Steam Deck GWX SH3

[blackswan40]

Hi Cain77 ive sent you a PM this may help you get SH3 and SH3 Commander mod installed on your steamdeck
to reply to my PM look under you name on the top right of screen click on Private Messages and reply.




Kind Regards blackswan40

[Cain77]

@blackswan40 replied thanks!
@Tigershark624 yeah that sounds like the issue I've encountered with trying to get SH3 commander working on the steam deck
@Hooston thanks for the guidance, I will look into that (I've not touched Wine so that'll be my first step).

Re:SH3 Commander, if I'm correct, I think it'll be possible to run it fine on the steam deck (using the 'non-steam' install approach). However, a possible spanner (from a personal point of view at least) is that running a non-steam game on the steam deck might mean that I can't use the steam deck controller configuration feature. I hope I am wrong though as having to hook up a mouse and keyboard would ruin the experience for me.
One of the things I'm liking about SH3 on the steam deck is the portability (I have gotten into the habit of taking the steam deck to bed, putting it on tc1, and falling asleep listening to the sounds of the waves, atmosphere and gramophone music as I travel from Kiel or throwing it in my bag and checking in on things on the commute to work etc) so hopefully I can find a way to keep all the controller mappings working. If I need to use a keyboard, I may as well just play it on my pc tbh.

But I let you know my findings, I just have to find some time to look at it, I'm having too much fun just playing it at the moment (patrol 7 now, early 1940, still in a type II)

[Tigershark624]

Update: I've reinstalled SH3 via Steam to a different folder and now, mysteriously, I'm not getting any visuals. Steam says the game is running and I hear the intro music but no picture. This is plain SH3 with no mods. I've tried running under Proton 9, 8 and 7. I even tried Proton 6 but it couldn't initialize the 3D engine. Any thoughts or ideas? Running Linux Mint 21.3. The odd thing is, it worked the first time I ran it but now, kaput.

[Cain77]

Update:

Got completely sidetracked in my first career (now sadly ended by DCs in Jan 42 on my 20th patrol). Now embarking on a new patrol with full manual ship ID'ing and targetting (and plotting etc.) as I ended up leaning on the WO a bit too much during my first career to the point where it wasn't feeling quite as satisfying scoring torp hits (also my tonnage was a bit OTT though that was helped by sinking HMS Hood in Scarpa Flow and a Revenge class in open waters).
Anyway, some further things to add regarding steam deck usage.

- a lot of mods work fine (some of the environment ones were acting strange, MEP6, for instance). I've been using a modsoup of modified h.sieGUI/EDE/GUC/MFM/FM new int v1/FM30 updown/Dfa Flags&Pens not to mention a lot of small gameplay mods.

- the only mod that I can't get working correctly that I wanted was Aces Super Pens. For some reason it all worked apart from the shells of the sub pens were invisible(!). All the other details and models were there though. Tried just installing that mod alone and no dice so it doesn't seem to be a conflict with any other mod.

- the advanced controller configuration for the steam deck is great for SH3. You can do really handy things like have one button cycle through different key commands. So I have one of the back button things cycle between closing and opening torpedo tube doors. Another button cycles through each of the station views, etc. It also works with combo keys too (so raising and lowering fully a periscope for instance). Really worth spending the time to set it all up to your liking so you can rely less on the icons and mouse control aspects.

-steam deck sleep mode is robust. Rather than save midpatrol, I just put the deck to sleep when I've finished a session. It only crashed once in 20 (long) patrols. I've even left it on unattended x1 TC for long periods with no issues (only early war in low-risk areas).

- mod-related, I found WinMerge worked fine in the steam desktop mode when executed via Bottles. Really handy for tweaking configs/merging small mods etc.

-SH3 Commander, still not given up on this but didn't try installing during my career as I didn't want to mess it all up. And now I couldn't resist starting a new career so it might be a while before I try it again. Thinking after this career, I will do a SH4 career then SH5 then maybe see if WAC supermod works on steam deck and do one of them. Eventually I'd like to get SH3 Commander up and running though one day...

-other supermods (Onealex, LSH3, NYGM...) basically any of them that have a built-in widescreen mod didn't work (either incorrectly displayed or more commonly the 3d error dialog box). I think this is to do with needing to get Linux to use the DX.dll file that comes with the mod rather than the default one. I think it's possible but have not sussed it out yet (probably some launch option command is needed?). I think this is the only obstacle to getting them working (apart from ones that also need SH3 Commander!).

@Tigershark624: I'm not much use (not very Linux-savvy) I'm afraid. The 3d engine error is the same as I had when trying the widescreen supermods. It basically happens with me if the steam deck tries to launch SH3 in any screen res other than the default one (1024x768 or something like that?).
As yours was working fine before I can only think that there's some leftover file or setting causing it. Full wipe of the install might be required to be sure? (is there a Linux equivalent of registry cleaning?) Sorry I can't be more helpful and hope you get up and running again soon (if not already!).

[Hooston]

I've been running SH3 with old versions of GWX and NYGM and SH3 commander for a few years using Wine on Fedora Linux at various resolutions. I've also had OneAlex running briefly but I do not own a PC that's fast enough to get anything better than a slideshow.
Windows used to automatically default to using any dll files in the same directory as the executable over the system dll's. Wine does not do this by default. This feature is used by some mods such as widescreens. To get widescreen mods working in Wine you have to run winecfg, select the Libraries tab and tell Wine to override d3d9 to (native, builtin).

If the display resolution and refreshrate settings in <SH3 directory>/d3d9.ini are not supported by your display you will get the dreaded "cannot initialize 3d" error. You may need to tweak this file. Refreshrate=false turns off the refreshrate check, which can help greatly.

I think SH3 commander also needs you to override msvcp71 and msvcr71.


Not sure what the Proton equivalent of all this is.

[millnate]

Originally Posted by Cain77

Update:

Got completely sidetracked in my first career (now sadly ended by DCs in Jan 42 on my 20th patrol). Now embarking on a new patrol with full manual ship ID'ing and targetting (and plotting etc.) as I ended up leaning on the WO a bit too much during my first career to the point where it wasn't feeling quite as satisfying scoring torp hits (also my tonnage was a bit OTT though that was helped by sinking HMS Hood in Scarpa Flow and a Revenge class in open waters).
Anyway, some further things to add regarding steam deck usage.

- a lot of mods work fine (some of the environment ones were acting strange, MEP6, for instance). I've been using a modsoup of modified h.sieGUI/EDE/GUC/MFM/FM new int v1/FM30 updown/Dfa Flags&Pens not to mention a lot of small gameplay mods.

- the only mod that I can't get working correctly that I wanted was Aces Super Pens. For some reason it all worked apart from the shells of the sub pens were invisible(!). All the other details and models were there though. Tried just installing that mod alone and no dice so it doesn't seem to be a conflict with any other mod.

- the advanced controller configuration for the steam deck is great for SH3. You can do really handy things like have one button cycle through different key commands. So I have one of the back button things cycle between closing and opening torpedo tube doors. Another button cycles through each of the station views, etc. It also works with combo keys too (so raising and lowering fully a periscope for instance). Really worth spending the time to set it all up to your liking so you can rely less on the icons and mouse control aspects.

-steam deck sleep mode is robust. Rather than save midpatrol, I just put the deck to sleep when I've finished a session. It only crashed once in 20 (long) patrols. I've even left it on unattended x1 TC for long periods with no issues (only early war in low-risk areas).

- mod-related, I found WinMerge worked fine in the steam desktop mode when executed via Bottles. Really handy for tweaking configs/merging small mods etc.

-SH3 Commander, still not given up on this but didn't try installing during my career as I didn't want to mess it all up. And now I couldn't resist starting a new career so it might be a while before I try it again. Thinking after this career, I will do a SH4 career then SH5 then maybe see if WAC supermod works on steam deck and do one of them. Eventually I'd like to get SH3 Commander up and running though one day...

-other supermods (Onealex, LSH3, NYGM...) basically any of them that have a built-in widescreen mod didn't work (either incorrectly displayed or more commonly the 3d error dialog box). I think this is to do with needing to get Linux to use the DX.dll file that comes with the mod rather than the default one. I think it's possible but have not sussed it out yet (probably some launch option command is needed?). I think this is the only obstacle to getting them working (apart from ones that also need SH3 Commander!).

@Tigershark624: I'm not much use (not very Linux-savvy) I'm afraid. The 3d engine error is the same as I had when trying the widescreen supermods. It basically happens with me if the steam deck tries to launch SH3 in any screen res other than the default one (1024x768 or something like that?).
As yours was working fine before I can only think that there's some leftover file or setting causing it. Full wipe of the install might be required to be sure? (is there a Linux equivalent of registry cleaning?) Sorry I can't be more helpful and hope you get up and running again soon (if not already!).

Did you ever try to run the resolution fix through bottles like you did the 4GB patch and steam fix? I may try this.

I just installed GWX via your instructions and strangely, only one campaign will start. If I try to start a career from Wilhelmshaven or Kiel, it will CTD in the last stages of loading. But for some reason I can start a career from Stralsund it will launch. Any ideas?

[Hooston]

CTD only when loading a lot of data, or part way through a career usually means the 4GB patch (or HSie hard coded fixes, which contains it) is not loaded correctly. It is a very tricky thing to get right.

The other alternative is that one of the locations in the campaign is calling up something (a ship for example) that your mod collection cannot cope with.

[millnate]

Originally Posted by Hooston

CTD only when loading a lot of data, or part way through a career usually means the 4GB patch (or HSie hard coded fixes, which contains it) is not loaded correctly. It is a very tricky thing to get right.

The other alternative is that one of the locations in the campaign is calling up something (a ship for example) that your mod collection cannot cope with.

So I did the 4GB patch which said it was done correctly, but it’s obviously jumping through a couple hoops on Linux/steam deck. I debated loading again because it MAY be possible that some data wasn’t deleted completely… this campaign I was able to load was the only career I’ve never done so… I dunno.

What’s the HSie hard code fix? The only things I’ve attempted so far (on this installation) is the steam fix, 4GB patch and GWX3 Gold.