Installing NIKKE under Linux

nikke-linux.md

First of all, happy new year (maybe?)

Requirements:

• Steam
• Windows (or you can try using an old launcher for the game, it might not work though)
• Proton GE (I'm using 10-27)

Obs:

I'm using Arch, you might need to do some tweaking if you're using a different distro

Steps:

Optional:

1. Download the windows version on their official website
2. Run the installer with w/e program you're familiar with. For example, Lutris, Heroic, Faugus, and so on. In my case, I used Heroic to install the game.
3. Just run the initial installer, it won't download anything, because it's missing some dependencies from windows, but it will create a NIKKE folder under your prefix (if you already know where the folder is supposed to be placed in your prefix, you can skip this part)

Required:

1. Open your Windows OS, and install the launcher. For reference, I installed the whole game (~22gb), but you can try with just the initial client files...
2. Copy the whole NIKKE directory to a USB or upload it somewhere idk
3. Back to your Linux, replace the folder created by the installer with the one you just plucked from windows
4. Add the game to steam and force compatibility to run with Proton GE. Also, you might have to run & cancel a few times if it doesn't open right away

Congratz, you have NIKKE running under wine!

Important: Just letting you know ahead of time, your account can be banned! I can't confirm anything yet, so do this at your own risk. Imma yolo with my main account, if I get banned f it. I have skins, but I can't be bothered to play using my phone or with a dual boot...

Would like to comment that I also got this working.
First off I am running Endeavor OS and am using the non-flatpak steam.

Also I would like to add / clairify some things that I felt weren't clear in the original instructions, and things that I had to do to get this working. So, here is what I did.

1. Downloaded the launcher on windows and installed the game (I even launched it and downloaded all the content, but as we see this apparently wasn't necessary).
2. Copy the install folder and all it's files like already instructed. We need them on our Linux boot.
3. I tried running the launcher executable's in Bottles and and Heroic games but they did not work. So I used steam. I added a game to steam using one of the launcher executable files, specifically in this case "NIKKE/Launcher/nikke_launcher.exe". Go to properties on the game (in steam) and set compatability layer to ProtonGE, it needs to be GE version I couldn't get it to work on regular proton.
4. I then navigated to the wineprefix that steam created (you might have to launch it once to create the prefix initially I don't know exactly since there was trial and error). It can be found in "~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/". Non steam games have a random 10 digit folder name, I recommend sorting by latest modified to try and find the right folder.
5. Inside that folder you will find the wineprefix, drop the NIKKE folder (from windows install) into the drive_c folder directly.
6. Go back to properties of the "game" you added in steam and adjust where it will look for the executable. Obviously we are going to set that path to the wineprefix steam created that we just put the NIKKE folder in. I also updated the "start in" folder, but I am not sure if this is necessary. See the picture attached for reference. I also disabled steam overlay just in case.
7. Before we launch we need to set an environment variable it is in the picture but here is what I added WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winemenubuilder.exe=d" %command%
8. Launch the game through steam. It will open the launcher, login like normal and launch the game. For me it re-installed the whole game, but once it was done I had no problems and it seems to work fine.

For me I didn't have to start/cancel launch multiple times, it works on the first time for me. Also the reason I set the Launch options on steam is because the anti-cheat seemed to be detecting something was off when the game was loading. Honestly I'm not too sure what it exactly does since I was corresponding with Gemini on how to hide my wine version from the game and this is one option it gave me so I tried it. I think it makes it so that the game / executable running in the prefix thinks that it is running on windows 10 or something like that.

Anyway that is how I got this working let me know if I can improve this, but also thank you for making this page!

Indeed, it was a mistake on my end. I left those steps out, assuming you would already know for some reason lol, sorry for that. As for hiding the wine version, you can just open your prefix winecfg and tweak the options there.

I'll keep updating this if I find any issues while playing. If you find a bug that needs fixing, feel free to leave a comment as well. I'm assuming this will help others in the future

As for the issue that I have to keep restarting the game, it has something to do with this timeout:

Whenever it times out, the game refuses to open, and I'm forced to restart. I'll see if I can find a fix whenever I have some free time, but for now, restarting is the workaround.

Will any proton version 10-xx work?

I tried the latest proton it did not work, the only one that seems to work is ProtonGE, of which I am using the latest version.

Also another minor update, I went to launch again this morning and it made me reinstall the game. I have not figured out what has caused this but I don't think it is any of the following since I tested them.

1. Closing the game.
2. Closing the launcher.
3. Exiting steam.
   It could be because my computer restarted but I haven't tested that one yet. Hopefully it was just a glitch and it doesn't happen again.

I also wanted to note that use KDE on Wayland which might be a useful detail to know.

It might not be related. I had to reboot a couple of times yesterday, but I didn't encounter the same issue. I'm using Wayland with Hypr. Regarding the Proton version, you can also use CachyOS Proton, and both 10-27 & 10-25 are working.

I'm planning on formatting my notebook, so I will try to record a video with a step by step and update the Gist with the stuff that you sent

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Edit #1:

For any1 wondering, I have been playing every single day, and it's still working! No bans so far, and the anti-cheat isn't complaining at all.

OS: Linux Mint 22.2 Cinnamon
CPU: Intel i7-6700K
GPU: GTX 1080
Launcher: Steam (downloaded via System Package)
Proton: Proton-GE Latest

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I can confirm NIKKE works on my system as well. Performance is identical to Windows. When I launched the game, it thankfully never asked me to reinstall.

Minor bugs

• The launcher will never remember my password. I have to re-enter it every time I launch the game.
• The game also sometimes forgets my server location. I have to select NA at launch when it forgets.
• Sometimes, an anti-cheat error pops up. Anti-cheat system works error. Please close related applications that may affect anti-cheat modules, or check system abnormal events with anti-virus softwares. Reboot system and try to start the game process in administrator. Can be mitigated by relaunching the game a few times.
• When quitting the game, I have to click on "STOP" on Steam in addition to just quitting the game. Otherwise, I'll get a transparent box on my screen that stays there forever. Can be mitigated by just hard stopping the game on Steam.

@Blinjko: Out of curiosity, what does WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winemenubuilder.exe=d" %command% do? I was able to launch the game without this command.

This has me thinking. Why is there an integrated Steam login for the NIKKE launcher? Are they planning a Steam release?

I had the same question. My guess is that they are planning to support the Steam Deck, and that’s why we can now play on Linux through Steam