Trouble running an exe game after installation via Steam

[Kefren]

I tried this for Alan Wake American Nightmare exe from GOG. Just installing the exe with Wine gives an error when I try to run the game. Whereas Steam can run it through Proton.

“For non-Steam Windows games there are different possibilities. You can either add them to your steam library as non-steam game and then they should run via Proton.”

That’s what I wanted to do.

So ...

Steam: ADD A GAME (bottom left) > Add a Non-Steam Game

Choose the exe installer on the desktop (as Browse doesn’t let you view hidden folders).

Go to game properties - force compatibility tool - Proton

It installs. Then I can launch and it works fine.

BUT!

Next time I try to run it, it runs the installer all over again (because that’s what it points to), rather than switching to the run game executable it used when I clicked Launch from the completed installer.

If I try to add a new game and point to the exe to run it, I can’t browse to it as it is a hidden folder, and Steam’s Browse doesn’t show them. I tried pasting in the path to the Target but that didn’t work.

So Steam runs it fine after installing, but I don’t know where it is running it from, or how to replicate that as a new shortcut.

Am I missing something obvious? I just want to be able to install a game from an exe via Steam/Proton if it doesn't work just through wine. Steam manages to make 90+% of my Windows-only Steam games work - but I want a procedure that also works for a downloaded GOG exe when wine fails. Thanks!

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-94-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.4.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.8.4
    tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21.2 Victoria base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: MAG B550M MORTAR WIFI (MS-7C94) v: 1.0
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: 1.D0 date: 08/17/2022
CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3 rev: 2 cache:
    L1: 384 KiB L2: 3 MiB L3: 32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2755 high: 3598 min/max: 2200/3700 boost: enabled cores: 1: 3598 2: 2545
    3: 2261 4: 2856 5: 2879 6: 2334 7: 3064 8: 2879 9: 2875 10: 2548 11: 2402 12: 2824
    bogomips: 88797
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 [GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Lite Hash Rate] driver: nvidia v: 525.147.05 pcie:
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: none off: DP-4 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-1
    bus-ID: 2b:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2489
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 108
  Monitor-1: DP-2.8 res: 2560x1440 dpi: 109 diag: 685mm (27")
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 525.147.05
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie:
    speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 2b:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228b
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 2d:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-94-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1
    bus-ID: 29:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723
  IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie:
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 2a:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8125
  IF: enp42s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-9:5 chip-ID: 8087:0029
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2
    sub-v: 237e
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 4.33 TiB used: 1.41 TiB (32.6%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVL2512HCJQ-00B00 size: 476.94 GiB speed: 63.2 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 serial: <filter> temp: 37.9 C
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 250GB size: 232.89 GiB
    speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> temp: 23.9 C
  ID-3: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST4000DM004-2CV104 size: 3.64 TiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    serial: <filter>
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 467.89 GiB used: 163.09 GiB (34.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: N/A mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 41 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0%
Repos:
  Packages: 2700 apt: 2693 flatpak: 7
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bablu-boy-nutty-jammy.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/bablu-boy-nutty-jammy.gpg] https: //ppa.launchpadcontent.net/bablu-boy/nutty/ubuntu jammy main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg] https: //brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/c_falco-mame-jammy.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/c_falco-mame-jammy.gpg] https: //ppa.launchpadcontent.net/c.falco/mame/ubuntu jammy main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb https: //mirrors.ukfast.co.uk/sites/linuxmint.com/packages victoria main upstream import backport
    2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/steam-beta.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/steam-stable.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64,i386 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/steam.gpg] https: //repo.steampowered.com/steam/ stable steam
    2: deb-src [arch=amd64,i386 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/steam.gpg] https: //repo.steampowered.com/steam/ stable steam
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https: //repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:
  Processes: 339 Uptime: 1h 26m Memory: 31.26 GiB used: 3.38 GiB (10.8%) Init: systemd v: 249
  runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.4.0 alt: 11/12 Client: Cinnamon v: 5.8.4 inxi: 3.3.13

[spamegg]

I can’t browse to it as it is a hidden folder

Have you tried pressing Ctrl+H in the file manager? It shows hidden folders.

[Kefren]

Ah, yes, that does allow browsing hidden! Thanks, I should have just tried that. The file browser Steam opened is much more minimalist than Files, with no visible options, so I assumed it wasn't possible to do things like that or paste in a path (see image).

)

So yes, I can now browse to /home/na/.wine/drive_c/GOG Games/Alan Wake American Nightmare/

However, I still can't get it to work.
I add the installer exe (on my Desktop) to Steam and run it with Proton compatibility.
It installs. The end of installation gives me an option to run the game. I do so and it runs perfectly.
I quit.
The current "game" in Steam points to the installer.
So I add a new non-Steam game, and browse to the game exe, using ctrl-h to let me get to that folder.
I set the new game to run with Proton compatibility.
But then it gives the same errors as if I had just installed it with wine, and won't run.
So I know Steam can run it (it does it at the end of install) but I cant' work out how to replicate that so that Steam runs the installed game without me having to freshly install it every single time.
(Apologies if I am not making this clear, I realise there are lots of pieces of software involved!)

I'm trying to do it through Steam as I know it can run the game, I just don't know how to set it up from a standalone exe. (I also have PlayonLinux but find that over complicated - for example, it asks you if the file is 32 or 64 bit and I'm never sure; the windows are often too small and always need stretching; whereas Steam can run it, I just don't know the best procedure.

[Kefren]

Just bumping this, as I am sure there must be a guide out there somewhere as to how to install a non-Steam game with Steam, and then play it (which means somehow changing from the install exe to the play exe). But my searches for that just bring up false hits.

[SMG]

Just bumping this, as I am sure there must be a guide out there somewhere as to how to install a non-Steam game with Steam, and then play it (which means somehow changing from the install exe to the play exe). But my searches for that just bring up false hits.

I moved your topic from Software & Applications to the Gaming forum.

For future reference, here are instructions for Bumping topics.

[Kefren]

I moved your topic from Software & Applications to the Gaming forum.

For future reference, here are instructions for Bumping topics.

Makes sense. Thanks, I'd missed that forum!