Linux Gaming @lemmy.world cetvrti_magi @lemmy.world 8mo ago

[SOLVED] Games not running

I have a problem with Borderlands 2 and Portal. If I run native version game crashes soon after launching. If I run Windows version with Proton game doeasn't launch at all. I tried solutions from ProtonDB but none of them worked. I'm new to Linux gaming so I'm not sure what to do.

I have Intel i9 11th generation CPU, Nvidia 1650 GPU and 16GB RAM.

Fix: I installed lib32-nvidia-utils. Now I can run native version of Portal and Windows version of Borderlands 2 with Proton 7.0-6 (haven't tried other versions of Proton).

32 comments

My usual 'shot in the dark' when someone mentions windows versions: Is the game data on a shared NTFS partition? If so, move it to a native linux FS like ext4 and try again.
- This is good advise. My husband just installed Linux as a dual boot on his system over the weekend. He was having trouble with games that worked fine on my system until we re-downloaded them onto the Linux drive. Then they worked fine.
- I don't have any shared partitions.
  
  Still worth a shot to mention.
  
  Proton just doesn't seem to like any data on an NTFS partition, but the error message is ugly and buried so I mentioned it in all of these types of posts.
Little note, the Borderlands 2 Linux & Mac port as been abandonned https://support.aspyr.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020727692-Borderlands-2-Linux-FAQ So, do consider switching to the Windows version version via Proton for co-op play, HD Texture pack support and that last DLC too.
- I know that Linux port is abandonned but like I said in the post Windows version doesn't run at all.
You might need the lib32 version or have the wrong version of Vulkan it looks similiar to this issue: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=286118
- It works. Thanks!
  
  Happy gaming :) glad I could help
Do you have MangoHud installed? Last week I couldn't run any proton game on my system until I uninstalled it/ removed the MANGOHUD=1 variable haven't had this problem before, but something broke. Proton and wine were stuck at launching, no error messages/ logs, etc. drove me nuts.
- I don't have it.
maybe add PROTON_LOG=1 %command% to launch option to enable log? Try launching the game again, and see if anything weird logged on steam-xxxxx.log file in your home directory.

Also, might want to try using proton-ge in case it works: https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom
- There is nothing in Borderlands 2 that requires proton-ge. Using default native should absolutely work, and so should proton for the Windows version. His system is fucked up somehow.
What driver and version are you using? Wayland or X11? Is VRR enabled?
- I'm using X11 and closed source Nvidia driver. I'll check driver version and VRR when I return home.
  
  You have a 16xx series card, Proton 8+ have a problem with these cards (thanks to Nvidia), so switch to an older Proton version like Proton 7, should work.
- My driver version is 550.67 and VRR is enabled.
  
  You could try 545 or 535 series drivers. Stability can vary greatly between card model, driver, compositor and kernel version.
You want to be using Proton for BL2 regardless. The Linux client isn't updated, meaning no cross play and you can't use the final DLC. Also it's performance is shit compared to Proton
This looks like you can solve this by switching to an older Proton version.
Those 2 games are extremely solid in my experience, haven't had a crash ever in either of them.
I've played Borderlands 2 for 744 hours over many years with different hardware without a problem, except that I can't get SHiFT keys to work in the Linux version, so if I want to use SHiFT, I switch to Proton for that. Both work flawlessly otherwise. I have only tried Portal native though.
I'm currently using the Manjaro distro with an old Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, Radeon RX 6800 XT GPU, and 16 Gig Ram.
My wife however uses Nvidia GTX 1080 ti and earlier GTX 970, and both games worked perfectly for her too using Debian with both cards. My wife also played lots of portal both 1 and 2 with Nvidia cards.

In short those 2 games should work fine out of the box, with both Nvidia and Radeon. So maybe you have some hardware problem? Or something with your installation was screwed up somehow?
Do other games run?

I've seen steam proton get into a state where it won't run anything.

It was on someone else's PC and I didn't get a chance to solve it as they went back to windows.

But like others have said, running the windows versions of these games by using proton is the way to go.

What distro are you on?
- I had no issues with other games I played. I use EndeavourOS.
  
  Good. So you've confirmed that games can and do run on your system, both natively and using proton.
  
  Next, I would try deleting the corresponding compatdata and shadercache folders for the games, to reset the games prefix and shaders. These are one folder up from the folder where the actual game files are, and the folders within have numbered names that match the ID of the game. (Which you can see in the update tab in game properties).
  
  Simply delete the correct folders and steam will redo the proton setup for a game and recompile the shaders.
  
  On a sidenote, I recommend installing proton-ge-custom from the AUR, it installs, keeps up to date, and makes available proton GE for you to use in steam and heroic, should you ever need a version with fixes that valve proton doesn't come with.
Would you maybe try the flatpak version of Steam? That has worked great for me. No complaints.

32 comments