I finally play Guild Wars 2 on Linux (Kubuntu 24.04)!

02 november 2024

Je joue enfin à Guild Wars 2 sous Linux (Kubuntu 24.04) !

The "TL;DR" for people in a hurry: 😏

- add Guild Wars 2 to your Steam library
- use Proton for this game
- add the command "provider -Portal" in the launch settings of the game

***

4 years ago (already!), I had posted this comics: GNU/Linux, video games and the power of habits 😄

I had just installed Kubuntu 20.04 on a SSD, in dual boot with Windows 10, and even though I wanted to try to use more Linux, it was way easier for me to play video games on Windows.

In those video games, there was Guild Wars 2, which I already took inspiration from to make a watercolor illustration in my bullet journal (in french).

My current setup

Since june 2023, I have stopped using this computer that makes a lot of noise. Instead, I used my old laptop on which I first put a dual boot Windows 8/Ubuntu 18.04 (in french), and which runs now on Ubuntu 22.04 with KDE.

And since few months, I have been using a "new" desktop computer that I got secondhand. Since it had neither hard drive nor SSD, I put inside the SSD from the desktop I no longer used. Small tip to reduce the cost of your new setup: if you install Linux, it's free 😉

Just like I did on my laptop, I then installed Ubuntu 22.04 on the SSD, then KDE because I love this desktop environment. By the way, when I had installed Kubuntu 20.04 in one go, I had a few problems while using it, whereas I NEVER had one by installing first Ubuntu then KDE.

A little time after that, I got a notification "Do you want to update to Ubuntu 24.04 ?", I clicked on "Yes" and then I was able to update in almost one click. My only trouble with this update was that the display of my monitor was only showing 800px*600px, and that the second monitor that I plugged at the same time, though being well recognized, was not displaying anything. I pretty quickly found this thread and the command below fixed both issues!

sudo ubuntu-drivers install

Playtime?

And then, like every year, came the Halloween even on Guild Wars 2.

It began with hearing: "Hey by the way, it's Halloween on Guild Wars 2, if you're interested!" 😃

There's only during Halloween event that you can buy a pack of Spooky Mounts, which is set of skins for your mounts. And I can tell you it really is the only thing I've been trying to buy for years! 😂 Yeah, the lady does not care about a legendary weapon, she wants a Spooky Raptor and a Spooky Springer! 😂

Un frappesol sinistre — A Spooky Springer

So, given that I was playing some games lately using Proton, Steam compatibility tool to play Windows games on Linux, and that I knew that GW2 was on Steam, I wanted to give it a try.

Installing Guild Wars 2 on Steam

By default, it's a Windows (or Mac) game, so Steam won't tell you right away that you can install it. It will recognize it as a Windows game. So, what you need to do is telling Steam to use Proton, which is the compatibility mode.

Go to the game page, then open the settings by clicking on the gear wheel (in yellow on my above screenshot), then click Compatibility on the left, then tick "Force the use of a Steam Play compatibility tool".

Playing Guild Wars 2 using a Steam account

If you never played Guild Wars 2, a priori, you don't have anything else to do. Have fun! 😉

I am not in this case, so don't pull my jacket if this does not work 😢

Playing Guild Wars 2 using an existing ArenaNet account

I guess this part is more interesting for former players, because Guild Wars 2 was not on Steam at the beginning. So if you're like me, with an ArenaNet account with several years of existence on the game (7 when I'm typing this!), you will want to get back your characters and your history.

But by default, Steam will try to give you a new account, which is a) - not instesting, b) - in my case, not even working.

When I searched if it was possible to play Guild Wars 2 from Linux using an existing ArenaNet account, I had found informations on ProtonDB page confirming it was possible, but I did not get how. People shared additional commands they were using, but I did not understand where to add them. I kept diffing and I found this Youtube video where the guy explains very well how to do it.

It is really easy indeed, it is in the game settings, this time in General (right above Compatibility where we were before), into the Launch options.

in the Steam game settings, you can add custom commands in launch options