(The native Linux version is here.)
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory has always rocked as an on-line game.
Trying to capitalize on their success with the online part of Return to Castle Wolfenstien, they developed an online component for RtCW and farmed out the single-player mode. Turns out, the SP mode sucked, so they ditched that and gave away the online game. The Game's PAK files remained proprietary (as always) and they released the source code for the game engine.
The original release had a Linux version as well as Mac and Windows version and can still be downloaded from SplashDamage. The problem with the Linux version is that Linux changed sound subsystems (OSS, ALSA, PULSEAUDIO) and the sound component of the game is no longer compatible with a modern Linux.
Wolf:ET debuted with a native Linux version that can still be installed, but there have been unofficial game engines that have upped the ante for the game. The original version is available for Linux Mac and Windows from here. Go ahead and download one from there as you will need that to obtain the original game data files, which are copyrighted.
Enemy Territory Ultimate Installer
A batch installer that simplifies the installation of the SplashDamage game and includes updates, popular mods and unofficial maps.
ET:Legacy is an open source project that aims to create a fully compatible client and server. There is an active community. There are native Linux, Mac and Windows game engines available. For testing purposes, I'll be installing the Windows version using Codeweaver's Crossover. The downloads can be found here. A video of gameplay can be found here.
ETXreal uses the enhanced XreaL id Tech 3 GPL engine. The homepage is spartan, but informative. It supports many more choices for video resolution, but does not support the 2560x1080 resolution of my LG 29UM-57-P or the 3840x1024 of my triple-multi-monitor configuration. The homepage offers a great deal of information about setting r_ variables manually. While the project seemed to hold much promise, the project sadly seems stalled 5 years ago.
On the other hand, it is playable. They include the binaries for all supported operating systems in the single 7zip archive. Unpack the p7zip package to extract the contents of the archive to your home directory. Then it is necessary to find the appropriate binary (it's under /bin in the new etxreal directory you just created) and move it to the game's root directory, the one that contains the /etmain directory. The installer creates a ~/.etxreal directory which is where I prefer to place any custom PK3 files, maps, mods and total conversions. Be aware that ETXreal may not be compatible with all your old mods and you might not be compatible with Wolf:ET or ET-Legacy servers, but with hi-res textures, it sure does look swell and ETXreal has its own servers. There is an active community supporting this game even though development has stalled.
In both cases, you can launch the game from the command line with the full path to the binary, or create a startup script in ~/bin if that is in your path.
Is ~/bin not in your path? Add this to your .bashrc file:
## Add ~/bin_to_my_path
export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin
Game Data
For either alternative game engine, you must obtain the original game data from the original release which can be downloaded here. You'll need to copy pak0.pk3, pak1.pk3 and pak2.pk3 from your Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory /etmain directory to the /etmain directory of your alternative game engine.
How to Get the Data Without Installing the Game
The SplashDamage installation file is a Nullsoft Installer self-extracting archive which was determined by running
$ file WolfET_2_60b_custom.exe
Copy the SplashDamage Windows installer to a temporary directory. The files can be extracted into that temp directory by using 7z as follows:
$ 7z x WolfET_2_60b_custom.exe
You will only need the three *.pk3 files and you can delete all the other files. I suggest that you create an archive of the game data files and save the archive to a safe location so you only need to do the extraction once. Ask me how I know.
All three versions will benefit from hi-res textures found here. Of course, there are many mods available there and other sites.
There's a discussion about textures and the different games in the series at Reddit.
This page offers some tips and discussion about .cfg tweaks for gameplay
Wide Screen Display
There is a hack to use a custom resolution here, although it should work with Linux also. Essentially, you are passing commands through to the game engine. For windows, you add the commands to the startup shortcut, which is how we will use it with Crossover. The addition will be
+r_mode "-1" +r_customwidth "2560" +r_customheight "1080" +cg_fov "115" +set com_hunkmegs "768" +vid_restart
As an alternative to the console commands, a custom resolutions, the cg_fov for 16:10 resolutions (i.e. 1440×900, 1680×1050 and 1920×1200) should be 100.39 and for 16:9 (1920×1080) 106.27.
Edit etconfig.cfg in the game directory.
Here is the example for a 2560×1080 resolution:
seta r_mode “-1”
seta r_customwidth “2560”
seta r_customheight “1080”
seta cg_fov “106.27”
MODS
Many mods are available at ModDB, including total conversions. A table of mods compatible with ETlegacy is found here.
Here is a guide on running bots, specifically OmniBOT. Bots are a way to populate a server and play the game. These bots are supported in Doom 3, ET, ET:Fortress, Fortress Forever, Quake 4 and RTCW. The ET OmniBOT HOWTO is here. There is am OmniBOT Mapping HOWTO that teaches you how to add waypoints to maps that do not have them.
RESOURCES
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territor Wiki
Game Manual
ET Console Commands and Cvars
Unofficial Strategy Guide
Map Packs
Does this run in WINE?
SplashDamage Website
SplashDamage Forums
SplashDamage Download
ET:Legacy Homepage
ET:Legacy ABOUT
ET:Legacy FAQ
ET:Legacy DOWNLOAD
ET:Legacy Forums
ET:Legacy at ModDB
ETXreal Homepage ABANDONED
HDET (High-Definition Enemy Territory)
Widescreen Hack Source
Wolf:ET at PCGamingWiki
Crossfire's ET Tutorial
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