMVU greatly but YMMV.
Currently in my use case IMVU runs pretty well, better than I expected at first. IMVU tends to crash if not in OpenGL mode and "Standard graphics" mode is so slow for me I can't use it. So OpenGL all the way! IMVU in my case also freezes for a split second when someone enters or leaves a room or changes their avatar's outfit but the pause is so small that I don't even mind. IMVU will also crash if you try to use anything inside the special "right click menu" but not for the "avatar menu" you get when clicking a avatar. Everything else so far works without crashing for me.
I want this thread to be a way to get help running IMVU on your Linux system. If any one has any potential help or fixes for issues I will update this opening post to reflect that so people can find solutions faster. If anything found in this thread has helped you run IMVU in Linux please mention it.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=How-to IMVU on Ubuntu]Ubuntu versions older then 10.04 are no longer supported nor recommended.
First things first, lets get WINE installed!
1) Make sure the system is up to date. Running in a terminal will refresh the list of packages and will update your packages. This could take a while based on your internet speeds.
2) Add the official WINE PPA for Ubuntu because Ubuntu repositories can lag behind on WINE versions. First add the new repository by running in a terminal after that refresh the list of packages so your system knows where to get the latest WINE with
3) Installing WINE, it's recommended for Ubuntu users to try the stable version of wine instead of the latest because the latest suffers from potential regressions. To install the latest stable (which is version 1.6.2) run in a terminal If you feeling brave and are willing to deal with possible bugs you can try the latest WINE (which is version 1.7.44) and can be installed by running in a terminal
With WINE installed lets move onto getting IMVU installed
1) Download the latest stable IMVU client here Please choose the version without "Search Protect" because those extensions will not work in WINE.
2) Double click the newly downloaded IMVU installer and follow the prompts. A shortcut for IMVU should be added to the menu under the "WINE" category and to the desktop. At the end of the install process IMVU will try to load for the vary first time. This would mean you have successfully installed IMVU! When the login prompt shows up please uncheck "Run IMVU at Startup" and please check "Save password". If you do not check "Save password" IMVU can take twice as long to load, 2-10 minutes to get to the login and another 2-10 minutes to load the actual client
3) For better performance go to Settings>Advanced and make sure "OpenGL" is selected. IMVU runs extremely slow in "standard graphics" and tends to crash in "Direct3D".
If you have questions or comments please post them. The goal is to help others out running IMVU on Linux!
NOTES: IMVU always takes 2-10 minutes (or longer) loading to the login and the main client for some reason. No fix known yet.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=How-to IMVU on ArchLinux]First things first, lets get WINE installed!
1) Make sure the system is up to date. Running in a terminal as root will refresh the packages and upgrade everything. 'S' stands for sync, lower case 'y' is a option for sync to refresh package list before installing and the 'u' is an option for sync to search for and install upgrades. Two 'y' refresh options are passed to force the system to fetch new package lists for all repositories.
2) **Only for 64 Bit users!** You must enable the Multilib repository so WINE can get all the required libraries to run. To enable the Multilib repository open /etc/pacman.conf with your favourite text editor as root and uncomment the following two lines by removing the pound sign # from the beginning of those lines. After this preform another system upgrade by running in a terminal as root
3) **Only for 64 Bit users!** Now install extra packages that are required by WINE and IMVU. In a terminal as root install lib32-lcms2 and lib32-lcms with This may pull in extra packages, that's ok, install them all.
4) Installing WINE; since ArchLinux is a rolling release it will always have the latest packages and so WINE will always be the at the latest version possible. You can install that (Wine is at 1.7.22 at time of writing) by running in a terminal as root and your done! **One more step for 64 Bit users**
5) **Only for 64 Bit users!** Before continuing further and running WINE or any WINE applications please type in the following command NOT AS ROOT into a terminal. This will create a new WINE prefix suited only for 32 bit applications and open up the WINE settings panel. It may ask to install Gecko, go ahead and install that. Once the WINE settings panel opens go to the bottom and make sure the "Windows Version" is set to "Windows 7" and your done! You may close out of this window and continue on.
With WINE installed lets move onto getting IMVU installed
1) Download the latest stable IMVU client here
2) Double click the newly downloaded IMVU installer and follow the prompts. A shortcut for IMVU should be added to the menu under the "WINE" category and to the desktop. At the end of the install process IMVU will try to load for the vary first time. This would mean you have successfully installed IMVU! When the login prompt shows up please uncheck "Run IMVU at Startup" and please check "Save password". If you do not check "Save password" IMVU can take twice as long to load, 2-10 minutes to get to the login and another 2-10 minutes to load the actual client
3) For better performance go to Settings>Advanced and make sure "OpenGL" is selected. IMVU runs extremely slow in "standard graphics" and tends to crash in "Direct3D".
If you have questions or comments please post them. The goal is to help others out running IMVU on Linux!
NOTES: IMVU always takes 2-10 minutes (or longer) loading to the login and the main client for some reason. IMVU also freezes for a second or two when entering a room or when new things are loaded. No fix known yet.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Master list of workarounds and fixes]Your mileage may vary!
Enabling S3TC texture compression in driconf could help speed up things
Running IMVU Lite may help speed things up: viewtopic.php?f=140&t=8013 (Thanks Don Von for the suggestion)[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Changelog]UPDATED 06/08/2015
• Fixed up Arch Linux section for 64 and 32 bit users.
• Updated WINE version numbers
• Updated download links
UPDATED 07/27/2014
• Added "How-to IMVU on ArchLinux" section
• Changed the topic from "[WIP] Running IMVU on Linux" to "[WIP] How-to run IMVU on Linux" so people know this is a How-to and not someone wondering how to run IMVU on Linux
UPDATED 07/26/2014
• Added "How-to IMVU on Ubuntu" section, more to come later.
• Made cosmetic changes to thread
• Added "Table of Contents"
• Added "FAQ" section
• Added "Changelog" section
• Added "Master list of workarounds and fixes" section[/spoiler]
[spoiler=FAQ]What is Linux?
Linux is a Operating System that is free to use and open source otherwise known as FOSS. For more in depth info read this wiki article or make a Google search.
What is WINE?
WINE is a compatibility layer for Linux. It acts as a translator, translating system calls and code from Windows software into system calls and code that the Linux Operating System can understand. WINE stands for "Windows Is Not an Emulator". More information can be found at their website or through Google.[/spoiler]
- •Introduction
- •How-to IMVU on Ubuntu
- •How-to IMVU on ArchLinux
- •Master list of workarounds and fixes
- •Changelog
- •FAQ
**TO DO**
[*]•How-to IMVU on Debian
NOTE: I have various levels of busyness in my life lately so bare with me if it seems I have gone silent for a few days at a time.
[spoiler=Introduction]So many of you have switched to Linux for one reason or another. For me it was the fact it was more secure than Windows, open source, and free. However Linux doesn't replace everything or have every app and IMVU is one of those things. However in recent years and months WINE has been getting good at running the apps that were built for Windows. In case you don't know WINE stands for "Windows Is Not an Emulator" and it acts as a "compatibility layer" translating Windows system calls from a Windows app to Linux system calls, visa versa.
My current use case has been for the last few months a Acer C710 Chromebook with a modified BIOS to run ArchLinux (instead of Chrome OS). In my case all it took to get IMVU running was the latest WINE from the Arch Official Repositories, the latest IMVU installer, and a edit to the DRI config located at ~/.drirc The ~/.drirc is not created by default and must be manually created with a program or by yourself. A good noobie way would be to download "driconf" from your distro's package manager. It should have a option "Enable S3TC texture compression even if software support is not availble" which you can try to toggle to "yes". In my case that helped to speed up IMVU greatly but YMMV.
Currently in my use case IMVU runs pretty well, better than I expected at first. IMVU tends to crash if not in OpenGL mode and "Standard graphics" mode is so slow for me I can't use it. So OpenGL all the way! IMVU in my case also freezes for a split second when someone enters or leaves a room or changes their avatar's outfit but the pause is so small that I don't even mind. IMVU will also crash if you try to use anything inside the special "right click menu" but not for the "avatar menu" you get when clicking a avatar. Everything else so far works without crashing for me.
I want this thread to be a way to get help running IMVU on your Linux system. If any one has any potential help or fixes for issues I will update this opening post to reflect that so people can find solutions faster. If anything found in this thread has helped you run IMVU in Linux please mention it.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=How-to IMVU on Ubuntu]Ubuntu versions older then 10.04 are no longer supported nor recommended.
First things first, lets get WINE installed!
1) Make sure the system is up to date. Running in a terminal will refresh the list of packages and will update your packages. This could take a while based on your internet speeds.
2) Add the official WINE PPA for Ubuntu because Ubuntu repositories can lag behind on WINE versions. First add the new repository by running in a terminal after that refresh the list of packages so your system knows where to get the latest WINE with
3) Installing WINE, it's recommended for Ubuntu users to try the stable version of wine instead of the latest because the latest suffers from potential regressions. To install the latest stable (which is version 1.6.2) run in a terminal If you feeling brave and are willing to deal with possible bugs you can try the latest WINE (which is version 1.7.44) and can be installed by running in a terminal
With WINE installed lets move onto getting IMVU installed
1) Download the latest stable IMVU client here Please choose the version without "Search Protect" because those extensions will not work in WINE.
2) Double click the newly downloaded IMVU installer and follow the prompts. A shortcut for IMVU should be added to the menu under the "WINE" category and to the desktop. At the end of the install process IMVU will try to load for the vary first time. This would mean you have successfully installed IMVU! When the login prompt shows up please uncheck "Run IMVU at Startup" and please check "Save password". If you do not check "Save password" IMVU can take twice as long to load, 2-10 minutes to get to the login and another 2-10 minutes to load the actual client
3) For better performance go to Settings>Advanced and make sure "OpenGL" is selected. IMVU runs extremely slow in "standard graphics" and tends to crash in "Direct3D".
If you have questions or comments please post them. The goal is to help others out running IMVU on Linux!
NOTES: IMVU always takes 2-10 minutes (or longer) loading to the login and the main client for some reason. No fix known yet.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=How-to IMVU on ArchLinux]First things first, lets get WINE installed!
1) Make sure the system is up to date. Running in a terminal as root will refresh the packages and upgrade everything. 'S' stands for sync, lower case 'y' is a option for sync to refresh package list before installing and the 'u' is an option for sync to search for and install upgrades. Two 'y' refresh options are passed to force the system to fetch new package lists for all repositories.
2) **Only for 64 Bit users!** You must enable the Multilib repository so WINE can get all the required libraries to run. To enable the Multilib repository open /etc/pacman.conf with your favourite text editor as root and uncomment the following two lines by removing the pound sign # from the beginning of those lines. After this preform another system upgrade by running in a terminal as root
3) **Only for 64 Bit users!** Now install extra packages that are required by WINE and IMVU. In a terminal as root install lib32-lcms2 and lib32-lcms with This may pull in extra packages, that's ok, install them all.
4) Installing WINE; since ArchLinux is a rolling release it will always have the latest packages and so WINE will always be the at the latest version possible. You can install that (Wine is at 1.7.22 at time of writing) by running in a terminal as root and your done! **One more step for 64 Bit users**
5) **Only for 64 Bit users!** Before continuing further and running WINE or any WINE applications please type in the following command NOT AS ROOT into a terminal. This will create a new WINE prefix suited only for 32 bit applications and open up the WINE settings panel. It may ask to install Gecko, go ahead and install that. Once the WINE settings panel opens go to the bottom and make sure the "Windows Version" is set to "Windows 7" and your done! You may close out of this window and continue on.
With WINE installed lets move onto getting IMVU installed
1) Download the latest stable IMVU client here
2) Double click the newly downloaded IMVU installer and follow the prompts. A shortcut for IMVU should be added to the menu under the "WINE" category and to the desktop. At the end of the install process IMVU will try to load for the vary first time. This would mean you have successfully installed IMVU! When the login prompt shows up please uncheck "Run IMVU at Startup" and please check "Save password". If you do not check "Save password" IMVU can take twice as long to load, 2-10 minutes to get to the login and another 2-10 minutes to load the actual client
3) For better performance go to Settings>Advanced and make sure "OpenGL" is selected. IMVU runs extremely slow in "standard graphics" and tends to crash in "Direct3D".
If you have questions or comments please post them. The goal is to help others out running IMVU on Linux!
NOTES: IMVU always takes 2-10 minutes (or longer) loading to the login and the main client for some reason. IMVU also freezes for a second or two when entering a room or when new things are loaded. No fix known yet.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Master list of workarounds and fixes]Your mileage may vary!
Enabling S3TC texture compression in driconf could help speed up things
Running IMVU Lite may help speed things up: viewtopic.php?f=140&t=8013 (Thanks Don Von for the suggestion)[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Changelog]UPDATED 06/08/2015
• Fixed up Arch Linux section for 64 and 32 bit users.
• Updated WINE version numbers
• Updated download links
UPDATED 07/27/2014
• Added "How-to IMVU on ArchLinux" section
• Changed the topic from "[WIP] Running IMVU on Linux" to "[WIP] How-to run IMVU on Linux" so people know this is a How-to and not someone wondering how to run IMVU on Linux
UPDATED 07/26/2014
• Added "How-to IMVU on Ubuntu" section, more to come later.
• Made cosmetic changes to thread
• Added "Table of Contents"
• Added "FAQ" section
• Added "Changelog" section
• Added "Master list of workarounds and fixes" section[/spoiler]
[spoiler=FAQ]What is Linux?
Linux is a Operating System that is free to use and open source otherwise known as FOSS. For more in depth info read this wiki article or make a Google search.
What is WINE?
WINE is a compatibility layer for Linux. It acts as a translator, translating system calls and code from Windows software into system calls and code that the Linux Operating System can understand. WINE stands for "Windows Is Not an Emulator". More information can be found at their website or through Google.[/spoiler]
Last edited by ShapeShifter499 on Tue Jun 09, 2015 12:04 am, edited 26 times in total.