Yesterday I outlined how to install and play StarCraft and the BroodWar expansion on Ubuntu 8.04. Today I’ll build on that by outlining how to install the 1.15.2 “no CD” patch available from Blizzard Entertainment.
Installing the 1.15.2 “no CD” patch
One thing we quickly realized after installing was that it was a bit annoying to require the CD to play. After some quick searching we found that Blizzard had released a patch that would allow the game to play minus the CD. To install that patch you’ll need to follow a few more steps.
You’ll need to copy some of the CD contents into your StarCraft installation directory. Each CD (StarCraft original and / or the BroodWar expansion) has a file called “install.exe”. This file needs to be copied into your StarCraft installation directory. The file also needs to be renamed according to which it is. This means if you are copying the contents from the StarCraft original game CD the resulting file needs to be renamed “StarCraft.mpq”. If you are copying the install.exe from the BroodWar expansion disk you’ll need to rename that file “BroodWar.mpq”.
The following two commands will properly copy and rename the files on both CDs. If you only have the original and not the BroodWar expansion you only need the first command.
Copy the install.exe file from the StarCraft original installation CD:
cp /media/cdrom/install.exe ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Starcraft/StarCraft.mpq
Copy the install.exe file from the StarCraft BroodWar expansion CD:
cp /media/cdrom/install.exe ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Starcraft/BroodWar.mpq
One last step is to install the patch itself available from Blizzard. Download the appropriate .exe file for your Starcraft installation (ie; original or BroodWar), run it via wine and you’re done. You can now enjoy playing StarCraft on Ubuntu 8.04 without requiring the CD.