huu
Published
Runs absolutely perfectly. Steam Cloud was able to download & sync my save files no problem. No issues anywhere.
Does not start
RADV_PERFTEST=gpl gamemoderun %command% -anticheat_settings=SettingsDX12.json -novid +fps_max 0
Hitting play will briefly show me as playing the game then promptly goes back & the play button becomes active again. Game will not start.
Attempted suggested fixes by others on here, does not seem to fix it.
This is a follow-up to my previous report where I stated the game did not launch. I figured out my issues, which were not related to the game whatsoever (the issue was NTFS for those curious). Once I had resolved every single issue, and waited 4 hours for shaders to compile, the game fired right up & played brilliantly. 0 issues with graphics, framerate, audio, etc., almost forgot I was even on Linux.
However, need to stress that the game does not launch with the default Proton provided by Steam. You NEED to use GE-Proton for Apex Legends to even launch. Without it, the game does not start.
EA axed Linux support
Not much else to say. Scummy companies doing scummy things.
Works OOTB.
Fonts aren't rendered correctly. Might be an issue with my system rather than the game though.
Full-screen mode didn't hide the KDE UI & caused the bottom portion of my screen to be hidden by the task manager. Can be solved by going into windowed mode & resizing.
Aside from the minor issues I mentioned with full screen & fonts, this game runs pretty much perfectly. Steam Cloud sync worked as well.
Barely passes as playable
Unless I turn the graphics quality down to medium or below, this game will literally eat all the VRAM for breakfast and cause major artifacting. One time I even got a Christmas effect when inspecting a weapon in the menu.
Alt-tabbing froze the system on numerous occasions.
Pausing and unpausing freezes the game for 30+ seconds
Would sometimes crash.
If you never pause or alt tab, the game technically runs fine but being relegated to medium or low graphical settings makes everything look like you need glasses. CS:GO wasn't ever as bad as CS2 with its native Linux port. Actually terrible.
BlackCipher anti-cheat prevents you from playing
6 months since the last report for this game. Nothing has changed, still does not boot due to the "BlackCipher not initialized" error. GE-Proton does not get around this either.
I await the day we get a proper "desktop pet" that works with Linux.
Transparency does not work with KDE.
Black border around the entire screen.
Same issue as any other "desktop companion" app you see on Steam - transparency. Opening it will just open a full-screen black box for you to choose your character and have it walk around. Not worth using.
I await the day we finally get to eat good on Linux with this kind of stuff.
Aside from the full-screen shenanigans, runs great.
Running the game initially, for some reason, gave me a very strange resolution that squished the game window while also taking up all 3 of my monitors. Had to escape to windowed mode, manually set my resolution & return the game back to full screen to resolve it.
No complaints, runs perfect.
If you're fine with no or minimal controller support, runs great!
Game failed to recognize my controller at all, even with Steam Input enabled.
No tinkering needed. Download it, boot it up & off you go! Runs like an absolute treat.
SteamDeck=1 %command%
Blurry cutscenes
Initial setup and configuration with the Rockstar Launcher caused the game to hang on the launcher's "This game is currently running" screen without the game actually launching.
The fix for this is to go to your /[install dir here]/SteamLibrary/steamapps/compatdata/3240220/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/My Documents/ folder and delete the Rockstar Games folder.
Tabbing out of the game, including turning on Steam Overlay, will cause the game to lose focus. Can lead to a softlock.
Did not play online by the way.
First of all, use Glorious Eggroll Proton, at least 9-25. I tried it both with regular Proton, Proton Experimental and GE Proton 9-13, all of which lead to the launcher error described above. On top of that, without the SteamDeck=1 %command% launch option, the game will NOT boot.
Lastly, it sucks that the game has to be capped to 60 FPS in order for some missions to not break. There are a handful of missions that will immediately fail upon starting if your FPS is above 60. This isn't a Linux-specific bug but something I thought I'd mention. An "enhanced" release in 2025 requiring you to limit your FPS...tragic.
Native version sucks
The native version of Half-Life, especially after the 20th anniversarry update, is bad. The music is COMPLETELY absent. Certain map transitions outright crash the game for you as well. It functions on a very basic level but the experience is very incomplete.
Play this with Proton on Linux. Trust me, it fixes the audio issues and the crashes. Strange how the Windows version runs better than the native Linux one.
Same as Half-Life 1, the experience with the native port is incomplete
Just like the original Half-Life, Half-Life 2 suffers from the same issues as its predecessor after its 25th anniversary update. While the game doesn't outright crash, the music is COMPLETELY absent with no apparent way to fix it.
And also just like Half-Life 1, play this with Proton enabled instead of using the native version. The music being missing detracts from the atmosphere that HL2 is intended to have.
Doesn't boot
Shame that the first report on this game on ProtonDB is a negative one but unfortunately, no matter what Proton version I try (tried: 7.0-6, 8.0-5, 9.0-2, GE-Proton9-7), no matter if I try to force it to run gamemode, no matter what launch options I use, all the game does is show a brief black screen before immediately closing.
Install dxvk through protontricks.
Stutters when you do anything, from moving to selecting menu options, to reading text. Even booting the game up takes up to 5 minutes, regardless if you're on a HDD or SSD.
Would crash within a minute if you end up staying idle in the main menu when it tries to loop the main menu BGM.
The OOTB experience for this is terrible, regardless of what kind of Proton version you are using. It will just not work. Using protontricks, I installed dxvk after talking with the developer of the game on the Steam forums for a brief time but that only got me very limited success. The game does boot but it stutters like mad & the game is generally not very playable. My guess is that it's a GPU caching issue but more investigating needs to be done. Swapping my GPU from Nvidia to AMD helped alleviate the stuttering but it's still noticeable and unplayable.
They actually ported it to Linux.
Stuttering when loading audio
This is probably the last report I'm posting on ProtonDB about this game. But since I started my tinkering around with this a few months ago, the devs went out of their way to port the game to a new engine with native Linux support. Obviously they did it in preparation for the full release of the game & for Steam Deck verification, but all of the issues mentioned before are now seemingly solved. The only problem I encounter while playing now is audio stuttering when loading dialogue but it runs so much infintely better than it did ever before. Bravo to the devs!
Perfect OOTB!
Zero issues. Download, hit play & off you go. No need for any special launch options or special Proton versions.
The only HoYo game I enjoy & still sad it doesn't work
You can get around it and use the open source launcher I've linked in the Lutris page above & get the game to actually run that way. But if you were expecting to just run & launch this game as is on Steam - nope. Won't work.
Pressing Play did not do anything. It attempted to launch and then promptly failed.
Update to my previous report - it didn't launch due to a bad IGPU driver. Installed a dedicated GPU, works nearly flawlessly.
During menus, the audio crackled sometimes. Very minor though.
My PS4 controller was detected as "UNKNOWN DEVICE", whereas in other games it's detected just fine. Had to use the Steam Input feature to emulate it as an Xbox One controller but still encountered issues, such as button assignments not being correct & having to remap them manually.
Framerate dipped below 30 at times
Does not start on the standard Proton or Proton Experimental provided by Steam, crashes when it gets to the EA App launcher. Using GE, was able to log into my EA account & start playing. Look into getting GE Proton before you play this on Linux.
If you alt-tab at any point, the game will force itself into windowed mode and there is NO way of getting back into proper full screen.
Controller frequently kept disconnecting. Also, enable Steam Input in the game's settings under the "Controller" tab. Otherwise it will not detect ANY controller at all.
Previous reports mention that using Proton 7.0-6 would fix the EA app issues. It didn't for me. What ended up working was Glorious Eggroll Proton, which launched the EA app properly and let me launch the game.
Once it got going, the only other issue I saw was that it couldn't read my name from the EA app for some reason and showed me as an auto-generated string of characters.
Besides that, the game ran fine, minus the full screening and controller issues.
Works OOTB
Even if this game is delisted, for those who have this in their library or get it through other means & add it as a non-Steam game, it runs absolutely flawlessly with 0 issues. Controller support & everything.
Runs better than on Windows.
Multiplayer works flawlessly.
Honestly, running this game on Linux I experienced far less issues with it than I did on Windows, aside from what's already broken in this sloppy mess of a game. Stability-wise, it runs infinitely better on Linux, for some reason...
Stuttering
Only ran this with GE Proton, but it ran fine. I did notice a bunch of stuttering, particularly every time someone picks a new hero but it was slight. A bit annoying, but I'd say playable overall. Ran at max settings, the stuttering issues could probably be alleviated by lowering the graphical settings a bit.
Works great out of the box
Didn't need to use GE Proton or Proton Experimental. Didn't need to do any fancy launch commands or anything of the sort. The game just booted up & off I went. Played for over 2 hours with no issues whatsoever. Great experience overall!
Another one for the "works OOTB" rhythm game pile
Changing resolutions misaligns textures. Not a Linux-specific bug though. Reload your skin to fix it if you encounter it.
Minor stutters
This one is a bit less surprising considering this has a native port but it runs pretty good all things considered. 2 hours in a single session and only minor stutters to report.
Ran absolutely perfect on a second playthrough.
Decided to replay this gem of a game in 2025. 17 hours of buttery smooth gameplay with nothing to complain about. Runs pretty much perfect.
Not recommended due to instability
Alt-tabbing crashes the game
No controller support for a modern port, even if it's not really needed for a game like this. Alt-tabbing the game causes an error that crashes the game. Not a good OOTB experience.
Only recommend to use the classic launcher. Classic launcher works OOTB with absolutely 0 issues. The "modern" one requires too much work.
Had issues with exiting full screen mode. Dragging windows around caused my system to become unstable.
The modern UI redesign does not launch OOTB. Requires tinkering, as mentioned by other reports.
Frame rate was inconsistent.
The "modern" launcher was already horribly unoptimized on Windows, and it runs significantly worse on Linux. I've experienced several performance degradations & crashes. The launch option vblank_mode=3 %command% helped fix my issues with instability.
But I would still recommend the use of the classic launcher instead, even if that emulator is honestly really bad regardless of what OS you're using.
Perfect OOTB!
Alt-tabbing out of the game makes the game no longer recognize my controller. Can be fixed by unplugging and replugging again.
A modern release in 2024 with full Linux support? Get the hell out of town! Works perfectly, aside from the controller snafu though I'm not sure if that's the game or my system at fault here. Would probably run into the same issue if I was on Windows.
Runs great, minus slight flickering
Flickering during the stage end score tally
When a stage ended and the score tally was brought up, the ending screen slightly flickered. Ran fine otherwise.
Perfect OOTB
Zero issues to report on. Everything ran as it should with no problems! This is only regarding the Steam version of the game with no mods though. If that's all you care about - it plays great!
Opinions on the port cast aside, runs great
Didn't notice anything out of the ordinary that wasn't already present as a problem on Sonic Colors: Ultimate. All thing's considered, it runs great out of the box. Should you play this version of Sonic Colors though......that's up to you.
Did not launch, even after switching drivers from Nouveau to Nvidia
At first I thought my initial crash on startup was because of the fact that my PC defaulted to the Nouveau drivers. Installed the proper Nvidia ones, game still does not boot.
Works out of the box.
Follow-up to my previous report, which stated that the game did not launch. After figuring out my issues (NTFS-related errors, not the game's fault) & fixing them by reinstalling the game to an EXT4 drive, the game just fired right up with 0 problems. Ran perfectly, detected my controller no problem.
Needed to use the launch option PROTON_NO_ESYNC=1 to fix audio.
Putting my opinions on the game aside for a moment, after patching with the GitHub repository linked, the game ran flawlessly. I did encounter audio issues, but PROTON_NO_ESYNC=1 fixed it for me and it ran pretty much as it should on Windows.
Should be noted that without replacing the launcher from GitHub, you will run into a Jave Runtime error.
Unlike Episode 1, Episode 2 runs great with no tinkering
While Sonic 4 Episode 1 requires patching the game's launcher to start, Sonic 4 Episode 2 just fires up with no problem & you can immediately get going. Opinions on the game aside for a moment, if you're looking to play this on Linux, you should have no problems whatsoever.
Works great for casual playthroughs
Was not able to disable Vsync.
Input delay was felt due to not being able to turn off Vsync.
If you're looking just to complete this game and get all the achievements, the game runs great on Linux. But if you're looking to compete for times on the leaderboard or for personal bests, be wary that it might be a bit frustrating to play. If you just wanna beat the game, runs great though.
Cannot recommend, as it's very frustrating when the game literally forces your whole monitor to run at 24hz
Game forces refresh rate from 144hz to 24hz & crashes the OS
Stuttering whenever someone picks a new class. Probably shader-related.
As mentioned, game forces refresh rate down to 24hz for some reason
Everything from the multiplayer side works as it should.
If you wanna play this on Linux, PLEASE use the -freq 144 or whatever is applicable for your monitor, otherwise it WILL force you to hard restart your whole computer merely from hitting "Play".
Perfect OOTB
Zero issues to report on. Worked perfectly as soon as I hit "Play".
Some voice lines do not play, FMVs are very, very quiet compared to the rest of the game.
Color me surprised. Even if I don't like the game myself, I am very surprised the devs did a complete 180 and allowed this game to run on Linux without much fuss. Should mention that I did not have success running this game under regular Proton - the game would default to a black window after the launcher starts, but with GE Proton - runs absolutely flawlessly.
Seriously surprised.
Works OOTB
No issues with multiplayer.
Nothing to comment on. Works just fine. Tested only Desktop mode 'cause I don't have a VR headset. But it works fine.
Runs just like native
Game failed to detect my controller several times.
Aside from the controller thing, the game ran absolutely brilliantly. An excellent game to play on Linux.
Perfect OOTB experience
Ran right out the gate. Didn't need to even tweak offset, everything felt as smooth as it did on Windows. Great beginner-friendly VSRG, by the way!
Works OOTB
Minor audio crackling when a new stage is loaded. Fixes itself pretty quickly.
A lot of reports for this game seem to be years old. Rest assured to those looking in July 2024 - modern versions of Proton seem to have fixed many of the woes that people reported regarding this game, as I just installed it, booted it up & was able to finish most of the game (I died in the Scarlet Devil Mansion). Had 0 issues playing it, aside from the audio crackling when loading in a new track for the first time. No tweaks or custom Proton versions were necessary.
