With my friends, we play a few games that, based on the place I'm writing in, are assumed to be pirated copies. We use something called an "Online fix" for Steam, which tricks it into thinking we're playing a different game in order to access its API and play multiplayer together.

How do I actually do this under Linux? I use Bottles, which allows me to play Windows games. I've installed a Windows version of Steam through it, and it works quite poorly, but it gets the job done (or rather, it used to). Basically, I just have to start it up to be able to play. The problem arose recently when Valve released a new update that significantly changed the Steam UI.

After the update was applied, I encountered several issues:

When Steam starts, a strange symbol appears on the screen, which stays on top of every window or application, and it's quite annoying.
Steam itself started crashing. And when that happens, the game crashes logically as well.

Before the update, I had no problems, and now I don't know what to do. To play these particular games, I need to have Steam running. If I run the native Linux version, it works, but the game can't detect that Steam is running since it's not actually inside the Wine container.

EDIT: I think I found a solution for now. Adding -vgui will launch the old Steam UI.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

.....why would you use bottles to play windows games and not just use Proton? If you don't know Proton is a incredible tool built right into steam and it works with most games. You can check Protondb for comparability with the games you want to play

[–] Sa6o90 5 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Man, Proton itself is just Wine + DXVK + VKD3D and maybe some minor tweaks. How would using Proton help my situation? I mean, if I was playing a legal copy of these games - yeah, running them directly on Steam would help, but these games are pirated copies, dude.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You can also run pirated copies in Steam, you wouldn't need Steam multiple times and it would fix those issues you're having

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

Dude you can run pirated copies through steam using Proton and fix your issues. Chill dude

[–] Sa6o90 2 points 2 years ago

Guys, I tried to add one of these games to Steam using the "Add Non-Steam game..." button. At first the game started, but for some reason it doesn't allow me to connect to the Xbox server, which is weird because it works with Bottles... The game I'm talking about is Grounded.

[+] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Works very well. I'll even run non game apps through proton

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@lemmy note that Proton is just Valve's customized version of existing software called Wine, which is the usual way to run Windows software on Linux. Please try to avoid handing control of it to Valve by making Valve's version the default one.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

I'm not saying to just hand it over. For his specific issue this is the way to fix it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You can do so, but that doesn't make it the best idea. There's a reason the devs say not to. Steam makes it very difficult to manage prefixes, installing dependencies and running exe's under the prefix is very awkward. There's really no benefit over using Lutris or Bottles.

[–] Sa6o90 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yup, there are 2 main reasons I use Bottles.

I have only 1 bottle (wine prefix) and I put all of my games there. This means, I don't waste extra space for a separate wineprefix for every single game (I have a lot of games), and I don't have to set up a prefix every time I install a new one. I only had to install dependencies and set environment parameters once, and then every single game just works.
Bottles runs with Flatpak (sandboxed), which gives me an additional layer of security. We all know that downloading and running a pirated EXEs are not always safe.

Everything was working so well until this recent Steam update...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Yeah it really does. I've been playing Live For Speed for years on linux, which is a windows game.

I found out early on that Proton Experimental works the best for me.

[–] Sa6o90 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think I found a solution for now. Adding -vgui will launch the old Steam UI.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Thank you!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think it still should be possible with combination of native Steam and Steamtinkerlaunch, although I haven't done that in a while. Check this guide.

[–] Sa6o90 2 points 2 years ago

This might help. I will take a look. Thank you very much.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The scroll is sluggish, but beyond that everything has been great. A major improvement for me.

[–] histic 1 points 2 years ago

that sounds like he accel problem should be able to disable in settings not at home or id tell you where it is

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I'm iffy on the design choice, but overall, the update has been pretty solid actually

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Ah... Good ol' spacewars

[–] DanJeEpicMan 3 points 2 years ago

If you have Nvidia, use drivers 470 instead of 530 worked for me on Ubuntu

[–] toaster 2 points 2 years ago

This issue occurs with most applications on latest update of Bottles. You can temporarily fix this issue by enabling Virtual desktop in the bottle's Display Settings. If you play games in WIndows version of Steam, you might experience a significant lag after enabling this option.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I had a strange issue where the Store interface couldn't be interacted with until I swapped to the Library and back again. I side-stepped the issue by just telling Steam to always open to the Library tab on launch which is honestly preferable behavior anyways.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I'm mad I didn't think to do this, thank you lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes. None of the issues you describe, though.

I can't use the steam overlay at all. Shift+Tab does nothing. I made sure it's enabled.
I can't click any of the options in the context menu of friends' icons.

[–] Sa6o90 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I don't understand what you're talking about. You don't have these problems? How are you running your Steam? Are you running the Windows version or the native Linux one?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Linux version, of course. I bought my games, though, so that might help. Contributing factors to my issues may be Wayland and gamescope.

[–] Sa6o90 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You probably missed it. I said there is no problem with the native Steam version, but I want to play my pirated games with my friends.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Seems I did. Never mind, then. Raises the question if you have issues with the overlay on the native version though :D

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes, it has a white flash with the dropdown menus: https://streamable.com/eerf20

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I got the white flash too but I don't have any of the other issues described in OP
For some reason in Settings > Storage, when I try to select anything on this dropdown nothing happens

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Well I am glad it's not just me, that means it's more likely for it to get fixed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

For me, Steam just keeps starting, crashing, then re-starting, after the update.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Maiby you can take a look in the direction of Lutris?

[–] Sa6o90 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

How would Lutris help me in this situation? I mean, isn't Lutris just a GUI for Wine, just like Bottles.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 years ago

I dont know if possible or details but maiby you can instill steam true lutris and go from their?