[OUTDATED] Guide to running X3:FL through Proton on Linux

[Unbekanntes Feindschiff]

UPDATE:A native build is now available for X3FL. This guide will stay up for those who really want to run the Windows binary through Proton for whatever reason, but you are strongly discouraged to do so

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial way to run the game and in no ways supported by Egosoft. It is meant as an interim solution until there's an official Linux build. While it generally does work really well, please do NOT report any issues that only arise as a result of running the game through Proton to Egosoft, but only in this thread.

Limitations:

• Joystick twist doesn't work
• some sector music is slightly sped up or slowed down (happens rarely)
• you'll be unable to play the native version of X3TC and X3AP through Steam. If you want to keep playing these versions, please make a backup of your X3 Terran Conflict folder before proceeding
• Quitting the game won't quit all processes and you're forced to forcequit the game through Steam

What you'll need:

• X3: Farnham's legacy
• protontricks (you may also use WINEPREFIX and winetricks if you know what you're doing)
• a custom version of Proton (whether the custom Proton is actually needed hasn't been tested. I just tested it on Proton 6.1-GE2)

Instructions

1. Make sure "Enable Steam Play for all other titles" is enabled in your Steam settings
2. For X3TC, X3AP and X3FL, go into the game's properties, go to the compatibility tab and force it to run through Proton 6.1-GE2 and let them update or install them if they're not already installed
3. Run X3FL once. You'll notice missing sounds
4. Navigate to /path/to/steamlibrary/steamapps/compatdata/483330/pfx/drive_c/windows and delete system32/gdiplus.dll and syswow64/gdiplus.dll (these are symlinks to the version supplied by Proton and having these symlinks there will cause protontricks to fail)
5. open up a terminal and run: protontricks 483330 wmp11 devenum
6. run the game once. Videos will now either not work or have no sound
7. back in the terminal, run: protontricks 483330 quartz
8. launch the game again and things will be broken
9. back in the terminal, run: protontricks 483330 amstream
10. launch the game and enjoy X3FL

Please note that installing these dependencies in seperate commands and in that very order is (for whatever reason) necessary as installing them in a different order or a single command won't work and the game will crash. I have no idea why. The ways of wine are strange.

[Roeleveld]

Thank you for providing this.

But this should be supported by Egosoft

[piranhai aka Dragonslayer]

I followed this guide on Manjaro Linux and everything just works. I don't have Issues with music or shutting down the game as mentioned above. I only installed FL.

[andreihaiducul]

I tried this, but it crashes frequently when entering a system and the voices don't work. Proton-experimental breaks the music too, but otherwise haven't noticed any difference with versions 5.0-6.3 or the GE builds.

EDIT: I tried again after deleting the `compatdata` folder and started with Proton 5.13, then upgraded to Proton-GE 6.5. Everything seems to be working fine now, including the voices and I haven't had any more (wine-related) crashes. I only needed to overwrite amstream and quartz with protontricks to get the videos working.

[piranhai aka Dragonslayer]

the only issue I had in the beginning is that my game crashed randomly. I fixed this bye setting the grafics from high to medium. Beside that the only problem I encounter is if I alt tab in and out FL the framerate goes permanently down until restart. Beside that if followed the guide mentioned above with the exact mentioned proton version it works fine (the default ones on steam won't work).

[strask412]

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial way to run the game and in no ways supported by Egosoft. It is meant as an interim solution until there's an official Linux build. While it generally does work really well, please do NOT report any issues that only arise as a result of running the game through Proton to Egosoft, but only in this thread.

Any progress yet on getting a version of this which does not require proton?

[AeroNotix]

I'm willing to pay for a Linux version of the game.

How much would it cost for someone to take a look at putting out a Linux build?

[CBJ]

You don't need to pay anyone to do that. It's being worked on right now.

[strask412]

You don't need to pay anyone to do that. It's being worked on right now.

Sweet, thank you!

[AeroNotix]

That's great to hear.

Maybe not so great to my employer, but that's their problem.

[CBJ]

I'm going to unsticky this thread, as the native Linux version is now available. Please let us know how you get on with it.

[andreihaiducul]

I'm going to unsticky this thread, as the native Linux version is now available. Please let us know how you get on with it.

Doesn't work from flatpak:

Code: Select all

X3FL_config[1038683]: segfault at 1 ip 00000000f735b693 sp 00000000ffc03eb0 error 4 in libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0.2400.10[f733b000+ab000]

EDIT: linking `X3FL_main` to `X3FL_config` works around this issue

Seems to work fine outside flatpak. We also need a nosteam exe please.

EDIT: I've only played for a little bit but most things seem to work fine and performance is OK. Only the new voice descriptions from X3FL work though so maybe some files weren't converted. (EDIT2: see here for fix)