Initially when I booted up Last Scenario I thought I just need some codec to get it’s background music playing. That eventually lead me to learn of the need for sound fonts (which I’ve installed and even made the related ~/.fluidsynth file and pointed it to the font with an absolute path). I even rebooted the PC thereafter and still I get no background from Last Scenario. I even tried turning up the volume thinking that maybe it was just too quite after I tried the same midi files in the media player. I’m at my wits end trying to get the music to play.
If you’re playing The Elder Scrolls: Arena through the Heroic Games Launcher on Linux and have no sound, this is because the game uses MIDI for its soundtrack. Here’s how I solved this problem by setting up TiMidity++ as a MIDI synthesizer.
Step 1: Install TiMidity++ and SoundFont
First, install TiMidity++ and a good general MIDI soundfont:
sudo dnf install timidity++ fluid-soundfont-gm
For Manjaro - pamac install timidity++ soundfont-fluid
To configure your preferred SoundFont, add the following to /etc/timidity/timidity.cfg For Fluid:
soundfont /usr/share/soundfonts/FluidR3_GM.sf2
Step 3: Test TiMidity
Run TiMidity as a MIDI server and check connections:
timidity -iA
Then in another terminal:
aconnect -o
If everything is working correctly, you should see TiMidity listed as an available MIDI output.
Step 4: Create a Launch Script
nano ~/launch-arena.sh
The script:
#!/bin/bash
# Kill any existing timidity instances
killall timidity 2>/dev/null
# Start Timidity in the background
timidity -iA &
TIMIDITY_PID=$!
# Wait a moment for Timidity to initialize
sleep 2
# Launch the game through Heroic using the App ID
flatpak run com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl launch --app-id=1435828982
# Print instructions for the user
echo "========================================"
echo "Timidity is running in the background"
echo "Please click PLAY in the Heroic launcher"
echo "When you're done playing, come back to this terminal and press Ctrl+C"
echo "This will shut down Timidity properly"
echo "========================================"
# Wait for user to press Ctrl+C
trap "kill $TIMIDITY_PID 2>/dev/null; echo 'Timidity stopped.'; exit" INT
wait
Step 5: Make the Script Executable
chmod +x ~/launch-arena.sh
Step 6: Launch the Game
Run the script to start TiMidity and launch the game:
~/launch-arena.sh
This will open the Heroic Games Launcher with TiMidity running in the background. Navigate to The Elder Scrolls: Arena in the launcher and click Play. The game should now have full MIDI sound support!
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Edit: I’ve now tried the steps outline here and still no luck with the music. Just adding the link really so peops who find this thread later have an easier time
Test build succeeded. To test this build, install it from the testing repository: