How to get RVGL Launcher on the Steam Deck

[hotsomali92]

Hey everyone! Through some good fortune I have acquired a 256gb steam deck, and decided to get accustomed to Linux by trying to play RV through the RVGL launcher. It turned out to be a pretty simple process, with one caveat that I'll explain at the end.

• Hold the power button down in the main menu, and select Switch to Desktop
• Click on the deck logo at the bottom left of the screen using the right trackpad (clicking the right trackpad = mouse left click), and go to Settings > System Settings.
  (If you can't move the mouse with the right trackpad, holding down the STEAM button forces it to act like a mouse. Open Steam using the shortcut on the desktop, and it should start working normally again.
• Scroll down to the Users tab in the Personalization section, and click Change Password to set a root password. The terminal will ask you for it when you input the commands listed below.
• Click the deck logo button again go to System > Konsole. This is the terminal.
• Type the following commands in the terminal:
  • sudo steamos-readonly disable
  • sudo pacman-key --init
  • sudo pacman-key --populate
  • sudo pacman -S python-wxpython python-requests python-packaging p7zip xdg-utils sdl2 sdl2_image openal enet libunistring libjpeg libpng libtiff libwebp libvorbis flac mpg123 fluidsynth
  First command disables the read-only filesystem, allowing you to install packages with pacman. Second command initializes the pacman keyring, and the last command installs all dependencies for re-volt and the RVGL launcher.
• After this, you can download and unzip the linux version of RVGL launcher and run rvgl_launcher.py. I believe it will run off of the deck's SSD but I have only used it off of my SD card.

This is a lot easier if you have a USB-C hub and a mouse+kb to control the deck with. You can also copy/paste these from firefox in desktop mode, and by using the paste button in the terminal.



The deck runs on SteamOS 3.0, which is based off of Arch. Valve has decided to ship the deck with a read-only file system by default, so they can release SteamOS updates as whole OS images. This means that any packages installed via pacman (or any method other than the flatpak system) get wiped after every steamOS update. Therefore, you will have to repeat this process after every update to play.
I have also not had any luck adding it to steam as a non-steam game, so you must go into desktop mode to launch the game. That's not that big of a deal to me personally but I know you lose a bit of the deck's convenience by not having it in the main steamos menu.

If anyone has any questions about the install process, or just the overall experience of playing on the Deck, let me know!

[explosivedeer]

Saw your guide and knew I had set this up right away, unfortunately I've run into an issue I'm not too familiar with:

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$ python rvgl_launcher.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/deck/Documents/rvgl_launcher_linux/rvgl_launcher.py", line 3, in <module>
from rv_launcher.rvl_gui import main_app
File "/home/deck/Documents/rvgl_launcher_linux/rv_launcher/init.py", line 1, in <module>
from rv_launcher.common import *
File "/home/deck/Documents/rvgl_launcher_linux/rv_launcher/common.py", line 5, in <module>
import requests
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'requests'

I noticed during the install of the packages it gave me a "corrupt file or bad psg" error for a significant number of them asking if I want to delete them.

If you have any ideas please fire em this way!

[explosivedeer]

Saw your guide and knew I had set this up right away, unfortunately I've run into an issue I'm not too familiar with:

Code: Select all

$ python rvgl_launcher.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/deck/Documents/rvgl_launcher_linux/rvgl_launcher.py", line 3, in <module>
from rv_launcher.rvl_gui import main_app
File "/home/deck/Documents/rvgl_launcher_linux/rv_launcher/init.py", line 1, in <module>
from rv_launcher.common import *
File "/home/deck/Documents/rvgl_launcher_linux/rv_launcher/common.py", line 5, in <module>
import requests
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'requests'

I noticed during the install of the packages it gave me a "corrupt file or bad psg" error for a significant number of them asking if I want to delete them.

If you have any ideas please fire em this way!

Just solved the issue if anyone else runs into this problem following the guide:

More accurately to the above issue, after each package was installed I'd get a:

Code: Select all

error: python-urllib3: signature from "Felix Yan <felixonmars@archlinux.org>" is unknown trust
:: File /var/cache/pacman/pkg/python-urllib3-1.26.8-1-any.pkg.tar.zst is corrupted (invalid or corrupted package (PGP signature)).

for each package.

If you encounter this same issue, do

pacman-key --init
followed by a
pacman-key --populate

Then install the dependencies!

[RadiatorTwo]

There´s a much better way of getting it to run.
With this method you don´t have to repeat this after each SteamOS update.

By the way:
This method applies to all Windows games you wan´t to run on the Steam Deck.
(Almost any game I tried has worked like this)

1. Go into Desktop Mode and download the Windows x64 (Not the Linux Version!) RVGL Launcher
2. Extract the launcher somewhere in the users home folder. e.g: /home/deck/games/rvgl
3. Open up Steam and in the bottom left click on ADD A GAME then select Add a non Steam Game
4. Click on BROWSE... and navigate to the folder you extracted the RVGL Launcher to
5. In the bottom change the File type to All files
6. Select the now visible rvgl launcher.exe file and click on OPEN
7. The exe file now should be in the program list with the checkbox set. Then click on ADD SELECTED PROGRAMS
8. Find the now added exe file in your game library in Steam. Right click on it and select Properties...
9. Change the name in the Top to RVGL Launcher or whatever you want
10. On the left Select COMPATIBILITY, activate the Checkbox to force compatibility mode and select in the dropdown box either Proton Experimental or the newest normal Version of Proton.
(Proton Experimental works 90% of the time I tried adding games)
11. Close the properties window and now just hit the Play button in Steam to start the Launcher

Wait a bit until the RVGL Launcher opens.
Steam has to setup the Proton environment for the new game you added on the first start.
If the Play button changes immediately back from Stop to Play, just ignore it.
Depending on the Proton Version you are using, that´s normal. The program will still run.

Now just use RVGL Launcher normally to install the game files.
(Yes it will install on a C: drive, since Proton fakes a windows environment for the application.)

After the game is installed, don´t launch it in Desktop Mode!
Close the launcher and go back to Gaming Mode.

The launcher then will be there in the game library under non-steam games.
To use the Launcher you will have to set a controller template that has mouse control.
(Or just use the touchscreen)

Now you can start the game from the RVGL Launcher.

The only tricky part for me here was, that the gamepad controls don´t work on the first start of the game.
It´s always set to keyboard/mouse.
So you have to create a gamepad controller template with keyboard keys, which gets you to the controller options in the game.
You´ll need Arrow Keys, Enter and Escape.

I just selected the normal gamepad template and set the D-Pad to the keyboards arrow keys and two of the Back Grip Buttons to Escape and Enter.

With that you can create your profile, navigate to the controller options and select XInput Controller for input.
After exiting the controller options by hitting the Escape key the Gamepad will work.

[hotsomali92]

That's a pretty smart idea that I didn't think of! I guess I got so wrapped up with it being a linux machine, and wanting to tinker around with a new operating system that I forgot how good of an option proton is.

[mickael9]

I figured I would give a try at building a Flatpak for RVGL Launcher to avoid such workarounds.
The flatpak bundles all dependencies required by the launcher and RVGL itself.

You can find it here:
https://github.com/mickael9/rvgl-flatpak

I have not tested this with the Steam Deck since I don't have one, but from my understanding it should work and survive across OS updates

[hotsomali92]

Awesome!! I'll try it out on mine in the next day or two and report back.

[Dester]

I figured I would give a try at building a Flatpak for RVGL Launcher to avoid such workarounds.

I just registered to tell you that your solution works. I installed it last night. Thanks a lot!
See my video here (HD versions are still being processed at the time of this comment):
https://youtu.be/Wvhy0cMgQHs

[mickael9]

I figured I would give a try at building a Flatpak for RVGL Launcher to avoid such workarounds.

I just registered to tell you that your solution works. I installed it last night. Thanks a lot!
See my video here (HD versions are still being processed at the time of this comment):
https://youtu.be/Wvhy0cMgQHs

Nice to see it actually working!
Does Steam list the flatpak out of the box or did you have to add it manually?

[hotsomali92]

You have to add it manually, but its already in the list of installed apps (no need to dig around in the file manager)

I had to restart my deck after installing the flatpak for it to show up on the app list, but everything works fine otherwise!

UPDATE: I'm having some trouble registering the rvmm:// protocol handler. I noticed something was up when one-click mod installation didn't work on revoltworld.net. I clicked Register URI and I get this error:

Could not create shortcut file. No such file or directory '/home/deck/.nar/app/org.rvgl.rvmm/data/applications/rvmm-scheme.desktop'

Also, for some reason I cannot manually install the mods by dragging them onto the Local tab in the launcher either. Unpacking file failure every time. Any ideas?

[mickael9]

UPDATE: I'm having some trouble registering the rvmm:// protocol handler. I noticed something was up when one-click mod installation didn't work on revoltworld.net. I clicked Register URI and I get this error:

Could not create shortcut file. No such file or directory '/home/deck/.nar/app/org.rvgl.rvmm/data/applications/rvmm-scheme.desktop'

By default a flatpak is isolated from the rest of the system and trying to install .desktop files in $XDG_DATA_HOME/share/applcations at run time would have no effect.

The rvmm protocol handler and .desktop file in general are handled by Flatpak directly, so it shouldn't matter if it can't create it.
I do not know why installing the flatpak does not seem to enable the rvmm protocol handler (it works for me on ArchLinux with KDE Plasma, which is what the Steam Deck is based on).

The following command can be used to query the association for rvmm protocol handler:

Code: Select all

xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/rvmm

The result should be org.rvgl.rvmm.desktop
If it isn't, I suppose you could try forcing it:

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xdg-mime default org.rvgl.rvmm.desktop x-scheme-handler/rvmm

Also, for some reason I cannot manually install the mods by dragging them onto the Local tab in the launcher either. Unpacking file failure every time. Any ideas?

Since Flatpak applications are isolated from the system, applications must use an intermediate system called XDG Desktop Portals to interact with the outside. It works out of the box for open/save file dialogs, but drag and drop does not seem to work (presumably a lack of support from GTK3/wxPython).

Anyway, the Flatpak isolation can be disabled, so I might try doing that so that it runs more like a regular application.

Edit: I updated the Flatpak, drag-and-drop should now work

[607]

Cool to see so many different methods to get Re-Volt to work on a new device.

[hotsomali92]

The result should be org.rvgl.rvmm.desktop
If it isn't, I suppose you could try forcing it:

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xdg-mime default org.rvgl.rvmm.desktop x-scheme-handler/rvmm

This worked! 1 click install works now, but it opens a new instance of the launcher every time. Doesn't affect its ability to install mods though.

Edit: I updated the Flatpak, drag-and-drop should now work

I'm still a linux noob, how do I go about updating the flatpak? I tried the same commands on the github and it said that this version was already installed. I noticed that the download command says that it saved as "rvgl.flatpak.1" so I tried pointing the install command to that but no dice.

[mickael9]

I'm still a linux noob, how do I go about updating the flatpak? I tried the same commands on the github and it said that this version was already installed. I noticed that the download command says that it saved as "rvgl.flatpak.1" so I tried pointing the install command to that but no dice.

wget creates a new file with a different name if the output file already exists, you can overwrite it with -O:

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wget -O rvgl.flatpak https://github.com/mickael9/rvgl-flatpak/releases/download/latest/rvgl.flatpak
flatpak install --user rvgl.flatpak