Firstly, hello all as this is my first message here.
I tried to install and run Freelancer. Everything seems to work fine, with the exception that when I select Multiplayer -> Internet, it just stands there forever, looking for a global server. What I tried was editting the .ini file to replace the dead server, nothing.
Looking at wine help, installed native directplay with winetricks, nothing.
Finally , looked at here and downloaded the workaround, installed it…. now the game is sluggish when in Multiplayer -> internet ,as if it really were doing something, but the server list is still empty, and it’s forever (several minutes at least) connecting.
What am I doing wrong? On slackware 13.37 or somesuch ,with a patched wine 1.5.5, with directx and fonts and some other goodies enabled.

Thanks loads for any help.