Game won't run on Linux via Steam, should it/how fix?

wombat140

Hello,
A while ago people were saying that STO would run on Linux via Steam.
I've just installed Steam and tried this, and got as far as installing the launcher, but when the launcher starts I get the "Support for the Video Card you are using has ended. You will be unable to play using this Video Card. Please upgrade your Video Card to one that supports DirectX Hardware Feature Level 11.0 or higher" error.
(My video card does support DirectX 11, I've played STO several times with another jury-rigged method since support for DirectX 10 was dropped - it kept crashing, hence me trying with Steam now, but it did run and didn't display this error).
Are other people still able to play STO on Linux via Steam? If so, any idea how to fix this?

tom61sto

There was at least one person on Reddit complaining that the visuals were messing up, but otherwise running, on Steam Deck which runs Linux, so probably still works, somehow. I don't know about the current patch (which broke a number of Windows systems too, BTW, either too bright or too dark or glitchy graphics,) but the Summer Event worked fine-ish on my Steam Deck. It just ran without tweaking then.

Linux isn't officially supported, but they seemed to do at least a couple of things after the Steam Deck was announced, like adding Steam auto-login support back, so they might care un-officially (though likely without commenting).

wombat140

Thanks a lot! This posting? https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/wjgh3a/coming_back_to_the_game_after_aprox_6_months/ Yes, although theirs is glitchy, it sounds as if it isn't having this particular bug, or it wouldn't even start. That makes sense.

Last time I saw this error message, it was because Wine was trying to run it in Windows 7 mode rather than Windows 10 mode, so that might be what's going on this time. If so, I'm not sure how to set Steam to run it in Windows 10 mode - I had a look around for any settings that mentioned that but didn't find any.

(In case anyone was thinking of jumping on me for asking a Linux question in the Support section, like last time, I didn't intend to - I asked it in General Discussion, and a mod moved it here, so it's not me this time and it looks as if the mods do think Linux questions are OK in this section).

tom61sto

Just to double-check, you are using the Linux version of Steam? That has it's own fork of WINE called Proton now, and it should automatically launch STO using that. Also, make sure you aren't using any old configuration files, and that in the "Options" in the Launcher doesn't have anything in the "Command Line" box.

Only thing I know of that's an issue is that you need to turn "On-demand Patching" off in the "Options", otherwise the in-game downloads stall out after a small number of files. It's kind of a pain in the behind if you're on a slow connection or on a limited hot spot, but I don't think that'd throw up that error.

Also, system specs and distro would probably be useful.

protoneous

https://reddit.com/r/sto/comments/wxrr3b/game_wont_run_on_linuxsteam_error_message_about/

tom61sto

An additional thought, Proton uses Vulkan for graphics, which depending on your video card's age and which driver you're using --open source or binary blob-- it might or might not support well enough, regardless of it's DX11 support.

wombat140

Thanks for the comments!

protoneous wrote: »

https://reddit.com/r/sto/comments/wxrr3b/game_wont_run_on_linuxsteam_error_message_about/

That was me :-D

As I mentioned there, I found out how to fix the DirectX thing from ProtonDB - set launch options (right-click Star Trek Online in the Library menu and select "Properties") to SDL_VIDEO_MINIMIZE_ON_FOCUS_LOSS=0 PROTON_USE_WINED3D11=1 %command%.

But it's still not working. Doesn't display the error message, just displays the "Trying to connect to the launcher" box for a few seconds and then crashes. Doesn't work with Proton Glorious Eggroll either.

It could be something to do with Vulkan. Is there any way of testing that? And is there any way of setting it to use DirectX instead of Vulkan?

I'm using Zorin 12 (a variation on Ubuntu Xenial) (yes, I know it's an old version, there are reasons why it would be hard work to reinstall right now), HP Pavilion 15-cw0994na laptop.

phoenixc

It might also be the new compiler version they alluded going to in comments in one of the streams, it would not be the first time Microsoft slipped in "accidental" compatibility issues in their compilers and runtimes with competing open standards like Vulkan.

tom61sto

wombat140 wrote: »

I'm using Zorin 12 (a variation on Ubuntu Xenial) (yes, I know it's an old version, there are reasons why it would be hard work to reinstall right now), HP Pavilion 15-cw0994na laptop.

Ugh. I feel you on the update/reinstall issue, and that's one of the key reasons I gave up on Linux as a daily driver. Needing to basically wipe and reinstall every few point releases (or be effectively stuck with old programs with a LTS distro) got really old. Unfortunately, being on an older distro might mean issues with things like drivers.

I'm not sure on how to test Vulkan directly, beyond possibly loading up a game that is Linux native and supports it. PROTON_USE_WINED3D11=1 should put you on WINE's DX wrapper instead using Vulkan anyway.

wombat140

Hmm, do you happen to know any native Linux games that you know use Vulkan that I could use as a test run? Although if it's not supposed to be using that anyway, then perhaps it's not that! (Any idea what would be the equivalent of that command that did use Vulkan, in case that fixes it?)

phoenixc

wombat140 wrote: »

Hmm, do you happen to know any native Linux games that you know use Vulkan that I could use as a test run? Although if it's not supposed to be using that anyway, then perhaps it's not that! (Any idea what would be the equivalent of that command that did use Vulkan, in case that fixes it?)

DoTA 2 seems to be the goto for testing Vulkan these days.