Running Anomaly on SteamDeck and other linux distros with Proton Thread - S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

This can be ran on the SteamDeck (or other installations using proton) with the following steps:

1. Extract the game somewhere as you normally would (I chose /home/USER/games/anomaly)
2. Add Anomaly as a non-steam game
3. Install ProtonTricks and run it.
   1. You can do this via the discovery center on Arch, or terminal through your package manager
4. Select "anomaly" in the list
5. Install frameworks and select the following:
   • d3dcompiler_43
   • d3dcompiler_47
   • d3dx11_43
   • d3dx9_43
   • d3dx9
   • d3dx10
6. Let it do its thing and download/install.
7. Run Anomaly via steam with latest Proton (or experimental)

Hey! Super new to Linux.
Downloaded the mod and added the launcher as a non-steam app.
I can’t find ProtonTricks on the discovery app? Any help with that?

You need to download protontricks using the installation steps here Github.com

before you run protontricks you need to run the game with proton enabled or it wont be the list

Okay I'm going to post this as my experience to getting Stalker Anomaly working on the steam deck. If you're like me and read every guide and still got nowhere then hopefully this will help.

1. Open your steam deck in desktop mode. Download anomaly 1.5.1 and extract to any location. I just made a folder on the desktop and extracted the files to the folder so they're easier to access. The extraction process can take a very long time. (you can download 1.5.2 update, extract and overwrite in main anomaly folder if you wish.)

2. Open Steam and go to add a non steam game. Select StalkerAnomaly.exe. Repeat this process but go into the Bin folder and select AnomalyDX11AVX.exe.

3. With both files added to Steam, select either one and right click > properties > compatibility. Check the box "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool" and select Proton Experimental from the dropdown. Repeat process for the other file.

4. Run both files at least once and do your best to exit the game. While the steam deck is great, the game will load its own somewhat "blank" controller so you'll need to find a way to close them. My trick is to just hold down steam+x for a second or two and hope the cursor registers in the game to let me exit. Also to note, while it may look like you'll be able to play Anomaly, it will probably crash with some sort of lua script error if you try to go to any menu.

5. Now we proceed with DRRACCOONS instructions from step 3 but with more guidance. In protontricks after you select the AnomalyDX11AVX.exe (should say non-steam shortcut etc.. with a blank icon), click on the radio button next to "Select the default wineprefix" and hit OK. In the next screen select "Install a Windows DLL or component" and click ok. A new box should appear with the packages you want to install. Continue to select the above d3d packages and hit OK. The windows will close but you should get errors about using 64-bit WINEPREFIX etc... That's okay. Continue hitting OK thru each of them as that's how you know they're installing. This process can also take a while. When it's finished you should see the box asking "What would you like to do to this wineprefix?" again. You can hit the upper right X or cancel out of the box as your settings should be saved.

Repeat the process for the other non steam app. I don't know if this is required for the launcher but it doesn't hurt.

6. From here switch BACK to gaming mode and you should see both files in steam with the blank icon. Go to AnomalyDX11AVX.exe and hit the UPPER RIGHT select button. Should look like 3 hashes above the X pad button. Scroll down and select Properties... Check that Compatibility is still checked and Proton Experimental is still selected.

Go back to the game select screen.

7. Finally we can launch the game! However we need to do a couple more steps to make this livable. Launch AnomalyDX11AVX.exe. You should see the STALKER Anomaly menu with the music playing. Press the STEAM button to see the menus. With the left stick move 2 screens right to the controller layout. Select Controller Settings at the bottom. Below Current Layout select a Template and scroll down to Keyboard (WASD) and Mouse.

8. Your game should now be fully controllable and playable! You will need to further customize and set your controls as the current template is purely just to get you started.

Admittedly I haven't played much but I was able to get into the game, run around, switch weapons, and get killed by a bandit. All within 5 minutes! Framerate was very smooth and playable in the Cordon area. You should also be able to set other graphical settings and tweak things but keep in mind that you're on a mobile platform and to keep your expectations tempered. Hopefully this guide helps! It's possible I missed a few things or some may not apply to you and your setup however this is what FINALLY worked for me to get it going.

Please explain how to get proton tricks to work exactly. I’ve downloaded PT through the discover browser on the steam deck. I’ve done everything correctly up until the step on being “inside protontricks” I’ve down a ton of research on trying to get this to run properly and this thread is probably the closest at breaking it down. I just don’t know how to get proton tricks to work properly, I’m able to open it up by clicking on AnomlayDX11AVX.exe in the dolphin browser under the created folder that I extracted the Stalker files to. When selecting DX11 inside protontricks I get the same error message as if I tried opening in steam. I’ve read that proton tricks needs winetricks so I downloaded WINE inside the discover browser of the steam deck, but now when selecting DX11 my steam deck gives me a black screen and I end up having to restart the device. Are the protontricks and wine apps that are available in the discover store out dated and no longer work? Or do I need to manually install them via terminal? If so please break down how to manually install both as I have had zero luck in doing so. Hope to hear back from you in this thread soon.

@blackfire1366512191
@drraccoon

Guys, thank you so much! You made my day, literally. I'm so happy to be able to play this wonderful stalker game on my Linux machine. I've spent a lot of hours trying to figure out how get it running using Wine, but it was failing all of the time. But thanks to your approach to use Steam's Proton, it started! I've never been so happy to see a game's menu!
Thank you very much for posting this guide.

Hey I followed the guide above on Linux mint 21 but when I try to run the game via the dx11 or dx9 .exe in steam wine pops up saying it cant find the user.itx (Ive run the launcher and saved my settings so this should have generated)

Edited by: ZimaBlue

Hello, made an account to ask, how can I get gamma to run? I tried similar steps for gamma as the steps above for anomaly to run but gamma opens a command windows and just shuts down. Anyone with a quick guide?

Also thanks for the instructions above on getting anomaly to work on the steam deck, however my experience was a bit different to get it running. I was only able to get the dlls installed on the launcher exe, the dx11avx.exe would fail and abort on installing the dlls. Aside from that the game works using the launcher all i have to do is open the keyboard to press enter while the launcher is open and the game starts right up.

Anyways, if anyone can help me to get gamma installed and running id greatly appreciate it!

blackfire1366512191

I'm trying to run through your instructions and I want to make sure that I am not completely butchering this. You refer to a file called "StalkerAnomaly.exe" a few times, though when I downloaded 1.5.1.2 (and the 1.5.1 to 1.5.2 update) I cannot find that file anywhere. I do have one called "AnomalyLauncher.exe" do I just follow the steps and use that file in place of "StalkerAnomaly.exe" or am I doing something horribly wrong?

@blackfire1366512191

i also am having issues with trying to figure this out. I've installed mods like escape from pripyat and gamma before but cant get past the steps of even running the game on steam as a non steam game. It fails immediately on stalkeranomalylauncher.exe and anomalydx11avx.exe. Protontricks seems to open but doesn't show stalker anomaly as an option to run. Not sure if its been updated since then and the process may have changed, I'm a noob to linux and am very lost. this is my favorite game of all time and would love some extra help on trying to run it. Thanks for nay and all help.

silmarillionaire

If you haven't figured this out yet or anyone else who's stuck here's my experience to get this working.

***Beforehand*** I actually had a problem getting the files to extract on the deck and this caused me to update the OS from desktop and get stuck in the boot loop. So if you don't know DO NOT UPDATE THE OS FROM DESKTOP, it is a known bug and you will need to re image from USB to fix.

I extracted my mod files on windows using 7zip and then used syncthing to share my folders between pc and deck.

To start, I forced the launch option to proton 7.0-4 instead of proton experimental. This helped me launch the game once and thus had it show up in proton tricks afterwards.

Second, using the launcher file is whats working for me, not the DX11AVX.exe file. Using dx11 gave me a black screen so after restarting is when I switched the launch to 7.0-4 and started the launcher.exe in GAME mode, not desktop (This may not mean anything but this is just what I did)

Finally, going back to desktop mode to finish the steps listed above with proton tricks and am now playing from the launcher.exe in game mode.

What I did helped me solve an issue with a black screen when trying to launch for the first time, as well as not having the file appear in proton tricks (because I didn't launch yet I presume)

so now I'm playing (capped at a smooth 40fps 40 refresh rate for me) and hopefully this will help someone else too.

Thanks to everyone else who's posted instructions here.

Hello all,

Does anyone know how to add mods like Dark Signal to the game? I have the game install and running perfectly but would appreciate if anyone can give a guide to installing mods to this game.

Thank you all for contributing,
Linux for me would not have been possible to switch to as an avg user without the RELENTLESS support from the community.
Y'all have a lovely day now.