Hey there

I just bought Democracy 3 on my Linux Laptop and I'm not able to start the game. When I try to launch it with the konsole, I get the following message:

./Democracy3.bin.x86_64: error while loading shared libraries: libpng12.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Any idea, what I can do to get it running?

thx

As you didn't mention the distribution you are using I guess you are using Ubuntu 18.04 or newer. This should solve your issue (at least it worked on my machine):

https://www.linuxuprising.com/2018/05/fix-libpng12-0-missing-in-ubuntu-1804.html

Ubuntu 18.04 should get dropped from the supported platforms as png-1.2 is not officially supported for that release but required by the game …

To work fine in debian 11 it's necesary instal libpng12-0_1.2.54-1ubuntu1.1+1~ppa0~eoan_amd64.deb pakage from the ppa repository of ubuntu.

But appear another problem when the game it's allready loaded. When I start a game don't load and show me this error:

VoterType data corrupter:/builddir/Democracy3/code/game/srcSIM-VoterType.cpp 97

I was solved the problem. I have copied the data and translation folder, from a windows instalation, and pasted into /home/USER/GOG Games/Democracy 3 Spanish/game

The game run perfet now. Also can emulated whit playonlinux and take this forder from the emulation for pasted in the instaltion folder.

[i]-----------------------------------------------------------Castellano-------------------------------------- ---

Para que funcione bien en Debian Bullseye hay que instalar, descargándola del repositorio ppa de Ubuntu, la librería:
libpng12-0_1.2.54-1ubuntu1.1+1~ppa0~eoan_amd64.deb

Después de eso resulta que el instalador nativo para linux no instala todos los archivos necesarios por lo que hay que copiarlos de una instalación en windows o de una instalación con playonlinux. Hacen falta las carpetas: data y traslation.

Las puedes copiar y luego pegarlas en la instalación nativa en linux, en este caso debian bullseye, en la siguiente dirección si has instalado en el directorio por defecto del instalador:
/home/USER/GOG Games/Democracy 3 Spanish/game

Cómo recomendación puedes hacer un archivo comprimido de estas dos carpetas para tenerlas a mano en futuras instalaciones y también el archivo deb, guardándolo con el instalador de Linux.

Con esto el juego funciona perfecto de forma nativa bajo debian 11 bullseye.[/i]

Subject: Solution for libpng12 missing (Ubuntu 24.04 | 64 bit | amd64):

Hello,

I just wanted to play Democracy 3 on Ubuntu 22.04.05 but encountered the following error:

./Democracy3.bin.x86_64: error while loading shared libraries: libpng12.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I thought it might interest you that in order to make the game run again it is only necessary to add the libpng12.so.0 file to the lib64 path of the game.
I guess the same goes for the i386 version of the library - then of course it would have to be put in the lib path of the game.

The library can be found here: launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libpng

I used the version you can find here: launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libpng/1.2.54-1ubuntu1.1

For amd64 you find the .deb file here: launchpad.net/~ubuntu-security/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/15108504
Direct download would be launchpad.net/~ubuntu-security/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/15108504/+files/libpng12-0_1.2.54-1ubuntu1.1_amd64.d eb

For i386 you find the .deb file here: launchpad.net/~ubuntu-security/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/15108507
Direct download would be launchpad.net/~ubuntu-security/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/15108507/+files/libpng12-0_1.2.54-1ubuntu1.1_i386.de b

After extracting the files of the .deb you should see a file named data.tar.xz
After extracting the files of data.tar.xz you will find a lib path and following it you should see two files: libpng12.so.0.54.0 and libpng12.so.0. Since libpng12.so.0 is only a link to libpng12.so.0.54.0 you should delete the libpng12.so.0 file and rename the libpng12.so.0.54.0 file to libpng12.so.0 - this one goes to the game directory.
I would have attached the files but unfortunately I can't upload ZIP-files here.

Hope this may help other users, too :-)