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Well, that's a nice surprise isn't it. Ubisoft did something good. They released a tiny patch, that enabled Easy Anti-Cheat so The Division 2 now works on Steam Deck and Linux desktop.

I've tested it on Steam Deck and my Fedora Linux desktop and yep — it works. Although, performance can be pretty rough due to the usual shader compiling issues on your first couple of runs while it stutters about quite fiercly. That will become smoother over time, and eventually (hopefully) Valve will have the shaders to send out with the game when it downloads like they do for others games. 

Note: for Steam Deck players, don't turn on DirectX 12 as the game won't run. If you do, steps are noted in the video below on how to fix it sliced in between some gameplay clips I did earlier (timestamped). Text steps on the fix below:

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Turn Off DirectX 12 fix:

  1. Head to this location:
    1. ./steam/root/steamapps/compatdata/2221490/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/My Games/Tom Clancy's The Division 2/
  2. Edit the state.cfg file in a text editor, find where it says "dx12 = true" and change it to false.
  3. Reload the game.

With it now actually playable, I'm quite hopeful that Valve will have some tricks they can do in Proton to improve performance, on top of the shader stuff mentioned above. Now that it's working, at least they'll be able to investigate it to see if there's anything possibly.

If you find it actually doesn't still run for you, make sure you have the "Proton EasyAntiCheat Runtime" installed from your Steam Library. Just search for it in Steam, it will be there to install. It's supposed to be automatic, but sometimes not.

Now if we could just get Destiny 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Rust and Dead By Daylight then I will have a lot less to complain about.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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26 comments
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rogston Jan 23, 2023
Does anyone else have issues with ubisoft connect?
Everytime I try to start the game, it says "Connection lost - A Ubisoft service is currently unavailable. Please try again later."

When I "Try Again" it's the same error message. When I "Go offline" it restarts the app and wants me to login again.

I've tried with the newest Proton-GE 7-47 and Proton Experimental. EAC Runtime is installed.

If you have initialization issue with ubisoft connect check: https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/ymqvbz/comment/j36kk4w/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

I had this issue and reported it to ubisoft support but not sure if they will fix the issue.
AciD Jan 24, 2023
Do you know if there is any way to 'transfer' your uplay games to Steam (games you got when buying an AMD card for instance, but never played since uplay sucks)?
An0nx3n Jan 24, 2023
I've been running it flawlessly on an Ryzen 9 5950X & Radeon 6950XT, DX12 enabled.
The trick was to use GE-proton7-47.

Though when I wanted to play the Pentagon mission, it wouldn't start it. Don't know if that bug is triggered through the use of proton or not.
Venkarian Jan 24, 2023
I am so happy about this news. I have done The Division 1 with my brother fully on Linux. Then I bought The Division 2 and it worked for few weeks until they added the anti cheat. And now I bought the game again for 9 euros for me, my brother, my girlfriend and my brothers girlfriend and we are happy to play together on our steamdecks and Linux desktops !
Zappor Jan 25, 2023
Been running flawlessly here as well! Didn't have to change DX, though I haven't double checked what it's configured as right now...

Radeon 6800 XT, Proton Experimental, Mesa 23.0
itsNotting Feb 3, 2023
I can't get the game to run :(
Installed the game (Ubisoft Connect), installed the EAC runtime.
Put the EAC files in the Division 2 / EAC folder.
Set proton experimental (newest proton GE gives unrecoverable error, just like in the latest news mentioned)
And finally added the command line.
Ubisoft connect launches, I start the game.. it tell's me synching save games from cloud
and then - I guess - EAC is trying to start.. blue hexagon or something, and it stops, and again and again and again..
After some time the hexagon disappears on every try, only a little blue progress bar is visible and it starts all over again.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance!


Last edited by itsNotting on 4 February 2023 at 7:17 am UTC
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