While the newer official launcher for FINAL FANTASY XIV Online is incredibly problematic with Steam Play Proton, a third-party launcher has recently come to Linux to help with that.
A game I know a great many people enjoyed, and now that XIVLauncher is properly available for Linux and installable from Flathub, it should allow more people to continue playing on Linux and the Steam Deck. The team behind it even set up a full guide to getting it running on Steam Deck. It even includes a special build of Wine that has been tuned just for getting FINAL FANTASY XIV Online running nicely.
Hopefully at some point it won't be needed, if Square Enix can look at the issues with their official launcher, but once again the community delivers to get a game more easily playable on Linux and Steam Deck. Currently, it has an Unsupported rating for the Steam Deck, largely due to the launcher. So if you wanted to get FINAL FANTASY XIV Online working on Linux and Steam Deck — this is for you!
As always with third-party launchers, use at your own risk.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
rustybroomhandle May 12, 2022
Quoting: fenglengshunMy "final bar" would be if Genshin could get some sort of Linux release, because then that's it, we've reached critical mass where the ball's rolling on their own.
Can't be trusted to work forever, but search for "an anime game launcher" on gitlab. Will respect their wish to not link it here or mention the game by name.
fenglengshun May 14, 2022
Quoting: rustybroomhandleHave tried that one, and it works, but it's still too much of a hassle for me - I can do it, I did it, the instruction was clear, but it's a hassle compared to just "adding non-Steam game" or just running a .exe.Quoting: fenglengshunMy "final bar" would be if Genshin could get some sort of Linux release, because then that's it, we've reached critical mass where the ball's rolling on their own.
Can't be trusted to work forever, but search for "an anime game launcher" on gitlab. Will respect their wish to not link it here or mention the game by name.
Kinda like FFXIV before this new flatpak release of XIVLauncher. If there's a way to get it on flatpak then that's when it's actually accessible to most people IMHO. Obviously, though, that's not going to happen as long as the anti-cheat stays the way they are.
https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom/releases/tag/GE-Proton7-18
From the release notes:
Quoteproton bleeding edge updates, contains patches to fix official FFXIV Launcher (finally)
Additional notes:
- As before, you can still also use NOSTEAM=1 %command% to log in with a standalone non-steam account.
- The login and download progress bar both render at the bottom of the launcher, you'll need to scroll down.
To be honest, just after Denuvo, I'd say that games that launch launchers from Steam are next on my list of "do not buy". Launchers aren't quite as anti-consumer as Denuvo and its ilk, but as a general gamer, they add nothing but frustration to my overall experience of the game, and as a Linux gamer, they add uncertainty that I'll be able to play at all. Seems that only absolutely huge companies use them too - Blizzard, Microsft/Mojang, EA, Ubisoft, etc. I wonder if they even realise how much they're pissing their customers off?
Or is there a subset of gamers out there who actually click Play and they're pleased to see a launcher, interact with it and be pleased that this extra step exists between choosing to play a game, and actually fucking playing it.
/rant.
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