Posted November 01, 2020
While a native port would be nice, it is possible to get this working on Linux; I installed it today, and after several hours of struggle got it to work. Many others on the Internet seem to have got it working easier than I did, whether that's because of something about my OS (Debian testing), GPU (Radeon 5600 XT), or the GOG version of BG3 (4.1.85.1780 from the offline installer), I'm not sure. But it works for me now, smoothly, even at 4K / Ultra, which is very impressive indeed.
I had to install the amdgpu driver and enable it for the game, by setting VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/path/to/amd_icd64.json, I had to use the Vulkan executable (bg3.exe, not bg3_dx11.exe), and I had to use a specific version of proton (Proton-5.11-GE-2-MF). Everyone else online seems to have had luck with Proton 5.9-GE-8-ST, but for me that reliably crashed when loading after pressing New Game (same as vanilla wine), 5.11-GE-2-MF worked a treat. Other -MF versions may well work, but I had this installed already so I haven't tested others. dotnet48, d3dcompiler_47 and vcrun2017 that are sometimes mentioned as requirements to install with winetricks/protontricks weren't needed for me.
Interesting bonus fact I found during my testing, the launcher (which isn't needed) sets the -externalcrashhandler flag on bg3.exe, which causes a crash dump to be left in <game>/bin if it crashes, which could be handy to send to Larian to help them debug things potentially. It also adds the argument '-stats 1' (presumably not if you uncheck sending stats in the launcher options).
Anyway, I'm a very happy bunny now it's working, I've greatly enjoyed the couple of hours I've played so far.
I had to install the amdgpu driver and enable it for the game, by setting VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/path/to/amd_icd64.json, I had to use the Vulkan executable (bg3.exe, not bg3_dx11.exe), and I had to use a specific version of proton (Proton-5.11-GE-2-MF). Everyone else online seems to have had luck with Proton 5.9-GE-8-ST, but for me that reliably crashed when loading after pressing New Game (same as vanilla wine), 5.11-GE-2-MF worked a treat. Other -MF versions may well work, but I had this installed already so I haven't tested others. dotnet48, d3dcompiler_47 and vcrun2017 that are sometimes mentioned as requirements to install with winetricks/protontricks weren't needed for me.
Interesting bonus fact I found during my testing, the launcher (which isn't needed) sets the -externalcrashhandler flag on bg3.exe, which causes a crash dump to be left in <game>/bin if it crashes, which could be handy to send to Larian to help them debug things potentially. It also adds the argument '-stats 1' (presumably not if you uncheck sending stats in the launcher options).
Anyway, I'm a very happy bunny now it's working, I've greatly enjoyed the couple of hours I've played so far.
Post edited November 01, 2020 by mortoise
