Plutonium Setup + Optimization on Linux (Updated)

KutaG59

There are a few guides here on how to run Plutonium on Linux already, but they are spread out or split into multiple posts. While that may be easier to read, it can add confusion for new users.

I've opted to create a new guide that I will maintain for the (hopefully) foreseeable future. All required information will be included here, with quick hyperlinks to other guides on this forum (to show support and gratitude).

SoyKappys Guide
Pants Guide
Nawas Guide
Trymeouts Guide

Important Information: This guide is purely for Linux. Do not expect it to work if you are using BSD or macOS with translation layers. Feel free to test it at your own risk. This guide is for desktops with a 64-bit OS/architecture only. Plutonium does not officially support ARM or any other hardware of such. Plutonium only officially supports Windows. If you want an error-free, quick, and easy setup, then use Windows.

I will cover all major Linux distros; any forks may require different commands/applications to be used, so please keep that in mind. A fork includes Pop!_OS, Nobara, Mint, Manjaro, etc. If you are a new Linux user and unsure, please google your distro and follow the installation guide according to the parent distro it is forked from.

DISCLAIMER: Plutonium only supports official CoD copies from Steam! This means you HAVE to own the game on Steam or have it being Family Shared to your Steam account from another Steam user. Any other files used (torrents/pirated files) WILL NOT BE SUPPORTED OR ASSISTED WITH!
This WILL NOT work on the steam deck, as it is currently (and possibly forever) incompatible with Plutoniums Custom Anti-cheat. Some OLED users are able to play, feel free to potentially waste your time if you own a newer OLED model.

IF YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES AFTER FOLLOWING THE GUIDE INSIDE PLUTONIUM, PLEASE CONSULT STEP 5 AT THE VERY BOTTOM FOR COMMON ISSUES + SOLUTIONS!

Lets get started now. I will be doing this on my Arch Linux system, ive tested this on many distros and its worked just fine.

(Links are broken, not sure if forums support Markdown Anchors/I messed it up. Please ignore clicking, resort to scrolling for now, sorry.)

1. System Requirements
- Ubuntu
- Debian
- Arch
- Fedora
- Solus
1. Front end like Lutris/Heroic/Bottles (Optional)
1. Setting up system for Plutonium
- 3.1 System Drivers
- 3.2 Winetricks on Prefix
- 3.3 Installing and Launching Plutonium
1. Performance/Tuning. (Optional)
- 4.1 Runner Options
- 4.2 System Options
1. FAQ and Issues

System Requirements

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
sudo apt install --install-recommends dxvk
sudo apt install --install-recommends wine-gecko wine-mono
sudo apt install --install-recommends winetricks

Debian

(Debian users, use this AND the Debian Testing/12/11 part right below)

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo wget -O /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key

Debian Testing/12/11 aka Trixie/Bookworm/Bullseye

Debian Testing

sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian/dists/trixie/winehq-trixie.sources

Debian 12

sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian/dists/bookworm/winehq-bookworm.sources

Debian 11

sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/debian/dists/bullseye/winehq-bullseye.sources

All Debian Users

sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable
sudo apt install --install-recommends dxvk
sudo apt install --install-recommends wine-gecko wine-mono
sudo apt install --install-recommends winetricks

Arch

MAKE SURE MULTILIB IS ENABLED IN /etc/pacman.conf BEFORE RUNNING / SWITCH YAY IF U USE DIFFERENT AUR HELPER

sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S wine winetricks wine-gecko wine-mono
yay -S dxvk-bin
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 cups samba dosbox

Fedora

(nobara doesnt use "dnf upgrade", please use " sudo nobara-sync")

sudo dnf upgrade
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 libtiff-devel.i686 openal-soft-devel.i686 mesa-libOpenCL-devel.i686 opencl-utils-devel.i686 alsa-lib-devel.i686 gsm-devel.i686 libjpeg-turbo-devel.i686 pulseaudio-libs-devel.i686 pulseaudio-libs-devel gtk3-devel.i686 libattr-devel.i686 libva-devel.i686 libexif-devel.i686 libexif.i686 glib2-devel.i686 mpg123-devel.i686 mpg123-devel.x86_64 libcom_err-devel.i686 libcom_err-devel.x86_64 libFAudio-devel.i686 libFAudio-devel.x86_64

sudo dnf groupinstall "C Development Tools and Libraries"
sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools"

sudo dnf install wine
sudo dnf install dxvk
sudo dnf install wine-gecko wine-mono
sudo dnf install winetricks

Solus

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

All required packages should now be installed. If you encounter any errors mentioning missing dependencies when downloading, install those first, then rerun the commands. If any packages come back with incorrect names, simply google "Distro name + Package name" to find the correct one, as it may have changed format.

2. Front end like Lutris/Heroic/Bottles (Optional)

Lutris / Heroic / Bottles

3. Setting up system for Plutonium

Find a location on your system to create a new prefix folder for Plutonium, preferably under /home. If you are an experienced Linux user and know how to tinker/fix, simply use ~/.wine. Name this folder "wine", then create a folder inside it called "plutonium". The layout should now be "/home/wine/plutonium" when you navigate to the folder. from now on, ill be referring to this folder as "~/wine".

3.1 System Drivers

As of the date of writing this guide, NVIDIA GPUs are still buggy on Linux. Therefore, I cannot provide solid advice for drivers other than to use the most recent version (560 as of today) as they are the most stable and performant.

In order to install your drivers for NVIDIA, I would recommend following this Arch Wiki Guide, regardless of the distro you're on. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDIA (NVIDIA USERS PLEASE READ!) depending on your drivers (nvidia , nvidia-dkms , nvidia-lts , nvidia-390xx-dkms etc) YOU WILL WANT TO INSTALL THE CORRESPONDING lib32-nvidia-utils PACKAGE FOR YOUR SYSTEM!

For AMD users, ensure your GPU drivers are "Radeon" and not "amdvlk". You can check by running

vulkaninfo | grep driver

and you will get an output of drivers. Look for "driverID = DRIVER_ID_MESA_RADV" or something similar. As long as it says "RADV" (Radeon-Vulkan), you are good. If you are not using these drivers, consult your distro's wiki/forum on how to switch. Typically, you just install the Radeon drivers and uninstall the currently used drivers completely.

Anyone using integrated graphics should be all set out of the box on any distro.

3.2 Winetricks on Prefix

We will use Winetricks to perform Windows runtime installs to help with performance and getting Plutonium to operate correctly, PLEASE DO NOT JUST COPY AND PASTE AS THE DIRECTORY USED MAY BE DIFFERENT! CHANGE THE DIRECTORY IF YOU HAVE IT IN A DIFFERENT LOCATION

sudo winetricks --self-update
WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winetricks -q --force dotnet48
WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winetricks -q d3dcompiler_47 corefonts
WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winetricks -q vcrun2005
WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winetricks -q d3dcompiler_43 d3dx11_42 d3dx11_43
WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winetricks -q gfw msasn1 physx
WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winetricks -q xact_x64 xact xinput
WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium setup_dxvk install

3.3 Installing and Launching Plutonium

Head to Plutonium's official site and download the runner if you haven't already. Place it inside the "plutonium" folder you created in "~/wine" if you followed step two. Now plutonium.exe should be inside /plutonium and nothing else yet.

Launching with a Terminal would look like this:

WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium wine ~/wine/plutonium/plutonium.exe

While that's fine, I highly recommend using Lutris due to its ease of use and useful settings. Please install it following their official site if it’s not already on your system.

For Lutris:

Launch Lutris.
Click the + sign at the top left.
Select "Add Locally Installed Game."
Name it Plutonium.
Under Runner, select Wine.

Move to the Game Options Tab:

Find Executable and then click the three dots at the end of its field.
Navigate to "~/wine/plutonium" and select "plutonium.exe".

Now move down to Wine Prefix and click the three dots at the end of its field:

Select the folder "~/wine/plutonium" as the Wine Prefix.
Ensure Prefix Architecture is set to Auto.

Finally, hit save in the top right, and click play. Plutonium's installer, should open, install its client, and then the client should open.
If it freezes while installing, wait a minute or so, then stop it with Lutris and open it again. The installer GUI may freeze, but it doesn’t break; it’s a 50/50 issue but doesn’t cause any lasting problems. Click play, and it should open as normal. Log in and set up your games, the directory will be where you have them installed on Steam.

Due to Wine and hidden files, if the game is on your Home drive, it may not be visible. If that's the case, navigate to your game folder with your file explorer, copy the directory at the top, and paste it into the directory field after selecting "setup."

4. Performance/Tuning (Optional)

Open Lutris, Right click plutonium and select "Configure"
In the Top Right turn on "Advanced"

4.1 Runner Options

Follow along with "=on" and "=off"

Wine Version: System (Proton-GE works wonders as well)
Use System Wine tricks: Off --------------------------- *Windowed (virtual desktop): Off
Enable DXVK: On (Version Default) -------------------- Enable Esync: Off
Enable VKD3D: On (Version Default) ------------------- Enable Fsync: Off
Enable D3D Extras: On (Version Default) --------------- Enable AMD FSR: On (Optional)
Enable DXVK-NVAPI / DLSS: On (Version Default) ------ Enable Battleye: Off
Enable dgvoodoo: On (Version Default) ---------------- Enable Easy Anti-Cheat: Off
Every other setting in "Runner Options" can be left untouched or used to your needs

4.2 System Options

Disable Lutris Runtime: On
Prefer System Libraries: Test yourself. Depends on distro
Disable Screen Saver: On
Enable Feral GameMode: On
Disable Desktop Effects: On
Every other setting in "System Options" can be left untouched or used to your needs

Your system should now be set to run all CoD games at optimal performance. A word of caution: Black Ops 1 is already a poor PC port (from console), and it runs poorly on Windows and slightly worse on Linux. This may affect you if you use distros like Ubuntu/Mint/Debian with older packages. Newer Wine versions seem to have improved this performance issue, making it resemble Windows or sometimes perform slightly better.

5. FAQ and Issues

Q1: My mouse freaks out whenever I shoot/ads, what do I do?!?!?!?!?
A: First, make sure you're wine is up to date. If so, Try using ProtonGE first.
If this doesnt solve your issue, change the "Wine Version" under "Runner Options" back to system. Close the settings/configure menu for plutonium. Select Plutonium in Lutris, hit the wine bottle on the bottom, then Wine Configuration.
Change the Windows Version to 10/11, then go to "Graphics" Tab, turn on "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows" and "Emulate a Virtual Desktop" then change the "Desktop Size" to match your screens resolution.

Q2: My game is performing terribly and my Mouse skips!
A1: In-Game not configured properly
In your games settings, turn off Vsync, and set an FPS cap of 200 or less. I find 120-160 is the sweet spot for myself. Next, try different windows modes (Fullscreen, Borderless etc) This should fix 90% of your issues
A2: Your Distro may not be the best performant with this client
this may be due to older packaging. If you can/want, try a newer distro, or if you're distro has a testing branch, switch to that.
A3: Wine is having issues, use winecfg to change some mouse capture options, or emulate a virtual desktop using your screens resolution. This fixes the issue, and it shouldn't come back. You can also just try switching wine versions (Like Wine > WineGE or Wine > Proton etc)

Q3: Why does every game but Bo1 run well?
A: Well, Bo1 is a terrible PC port. On Windows, it runs terribly as well but its less consistent and not as noticeable.
Some users on Linux (Mainly Ubuntu/Debian/Mint) report issues of Bo1 having major mouse issues (Speeding up, Slowing down, Speeding up, Slowing down). This is because your mouse is tied to the FPS in Bo1, and under Linux the frametimes may be very inconsistent causing this mouse issue. You can try setting a lower/higher FPS cap to try and mitigate this.

Q4: My Plutonium crashes on Launch/When I try to open a game!
A: First, check logs by right clicking Plutonium in Lutris and selecting "Show Logs". You may have to turn up the info output by Configuring Plutonium again, and under "Runner Options" near the bottom, find "Output Debugging Info" and change it to Enabled.
Please, try to troubleshoot this yourself, understanding Linux on your own is something you need. Consulting to another Linux user the second you get an issue will not help you have a good experience on Linux. These crashes are typically related to Gpu Drivers / a bad prefix. Start off with that advice.

e46

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)

e46

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

Asriel_Dreemurr

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

Plutonium