[Bug 57571] New: Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57571

Bug ID: 57571
           Summary: Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen
           Product: Wine
           Version: unspecified
          Hardware: x86-64
                OS: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: blocker
          Priority: P2
         Component: -unknown
          Assignee: [e-mail]
          Reporter: [e-mail]
      Distribution: ---

I have this game installed on my computer with it's own wineprefix.
Never used that prefix for anything else, just to play this one game.
Originally I created that wineprefix and installed the game inside that back at
2014.
Also I tried to run the game with this wineprefix on the exact same computer as
back then.

It required lot of manual trickering to make it work. At that time nobody
managed to run the game with sound on Linux, but I figured out and posted a
how-to on the game's forum.
Later even the developers shared that how-to on the Steam page of the game. See
here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/249360/discussions/0/846963711048254058/#c613...

Sadly that forum page doesn't exist anymore; possibly because the game is old
and no longer supported.
It doesn't really matter anyway, because it is no longer possible to make the
game install and setup a wineprefix that way.
Back then it was possible to install all the requirements manually because
wine/winetricks wasn't blocking us to install them. (such as full DirectX9,
.NET 3.5 SP1, etc.)

As years passed, once in a while I played the game, everything was fine.
But today, even that I try to run the game in that exact same wineprefix on the
exact same computer, it doesn't work anymore.

When I run the game it is starts loading; you can see as the game writes it on
the bottom right corner. When the loading process finishes the game supposed to
show the menu screen. 
There is the problem.
I hear the music but the screen is just a mess. It somehow shows the content of
whatever is in the background of the game; like any other window or the desktop
itself.
But it is all garbage; it looks like whatever is in the background is turned
into a puzzle, shuffled and randomly put back on the screen.

The reason I kept the wine version 'unspecified' because I also tried to run
the game under different wine prefixes that uses different wine versions. Also
tried to make fresh wineprefix with the current latest wine in my Manjaro XFCE,
which is version 9.20. Creating a new one is impossible because of
winetricks/wine.

I have many winprefixes, so I find one or two that works.(One is version 9.20)
With these different working prefixes the result is always the same as with the
original old prefix; messed up screen.

[Bug 57571] Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57571

--- Comment #1 from Rafał Mużyło  ---
0. NOT a blocker

1.
> It doesn't really matter anyway, because it is no longer possible to make the game install and setup a wineprefix that way.

You've built a frankenstein - those tend to rot quite a bit.

You might have a valid regression on your hands or you might not.

Two things might be helpful:

- narrowing down when it happened

- posting your frankenstein formula regardless of whether or not you think it
matters; also given how old the game is, your formula is likely as well, so
there's a good chance some elements of the formula might no longer be necessary

[Bug 57571] Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57571

Austin English  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]
           Severity|blocker                     |normal

--- Comment #2 from Austin English  ---
(In reply to Rencer from comment #0)
> Back then it was possible to install all the requirements manually because
> wine/winetricks wasn't blocking us to install them. (such as full DirectX9,
> .NET 3.5 SP1, etc.)

winetricks still supports dotnet35p1. directx9 generally caused more problems
than it solved, but if you need it, you could try running an old version of
winetricks.

https://github.com/Winetricks/winetricks/releases/tag/20190615 is the last
version that supported directx9.

[Bug 57571] Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57571

--- Comment #3 from Rafał Mużyło  ---
I'd say there's a pretty good chance wrt. directx, that only a few libs were
needed but OP never bothered to narrow it down.

While doing that would have likely been quite tedious, it would have given a
much clearer picture of what exactly ain't working with builtin.

[Bug 57571] Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57571

joaopa  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #4 from joaopa  ---
Created attachment 77680
  --> https://bugs.winehq.org/attachment.cgi?id=77680
Seems working fine for me

Tested with wine-10.rc2
I do not know how to play tjis game but it loads fine with a fresh prefix (no
winetricks, no native dll). Only built-in

[Bug 57571] Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57571

--- Comment #5 from Rencer  ---
(In reply to joaopa from comment #4)
> Created attachment 77680 [details]
> Seems working fine for me
>
> Tested with wine-10.rc2
> I do not know how to play tjis game but it loads fine with a fresh prefix
> (no winetricks, no native dll). Only built-in

Thanks for the feedback. And Happy New Year for everyone.

When I wrote my bugreport right after that, I accidentally find out, that the
10.0-rc3 version of Wine come out literally that day.

So as so-so many times, I grabbed the source and started compiling it.
And as always; 10 years ago, 5 years ago, or it doesn't matter whenever I tried
to compile WINE from source after 3-4 (!!!) hours of compiling i crased.
Whenever I tried always 3-4 hours later it stopped with some errors.
Im not kidding on my Manjaro driven rig it was never-ever was possible to
compile Wine from source.

Because of that I had to rely on what I can find in the repos.
It is currently Wine 9.22.

I have to wait until Wine will be up to date in the repo and I can try it.

[Bug 57571] Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57571

--- Comment #6 from Rencer  ---
(In reply to Austin English from comment #2)
> (In reply to Rencer from comment #0)
> > Back then it was possible to install all the requirements manually because
> > wine/winetricks wasn't blocking us to install them. (such as full DirectX9,
> > .NET 3.5 SP1, etc.)
>
> winetricks still supports dotnet35p1. directx9 generally caused more
> problems than it solved, but if you need it, you could try running an old
> version of winetricks.
>
> https://github.com/Winetricks/winetricks/releases/tag/20190615 is the last
> version that supported directx9.

Old winetricks versions never works.
They all the time, at some point will try to download something from a broken
link.

I downloaded it from that link you posted, and put the binaries into
/home/USER1/winetricks/ directory.

This is the results with WINE 9.22
These are the steps, in a terminal:

1.Make the prefix to be a Windows XP 32bit
 env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineZAFEHOUSE1 WINEARCH=win32 winecfg -v winxp

2.Just to be sure that using that winetricks version:
 env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineZAFEHOUSE1 WINEARCH=win32
/home/USER1/winetricks/winetricks --version
The result is: 20190615 - sha256sum:
b6e465841d1d7bf473d8ecd32ed7a18e0add817444bf54ec25e6c9465584c6e9

So it seems using the that exact version, it's fine.

Installing NET 3.5 SP1:
 env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineZAFEHOUSE1 WINEARCH=win32
/home/USER1/winetricks/winetricks dotnet35sp1

The GUI installer fineshes without error, but still getting this line in the
terminal output:
dotnet35sp1 install completed, but installed file
/home/USER1/.wineZAFEHOUSE1/dosdevices/c:/windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v3.5/msbuild.exe.config
not found

I don't know what is this file, or this thing even affect anything or not.

Install Visual C++ 2008:
 env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineZAFEHOUSE1 WINEARCH=win32
/home/USER1/winetricks/winetricks vcrun2008

This will result in: 
sha256sum mismatch! Rename
/home/USER1/.cache/winetricks/vcrun2008/vcredist_x86.exe and try again.

And it does not install. As far as I know, this is happens when the links are
broken.
Like I said old winetricks will never work in a later time. I don't understand
how other people can use old versions without errors...
They never works/worked for me.

[Bug 57571] Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57571

Rencer  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Version|unspecified                 |9.22
           Severity|normal                      |major

--- Comment #7 from Rencer  ---
As joaopa suggested, now I tried to make the game work without winetricks or
dll overrides.
As I said in the reply, currently I have to rely on Wine version 9.22.
Becaus of this I changed the version from 'Unknown' to '9.22' and focus on
that.

Made fresh prefix (no winetricks or anything else)
(Wine mono is installed during wineboot.):

env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineZAFE1 wineboot

Than I run this and checked that the sound is working, clicking on the button
in the 'Audio' tab. Everything is fine:
env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineZAFE1 winecfg

Than during the game installation for a second a DirectX Jun 2010 SDK install
window pops up.

(This is built in the GOG installer along with dotnet 3.5, and VC++ 2008)!!!

This is the only thing that you can see in the GUI; they runs silently, so I'm
not sure what others are installed. Or not installed.
But in the background, while siletly installing DirectX, in the terminal these
lines are writen out:

regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_0.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_1.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_2.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_3.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_4.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_5.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_6.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_7.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_8.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_9.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine2_10.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine3_0.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\XAudio2_0.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine3_1.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\XAudio2_1.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine3_2.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\XAudio2_2.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine3_3.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\XAudio2_3.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine3_4.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\XAudio2_4.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine3_5.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\XAudio2_5.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine3_6.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\XAudio2_6.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\xactengine3_7.dll'
regsvr32: Successfully registered DLL 'C:\windows\system32\XAudio2_7.dll'

Then i tried to run the game:
env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineZAFE1 wine
~.wineZAFE1/drive_c/GOGGames/ZafehouseDiaries/ZafehouseDiaries.exe

The game starts, I can see the texts written out in the bottom right corner.
But when it supposed to draw the logo-animations and the menu; the screen is
bugged as before. And now there is no sound!
So it just getting worst...
It is clear that in my Manjaro system I must use dll overrides.

So I made all those overrides that was written out in the terminal, using
winecfg.
And than the sound started working!
I also boiled down exactly which one of those dll need for the sound.
The only one dll override that is responsible for the sound in this case is the
'XAudio2_7.dll'.
But still no graphics.

It is clear now that the game doesn't works without manual dll overrides,
just-out-of-the-box. Without dll override there is also no sound.
Maybe the graphics can fixed too, but I really don't know what I sound try to
make it work.

I must rely on whatever Manjaro uses at any given time; I can't change graphic
drivers, or something in the kernel that related to graphics.
There is no option to downgrade any of these. It is now using, for graphics,
for music and almost anything else a completely different thing than it was
used, when the game worked last time.
Not to mention that the very core of Manjaro changed so drastically over years,
that it is no longer compatible even with itself from past times.
And on top of that Manjaro, even that it is supposed to be an
always-so-frikin-fresh-rolling-release, still lags behind even years in some
cases.
Like the default wine is 9.22, winetricks in Manjaro is from 2024 january, etc.

I open for suggestions that I can try out, to see if it can fix the graphics.

******
PS1:
You can peek into any GOG game installer using the 'innoextract' package with
this command:

innoextract --progress --color --gog --output-dir ./UNPACKEDSTUFF
YOURGOGGAMESINSTALLER.EXE

In this example, this will extract everything inside the ./UNPACKEDSTUFF
folder.

You can find the games itself in the 'app' folder.
It is faster extracting with innoextract than actually going through the whole
installation.
This way you can skip installing the redistributables that are built in the
installer and can't skipped because they runs silently.

Sometimes you can actually even run the game from this folder.
But most of the times they will not work, because most games write stuff inside
the registry, and without proper installation that won't happen.
I tried with this game, it isn't work. Zafehouse writes many things inside the
registry; in the 'user.reg' file that you can find in the root folder of the
wineprefix.

There will be other folders that are extracted.
In the 'tmp' folder you find every junk that the installer using (pictures,
icons, fonts, etc)
Also in this 'tmp' folder you can find all the redistributables that are
shipped with the GOG installer.
In this case, Zafehouse GOG installer contains: 'directx_Jun2010_redist.exe',
'dotNetFx35setup.exe', 'vcredist_x86_2008.exe' and 'vcredist_x64_2008.exe'

******
PS2:
Austin English said in his post that:
"...directx9 generally caused more problems than it solved..."

If I quickly managed to cancel the installation of DirectX during the
installation the game will not run!
It crashes immediately with "Unhandled exeption occured in your
application...." error.
So, in our case, and in countless many more that I experienced, installing
DirectX actually helps.
Without installing DirectX + making the overrides manually, the game won't even
start and there is no music.

[Bug 57571] Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57571

--- Comment #8 from Rafał Mużyło  ---
> In this case, Zafehouse GOG installer contains: 'directx_Jun2010_redist.exe', 'dotNetFx35setup.exe', 'vcredist_x86_2008.exe' and 'vcredist_x64_2008.exe'

Most of those are pretty much standard for gog installers and - in most cases -
redundant for wine, even if the installer does attempt to install them. Again,
in most cases it's a false positive, due to a missing regkey or something
alike.

Native d3dcompiler is still sometimes necessary, though vkd3d coverage (of
shaders) is improving with each release. As for native VC redists, need for
them is pretty rare, though I've seen a bug recently claiming a certain game
did need native vcomp120, though the reasons for that are unclear...
> env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineZAFEHOUSE1 WINEARCH=win32 winecfg -v winxp

Chances of this actually being required go from minuscule to negligible. Both
for winxp part as well as WINEARCH=win32.

Whether or not native dotnet35sp1 is required is a different question. There
are still many cases it still is, yet comment 4 seems to suggest otherwise...

I feel there might be an additional - local - configuration problem...

[Bug 57571] Zafehouse: Diaries garbage/black screen

[WineHQ Bugzilla]

https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=57571

Béla Gyebrószki  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |[e-mail]

--- Comment #9 from Béla Gyebrószki  ---
@Rencer: can you reproduce the problem with the demo version?
https://www.zafehouse.com/files/getdemo.php?demo=1

Please attach the terminal output from Wine:
https://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#get_log

It's not completely true that the game works without overrides because it needs
native d3dx9_43.dll and d3dcompiler_43.dll
Anyway, I cant reproduce the problem you reported here either (I tried the demo
and the GOG.com version).