Thanks for the input, booman. Here is what I've done:
I followed that guide, with the addition of adding the Steam library since that is the version of the game I have. I also tried installing with wine 1.7.24 and 1.6.2, with a mix of 32 and 64 bit, and various libraries from that guide and as specified in the POL install script. In all these cases. The situation did change:
There was audio in game, but now none in the cinematics. Also, the mouse worked, but any keyboard activity caused the game to crash. However, the keyboard is fine in the Steam client; it only affects the game itself.
Following is the debug log immediately follow a crash from keyboard activity:
fixme:dbghelp:elf_search_auxv can't find symbol in module
fixme:dbghelp:MiniDumpWriteDump NIY MiniDumpWithHandleData
fixme:advapi:EventUnregister deadbeef: stub
– Repeated 4 times
fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (0x133a478) stub
fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (0x12e787c) stub
fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (0x132bf04) stub
fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (0xf98c0c) stub
fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (0xf1db04) stub
fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (0x3c0530) stub
fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (0x9de33c) stub
fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (0xa280c4) stub
fixme:msvcrt:__clean_type_info_names_internal (0x3fd6fc) stub
Setting breakpad minidump AppID = 108710
Steam_SetMinidumpSteamID: Caching Steam ID: 76561198145753396 [API loaded no]
fixme:imm:ImmReleaseContext ((nil), (nil)): stub
fixme:advapi:EventUnregister deadbeef: stub
– Repeated 9 times
As an experiment, I did a manual install with the components from the script: wine 1.5.0-raw3 (patched related to the input problem). This had the same result as install from the script, which looking at the online source I see has a line for "Set_SoundDriver "alsa""; I don't know if this might be related. I also on this install tried all the various libraries from the scripts and various guides, but that made no change: audio in cinematics, but not in-game.
Then I tried using Wine 1.5.9-raw3, so a newer version than the script but with the same patch, but that crashed when trying to login to Steam.
Per some suggestions elsewhere I also tried install additional DirectX libraries, as well as the DirectX installer provided with the game. None affected performance.
With the install from the script, this is the debug log through a brief session, including periods of no audio:
process 3580: Applications must not close shared connections - see dbus_connection_close() docs. This is a bug in the application.
[0826/144153:ERROR:network_change_notifier_win.cc(174)] WSALookupServiceBegin failed with: 8
[0826/144153:ERROR:gpu_info_collector_win.cc(103)] Can't retrieve a valid WinSAT assessment.
[0826/144209:ERROR:renderer_main.cc(227)] Running without renderer sandbox
[0826/144210:ERROR:renderer_main.cc(227)] Running without renderer sandbox
[0826/144211:WARNING:content_browser_client.cc(499)] No browser info matching frame process id 3 and routing id 1
[0826/144211:WARNING:content_browser_client.cc(499)] No browser info matching frame process id 3 and routing id 1
[0826/144211:WARNING:content_browser_client.cc(499)] No browser info matching frame process id 3 and routing id 1
[0826/144211:WARNING:content_browser_client.cc(499)] No browser info matching frame process id 3 and routing id 1
Setting breakpad minidump AppID = 108710
Steam_SetMinidumpSteamID: Caching Steam ID: 76561198145753396 [API loaded no]
IPC client is in my process, could/should be using an in-process pipe.IPC client is in my process, could/should be using an in-process pipe.Forced create of Win32Mutex but it already existed
Forced create of Win32Event but it already existed
Forced create of Win32Event but it already existed
[2014-08-26 14:41:52] Startup - updater built Aug 13 2014 14:18:40
[2014-08-26 14:41:53] Verifying installation...
[2014-08-26 14:41:53] Verification complete
[2014-08-26 14:42:53] Shutdown
So as it stands the closest to playable is still the script/1.5.0-raw3 install. All others crash or won't accept the keyboard. And no cutscene audio in the others.