WoW Project Ascension (Conquest of Azeroth) on Linux — Full Install Guide

Step-by-step, error-by-error. This is the exact path I followed to get the Ascension launcher running on Linux, including every error I hit and the exact fix for each one. If you follow this in order, you should end up at the login screen ready to play.

🇪🇸 ¿Hablás español? Leé la versión en español.

My system (so you know if this applies to you)

Component	Value
OS	CachyOS (Arch-based Linux) — this guide is for Linux only, not Windows
Kernel	7.0.x (cachyos)
Desktop	Hyprland (Wayland)
GPU	NVIDIA GTX 1660 Super, driver 610.43.02
RAM	32 GB
Wine (system)	wine-11.11 (Staging) — important later
Lutris	0.5.22 (Flatpak)
Ascension Launcher	1.0.102

Dates matter: this was done in July 2026. Versions and errors may differ if you read this much later.

The game itself is WoW 3.3.5a-era (2010 engine), so almost any GPU from the last decade is fine. Disk: keep ~25 GB free (launcher + game).

---

Step 0 — Things to know before you start

• Ascension's own Linux page says Linux is unsupported, self-service only: https://ascension.gg/en/download/unix
• Use the Flatpak version of Lutris. Multiple users (including on CachyOS and Debian) report the distro-native Lutris fails where the Flatpak works.
• ⚠️ Security/legal notes (read this):
  • Blizzard filed a lawsuit against Project Ascension in June 2026. The server works today, but it can shut down at any moment. Don't invest more time or attachment than you're willing to lose.
  • Use a unique email alias + unique password for your Ascension account. Never reuse a password from anywhere else.
  • I recommend not spending money on the server while the lawsuit is ongoing.
  • Download the launcher only from ascension.gg / api.ascension.gg / the official Lutris installer. Nothing else.

Step 1 — Install Lutris (Flatpak)

# If you don't have flatpak + flathub yet, set them up first (most distros ship it).
flatpak install -y --system flathub net.lutris.Lutris

Step 2 — Run the official Ascension installer

flatpak run net.lutris.Lutris -i "https://download.ascension-patch.com/scripts/ascension-lutris.yaml?version=4"

Lutris opens with an "Install Ascension WoW" dialog:

1. Click Install.
2. Keep the default folder (e.g. ~/Games/ascension-wow). Optionally tick "Create application menu shortcut". Click Continue.
3. Lutris downloads the Wine runner (wine-ge-8-26, ~220 MB) from the official GloriousEggroll GitHub. Wait.
4. A review screen appears ("latest-v2 from api.ascension.gg"). Click Install again.

Now the errors begin. 🙂

❌ Error 1: Install umu to use Proton

When: right after "All files available", before the Wine prefix is created.

Why: the Ascension YAML doesn't pin a Wine version, so Lutris tries its default (a GE-Proton build) which needs umu — and the Lutris Flatpak doesn't ship umu.

Fix: tell Lutris to use the wine-ge runner it already downloaded as its default. Close Lutris and run:

mkdir -p ~/.var/app/net.lutris.Lutris/config/lutris/runners
printf 'wine:\n  version: wine-ge-8-26-x86_64\n' > ~/.var/app/net.lutris.Lutris/config/lutris/runners/wine.yml

Check the exact runner name first with: ls ~/.var/app/net.lutris.Lutris/data/lutris/runners/wine/

Then re-run the Step 2 command and click through the same dialog again.

❌ Error 2: The 'DXVK' runtime component is not installed

When: on the retry, when the installer configures the game.

Why: a fresh Lutris Flatpak hasn't downloaded its runtime components (DXVK, VKD3D, …) yet.

Fix (GUI, easiest): open Lutris normally → Preferences → Updates tab → update/install the runtime & DXVK. Then re-run the installer.

Fix (terminal, what I did):

flatpak run --cwd=/app/bin --command=python3 net.lutris.Lutris -c "
import gi; gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0')
from lutris.util.wine.dxvk import DXVKManager
from lutris.util.wine.vkd3d import VKD3DManager
from lutris.util.wine.dxvk_nvapi import DXVKNVAPIManager
from lutris.util.wine.d3d_extras import D3DExtrasManager
for name, cls in {'dxvk': DXVKManager, 'vkd3d': VKD3DManager,
                  'dxvk_nvapi': DXVKNVAPIManager, 'd3d_extras': D3DExtrasManager}.items():
    m = cls(); m.fetch_versions(); m.download(); print(name, 'OK ->', m.version)
"

Re-run the Step 2 command once more. This time it goes through:

• Creates the Wine prefix.
• Runs winetricks silently: win10 corefonts dotnet48 vcrun2015. dotnet48 takes 10–15 minutes with no visible progress. Don't cancel it.
• The Ascension Launcher Setup window (a normal Windows-style wizard) appears: keep the default path C:\Program Files\Ascension Launcher, click Next until the end, untick "Run Ascension Launcher", click Finish.
• Lutris shows "Installation completed!" 🎉 …but don't celebrate yet.

❌ Error 3: Launcher "runs" but no window ever appears

When: you press Play in Lutris. The game "starts" and immediately stops (Lutris log: Initial process has exited (return code: 768) and The game has run for a very short time, did it crash?).

Why (two stacked problems):

1. The Ascension Launcher is a modern Electron app. Running it under wine-ge-8 fails with DCompositionCreateDevice3 failed: Not implemented (0x80004001) and the Electron GPU process dies in a loop → no window, crash dumps in AppData/Roaming/projectascension/Crashpad/. Electron needs DirectComposition, which old Wine 8 builds don't implement — Wine ≥ 11 does.
2. The launcher ships a divxtac.dll that crashes under Wine. The current community Lutris script disables it via a registry override.

Fix: run the launcher with your system Wine 11+ instead of Lutris' wine-ge, and disable divxtac:

# 1. System wine + wine-mono (Arch/CachyOS; use your distro's equivalents)
sudo pacman -S --needed wine wine-mono

# 2. Disable the crashing DLL in the game prefix
export WINEPREFIX=~/Games/ascension-wow
wine reg add 'HKCU\Software\Wine\DllOverrides' /v divxtac /t REG_SZ /d disabled /f

# 3. Update the prefix to your system Wine (can take a couple of minutes)
wineboot -u

If during this you get a Wine popup "This application could not be started. Do you want to view information about this issue?" — that's the prefix having a stale/mismatched mono registration from the old runner. Install your distro's wine-mono package (step 1 above), click No on the dialog(s), and run wineboot -u again. After that it stops appearing.

❌ Error 4: The launcher opens, but pressing Play does nothing (the game never starts)

When: the launcher works and you're logged in, you press Play, and… nothing. No game window. The game process dies instantly.

Why (the important one): the Lutris prefix was created by wine-ge-8, but you're now running it with system Wine 11 (from Error 3, needed for the Electron launcher). The launcher is 64-bit so its DLLs got updated, but the game (Ascension.exe) is 32-bit, and the 32-bit DLL set (syswow64) is still the wine-ge-8 one — a broken mix. Check the log and you'll see the chain:

err:module:import_dll Library coml2.dll (needed by ole32.dll) not found
err:module:import_dll Library ole32.dll (needed by DINPUT8.dll) not found
err:module:import_dll Library DINPUT8.dll (needed by ...\Ascension.exe) not found
err:module:loader_init Importing dlls for ...\Ascension.exe failed, status c0000135

A plain wineboot -u does not fix it: the "This application could not be started" popup aborts the 32-bit pass (that helper is itself 32-bit — chicken and egg). Compare the timestamps and you'll see system32 (64-bit) is fresh but syswow64 (32-bit) is stale:

ls -la ~/Games/ascension-wow/drive_c/windows/system32/coml2.dll   # exists, recent
ls -la ~/Games/ascension-wow/drive_c/windows/syswow64/coml2.dll   # MISSING

Fix — recreate the prefix with Wine 11, keeping the ~40 GB download (an mv on the same disk is instant, nothing re-downloads):

export WINEPREFIX=~/Games/ascension-wow
wineserver -k                                   # stop everything using the prefix

# 1. Move the old prefix aside and build a clean one with system Wine 11
mv ~/Games/ascension-wow ~/Games/ascension-wow.old
WINEPREFIX=~/Games/ascension-wow wineboot -u    # wait until it fully finishes

# 2. Move the launcher + the whole game download into the new prefix (instant)
OLD=~/Games/ascension-wow.old/drive_c
NEW=~/Games/ascension-wow/drive_c
mv "$OLD/Program Files/Ascension Launcher" "$NEW/Program Files/"
mkdir -p "$NEW/users/$USER/AppData/Roaming"
mv "$OLD/users/"*/AppData/Roaming/projectascension \
   "$NEW/users/$USER/AppData/Roaming/" 2>/dev/null   # keeps your login

# 3. Re-apply the divxtac override on the fresh prefix
WINEPREFIX=~/Games/ascension-wow \
  wine reg add 'HKCU\Software\Wine\DllOverrides' /v divxtac /t REG_SZ /d disabled /f

Verify the fix landed — coml2.dll must now exist on the 32-bit side:

ls -la ~/Games/ascension-wow/drive_c/windows/syswow64/coml2.dll   # now present ✅

Launch the launcher again (Step 3 script below). It will say "Existing installation detected" and point at your .../resources/ascension-live folder — click Continue → Relink. It re-verifies the 40 GB (a few minutes, no re-download) and then Play actually starts the game. Once you've confirmed it works, delete the leftovers: rm -rf ~/Games/ascension-wow.old.

Root cause in one line: one prefix, two Wine versions = broken 32-bit DLLs. Rebuilding the prefix with a single Wine (11) makes the 32-bit and 64-bit sides consistent again.

Step 3 — A launch script that always works

Save this as ~/Games/ascension-wow/play-ascension.sh:

#!/bin/bash
# Ascension WoW — launch with system Wine 11+ (Electron launcher needs DirectComposition)
export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/Games/ascension-wow"
export ELECTRON_DISABLE_SANDBOX=1
export WINEDEBUG=-all
cd "$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/Program Files/Ascension Launcher" || exit 1
exec wine "Ascension Launcher.exe" "$@"

chmod +x ~/Games/ascension-wow/play-ascension.sh
~/Games/ascension-wow/play-ascension.sh

Optional menu entry — save as ~/.local/share/applications/ascension-wow.desktop (and delete the broken Lutris-generated one, net.lutris.ascension-wow-1.desktop):

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Ascension WoW (Conquest of Azeroth)
Exec=/home/YOURUSER/Games/ascension-wow/play-ascension.sh
Path=/home/YOURUSER/Games/ascension-wow
Icon=wine
Categories=Game;
Terminal=false

Step 4 — Play

The launcher opens on "Log in to your Ascension account". Create your account (it opens your browser — remember: unique password), log in, pick the Conquest of Azeroth realm and let the launcher download the game (~15–20 GB). That's it — you're playing 21 custom classes on Linux. 🐧⚔️

Quick error reference

Error (verbatim)	Fix
Install umu to use Proton	Pin wine-ge as Lutris default → Error 1
The 'DXVK' runtime component is not installed	Download runtime components → Error 2
Game exits instantly, return code: 768, no window	Electron vs old Wine → Error 3 (system Wine 11+)
DCompositionCreateDevice3 failed ... (0x80004001) in logs	Same → Error 3
Launcher opens but Play does nothing / game never starts	32-bit DLL mismatch → Error 4 (rebuild prefix with Wine 11)
coml2.dll ... not found / Ascension.exe ... status c0000135 in log	Same → Error 4
This application could not be started. popup	Install distro wine-mono, click No, wineboot -u
dotnet48 seems frozen for 10+ min	It's not frozen. Wait.

Notes

• Everything downloads only from official sources: ascension.gg, api.ascension.gg, download.ascension-patch.com, dl.winehq.org, GloriousEggroll's and Lutris' GitHub releases.
• Wine is not a sandbox. Treat the prefix like any Windows app you'd run.
• This guide reflects July 2026. If Ascension updates the launcher or the Lutris script, some errors may disappear (or new ones may appear). PRs and issues welcome.

Written after a real install session on CachyOS — every error above actually happened, in that order, and every fix above is the one that actually worked.