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Stuttering and controller issues are a deal-breaker for a fast-paced 2D platformer like this. Oddly it was a lot better on my Deck OLED...
Tried many variants of Proton combined with different Proton options.
Controllers were not detected, or mapped incorrectly depending on Proton version or options.
Game reports to be running at 60fps, but looks really bad. Uneven framepacing maybe
Not too surprised, game is made on an old janky engine with lots of problems (ClickTeam Fusion I believe)
So far I've only played the first two levels but other than the pause menu bug I had no problems.
Keyboard up button acted weird in pause menu
Easy to play with the correct proton version on a macbook usin linux mint debian 6.
PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 %command%
Fixed after using launch options
Pause Menu doesn't work in some stages. Follow this Steam Guide to fix https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3011832943
No issues
There is a bug on a particular level that makes the menu break but this is a known issue on the Windows version. It's not a proton issue.
When starting the game the controller may not work. Seems to be fixed by restarting the game.
On windows the game is prone to slowdown. Not had any such issues here.
Some levels can't get past 20 fps, making them hardly playble
PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 %command%
I founs the startup parameters to be essential. It runs great after adding them!
Use these settings for a Platinum experience. You should have absolutely no issues on Steam Deck.
PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 %command%
Launching with default settings does lead to unusual slowdown in some parts of the game. Using the listed lauch options completely fixes the slowdown for a locked 60fps, leaving only extremely rare, minor frame pacing issues (which I think are just the game being the game), and the scripted slowdown from some abilities and boss defeat animations. I read about some stability issues below, but those appear to either not affect Steam Deck at all, or were already patched out. I will update my report if I find any issues.
For those on a normal Linux PC, even on Windows the game bugs out with Steam Overlay enabled, so try disabling it for a better experience (If you're stuck on a black screen when trying to start Spark's story for the first time, clear the save file as well as disable the overlay). There are no Steam Overlay issues on Steam Deck, however.
PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 %command%
Significant slowdown in main menu, stage 3, 7 and 8. After 8, I enabled PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 flag, it fixed the issue, though it broke the steam overlay. Thankfully, my DualShock 4 controller kept working. Didn't stop the issues when defeating bosses, but it's just a short animation, nothing serious.
It's an old game made in a janky engine, give it some slack, it doesn't work properly even on Windows.
Runs as well as it can on Nobara (Fedora) Linux
Played most of the game on my Nobara desktop (around 10 hours) and there were no un-expected bugs, or stability issues.
Though, the engine for this game is very poorly built, and can have the game dropping to even 15fps in some parts of the game. But thats the same case with the Windows version. I was still able to complete the game and earn all achievements despite this handicap.
Played arond 5 hours of the game on Deck, and there was no unexpected bugs. Works well on Proton.
Though, the engine for this game is very poorly built, and can have the game dropping to even 15fps in some parts of the game. But thats the same case with the Windows version. I was still able to complete the game and earn all achievements despite this handicap.
Having played through the two stories, i can safely say that it isn't enjoyable at all once you hit Fark's story.
DXVK_FILTER_DEVICE_NAME="Intel" %command%
The pause menu kind of opens its own window, and is prone to freeze the game sometimes.
Severe performance drops in some sections, a bit of performance was clawed back by using the integrated graphics (no idea why that happens) and most of it can be mitigated by enabling "PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1", but then the game will only run for a few minutes before crashing.
Game can crash occasionally (very, very rare on Spark's story, but way more frequent in Fark's alternate story, especially in certain boss fights) even while using DXVK, which is the more stable method despite running a lot worse in some sections.
Massive performance issues with DXVK, and serious stability issues with WINED3D. It's certainly a "pick your poison" scenario, with DXVK having drops to around 30fps whenever water is on screen in Spark's story as some reports also confirm, but terrible drops to a consistent 10fps and even lower through the entirety of some boss fights in Fark's story... having to fight like half of the bosses (including the final boss) in that story at 10fps or less was seriously painful.
Anytime there's water on screen, the FPS tank to around 30. Doesn't seem logical given the visuals and style of the game.
If you can get past the random FPS drops (they never drop until 30 anyways, but this IS supposed to be a fast 60 FPS Sonic-style platformer...) then the game runs fine. Note: I also tried Proton Experimental and it didn't make a difference performance-wise. Neither did forcing the GPU clock to max.
Audio a complete mess and fullscreen does not work
Songs do not stop and play over each other, sounds play only in the right speaker, there's an awful buzzing when no music is playing
Pause menu appeared outside of the window
Proton-6.8-GE fixes the Steam Overlay for the game and controller support
Game only supports 16:9 resolutions. When fullscreen on my 16:10 display, there was a black bar along the bottom. This is an issue with the game on Windows too, but worth pointing out all the same
- When using DXVK, the main menu background is little stuttery, but overall it is perfectly acceptable and the game is smooth.
- You can fix this stutter with
PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 %command%in your launch options, however this breaks the Steam Overlay which means some controllers may not work!
Previously this game required tweaking and various workarounds to be a good experience. Now with the latest version of Proton-GE at the time of writing, the game is a near-perfect experience out of the box. Tested the first level with a Steam Controller.
- Note that this game only supports a handful of controller buttons - Basically SNES controller buttons. This means no trigger support, but you could bind triggers to be the same as bumpers using the Steam Controller Configuration which will allow you to use more buttons on your controller. This is a game design decision, not a bug with Proton
If you don't mind playing with a keyboard and doing some fullscreen tweaks, it's a great Linux experience
- Game will start to a black screen unless you set
PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 %command%
-Selecting the "x3" or "Full" options in the resolution settings did not set the game to fullscreen. I don't recall the game having good fullscreen support on Windows either
- I was able to set Plasma to make the game fullscreen by pressing Alt+F3 and going to Window Options -> Fullscreen. You can also set a Special Application Rule to force fullscreen for the game, that way you won't have to set this each time the game starts up
- The game has no Steam Overlay support, so I couldn't use my Steam Controller. At the time of writing, SC-Controller is not working for me either so I wasn't able to test properly. I don't have a wired controller to hand at present either
- This game has some issues even on Windows, so I don't think too many of these problems are solely to blame on Proton
- The game gives a warning at startup about that D-Input. Setting overrides for this, unsurprisingly, did nothing, but just in case you had the same idea as me I have to report that it didn't work. Even though it makes no difference to the game itself from what I can tell, it might cause issues with controllers.
Overall, performance and experience is fine on Linux but it needs a couple of small tweaks to get working.
I have a panel on the top of my monitor, with KDE Plasma. The game fullscreens and cuts off at the panel, but it does not go under the panel.
To fix this, I used Alt+F3 to open the window settings -> Special Application Settings -> Enabled Fullscreen, selected "Force" from the dropdown and selected "Yes" which was the default coincidentally. Now the game always starts in fullscreen.
The Steam Overlay does not work with this game meaning the Steam Controller does not work, however as far as I can ascertain this is an issue on Windows as well. Other controllers may work fine, but the Steam Controller requires the Steam Overlay to work. Launching in Big Picture mode did not help.
Steam Overlay does not work, this means no screenshots, no Steam Controller, no music, none of the features at all from the Steam Overlay will work. As of right now, I have been unable to get the Steam Overlay to work. Forcing PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 did not work, neither did using a WINE virtual desktop, and neither did using SC-Controller. PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 causes the game to crash. Tried installing vc2015 with winetricks, didn't fix the problem. It is quite possible that this issue exists on Windows, too.
Unsure if other controllers work, but my Steam Controller does not
Game runs well with only minor performance hiccups. The pause menu actually seems to run smoother on Proton than on my Windows PC!
Has issues with fullscreen, may be an issue with the game itself.
Unknown(an hour with Proton)Game works out of the box, no tweaks necessary. There were some performance dips though, that maybe due to labtop specs rather than the game itself.
Unknown(an hour with Proton)
