Keyboard not working in games in Wine

Question

I've installed GoG Heroes III Complete using Wine on Ubuntu 18.04 on an Acer Aspire TimelineX 5830TG laptop. When running the game, I see that some keyboard shortcuts won't work. For example, n to select New Game, r to select Random Mode, e to end turn, t to select city. However, Esc works to exit game, and Enter works for confirming selection.

I've stumbled upon this thread here: keyboard not working with games in wine which I hoped will help me, but after following it closely I had no luck.

I've tried changing Windows version in winecfg from XP to 7 to 8 to 10, but nothing happened.

I've tried switching Ubuntu's native input method from default to ibus and back, also with no results.

Any hope I fix this?

Answer 1

I as well ended up switching to Unity. The problem is somewhere in the type of the window manager. Apparently Wine needs a stacking one, and Gnome Shell (Mutter), is compositing. Related links:

• https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/15041/keyboard-mostly-doesnt-work-in-wine
• Ubuntu 17.10 - what is a default window manager?
• Is there a settings manager available for Mutter?
• https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/45104/how-can-i-switch-window-managers-in-gnome-3
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_window_manager#Types_of_window_managers

2 notes, however:

1. I'm pretty sure it worked fine in Ubuntu 17.10 with Shell...
2. Compiz is compositing, too. I guess it's just smarter than Mutter, which, according to the above link, has approxiately 5 settings.