You could try running VirtualBox, though I am not sure if it supports guest OpenGL acceleration on that platform (I know it does for Windows XP guest)

Why not just run the windows version of the game?

luckybob wrote:

Why not just run the windows version of the game?

Presumably because he'd have to buy them again. (Of course, those are fairly old games at this point and they're pretty cheap when they go on sale.)

If you dont mind steam, I have a 2nd copy of CIV4 i'll just give away. That or just pirate it. I can't imagine that being an issue. Also regarding steam, if you have one version (windows) the same game will install under linux/mac for free. So if you have a legit cd key for SOF2 and CIV4, just go with steam and you should be able to play either version.

There is a limited selection of games that use CD keys that can be used to activate the game on Steam.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.p … =7480-wusf-3601

Yes, you could use Virtual Box, and install Linux Mint, enabling OpenGL guest support... in theory.

The bigger issue is the age of those games. I'm not sure they will even install and/or run on any modern distro. You might run into incompatible library issues. Linux is not great at backwards binary compatibility. They assume everything you want is in the distro or in the apt/yum repositories.

could just be a case of replaceing the linux files with windows ones

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If you don't want to mess with a proper dual boot, you can always use WUBI with Ubuntu variants. The WUBI installer creates a big file on whatever drive you select and then sets up your NTLDR to point to that location as a boot option.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/windows-installer

This option is safe since you never destroy your boot loader and it's easily removed. Your file system performance is reduced, but everything else runs full speed. You can install NV/AMD restricted drivers like normal.

I'm a little puzzled by the OP's question. Loki produced Linux ports of Soldier of Fortune (the first one, not Double Helix) and Civilization: Call to Power. My understanding is that there IS a stand-alone Linux server for Solder of Fortune II: Double Helix, but the game itself is Windows/Mac only. And Civilization: Call to Power is a totally different animal from Civilization IV, and I have never heard of a Linux port of Civilization IV. So exactly what games or servers are you interested in running?

Laxdragon's comments about library dependencies are correct, and they may be an insuperable problem. Some enterprising Loki users have managed to get some of the old games running on newer distributions by adjusting links to point to newer libraries, but there is no guarantee that you are going to have the compatibility you need, and you may have to attempt this for dozens of different libraries (not a promising prospect).

If your Windows machine is an older model (circa Windows XP), I would suggest trying to lay your hands on some Linux distribution that was current 2-3 years following the release of your Loki titles and see if you get better results than with Ubuntu. Obviously, a newer Windows machine will mean poor (or no) hardware support from your alternative Linux distribution.

Also, it looks like this guy has come up with a solution, but it may not work with all distributions:

http://www.swanson.ukfsn.org/loki/

Good luck!

Why not install a linux distro on the hard disk, if possible, or on a 8 or 16GB USB stick (or one of those ulltra XC/HC flash memory cards connected to a card reader) and install those games on the stick and play away? Distros are aplenty and easy to install...even multiple Linux OSs using one of those handy multiboot installers - YUMI for e.g.

And I have never seen a boxed linux-only game before, especially these two mentioned games. Any possibility of posting the pictures of the box, displaying the system requirement label?