Linux: Tried switching from PlayOnLinux to Lutris but now my Regions and Plugins aren't loading

[Han Solo 43]

I've just got back into SC4 after a long time away. I'm playing it on my laptop, which is running Ubuntu 22.04. The game is the GoG version and it was running fine up until about half an hour ago, when I decided to switch from using PlayOnLinux to run the game, to Lutris.

I added the existing install to Lutris, and pointed it at the .exe that I believe PlayOnLinux used, as the .exe in question was a patched version from having run CAM (I think). I started the game via Lutris, and it ran fine but my custom content, including both regions and plugins, were gone. So I switched back to PlayOnLinux and to my horror, my content was still nowhere to be seen... it was like a completely fresh, vanilla install. Thankfully everything is still there in the /Documents/SimCity 4 folder.

I suspect that the wine prefix is not using the SimCity 4 folder in my documents folder but rather using the one in the install folder, or some other location.

Does anyone know how I can fix the issue please?

 

 

 

[rsc204 21,868]

You must have some way of specifying the User Dir as used by Windows. Depending on how you are running SC4, this needs to be configured under WINE or whatever is used to run Windows code. If that’s correctly configured then the game should see the data in Documents. 

[catty-cb 4,413]

I use Linux Mint and the Steam version of SC4, Steam has a Launch options field that you can add in any of the SC4 command line options in my case I've got it set to

-f -CustomResolution:enabled -r1600x900 -l:"UK English"

As I wanted my cars to drive on the left-hand side, am assuming Lutris must have something similiar and you can use the -UserDir command, but that's a guess as I use crossover for the GOG version of Banished.

 

[Han Solo 43]

Thank you for the replies.

I tried using the "-UserDir" command but it didn't work. So I did a little digging around in various other threads and came up with an idea. I found that if I hardlink my "/home/$USER/Documents/SimCity 4" folder to the "drive_c/users/$USER/My Documents/" folder in the wine prefix, the game loads my custom content, and the CAM message appears on the loading screen, so it's still using the correct .exe I believe.

Here's what the command I used looks like- [EDIT: See the note I added at the bottom of this comment, before you use the command below. Actually, don't use the command!... creating hardlink using "cp -al" has it uses though but do bare in mind that it doesn't work between partitions]

 

cp -al "/home/$USER/Documents/SimCity 4" "/home/%USER/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/SC4D/drive_c/users/%USER/My Documents/SimCity 4"

 

As a side note, this is another thing that has made me reconsider using Ubuntu 22.04. I know the issue isn't related to the distro but having recently upgraded to 22.04, I'm finding yet more changes from Canonical that I don't like... there's always two or three significant changes from them with each release, that I do not like. That usually take me a few hours to fix. I'm tempted to go with Debian and run root on ZFS.... being able to just rollback a snapshot to fix this issue would have been great.


[EDIT]

Note: I've just run into an issue with newly created regions in my  "/home/$USER/Documents/SimCity 4"  directory. They weren't showing up in game. Then I realized why... The command I posted creates hardlinks to all the files but creates the directories (which are not linked). The reason for this is that creating hardlinks to directories whilst possible*, can cause major problems with your filesystem. But as the directories aren't hardlinked, any changes made to the directory in the wine prefix (by playing SC4) are not reflected in the SimCity 4 directory in my Documents folder. There is a solution though but it's incredibly complicated to implement....

1. Go to "/home/$USER/Documents".

2. Right click on the "SimCity 4" directory.

3. Click on "Create Link" (in Gnome at least... other DE's may vary).

4. Take a well earned rest. Then, when you've recovered from the exertion...

5. move the link to the "My Documents" folder in your wine prefix.

6. Rename the Link "SimCity 4".

*Apparently hardlinking directories is such a terrible idea that some distros won't even let the root user do it.

[catty-cb 4,413]

About to upgrade to the latest Linux mint cos it's a long term release till 2028 i think they said and while mint is based on ubunta, for the mint people it's about stability especially as I use the cinnamon desktop so never have any noticeable problems and my desktop never changes unless it's something I choose to do

Edit: And yes it has snapshots, plus it keeps the last kernel so you can always go backwards if something breaks

https://linuxmint.com/

[Han Solo 43]

I have actually been thinking about giving LMDE a whirl in a VM but I've had a lot on my plate recently.

I'm kind of set on Gnome though as despite not liking it on my desktop (it sucks out of the box on an ultrawide monitor), I've kind of grown attached to it on my Thinkpad.

You mention Mint has snapshots. Are you referring to Timeshift or something else?

[catty-cb 4,413]

5 hours ago, Han Solo said:

You mention Mint has snapshots. Are you referring to Timeshift or something else?

its Timeshift, but settings, etc everything says snapshot

My Desktop

[outdatedSIM 4]

Hey there, I am just bamboozled by the same thing. The argument line in Lutris and inability to start my profile. Wouldn't it help if the profile would be set inside the confined wine system created by Lutris for SC4?

[Han Solo 43]

Hi outdatedSIM. It's been ages since I've used Lutris*, so I'm not sure how much help I can give but if you can explain the problems you're experiencing in more detail, I'd be happy to help you if I can.

On 18/11/2025 at 1:22 AM, outdatedSIM said:

Wouldn't it help if the profile would be set inside the confined wine system created by Lutris for SC4?

I'm not sure what you mean by that last sentence. What do you mean by setting the profile inside?

* I've moved onto using Bottles, Proton (via Steam), and just plain WINE through the terminal or via custom ".desktop" shortcuts.

 

[Jamesthe1st 27]

I am running SC4 through Lutris on CachyOS. I am not sure how to help with this problem but my set up has the Windows documents folder as a link to the /home/Documents folder and it works fine for me. 

[catty-cb 4,413]

15 hours ago, Jamesthe1st said:

Windows documents folder as a link to the /home/Documents folder and it works fine for me. 

Yes that's what I did on linux mint, I think I have a post somewhere on site ..... but pretty certain it was on a Banished post and how to link to the banished "plugin" folder