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Back 4 Blood is releasing in October from Turtle Rock Studios (original developer on Left 4 Dead) and they now have an Open Beta that anyone can try out and it appears to work with Proton GE.

It's notable because it uses Easy Anti-Cheat, and you get the EAC loading screen when you load up the game. Usually, games with EAC don't work with Proton on Linux and just block it entirely. We know that Valve has been working with the likes of Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye ready for the Steam Deck release but it's not entirely clear how (or even if?) it's working right now.

So if you've been eagerly awaiting it, now might be your chance to actually try it out properly before the full release. On Linux you will need the community-built Proton GE, since Valve's official Proton gets stuck on the loading screen. All game modes appear to work just fine.

How to install Proton GE on Linux to try it? With the latest version here's what to do:

  1. Download the Proton-6.14-GE-2.tar.gz file from the release notes.
  2. If this folder does not exist, create it: ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/
  3. Extract the archive downloaded in Step 1, and place the contents into the above directory.
  4. Restart Steam if it's open which refreshes the Steam Play list for Proton-6.14-GE-2 to show up.
  5. Right click on your game, go to Properties, Compatibility and ensure the box is ticked named "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool" then select it from the dropdown box that appears.

With my own testing I have come across three main issues:

  1. Stuttering. Like a lot of Windows games run through Proton, it needs to build up a shader cache. It's far from ideal when you first start playing with it stuttering all over the place. Once it's built up, it seems performance is much better. Hopefully Valve will build up a cache for people to download in Steam like other games.
  2. In-game chat doesn't work, it just seems to disconnect repeatedly.
  3. It really doesn't like MangoHud. Something about to just makes it freeze up repeatedly. Tried through many runs, with the only difference being MangoHud and it just causes weird freezing behaviour every time it's on.

The Open Beta on Steam lasts until August 16 at 12:00 PDT / 19:00 UTC.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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21 comments
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TheRiddick Aug 13, 2021
Look at the EAC log files generated in the prefix folder. If its downloading the wine64 eac files correctly or at least checking with wine64 files then it may be working.
StalePopcorn Aug 13, 2021
I would pre-order but I'm not going to hope this still works on final release. I'd rather pay full price and know it works.
Liam Dawe Aug 13, 2021
Quoting: Leopardwiw, Valve doesn't build those pipelines. It is users.
Oh I'm aware, it was meant more as in it builds up on Valve's servers to send out.
StalePopcorn Aug 13, 2021
Quoting: DerRiddaThere is no magic happening with Squad.
Squad works…
Wait, wait, wait…Squad works in Proton!?!?

EDIT: It apparently does!


Last edited by StalePopcorn on 13 August 2021 at 6:45 am UTC
Lofty Aug 13, 2021
Quoting: StalePopcorn
Quoting: DerRiddaThere is no magic happening with Squad.
Squad works…
Wait, wait, wait…Squad works in Proton!?!?

EDIT: It apparently does!

This is a game i really want to try out on Linux, but given the cost of the game and the 'working for now' status of proton, im going to wait until EAC is officially endorsed as supported by Valve.
Spyker Aug 14, 2021
I tried the free open beta actually available and while it launches without issue, it's completely unplayable for me.
Each time I start a game I get disconnected after a few seconds/minutes.
Maggy Aug 14, 2021
Was working for me yesterday, played for a good few hours.

today its unplayable, however I can be in a "lobby" with friends for ages, but as soon as you start a campaign, ...disconnect.

somethings changed in the last few hours I think.
slaapliedje Aug 14, 2021
@Liam
I have to ask, at what point do you just start making posts that say 'This game does not work in Proton or Native'? Ha, I mean it's getting to the point where a warning that something is unlikely to work vs all the 'this works now, and this works now!' Yup, I think we've finally gotten to the point where if it doesn't work in Wine, it'll work in Proton. Sure there are still the few stragglers here and there. And those that are 'well it works, you just have to do some sourcery...' but could you even imagine being at this stage when Steam first landed on Linux? Or like in 2010? It's insanely good progress.
udekmp69 Aug 14, 2021
Quoting: MaggyWas working for me yesterday, played for a good few hours.

today its unplayable, however I can be in a "lobby" with friends for ages, but as soon as you start a campaign, ...disconnect.

somethings changed in the last few hours I think.

Yup. Same thing happened to me last night.
inckie Aug 21, 2021
Quoting: DerRiddaThere is no magic happening with Squad.
Squad works because the EAC CDN explicitly contains a wine64 binary for that game.
Yes, EAC detects that it is running in Wine and attempts to download the appropriate binary.
If the developers didn't "tick the box" for that it is likely that EAC will not work in the future with B4B.

Where does this information actually comes from ?

I have never seen anyone officially confirm this.


Last edited by inckie on 21 August 2021 at 11:32 am UTC
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