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There's now a Proton build for running Red Dead Redemption 2 on Linux

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Currently with the Steam Play Proton Linux compatibility layer, Red Dead Redemption 2 isn't playable but a new testing build provided by a CodeWeavers developer sounds promising.

With the official builds of Proton, it just doesn't work and people have been tinkering away on different ideas to get it working for about half a year now. That looks like it's about to change. A CodeWeavers developer, Brendan Shanks, made a post on GitHub containing a new build for people to try that should hopefully allow you to play Red Dead Redemption 2 on desktop Linux.

It does require some manual effort to get running like having the latest NVIDIA Vulkan Beta driver "to avoid very poor performance" or for AMD having a patch applied by building it yourself "otherwise it will crash halfway through the progress bar". There's also a few issues with it, like only having 720p and 1080p resolutions working. Progress is progress though right? Eventually the issues will reduce and in a few more months it might even be easily playable.

Steam Play and Proton definitely open up a lot of doors for a Linux gamer. Don't know what it is? Check out our little dedicated page.

As a sidenote: if you do have access to Stadia and good enough internet, Red Dead Redemption 2 can also be played there since Stadia works on Linux.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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mylka Jun 13, 2020
this effort, because of a stupid DRM
it is so sad, that they dont release a linux version, since they have stadia

i mean they make so much money with GTA and RDR, it cant be that expensive to port the game from stadia to desktop

lets hope this DRM does not destroy the performance we should get because rdr2 has VULKAN
legluondunet Jun 13, 2020
OMG! I could soon play this game on my Linux computer, finally!
rustybroomhandle Jun 13, 2020
Quoting: mylkathis effort, because of a stupid DRM
it is so sad, that they dont release a linux version, since they have stadia

i mean they make so much money with GTA and RDR, it cant be that expensive to port the game from stadia to desktop

lets hope this DRM does not destroy the performance we should get because rdr2 has VULKAN

No, I believe the main complication had to do with a weird combination of Vulkan and Dx12 that the game uses at the same time.
McMarius11 Jun 13, 2020
  • Supporter
i tried it with the stable Nvidia driver on Manjaro,
IT RUNS!!!

i should install the beta driver for better performance.
the game runs with above 30 fps in FULL HD with the Stable Nvidia driver

OS: Manjaro Linux
KERNEL: 5.6.15-1-MANJARO
CPU: Intel Core i5-7600K @ 3.80GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
GPU DRIVER: NVIDIA 440.82
RAM: 24 GB


Last edited by McMarius11 on 13 June 2020 at 7:48 pm UTC
rustybroomhandle Jun 13, 2020
Quoting: McMarius11i tried it with the stable Nvidia driver on Manjaro,
IT RUNS!!!

Specs, frame rate, etc?
jarhead_h Jun 13, 2020
It's been on my wishlist for months... and it will stay there until it runs via Steamplay. Don't much care why it doesn't work, just know that there's no reason for me to buy it until it does.
jens Jun 13, 2020
  • Supporter
Oh this is really tempting. I hope i can resist until the rough edges are gone ;)
mylka Jun 13, 2020
Quoting: McMarius11i tried it with the stable Nvidia driver on Manjaro,
IT RUNS!!!

why should this be a problem and not the DRM, that hasnt even been cracked by now?

Strange Brigade also has vulkan and dx12 and it works OOTB
yokem55 Jun 13, 2020
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  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: mylka
Quoting: McMarius11i tried it with the stable Nvidia driver on Manjaro,
IT RUNS!!!

why should this be a problem and not the DRM, that hasnt even been cracked by now?

Strange Brigade also has vulkan and dx12 and it works OOTB
RDR2 uses both API's at the same time. It uses Vulkan for rendering the world, and directx for the post-processing filters. Making that work right is where the trouble has been.
gustavoyaraujo Jun 13, 2020
Quoting: yokem55
Quoting: mylka
Quoting: McMarius11i tried it with the stable Nvidia driver on Manjaro,
IT RUNS!!!

why should this be a problem and not the DRM, that hasnt even been cracked by now?

Strange Brigade also has vulkan and dx12 and it works OOTB
RDR2 uses both API's at the same time. It uses Vulkan for rendering the world, and directx for the post-processing filters. Making that work right is where the trouble has been.
If it really uses both api's, how could they port it to Stadia and PS5?
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