Is there a way to play Doom 2016 in Linux without Steam?

[Choronzon33]

I own it through Steam and have it working great in Ubuntu. But I hate it needing to run through Steam and would prefer to get it working like Doom 3 does. For that all you do is copy the Windows files into a 32 bit wine prefix and install the official 1.3.1 patch from Id Software's servers. I got it through the Way Back Machine.

[ARMCoder]

On 3/12/2023 at 11:11 AM, Choronzon33 said:

I own it through Steam and have it working great in Ubuntu.

 

AFAIK, Doom 2016 is Windows only and Steam on Linux doesn't offer the option to install it. I'm a full-time Linux (Ubuntu) user... I've lost interest in Doom 2016 because it's too hard to me, but the need to dual-boot to Windows just in order to play it is, maybe, a contributing factor.

 

[Edward850]

6 hours ago, ARMCoder said:

AFAIK, Doom 2016 is Windows only and Steam on Linux doesn't offer the option to install it.

It most certainly does, given it's compatible with the Steam Deck. It seems you forgot about Proton.

 

On 3/13/2023 at 3:11 AM, Choronzon33 said:

I own it through Steam and have it working great in Ubuntu. But I hate it needing to run through Steam and would prefer to get it working like Doom 3 does.

Doom 3 was made before Steam even existed, and was only added by Steam supporting the CD key distribution, which is why you can separate the two. Doom 2016 has explicit dependency on the Steam client API as it was built around the current user features for achievements and multiplayer, which is thus why you cannot separate the two.

Edited April 10, 2023 by Edward850

[ARMCoder]

1 hour ago, Edward850 said:

It most certainly does, given it's compatible with the Steam Deck. It seems you forgot about Proton.

The only non-Linux game I managed to play on Ubuntu was X-wing using DOSBox, because GOG made it usable with no need to look around for additional steps. I think I was more patient with game setup in the past. Geez, I'm really getting old. 

[Edward850]

16 minutes ago, ARMCoder said:

The only non-Linux game I managed to play on Ubuntu was X-wing using DOSBox, because GOG made it usable with no need to look around for additional steps. I think I was more patient with game setup in the past. Geez, I'm really getting old. 

There's no additional steps with Steam, you just click install and the client installs and sets up Proton automatically, along with the game itself.

[ARMCoder]

15 hours ago, Edward850 said:

There's no additional steps with Steam, you just click install and the client installs and sets up Proton automatically, along with the game itself.

 

There's only a catch... you have to know that Proton exists in the first place, and then enable it for all titles in the settings menu. Very easy indeed but not obvious in any way. The Steam app for Linux could at least popup a hint dialogue to address those uninformed like me.

 

Thanks for you help!

 

Edit: I will try at first the Pharaoh (city building) game, as it's quite a smaller download. If I feel confident I may try Doom4 later!

Edited April 11, 2023 by ARMCoder

[Individualised]

38 minutes ago, ARMCoder said:

 

There's only a catch... you have to know that Proton exists in the first place, and then enable it for all titles in the settings menu. Very easy indeed but not obvious in any way. The Steam app for Linux could at least popup a hint dialogue to address those uninformed like me.

 

Thanks for you help!

 

Edit: I will try at first the Pharaoh (city building) game, as it's quite a smaller download. If I feel confident I may try Doom4 later!

Umm, no? I never had to do anything like that. Windows games on Steam through Proton is an absolutely seamless experience for me. You only have to manually enable it for non-Steam games.

[Edward850]

4 hours ago, ARMCoder said:

There's only a catch... you have to know that Proton exists in the first place, and then enable it for all titles in the settings menu.

I don't know if that it's different for the Steam Deck, but for me I didn't need to enable Proton, it was automatically used for any Windows only title. You just click install on the title and it works, nothing to configure.

Edited April 11, 2023 by Edward850

[Azuris]

14 hours ago, Edward850 said:

I don't know if that it's different for the Steam Deck, but for me I didn't need to enable Proton, it was automatically used for any Windows only title. You just click install on the title and it works, nothing to configure.

 

Could be an Option, i am running Steam on Linux Mint and when i first installed it, it was like you discribe.

But i wanted to see which Games of my Library run natively on Linux and clicked on the little Pinguin.

After that, i have to enable Proton manually for every Game and i was to lazy to search how you can change it.

 

It also autodetects your other Systems in the Network and wants to stream Games from your Main Machine (at least it wanted to do it on my small Machine runing in the living room).

 

But hey, what kind of "Work" is this, seven Clicks?

Right Click on Game

Left click on Properities

Left click on the Menu where Proton is

Left click on the Context Menu

Left click on choosing it.

Left click on OK.

Left click on install.

 

And most Stuff runs out of the Box, without messing around in Wine.

Ironically some older Windows Games run better on Linux and Proton than on Windows 10.

[Choronzon33]

Welp, thanks anyways guys. I originally installed Doom 2016 by copying it from my Windows 10 drive and onto another external drive. Then copied them into the Steam folder (steamapps/common, I believe) along with the app manifest file. Then Steam recognized it as existing and I enabled Proton and validated and ran it. I just really hate needing to validate after every freaking Nvidia update. That's why I don't want Steam. It's even worse because I normally use Vulkan but hate updating that alongside nvidia. Definitely getting my practice updating things but geez. Thanks!

Edited April 13, 2023 by Choronzon33

[ARMCoder]

I finally got the guts to install Doom 2016 on Ubuntu 22.04 using the Proton add-on, and I was positively surprised... especially because the computer is a notebook with an Intel Iris GPU, not a super-tower water-cooled gaming PC with the meanest/biggest NVidia/AMD video board. Old games are good in that they don't demand much of a hardware. The only add-ons I have on the notebook are external monitor, mouse and keyboard.

 

Apart from a few rare lockups (yes, they happen on Linux), the game runs, overall, very well. I found no significant drops in framerate or delays in the controls.

 

About the game itself, it's very enticing, almost addictive, but I find that the difficulty is quite irregular... some checkpoints are much harder to reach than others... and most rune trials are HARD. I hope that it's possible to finish the game without having those runes installed...

 

I feel that the players' demands and skills evolved A LOT over the years since Classic Doom, and Doom 2016 does a good job catering to them. Eternal does even a better job, but is off-limits to me. I will consider myself accomplished if I manage to finish 2016!

[Choronzon33]

Nice! I don't have any lockups. But I have a laptop ranked at 30th place out of 700 in tier level and as under a UFO and nuclear submarine. :) I managed to get FitGirl's repacks with the 6.66 update included. I installed it with WINE and about a couple hours of screwing around and reinstalling it managed to save it in my .wine prefix and restarted. But I'm waiting until I finish my run through of Doom 3, Lost Mission and RoE first. Hopefully the Absolute HD 1.7 Reimagined for RoE might have a download by then! Back in 2022 the guy said he was going to do a Reimagined version for RoE, and I can't wait for it! Then I'm heading for Site 3 again!! I'm thinking about getting back into the mod I was going to make of the Marine slugging his way back to Mars City after the Cyberdemon fight. Complete with more Cyberdemons, blocked off arenas (2016 and Eternal-styled) and plenty of Archvile's bounding around. Maybe some plasma Chaingunners too. And maybe following up on that Plasma Trite model too. I haven't found the video tutorial or rest of the written one on the Way Back Machine yet. Happy slaying! Oh and those Runes really aren't a necessity. They are helpful, and each trial helps better your combat skills, but they aren't really necessary. They just help make things easier is all. To each Slayer their own style of slaying!

Edited June 12, 2023 by Choronzon33

[ARMCoder]

On 6/11/2023 at 10:23 PM, Choronzon33 said:

Nice! I don't have any lockups. But I have a laptop ranked at 30th place out of 700 in tier level and as under a UFO and nuclear submarine. :) I managed to get FitGirl's repacks with the 6.66 update included. I installed it with WINE and about a couple hours of screwing around and reinstalling it managed to save it in my .wine prefix and restarted. But I'm waiting until I finish my run through of Doom 3, Lost Mission and RoE first. Hopefully the Absolute HD 1.7 Reimagined for RoE might have a download by then! Back in 2022 the guy said he was going to do a Reimagined version for RoE, and I can't wait for it! Then I'm heading for Site 3 again!! I'm thinking about getting back into the mod I was going to make of the Marine slugging his way back to Mars City after the Cyberdemon fight. Complete with more Cyberdemons, blocked off arenas (2016 and Eternal-styled) and plenty of Archvile's bounding around. Maybe some plasma Chaingunners too. And maybe following up on that Plasma Trite model too. I haven't found the video tutorial or rest of the written one on the Way Back Machine yet. Happy slaying! Oh and those Runes really aren't a necessity. They are helpful, and each trial helps better your combat skills, but they aren't really necessary. They just help make things easier is all. To each Slayer their own style of slaying!

 

Since I wrote last time, things changed a lot... First, I noticed that although the framerate didn't drop too much, the game pacing began to slow down when the scene was crowded... this really hurted the gameplay, as precision aiming in fast paced combat became almost impossible. I solved it lowering the resolution, then the pacing became consistent even when Hell decided to throw all it had at once. Taking down those pesky Imps from a distance became a no-braner since then.

 

There are several other important things that I learned that helped me a lot... to be completionist. I do really NEED every upgrade available to make up my lack of agility... so every weapon mod, weapon upgrade point, praetor token, Argent cell, mastery, and even rune that I manage to earn, is VERY welcome! So I'm being patient and searching for them all before progressing among the levels.

 

And yes, the rune trials make a nice training sandbox, this is a thing I ended up figuring by myself. Some runes are still very hard, though.

 

And let's say, the Super Shotgun with the Double Trouble unleashed is a hell of a fun, let alone combined with Quad Damage!

 

Thanks!

Edited June 16, 2023 by ARMCoder

[Choronzon33]

Nice! Yeah, I've noticed every gun helps. I also have a 16GB mobile Nvidia RTX 3080 card in my laptop's motherboard if I haven't mentioned it yet. So the slowdown COULD also be a hardware limitation. Idtech is very hardware hungry in general. Hey, make sure you are using the OpenGL renderer. I've had issues with Vulkan in Linux. Ironically, I noticed the same problem with the OpenGL renderer in Windows! That's pretty funny to me! So try OpenGL in Linux and Vulkan under Windows. Happy slaying!! :)