Installing NIKKE under Linux

nikke-linux.md

Running NIKKE on Linux

Linux guide for GODDESS OF VICTORY: NIKKE into launcher-specific paths.

Paths

Path	Description	Guide
Bottles	Recommended launcher setup	Guide
Faugus	Launcher setup	Guide
Heroic	Launcher setup	Guide
Steam	Non-Steam game setup	Guide
Lutris	Script-based install	Guide
DW Launcher	Dawn Winery launcher	Guide
Windows + Steam	Last resort if Linux-side install paths fail	Guide

Runner Options

DW Proton and miniloader are the runner options covered here. Both can do the same job, but DW Proton is recommended. If you cannot get the game running with DW Proton, try miniloader.

Shared Requirements

• A Linux distribution
• The NIKKE Windows installer from the official website

Each path has additional launcher and runner requirements in its guide.

Troubleshooting

Shared caveats and known issues are kept at the repository root: known issues.

just to be clear, my install works, btw i just tested the latest dw-proton 11.0.1 and it still works. Had to update both SteamRT4 and Proton Hotfix via steam (even though i saw Lutris try to do it on its own but i prefer to make sure) and i got one "illegal software" warning the first time and no video, but just restarted and it works like a charm now.
So i guess my previous assertion that proton 11 was messing things up is unfounded, or they fixed it in the meantime, sorry about that.

Does this work for the Steam Deck?

@ShikiMashiro, it should work just fine as it's just Linux, but I can't confirm as I don't have one myself

Can you try installing: mf, mfplat, windowscodecs, quartz, and devenum?

I tried to make a new bottle with a clean install of nikke from 0 and still have the same issue, I believe this might only be affecting users with NVIDIA gpus. Regarding these dependencies you mention installing when I search for them in bottles (flatpak version since I think since I'm using bazzite) I find quartz and devenum I don't see windowscodecs or mf/mfplat I also asked brave's AI for help and it suggested searching for mediafoundation which showed up for mf/mfplat and for windowscodecs it suggested searching for gdiplus if I couldn't find it which I did.
After installing these dependencies the issue was still there so I tried the nvidia flag you mentioned earlier and with the flags the videos for the animated cutscenes started working now

if so, try GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE_RANK=nvh264dec:0,nvdec:0,nvh265dec:0

I'm doing another fresh install with another bottle to see if the dependencies are needed or just the flags for my case

The fresh bottle install with the normal guide instructions + the nvidia environment variable worked for me on Bazzite using DW Proton 11.0-1 as the runner

i already click update but when i run it again it show this again, what should i do? reinstall?

@HackTroz yeah I had that issue as well, I just executed the nikke installer again to update the launcher through there, I don't know if there is any specific steps to fix it

@kunamyPT Niceee, thanks for letting us know that it works (I don't use NVIDIA 😅️). As for the deps, they are DLLs

@HackTroz @kunamyPT Yes, big updates sometimes require you to move the contents of the update_files folder to its parent folder: [ref].

Here’s how to do it:

• Open your Wine prefix and open the NIKKE folder under the drive_c
• Inside that folder, check either the launcher or the other nikke subfolder, and one of them will contain an update_files folder.
• Cut all the files inside update_files and paste them into the parent folder

I think it was the Launcher folder, but I deleted and I can't remember exactly which one

@HackTroz @kunamyPT Yes, big updates sometimes require you to move the contents of the update_files folder to its parent folder: [ref].

Here’s how to do it:

• Open your Wine prefix and open the NIKKE folder under the drive_c
• Inside that folder, check either the launcher or the other nikke subfolder, and one of them will contain an update_files folder.
• Cut all the files inside update_files and paste them into the parent folder

Ah I see thanks! I forgot to check in the known issues if this problem was there

Anyone stuck on System update after clicking on update complete

it close it self

open the app thought bottle ask for update again and repeat

method dwproton + bottle

Edit : use the miniloader to redownload the launcher work for me just download the miniloader, add as shorcut and install again to C;/NIKKE then launch using your original nikke_launcher

but not sure i'm doing the right way though

somehow i manage to solve it by doing these step ty

The fresh bottle install with the normal guide instructions + the nvidia environment variable worked for me on Bazzite using DW Proton 11.0-1 as the runner

I'm with the same devices as yours (Bazzite + DW proton 11 + Nvidia GPU (4070))
The only difference is that i'm using LUTRIS...
Does your Nvidia Bazzite Image is the OPEN or the Stable one ?
The videos into nikke (as laplace one in the heros chapter) play well for you ???

The fresh bottle install with the normal guide instructions + the nvidia environment variable worked for me on Bazzite using DW Proton 11.0-1 as the runner

I'm with the same devices as yours (Bazzite + DW proton 11 + Nvidia GPU (4070)) The only difference is that i'm using LUTRIS... Does your Nvidia Bazzite Image is the OPEN or the Stable one ? The videos into nikke (as laplace one in the heros chapter) play well for you ???

@ImRobot777 I'm using the stable one.
I tested it on the recollection room for chapter 1, the one for Laplace and Red Ash as well. I should also mention I installed the optional dependencies mentioned in the guide in my bottles instance as well (mfc42, vcredist2012 and vcredist2022 and for the font I picked allfonts).

Here's the version I see I'm running when I do rpm-ostree status:

State: idle
Deployments:
● ostree-image-signed:docker://ghcr.io/ublue-os/bazzite-nvidia-open:stable
Digest: sha256:d8743773b84627d376ae168cc9807e8f27849ad345d075dd1201617f833de5df
Version: 44.20260515 (2026-05-15T07:01:51Z)
LayeredPackages: git-lfs

Maybe the issue is somehow related to the nvidia environment variable? I haven't used LUTRIS yet so I don't know if there is some specific way you need to do it

The fresh bottle install with the normal guide instructions + the nvidia environment variable worked for me on Bazzite using DW Proton 11.0-1 as the runner

I'm with the same devices as yours (Bazzite + DW proton 11 + Nvidia GPU (4070)) The only difference is that i'm using LUTRIS... Does your Nvidia Bazzite Image is the OPEN or the Stable one ? The videos into nikke (as laplace one in the heros chapter) play well for you ???

@ImRobot777 I'm using the stable one. I tested it on the recollection room for chapter 1, the one for Laplace and Red Ash as well. I should also mention I installed the optional dependencies mentioned in the guide in my bottles instance as well (mfc42, vcredist2012 and vcredist2022 and for the font I picked allfonts).

Here's the version I see I'm running when I do rpm-ostree status:

State: idle
Deployments:
● ostree-image-signed:docker://ghcr.io/ublue-os/bazzite-nvidia-open:stable
Digest: sha256:d8743773b84627d376ae168cc9807e8f27849ad345d075dd1201617f833de5df
Version: 44.20260515 (2026-05-15T07:01:51Z)
LayeredPackages: git-lfs

Maybe the issue is somehow related to the nvidia environment variable? I haven't used LUTRIS yet so I don't know if there is some specific way you need to do it

Thank you very much for the details !

Moreover i'm on the stable image :
State: idle
Deployments:
● ostree-image-signed:docker://ghcr.io/ublue-os/bazzite-nvidia:stable
Digest: sha256:bf99b0d893795baca379579756872cf4d04d7df003c68ddc48f6dc20da94a3f5
Version: 44.20260515 (2026-05-15T07:00:40Z)
InitramfsEtc: /etc/modprobe.d/fix-nvidia-peermem.conf

But you must know that you're on the OPEN image, as soon as you see OPEN (via rpm-ostree status) that means that you're on the OPEN image ;-) (i mean even if you see "stable" of the end of the line)

I think i'm gonna switch on the Open image too, just to test the vids in nikke !

EDIT : I've switched to the open image and the non playing vids issue is still here, the issue is not related to Nvidia's driver, for sure !

@ShikiMashiro, it should work just fine as it's just Linux, but I can't confirm as I don't have one myself

It did work; however, I ran into a problem. The problem is that if I open the game again, it's telling me to install even though I already did.

@ShikiMashiro are you using DWProton or miniloader?

DWProton and I used the Steam (Non-Steam game setup) method.

But you must know that you're on the OPEN image, as soon as you see OPEN (via rpm-ostree status) that means that you're on the OPEN image ;-) (i mean even if you see "stable" of the end of the line)

Oh I didn't see that it had "open" before the stable in the output there, my bad

@ShikiMashiro can you check if you have this folder in the prefix? [link]

Yeah that sounds like that issue. I also tested it on my Steam Deck with non-steam game route and it works, I guess that launcher issue is something that happens sometimes when updating/installing the launcher?

Maybe right now, I just factory reset my Steam Deck so I can start all over, but I need some help with the guide. I'm mostly a visual learner.

The fresh bottle install with the normal guide instructions + the nvidia environment variable worked for me on Bazzite using DW Proton 11.0-1 as the runner

I'm with the same devices as yours (Bazzite + DW proton 11 + Nvidia GPU (4070)) The only difference is that i'm using LUTRIS... Does your Nvidia Bazzite Image is the OPEN or the Stable one ? The videos into nikke (as laplace one in the heros chapter) play well for you ???

@ImRobot777 I'm using the stable one. I tested it on the recollection room for chapter 1, the one for Laplace and Red Ash as well. I should also mention I installed the optional dependencies mentioned in the guide in my bottles instance as well (mfc42, vcredist2012 and vcredist2022 and for the font I picked allfonts).
Here's the version I see I'm running when I do rpm-ostree status:

State: idle
Deployments:
● ostree-image-signed:docker://ghcr.io/ublue-os/bazzite-nvidia-open:stable
Digest: sha256:d8743773b84627d376ae168cc9807e8f27849ad345d075dd1201617f833de5df
Version: 44.20260515 (2026-05-15T07:01:51Z)
LayeredPackages: git-lfs

Maybe the issue is somehow related to the nvidia environment variable? I haven't used LUTRIS yet so I don't know if there is some specific way you need to do it

Thank you very much for the details !

Moreover i'm on the stable image : State: idle Deployments: ● ostree-image-signed:docker://ghcr.io/ublue-os/bazzite-nvidia:stable Digest: sha256:bf99b0d893795baca379579756872cf4d04d7df003c68ddc48f6dc20da94a3f5 Version: 44.20260515 (2026-05-15T07:00:40Z) InitramfsEtc: /etc/modprobe.d/fix-nvidia-peermem.conf

But you must know that you're on the OPEN image, as soon as you see OPEN (via rpm-ostree status) that means that you're on the OPEN image ;-) (i mean even if you see "stable" of the end of the line)

I think i'm gonna switch on the Open image too, just to test the vids in nikke !

EDIT : I've switched to the open image and the non playing vids issue is still here, the issue is not related to Nvidia's driver, for sure !

EDIT2 : With Bottles instead of Lutris, the video issue is no more here !!! VICTORY !!!

Niceee

@ShikiMashiro you want a video for the Steam version, I can help you with that later

Yes, please and thank you.

@ShikiMashiro I had to compress the video in order to get a preview: [link]. Just follow this along with the guide and you should be good

Thank you so much @d-kja, it's helped me a lot!!!

You can try using GST_PLUGIN_FEATURE_RANK=nvh264dec:0,nvdec:0,nvh265dec:0

I'm trying to fix the video playback issue when playing the campaign. On Lutris, would I put this under Environment variables like this?

If so, it unfortunately doesn't work for me. So I want to try downloading mf, mfplat, windowscodecs, quartz, and devenum per the suggestions made here. Would that be under winetricks? Or is there a better/proper way to doing it?

EDIT2 : With Bottles instead of Lutris, the video issue is no more here !!! VICTORY !!!

@HawaiianPizza You can use Winetricks or manually add the components. I don’t use Lutris, so if that doesn’t work, try another launcher to see whether the issue is with Lutris or just specific to robot’s setup