Running Dragon’s Dogma 2 on Linux with Proton – Tips & Troubleshooting

Here’s a compilation of all the information I’ve gathered while attempting to run Dragon’s Dogma 2 on Linux using Proton. Any feedback with suggestions for additions or corrections to this guide would be greatly appreciated.

Dragon’s Dogma 2: How To Run The Game On Linux With Proton

I believe it’s important for someone to create a basic guide incorporating the information we’ve gathered so far. If anyone has any additional information they’d like to contribute or have included in this guide, please feel free to leave a comment.

Just to clarify, I haven’t managed to get Dragon’s Dogma 2 to run yet. However, I was able to replicate my issues with DD2 in the “Character Creator and Storage” demo and address them. I’ll update this guide as soon as I’ve successfully run the game myself, but I’m quite confident that it’ll work this time based on what I’ve discovered.

Throughout my troubleshooting process, I experimented with multiple versions of Proton and various combinations of launch settings.

I consistently encountered crashes at one of three points: either right at the start, before the “Compiling Shaders” loading bar began to fill up, immediately after it was completed, or right after the screen brightness adjustment when the “autosave” feature prompt appeared. Following the crashes, the crash reporter would always fail to complete, sometimes triggering the Wine “System Info” window. Most commonly, I encountered 0x2000000 errors.

Denuvo

Due to the inclusion of Denuvo DRM in the game, Dragon’s Dogma 2 imposes a limit of 5 launch attempts every 24 hours on Linux systems using Proton/WINE. It’s important to note that this limitation applies not only to launching the game but also to quitting it normally.

Even if you’re using the same version of Proton, you’re still restricted to 5 launch attempts within a 24-hour period. It’s crucial to use these attempts wisely. If you reach your fourth attempt and want to avoid waiting another 24 hours to play the game, it’s recommended to switch to Windows for running the game.

Once you’ve exhausted your 5 attempts, a popup window will appear with an error message resembling “Sorry, something went wrong. For solutions, please visit: https://support.codefusion.technology/anti-tamper/?e=88500006&l=english&s=at“.

Clicking on the provided link will redirect you to a website stating that you’ll need to wait 24 hours before being able to authenticate on new devices.

Versions of Proton

The only version of Proton that I’ve personally found to be effective so far is GE-Proton9-2, which is a custom build created by an individual named “GloriousEggroll.” You can obtain it from the following link: GitHub – GloriousEggroll/Proton-GE-Compatibility.

Here are some basic instructions for installing a GE version of Proton, taken directly from the linked page:

1. Download a release from the Releases page on GitHub.
2. If it doesn’t already exist, create a directory named ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d.
3. Extract the release tarball into ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/ using the following command:

   tar -xf GE-ProtonVERSION.tar.gz -C ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/

4. Restart Steam.
5. Enable proton-ge-custom in Steam.

Additionally, here is a list of other Proton versions that users have reported as being able to run Dragon’s Dogma 2:

• GE-Proton8-30
• GE-Proton9-1
• Proton Experimental
• Proton 9.0 (Beta)

DirectX11

At this juncture, I’m inclined to believe that Dragon’s Dogma 2 might not be compatible with Proton when using DirectX 12, and it’s possible that some Linux systems are defaulting to DirectX 11 while others default to DirectX 12. This variance could depend on factors such as the Linux distribution, graphics drivers, or other system configurations.

Here’s the method I used to successfully navigate from the Character Creator to the main menu (bypassing the “autosave” screen). After discovering a helpful forum post, I decided to give it a try:

1. Navigate to the game’s root installation directory and locate the “config.ini” file. In my case, it was located at /home/USERNAME/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Dragons Dogma 2/.
2. Open the “config.ini” file.
3. Change line 3 from “TargetPlatform=DirectX12” to “TargetPlatform=DirectX11”.

Initially, the game didn’t work for me after making this change. However, after adjusting some launch parameters and reverting to GE-Proton9-2, I was able to get it running successfully.

Launch Options

Here’s the launch settings string that eventually got Dragon’s Dogma 2 to work for me following the previously mentioned changes:

PROTON_HIDE_NVIDIA_GPU=0 PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 RADV_PERFTEST=nosam PROTON_ASYNC=1 VKD3D_CONFIG=dxr11,no_upload_hvv %command%

To break it down:

• PROTON_HIDE_NVIDIA_GPU=0: This setting ensures that the Nvidia GPU is not hidden when using Proton.
• PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1: This enables Nvidia’s NVAPI for use with Proton.
• RADV_PERFTEST=nosam: Disables Shader Array Memory optimization in the RADV Vulkan driver.
• PROTON_ASYNC=1: Enables asynchronous shader compilation in Proton.
• VKD3D_CONFIG=dxr11,no_upload_hvv: This is likely the critical part for getting the game to run. It sets VKD3D configuration options, specifying DirectX 11 compatibility (dxr11) and disabling the upload of host-visible views (no_upload_hvv).
• %command%: This is a placeholder for the game’s executable and any additional launch options.

Interestingly, removing either dxr11 or no_upload_hvv doesn’t seem to impact performance significantly, but removing both causes the game to run at an extremely low frame rate, particularly during cutscenes. The reason for this behavior is unclear, and further investigation would be needed to determine the underlying cause.

If anyone has insights or suggestions regarding this issue, I’d appreciate hearing them.

Conclusion:

To potentially enhance performance in the game, some users have suggested the following options, although I haven’t personally verified their effectiveness:

• Adding the “gamemoderun” launch option.
• Adding the “VKD3D_CONFIG=,no_upload_hvv” launch option.

In summary, remember that you’re limited to only 5 launch attempts per day when using Proton due to the Denuvo DRM.

Here are the settings that worked for me (with the Character Creator, at least, until I can confirm further):

• Proton Version: GE-Proton9-2
• Changed the game’s “config.ini” file’s “TargetPlatform” to “DirectX11.”
• Launch Options: VKD3D_CONFIG=dxr11,no_upload_hvv %command%

FAQ: Running Dragon’s Dogma 2 on Linux with Proton

Last Updated on March 27, 2024

Anay

An avid listener of music from a number of countries. Writing is his hobby and passion. A follower of all the latest android and PC games. Not to mention his favorite: Mobile Legends!