steam-runtime VS steamtinkerlaunch

> It turns out that unless the game is explicitly marked (by Valve reviewers), Steam Deck will use the Windows build + Proton even if a Linux version is available.

I found this which sounds like it's not the default, but is in fact a result of compatibility testing:

> If your game has gone through Steam Deck compatibility testing and the testers reported that the native Linux version didn't work (because of #579), then it might have been flagged to run the Windows binaries via Proton by default, instead of the native Linux version.

per https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime/issues/585

> Where is it written that steam-run will magically execute most binaries without patching them?

Somewhere in here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime

:p

But I do get what you're saying. Once Flakes are default, I hope people start a proper push to clear up documentation and streamline the development process. The end-result is amazing, and the perfect OS/packaging system for my needs. The means of getting there... need a lot of work. I'm along for the ride either way.

I think they have something a bit like a container built into Steam: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime

this is for steamworks API, my understanding is there's a separate SDK for consuming Linux dependencies like glibc. Like Soldier runtime, Sniper runtime, and so on. Am I wrong in thinking these are two separate SDKs? here's the link to the other SDK I'm talking about: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime

I'm not sure we can distribute a flatpak or an appimage through Steam. They have their own controlled environment called Steam Runtime (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime) in which I should compile to be sure it runs everywhere (very similar to what I am doing). Last time, I look at this, it wasn't very clear and they supported only old versions of GCC. But it seems the documentation improved and now that I succeeded in building a modern version of GCC in my own container, maybe I could do that in theirs.

I believe it's usable outside of Steam: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime though the instructions are not particularly clear. There's also a link to the APT repo they use as a reference: https://repo.steampowered.com/steamrt/

Looking at the Flatpak version, if you want to use Proton versions 5.13 or newer with Steam in Flatpak, you need to install Flatpak from backports https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime/issues/294 . Using Flatpak saves having to install i386 if that matters to you.

> Game developers would be fine to target a single distro like Ubuntu 22.04.

Valve has its own container-only Linux distribution, called "Soldier Runtime" (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime); especially for games distributed on Steam, it probably makes more sense to target that distribution instead of Ubuntu.

You probably mean SteamTinkerLaunch

I've tried all of the known methods, the one using bottles:https://github.com/thesupersonic16/HedgeModManager/wiki/Running-on-Linux-(Wine), the one using Steamtinkerlaunch: https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch/wiki/Hedge-Mod-Manager and the one that used to work but doesn't anymore:https://linuxgamingcentral.com/posts/updated-sonic-frontiers-steam-deck-modding-guide/ The bottles method worked a few weeks ago (although a lot of codes and mods didn't work) but doesn't seem to work anymore, the program doesn't seem to recognize the .yml configuration file provided in the guide anymore, I even tried installing the dependencies manually but the game (Sonic Frontiers) doesn't load the mod loader (the game launches but without mods), perhaps bottles doesn't use .yml files anymore ? The Steamtinkerlaunch method using Proton 7.0 also manages to install hedgemodmanager but once the mod loader is installed the game simply won't launch (I even tried providing mscore.dll but doesn't seem to make a difference). The method detailed on linuxgamingcentral.com used to work but now doesn't anymore, probably because steamtinkerlaunch now also tries to install .net 40 and .net 48. I get an error along the lines of "error, couldn't load mscore.dll to display the correct error message, please reinstall. Net". I'm losing my mind over this. Does anyone of you have hedgemodmanager working on Steam Deck ? If so how did you do it ?

Or maybe Steam Tinker launch (if using steam): https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch

This, right? This results in the following error:

Hey. I'm currently trying to get LiveSplit to run in the same Proton instance as a game (so I have the autosplitter available). I've managed to get that working by using SteamTinkerLaunch (https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch/wiki)

Click "Add Version", then install the latest SteamTinkerLaunch

Make sure to check the wiki on GitHub. It has a page for troubleshooting and the second entry sounds like your problem.

I recently had a nice discussion with the STL dev (steamtinkerlaunch#813). This might give you also a bit of insight.

There's steamtinkerlaunch for vortex/modorganizer there's also protontricks to mess around with each game proton prefix and etc. You'll have to Google these to get a better explanation but these are just the options I know of.