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Ubisoft Connect on Steam Deck guide with SD Card access

By - | Views: 145,643

A guide that I've seen quite a few comments ask for across YouTube and our social media pages, so here's how to get the Ubisoft Connect launcher working on Steam Deck. You might want to do this if you own games on Ubisoft but not directly on Steam.

For this, I'm using my tried and tested method that I used for the Epic Games Store originally, by adding the installer as a Non-Steam Game. You could also use Bottles, but I'll talk more about that later. First up, here's the video:

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Text Guide:

  1. Go into Desktop Mode. Power button - > Switch to Desktop.
  2. Head to Ubisoft Connect and hit the big blue download button.
  3. In your Steam Library, add a Non-Steam game and select the downloaded exe file from the Downloads folder.
  4. Right click it in your Steam Library and go to Properties -> Compatibility, tick the Force box and select Proton 7 or Proton Experimental.
  5. Then run it as normal and let it install.
  6. Once installed, don't launch it. Right click on it in your Steam Library again and go -> Properties -> change the Target to the newly installed file. Do this by hitting Browse and go to "/home/deck/.steam/root/steamapps/compatdata/" and find the folder with a longer number than usual. You can also find the right one by expanding the box to see what folder was modified today. Then go into these folders to select the right exe file "/pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Ubisoft/Ubisoft Game Launcher/UbisoftConnect.exe".

For SD Card access, you also need one minor adjustment. In the same Properties menu, there's a Launch Options box, you need to add this into the text area: STEAM_COMPAT_MOUNTS=/run/media/mmcblk0p1/ %command%

This tells Proton it can use the SD Card and where it is. Ensure the path is the same as your SD Card, you can find it listed as "Primary" in the Dolphin file manager at the bottom of the left panel.

A special important note: ensure you've set Ubisoft Connect to minimize when closed in the settings. In Gaming Mode on the Steam Deck, you need to quickly close Ubisoft Connect once you hit Play on a game, otherwise Gamescope (the SteamOS compositor) gets confused on what to display and madly flashes between the launcher and the game. A problem shared by many launchers right now. UPDATE: thanks to a comment, you can get Ubisoft Connect to auto-launch a specific game by adding uplay://launch/*gameID*/0 to the end of your Steam launch options for the app (ID list here) which gets around the flashing issue but only works for a specific game at a time.


The question is: why didn't I use Bottles like I showed for the EA App on Steam Deck guide? Well, I thought Ubisoft Connect was broken with Bottles but it's actually not so feel free to use that way instead. For some reason, Ubisoft Connect just takes a very long time to properly load in my account details (it's fine for others) but this is still a valid guide if you don't wish to use Bottles and prefer just directly using Steam and Proton together.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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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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15 comments
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slaapliedje Mar 30, 2022
Ubisoft needs to just get over themselves like EA have, and release the newer Assassin's Creed games on Steam...
Goggo66 Mar 30, 2022
You could use the launcher's command line option to autostart the game, e.g.

Assassin's Creed II: uplay://launch/4/0
Assassin's Creed Unity: uplay://launch/720/0

(those are the two games I have currently installed on my machine)
Liam Dawe Mar 30, 2022
Quoting: Goggo66You could use the launcher's command line option to autostart the game, e.g.

Assassin's Creed II: uplay://launch/4/0
Assassin's Creed Unity: uplay://launch/720/0

(those are the two games I have currently installed on my machine)
It won't help unless that also auto-hides the launcher, does it?
Goggo66 Mar 30, 2022
On my desktop computer (note that I don't have a Steamdeck...yet!) I just see a very short flash of a window until the launcher gets minimised to the tray. Don't know if it works on the Steamdeck and with gamescope...

In any case, here is a more extensive list of game IDs:
https://github.com/Haoose/UPLAY_GAME_ID
Liam Dawe Mar 30, 2022
Quoting: Goggo66On my desktop computer (note that I don't have a Steamdeck...yet!) I just see a very short flash of a window until the launcher gets minimised to the tray. Don't know if it works on the Steamdeck and with gamescope...

In any case, here is a more extensive list of game IDs:
https://github.com/Haoose/UPLAY_GAME_ID
Oh my gosh, after a bit of fiddling getting the right place, it can totally work! Thanks for that. One game at a time though but hey better than nothing and a step forward.
Appelsin Mar 31, 2022
Quoting: slaapliedjeUbisoft needs to just get over themselves like EA have, and release the newer Assassin's Creed games on Steam...

Funny thing is, they only recently stopped releasing on Steam. E.g. assassins creed odyssey is on steam, but not Valhalla.

Either way, both of them should get over themselves and release the games *properly* on steam, I.e. game sans stupid EA/UC client. Buuuuuut the clients are probably for our benefit, to enhance the game experience, if I’m not mistaken 🙄
slaapliedje Mar 31, 2022
Quoting: Appelsin
Quoting: slaapliedjeUbisoft needs to just get over themselves like EA have, and release the newer Assassin's Creed games on Steam...

Funny thing is, they only recently stopped releasing on Steam. E.g. assassins creed odyssey is on steam, but not Valhalla.

Either way, both of them should get over themselves and release the games *properly* on steam, I.e. game sans stupid EA/UC client. Buuuuuut the clients are probably for our benefit, to enhance the game experience, if I’m not mistaken 🙄
Agreed.

Though I think Odyssey is a recent addition. They have been releasing them exclusive to Uplay... UbiConnect... whatever they are calling it this month... like changing the name magically doesn't make it crap...

Guess they would rather try and keep the 30% until they make enough to pass it off to Steam?
Roadapathy Jun 6, 2022
Which game launcher? There are a few .exe files here.

UbisoftGameLauncher64.exe?
UbisoftGameLauncher.exe?
UbisoftConnect.exe?
upc.exe?
Liam Dawe Jun 6, 2022
Quoting: RoadapathyWhich game launcher? There are a few .exe files here.

UbisoftGameLauncher64.exe?
UbisoftGameLauncher.exe?
UbisoftConnect.exe?
upc.exe?
The article tells you the one to use….UbisoftConnect.exe.
Roadapathy Jun 7, 2022
Quoting: Liam DaweThe article tells you the one to use….UbisoftConnect.exe.

Almost! Yes, I tried the UbisoftConnect.exe and thought it had to be wrong because it wasn't working but I'm not using Steam Deck, I'm using Ubuntu 22.04. Thanks for the guide. I'll keep poking around.
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