ShuShay
Published
Full games played from start to finish. No problems or differences to report.
Didn't need to set special launch options, but this was on 5.0-* versions.
Seems to work fine on Proton 8 now. Only hub world and solo challenges tested. No anti-cheat to worry about.
First boot might take a really long time and/or require a restart for some reason. If this happens, let it hang for as long as possible, then force terminate if it hasn't resumed or crashed after about 5 minutes or so. Then restart. For me, it now boots up as normal after leaving it alone for a bit.
Just install and play.
Online not tested, but everything worked fine in local freeplay with "bots." (They just stand around.)
Used the following protontricks verb:
protontricks 63710 d3dcompiler_43 d3dx9_43
Without it, the game crashes without a full bootup.
Tearing even with vsync? Might be a problem with my setup.
Native version available on GOG. Other BIT.TRIP games can be fixed in the same way -- just replace the number in the Protontricks verb with the Steam ID for the desired game.
My computer is not strong enough to run this well, but it seems to run as expected. Did not test multiplayer.
- 20-25 FPS on my meek integrated GPU. Played a couple of single-player missions and didn't encounter any unusual problems.
- Dev has recommended older versions of Proton in the past, but this was years before Proton 9.
Crashes on launch
Attempts to load and is seen as "played" by Steam, but does not properly launch. Potential confounding variables: exotic mesa version, exotic libxpresent version, staging PPA for Xfce.
Everything seems to work fine. Online multiplayer not tested, but bot match was okay.
A cautious approval. Bugs and softlocks abound, but this happens on Windows as well. Playable enough so far.
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="opengl32.dll=n,b" %command% +gl_twopassdyn 1
Installed the official 64-bit patch
Sound effects and music may disappear. Fixed by restarting.
Effects, models, interfaces, and maps may not load in correctly. May softlock the player. Fixed by restarting.
Game is still playable, but framerate can dip from 60 to ~35fps in areas where it normally wouldn't, regardless of hardware. Framepacing is also worse than native. Lighting/water/weather effects may be the culprit, but disabling them yields little to no improvement overall.
Unpredictable freezing/hanging on map transition. Fixed by restarting.
Game is known to generally be buggy, even on Windows, but possibly more so on Linux. Not all are fixed by restarting, but many of the ones that aren't are legacy bugs that rarely pose an issue.
- The DLL override is necessary to for the flashlight and other effects to work at all. Also prevents some bugs with HUD elements and viewmodels. ( source ) Steam overlay will not work.
- The
gl_twopassdynvariable ensures that the flashlight and other light sources illuminate surfaces correctly (Mesa drivers). Performance impact seems to be minimal (See above source.) - If the above two fixes are used, patched DLLs and older versions of Proton no longer seem to be needed and were therefore not tested. Previous versions of DLL patches may conflict with the most recent version of the game (currently 1.6a, released in 2020).
- The official 64-bit patch heavily reduces the frequency of the mentioned issues with stability/graphics/audio, though it does not eliminate them. Works on Windows, too.
- Enabling Zink (by prefacing the launch options with
MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=zink) reportedly improves performance, but made mouse movement unusable on my system. - See the PCGamingWiki for ways to adjust the FOV, brightness, and framerate limit, if desired.
Game works as intended. Whether anyone will "enjoy" the game is a separate issue entirely, as the creator will tell you. :P
Seems performance-heavy for the type of game that it is, but given system requirements and development time, lack of optimization is likely the culprit.
6.20-GE-1 GloriousEggroll
Used Glorious Eggroll 6.20-GE-1. To reach title screen and gameplay, I needed to either rename the "videos" directory for each game. You can also edit the executables in a hex editor as shown in previous reports but the end result is the same.
FMVs crash the game, even with current mfplat patches in Proton GE
Disabling FMVs is particularly debilitating for these games, as some of theme show pre-rendered cutscenes that were rendered in the game's engine. These games often alternate between such pre-rendered videos and in-engine cutscenes.
mfplat may be needed just to get menus to work but I can't really tell; I was going off of previous reports for this test.
FMVs require specific Proton versions or file replacement for proper playback. See additional notes.
Opened DMC1's video directory in a shell and ran the following bash script:
for FMV in *.wmv; do ffmpeg -i $FMV ${FMV:0:-4}.mp4; rm $FMV; mv -- ${FMV:0:-4}.mp4 $FMV; done
FMV audio is noticeably lower. Not sure whether this is caused by the applied fix or if it's a quirk of the port.
On Proton 9, FMVs lag and have overly-distorted audio. I didn't want to install a version of Proton just for this game, so I retranscoded the video files for DMC1 from WMV to MP4. Make sure FFMPEG is installed for this to work.
This fix was not tested with the videos for DMC2 and 3, but it should at least function in the same manner.
No other versions of Proton or additional modifications are required this way. The script restores the .wmv extension for the MP4 files, so hex-edits to the binaries are not necessary. It doesn't vertically flip the footage, either, so Proton 8 is not needed for correct orientation during playback.
X is probably fine if you run it on the right Proton version. X-2 is somewhat scuffed, however.
(Reported experimental version: Proton Experimental [2020/05/21])
Game defaults to Japanese and launcher settings don't work, so language was changed manually in the .ini file. Just go to (steam library directory)/steamapps/compatdata/359870/pfx/c_drive/users/steamuser/My Documents/SQUARE ENIX, then change the language in GameSetting.ini from jp to en.
This fix is not needed with newer versions of Proton GE.
X will sometimes boot without audio but quitting and restarting 1-3 times should usually fix it.
Screen blacks out during some sequences in Anima's and Bahamut's Overdrive. May be present at times in X-2 as well but I haven't played it as much yet.
Lulu's Overdrive doesn't seem to pick up inputs. I tried with both my keyboard and my controller. Tried moving both analog sticks in both directions.
X-2 will crash every few battles. Autosaves at every new area mitigates the inconvenience with this but you might still find it annoying at times. Haven't had the same battle crash twice yet.
Currently, the launcher will sometimes crash when booting up a game or fail to run at all, but usually will work again after restarting the launcher or Steam, respectively.
Not sure how significant this is, but lately, some characters' dialog in the field will skip over, as if the Confirm button is being mashed. This does not seem to happen during crucial cutscenes (at least yet), but comes and goes every few hours for some reason. Restarting my computer helps, though not fully.
Started playing a few months ago on Proton Experimental, since X-2 would crash a few minutes in on 5.13. For some reason, newer versions of this branch introduced some slight glitches with aeons as well as character dialog, which you can read above. Both games are likely beatable, however, without any major cutscene issues.
If you only want to play X, you can probably get by with Proton 5.13, 6.3, or corresponding versions of Proton GE. X-2, on the other hand, is much more of a pain to run due to crashes.
FMVs might be cut off by a second or two, though I mostly noticed this in X-2.
The launcher's settings don't work but configuration can be changed in game or via ini files.
Both games are painfully close to being stable out of the box, but unless you're an ardent fan or only want to play X, it may not be worth it to you.
Manually changed launcher and game language in ini file
X sometimes launches without audio. Relaunching once or twice usually fixes it.
Some slight textures glitches in Anima's overdrive, occasionally introduced by small regressions in Experimental. They come and go.
Lulu's overdrive not responding to keyboard nor to controller (Xbox One). Inputs fine elsewhere.
X-2 crashes about every 1-2 hours on average. May be fixed by using WineD3D instead of Vulkan.
Occasional glitches with character audio in Experimental due to regressions. They come and go.
Wine D3D may help with issues in X-2, but at the cost of worse performance. X is much more stable in 5.13 or 6.13. Proton GE assures correct language by default.
Seems to work on latest official Proton without tinkering now.
Launched game and played a match in Arcade mode against the CPU.
Seems perfectly playable. May need to join friends' games instead of vice-versa.
Friends can't join my game, even when lobby is set to "Public."
Possible performance issues, but I assume my computer is to blame.
Computer does not technically meet system requirements, but the expansion ran like butter, whereas the main game did not exceed 15FPS regardless of settings.
Interestingly, most performance issues on Windows occur in the expansion, not the base game.
It's true, I'm using an integrated card, but my card should be a lot stronger than the minimum required card. Even so, I can't reach 30FPS, even at lowest settings and 720p.
What makes this worse is that this is a port of a mobile game, and it shows -- fidelity is about on par with PS2/early PS3 graphics. I can get better performance on games like Resident Evil 5 and Killer is Dead.
One crash when booting the game but I haven't experienced it again.
Didn't really start a race but the game has an online world that acts a freeroam hub.
Don't run this on a non-gaming setup, even its specs exceed the system requirements.
More of a neutral recommendation; either runs well or it doesn't. Launch option needed for FMVs to play.
SteamDeck=1 %command%
Some minor menu SFX missing. Some combat SFX dropped during intense action.
Happens on my hardware with some level and menu transitions.
Windowed mode goes fullscreen during some loading screens (usually when transition between game and launcher).
Occassional sudden frame drops during gameplay (not cutscenes; those are a different problem). This is with an iGPU, but it happens erratic enough in scenarios that usually run fine, so I'm considering it unexpected.
Performance drops steeply and FMV audio becomes dsynced when framerate is capped, regardless if vsync is enabled. (This is especially strange given the games' vsync bug and common solutions to it.) Solution: set "Frame Rate" to "Unlimited" or some such in settings.
Across the board, this port has many infamous bugs that did not apply to me, including constant crashes on RDNA3 GPUs from AMD and instability with vsync on. Finding solutions to these bugs can be uintuitive and inconsistent across setups. Mods will fix minor annoyances once they are ported from the EGS version. Be prepared to refund as necessary.
gamemoderun %command%
Only addition was running with Feral GameMode for better performance on my laptop. Should still run fine without on Proton 7.X. No problems to report. Played the entire pilot. Excellent experience. Looking forward to future episodes.
Works by default on Proton 9.
Was able to load the game and play some of the first level. No Vulkan or GL tinkering needed.
Given the game and other reports, you probably need a machine that's a step above the system requirements.
Had to use Method 3 from this section on PCGamingWiki to prevent crashes on the first mission: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Killer_Is_Dead#Issues_fixed Not sure if this would have been necessary on Windows. This introduced some crackling in the audio.
Also, you may need to use Method 1 or 2 from the same section to prevent crashes on a mission later in the game (both should produce the same result). I didn't play enough to encounter this issue, but I applied Method 2 just in case. The fix may is often needed on Windows as well.
See my notes above. Fixes were necessary to prevent crashing.
Frame dips were large enough to hamper the gameplay experience, even on 800x600 with Low settings. I did run this on a laptop, but its specs meet the minimum requirements and Youtube has evidence of this game running smoother on weaker hardware. Perhaps Proton introduced some overhead?
Vsync cannot be disabled, regardless of menu confirmations or .ini file alterations. Not sure if this problem also exists on Windows.
Xbox One controller used without issue. Check PC Gaming Wiki for common issues and tweaks.
A quick tweak lets this run like a dream, even on weaker hardware. The port is still mediocre, though.
Modified ini file (see https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Killer_Is_Dead#Issues_fixed [Method 3])
Tested with Xbox One controller.
gamemoderun %command%
Missing some FMVs in the in-game TV. Settings menu might be bugged but options are revealed when dropdowns are clicked and config changes persist.
Hangs on exit; needed to force quit.
Feral Gamemode launch option used for better performance on my system and is not necessary. Game is a tad buggy already through no fault of Proton and is still perfectly enjoyable. FMVs on in-game TV would be great to get working but are not necessary to complete the game and are used for minor comedic bits.
Just works.
Default gamepad bindings might be awkward, depending on how it detects your controller. Game might be a tad unoptimized. Tutorial worked from start to finish and final boss fight could be loaded from save.
Runs pretty well. No dealbreaker issues. Any problems I did have are most likely outliers.
Some slight crackling that may be the result of my low-end hardware.
Rumble does not work, but everything else is fine.
Froze once on me in Tsuta Ruins, but could not reproduce.
Played with an Xbox One controller connected over USB with preinstalled drivers.
Played with Proton to potentially get around softlocking bug. Play on a gaming desktop if possible.
Game apparently can softlock on certain older CPUs, especially on laptops, regardless of OS or compatibility layer. Dev is not interested in fixing.
Native port not listed on store page. Overriding with Proton did not download any additional files, so I'm not sure if the Linux port is still supported.
Works perfectly without additional tinkering.
Played with Xbox One controller. Only one ending completed, but the other should also work just as well.
Works perfectly, no additional tinkering necessary.
Played with Xbox One controller. Only one ending completed as of this writing, but I can't imagine there being any problems with the other.
Added PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 %command% to launch options. This was necessary for audio to work in the game.
Mouse did not work with in-game menus, but could be navigated with keyboard. Gameplay not impacted in any other way.
Occasional crashes, but this is normal on the Windows port as well. They get less frequent as the game goes on.
Seems to play perfectly out of the box so far (tutorial + start of sewage plant).
Compatibility probably owed due to Godot Engine and its Vulkan renderer.
Fullscreen with Alt + Enter worked, but reverting to windowed with the same shortcut crashed the game
Suffers from performance issues that may or may not be caused by Proton. Players on gaming PCs will probably not notice this.
Minimum GPU is Intel HD 4000 but my FPS maxxed out at around 30 and dipped to 15 in certain areas. Still playable.
Worked perfectly, aside from the typical issues for this port.
Crackling is very slight and occasional. I did experience some syncing issues as well, but those were typical for the port when running natively on similar hardware, so I left that unchecked.
Alt-tabbing out of fullscreen stops game from detecting controller. I don't know if this is present when windowed or when playing on Windows.
See fullscreen issue above.
For solutions to common problems, check the PC Gaming Wiki. Note that the port still has issues on Windows, given how it ties the engine to framerate and other porting quirks. Check the wiki for more info.
wmp11 with protontricks, maluc's bh5fixes patch
maluc's bh5fixes patch required due to the game attempting to install GFWL, even though GFWL was replaced with Steamworks. The upside is that the patch adds new features that can be turned on or off.
Use Proton GE 8.25 or later and you should be fine. Last time I checked, movies didn't play without either this or some other adjustment.
- Some flickering in fullscreen, regardless if v-sync is enabled or borderless windowed is used.
- Borderless mode does not allow for non-native resolution from menu
Played a few hours with the uncompressed soundtrack mod. Additional launch options not necessary.
FMVs might be easier to get running on more recent versions of vanilla Proton, either through direct support or file replacement.
Native port starting to not age so well, and supports less mods. Online may be unstable regardless, so saving often is recommended.
No windowed option for 1600x900, but this likely the game's fault
May be correlated with online play.
Startup videos do not play, but game skips them without a problem.
In an online game, myself or others would disconnect or crash several times per session. Game state also often froze until someone left and rejoined. I was the only one running the game in Proton and did not host. Both issues are not uncommon on Windows, AFAIK.
- 2K launcher removed in 2024, so that shouldn't interfere now.
- Game now uses Steam's built-in launch options to choose between DX9, 11, and tablet mode.
- DX9 and 11 both work, but 11 seems recommended for dedicated GPUs (antialiasing support and better VRAM usage).
- Check PC Gaming Wiki for any additional issues.
gamemoderun %command%
Runs great. Probably does so on 8.0 as well but I haven't tested it yet. Great game.
Native port seems like an afterthought, even with the supposedly improved support on the newer MV build.
Had to rename a file as described here to prevent crashes in an area.
A few areas (e.g. the one with Meatkid) are corrupted on the default MV build of the game. I think they are fixed on the alternative VX build of the game (included), but not sure. Achivements also do not work on the MV build.
Proton or the VX build might be the way to go if you're interested in the game.
Some bugs, but probably not due to Proton.
Performance seems to be lower than expected for a game with these kind of graphics.
Sudden disconnection from lobby
Not the most optimized or reliable game, but this experience seems common for native players as well. For me, it runs well enough on a 5-year-old laptop with integrated graphics under mostly-default settings. The only bothersome issue was when I kept getting disconnected from someone's lobby for no apparrent reason, but this stopped when I became the host instead.
Played half of the Duel Monsters campaign. Runs perfectly out of the box with official Proton 8.
Incorrectly detects mouse location after certain prompts until mouse is moved again. Not a huge deal but made efficient play harder to do. Not sure if this happens when ran natively.
Windows users report a resolution glitch where the game must be full-screened with Alt + Enter to use the display's native resolution properly, but I encountered no such thing. Popular mods (such as alternate card art and animation skip) not tested but I imagine they would work, as their changes are trivial.
Tutorial and menus work as they do on Windows in Proton 8.
The "anti-aliasing" used by the game is incredibly system intensive, at least for integrated graphics. Disabling them in the graphics settings (using the "Custom" graphics option) increased my FPS from 40 to 60.
Sometimes, the game warns about a missing font on boot but works properly otherwise.
Game is basically plug-n-play, even on lower-end hardware.
Very little crackling; may be a result of my low-end hardware.
Played with Xbox One controller. Mouse and keyboard not tested, but should be fine, given other reports.
