Homecoming Launcher - Linux Advice

[Sonarr]

    I installed the new Homecoming launcher.  It worked right out of the box.  Here's how it happened…

    I followed along with Tahquitz's first post, but when I got to the Step By Step portion, since I don't use Lutris, I did it this way instead: on the command line, in my home directory:
    

WINEPREFIX=~/.wineHCLX wineboot
env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineHCLX winecfg

    
    (The WINEPREFIX allows you to set up different .wine directories, each with their own specific tweaks, depending upon which games or programs you're using at any given time.  The default WINEPREFIX is simply .wine.  For all others, you need to invoke "env WINEPREFIX" on the leading edge of your command to run it in the desired environment.)
    
    Using winecfg, I changed the Windows version to Windows 10, clicked Apply then OK.  Then I copied hcinstall.exe to the appropriate 😄 drive, then moved to that directory, and ran the installer
    

cp /home/<USER>/Downloads/hcinstall.exe /home/<USER>/.wineHCLX/drive_c/
cd .wineHCLX/drive_c/
env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineHCLX wine hcinstall.exe

    
    (Here, you will replace <USER> with your own user name.  But you knew that!)
    
    I went with the installer's defaults for install location.  It installed the game with no errors, and even created a desktop icon.  When the game was Ready, I fired it up, and there it was.  No fuss!  No fanfare!  Well okay, technically the login splash page IS fanfare, what with that music and all.  🙂
    
    When I want to start the launcher, I just need to do this:
 

env WINEPREFIX=~/.wineHCLX wine /home/<USER>/.wineHCL0/drive_c/Games/Homecoming/bin/launcher.exe

 

    The game now runs perfectly!  But this method did not prompt me to import my files from my previous installations, so I had to copy them over, myself.  First, I wanted to keep using my own maps -- yeah, I COULD just pop "Reveal" in every zone, but I have my own reasons.  My current maps all live at

 

/home/<USER>/.wineCOH/drive_c/Games/coh/<ACCOUNT NAME>/maps/

       
    And I need to copy them over to
    

/home/<USER>/.wineHCL0/drive_c/Games/Homecoming/accounts/<ACCOUNT NAME>/maps/

       
    The first note here is that <ACCOUNT NAME> is where the name of my CoH/Homecoming account goes, the one I use to login to the game.  The second note is that <ACCOUNT NAME> lives directly in the coh directory in my Island Rum installation, but for the Homecoming launcher, it lives in the "accounts" directory.  My costumes directory was more straightforward however, so it just lives directly in the game directory

 

/home/<USER>/.wineHCL0/drive_c/Games/Homecoming/costumes

 

    Additionally, I have a few mods that live in the data directory, which I just copied in directly.

 

/home/<USER>/.wineHCL0/drive_c/Games/Homecoming/accounts/<ACCOUNT NAME>/data/sound/
/home/<USER>/.wineHCL0/drive_c/Games/Homecoming/accounts/<ACCOUNT NAME>/data/texture_library/

 

    I copied my keybinds and AE directories straight across as well.  I haven't tested that yet, but I imagine they correspond.  I have not yet, however, found the files containing settings for my video, UI, and other Options settings.  I do know that they are stored as .json files for Homecoming.
    
    Well, that's it.  I tried to make this not very wordy, and I failed.  I hope it helps someone though!

 

-S

[n0qtrnL]

I've had easy success running the installer, launcher, and game with proton. No effort required at all, in this case. Just make sure you install proton from steam. I wrote a quick and dirty script to invoke the latest installed version of proton to run whatever I want. Be sure to change STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH to wherever you'd like to store your pfx data.

 

#!/bin/env bash

get_proton() {
    local base=$HOME/.steam/root/steamapps/common
    local newist="$(find $base/Proton* -maxdepth 0 -type d | sort -k2Vr | head -1)"
    proton="$newist/proton"
}

export STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH=/nvme0/proton/pfx
get_proton
"$proton" runinprefix "$1"

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by n0qtrnL

[BurningDezire]

Thanks for this guide. I got it working on Manjaro and it runs much smoother than on windows. The maps that always lagged on windows no longer lag. 

[Suicide Squirrel]

hey i know i'm late to the party on this but HOLY MOTHER OF RAINBOW LOVE! i never in my life thought that i would be able to game on linux. tyvm to @klypso your guide is the top result when googling "coh on linux" although i used this guide here for instructions, i had most of what i needed already from installing rust and overwatch. thank you both for your time and effort. i'd buy you each a round if i could because games were the last stronghold windows had on me and it is falling hard, thanks to people like you.

[BurningDezire]

Confirmed working on Manjaro 21.1.6

Used commands below to install Wine and Lutris.

• sudo pacman -Syu wine winetricks wine-mono wine_gecko vulkan-icd-loader lib32-vulkan-icd-loader vkd3d lib32-vkd3d gvfs
• sudo pacman -S lutris

Edited October 29, 2021 by BurningDezire

[Ohsirus]

On 9/3/2021 at 11:47 AM, n0qtrnL said:

I've had easy success running the installer, launcher, and game with proton. No effort required at all, in this case. Just make sure you install proton from steam. I wrote a quick and dirty script to invoke the latest installed version of proton to run whatever I want. Be sure to change STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH to wherever you'd like to store your pfx data.

 

#!/bin/env bash

get_proton() {
    local base=$HOME/.steam/root/steamapps/common
    local newist="$(find $base/Proton* -maxdepth 0 -type d | sort -k2Vr | head -1)"
    proton="$newist/proton"
}

export STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH=/nvme0/proton/pfx
get_proton
"$proton" runinprefix "$1"

 

Thank you, will be needing this when I get my Steam Deck.

[BurningDezire]

Has anyone got this working on Debian? I am using Manjaro as my daily driver and works smooth as butter on it but I would like to switch to a stable distro instead of a rolling one. Would like to use Debian and CoH is a MUST!

[lemming]

21 hours ago, BurningDezire said:

Has anyone got this working on Debian? I am using Manjaro as my daily driver and works smooth as butter on it but I would like to switch to a stable distro instead of a rolling one. Would like to use Debian and CoH is a MUST!

I have been using it on PopOS which is based off Ubuntu which is branched off Debian, so you should be able to get it going just by following the basic instructions.  I don't recall having to do anything special to get it working.

[BurningDezire]

46 minutes ago, lemming said:

I have been using it on PopOS which is based off Ubuntu which is branched off Debian, so you should be able to get it going just by following the basic instructions.  I don't recall having to do anything special to get it working.

I hope so. Want to get it running on a non-rolling release/stable distro.

[Greycat]

Probably not as needed of a "hey, this works," but I decided (a) to throw a linux distro on a system I threw together (that (b) needed an old, old graphics card to run, since I'm not spending $50000000 on one,) and then out of boredom (c) run it on my 4k TV and (D) install COH....

 

So, running fairly painlessly on a 16 Gb Ryzen 7 1700, Radeon 260x (yes. 2013 vintage, I think? I *did* buy the card and run COH natively on it for a long time...) on Pop!_OS 21.04 via Lutris (it and wine installed via Pop OS's store/installer/thing.) First run, WINE wanted to install something, but (a) it was a postage stamp on a 55" TV and (b) the actual window saying "yes, install this" vanished. Restart 9since I needed a bios update anyway) and retrying let it install the files it needed. (.net, I want to say.) Worked fine, though eye blindingly bright and tiny. :)

[Ohsirus]

Anybody manage to test it on a Steam Deck yet?

[Botzoman]

Just got my Steam Deck a few days ago, gonna try to give n0qtrnL's steps with proton a go soon, though I'll admit to not being Linux proficient, so it'll likely take me some work.

 

EDIT IN PROGRESS: Added the launcher as a nonsteam game in desktop mode, ( not sure if needed or not) used the experimental mode for proton. Launched so far, just waiting to see if I can * run* the game past the install, or if I'll need to run the executable for CoH separate to this past the launcher once updated. Currently installing 8% currently.

 

EDIT: It's alive! Needs control tweaking or me plugging in a KB+mouse at some point.

 

All good so far, though upon 2nd launch it looks like I'll need to find where it installed the launcher then add *that* to steam, otherwise it'll just try to install everything again

 

Upon exiting it looks like.

 

EDIT 3! : Off to bed for now. Linux file setups are funky especially when using compatibility stuff. Still looking for the *thing* to launch in order to avoid a re-install every time I boot the launcher natively. Please again note- I'm not familiar with Linux and it could be something very simple I'm over looking here.

 

EDIT 4!: found the correct launcher to add to steam so it doesn't reinstall the game again via /home/deck/. local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/3748631877/pfx/drive_c/Games/Homecoming/bin/win64/

 

I have a feeling the numbered section may vary on the user, but I'm hoping what I have here can help others. I am launching this all with the steamOS half of things after adding the launcher in desktop mode. also using Proton Experimental. again, new to the whole linux thing so I apologize if I'm being vague at all.
 

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Botzoman

[Ohsirus]

CoH has gamepad support so you could/should be able to use the sticks for movement.

[Botzoman]

Yeah the gamepad stuff once enabled was working no problem. It'll take some control set up to get it to play the way I'd want but it's 100% playable especially since the steam deck itself can let you use the buttons as keybinds, on top of the fact that if I had a dock or usb splitter that would let me use a KB+mouse on it anyway. It was easier to get running (without windows) than I thought it was going to be despite my lack of Linux knowledge, and once going, ran at a fairly respectable level vs my laptop, ultra mode with shadows being the only real fps killer being 28-40ish fps vs just recommended settings hitting 60 sitting by people in AP. I'd expect a Rikti raid to be framey but then again it's not a easy thing to run well, even on modern systems. I grow more impressed by this device by the day.

[Ohsirus]

13 hours ago, Botzoman said:

Yeah the gamepad stuff once enabled was working no problem. It'll take some control set up to get it to play the way I'd want but it's 100% playable especially since the steam deck itself can let you use the buttons as keybinds, on top of the fact that if I had a dock or usb splitter that would let me use a KB+mouse on it anyway. It was easier to get running (without windows) than I thought it was going to be despite my lack of Linux knowledge, and once going, ran at a fairly respectable level vs my laptop, ultra mode with shadows being the only real fps killer being 28-40ish fps vs just recommended settings hitting 60 sitting by people in AP. I'd expect a Rikti raid to be framey but then again it's not a easy thing to run well, even on modern systems. I grow more impressed by this device by the day.

Can't wait for Q3!!

[Ohsirus]

On 4/20/2022 at 8:59 PM, Botzoman said:

Yeah the gamepad stuff once enabled was working no problem. It'll take some control set up to get it to play the way I'd want but it's 100% playable especially since the steam deck itself can let you use the buttons as keybinds, on top of the fact that if I had a dock or usb splitter that would let me use a KB+mouse on it anyway. It was easier to get running (without windows) than I thought it was going to be despite my lack of Linux knowledge, and once going, ran at a fairly respectable level vs my laptop, ultra mode with shadows being the only real fps killer being 28-40ish fps vs just recommended settings hitting 60 sitting by people in AP. I'd expect a Rikti raid to be framey but then again it's not a easy thing to run well, even on modern systems. I grow more impressed by this device by the day.

Got my Steam Deck last week. Haven't installed CoH yet, curious if you have tried/discovered anything new? 

[Ohsirus]

On 4/18/2022 at 11:03 PM, Botzoman said:

/home/deck/. local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/3748631877/pfx/drive_c/Games/Homecoming/bin/win64/

Which .exe are you using as mine won't launch and the original just redownloads it all.

[Toxis]

On 7/15/2022 at 11:53 AM, Ohsirus said:

Which .exe are you using as mine won't launch and the original just redownloads it all.

 Had the same issue at first. 

 

Picked launcher.exe and swapped from proton experimental to 7.0-3

 

Got an agreement pop up the first time then it worked.

[Ohsirus]

On 7/16/2022 at 9:18 PM, Toxis said:

 Had the same issue at first. 

 

Picked launcher.exe and swapped from proton experimental to 7.0-3

 

Got an agreement pop up the first time then it worked.

 

Yeah, I figured it out. It was looking like it needed to redownload the files, but once clicked it does the file check and pops ready to play. 

[Psyonico]

I'm suddenly having trouble getting the launcher to run in Ubuntu 22.04. The problem started when I installed Steam on my computer.  Ever since then, Lutris just freezes when I try to run Homecoming.  I tried turning on and off steam play compatibility and tried changing my Proton from experimental to 7.0-3 like Toxis suggested, but am still not having any luck.  Anyone else experience this sort of problem?

[Psyonico]

21 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

I'm suddenly having trouble getting the launcher to run in Ubuntu 22.04. The problem started when I installed Steam on my computer.  Ever since then, Lutris just freezes when I try to run Homecoming.  I tried turning on and off steam play compatibility and tried changing my Proton from experimental to 7.0-3 like Toxis suggested, but am still not having any luck.  Anyone else experience this sort of problem?

Ok, so I just did some fiddling around with it and apparently its not Homecoming Launcher, its lutris, because when I run the wine command with the path to the launcher file it launches just fine.

[theunforgivn81]

On 4/18/2022 at 11:03 PM, Botzoman said:

Just got my Steam Deck a few days ago, gonna try to give n0qtrnL's steps with proton a go soon, though I'll admit to not being Linux proficient, so it'll likely take me some work.

 

EDIT IN PROGRESS: Added the launcher as a nonsteam game in desktop mode, ( not sure if needed or not) used the experimental mode for proton. Launched so far, just waiting to see if I can * run* the game past the install, or if I'll need to run the executable for CoH separate to this past the launcher once updated. Currently installing 8% currently.

 

EDIT: It's alive! Needs control tweaking or me plugging in a KB+mouse at some point.

 

All good so far, though upon 2nd launch it looks like I'll need to find where it installed the launcher then add *that* to steam, otherwise it'll just try to install everything again

 

Upon exiting it looks like.

 

EDIT 3! : Off to bed for now. Linux file setups are funky especially when using compatibility stuff. Still looking for the *thing* to launch in order to avoid a re-install every time I boot the launcher natively. Please again note- I'm not familiar with Linux and it could be something very simple I'm over looking here.

 

EDIT 4!: found the correct launcher to add to steam so it doesn't reinstall the game again via /home/deck/. local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/3748631877/pfx/drive_c/Games/Homecoming/bin/win64/

 

I have a feeling the numbered section may vary on the user, but I'm hoping what I have here can help others. I am launching this all with the steamOS half of things after adding the launcher in desktop mode. also using Proton Experimental. again, new to the whole linux thing so I apologize if I'm being vague at all.
 

 

 

I can verify that this works.  As explained, add the installer first, install the game, then remove it and add the actual launcher from the install directory.

[Botzoman]

While I'll admit I've been lurking other servers on my Steam Deck these last few months, everything has been generally great. It takes a bit of keybinding setup ( and in steam options binding for stuff like the back tab buttons) to really get things rolling and I'd suggest toons that don't need some sort of click area aoe to get going ( unless you want to set up a general aoe macro for it) Large events will still bring it down to it's knees at points ( holiday events and Rikti Raids come to mind) but it's still well running enough that it hasn't been an issue vs my PC. I still prefer the dock with keyboard and mouse but if you're nuts you shouldn't have any issue getting a toon rolling ( have Energy/Regen Brute on other lands which has played fine enough on just buttons and analog control) Masterminds likely take the most work to get functional on a controller, but I think it can be done. Considering that controls is the uphill battle here, I'd consider the way it runs a success.

 

TLDR: Game runs fine once you get the proper set up paths, Melee plays best ( IMO) Ranged 2nd, and MMs need the most work though I wouldn't play a MM without prep anyway unless I wanted chaos. When Docked, no different from PC other than the slowdown for holiday events and Rikti Raids. ( You may want to change some bindings via the steam deck controller interface first vs just trying to bind " raw" buttons).

[Morrigna]

Are questions allowed here?  I have the game running on Opensuse Tumbleweed on my desktop and I have one installed on Garuda Linux(Arch based) both runs perfect.  But I can't change the gamma on either. Is there a way to change the brightness, it's a little too dark for me. Any fixes or workarounds?

[SecularSteve]

Ditto here (on the OLED), even got my own thread with a short summary of my method: