Boss Intro videos on Steam Deck

[rotopenguin]

The boss video for Misuzu doesn't play on the Steam Deck. At least you can hold a button to skip>> it. This is on Proton 7.0(default) and 7 Experimental. With GE, I at least get that video with no sound.

[Keebz]

came to post about this too. any sound fix? game should not be verified since some cutscenes aren't working properly.

[Keebz]

try proton 6.3-8 - it fixes this. select in game's properties under compatibility

[rotopenguin]

Originally posted by Keebz:

try proton 6.3-8 - it fixes this. select in game's properties under compatibility

I just tried 6.3-8 (and 6.21-GE-2), and the controller doesn't work. So, I guess that's why Valve defaults it to 7.0.

[Keebz]

Interesting - I was playing it on my deck last night with 6.3-8 and it was working great. Maybe click the settings gear -> developer -> delete proton files and try that again. As far as I can tell it was flawless on 6.3-8, that's weird about the controller though.

[Harragath]

Yup, same problem with my deck. Don't know why it's fully compatible if things like this still happen

[The Asgorian Bugsong]

Had to drop it to 6.3-8 to get the cutscenes working. Though apparently people are saying they are running into test patterns.

Probably might need to get more vocal about this to get valve to look into the issue....... or just have someone pin the version of proton used to 6.3-8

[TheSwordUser]

I figured out the issue with this with a friend. Instead of embedding videos in the game, they're stored separately in movies folder as video files and they're played with use of system resources.

This is fine on Windows, but on Steam Deck and some linux distros there are patent shenanigans going on with codecs, so the one you need aren't included, therefore youre forced to use earlier version of Proton or Proton GE, who have encoding embedded proper.


So the solution is to use Handbrake or other software like it to re-encode ALL cutscene videos. Do it under linux to make sure all codecs will be fine for it there. This should work both on Steam Deck and regular desktop. Could also fix the issue if it happens in 2nd game as well and just about any other game that happens to have video files stored and played separately.

[TheRealAlpha2]

I don't get it. Why dose the open movie still work fine if the videos are all suffering from the same codec problem? Also I tried using Proton Experimental: no in game cut scenes.

[Karyuudo]

Originally posted by Keebz:

try proton 6.3-8 - it fixes this. select in game's properties under compatibility

Thank you for this. This fixed the issue I had with the cinematic manga at the beginning having some weird color diagonal lines on it. And it also fixed the cutscene with Misuzu.

[The Asgorian Bugsong]

Looks like valves working on a new media source method for proton Experimental and it seems to fix the boss fmvs. Might need some fixing up though cause it makes the audio way more crackly and garbly, especially during Mizusus boss fmv

[SuperJag86]

Yeah I'm still having trouble with the boss fmvs using the recommended 6.3-8.
I can't seem to find a solution that works.
Shame as it's a great game and was looking forward to playing through it again on Deck after enjoying it on PS4.

[Shisatsu]

Isn’t used the latest proton and it’s still not working blank cutscenes… so switching to 6.3.8 will work?

[Rowin Dincht]

Originally posted by Shisatsu:

Isn’t used the latest proton and it’s still not working blank cutscenes… so switching to 6.3.8 will work?

Tried using Proton 6.3.8 and cut scenes show the color pattern with the static in the lower right of the screen.

[Bird Observer]

Originally posted by TheSwordUser:

I figured out the issue with this with a friend. Instead of embedding videos in the game, they're stored separately in movies folder as video files and they're played with use of system resources.

This is fine on Windows, but on Steam Deck and some linux distros there are patent shenanigans going on with codecs, so the one you need aren't included, therefore youre forced to use earlier version of Proton or Proton GE, who have encoding embedded proper.


So the solution is to use Handbrake or other software like it to re-encode ALL cutscene videos. Do it under linux to make sure all codecs will be fine for it there. This should work both on Steam Deck and regular desktop. Could also fix the issue if it happens in 2nd game as well and just about any other game that happens to have video files stored and played separately.

This, along with picking the right version of Proton, is the only way I could get it both the intro video after starting a new game and the Misuzu boss video (and presumably others) to play. Without re-encoding the videos, it seemed like the version of Proton I picked would get me either one or the other videos (or no videos) to play properly. I would've expected that after re-encoding, the intro video after starting a new game would work right on the latest version of Proton, but it still only showed a black screen and I had to use an older Proton, so there might be more than just a codec issue (I assume it's some weirdness with the video playing over a static image).

Here's a quick guide (which probably needs an edit) if anyone needs it. It's probably a lot easier with a keyboard and mouse but it's not that complicated. :

• First, browse to "/home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/River City Girls/RiverCityGirls_Data/StreamingAssets/Movies" in Desktop mode. Copy this folder somewhere so you can restore it easily if something gets screwed up.
  
• Get Handbrake from Discover.
  
• Open Handbrake
  I used the default settings: Preset on Official > General > Fast 1080p30 and the format set to MPEG-4, with "align A/V Start" and "Passthru Common Metadata" checked
  
• Click "Open Source"
  
• Select "/home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/River City Girls/RiverCityGirls_Data/StreamingAssets/Movies".
  
• Select all (ctrl+a) and click OK
  
• Click the arrow next to "add to queue," click "add multiple", select all, and add.
  
• Add the bottom next to "To" (to the right of "Save As") either keep the default or set it to a working folder of your choice (I used Documents/Working/RCG)
  
• Click "Queue" and start (it'll take about 10-15 minutes).
  
• When complete, copy all the new video files you made back over to "/home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/River City Girls/RiverCityGirls_Data/StreamingAssets/Movies", overwriting the videos in here, and it should be good to go. I did NOT include the transcoded "Arcci Final 6Sec Jp Reg_TEST20.m4v" and left the original file as is, just because for some reason it's in a different format than the rest, but it's just the opening splash screen which always played fine anyway.

If you haven't already, install ProtonUp-Qt (find it in Discover) and from there, install Proton 6.1-GE-2 (the latest version didn't work right, but I haven't tested them all so there might be a better option). Make sure you choose this in the RCG "force a compatibility tool" properties back in gaming mode.

A couple notes: the output from Handbrake drops the file size of the video folder by about 700mb, so the default encoding is probably causing a slight hit on on video quality and there might be a better option. Also, with other versions of Proton I tried, videos either wouldn't play OR the first video after starting a new game wouldn't play (it would just show a black screen you could skip). With the fix above, that video plays but it still shows those weird pink diagonal lines in it, and the Misuzu video still plays a brief horrible noise at the end (despite fixing other glitchy audio issues in that video), so there's still room for improvement, but at least it works now. If anyone can add any additional tweaks (a better Proton version, better Handbrake settings) please share.

[Audax Dreik]

@Bird Observer you are a hero! I've had this issue with a few older games and this solution has worked like a charm. Just re-encoding usually fixes, but having ProtonUp-Qt to try out various versions of Proton GE will often take you the rest of the way.

To be clear, for me, the issue usually manifests as videos appearing briefly as SMPTE color bars before skipping the video and gameplay continuation. I almost always see the SMPTE color bars, if you're not seeing those, this may not help with the exact issue.

Cheers!