Apparently now a Quality of Life Update means adding a launcher to existing games and breaking them, if you're 2K that is.
Just recently BioShock Remastered 1 & 2, plus BioShock Infinite all had this "Quality of Life Update". Expecting some sort of bug-fix and polishing that the name implies, it was nothing of the sort. Instead, the patch notes for all three simply state:
This week's update features various quality-of-life improvements, including:
- Account linking option added in-game
- The addition of a new Launcher which includes a Store to purchase new content
For BioShock Infinite I can confirm the update breaks launching the older Native Linux port from Virtual Programming. Not great for those of you sticking to Native versions and paid for that.
Looking over various reports, many people are mentioning that the launcher update has broken all three for them on Steam Deck. Confusing though, as testing all three across desktop Linux and Steam Deck and all three worked out of the box for me with Proton 7.0-4 and no other changes and I wasn't even shown a launcher on Steam Deck. All good, until I tried running them again on desktop and sometimes the launcher just doesn't show up so they don't run. Frustrating.
You can see my video guide on how to switch between Proton versions or a Native Linux build if it exists.
Infinite was noted to be Unsupported on Steam Deck anyway, but forcing Proton 7 makes it work in my testing.
As for BioShock Remastered 1 & 2, neither of them had a Native Linux version so players on desktop Linux and Steam Deck were using Proton. The problem here is that both had been through Deck Verified with the first being "Playable" and the second being "Verified".
Thankfully, the community has stepped in to provide multiple workarounds for these games if the launcher has broken them for you. If you add these as a launch option (under Properties for each game) it should work for all titles across desktop Linux and Steam Deck to skip the launcher and I've tested them personally working:
BioShock Remastered 1:
bash -c 'exec "${@/2KLauncher\/LauncherPatcher.exe/Build\/Final\/BioshockHD.exe}"' -- %command% -nointro
BioShock Remastered 2:
bash -c 'exec "${@/2KLauncher\/LauncherPatcher.exe/Build\/Final\/Bioshock2HD.exe}"' -- %command% -nointro
BioShock Infinite:
bash -c 'exec "${@/2KLauncher\/LauncherPatcher.exe/Binaries\/Win32\/BioShockInfinite.exe}"' -- %command% -nointro
There's been a lot of unhappy gamers on Windows too, so 2K have a bit of a storm brewing with all three titles getting negative reviews on Steam. Hopefully they will learn from this. It's just another reminder of the problem with launchers and publishers just stuffing them into games with no real benefit to users.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: scaineI've never once, ever, in over 1100 games, experienced a launcher which improved a game experience.Total War: Warhammer games
Minecraft
Most Paradox games
Xenonauts
I'm sure there are many more, but the condition for a game benefiting from a launcher is that it needs to provide some kind of service:
Mod / DLC management - not all games can do that in-game due to the technologies used and external mod managers are usually Windows only
Version management - Minecraft and Xenonauts did that. Pretty nice, especially since not all storefronts offer Steam's version management
News / Patch notes / etc. - Again, Steam provides that, but not all games are on Steam
And also, it should of course never get in the way like this 2K launcher does.
Quoting: F.UltraA real quality of life for me would be if they all (Uplay, Origin, WTF) would just remove their completely unnecessary launchers.
This. So much this. I played Watch Dogs 2 on the deck. Every time, I start the game, it forgets my Ubisoft Connect Login and I have to type a log password because password managers aren't a thing in steam input.
nebadon2025 Sep 5, 2022
Quoting: wit_as_a_riddleQuoting: scaineI've never once, ever, in over 1100 games, experienced a launcher which improved a game experience.
Minecraft has a useful launcher. That's the only one I know of though. Funny how people make even better ones to replace the one useful launcher I know of.
I'll give you that. One game. And even then, a launcher that's only actually necessary because the core game design is so poor that you have to juggle versions for mods. So even then, while I agree it's a useful launcher, it's only useful because it's absolutely necessary and I'd STILL prefer that it didn't exist!
slaapliedje Sep 5, 2022
Quoting: wit_as_a_riddleConan Exiles has a new launcher, though it is a 'Funcom' Launcher that shows all the games you have, but it also helps with mod management, so that is nice.Quoting: scaineI've never once, ever, in over 1100 games, experienced a launcher which improved a game experience.
Minecraft has a useful launcher. That's the only one I know of though. Funny how people make even better ones to replace the one useful launcher I know of.
slaapliedje Sep 5, 2022
there is a way to make this update less trash you will need to get a copy of the older version of the game files
copy the original version of the game folder into the the new game folder and you will need to use the the command to bypass the launcher but linking option added in-game will be missing i have tested this on BioShock Remastered 2
Last edited by MadWolf on 5 September 2022 at 11:05 pm UTC
The worst kind are those that 'link' services, alrhough I must confess of those the most unintrussive one (at least up tonabfew days ago when I last played a game that required it) is Origin. Still I do not 'love it' as such, but for the EA games I have, it works reaaonably OK (Jedi Fallen Order and It Takes Two).
I still would rather not have a launcher at all...
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