https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23899
--- Comment #12 from Adam Bolte abolte@systemsaviour.com --- I just performed a re-installation of this game to test. I don't run GNOME, but I can confirm shortcuts were created like this:
$ cat SOF\ II\ GOLD\ Single\ Player.desktop [Desktop Entry] Name=SOF II GOLD Single Player Exec=env WINEPREFIX="/mnt/gaming/wineprefixes/retail_box/soldier_of_fortune-2-gold_edition" wine C:\\PROG\~5P2\\SOLD\~EXR\\Sof2.exe +set\ com_multilingual\ 2\ +set\ sp_language\ 0 Type=Application StartupNotify=true Path=/mnt/gaming/wineprefixes/retail_box/soldier_of_fortune-2-gold_edition/dosdevices/c:/Program Files (x86)/Soldier of Fortune II - Double Helix GOLD Icon=952E_Sof2.0 StartupWMClass=sof2.exe $
Unfortunately the game will not run on modern computers without MESA_EXTENSION_MAX_YEAR=2003 so I had to manually add that into the Exec= line for the shortcut to function. I don't know if maybe Wine wants to maintain a list of compatibility rules for various troublesome applications (similar to Mesa's drirc file)? Otherwise I guess it's always going to be a problem for this shortcut on modern machines.
I still don't run GNOME, but I assume this shortcut would then work in that environment.
As for the I/O error that was lumped into this bug report, that is still a problem - but I found a work-around! If you use `wine eject <drive>`, the error at the end of installation will always occur. If you don't use that command, the operating system won't let you eject (at least not when I tried using the Caja file manager) because wineserver is using it. Since I only have one optical drive installed into my computer, I ripped both CDs to ISO images and used CDEmu to mount both at the same time, which were then automatically mounted as /media/sofii_1 and /media/sofii_2. Next, I used winecfg to make /media/sofii_1/ mapped to D:, clicked OK and then ran the following:
wine cmd.exe D: autorun # the installer starts detached exit
If I don't switch to d: as the current working directory, this will also cause the installer will fail early on in the installation process.
Now I follow the installation wizard as usual up until I get to the point where it asks for the second CD. At this point I open winecfg once more and change the mapping of D: to /media/sofii_2/ and click Apply. Then I click OK in the installer window and it continues along just fine. Near the end of the installation, the wizard will ask for disc 1 again, so I go back to winecfg and re-map D: to /media/sofii_1/. In doing this, the installation will complete without error.
There must be something "wine eject D:" does that the installer simply doesn't like - but I don't think that's related to GNOME shortcuts. Also, in my testing, having the installer crash at the end (by using `wine eject D:`) will still cause shortcuts to be created - just not Desktop shortcuts.
Testing was performed on vanilla Wine 4.18.