http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5424
The bug above is causing me some confusion regarding how GetPrivateProfileString should behave.
Wine looks for maxis.ini in C:\Windows, and does not find it there. Therefore, Setup.exe exits. MSDN claims that if an absolute path is not provided, the windows directory is searched for the file. There are also some registry things to take into account, but maxis.ini should not be referenced in the registry since it is located on a CD-ROM and read before the autorun screen is shown.
It seems very likely that GetPrivateProfileString on real Windows with just a filename as path argument looks in the current directory, but it would be nice if someone with a real Windows installation would check that.
I can have a try at writing the test source if necessary.