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Space Marine 2 recently broke online play on Linux / Steam Deck, but the latest update should solve it. Although it seems desktop Linux users will need a launch option.

The breakage came from the 3.0 patch which caused a AVF error to appear and stopping Linux / Steam Deck players from accessing any of the online features.

In the latest "Hotfix 3.1" there's these fixes:

  • Fixed several crashes.
  • Fixed heavy stutters on some CPUs.
  • Fixed launch issue on Linux and Steam Deck.
  • Fixed issue with dynamic resolution and ultrawide screens.
  • Fixed issue with upscalers using wrong resolution parameters.

However, like we've seen from a few games over the last year, desktop Linux users have issues since the game appears to look for the Steam Deck specifically. To get around it you need to spoof your desktop Linux PC to appear as a Steam Deck with this Steam launch option:

SteamDeck=1 %command%

You can buy Space Marine 2 from:

Fanatical (best price)

Humble Store

Steam

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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8 comments

Is this [launch option] going to disable being able to use the mouse, like what others are experiencing with God of War: Ragnarok?
Liam Dawe Oct 8
Quoting: StalePopcornIs this [launch option] going to disable being able to use the mouse, like what others are experiencing with God of War: Ragnarok?
That's probably very game-specific.
CatKiller Oct 8
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QuoteHowever, like we've seen from a few games over the last year, desktop Linux users have issues since the game appears to look for the Steam Deck specifically. To get around it you need to spoof your desktop Linux PC to appear as a Steam Deck with this Steam launch option
It's so weird that game devs do that, especially when there are fewer Deck users on Steam than non-Deck Linux users on Steam. It's just so sloppy.
Quoting: StalePopcornIs this [launch option] going to disable being able to use the mouse, like what others are experiencing with God of War: Ragnarok?
God of war ragnarok no longer disables mouse... pretty sure it was a bug. :D
Quoting: CatKillerIt's so weird that game devs do that, especially when there are fewer Deck users on Steam than non-Deck Linux users on Steam.
Deck users are significantly more active than PC users in general.
Quoting: mr-victory
Quoting: CatKillerIt's so weird that game devs do that, especially when there are fewer Deck users on Steam than non-Deck Linux users on Steam.
Deck users are significantly more active than PC users in general.
Does that mean Deck Users are overpowered?
UPDATE: The launch option allows the game to connect to online servers on desktop but forced super low graphic settings by default (Deck optimization I assume). Changing my graphic options back to max worked fine.
Jau Oct 25
I love their Steam Deck "Optimization"...
The game has so many unnecessary details (and is using an old UE4) that they don't even try to make real optimizations. Just keep the same profiles, use the lowest.
I would love to know how they detect deck. In Steam plugin, you only get the big picture. I could make real optimizations for my game on deck.
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