Update 15/03/22 - It's now fixed, with no word again from anyone. The EAC file was just put back nearly ~9 hours later.
Even though Apex Legends was marked officially Steam Deck Verified by Valve on March 9, that we covered in an article, it's now been updated and it's broken on Steam Deck and Linux desktops.
It's still not really clear what's going on. No announcement was made previously from any party. Valve didn't say anything, Respawn (the developer) didn't and EA (the publisher) also stayed silent. It just seemed to go through Deck Verified, and showed the whole world it worked as it was properly live on the Steam store and in your Steam Library on Deck. Now, a patch came in and it has removed the Linux Easy Anti-Cheat file so the game will boot you out telling you it's not working.
This is pretty frustrating. We've talked a couple of times now across articles and videos on issues with Deck Verified, and this certainly doesn't help. There's always going to be teething issues with a new platform of course but this isn't even a Top 100 title, Apex is constantly in the Top 10 on Steam. To have it break like this even though it's Deck Verified? What the heck is going on?
It does bring up other questions now too like: how long is the lag between a major game getting an upgrade, and it going through Deck Verified again to check it works? What about smaller games, do they have to wait longer? The list of questions goes on.
Such a shame, as it became an instant favourite of mine and worked so nicely on Deck:
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Hopefully it's just a mistake from the guy in charge of the publication who forgot the Linux files and it will be fixed promptly.
6 Likes, Who?
My guess is they messed up their build pipeline. Things like that can happen when distribution of a package changes (like adding a library). We will see if they care and timely fix this. Wouldn't panic just yet.
Last edited by const on 14 Mar 2022 at 6:03 pm UTC
Last edited by const on 14 Mar 2022 at 6:03 pm UTC
11 Likes, Who?
Mohandevir 14 Mar 2022
Aaaah! Come on! What is that!? The EAC file was added by accident or removed by accident? Proton even got bug corrections for that particular game... It doesn't make sense!
Last edited by Mohandevir on 14 Mar 2022 at 6:06 pm UTC
Last edited by Mohandevir on 14 Mar 2022 at 6:06 pm UTC
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I'm not surprised, I'm just disappointed.
https://steamdb.info/app/1172470/patchnotes/
https://steamdb.info/app/1172470/patchnotes/
5 Likes, Who?
And this is why I don't like this relyance we are heading for on wine/proton ! 
Native FTW !
Native FTW !
9 Likes, Who?
And this is why I don't like this relyance we are heading for on wine/proton !Native games aren't invulnerable to breaking, I've written my fair share of articles on exactly that.
Native FTW !
23 Likes, Who?
Why some people so obsessed with multiplayer always online (specially FPS/TPS) games/slot machines? Deck fully capable of running them, but you'll never be "competitive" on controller and less so on small screen and wireless... Or just loudest bunch...
Last edited by mindedie on 14 Mar 2022 at 6:34 pm UTC
Last edited by mindedie on 14 Mar 2022 at 6:34 pm UTC
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Why some people so obsessed with multiplayer always online (specially FPS/TPS) games/slot machines? Deck fully capable of running them, but you'll never be "competitive" on controller and less so on small screen and wireless...It's amazing that this needs to be explained at all. As the article said, it's in the top 10 games on Steam. That alone should give you the only real reason you actually need. That, plus a Steam Deck can be hooked up to any screen and you can plug in a mouse and keyboard too. I've been playing it 99% of the time on Deck this way, and it has until now worked very well.
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I did back up the easyanticheat so file before updating, and when you copy it back where it should be it does seem to load up EAC just fine as before.
So maybe it was just an accidental removal, because (correct me if I'm wrong here) you probably need build EAC with Linux/Proton support to have it find the library. Still wouldn't recommend running it this way until we got confirmation on what's going on.
Would be sad if they removed it on purpose, had a lot of fun when playing it with friends.
Last edited by Valeth on 14 Mar 2022 at 6:46 pm UTC
So maybe it was just an accidental removal, because (correct me if I'm wrong here) you probably need build EAC with Linux/Proton support to have it find the library. Still wouldn't recommend running it this way until we got confirmation on what's going on.
Would be sad if they removed it on purpose, had a lot of fun when playing it with friends.
Last edited by Valeth on 14 Mar 2022 at 6:46 pm UTC
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I wonder if dropping in that missing `easyanticheat_x64.so` file would fix the issue. The removal seems accidental, so I'm assuming the main binary is still compatible. Of course, you're risking a ban if you try that, but I am curious.
0 Likes
And this is why I don't like this relyance we are heading for on wine/proton !
Native FTW !
About 90% of Linux native games are an abandoned buggy mess that work far better if you force them to play through Proton.
11 Likes, Who?
It's probably an oversight, not all developers on a dev-team will be clued into what each file is for.
It's generally a matter of members getting use to it.
Though it also seems like a lot of users are having server issues too, so it may have been a bad update all together.
Last edited by kit89 on 14 Mar 2022 at 7:09 pm UTC
It's generally a matter of members getting use to it.
Though it also seems like a lot of users are having server issues too, so it may have been a bad update all together.
Last edited by kit89 on 14 Mar 2022 at 7:09 pm UTC
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rustybroomhandle 14 Mar 2022
Indeed they removed the easyanticheat_x64.so file. How very weird.
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rustybroomhandle 14 Mar 2022
I wonder if dropping in that missing `easyanticheat_x64.so` file would fix the issue. The removal seems accidental, so I'm assuming the main binary is still compatible. Of course, you're risking a ban if you try that, but I am curious.
The versions would have to match.
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RichardYao 14 Mar 2022
Liam, as I said previously, being Steam Deck verified is not an official announcement of support because the developer has no control over whether Valve does it. The only thing close to an official announcement that we received was the developer merging its steam deck compatibility branch into master, which is not a promise of long term support.
Please stop treating Steam Deck verified status as some kind of official announcement going forward. Steam Deck verified status just means that the game passed Valve's compatibility checklist. Consequently, the steam deck verified status is likely to be revoked unless the developer fixes this ASAP.
That being said, if you restore a backup of the `easyanticheat_x64.so` file (default location: `~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Apex Legends/easyanticheat_x64.so`) after the update, the game will continue to work. Since a number of people at Valve play Apex Legends, I imagine that they will be contacting the developer about this, so it is possible that another update will restore out of box support soon, assuming that they do not disable the server support. As long as the server support for Proton remains in place, it is possible that this was a mistake. If server support breaks, then we know that this is intentional.
Last edited by RichardYao on 14 Mar 2022 at 7:53 pm UTC
Please stop treating Steam Deck verified status as some kind of official announcement going forward. Steam Deck verified status just means that the game passed Valve's compatibility checklist. Consequently, the steam deck verified status is likely to be revoked unless the developer fixes this ASAP.
That being said, if you restore a backup of the `easyanticheat_x64.so` file (default location: `~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Apex Legends/easyanticheat_x64.so`) after the update, the game will continue to work. Since a number of people at Valve play Apex Legends, I imagine that they will be contacting the developer about this, so it is possible that another update will restore out of box support soon, assuming that they do not disable the server support. As long as the server support for Proton remains in place, it is possible that this was a mistake. If server support breaks, then we know that this is intentional.
Last edited by RichardYao on 14 Mar 2022 at 7:53 pm UTC
4 Likes, Who?
RichardYao 14 Mar 2022
I wonder if dropping in that missing `easyanticheat_x64.so` file would fix the issue. The removal seems accidental, so I'm assuming the main binary is still compatible. Of course, you're risking a ban if you try that, but I am curious.
It does fix the issue.
0 Likes
rustybroomhandle 14 Mar 2022
I wonder if dropping in that missing `easyanticheat_x64.so` file would fix the issue. The removal seems accidental, so I'm assuming the main binary is still compatible. Of course, you're risking a ban if you try that, but I am curious.
It does fix the issue.
How did you get the correct file?
Last edited by rustybroomhandle on 14 Mar 2022 at 7:50 pm UTC
0 Likes
I wonder if dropping in that missing `easyanticheat_x64.so` file would fix the issue. The removal seems accidental, so I'm assuming the main binary is still compatible. Of course, you're risking a ban if you try that, but I am curious.
It does fix the issue.
How did you get the correct file?
i backed up the file before the game updated :)
3 Likes, Who?
I wonder if dropping in that missing `easyanticheat_x64.so` file would fix the issue. The removal seems accidental, so I'm assuming the main binary is still compatible. Of course, you're risking a ban if you try that, but I am curious.
It does fix the issue.
How did you get the correct file?
They have servers problem right now, the fix works
Last edited by Binogure on 14 Mar 2022 at 8:03 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
And this is why I don't like this relyance we are heading for on wine/proton !
Native FTW !
The era of native Linux games is kinda dead. Most Linux native games I play are abandoned by the developer, have issues running due to some libc error, or have issues with game controllers. When's the last time Feral released a AAA game that wasn't some silly RTS?
If I run it in Proton, I don't have to deal with that and Proton performance is generally better.
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