It seems the time has come, EA has begun the process of swapping from Origin to the EA app on Steam, which could cause a few issues for Linux and Steam Deck with Proton. Multiple titles on Steam got updates within the last day, with no patch notes or announcements from EA that I can see. The only difference seems to be introducing the EA App.
Checking my existing install of The Sims 4 on Steam Deck and it seems fine. It briefly showed a new EA App screen, then showed Origin and then went into the game.
An existing Titanfall 2 install on Fedora Linux (desktop) however refused to initially launch, it gave me the EA screen and with Proton 7.0-4, Proton 7.0-5 (RC) and Proton Experimental it just wouldn't launch. Removing the compatdata folder, where all the Wine / Proton prefix data is stored and reloading got it a bit further, to some sort of blank EA App screen after successfully installing it that got stuck. Killing all Wine processes and exiting Steam, then reloading Titanfall 2 and after a few blank EA App screens appeared and vanished — it works again.
Let's not.
With a fresh install of Titanfall 2 on Steam Deck with Proton 7, it had the issue again of a blank EA app screen that got stuck. Quitting and reloading, it once again showed the blank EA app screen. Forcing Proton Experimental on it, and then it actually worked.
Trying a new install of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on Fedora Linux (desktop) with Proton 7, and a similar issue as the above although it didn't need a compatdata folder removal. EA App seemed to install, then I just got greeted by a blank EA App window. Seems it's actually a sign-in window, as I was able to highlight things on it by trying to drag things out of the window. Anyway, in this case simply quitting and reloading just seemed to fix it.
So it's a bit of a nuisance and acts differently between games, but it appears the EA app can still work with Proton but it might need a little extra work.
Note: the below can remove settings, possibly saves etc, do at your own risk.
If you find you also need to remove the compatdata folder for some EA games (for Steam Deck, be in Desktop Mode): find the Steam App ID (Right click a game -> properties -> updates) or grab the ID from the URL of the Steam store page for it. Then inside your steamapps folder you will find compatdata and inside a folder with the same ID. Where it is depends on what drive you have games installed on, the default is /.steam/root/steamapps/compatdata/.
Let me know in the comments how things are going for you on various EA games on Linux desktop / Steam Deck now.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
hardpenguin Oct 26, 2022
pleasereadthemanual Oct 26, 2022
These sorts of regressions in WINE compatibility seem to happen more often than I expected for what you would expect to be mostly static games.
Quoting: gardotd426You can't use the non-Steam desktop Origin *or* EA App to run games you own on Steam. So please don't waste your time trying to install non-Steam desktop apps for EA games.
I can, and do. Origin knows I own them on Steam, as my Origin account is linked and it lets me download them.
rustigsmed Oct 27, 2022
After that I can switch back to normal proton and the game works. The EA app flashes up blank but automatically logs in so it doesn't matter.
BlackBloodRum Oct 27, 2022
Quoting: GroganThe worst of it is, with Steam, you have no choice when they push updates. I've rebought a lot of games on GoG because of that.
Personally, I think it's cool you're buying on GOG too, because "Boo! DRM".
But with that said, this is something I run into a lot since I usually mod my games, swap them with the GOG version or unofficially remove the DRM. So here's a little tip to avoiding that exact problem!
If you have a game you don't want to update (say, because you know the developer usually pushes breaking changes) right click the game in your library and hit properties.
Go into updates and switch automatic updates to "Only update this game when I launch it".
From here there's two things you can do if your game has been updated, but you don't want to:
a) Switch steam to offline mode via "Steam > Go Offline" in the top menu, and launch your game. It won't update in this case, and will not update when you go back online
b) Before allowing the update, copy the games local files to an alternate directory, allow the game to update, copy the files back after the update is complete, in some cases this works just fine and steam will think the game is up to date.
Have fun!
Quoting: dr_vincentI just tried to install Sims 4 on a new account so ran into this problem. Fix for me was to install a non proton version of wine (selected through ProtonUp-QT, a version that doesn't say proton) then run through the setup process (I can register and link account). So using wine the EA app seems to work fine.Specifically, can you post the version you used?
After that I can switch back to normal proton and the game works. The EA app flashes up blank but automatically logs in so it doesn't matter.
CyborgZeta Oct 27, 2022
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