Playing in Linux

There is no official support for Oni on a Linux family of OSes.
Nevertheless, it is still possible to run the game on Linux.
Anniversary Edition/Installer/Updater can be made to run as well.

Requirements

Wine

An application used as a compatiblity layer in order to run Windows applications on a Linux machine.

For maximum convenience, it is recommended to install the Wine directly from an official repository of the given Linux distribution (it is natively supported by a wide array of distros).

Wine 5.5 was tested to be be capable of flawlessly running Oni and AEInstaller.

Winetricks

Helper script for configuring various parts of Wine-created compatibility environments.

In some distros, Winetricks is installed alongside the Wine itself.

In other distors, it needs to be installed as a separate package.

A legacy JAVA Runtime Environment offline installer for 32bit (aka x86) version of Windows XP.

Max compatible version is 7u65.

Unfortunately, the official Oracle download page requires a subscription in order to download legacy versions of JRE.

An obscure link through legacy Sun Microsystems website (former developer of the JAVA platform) was found. The link ( click here ) can be used to download a JRE 7u25 offline installer.

How to prepare "Oni" WINEPREFIX

1. Open a Linux terminal and create a new WINEPREFIX (a new instance of the Wine compatibility environment) by executing the following sequence of commands:

   export WINEARCH=win32

   export WINEPREFIX=/full_path_to_the_folder_where_this_WINEPREFIX_will_be_located

   winecfg

2. The sequence of commands from the step 1 creates a new 32bit WINEPREFIX in the requested folder and opens a "Wine configuration" GUI tool.

   In the GUI tool, on the "Applications" tab, change the target Windows version to the "Windows XP". Then click on the OK button.

3. Still in the same terminal (with all the export symbols defined) run Winetricks script to execute necessary configuration changes:

   winetricks corefonts msacm32

4. Still in the same terminal (with all the export symbols defined) use cd command and navigate to the folder with the Java Runtime offline installer (let's assume the installer is named "jre-7u25-windows-i586.exe").
   Install the JRE into the given WINEPREFIX.

   cd /full_path_to_the_JRE_offline_installer

   wine jre-7u25-windows-i586.exe

5. The "Oni" WINEPREFIX is now ready.
   Remember, that in order to run either Oni or AEInstaller, path to this WINEPREFIX must be specified (exported).
   If it is not specified, then the WINE application will use a default WINEPREFIX, and that one is probably set to represent 64bit Windows 7 or 64bit Windows 10 (which is quite sensible for most applications, but unfortunately not good enough for Oni).

How to install and run Oni

1. Insert Oni installation medium into the CD/DVD drive (if installed from the CD, 00's style ^_^).
2. Open a Linux terminal, export "Oni" WINEPREFIX, navigate to the folder with contents of the mounted CD drive and initiate the installation process.

   export WINEPREFIX=/full_path_to_the_folder_where_Oni_WINEPREFIX_is_located

   cd /full_path_to_the_contents_of_the_Oni_installation_medium

   wine OniSetup.exe

   During the installation process, it is recommended to NOT place the game inside the WINEPREFIX compatibility environment folder (do not place it anywhere on the faux "C:\" drive).

   Instead, choose an appropriate place somewhere in the Linux machine directory tree. Linux machine directory tree should be by default mapped as a different faux drive (usually it is mapped as drive "z:\")

3. The game should install without problems. Ignore the warning regarding DirectX 7, it is harmless.
4. DO NOT RUN THE GAME YET !!! More tweaks to come...