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Plutonium on Linux: Ultimate Cross-Distro Guide

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  • Astroculeundefined Offline
    Astroculeundefined Offline
    Astrocule
    Contributor
    wrote on last edited by Astrocule
    #1

    Plutonium Linux Setup Guide

    Updated July 2025 | Tested on Ubuntu/Debian/Arch/Fedora/Solus
    (FAQ & Troubleshooting at bottom)

    Important Disclaimers

    • Official Support: Plutonium only supports 64-bit Windows - Linux use at your own risk
    • Game Ownership: Requires legitimate Steam copy or Family Sharing (no pirated files)
    • Unsupported Systems: macOS, BSD, and ARM are not supported in this guide
    • Steam Deck: Incompatible with anti-cheat, LAN mode works via square button in Plutonium Launcher or follow Steam Deck LAN Setup Guide

    Table of Contents

    1. Install Dependencies
    2. Setup Wine Prefix
    3. Configure Plutonium
    4. Performance Tuning
    5. Troubleshooting
    6. FAQ

    Step 1: Install Dependencies

    Ubuntu

    sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
sudo apt-key add winehq.key
sudo apt-add-repository 'https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/'
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-staging dxvk wine-gecko wine-mono winetricks

    Debian (Jessie+)

    sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 && sudo apt update
sudo apt install wine wine32 libwine fonts-wine winetricks
sudo apt upgrade

    ℹ️ Can't install winetricks? See Debian Sources Documentation for adding contrib to your sources.

    Arch Linux

    1. Enable multilib in /etc/pacman.conf
    2. Update:
      sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S giflib lib32-giflib libpng lib32-libpng libldap lib32-libldap gnutls lib32-gnutls mpg123 lib32-mpg123 openal lib32-openal v4l-utils lib32-v4l-utils libpulse lib32-libpulse alsa-plugins lib32-alsa-plugins alsa-lib lib32-alsa-lib libjpeg-turbo lib32-libjpeg-turbo libxcomposite lib32-libxcomposite libxinerama lib32-libxinerama ncurses lib32-ncurses opencl-icd-loader lib32-opencl-icd-loader libxslt lib32-libxslt libva lib32-libva gtk3 lib32-gtk3 gst-plugins-base-libs lib32-gst-plugins-base-libs vulkan-icd-loader lib32-vulkan-icd-loader dosbox
yay -S dxvk-bin  # AUR package

    Fedora

    sudo dnf upgrade
sudo dnf install wine dxvk wine-gecko wine-mono winetricks
sudo dnf install alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686 glibc-devel.i686 glibc-devel libgcc.i686 libX11-devel.i686 freetype-devel.i686 libXcursor-devel.i686 libXi-devel.i686 libXext-devel.i686 libXxf86vm-devel.i686 libXrandr-devel.i686 libXinerama-devel.i686 mesa-libGLU-devel.i686 mesa-libOSMesa-devel.i686 libXrender-devel.i686 libpcap-devel.i686 ncurses-devel.i686 libzip-devel.i686 lcms2-devel.i686 zlib-devel.i686 libv4l-devel.i686 libgphoto2-devel.i686 cups-devel.i686 libxml2-devel.i686 openldap-devel.i686 libxslt-devel.i686 gnutls-devel.i686 libpng-devel.i686 flac-libs.i686 json-c.i686 libICE.i686 libSM.i686 libXtst.i686 libasyncns.i686 liberation-narrow-fonts.noarch libieee1284.i686 libogg.i686 libsndfile.i686 libuuid.i686 libva.i686 libvorbis.i686 libwayland-client.i686 libwayland-server.i686 llvm-libs.i686 mesa-dri-drivers.i686 mesa-filesystem.i686 mesa-libEGL.i686 mesa-libgbm.i686 nss-mdns.i686 ocl-icd.i686 pulseaudio-libs.i686 sane-backends-libs.i686 tcp_wrappers-libs.i686 unixODBC.i686 samba-common-tools.x86_64 samba-libs.x86_64 samba-winbind.x86_64 samba-winbind-clients.x86_64 samba-winbind-modules.x86_64 mesa-libGL-devel.i686 fontconfig-devel.i686 libXcomposite-devel.i686 libXcursor-devel.i686 libXdamage-devel.i686 libXfixes-devel.i686 libXi-devel.i686 libXinerama-devel.i686 libXrandr-devel.i686 libXrender-devel.i686 libXtst-devel.i686 zlib-devel.i686

    ⚠️ Nobara Users: Replace sudo dnf upgrade with sudo nobara-sync

    Solus

    sudo eopkg install wine wine-devel wine-32bit-devel winetricks dxvk wine-gecko wine-mono

    🛠️ Driver Verification

    • NVIDIA: Install latest drivers + lib32-nvidia-utils
    • AMD:
      vulkaninfo | grep driver  # Should show "MESA_RADV"

    Step 2: Setup Wine Prefix

    # Create dedicated prefix
mkdir -p ~/wine/plutonium

# Install required components
WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winetricks -q --force \
d3dcompiler_47 d3dcompiler_43 \
d3dx11_42 d3dx11_43 gfw msasn1 \
corefonts vcrun2005 vcrun2012 vcrun2019 \
xact_x64 xact xinput

# Configure DXVK and Windows version
WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium setup_dxvk install # skip if broken
WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winecfg -v win10

    Step 3: Configure Plutonium

    Heroic Launcher Setup

    1. Add Game → Executable: ~/wine/plutonium/plutonium.exe
    2. Wine Settings → Wine Prefix: ~/wine/plutonium
    3. Launch Plutonium and point to your Steam game folder:
      ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Call of Duty Black Ops II

    🔍 Invalid game folder in plutonium?
    Enable "Show dot files" in winecfg → Drives tab
    WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winecfg

    Step 4: Performance Tuning

    Recommended Heroic Settings:

    Tab Setting
    Wine Version: GE-Proton-Latest
    Enable Esync/Fsync (or disable if using NTSYNC)
    Other Enable Gamemode
    Disable AntiCheat runtimes
    Advanced Environment Variables:
    DXVK_FRAME_RATE=200 LD_PRELOAD=""
    PROTON_USE_NTSYNC=1 PROTON_USE_WOW64=1 (Kernel 6.15+ required)

    Troubleshooting

    Stuttering/Crazy Mouse

    • Update Wine/Proton-GE
    • Disable Esync/Fsync in Heroic
    • For WAW/BO1: Test CPU core pinning:
      WINE_CPU_TOPOLOGY=6:0,1,2,3,4,5  # For 6-core CPU

    Crashing on Startup

    1. Verify Wine prefix uses Windows 10/11
    2. Check Heroic logs:
      Game Settings → Advanced → Enable verbose logs → View logs
    3. Recreate Wine prefix if corrupted

    Controller Not Detected

    WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winecfg
    1. Go to Libraries tab
    2. For each xinputX_X entry:
      Set to "Builtin then Native"
    3. Apply changes and restart
      e56ab219-9431-43a5-ba05-b4effae6fc29-image.png

    ❓ FAQ

    Q: BO1/BO2/WAW runs poorly

    Older CoD titles have poor PC ports. Try:

    • FPS capping
    • Windowed mode
    • Kernel 6.15+ with NTSYNC/WOW64
      NTSYNC Documentation

    Q: Installer appears frozen

    Wait 60 seconds before restarting. Force-stop via Heroic if needed.

    Q: Can I use mods/custom content?

    Yes! Mod folders are located at:
    ~/wine/plutonium/drive_c/users/[USER]/AppData/Local/ (user being wine/proton runner)

    • Wine: Your system username
    • Proton: steamuser

    Q: Can I host servers on Linux?

    Yes, you can also host servers on Linux. There's methods with docker/pterodactyl-pelican panel or simply through wine on your own PC, however this does require a little more maintenance so if you are new to Linux and already have a hard time, I do not recommend trying this. Instead get a VPS with windows. Also please keep in mind, as the Launcher doesn't have official Linux support, neither do servers. Plutonium only supports Windows for clients and servers.

    • Draakor's Eggs (Pterodactyl/Pelican panel)
    • PlutoniumLinuxHosting (baremetal)
    • T5Server (baremetal)

    Additional Resources:

    • SoyKappys Guide
    • Heroic Games Launcher
    • WineHQ Documentation
    • Plutonium Forum

    ✨ Pro Tip: Performance improves as shaders cache during gameplay. Most issues resolve with playing!

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    • CamoManoundefined CamoMano referenced this topic on
    • e46undefined Offline
      e46undefined Offline
      e46
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Thank you for the in-depth tutorial, unlucky timing for me to try it since Web Archive is down haha (WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winetricks -q gfw)

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • e46undefined Offline
        e46undefined Offline
        e46
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        Forgot to update, but it actually worked fine for me without gfw.

        OS: Arch LinuxKERNEL: 6.11.2-arch1-1
        CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six-Core
        GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
        GPU DRIVER: NVIDIA 560.35.03
        RAM: 32 GB

        Hyprland v0.44.1

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        0
        • Asriel_Dreemurrundefined Offline
          Asriel_Dreemurrundefined Offline
          Asriel_Dreemurr
          wrote on last edited by Asriel_Dreemurr
          #4

          I just use the install script off of Lutris's website But this is good to know for just in case the script ever breaks in the future

          1 Reply Last reply
          1
          • Kriredundefined Offline
            Kriredundefined Offline
            Krired
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Excellent guide. I tried like 3 different guides and none of them worked. Thanks!

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