Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™ and Firestorm™

Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™ and Firestorm™

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Ultimate Linux / Steam Deck Guide
By t2d | no.SkiLLz @ Nobara
The ultimate guide for playing Tiberian Sun on Linux and Steam Deck.
   
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Patching bugs and multiplayer
The game contains several bugs and inconveniences. We can fix some of them by applying the TSPatch from cncnet.org, an avid Command and Conquer multiplayer community. This patch also fixes single player bugs.

NOTE: Steam Deck users will need to boot into the desktop first to enjoy the beautiful KDE Plasma.

  1. Download the game from Steam.

  2. Download TSPatch.exe from cncnet.org/tiberian-sun / direct link[downloads.cncnet.org]

  3. Download cnc-ddraw.zip from Github[github.com]

  4. Open TSPatch.exe with one of these options
    1. via Wine (you need to navigate to the games folder manually, see step 7)
    2. via Protontricks Launcher (prefered, detects location)

  5. Install the patch into the game's folder.

  6. Close the window of the cncnet launcher.

  7. Open the game's folder to access it's files
    1. Open the game in your Steam library
    2. Click the cog in the upper right corner
    3. > Manage
    4. > Browse local files

  8. Unpack cnc-ddraw.zip into the game directory.

  9. Open the game's properties and tell Wine to load our patched ddraw.dll
    1. Open the game in your Steam library
    2. Click the cog in the upper right corner
    3. > Properties...
    4. Modify the launch options to
      WINEDLLOVERRIDES="ddraw=n,b" %command%

Some notes

It should work with basic wine, but Protontricks Launcher is recommended. It is included in the Protontricks package, if your distribution provides it. Just select the game and it should start in it's prefix, which is the fenced "environment" for the game.

If you are unsure which program will open the TSPatch.exe, just right click on the file and select your preferred launcher from the "Open with" menu.

I may add some screenshots if needed.
Gamescope, for a better experience on desktops
If you haven't already, you really should check out gamescope[github.com].

It allows you to run a game in a sort of "virtual monitor" and can apply FSR 1.0 to any game. We will use it to do integer scaling, forced windowed mode and FSR.

Please do not use this on the Steam Deck!.

Even if this is what powers the Steam Deck, it is not recommended to use it as a launch parameter, just use the built-in features (triple dot button). It has the same functionality in an easy to access menu.

Modify the game's properties to use gamescope
  1. Open the game in your Steam library
  2. Click the cog in the upper right corner
  3. > Properties...
  4. Modify the launch options to
    WINEDLLOVERRIDES="ddraw=n,b" gamescope -w 640 -h 400 -- %command%

Apply the options you want

After setting these basic settings, we can add some cool features.
Adding these launch parameters between "gamescope" and "-- %command%".
They are separated by a space, the order doesn't matter.

  • Window size, note that this is optimized for 1440p and is a 3x scaling of the games resolution.
    -W 1920 -H 1200

  • FSR 1.0
    -U

  • Integer scaling
    -s integer

You can also add other parameters, have a look at "man gamescope"

In my case, this would result in the following launch parameters:
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="ddraw=n,b" gamescope -w 640 -h 400 -W 1920 -H 1200 -s integer -U -- %command%

Some note on Nvidia

Nvidia sucks. That's probably not news to you.

The problem is that gamescope has limited support for this tiny GPU manufacturer, or vice versa. It should work on newer drivers (>= 515, maybe later), but it also needs the enabled nvidia-drm.modeset=1 kernel module.

Better google it, I won't explain it here. Don't support bad companies next time you buy a GPU.

Steam Deck (WIP)
If there is a good Steam Deck controller layout, please leave me a comment.
It should provide some shortcuts via menus and a the mouse mapped to the touchpad.

Please tell me, if there is something else to add for the Steam Deck.
6 Comments
Chop Suey 19 Mar @ 7:39am 
Just a quick tip for you guys, if you use both touchpads set to control the mouse and have the the left one set for low sensitivity (the right one higher for sweepimg movements), clicking even the smallest units feels easy.
t2d | no.SkiLLz @ Nobara  [author] 14 Mar @ 5:11pm 
Then the CnCnet Launcher should do the trick. It has several options for graphics, but you might have to start it manually via. the CnCnet launcher - best with the Protontricks Launcher. At least until the gamefix does this automatically.
Majmudonche 14 Mar @ 3:43pm 
i didnt have problems launching ra2 but i had several scaling and res problems with it as for tib sun i managed to fix most of those scaling and res issues i had with ra2

it mostly involved playing around with certain settings, i still didnt manage to get it to work with gamescope tho. It refuses to launch when i pass it any res related launch options such as -W -H or gamescope -w 1920 -h 1080, it also refuses to launch with the fsr launch option
t2d | no.SkiLLz @ Nobara  [author] 14 Mar @ 1:39pm 
The problem is, that RA2 / YR will not launch (at least for me) if the launcher is installed. You have to launch the launcher EXE, but Steam does not. So my upcomming gamefix is needed.

You can omit installing the launcher and use cnc-ddraw, but you must add "renderer=opengl" to every entry for RA2 in the "ddraw.ini" that you install into the game folder.

I will open an issue about that in cnc-ddraw.
t2d | no.SkiLLz @ Nobara  [author] 14 Mar @ 1:32pm 
This is for Tiberian Sun and Firestrike.
I was working on a guide for RA2, and somehow a link for RA2 ended up here. Fixed.

It is pretty much the same with RA2, but I'm actually working on a gamefix that should end up in the next Proton-GE. The cnc-ddraw isn't exactly working for RA2 on Linux right now.

Just install the CnCnet launcher with the method here and configure it to use GDI as a renderer. This works best to my knowledge.
Majmudonche 14 Mar @ 9:55am 
this is for ra2 and tib sun correct?