Unofficial Linux Support Thread
Hi all! So if you're a Linux gamer you may have heard that DBD is partially working on Linux. To be clear, it's only currently working through the Epic Games Store version of the game. So if you don't own that version, you can buy it but it's no longer available for free unfortunately. I'll try to respond to anyone having support issues in this thread, and I'll also edit this top-level post with new information as it comes out.
Important Note: BHVR has not made any official announcement regarding Dead By Daylight on Linux. They have said they will launch for Steam Deck at some point but have given no timelines. Just because this method is working now does not mean that it always will. Please don't bother BHVR with support issues as they are NOT currently supporting Dead By Daylight on Linux.
Please, if you have support issues, post them here and I will try to help!
DO NOT ASK BHVR FOR HELP ON LINUX RELATED ISSUES
Note: I have heard anecdotally that DBD is working now on Steam (as of 2023-04-30) but I have not tested it yet. Some steps may still be necessary to get DBD working on Steam, but I'm not sure yet what those are. I'll update this guide when/if those steps become apparently and/or necessary.
So anyway, now that that's out of the way, here are the guides:
How to get Dead By Daylight working through the Epic Games Store on Linux
First of all, you need Heroic Games Launcher to run the Epic Games Store on your Linux system.
- Download Heroic Games Launcher here: https://heroicgameslauncher.com
NOTE: Linux is case sensitive and also doesn't like spaces, so you might want to copy this folder somewhere else easier to remember, and remove spaces and capitalization from the folder's name -- but you shouldn't necessarily have to do this, it's just easier in my opinion.
Once Heroic is installed you need to configure a few things:
- On the left-side menu bar click Wine Manager
- Download a version of Wine-GE-Proton or Proton-GE-Proton, the higher in the list the newer it is, so the top option is a good choice.
- Now make sure you're logged in to the Epic Games Store, if you're not, click Manage Accounts and follow the on-screen prompts. You may need to use the Alternate Login which requires you to login and then copy just the part after authenticationCode
- Now that you're logged in, click Library in the Heroic menu and search for Dead By Daylight (you might have to select Epic or All from the options in the top bar for it to show up)
- Once Dead By Daylight is installing, click on the picture of the game (not the gear icon) to go to the Game Page, you should pretty much always do this since there are some settings available in the Game Page that are not accessible otherwise.
- Now click Settings. In the settings make sure that a Wine Version is selected (the box will be empty if Heroic can't find any Wine versions). Make sure all the boxes are NOT ticked, all options OFF. You can adjust settings under Other to your liking after successfully launching the game for the first time.
- You're almost there, just one more thing we need to do. Go back to the Game Page (click the back arrow, or from your library click the picture of the game NOT the gear icon). Either click on Install Path to open the path to the game files or navigate there yourself if that doesn't work.
- Open a terminal window and navigate to ~/Games/Heroic/DeadByDaylight/DeadByDaylight/Binaries/EGS and type the following command: ln -s ../../../EasyAntiCheat/
- This creates a linked directory to the EasyAntiCheat folder in the game's root directory. So any changes from the game updating will automatically be copied to the linked folder here in the EGS directory.
- Go back to your library and launch the game! You should successfully make it to the menu screen! Congratulations! Enjoy!
If you get an error saying EAC client cannot be instantiated
In Heroic go to your Library and then click the Dead By Daylight game picture NOT the gear icon. From the Game Page click the three vertical dots in the top right corner and select Force Update If Available then re-launch the game and it should be fixed.
If that still doesn't fix it, go back to the Game Page and click the three dots and this time select Verify and Repair. I find sometimes Heroic glitches out and won't actually run the Verify and Repair command properly. If that's the case, exit Heroic by clicking the tray icon and select Quit. When you launch Heroic and try the above instructions again it should have some green text saying Repairing Game, please wait.
I don't want to play on the Epic Games Store version, I'll lose all my progress because I've only ever played on Steam!
Well then you're in luck! Go create a BHVR Account here: https://account.bhvr.com/
Once you're there, you'll see three cards on the right side for Epic Games Store, Steam, and Stadia. Just link your accounts following the on-screen instructions.
Note: It can take a little while before your accounts are linked so be patient, it'll happen eventually.
How do I increase my FPS from 60 to 120 on Linux?
In Heroic either click on or navigate to the path in the DBD Game Page (click the picture, not the gear icon). The default path for it is ~/Games/Heroic/Prefixes/Dead by Daylight/
From that folder navigate the following folders: Dead by Daylight => pfx => drive_c => users now at this point it might differ, it will either be "steamuser" or the name of your home directory on your system but it won't be the "Public" folder that's in there, so open whatever folder isn't called "Public".
Continuing from there: users => <<your username or steamuser>> => AppData => Local => DeadByDaylight => Saved => Config => EGS
Phew, that was a long journey but we're there. Now open Engine.ini in any text editor and add this text to the bottom:
[/script/engine.engine]
bSmoothFrameRate=false
MinSmoothedFrameRate=5
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=120
bUseVSync=false
Close that file and now open GameUserSettings.ini and search for "vsync" it's on line 79 for me and change the value from True to False so the line looks like this:
bUseVSync=False
That's it, now you should be capped at 120 FPS instead of 60 FPS. Enjoy being able to actually hit a great skill check every time with that buttery smooth framerate!
Comments
Just to be sure nothing is going weird with your setup, I would recommend deleting the folder in your DeadByDaylight folder in your Prefixes directory and then in Heroic Wine Manager uninstall all installed versions, then install the newest version of PROTON-GE which is currently Proton-GE-Proton7-55 as I'm writing this. Make sure Dead By Daylight is using that version of Proton, and make sure you run Force Game Update If Available and also Verify And Repair before launching the game. It should install Easy Anti Cheat and then launch the game and you should be able to get into the main menu. From there try playing a bot game to see that everything works correctly.
Sadly, it still doesn't work. But here's a question: Where exactly do you launch the game from? I've tried researching elsewhere on my own, and saw suggestions that you don't launch the game from the Heroic Games Launch, that you're supposed to add Heroic to Steam as a non-Steam game and then launch Heroic from Gaming Mode. (This doesn't work for me either, as I just get an infinite loading screen when I try to launch Heroic from Steam Deck gaming mode.)
And here's something interesting. Just for giggles I tried launching DBD in my Steam, and I can actually get into the menus and play a tutorial match, but I can't get into a public match. I just get immediately DC'd after the offerings are shown. I don't suppose there's a way around that, is there? I've tried forcing the compatibilty layer and selecting Proton-GE-Proton7-55, but to no avail.
I launch from Heroic directly, and as I said the only thing to do on my side is to enable EAC Runtime in Heroic for DBD, and create the symbolic link.
I would suggest you find reliable and competent people you can trust, and have them look at your setup and try to fix it for you with a program like RustDesk (do not let people you do not trust connect to your system though, be careful).
just FYI, DbD has been working the past few days on Steam just fine. how long it will last I don't know, but figured I should let you know just in case.
Any relevant log to show that it is working? I have doubts it works, sometimes EAC doesn't just work.
me? myself and others have been playing a ton the past few days with no issues.
look at me. i'm the log now.
edit check the latest posts in the Steam Deck thread:
https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3416491#Comment_3416491
It can work temporarily, because EAC doesn't work. That's why I'm asking for relevant EAC log showing it works. I'm working with Proton since it was created, I have lot of experience with EAC games under Proton, and I have a lot of experience with people claiming things without verifying what they say. Checking logs is simple and will confirm all is in order and it is not just a fluke, as it has been a lot on many game under Proton where people say "it's working now" but it was just a temporary EAC issue.
you do whatever makes you happy. the point is, the game is playable for ppl who want to play it.
It's not about doing things to make me happy, it is about confirming what is going on... but write whatever makes you happy I guess...
We'll see ;)
it is, though.
@CrypticGirl just wants to play DbD. she's having a tough time getting Heroic working. well, for right now at least, she could be playing on Steam. who knows what tomorrow will bring. maybe BHVR blocks it again.
but right now, she could play. that was the point. for whatever else you want, go check yourself then.
It's kind of pointless now. I was hoping to be able to play it while I was on vacation, but never did get it to work. Now I'm back home at my PC. Sadly I don't know anyone I'd trust well enough to do the RustDesk thing...
It is now officially announced! Nice Thanks BHVR
Quick question
Anyone else playing on steamdeck unable to chat in the ingame chat box?
I'm playing in desktop mode and I click chat and hit steam button + x to open the keyboard but nothing pops up. And the keyboard even works in desktop mode when I'm not trying to chat on DBD
Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance
Did anyone encounter problems running the Epic Games version using Heroic on the Steam Deck?
I've done countless reinstalls, and different proton versions, with EAC enabled in the settings, and disabled, tried copying the EasyAntiCheat folder like the old solution, but nothing seems to work.
I either get an error for EAC client cannot be instantiated, or "Could not locate game executable entry in the catalogue. (DeadByDaylight-EGS-Shipping.exe)
Or is there a currently working guide for the Epic version on Steam Deck? Thanks in advance
yes, I use manjaro linux pc , I also have this question. But i first use lutris launch epic game stores, then start dbd
Fantastic. First epic works - then they get steam to work - no epic doesn't work anymore.
I'm not gonna pay twice. I'm done with this game since they don't care about fixing the epic version
Is there any new way to run Epic Games version, or is it dead for Linux as it was after making Steam one working OotB?
Hi there,
I've tried this as of today, and unfortunatelly it's not working for me. I'm wondering if it still does for you?
I am on a Steam Deck, SteamOS 3.5.7, Heroic 2.13.0, I tried Wine-GE-latest and Wine-GE-Proton7-43.
After following the instructions, I get the EAC splash screen the game starts up, until the point where it asks you to press the Space Bar to continue, then it says EAC can not be instantiated.
I tried repairing the game files, twice, with a restart of heroic as well. I did attach the log from Heroic, interesting part is probably
GameFlow: Error: [UClientStartupInitializer::InitComplete] Init failed at StartEAC with error FailedEAC. Initialization steps will restart (restart count: 1)
GameFlow: Error: [UStartupInitializer::SetLoadProgress] Progress completed: Complete, success: False, startTime: 2024-02-24T11:11:18.083Z, endTime: 2024-02-24T11:11:18.083Z, progress complete in 0.000000 seconds
GUI: Warning: Popup Sequencer: Error popup requested (not displayed yet): Title="QUIT GAME" Message="EAC client cannot be instantiated." Priority=0
GUI: Warning: Popup Sequencer: Error popup displayed: Title="QUIT GAME" Message="EAC client cannot be instantiated." Priority=0
LogOnline: Warning: Exited SplashContextComponent::OnActionFail Splash screen error: 11 Error Code: 0
Any ideas? Many Thanks
Brill-lastPlay.logHi, I have a question is there a way to make dbd work on linux(on EGS)?