Hojo
Published
Rename rename.exe to whatever, duplicate main game exe and rename it to rename.exe
Without renaming the exes, the game will stop at an EasyCheat splashscreen
When played with external controller, the Deck itself will be detected as controller #2 by the game
Renaming the exes as noted in other reports is the only way you can get the game to launch, runs pretty well once you do that though, performance wise.
Would just like to add that when using an external controller (i.e., docked mode), even if you don't connect other controllers, the Deck's native controls will be detected as a 2nd controller by default. Problem with this is that the local Versus modes are supposed to be playable solo against the CPU, but this can only happen when the game detects just one controller, when it detects two it won't let you start the game until you assign player 2 to a side. Since currently it is not possible to turn off the Deck's native controls (without some sort of hacking, at least?), this essentially means that playing those modes single player is impossible unless you're playing without external controllers (i.e., handheld mode).
Saving takes a few seconds too long for some reason, but works fine otherwise, not sure if this is an engine or Linux problem. Some reviews mention controller issues but they must have been patched out, because both the Deck's controls and an Xbox controller in docked mode worked fine for me without changing any layouts, the controller prompts are even listed properly next to the keyboard keys in the few parts of the game that use them.
Despite the reports about the cutscenes being fixed with a recent update, I was still getting upside down videos and green screens/no cutscenes/skips after 2 seconds on other versions of proton. Said fix is kind of a pain to get in the first place because it's distributed as 1GB+ shader cache update and there's no easy way to trigger a cache update for a single game, so you either wait for Steam to feel like downloading it or you enable and disable the cache in Steam settings under desktop mode which forces a global cache redownload on ALL your installed games.
Ultimately what fixed the cutscenes for good for me was downloading the reencoded videos from here : https://www.nexusmods.com/devilmaycryhdcollection/mods/51
As a bonus, they also have higher quality audio compared to Steam's "fixed" files. I can confirm that with this and default Proton cutscenes play normally in DMC1 and 3. Do note that if you install these files before the shader cache update they may get overwritten by Steam's later and you may have to re-apply them.
As for saving, I can confirm cloud saving is not enabled for this game but personally did not experience any issues or data loss when testing a couple levels in both DMC1 and 3, I was able to save and resume my game normally even after exiting the game or restarting the Deck. It is worth noting than this is on a fresh install, I did not have any saved games from previous installs.
Set game resolution to 1080P in game properties
Game has a hard time reaching 60FPS on 1080P on medium settings, use 720P if you want constant 60 without sacrificing much else.
Out of the box, the game would only launch in desktop mode while game mode just gave me a white screen. What worked for me was going to Game Properties -> General -> Game resolution and setting it to 1080P, while also ticking the option for "internal and external display" for consistency across docked and undocked. Has to be 1080P, other resolutions or "Native" won't work.
Initially I also set the game to windowed but later realized using any of the 3 display modes works just fine as long as 1080P is being forced on the Steam settings. This could have been a "need to do it first time only" situation in which case I can't replicate it anymore, but should the forced 1080P not be enough for your situation, try launching the controller layout tool (which despite the name houses the video settings) and change from the default full screen to either windowed mode.
In game, running at 1080P on default settings (medium) would make the game chug along around the 40FPS range and rev up the fans, I changed to 720P and got stable 60FPS without the fan noise. Do note that changing the resolution requires you to use full screen or normal windowed, borderless gets locked to 1080P.
These settings worked fine for me on both docked and undocked mode. You can use 800P on undocked but I couldn't find any combination that got rid of the blackbars at the bottom so at the end I set it to 720P for consistency between modes.
Upon first boot you may need mouse/touch to confirm if you want to go full screen. Other than that, there's a very minor issue with arrow characters missing in at least a couple instances : One is during the tutorial, the second one is during the skill setup menu. It's easy to figure out things despite this though, the skill menu you'll just have to memorize (X is neutral, then the following 3 options are : Up, Left/Right and Down). I thought this was a Proton issue but a quick search for gameplay videos tells me it's more of a thing with the english translation. Just for good measure I did try different versions of Proton (including GE) as well as setting japanese locale, but it made no difference.
Works great. Will start with capped 30FPS , but this is intented by the dev, has nothing to do with platform. 60FPS can be enabled from the Options under the "User request settings" menu and also works with no problem.
WASD for movement, I for shoot/ok, O for skill/cancel, any key you want for pause
Game launches by default with keyboard template but needs customization (see above for default controls). I'm not sure if there's a default key to pause, I didn't see it described anywhere and when I checked the options menu it was assigned to a pad button (despite being on the keyboard config), I just assigned a random letter on steam input and then set it to that in-game.
Worked with no problems otherwise.
WASD for movement, I for shoot/ok, O for skill/cancel, Esc for pause
Game launches by default with keyboard template but needs customization (see above for default controls).
Worked without problems otherwise.
Mouse input (or touch screen) will be required to get through a partially obscured pilot selection screen on first boot. Controller input works fine afterwards, but there's this persistent issue during menu navigation where mouse cursor will randomly popup in the middle of the screen, this can result in two different options being highlighted on the menu (mouse and pad cursors), your pad cursor has higher priority when making a selection so it doesn't matter much, is just confusing. Going to Options -> Gameplay -> Software cursor and toggling it on the back off will make the cursor graphic dissapear, but the bug may still show itself up just with an invisible cursor. You can also use mouse input to move the cursor to a corner or something to avoid this. Didn't notice any adverse side effects during actual gameplay.
Game loads with very low settings and resolution by default, but can be manually adjusted to the highest settings with no performance issues.
Works out of the box no problem. Default controls work fine despite the Steam page listing saying that it only has "partial" controller support, never ran into a need for keyboard or mouse input to access functionality. There were a few instances of the game text giving me keyboard promps instead of Xbox buttons, but they were few and the main tutorial parts do tell you all the proper button commands, so is not a big deal.
Controller support is a bit spotty, official layout came preloaded with keyboard mappings and that works just fine, however attempting to use direct gamepad inputs won't work. According to the store page most controllers should work natively if Steam Input is turned off, but at least when I tried with an 8bitdo Ultimate controller it did not work for me. If you want to change the default controls to your liking in-game I suggest changing the Steam layout first as some of the keys are repeated twice, making the remapping a bit confusing. There's only 4 directions and 4 action buttons + menu either way.
There's a little intro movie that I couldn't get to play in any Proton version (just shows the color bars), not sure if there's any other movies later on, but if there are they likely won't play either.
Other than that, game works fine. It's in Japanese by default but a fan translation is available (promoted by the dev on the store page, mind you) and that also works without problems.
Steam Input support is wonky
Steam Input support is a bit wonky and won't let you properly rebind controls, nor will it work correctly if you remap it through the controller layout. The only way to remap the bindings to your liking is by using an external controller (only tried Xbox) and disabling Steam Input, it'll then let you remap normally through the in-game menu. The catch is, if you go back to Steam Input after this (like using handheld mode), the game will not recognize the new inputs properly, so you have to commit to either Steam Input and default bindings, or your custom bindings but external controller only, or take a minute to go into the in-game menu and remap/reset the bindings everytime you switch between input methods.
No controller support what's so ever, will require custom or community layout. Worth nothing that although the game is primarily controlled by mouse, there's a bunch of useful keyboard shortcuts as well, they're not listed anywhere in game but you can find them on the steam discussion board under a pinned thread titled "Information for players" by one of the devs.
No issues besides that.
Game will load with a mouse & keyboard template by default, but it does have proper controller support, it just needs to be enabled first. Keyboard input is required to navigate through a language selection (on first boot) and to the Keyconfig menu on the title screen, after enabling the gamepad here, the template can be switched to "Gamepad" and you can set your keys to your liking.
No performance issues or any other problems besides this.
Set GPU Clock to 1000Mhz
Most dungeons and battles will run at 60FPS with occassional minor dips into the 50s, but it can drop as low as 40s or 30s in some specific areas, like Planeptune and (unexpectedly) the live2D scenes and world map. Part of this may be a programming problem as even locking it to 30 or 40FPS will still get you minor drops, but overall, it is very playable and has better performance than console. Speaking of the live2D scenes, I had to set the GPU clock at 1000mhz since leaving it at default settings will cause the GPU to go crazy during these parts, which revs up the fans and consumes your battery much faster than the 3D gameplay.
Mostly item descriptions
Aside from item descriptions and some other texts being difficult to read, it runs well without tinkering, even runs at 800p.
There's a very minor issue on docked mode where the DPad acts kinda wonky when moving the cursor on the camp menu, but I had no problem using it in every other part of the game, furthermore, you can also use the left analog to move/make selections and that one works just fine. No issues besides this.
I played the game from beginning to end on the Deck. No, it won't look pretty or feel as smooth, and there were some glitchy artifacts along the way, but it's certainly playable, you just have to curb your expectations. I locked the FPS to 30 and it mostly maintains that, but a few parts from the mid to end game with large enemy groups may experience dips, most notably the first fight against the UEDs, which is also known to have performance issues even on desktop setups. Some of the larger open areas like Downtown may ocassionally stutter when you move through as new segments need to be loaded.
This is a game most definitely better enjoyed in docked mode, in handheld you'll be lucky to get 1h20m of playtime on a full battery, and most of the time you'll have the Deck's fans going full blast.
I experienced a total of 2 crashes, both when coming out of the sewer area back into Downtown, in 2 different chapters. As this happens to be a checkpoint and the game properly saved on both ocassions before crashing, no progress was lost, I was able to resume exactly from where I left upon relaunching the game.
There was a very minor bug when playing with a controller, every time I checked the map, the cursor wouldn't be centered. Slightly moving the analog stick would re-center it though, so not a big deal.
For settings, I used the low preset with the following changes : Upscaling : TSR, resolution scale : 60 Shadows : Medium Framerate : Unlimited (but limited to 30 in the Steam overlay)
TSR looked better for me than the default option of the preset and it also helped with cutscenes, the default option of the preset was causing severe frame drops in some of them otherwise. Shadows to low seemed to cause random glitchy artifacts under some lighting situations, most noticeable in some cutscenes, on character's faces. Setting it to medium mostly fixes those issues and doesn't make a big impact on performance. Capping the framerate by Steam OS rather than in-game seems to do a better job at keeping it stable.
At first I launched the game just after it finished installing and had this issue where the mouse cursor kept getting stuck which basically made the game unplayable. As it turns out, somehow the game was still missing an update after the fresh install, it downloaded after I closed the game and then worked fine afterwards. If you experience the same issue, make sure you see the "Henteko Doujin" logo at startup, if you don't see it, you're not running the latest version.
Other than that, I didn't notice any problems. The game was designed with kb&m controls in mind so aiming with a controller is very awkward, but it works really well on the Deck if you use the right trackpad for mouse input.
When I played on docked mode with my 8bitdo controller, it caused the single controller to be detected as two. Unsure if this issue is specific to my controller or not, but if you encounter it, disabling Steam Input will solve the issue. Playing on handheld mode with the Steam Deck's native controls didn't have this issue.
Controller is supported but in-game prompts use keyboard labels, that said, there's only 3 buttons and you can set them and see what they do in the options menu before playing, so it's not a problem.
game changed to keyboard controls in the middle of gameplay
Controls worked fine first time I booted until about 5min into gameplay when they stopped responding, it wasn't until I read the other reports that I realized the game had switched back to keyboard. After I used the touch screen to navigate to the config and change it back, it's been working fine ever since, but I have no idea why it didn't default to keyboard from the start like it's supposed to.
Audio has two issues : Random crackling distortion and missing sound effects. The first fixes itself after a few seconds, and the second doesn't affect all sound effects, only a few specific ones that would probably be hard to notice to someone that hasn't played the VITA version or other games in the series, some of them include : whenever you get a tutorial popup, there's a sound that's supposed to play along with the "Teach me Histy" logo, some skills (like Saturn's "Bind Cutter") and some punching sound effects that are supposed to play during a dialogue cutscene to imply two characters are fighting. As this constitute a small percentage of the total sound effects, I would say it's a minor issue.
These issues aside, the game ran stably at 60FPS.
The default "official" controller layout is kinda broken, on top of being unintuitive it will cause buttom prompts to come up as blank in some places, which makes the early tutorials very confusing. Just switch to the standard "Gamepad with trackpad" (or just "Gamepad", if using an external controller) before launching the game and the controller will be detected as a regular Xbox controller instead, you'll get standard prompts and console controls.
Default "official" controller layout is broken, on top of being unintuitive and missing a few things (like being able to use left on the D-pad), it will cause button prompts to show up as blank in some cases, which makes the early tutorials very confusing. Just switch to the default Gamepad template instead before running the game, it'll be detected as a regular Xbox controller and you'll get normal prompts and standard console controls.
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dinput8=n,b" %command%
(Mostly) works out of the box, but it's worth going into the config tool to adjust some things like resolution, font size and fast forward speed. Controls are already setup for you, they will not match the in-game prompts but they're simple and easy to figure out. Using the analog to move works perfectly but making menu selections is a bit finnicky, I would highly recommend mapping the left joystick to the DPad (which otherwise does nothing) on the Steam layout for more precise menu control.
Voice patch will work no problem using the specified launch option.
Only problem I noticed is the intro video and audio are out of sync, the audio plays normally but the video is much slower, so you end up with the audio ending first then waiting for the video to catch up with no audio playing. 10 hours into the game I haven't come across any other movie sequences so not sure how much of a problem it would be, but for what it's worth, the intro movie can be disabled from the game's config menu.
Works just fine despite the multiple warnings on Steam. Only minor issue I found is regarding controller support during the stage select menu : Sometimes you'll be unable to select some stages on the map because the cursor won't move towards a particular stage regardless of what direction you press on the controller. It's rare but I enabled mouse on one of the trackpads to get around it when it happens. Had no controller issues during actual gameplay or other menus.
As the store page says, there's controller support, but not out of the box, you need to go into a game menu (available right from the title screen) and manually map your buttons, navigating said menu will require mouse/keyboard/touch screen. It may also be necessary to adjust the controller layout on SteamOS beforehand, in my case it defaulted to the generic keyboard template, you need to set it to any of the Gamepad templates so it'll recognize your controller.
I noticed some shimmering on the screen while scrolling, not sure if this is a linux issue or just a product of the pixelated graphics, but it's a minor thing.
LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8 %command%
No online
The online option seems to be broken as I couldn't get it to do anything but crash when launched. As for the offline, since the game is based on the old 2D Fighter Maker engine, it needs japanese locale to be able to launch at all. I used a script from github to achieve this, but the method shouldn't matter as long as you enable it properly. After that though, the game will launch and play fine, although you may need to tweak the default controller layout a little bit, as there's no mapping for pause (Esc).
Very unoptimized game, will run, but at default settings you'll get a lot of stuttering. Medium settings and limiting the frame rate to 30 will give you much more stable performance and battery life, more so if you change some of the less essential stuff to low according to your taste.
Switch from default layout to gamepad + trackpad and you're good. Game supports controller but only works during gameplay, menus require either mouse input or touch screen to navigate.
