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Running Protolife on Steam Deck
By Martoon
Quick guide to install the needed compatibility layer to run Protolife on Steam Deck.
   
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Created by
Martoon
Online
Category: Modding or Configuration
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
8 Dec, 2022 @ 12:03pm
8 Dec, 2022 @ 12:33pm
100 Unique Visitors
1 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Install the Kawariki compatibility tool 
Set game to use Kawariki, and run! 
Comments
Install the Kawariki compatibility tool
Restart in Desktop Mode.

Open Konsole (click Application Launcher in lower left corner, System > Konsole).

At the prompt, type:
cd /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d

Then:
git clone https://github.com/Orochimarufan/Kawariki.git

You should see it pulling down files.

Return to Gaming Mode.
Set game to use Kawariki, and run!
In Gaming Mode, install Protolife from your library if you haven't already.

On the Protolife launch page in your library, navigate to the gear icon on the right, and select "Properties...".

Navigate to Compatibility on the left, then on the right, check the box for "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool". From the drop-down under that, select Kawariki 2.0.

Back out of this menu to the Protolife launch page, and select "Play".

The first time the game runs, you'll see Kawariki installing some files. It should finish in a minute or two, then the game will run.

In the game, go to OPTIONS > GRAPHICS... . Select SCALE: x2, FULLSCREEN: ON, WINDOW SIZE: 1280x800. I find I have to toggle FULLSCREEN OFF then ON again each time I run the game. If you have unnaturally good vision, you can try SCALE: x1 (but be ready for some tiny text).



6 Comments
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Repsack 24 Sep, 2024 @ 12:52am 
Just to confirm, right now a few minutes ago i checked that my compatibility tool i still set to that same ULWGL-Proto-8.0-5-3 thing and i Just went in and completed level 1 as a test. My screen settings are still like i outlined them in step A).

The Kawariki files are still placed in the folder here /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d
But i am not sure if this has any impact since i am using a different compatibility tool
Repsack 24 Sep, 2024 @ 12:51am 
Just in case someone wanted to follow this in the future, the way i managed to download the right SDK file was to follow that link, but then i just had to Log In, and it uses your Steam user anyway. That way i was able to get the 159 SDK.

These next to things i did, i do not recall the order i did them in, and it might have an impact for you.

A) i went back to my Hub to try and check what settings the game had. I set Fullscreen to OFF and set the resolution to 1280x720

B) I tried to set the Compatibility options to "Force use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool", which you had to do anyway to use Kawariki, but then from the dropdown i tried to use this instead: ULWGL-Proton-8.0-5-3

After doing both of those things, i tried launching from the hub again and i entered into a level in the game. Finally i just unplugged the hub and managed to play on the native screen.
Martoon  [author] 23 Sep, 2024 @ 6:46am 
@Repsack Yup, looks like it broke with the latest Kawariki. You should be able to fix it with the following:

cd /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/Kawariki
git checkout 42df7a6
Martoon  [author] 23 Sep, 2024 @ 5:39am 
@Repsack Hmm. It still runs on my Deck with Kawariki, and never asked me to download Steamworks. But I installed almost two years ago, and I see the Kawariki GitHub repo has had several updates since then. I'm wondering if the latest version breaks something?

When I get a chance, I'll try pulling the latest version, and see if I get the same issue you're seeing. If so, the "fix" would probably just be to git checkout the version I currently have.
Repsack 22 Sep, 2024 @ 6:11am 
Update. Turns out i could download the SDK, but after starting things i am now getting a different error message that seems to point to "runtime.py".

I did try to go away from using Kawariki to launch it and tried another of the built in compatibility options. Suddenly things worked! I managed to play using mouse and keyboard by having the steamdeck plugged into a Hub i have. Although when next i tried to launch without any hub, i am just met with only the menu sound and a white square screen on top of things
Repsack 21 Sep, 2024 @ 9:05am 
I get an error message when trying to launch the game:
"
For Steamworks to function with the Kawariki NW.js runtime,
a matching version of the Steamworks redistributable libraries must be used.

Please download Steamworks SDK 1.59 from valve:
https://partner.steamgames.com/downloads/steamworks_sdk_159.zip

And place it in /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/Kawariki/dist/steamworks, then click OK
"

The link itself does not take me to any specific download file, but i Can navigate to the page for "Steamworks SDK" but i am not finding any download link, since Steam just gives me a runaround instead. What can i do to obtain that sdk file?