HL2PB running on Debian 12 guide. (How I got it working.)

[eggbladder]

Hello.
This guide is for users of Half-Life 2 Project Beta to play Half-Life 2 Project Beta on machines running Debian 12, also known as Bookworm. This is based on the issues that I encountered, and does not consider issues you may encounter.

This is my first post on this forum. If there are mistakes, or I posted this in the wrong board, please alert me as to which part of the forum.

Step 1: Install Wine Experimental.

In the terminal, run "sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 && sudo apt update". This will enable you to download all necessary packages for running 32-bit windows software. If you do not already have Wine, you will find this useful.

Next, run "
sudo mkdir -pm755 /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo wget -O /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key
". This adds the Wine repository to your computer, enabling you to connect and download Wine Experimental.

Next, run "
sudo apt update
". This refreshes what the computer will see in the newly added repository, to allow downloading of Wine Experimental.

(Disclaimer: Although I believe that you do not need base Wine for Wine Experimental, if you encounter issues after this part, install base Wine by running "sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable".)

Next, run "
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-devel
". This will install Wine Experimental on your computer.

Now, wait for Wine Experimental to download.

Once it is finished, run "
Winecfg
".

Step 2: Install Fonts.
To prevent invisible text, you must install fonts.
I will provide a .zip file of all of the fonts you need. If this zip file is unavailable, you may retrieve the fonts by following these instructions.

This is what i used to retrieve these fonts. You may not be able to use this method. If this is the case, you may find them online somewhere or, you can, in theory, get a font (.ttf) file and make 2 additional copies, naming each "Courier New", "Trebuchet MS", and "Verdana" respectively. Please keep in mind that I do not know if that method works, but it could be a possible workaround.

First, on a machine running Windows, go to "C:\Windows\Fonts".

Next, copy these fonts to a new folder.
Courier New
Trebuchet MS
Verdana

Next, get them onto your Debian machine. I used a flash drive.

If the .zip file works, you continue reading here.

On your Debian machine, with the fonts downloaded, go to "~/.wine/drive_c/windows/fonts".
Paste the 3 font files into this folder.

Step 3: Installing Half-Life 2 Project Beta.

Personally, I installed it onto a flash drive from Windows and downloaded it onto my Debian from the flash drive. However, it is possible to run the ISO setup from Debian.

(I have not tested running the Half-Life 2 Project Beta ISO installer from Debian running Wine Experimental. This is purely a theory. Feel free to test this.)
If you do not have the Half-Life 2 Project Beta installed, extract the ISO, and go to the folder in which it was extracted. Then, right click on the autorun.exe and click Copy. Next, type "wine" into the terminal, and then paste what you copied, and press enter. Proceed with installation like normal.

If you do have the Half-Life 2 Project Beta installed already, get your installation onto your Debian machine. I used a flash drive.

Next, right click the hl2.exe file in your Half-Life 2 Project Beta installation. Click copy, and type "wine" in the terminal, and then paste what you copied, and press enter. Your first few times running the Half-Life 2 Beta may result in errors and crashes. I recommend running the Half-Life 2 Beta at least 5 times, by following the previous method of right clicking and pasting into the terminal.

This is how I got Half-Life 2 Project Beta running on Debian 12. This may not be what you do, but this is how I did it, and it worked for me.