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Steam error when launching games
gotouu21 Nov 30, 2019
Hello, I'm having some trouble with steam on my debian machine.
Basically the problem is that when I launch a game for example GTA V it gives me an error code:

/media/user/4688849E88848DDD/Steam/steamapps/common/Grand Theft Auto V/PlayGTAV.exe: 1: /media/user/4688849E88848DDD/Steam/steamapps/common/Grand Theft Auto V/PlayGTAV.exe: MZ����@��: not found
/media/user/4688849E88848DDD/Steam/steamapps/common/Grand Theft Auto V/PlayGTAV.exe: 1: /media/user/4688849E88848DDD/Steam/steamapps/common/Grand Theft Auto V/PlayGTAV.exe: Syntax error: end of file unexpected (expecting ")")
Ages of Empires 2 HD:
/media/user/4688849E88848DDD/Steam/steamapps/common/Age2HD/Launcher.exe: 1: /media/user/4688849E88848DDD/Steam/steamapps/common/Age2HD/Launcher.exe: MZ������: not found
/media/user/4688849E88848DDD/Steam/steamapps/common/Age2HD/Launcher.exe: 3: /media/user/4688849E88848DDD/Steam/steamapps/common/Age2HD/Launcher.exe: Syntax error: word unexpected (expecting ")")

While other games like Bioshock Infinite & CSGO launch normally.

Linux debian 4.19.0-6-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.67-2+deb10u2 (2019-11-11) x86_64 GNU/Linux

I'm a linux newb but as far as I can understand steam launches games with a syntax error?
How can I fix this?

I have tried verifying integrity of games files, re-downloading.
tuubi Nov 30, 2019
I don't have the solution, but seems like both of the games that fail to launch are Windows games, and Linux native games run just fine. And the games are installed on an external drive of some sort? Maybe it's the combination of Steam Play / Proton and that specific file system?
gotouu21 Nov 30, 2019
QuoteI don't have the solution, but seems like both of the games that fail to launch are Windows games, and Linux native games run just fine. And the games are installed on an external drive of some sort? Maybe it's the combination of Steam Play / Proton and that specific file system?

Yes the games are installed on my other hard drive, it's formatted as an NTFS not ext4, could that be the problem?
steam is using proton 4-11-9
SirBubbles Nov 30, 2019
hey gotouu21, you definitely want to move that game to an ext4/linux compatible filesystem. If need be, reinstall the game entirely to a linux partition and try running it again.
gotouu21 Nov 30, 2019
Quoting: SirBubbleshey gotouu21, you definitely want to move that game to an ext4/linux compatible filesystem. If need be, reinstall the game entirely to a linux partition and try running it again.

Nope, didn't help. :(
/home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: 1: /home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: MZ����@P��: not found
/home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: 2: /home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: Syntax error: ")" unexpected
whizse Nov 30, 2019
Are you running Proton off the NTFS partition? If so, try moving it too.
SirBubbles Nov 30, 2019
Quoting: gotouu21
Quoting: SirBubbleshey gotouu21, you definitely want to move that game to an ext4/linux compatible filesystem. If need be, reinstall the game entirely to a linux partition and try running it again.

Nope, didn't help. :(
/home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: 1: /home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: MZ����@P��: not found
/home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: 2: /home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: Syntax error: ")" unexpected

Can you give me more info on how you're trying to run this game? Through the steam gui, from terminal? If from terminal, it doesn't appear that you're trying to use wine or steam. Is that the case?
gotouu21 Nov 30, 2019
Quoting: SirBubbles
Quoting: gotouu21
Quoting: SirBubbleshey gotouu21, you definitely want to move that game to an ext4/linux compatible filesystem. If need be, reinstall the game entirely to a linux partition and try running it again.

Nope, didn't help. :(
/home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: 1: /home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: MZ����@P��: not found
/home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: 2: /home/m5a78lm/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Moon Base Alpha/Binaries/Win32/MoonBaseAlphaGame.exe: Syntax error: ")" unexpected

Can you give me more info on how you're trying to run this game? Through the steam gui, from terminal? If from terminal, it doesn't appear that you're trying to use wine or steam. Is that the case?

Okay, So I have just fixed it.
The problem was that steam installed proton to my NTFS drive. I reformatted that drive to ext4(now theres another problem I can't seem to mount it as rw in fstab), I set my default download drive as /home/(user) which is the same drive that holds my OS, changed steam settings("Run with other titles to newest version of proton), re-downloaded the game to the local drive(/home/(user), then steam started downloading proton to that drive and the game launched just fine.

Thanks everyone!
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