I AM TAKING IT AS GRANTED THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY INSTALLED YOUR Distro PROPERLY AND THUS THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY INSTALLED ALL THE NEEDED SOFTWARE (OBVIOUS examples are the Nvidia and Intel graphics drivers).


IF you have done so AND followed my instruction POINT BY POINT then you will find NO problem or malfunction with your game!

Now:
We live in the future, therefore Linux is somewhat easier to use and understand, even if still not that friendly to the End User as even just Windows XP was long ago.



So, good old Proton v. 5.13-6 seems to work well with a lot of old games (especially Source Engine ones, even if not perfectly), so I have tried it here too.
THIS VERSION OF PROTON WORKS.
Others may work "better", but this is the bare minimum of "good".

On Windows 10 I get WELL ABOVE 200fps all the time (3413x1920p on my 2560x1440p thanks to Nvidia's Control Panel), unlocked, and I also have the "FPS Counter And Post Processing Effects[www.nexusmods.com]" mod installed to make the game prettier (MORE ABOUT THIS MOD AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE).
[link backup]


I HAVE A Ryzen 5600x AND A RTX 2070.

With Proton 5.13-6 the game uses not more than 11% of the CPU and 24% of the GPU on the ship's control bridge area and struggles to break 130fps, as reported by MangoHUD.

When I will have more time I'll fix the guide (I am currently ill and busy).

Thanks to this post[forum.lastepoch.com] I have found out a way to make Proton (at least with some games, like Dead Space 1) run at an higher framerate instead of capping at 60.



" DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 %command% "

This is the command to use in the game's Launch Options.

"DXVK" is the translation layer from DirectX to Vulkan, "Frame Rate" speaks for itself, and "=60" is your desired framerate, while "%command%" is black magic which I don't understand why it should be added to the line.

In my case I have a 2k screen at 144hz, so I put " DXVK_FRAME_RATE=144 %command% " in the launch options, and it actually works.

The game does not have physics problems, the hardware usage % doesn't show "overuse" (as I will explain later on this post) and the mod works, even if its in-game UI still doesn't.

My Distro (Fedora KDE) has forced Vsyc when games are fullscreen (I don't know how it works at this point in time, and doesn't matter, THE IMPORTANT FACT IS THAT IT EXISTS).

Dead Space is a framerate-dependent game, meaning that some physics are tied to it.

I have tested other versions of Proton (to check the version applied onto the game, either "go to Properties and then Compatibility" OR " /Steam/steamapps/compatdata/17470/ ", name "config_info"), and Proton v. 6.3-8 is the last one to allow FPS to raise above 60.
Without limiting the FPS to 144 (by fullscreening it) it shot up above 500, giving the character problems moving (was slower), and messing with other physics and game properties, like the menu's speed.


This version also gives slightly more fps than Proton 5.13-6, being much closer to 144fps in the same area, but using 15-20% of the CPU and 38-40% of the GPU (in my opinion, if you care about using as little resources as possible, then run with P5 instead of P6).


ALL other Proton versions (7.0-6; 8.0-5; 9.0-4) don't allow the framerate to go above 60, but still allow you to edit game setting WITHOUT CRASHING.
(I haven't checked the performance for these, since I first want a 144hz experiences and THEN a modded visuals experience.)





Proton Experimental and Proton Hotfix managed to make the mod work, but with problems.
The mod's effects present, but I can't edit neither the mod's settings nor the games' (the mod freezes my mouse, while trying to apply graphical changes crashes the game).


Forcing the game out of fullscreen by either editing the file itself (found it " /Steam/steamapps/compatdata/17470/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Electronic Arts/Dead Space/" ) or using a previous Proton version gives an hilarious graphical glitch, and doesn't raise the fps above 60 either.




I do not know how to edit Proton, so this is all that I can do.
If there are news about this, AND I remember to edit this page, I'll let you all know.

So, after this, Save Games.
You can transfer them from Windows to Linux even tho this game does NOT have Steam Cloud.

To get the Saved Data in Windows 10 from your Linux install (IF they are both on the same machine, otherwise use a USB) go into your Windows' Documents folder, look for the "Dead Space" folder WITHIN the "Electronic Arts" folder. There are two, you need the one WITHOUT the joypad_example.txt file inside.

Now you found the ds_slot_xy.deadspacesaved files.


(Now back to Linux, IF you had to use a USB to transfer data from another machine!)
From your Steam Library right-click Dead Space, Properties, Installed Files and "Browse...".

After the partitions of your Distro, you WILL find the game's folder in " /Steam/steamapps/common/Dead Space/ ". You now HAVE to replace the section before this and paste in this instead:
" /Steam/steamapps/compatdata/17470/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/My Documents/Electronic Arts/Dead Space/ "
HERE is where your Linux' saved data is stored for Dead Space 1 (where you obviously have to paste the files from the other folder).

I advice you to backup the files every once in a while to be sure to not lose them (the unforeseen does not make itself known beforehand).



Tutorial done, the game WILL work now.