Has anyone managed to get Half Life 0.52 working on Linux?

[ridiculous_ties]

I've been trying to play 0.52 on Linux via Wine, but the game will either immediately CTD or display a black screen (while sound effects play) I am trying to run it with Litrus and have tried enabling dgvoodoo2. Has anyone gotten this to work? If so, could you please provide step-by-step instructions. 

Thank you very much.

[vortalflux]

I've been trying to play 0.52 on Linux via Wine, but the game will either immediately CTD or display a black screen (while sound effects play) I am trying to run it with Litrus and have tried enabling dgvoodoo2. Has anyone gotten this to work? If so, could you please provide step-by-step instructions. 

Thank you very much.

0) Quick notes

HL1 Beta is an early GoldSrc build (GoldSrc is heavily-modified Quake). That means it generally doesn’t need modern DX9 layers like DXVK and dgVoodoo often causes problems. Try without dgVoodoo first.

Use a fresh 32-bit Wine prefix for the cleanest results.

Create a clean 32-bit prefix
export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/hl1beta"
export WINEARCH=win32
wineboot

 Install minimal runtime libs (winetricks)

HL1 Beta is GoldSrc-based so it needs old MSVC runtimes, not modern DX9 stacks:

winetricks -q corefonts vcrun6

Try without dgVoodoo / DXVK first

Do not enable dgVoodoo2 or DXVK yet. Many people report black screens or CTDs with dgVoodoo + GoldSrc on Wine. Test the base game first.

Launch windowed in software mode (most reliable)

This avoids driver/GL/D3D issues and is the usual first test:

wine hl.exe -window -sw


If that runs, you have working audio + visuals. Good sign.

Try OpenGL next

If -sw worked, try switching to OpenGL:

wine hl.exe -window -gl


If -gl crashes, stick with -sw or try the virtual desktop method below.

If black screen persists: use Wine virtual desktop

Run winecfg → Graphics → Emulate a virtual desktop (set a reasonable resolution). This often fixes black screen issues without messing with dgVoodoo.

If you absolutely need dgVoodoo (only when game refuses to run)

Use it as a last resort. If you do try dgVoodoo, prefer an older stable version (community reports ~2.79.x as less problematic than the newest 2.8x builds).

Copy only the required MS folder DLLs (D3DImm.dll, D3D9.dll, DDraw.dll) into the game folder and test. If black screen/CTD appears, remove them and revert.

Lutris-specific short steps (if you use Lutris)

Runner: Wine (Staging) recommended.

Runner options: Disable DXVK for first tests.

Game options → Arguments: -window -sw (or -window -gl after -sw works).

If you enable dgVoodoo in Lutris, explicitly point to an older dgVoodoo package and test carefully.

Use Lutris logs (right-click → show logs) and paste them if asking for help.

Useful debug info to include if it still fails

When you report back, include:

wine --version

Exact launch command / Lutris runner + arguments

Short paste of the Wine/Lutris log around the crash (first 30–50 lines with errors)

Whether you tested -sw, -gl, and virtual desktop

TL;DR

Fresh 32-bit prefix → WINEARCH=win32 wineboot.

winetricks -q corefonts vcrun6.

Run wine hl.exe -window -sw. If OK → try -gl.

Don’t enable dgVoodoo or DXVK initially — they usually make GoldSrc betas worse. Use them only as last resort (prefer older dgVoodoo builds).

[ridiculous_ties]

I didn't get it working with Lutris or non-GL but fortunately it ended up working OpenGL  I am using wine-9.0.

Used wine enginegl.exe -window -gl. Full screen also worked. Thank you very much for your help, and shoutout to my older brother who helped me run it through terminal.