Linux, Anyone?

[Uthan The Perverse]

On 9/3/2023 at 3:28 AM, xj47 said:

On the topic of linux, has anyone tried running Skyrim (or one of the other Bethesda games) in Docker?
With how complicated mod configurations can get, it would be neat to have a containerized image of a working mod setup.

It's probably not worth the effort but I am curious how feasible it would be.

How is this even supposed to work? Using X11 forwarding over SSH or something similar for Wayland?

[vaultbait]

2 minutes ago, Uthan The Perverse said:

How is this even supposed to work? Using X11 forwarding over SSH or something similar for Wayland?

 

Sprinkle magic container pixie dust on anything to make it go faster, haven't you heard? ?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Uthan The Perverse said:

How is this even supposed to work? Using X11 forwarding over SSH or something similar for Wayland?

If I knew how it worked I wouldn't be asking lol
In principle a locally running linux container is just stuff running on your system, so if Skyrim can run on linux then it should be possible to containerize it. Just need to wire up the graphics... somehow

[zapotek2034]

On 9/2/2023 at 5:58 PM, xj47 said:

On the topic of linux, has anyone tried running Skyrim (or one of the other Bethesda games) in Docker?
With how complicated mod configurations can get, it would be neat to have a containerized image of a working mod setup.

It's probably not worth the effort but I am curious how feasible it would be.

Any specific reason you are looking at Docker?

 

You should be able to use Lutris, Bottles or some other front-end to install a game into its own directory and then backup that directory so you always have a "known good" version to revert back to.

 

For example, I created a folder in my home directory called "fallout" and used Lutris to install the GOG versions of FO3 and NV to that directory, (~/fallout).  I also adjusted the properties for the games' executables to ensure the ~/fallout directory was used for the "base" directory as well as for the WINE prefix.

 

(By using different WINE prefixes for each game, you can set different WINE configurations as needed without affecting any of the other installed games.  Depending on the game, you might find that WINE needs to be setup to emulate a 32-bit version of Windows, while others will work with a 64-bit version of Windows, or may work best for Windows 7 as opposed to Windows 10)
https://wiki.winehq.org/FAQ#Wineprefixes

 

I then tested the vanilla versions of both FO3 and NV to make sure they worked.  After confirming there were no issues, I then backed up the "fallout" directory so I had a known good baseline.  Since my Linux laptop is older, I just created an uncompressed TAR file since it was the "quickest" option.

 

From there I installed MO2 and the Tales of Two Wastelands mod.

 

I re-tested everything and updated the TAR file once I confirmed the game ran without issues, then proceeded to install my remaining mods via MO2.

 

This should also work for installing the Windows version of Steam into its own directory and then installing Skyrim/FO4 accordingly.

[vaultbait]

Noticed this article was uploaded today: HowTo ModOrganizer2 for Steam games in Linux (includes steambox based)

[EthernalNoob]

On 8/11/2023 at 8:58 AM, t.ara said:

If you got LINUX working like a windows-platform-maybe if there´s running the stuff like we know from win 7/10, this is also interesting me...

I only see the problems upcoming with the differnt drivers, screen support, GPU support and much more.

Search for Debian KDE, it looks like windows.

Plus, you can run windows stuff in linux using Wine/Proton

[Uthan The Perverse]

I personally use SteamTinkerLaunch. It wraps around the games and provides options to manage wine/proton versions, reshade support, ModOrganizer, etc support right from within Steam.

 

You guys should check it out https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch

[Uthan The Perverse]

Nexus Mods is working on an official Linux client: https://github.com/Nexus-Mods/NexusMods.App/releases/tag/v0.5.2

 

Currently available as an AppImage and a zip (I haven't checked the zip yet).

 

It's currently in alpha and only supports Stardew Valley for now, but a damn good step in the right direction. XD

[vaultbait]

Almost all my computers run Linux, the only exceptions being a few OpenBSD machines and the one Windows desktop I have set up as a HTPC-type console for playing modded Fallout 4 and using the CK and related tools.

 

After procrastinating far too long, last week I finally dipped my toes into the Linux Steam client on a couple of my netbooks, and it went surprisingly smoothly. I've been playing the latest beta of Elzee's excellent "Tunnel Escape" (an RPGmaker/NWJS based game) through Proton compatibility and it's working fine with built-in Intel video controller. I'm wondering how well FO4 would fare on one of these machines, but haven't taken the plunge just yet. One thing at a time.

[DocClox]

Each disc partition can be mounted anywhere you want. I have a SSD mounted as "modding" in my home directory.

 

You can use windows NTFS partitions directly, although it's better if you can copy the contents to a linux filesystem (ext4 for me) and then scrub and reformat the old ones. They'll run fine as NTFS, but disk checking is best done from a windows box in that case. Not a problem if you're dual booting, but for a pure Linux system, you might want to migrate.

 

 

[vaultbait]

5 hours ago, DocClox said:

Each disc partition can be mounted anywhere you want. I have a SSD mounted as "modding" in my home directory.

 

You can use windows NTFS partitions directly, although it's better if you can copy the contents to a linux filesystem (ext4 for me) and then scrub and reformat the old ones. They'll run fine as NTFS, but disk checking is best done from a windows box in that case. Not a problem if you're dual booting, but for a pure Linux system, you might want to migrate.

 

Some of the guides I've looked at talk about needing to use a FUSE overlay to make your POSIX filesystem of choice case-insensitive... has anyone actually needed to do that for FO4 and the CK or related tools? Or is that something Proton just papers over on its own now?

[DocClox]

I haven't needed to set up an overlay like that. I did look at it, but it seemed a lot of fuss for the benefit. That said, ext4 can do case-folding, but you need to set the option when you format the partition. if I was starting over, that's probably the way I'd go.

 

Generally, I have symlinks for most of the important folders. So "Data" -> "data", "Textures" -> "textures", etc. That takes care of a lot of grief. It's also worth a quick glance at MO2 mod folders (or whatever) to see if there's anything obvious that needs fixing. I don't generally have a problem, but you do need to be aware of the issue.

 

Speaking of mod managers, can I give a quick shout out for Ammo - the Almost Manual Mod Organizer? Works from the command line, handles case folding for you (mostly - it didn't know about SFSE so I had to use some symlinks there) and it seems to do everything I need. It uses symbolic links to populate the data folder, so cleaning up is easy enough and it's got a FOmod installer. You *can* get MO2 to work, but there are some tools that don't like to run under MO2's virtualization, and it's easier to run them if the files they need exist outside of that context.

[vaultbait]

2 hours ago, DocClox said:

I haven't needed to set up an overlay like that. I did look at it, but it seemed a lot of fuss for the benefit. That said, ext4 can do case-folding, but you need to set the option when you format the partition. if I was starting over, that's probably the way I'd go.

 

Generally, I have symlinks for most of the important folders. So "Data" -> "data", "Textures" -> "textures", etc. That takes care of a lot of grief. It's also worth a quick glance at MO2 mod folders (or whatever) to see if there's anything obvious that needs fixing. I don't generally have a problem, but you do need to be aware of the issue.

 

Speaking of mod managers, can I give a quick shout out for Ammo - the Almost Manual Mod Organizer? Works from the command line, handles case folding for you (mostly - it didn't know about SFSE so I had to use some symlinks there) and it seems to do everything I need. It uses symbolic links to populate the data folder, so cleaning up is easy enough and it's got a FOmod installer. You *can* get MO2 to work, but there are some tools that don't like to run under MO2's virtualization, and it's easier to run them if the files they need exist outside of that context.

 

Good to know! Somehow I'd never noticed the +F (casefold) directory flag. Looks like it's been in the ext4 driver since Linux 5.2, dunno what rock I've been living under...

 

Seems to need encoding set on the filesystem, but that doesn't actually have to be done during formatting. If you've already got your games on a dedicated filesystem, you should be able to use tune2fs to set it while the filesystem is unmounted.

[DocClox]

Yeah, I remember reading that, and then somehow managed to forget it again. That's got to be worth a shot.

[Uthan The Perverse]

On 7/10/2024 at 4:58 AM, vaultbait said:

Almost all my computers run Linux, the only exceptions being a few OpenBSD machines and the one Windows desktop I have set up as a HTPC-type console for playing modded Fallout 4 and using the CK and related tools.

 

After procrastinating far too long, last week I finally dipped my toes into the Linux Steam client on a couple of my netbooks, and it went surprisingly smoothly. I've been playing the latest beta of Elzee's excellent "Tunnel Escape" (an RPGmaker/NWJS based game) through Proton compatibility and it's working fine with built-in Intel video controller. I'm wondering how well FO4 would fare on one of these machines, but haven't taken the plunge just yet. One thing at a time.

I have played FONV, FO4, Skyrim (both LE and SE) and they actually run well enough. I have been playing it exclusively on Linux this year (I am targetting to get 100% Linux for Steam Year Review this year).

 

The only issue I am currently facing is that only version 2.4.4 of MO2 runs with Proton. So I cannot update to the latest version. I have heard that the newer versions of MO2 work with Proton Experimental, but I haven't tried it out myself yet.

 

There was also the issue where FO4's next gen update borked my setup and I had to revert it back to a pre-update version.

[Uthan The Perverse]

On 7/10/2024 at 2:52 PM, DocClox said:

You can use windows NTFS partitions directly, although it's better if you can copy the contents to a linux filesystem (ext4 for me) and then scrub and reformat the old ones. They'll run fine as NTFS, but disk checking is best done from a windows box in that case. Not a problem if you're dual booting, but for a pure Linux system, you might want to migrate.

 

I have given up on using NTFS partitions because you have to boot into Windows to run chkdsk if there are any issues. You can use `ntfsfix` but that does not really fix bad sectors and simply clears the disk check flag so that the system can boot.

 

So I have converted most of my previous partitions to ext4 and moved all Steam games into them.

[Rex Dark]

Am I too late for Linux Club?
I finally made the switch in December last year.

[DocClox]

4 hours ago, Uthan The Perverse said:

The only issue I am currently facing is that only version 2.4.4 of MO2 runs with Proton. So I cannot update to the latest version. I have heard that the newer versions of MO2 work with Proton Experimental, but I haven't tried it out myself yet.

 

2.5 works, but I had problems with xEdit and Loot. xEdit I can only make run on a VM running windows, and that meant that the MO2 VFS wasn't there. LOOT has a native Linux port as does Wrye, but I can't run them with MO2's virtualization either.

 

Hence Ammo

 

1 hour ago, Rex Dark said:

Am I too late for Linux Club?

 

I have a confession to make. I set the club up but got stuck trying to upload a banner graphic for the thing. For some reason any banner or avatar pic I upload since about three years back comes out as weird green stripes.

 

Stupid thing to get stalled on, I know.

[Uthan The Perverse]

3 hours ago, DocClox said:

Hence Ammo

 

Interesting. I need to check it out.

 

Though I wonder how it works with FOMOD if it's terminal based.

 

Also, can it import our MO2 profiles, saves, etc?

[vaultbait]

6 minutes ago, Uthan The Perverse said:

Though I wonder how it works with FOMOD if it's terminal based.

 

Not that I have the first clue, but probably making an interactive terminal-based fomod interface with either one-line prompts or a curses-like library wouldn't be all that hard (I've done some in Python with the urwid framework for example, it's pretty easy to work with). So if it doesn't handle FOMOD installer menus now, it probably wouldn't be a stretch to add support for them.

[Uthan The Perverse]

Yeah, perhaps it uses a curses based interface. It actually uses a prompt based interface, you have to choose the required options by entering the appropriate number. Though IMO using zenity might make more sense since you could render an actual dialog box similar to what we get in MO2, if it can be pulled off.

 

I will try it out later today or tomorrow and see how well it works compared to MO2.

Edited July 13, 2024 by Uthan The Perverse
Found more info

[Lemurion287]

I know it's late, but I've been running Pop_OS! on my main desktop for over two years now and I have no problem gaming or modding. I did have to spin up a Windows VM for part of the TTW install process, but beyond that I've been pure Linux  on here without issue. MO2 works fine for me, both 2.4 and 2.5.  Admittedly I've been puttering with Linux off and on since around 2000, but damn is it easy now.

[Lemurion287]

1 hour ago, DarthCoder said:

How long does it take to load? Last time I tried, a 100Gb modpack took about 15mins to load, probably because vfs which MO uses, is very slow.

 

Running on an i3-10105F/16GB RAM and an old Crucial 240 GB SATA SSD, it took about a minute and ten seconds for the VFS to fully load and get the black first loading screen--then another 30 seconds to reach the "press any button to continue," prompt. That's with a 73GB mod folder. I wouldn't call it fast, but it's not problematically slow either.

[Lemurion287]

48 minutes ago, DarthCoder said:

Everything is on linux-native file systems, like ext4? I suspect I had very slow loading because modpack was installed on ntfs partition.

 

Ummmm, not "like," ext4--it's all on ext4. I do have my external drive that I use for backups on exfat, but all my gaming is done on ext4 partitions.

[vaultbait]

I took the FO4 NG shitshow and some unrelated personal distractions as an opportunity to set up some Linux/Proton-based game rigs. For a few months now I've been playing (heavily-modded, AAF-oriented) Fallout 4 in Steam Proton on Debian Sid quite happily. I've been using a Minisforum HX99G (discrete AMD GPU option) as a HTPC/console and also on a higher-end GPD Win Mini 2024 for portable gaming; both are up to the task with the game set to the highest settings. For a mod manager I went with Vortex under SteamTinkerLaunch and it's worked fine, exactly the same as on Windows once you get it going.

 

Also been playing lots of FO76, Elzee's awesome Tunnel Escape (with the uncensored patches, duh!), and lewdly modded versions of Bayonetta and Lolipop Chainsaw Repop, all work great.

 

Next, I take the leap into creating FO4 mods on these machines... I've got the CK installer added in Steam, but haven't quite gotten up the gumption to try running it and getting Perchik's patches installed and figuring out how to run PapyrusCompiler.exe command-line under Proton, not to mention tools like FO4Edit/zEdit, Archive2, BAE, NifSkope, etc, etc... if anyone has tips in that department I'm all ears too. Wish me luck!