Steamplay: GalCiv3 on Linux w/Proton

Year of the Linux Desktop?

from GalCiv3 Forums

I've spent the last couple days playing GalCiv3:Intrigue (with all DLC) on my primary Fedora Linux computer. I no longer have to boot in to a Windows install that is only used for running GalCiv3! This means I am playing more. A lot more. And I'm just thrilled with Valve, and their leadership on this.

Some things for those of you that want to try it out:

  • GalCiv3 is not supported on SteamPlay, but like thousands of other titles I have found that it just works. You need to enable the Beta of SteamPlay in order to have the option to play it.
  • Stardock isn't responsible for the experience/stability/anything of GalCiv3 when using SteamPlay (but I haven't had an issue yet).
  • The Stardock Launcher was giving me some graphical problems, so I added the /nolauncher run option inside the Steam advanced startup options and it worked perfectly.
  • I had to disable my second monitor - otherwise I was getting a lot of weird graphical errors.
  • The swirly-cloud graphics that show the boundaries of black holes doesn't show up. Only the black dot in the center does.
  • It takes longer to startup the game. Maybe 4 minutes (I haven't timed it).

Other than that it has been flawless. I use a Nvidia GTX 750 Ti rev. A2 with the 396.51 Nvidia Driver.

I have just become a massive fan of Valve/Steam. Happy Gaming!

More Info about SteamPlay

EDIT: Some more information that you may find useful:

I use the method of driver installation outlined here:
https://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/2015/fedora-nvidia-guide

The 396.51 driver I am using is available for download from Nvidia using the advanced search here:
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us
(Be sure to choose "ALL" under Recommended/Beta)

I've been reading that there are certain Nvidia driver versions that work, and the rest don't currently. 396.51 is listed as working. So for anyone having trouble make sure that this is the driver you have installed. Note: It isn't the newest driver in the 396 series.

 

47,138 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

So far, I haven't had luck getting it to run on Linux Mint. It installs, but then when I try to run it, it does something for a while (I see the process), but after about 2 minutes, it just dies (no indication of it either).

Other than that it has been flawless. I use a Nvidia GTX 750 Ti rev. A2 with the 396.51 Nvidia Driver.

End of quote

I'm not sure where you got that version of the driver, unless you're from the future. The latest nvidia driver is 390.87 which came out on August 27.

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Actually, I got it to run. Turns out, Proton doesn't work for GalCiv3 in Linux Mint. Once I turned that off, and used Steam Play for Linux, the game worked.

It's pretty damn stable, at least from what I remember Wine being like. However, there are a couple of things that are annoying. The shipyard screen is terribly slow. The planet screen gets slow after a while as well. However, turn times seem to be faster. Usually the graphical stuff is slower (zooming in/out, dragging the screen around, etc), but not enough to be unusable. 

The launcher also seems to be fine for me.

The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting impinc, reply 1

I'm not sure where you got that version of the driver, unless you're from the future. The latest nvidia driver is 390.87 which came out on August 27.
End of impinc's quote

I just checked again. Am I giving the wrong number? Here is the input/output:

$ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version
NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module  396.51  Tue Jul 31 10:43:06 PDT 2018
GCC version:  gcc version 7.3.1 20180712 (Red Hat 7.3.1-6) (GCC)

Here is the install file from Nvidia on my drive:

-rwxrwxr-x. 1 user user 86541408 Aug 22 12:41 NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-396.51.run

 

 

 

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Rook8, reply 3


Quoting impinc,
reply 1

I'm not sure where you got that version of the driver, unless you're from the future. The latest nvidia driver is 390.87 which came out on August 27.



I just checked again. Am I giving the wrong number? Here is the input/output:


$ cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version
NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module  396.51  Tue Jul 31 10:43:06 PDT 2018
GCC version:  gcc version 7.3.1 20180712 (Red Hat 7.3.1-6) (GCC)


Here is the install file from Nvidia on my drive:

-rwxrwxr-x. 1 user user 86541408 Aug 22 12:41 NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-396.51.run

 

 

 

End of Rook8's quote

 

Interesting. The linux driver version shows 390.87 as the latest. However, if you select Windows, it will show 399.24 as the newest. Where did you install the driver from? I'm just looking on nvidia's website, perhaps they don't update it as often as I would think (at least not for Linux).

 

Reply #5 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

i can't start the game. only the launcher.

After loading for a bit it stops working.

LinuxMint 19

 

@impinc look on proton github. Here you can find instructions about how to get drivers for amd/nvidia/intel. After adding the repo i could get the driver directly from Driver Manager
 
Reply #7 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I swear, I have had the worst luck with PPAs. Everytime I try to use one, it just makes my system more unstable. I tried installing that driver, but Steam wouldn't even open for me. So I rolled back to the 390 driver. All I had to do to get it to work was to Enable Steam Play for all titles in the settings area.

Reply #8 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Hello,
I tried this out today and I was pleasantly surprised that the game launched and so far so good.

Steam Play - Proton 3.7.6 Beta (not sure if Beta is better)

4.17.19-1-MANJARO
Nvidia Driver Version: 396.54
(EDIT) I'm using a Thinkpad W530 with a Quadro K2000M

Launcher works fine. First time the game reached Main Menu but then crashed when I tried a quick game. On second try I disabled Particles and Trails(can't confirm if that fixed it) in Graphics and the game loaded fine.

"Building Universe" takes a bit longer than usual and the game looks like frozen. Everything else seems fine. I've played just a few turns though. Will try more tonight.

Reply #9 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

i can't make it work no matter what i do.

System: ryzen 1700x/32gb ram/970 Gtx

Soft: Manjaro 4.18.7-1-MANJARO / nvidia driver 396.54 / Proton 3.7.6 (and the other one before 3.7.6)

Normal mode/safe mode not working. both freeze on Turinium Optimized.

Reply #10 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting impinc, reply 4

Interesting. The linux driver version shows 390.87 as the latest. However, if you select Windows, it will show 399.24 as the newest. Where did you install the driver from? I'm just looking on nvidia's website, perhaps they don't update it as often as I would think (at least not for Linux).
End of impinc's quote

I use the method of driver installation outlined here:
https://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/2015/fedora-nvidia-guide

The 396.51 driver I am using is available for download from Nvidia using the advanced search here:
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us
(Be sure to choose "ALL" under Recommended/Beta)

I've been reading that there are certain Nvidia driver versions that work, and the rest don't currently. 396.51 is listed as working. So for anyone having trouble make sure that this is the driver you have installed. Note: It isn't the newest driver in the 396 series.

It's been 2 and a 1/2 weeks, and I've played an embarassing amount of GalCiv3. It is stable for the most part. I do occasionally get a "freeze" - i'd say no more than once every 8-10 hours. That said, I get the same freeze in Windows, and due to some historical problems I suspect my video card is the culprit, not Proton/Steamplay.

Everyone having problems: I enabled Steamplay for all games, and I am running this through Steam. I never did the download and compile of Proton from github. I just enabled Steamplay beta for all games, added /nolauncher to the command line startup, and disabled multi monitor. Then boom. Apart from Blackholes being invisible everything else is working.

Since my initial post I have run in to 1 other issue. When the AI attacks me, if I have defending legions, then the game doesn't get past the "Legion Placement" screen. It just looks like it is waiting for something forever (let it run over night to see if it was just taking a long time). I have got around this by clicking "Quick Battle" - which I have to do quickly, else it stops responding. This is not a problem when I attack the AI and they have defending legions, only when they attack me and I have defending legions.