Plutonium

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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

Step 1: Install Dependencies

Ubuntu

(if you have issues with winetricks, use google.)

# If your system is 64 bit, enable 32 bit architecture:
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
# Make a note of your distribution name:
# Look for the line with either UBUNTU_CODENAME or VERSION_CODENAME. If both are present
# use the name after UBUNTU_CODENAME.
cat /etc/os-release
# Download and add the repository key:
sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings
wget -O - https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key -

Now Download Wine with your Distro Name https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/wikis/Debian-Ubuntu#add-the-repository

Then

sudo apt update
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-staging

Debian (Jessie+)

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

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

Arch Linux

Enable multilib in /etc/pacman.conf

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

Add Game → Executable: /home/username/wine/plutonium/plutonium.exe
Wine Settings → Wine Prefix: /home/username/wine/plutonium
Launch Plutonium and point to your Steam game folder:
/home/username/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Call of Duty Black Ops II
(unless installed elsewhere)

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

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

Controller Not Detected

WINEPREFIX=~/wine/plutonium winecfg

Go to Libraries tab
For each xinputX_X entry:
Set to "Builtin then Native"
Apply changes and restart

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:

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

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embracenewlife

you can specifically help by pc checking people who claim to be falsely banned

A “PC check” is not a solution. It’s not reliable, it’s not verifiable, and staff will not treat it as evidence. Us contributors have zero moderation authority, zero access to ban data, and zero ability to influence a ban decision. Even if we spent hours digging through a stranger’s system, as Dirk said there is no way to confirm what was injected or running before recording, and no way to guarantee the findings aren’t manipulated. That alone makes it a direct attack vector for cheaters trying to slip back in. No community project is going to build its ban decisions on volunteer forensics.

This is a community run client. No community project has people donating their personal time to audit every person who claims a false ban. Even if we wanted to, we aren’t equipped to. Plutonium supports Windows officially, but people also play on Linux and even macOS through various translation layers and methods. PC checking across multiple OSes would require knowing each system deeply, and no volunteer is realistically going to learn forensic procedures for three environments just to review strangers’ machines. This isn’t infrastructure a small project can maintain.

false flags happen in other games all the time, plutonium is no exception

Correct, false flags exist in every anti-cheat. The difference is that major studios have full-time anti-cheat teams, telemetry pipelines, and internal tools for investigating them. Plutonium has a small dev team, a handful of outsourced people, and limited personal time and money. They maintain this project as a hobby. Expecting studio-level investigative support from volunteers working on a free client is unrealistic.

it actually has flaws in the document

Agreed. Many docs are outdated. That happens because the team is small and the workload is large. The documentation is being rewritten, but a small project cannot update everything instantly. Outdated docs are one of the most common pain points when helping users, and it’s not an issue of people not caring; it’s an issue of bandwidth and physical ability.

dont you think whoever made the anti-cheat forum can make it a full list so people know what to avoid

A full list isn’t realistically possible. This anti-cheat is custom, old, and restricted by the engine it runs on. Detection behavior changes as OS updates, drivers, overlays, recording tools, and injectors evolve. The OBS example is a perfect example: the idea of recording software being bannable would not have been a consideration when the AC was written. Old game, old engine, limited hooks. Detection shifts over time as PCs change. A complete list won’t ever exist.

And contributors having access to early builds doesn’t mean we are “not normal users.” Early builds are test builds, nothing more. No elevated permissions, no access to ban systems, no internal controls. We’re also kept in the dark on nearly everything outside testing new features, and even that barely happens because people have real lives, there's maybe 3-5 people each testing session before updates come out. It's really hard to catch things within the game, never mind doing that for the AC.

Every point you listed has already been discussed with higher ups over the years. They’ve acknowledged them, proposed theories, proposed fixes, and adjusted things when possible. The problem isn’t awareness, it’s manpower. There are very few devs with the ability to work on the codebase, and they only have limited time. That’s reality, not negligence.

Noise from the community doesn’t create new staff. It doesn’t generate new hours in a day. It doesn’t force infrastructure to appear. Tagging a staff member doesn’t give contributors influence over decisions; it just pings someone who responds when they have time.

Point is, this is a free project run by a small team in their spare time. They have jobs, families, school, and their own lives. Expecting them to provide full investigative tools, PC audits, appeal systems, perfect documentation, or instant anti-cheat fixes is entitlement. Being inconvenienced by a false ban doesn’t create an obligation for volunteers to deliver studio-level support. It’s not how a project of this scale can operate.
So please, stop being so ignorant and entitled. I understand it sucks, but nothing can be perfect.

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Asriel_Dreemurr Setting my wine runner to system (arch, wine 8.21) fixed this. This issue happens because your mouse input in bo1 is tied to the FPS. Because of the Stutters/min fps fluctuation so much, your mouse will constantly speed up and slow down.
Using any other runner causes bo1 (and mw3) to slow down. System Wine works just perfect on all CoD's (and all maps ive tried)

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I pulled a rookie move and forgot to kill the old wineserver.....so nvm wine 9.0 brings no new issues. Bo1 still runs like garbo though (not surprising)

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SoyKappy Hey Soy (or anyone else) would you mind seeing if you could reproduce an odd issue. I updated to wine 9.0-1 a few nights ago, and played plutonium the same day. Now, when trying to launch with lutris again, im getting thrown some errors. I downgraded to 8.21, it launched with no issue. I updated back to 9.0-1, tried running plutonium with just "wine plutonium.exe" and it ran with no issues. I tried again in Lutris, same issue as before. I tried switching my runner from system to any other runner, none of them work. It just throws me the same errors. I can only get the game to launch in Lutris if my system wine is 8.21 (assuming atp lutris isnt updated for wine 9.0-1) If someone could just confirm this is also happening to them with lutris, it would be appreciated.