Playing Guild Wars 2 on Linux - Performance optimizations and more.

[Nevin Kiludan.2639]

I try to add GW2 into Steam in a way that I can use the Steam Overlay, Steam Broadcasting and Steam Link with Steam Controller to work. Has anyone got this working and which are the steps to take to get this running in a way that I am able to play GW2 via Steam Link on my TV?

Having said this, I have performance issues with this version. I mean, in the past I could e.g. set the CPU governor to performance and FPS almost doubled, Currently I have no effect at all and with Ryzen 3800X + GTX1070 the performance should be higher than 15-20FPS or? --> SOLVED: Disable FSYNC and enable ESYNC

On the other hand, the Lutris version of GW2 does add to Steam but suddenly misses Steam Overlay and therefore Steam Link features. Additionally, having added GW2 to Steam arcdps is no longer working, too.

I did clean install both versions, but it looks like each one has its issues to prevent me from playing it via Steam Controller. Do you have any ideas how each of those issues can be fixed or even all of them?

[Nevin Kiludan.2639]

~~I think the massive FPS drop was related to export WINEESYNC=1 and export WINEFSYNC=1. I get in The Eye of the North at Auren's place FSYNC 30 FPS and with ESYNC = 67 FPS. Looks like FSYNC has some issues with GW2. ~~

Now after installing the latest Kernel and Nvidia patches I get pretty stable 70-80 FPS and even improved graphics rendering in GW2. The postprocessing = high setting no longer makes the game look blurry anymore. It really looks and performs better than ever. - NICE!

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

@Nevin Kiludan.2639 said:~~I think the massive FPS drop was related to export WINEESYNC=1 and export WINEFSYNC=1. I get in The Eye of the North at Auren's place FSYNC 30 FPS and with ESYNC = 67 FPS. Looks like FSYNC has some issues with GW2. ~~

Are you sure the Kernel you were using had the fsync patched in? Because the game performs at half performance without both *syncs.

[ZenAge.4863]

Big Thanks to ArmoredVehicle for this project! It's pathetic that Linux is still undermined to this day, at least valve had some common sense to jump on this wagon ;D

Anyways, I would just like to point out a few things.

1) All of the links you posted that are in the google drive are inaccessible (at least to me, from multiple locations) and have been last time (1 year ago) that I tried to download the package. It just says "Unable to connect, can’t establish a connection to the server at drive.google.com." The only packages that are accessible are the ones stored in your FTP server. Nvm, got it to work from another location. Last time it was a problem with the download not starting when I pressed "Download Anyways" in google drive.2) The MD5 Checksums do not match. I have only checked the Intel package from your FTP, FrontPage=dfaaa13b2ea47fe0ad3213fba25dc0d9 MyTerminal=43f75ba60aef6112b3f5199d5ccb98dc Have you forgotten to update those, or should I be worried? :) Oof, nvm, looks like I need some more coffee. The checksum mismatch was due to a corrupt download (twice)... Intel one is looking good.3) I can traverse your FTP directories, including the SSH folder containing strange, distorted IMG files. :)4) If possible can you please update the legacy packages, and also host them on your FTP server - for people like me stuck on old hardware... really keen to play :)5) The GitHub installer maintained by liberodark shows last update to the packages was 16 months ago, sitting at v1.9.1. Your FTP shows v2.0.0.

Thanks again for the amazing work you have done, and to everyone for providing their tweaks and tests! <3

[Suzumiya.3049]

@Hell Nirvana.9045 said:

@Barabeam.4638 said:

@Hell Nirvana.9045 said:Does anyone have experience running both GW2Hook (essentially ReShade) and arcdps simultaneously?I'm moving from Windows to Manjaro soon, and wondering whether I have to make a choice which to drop.

Edit: The DLL files I have to use arcdps and GW2Hook together is to name arcdps as d3d9.dll, grab d3d9_chainload.dll linked on deltaconnected's website for ReShade, and GW2Hook as ReShade64.dll

Hi, to be honest I haven't tried to run GW2Hook on linux, but I am using a vkBasalt (

https://github.com/DadSchoorse/vkBasalt

) which is described as: ("vkBasalt is a Vulkan post processing layer to enhance the visual graphics of games"). It has its own modifiers, and it can be configured to use Reshade shaders. It doesn't have a GUI, so I had to do a lot of tinkering to link things properly and set up the graphics to my liking :)

Edit: There is a GUI application that can be used to configure vkBasalt to your liking (

https://github.com/benjamimgois/goverlay

), it can also configure Mangohud which is an overlay that can display fps, temps, cores utilization and more. I haven't tried it yet though and this is why I forgot to mention it.

The reason I use GW2Hook as my ReShade version is the UI bypass. I don't believe it's done right anywhere else...

Is it legal to use GW2Hook?

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

@"ZenAge.4863" said:Big Thanks to ArmoredVehicle for this project! It's pathetic that Linux is still undermined to this day, at least valve had some common sense to jump on this wagon ;D

Anyways, I would just like to point out a few things.

1) All of the links you posted that are in the google drive are inaccessible (at least to me, from multiple locations) and have been last time (1 year ago) that I tried to download the package. It just says "Unable to connect, can’t establish a connection to the server at drive.google.com." The only packages that are accessible are the ones stored in your FTP server. Nvm, got it to work from another location. Last time it was a problem with the download not starting when I pressed "Download Anyways" in google drive.2) The MD5 Checksums do not match. I have only checked the Intel package from your FTP, FrontPage=dfaaa13b2ea47fe0ad3213fba25dc0d9 MyTerminal=43f75ba60aef6112b3f5199d5ccb98dc Have you forgotten to update those, or should I be worried? :)3) I can traverse your FTP directories, including the SSH folder containing strange, distorted IMG files. :)4) If possible can you please update the legacy packages, and also host them on your FTP server - for people like me stuck on old hardware... really keen to play :)5) The GitHub installer maintained by liberodark shows last update to the packages was 16 months ago, sitting at v1.9.1. Your FTP shows v2.0.0.

Thanks again for the amazing work you have done, and to everyone for providing their tweaks and tests! <3

1) I put up the ftp server a few months ago because of that google issue, you're not the only one not able to access it, I recall someone else had the issue a few pages back.

2) I downloaded the package from the server and ran the MD5 test, the result is the same as on the front page. Have you tried re-downloading it?

3) That was a small slip up, I've recently updated the server's package and it didn't retain all settings, I found out the entire system was explorable only a day later (woops). The image files, they're a mini photo shoot for my dad for a local magazine, sending large pictures by email is not very practical, the SSH folder is meant to be for private stuff I transfer from home to work. :)

4) The legacy packages are basically stuck at Wine 2.21 due to some patches incompatible with modern Wine versions, without these patches the game would run slower. I've uploaded them on the FTP server, link is here: ftp://jrugia.com:1025/GW2_Legacy_Packages/

5) I'll try to get in touch with liberodark. His 1.9.1 package is from last December which could use a little update.

[Hell Nirvana.9045]

@Suzumiya.3049 said:

@Hell Nirvana.9045 said:

@Barabeam.4638 said:

@Hell Nirvana.9045 said:Does anyone have experience running both GW2Hook (essentially ReShade) and arcdps simultaneously?I'm moving from Windows to Manjaro soon, and wondering whether I have to make a choice which to drop.

Edit: The DLL files I have to use arcdps and GW2Hook together is to name arcdps as d3d9.dll, grab d3d9_chainload.dll linked on deltaconnected's website for ReShade, and GW2Hook as ReShade64.dll

Hi, to be honest I haven't tried to run GW2Hook on linux, but I am using a vkBasalt (

https://github.com/DadSchoorse/vkBasalt

) which is described as: ("vkBasalt is a Vulkan post processing layer to enhance the visual graphics of games"). It has its own modifiers, and it can be configured to use Reshade shaders. It doesn't have a GUI, so I had to do a lot of tinkering to link things properly and set up the graphics to my liking :)

Edit: There is a GUI application that can be used to configure vkBasalt to your liking (

https://github.com/benjamimgois/goverlay

), it can also configure Mangohud which is an overlay that can display fps, temps, cores utilization and more. I haven't tried it yet though and this is why I forgot to mention it.

The reason I use GW2Hook as my ReShade version is the UI bypass. I don't believe it's done right anywhere else...

Is it legal to use GW2Hook?

As legal as ReShade. It's just that, but built for GW2, specifically.

[Nevin Kiludan.2639]

@"ArmoredVehicle.2849" said:1) I put up the ftp server a few months ago because of that google issue, you're not the only one not able to access it, I recall someone else had the issue a few pages back.2) I downloaded the package from the server and ran the MD5 test, the result is the same as on the front page. Have you tried re-downloading it?

Just install IPFS Browser extensions and share the files' URI:

• IPFS Browser Extensions

As an example I uploaded the current 2.0.0 releases (right click links and open in new tab eg.):

• Intel/AMD Package: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmZqN31Jkc5fTnvgGPuHw8zkd3VekCJVXQqrX9yrvkqTyT (MD5: dfaaa13b2ea47fe0ad3213fba25dc0d9)
• Nvidia Package: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmRqKfQ2r4byj52h6EfZQWyubSh329aUt9yb6SGVaQXeHs (MD5: ede81dfe415302b68c04c47c847f4147)

Some free alternatives would be:

• Gitea (FOSS self-hosting)
• Gitlab
• Github

I can help you set one up just PM me your Steam, Matrix or Jami ID if you like.

[ZenAge.4863]

@"ArmoredVehicle.2849" said:2) I downloaded the package from the server and ran the MD5 test, the result is the same as on the front page. Have you tried re-downloading it?Yes, my bad, it was due to a corrupt download...3) That was a small slip up, I've recently updated the server's package and it didn't retain all settings, I found out the entire system was explorable only a day later (woops). The image files, they're a mini photo shoot for my dad for a local magazine, sending large pictures by email is not very practical, the SSH folder is meant to be for private stuff I transfer from home to work. :)Haha... woops... sorry for snooping around, I thought I might find the legacy package so I looked around and realized it's all open. And "by strange & distorted images" I was referring to them being cut up on my side when I viewed them... I wasn't referring to the person or anything... haha... phew... what a morning... :# =)

[Skotlex.7580]

@"ArmoredVehicle.2849" said:Thanks for the feedback, the only workaround to this would be to apply the staging patches without the affected patch. I need to read a bit how to exclude some of the staging patches in order still provide the good stuff that works (such as esync). Might take some time though but I'll keep it in mind.

I've managed to trace this down to the Wine patchset called "user32-rawinput-mouse-experimental", and the specific patch that introduces this issue is "user32-rawinput-mouse-experimental/0001-winex11.drv-Add-support-for-absolute-RawMotion-event.patch". However, it makes me feel like the issue might be in the xf86_input_joystick driver, which initializes the device as InitValuatorAxisStruct() with the Absolute variable because the joystick IS reporting absolute values, however handling axis information invokes xf86PostMotionEvent() with the parameter is_absolute=0 (meaning, relative).

I think I'll report this to the wine bug-tracker, as it seem the calls are being done correctly by the joystick driver.

EDIT: Wine bugzilla report https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=49163

[DoktorBaum.3017]

Hello, if I may ask, as a total idiot: there is a strange problem that occurs randomly: the gw2 window gets the Linux bar (with date, time etc) on top of it. If i do anything regarding graphics, tabbing out or closing the game, the whole linux UI dies. Then i can only shut down the PC. If i then reboot, the OS wont boot until like 15 minutes after that. This graphic thing happens with any ingame graphic settings.if any of you could tell me what i can do in any of these steps, i would appreciate it. Anything helps, i am very unknowledgeable :)

[Torben.5628]

@"Berobad.4536" said:I've been probing around with the available cpu schedulers a bit and the difference of running around in Amnoon is quite big(12 Core Ryzen 3900X with Navi on 4K)

on both FSync and ESync:
Default CFS:	35-55 FPS
Zen Patched CFS:	40-65 FPS
PDS:	30-55 FPS

~~ ~~MuQSS and BMQ don't seem to like FSync
MuQSS ESync:	30-45 FPS
MuQSS FSync:	15-35 FPS
BMQ Esync:	35-55 FPS
BMQ Fsync:	30-45 FPS

~~ ~~

But for BMQ limiting GW2 to 6 cores with taskset -c 0-5 does bring it to 40-60 FPS.

GPU was forced to high for this test (2GHz shader clock), but a short test againt auto (1.3 to 1.8 GHz shader clock) showed no difference in fps.cpufreq set to performance

~~ ~~

So at least for an high core Ryzen with AMD GPU the -zen kernels with patched CFS scheduler seem to be the best choice for Guild Wars 2

Could you please add some more info? Like, is using this kernel from the arch repo and booting to it enough? https://www.archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/linux-zen/Or do you need to apply some sort of patch yourself to that in order to get the "Zen Patched CFS"?

thanks.

[fluffypaws.2860]

With the news Windows 2020 May update it's now shipping with it's own Linux Kernel

"Meet the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2, and TerminalWhen Microsoft introduced the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) as part of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update in 2016, it was a shock to see Microsoft embrace Linux after opposing it for so many years. But the original Windows Subsystem for Linux was hobbled by the fact that it wasn’t running a real Linux kernel. Certain kernel modules, such as device drivers, were unable to run"

"With WSL2, Linux now runs on its own kernel, in what’s essentially a virtual machine. If you use Linux, you’ll also be able to place your Linux files within the Linux root file system, and access them via Windows File Explorer inside the Linux virtual hard disk. Consequently, performance is expected to improve, one of the key upgrades for WSL2 over WSL1."

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3526472/windows-10-20h1-review-microsoft-boosts-linux-and-your-phone-but-cortana-slips-hard.html

@ArmoredVehicle.2849Does that mean i can essentially run GW2 in the virtual Linux System embedded within the Windows 2020 May update once i install a distro ?

[Hell Nirvana.9045]

Does anyone know of any Linux alternative solutions for Yolomouse? I have trouble losing my cursor when there's a lot of effects on-screen.

[Knox.3748]

Is this version using dx9 or 12 ? If its , is it possible to install the 12 mod and is there any benefits ?

[ArmoredVehicle.2849]

@Knox.3748 said:Is this version using dx9 or 12 ? If its , is it possible to install the 12 mod and is there any benefits ?

It uses DXVK which is DX9 to Vulkan. d912pxy might work with VKD3D but I never tried it.Having said that, (so far) all the DX12 games I tried in Wine perform slower than DXVK's DX11 implementation, I don't think GW2 would fair any better.

@Mack.3045 said:@ArmoredVehicle.2849Does that mean i can essentially run GW2 in the virtual Linux System embedded within the Windows 2020 May update once i install a distro ?

Most probably you can with some tinkering, wouldn't count the game as playable though.

[Knox.3748]

@ArmoredVehicle.2849 said:

@Knox.3748 said:Is this version using dx9 or 12 ? If its , is it possible to install the 12 mod and is there any benefits ?

It uses DXVK which is DX9 to Vulkan. d912pxy might work with VKD3D but I never tried it.Having said that, (so far) all the DX12 games I tried in Wine perform slower than DXVK's DX11 implementation, I don't think GW2 would fair any better.

@Mack.3045 said:@ArmoredVehicle.2849Does that mean i can essentially run GW2 in the virtual Linux System embedded within the Windows 2020 May update once i install a distro ?

Most probably you can with some tinkering, wouldn't count the game as playable though.

Thank you :)

[ZenAge.4863]

Hey, would appreciate an opinion on this:

I am using the legacy Intel/AMD packages and so far it has worked wonders... I get something between a stable 25fps to a whopping 45fps depending on location/activity,

However...

For some reason I get this constant pattern of ~5mins running smooth, ~1min low fps... then repeats. I have noticed during these fps drops that my fan speed alternates.Now I have already overrided the cpu into max-freq/performance mode, however every time the FPS drops to around 8fps, the cpu runs quiet, and as soon as the FPS restores to about 25fps, it speeds up again.

I have a feeling that the system is still throttling the CPU despite the overrides? Maybe it's a heat issue? I would imagine the system would force a cooldown/throttle when it sees the CPU running at max freq/temps.

Would appreciate some input/advice as it kinda makes it unplayable for me because every ~5mins I drop back to 8fps... even though I get up to 45fps in the same, region/environment. I tested this running around in circles in heart of the mists, and it just alternates between 8fps and 30fps, with an approximately fixed time-span.

[Barabeam.4638]

@"ZenAge.4863" said:

I have a feeling that the system is still throttling the CPU despite the overrides? Maybe it's a heat issue? I would imagine the system would force a cooldown/throttle when it sees the CPU running at max freq/temps.

Hi, if it is a software/hardware issue, I don't think I can help, but if it is thermal I might have ideas. Do you keep track of your thermals while playing? you can use dxvk_hud or mango_hud. I prefer mango, here is the link: https://github.com/flightlessmango/MangoHud

setup should be easy, and so is running it. in the website you will have details on how to configure it to your liking. There is an option to log data to a file so you can analyze them or even create your own benchmarks. There are also videos on youtube that walkthrough you through that. i.e.

Is it a laptop or desktop PC? I assume providing hardware information could make helping you much easier. Anyway, having a clear track of the thermals can help you make sure whether the issue is related to thermals or not :).

[Gamperuss.3910]

Is there currently any difference in running Lutris version or packages provided here?

[ZenAge.4863]

So I used watch -n 1 sensors to monitor my temps and indeed the temps are running near critical levels...

acpitz-acpi-0Adapter: ACPI interfacetemp1:       +102.0°C  (crit = +127.0°C)coretemp-isa-0000Adapter: ISA adapterPackage id 0: +102.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)Core 0:        +98.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)Core 1:       +100.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)BAT1-acpi-0Adapter: ACPI interfacein0:          12.01 V 

This led me down a long and annoying rabbit hole of trying to force my fan to run full speed constantly (I don't mind the noise).

did sensors-detect & then pwmconfig which just shows "There are no pwm-capable sensor modules installed". Tried about 10+ forum posts regarding this issue and the workarounds but nothing worked. I have a Lenovo G580 and it has some kind of noise-control feature, which according to an 8 year old unresolved lenovo forum thread, is uncontrollable. The forum was funny to read tho, they have horrible support, won't ever buy another lenovo product lol.

It could be some firmware I have to install but I can't be bothered to go any deeper right now..

So not sure what I can do, if I could control the fan speeds I could force it to cool better and prevent it from jumping up and down which seems to cause the FPS drops.

[Barabeam.4638]

@ZenAge.4863 said:So I used watch -n 1 sensors to monitor my temps and indeed the temps are running near critical levels...

The temperatures are indeed very high!

If I were you I would do the following:1- Open up the device and clean it from any dust that might impede heat transfer.2- Check if there is a way to change the connections of the fans manually to make it run at full speed if you don't mind the noise as you mentioned. But this can be risky if you don't have the skills and tools to clip and soldier and so on.

In my case, when I used to game on my older laptop. It was already aged and it was always hooked up to a monitor. so I made openings in the bottom shell of the device that gives access to the CPU, GPU and rams. Then I made exact matching openings on a shoebox. And I made side openings on the shoebox for air inlet, then I stuck fans. That dropped the temperatures for me by like 20 degrees or so. I also removed the DVD-Drive and made it an empty space on purpose to help air escape :)

Software wise, the forums of the distribution you are using would be your best bet. It seems like you have already done your homework though.

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

@"ZenAge.4863" said:So I used watch -n 1 sensors to monitor my temps and indeed the temps are running near critical levels...

acpitz-acpi-0Adapter: ACPI interfacetemp1:       +102.0°C  (crit = +127.0°C)coretemp-isa-0000Adapter: ISA adapterPackage id 0: +102.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)Core 0:        +98.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)Core 1:       +100.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)BAT1-acpi-0Adapter: ACPI interfacein0:          12.01 V 

This led me down a long and annoying rabbit hole of trying to force my fan to run full speed constantly (I don't mind the noise).

did sensors-detect & then pwmconfig which just shows "There are no pwm-capable sensor modules installed". Tried about 10+ forum posts regarding this issue and the workarounds but nothing worked. I have a Lenovo G580 and it has some kind of noise-control feature, which according to an 8 year old unresolved lenovo forum thread, is uncontrollable. The forum was funny to read tho, they have horrible support, won't ever buy another lenovo product lol.

It could be some firmware I have to install but I can't be bothered to go any deeper right now..

So not sure what I can do, if I could control the fan speeds I could force it to cool better and prevent it from jumping up and down which seems to cause the FPS drops.

well, if you can't turn it off in the bios, you are basically out of luck. Some people do manipulate bios files, but that is nothing anyone without a deep understanding should ever try.

[Appipapi.7019]

@draconicrose.6213 said:I have tried stuff myself, but I honestly can't get it to show up over the game and I'm very much out of my depth with it. Sorry to keep bothering you but it's the ONLY thing that makes me miss Windows.

I am actualy one step further. I can make it show up over the game, no problem.But it is not transparent, and therefore not realy usable as an overlay.im using manjaro,, patched today, and basicly the default configuration that lutris has,ge-protonified-4.9 for me both nofshack and the usual work that way.when i start the executable with lutris "start exe inside wine prefix", or when i just run/home/username/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine/ge-protonified-nofshack-4.9-x86_64/bin/wine GW2TacO.exe

[ZenAge.4863]

@Barabeam.4638 said:In my case, when I used to game on my older laptop. It was already aged and it was always hooked up to a monitor. so I made openings in the bottom shell of the device that gives access to the CPU, GPU and rams. Then I made exact matching openings on a shoebox. And I made side openings on the shoebox for air inlet, then I stuck fans. That dropped the temperatures for me by like 20 degrees or so. I also removed the DVD-Drive and made it an empty space on purpose to help air escape :)

Thanks for the ideas, will work on improving ventilation. :)

---

Sooo... it turns out this isn't related to temperatures! I was playing on a cold night and my CPU temps were in the 80s way lower than thresholds and it was still continuously dropping my fps down to 5. The pattern is consistent. Approximately 3-5mins of playable 30-40fps, then sudden drop down to 5-6fps for 40secs, then repeat. It's actually becoming annoying now and difficult to play like this.

It doesn't matter where I am in-game or what i'm doing. I could be standing in an empty zone in some instance at 45fps doing nothing and every 3mins get these fps drops... I have no idea whats happening/what the CPU logic is thinking. I dunno, the issue is consistent so there should be a link somewhere to something..

---

On another note... I finished war eternal the other night... and as soon as I threw the spear at kralkatoriks heart, just before the cinematic, my entire game froze. I could hear the sounds/music, but apart from that was permanently frozen...

When I logged back in, I was back to the start of that mission (obviously) and it didn't register that I finished it. So I did it again... and same thing happened.. froze as soon as I pierce the heart. Atm I am unable to finish LWS4 because of this... Just curious if this is a wine issue, is my game corrupt, or is this a gw2 issue others are having too unrelated to wine? I am going to try play the mission again with a party member, see if that helps...

UPDATEOn the 3rd playthrough I tried with a party member, they were able to watch the cinematic but mine was frozen. They got kicked shortly after.On the 4th playthrough and 2 game file rechecks, I tried finishing the mission under the dxvk package (not legacy), FPS was terrible but I managed to get through and finally finished the mission.