[EDIT: SOLVED] How to start the game on Linux?

[_utara]

According to ProtonDB this game shouldn't have a problem on Linux, at least after you find a get around for EA app. When I try to run the game, it opens EA app, says "online login unavailable", won't let me play. How can I get rid of this problem? When I try to find solutions online, all I see is "just download it and you're good to go" but that's not the case at all.

EDIT: Solution here:

Alright so here is what I did to run the game on Linux desktop. I'm on ZorinOS Core 17.1 (jammy) + I have NVIDIA drivers.

First, try this:
Use Proton 7.0-6, I'm told that this is the Proton version you need in order to install the EA App. This will install the EA App but the game likely won't run, it will close itself eventually. To start the game, switch to Proton 8.0-5.

This should work, but you might encounter some bugs with the EA App. Here is what I did, which I believe is the solution:

1) Install WINE binary packages from their website: winehq.org (You will need to use the terminal to install.)
Because I'm on ZorinOS and because Zorin is based on Ubuntu, I clicked on the link for Ubuntu. Follow the instructions from there, it will be different based on what distro and version of it you are using. Download the stable branch. One thing though, the command on the website to install the packages is wrong for some reason. Enter this command instead (reminder that this is the correct command for Ubuntu flavours, change it according to what you use):

 sudo apt-get install --install-recommends wine-stable 

2) Install Winetricks (using the terminal), you can see the instructions on their GitHub page. I will write the commands to use for Debian/Ubuntu.

To delete any existing winetricks files, in case you tried to install it before:

 sudo apt-get purge winetricks 

At this point you need to go to their GitHub page to download the latest release. After downloading, extract the files and cd into the extracted folder. For example, if you extracted the files into /home/yourusername/Downloads/extractedfolder :

 cd /home/yourusername/Downloads/extractedfolder 

Then run this:

 sudo make install 

3) Install Protontricks (using the Software Store, if you want to install via the terminal you can see the instructions on their GitHub page). Note that you need Python 3.6 or newer, your distro might already have it. If you want to see which python version you've got, enter this command in the terminal:

 python3 --version 

If you don't have Python 3.6 or newer, install it.
Install Protontricks from the Software Store (I installed the Flatpak version, I recommend that).

4) This part is taken from another Steam user called Razema (thank you Razema).
a) Run Protontricks.
Select Mirror's Edge: Catalyst. Click OK.
It might give you some warnings about 64-bit, just say OK.
Click "Select the default wineprefix"
Click "Install a font", select liberation font. Click OK to install.

After it's installed, it should bring you back to "what would you like to do" screen. If it doesn't for some reason, just repeat the steps above, but instead of "install a font", this time:
Click "Install a Windows DLL or component", select d3dcompiler_47 component. Click OK to install.
After it's installed you can simply close Protontricks.

b) Delete the IGO32.dll and IGO64.dll files in ~/.steam/root/steamapps/compatdata/1233570/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/Electronic Arts/EA Desktop/EA Desktop
in order to disable the EA Desktop in-game overlay.

5)This part is taken from another Steam user called GrimSkull (thank you GrimSkull).
Run Protontricks.

• Select Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
  
• "OK"
  
• "OK" when it gives you the 64-bit wine prefix warning
  
• "Select the default wineprefix"
  
• "Run regedit"
  
• Expand "HKEY_CURRENT_USER"
  
• Select "Environment"
  
• Right click in the right pane (the one with "(Default)", "TEMP", "TMP" in it) and select: "New" > "String Value"
  
• Give the new item the following name: OPENSSL_ia32cap
  
• Double clicj on OPENSSL_ia32cap and enter the following in the Value Data box: ~0x20000000
  
• Close the regedit and hit cancel until Protontricks closes.

Launch the game on Steam.

After these five very EAsy steps that will definitely not make you lose your mind, you should have fixed any problems with the EA App. Sometimes it still acts up, when you start the game it appears to be running but then it actually doesn't. Just try to run the game again, it usually works after a couple of tries.

Other things that I tried but didn't help:
I downloaded Origin from Lutris, then tried to bypass the "upgrade to EA App" warning but I think they patched it so I had to proceed with the installation of the EA App instead. Eventually I was able to successfully log into my EA account, however it wouldn't let me start the game from there because I bought it on Steam. I uninstalled the app.

[Roy]

I'm having trouble getting this to work at all on Steam Deck (linux), since all fixes are for windows.

I managed to fix the instant crash when the game first boots by forcing the game to run Proton 8.0 through the compatibility tab, but after the first series of cutscenes the game will infinitely load.

If i press A at any point the screen will flash white, according to fixers this means the game is trying to connect to the (permanently down) online servers.

For windows users they bypass this by removing some files and forcing the firewall to block the game every time they launch, but i don't think this is possible on Linux?

Best thing i can guess is turn off my internet but i can't be arsed to completely take my Deck offline everytime i want to play this.. (might not even work either).

Only option is to just refund this ASAP and cherish any memories you had of this game, because we're entering the era in which all these "online only" singleplayer titles are becoming unplayable as they're no longer supported i gues...

[_utara]

Originally posted by Roy:

I'm having trouble getting this to work at all on Steam Deck (linux), since all fixes are for windows.

I managed to fix the instant crash when the game first boots by forcing the game to run Proton 8.0 through the compatibility tab, but after the first series of cutscenes the game will infinitely load.

If i press A at any point the screen will flash white, according to fixers this means the game is trying to connect to the (permanently down) online servers.

For windows users they bypass this by removing some files and forcing the firewall to block the game every time they launch, but i don't think this is possible on Linux?

Best thing i can guess is turn off my internet but i can't be arsed to completely take my Deck offline everytime i want to play this.. (might not even work either).

Only option is to just refund this ASAP and cherish any memories you had of this game, because we're entering the era in which all these "online only" singleplayer titles are becoming unplayable as they're no longer supported i gues...

I'm on Linux desktop (Zorin) with NVIDIA drivers. I can play other games but not this. It's just the useless EA App. Can't make it work on Lutris either and having an error with Protontricks. It's unbelievable how one app that doesn't even have a proper use to it is causing all this mess. I tried offline starting but it doesn't work either. I wish some Linux user shared a magical solution to make this work. I bought this game years ago and played it on Windows for 250+ hours, it's my go-to game whenever I'm feeling down. Sucks not being able to play it. I've had a very stressful few months and just wanted to steam off a little. Instead got more stress.

[Roy]

Originally posted by _utara:

Originally posted by Roy:

I'm having trouble getting this to work at all on Steam Deck (linux), since all fixes are for windows.

I managed to fix the instant crash when the game first boots by forcing the game to run Proton 8.0 through the compatibility tab, but after the first series of cutscenes the game will infinitely load.

If i press A at any point the screen will flash white, according to fixers this means the game is trying to connect to the (permanently down) online servers.

For windows users they bypass this by removing some files and forcing the firewall to block the game every time they launch, but i don't think this is possible on Linux?

Best thing i can guess is turn off my internet but i can't be arsed to completely take my Deck offline everytime i want to play this.. (might not even work either).

Only option is to just refund this ASAP and cherish any memories you had of this game, because we're entering the era in which all these "online only" singleplayer titles are becoming unplayable as they're no longer supported i gues...

I'm on Linux desktop (Zorin) with NVIDIA drivers. I can play other games but not this. It's just the useless EA App. Can't make it work on Lutris either and having an error with Protontricks. It's unbelievable how one app that doesn't even have a proper use to it is causing all this mess. I tried offline starting but it doesn't work either. I wish some Linux user shared a magical solution to make this work. I bought this game years ago and played it on Windows for 250+ hours, it's my go-to game whenever I'm feeling down. Sucks not being able to play it. I've had a very stressful few months and just wanted to steam off a little. Instead got more stress.

Yeah it sucks, i really wanted to re-experience the game as well as i remember it being really fun and relaxing.
In your case perhaps the first game might work, if i ever find a fix for this i'll let you know but i've just about given up already..
My last resort was trying offline mode but like you say i think the EA app still acts up.

[_utara]

Originally posted by Roy:

Yeah it sucks, i really wanted to re-experience the game as well as i remember it being really fun and relaxing.
In your case perhaps the first game might work, if i ever find a fix for this i'll let you know but i've just about given up already..
My last resort was trying offline mode but like you say i think the EA app still acts up.

Thanks. I think I might send an email to EA. I know they don't care but maybe if enough people annoy them they will stop doing it idk this game doesn't even have online features any more anyway just let me play man...

[Roy]

Since you're on a proper linux device (i'm assuming desktop) and you probably know more about the OS than i do as a simple Deck user, i'm going to bombard some potential fixes i found which look plausible for me as a windows user.
I don't know of any of these files or manners of fixing can be applied in linux but it might be worth a shot to try a few of them for you (e.g. i won't bother reinstalling ea play on my Deck but it might be more doable for you).

Corrupted save file (2 years old)

After much experimentation I traced it down to a **corrupted save file** that the game just doesn't handle meaningfully, getting stuck eating about 10% CPU and 4% GPU and doing a whole lot of nothing else (no significant network or disk activity, no RAM fluctuations). Things that are *not* the problem here:

* Graphics drivers
* Game settings (removing the settings file results in a first-lanuch "adjust gamma" prompt but doesn't fix the problem)
* Network profile (city map on the web works just fine, displays records and the like)
* Integrity of the game files (I ran a check and it passed)

I bought MEC on Steam, and haven't managed to delete local saves even after nuking all folders for Origin and MEC, apparently it does use cloud saves and pulls corrupted save data still. Or maybe I failed to find it. Anyways, to drop the save file, I **launched Origin directly** (had to install it even, LOL) and enabled **its** cloud saves for MEC; it asked me what to do with the local save data and I told it to delete it. Then the game worked.

The save data in question was probably local.

Sadly, I completed the game in one session yesterday, so I didn't have prior versions of the save and this step cost me my entire progress. Somehow my network profile still retains my Dash records, my Echo is the same I left it, but story progress and upgrades are gone.

\[sarcastic tone\] Good job, EA.

Corrupted save file (2 years old, fix update by poster)

Ok, now I'm slightly confused.

Being a bit of a hoarder, I "nuked" MEC's saves by renaming the folder `Documents\Mirrors Edge Catalyst\settings` to `settings.bak` instead of straight up deleting it.

After launching the game without my progress I tried my hand at renaming the new one to `settings.bak2` and restoring the old one back into place.

**And it worked. The game is working and my progress is restored.** Uh, ok. Maybe it's not the savefile then?

This one seems plausible because when i launched the game on my deck for the first time ever on steam, it instantly spammed me with LOTS of achievements, indicating it may have loaded my cloud save from the EA account i used to log in.
This may also explain why others do seem to be able to play it, as they may be first timers

[Roy]

Similar workaround vs cloud saves

To anyone struggling with the issue where you are stuck in the loading screen after intro, i think i found a little workaround
**Disclaimer**, if you are starting a new game its fine. But im pretty sure you will lose everything from doing this.. Do at own risk!


1. Uninstall Mirrors edge Catalyst
2. Uninstall the EA APP.
3. Make sure to remove temp files from your %temp% folder!
4. navigate into your C/ProgramFiles and delete EA Games folder and "Electronic Arts" folder
5. Now navigate to your documents folder and delete the Mirrors edge catalyst folder if it is still there. it just contains settings and screenshots.
6. Restart PC
7. Download the EA APP
8. Install Mirrors edge catalyst
9. Once you've downloaded it, unplug your internet connection and start up the game.

This worked for me.

If you got into the game and past that loading screen you're usually stuck at, plug your internet cord in again and play a little

Im guessing this works because of the Cloud save data being corrupt, and since it cant fetch that from their cloud and shove into your save data, the game just finally makes a new one and lets it continue a fresh.


I hope this helped a lot!

It seems like turning the EA app in offline mode will help according to this guy below, maybe you only tried turning off internet or steam to offline?

I turned the EA app to offline mode. After the intro I went back online and restarted the game and the save was OK. Right where I left off. Hope this helps

[Roy]

Okay sorry for the massive wall of text spam but after reading this and realising i got TONS of achievements, also for endgame stuff, upon launching the game first time through steam, i do believe an old cloud save might be the issue.

Honestly that might be your best bet mate.
I don't have much time lately to pump into trying this but IF i were to try something else this is definitely what i'm going to do.
If the exact steps of removing file directories is not possible on linux, maybe an agressive full wipe might work followed by logging in to a different/new EA account when prompted to as it could force a new save rather than a load of the cloud save.

I hope any of this helps mate.

[Roy]

Sorry i completely overshared and forgot your issue isn't the exact same as mine, for you the EA launcher is the direct culprit.
Maybe these fixes work too?

[_utara]

Originally posted by Roy:

Sorry i completely overshared and forgot your issue isn't the exact same as mine, for you the EA launcher is the direct culprit.
Maybe these fixes work too?

Hey no problem at all, to be honest nothing guarantees that I will not face the same issue as you do if I ever fix the EA app anyway. Besides, some of these seems to worth a shot in any case. Thanks a bunch. I never thought of just removing everything and reinstalling again, it might work.

[Roy]

Originally posted by _utara:

Originally posted by Roy:

Sorry i completely overshared and forgot your issue isn't the exact same as mine, for you the EA launcher is the direct culprit.
Maybe these fixes work too?

Hey no problem at all, to be honest nothing guarantees that I will not face the same issue as you do if I ever fix the EA app anyway. Besides, some of these seems to worth a shot in any case. Thanks a bunch. I never thought of just removing everything and reinstalling again, it might work.

Fingers crossed for you mate, hopefully a full wipe might just fix both issues in one good sweep.
I initially gave up on fixing this but i'll be trying this fix on my Deck soon too, so if it works for me i'll let you know.

[Roy]

Hey man i have good news for you; i got it working!
I uninstalled the game through steam (couldn't find any save folders under "documents" so i just uninstalled through steam, which completely removed the mirrors edge from steamapps folder).

First i tried logging in to EA with a different account, but this will end up giving an error that the game is not activated on that account and it will just close you out.

Then i logged into my account on which the game is activated (also containing the broken cloud save), i let the game launch and as soon as the game itself opened (white background followed by a brightness slider), i quickly turned off my wifi through the deck's quick menu.
Opening the game with wifi off from the start simply gave me an error about failing to connect. (Maybe thats the error you had too).

With my wifi off, the game continued like normal and i picked my brightness. The cutscene started and this time i was instantly able to hold a button to skip, putting me in control of faith and officialy starting the game!

This must mean there's still hope for you to play your favorite game, because it CAN work.

In your case you should probably try completely wiping EA's launcher and it's folders, uninstall the game through steam and doublecheck if any mirror's edge/save folders remain in your steam directory and/or documents folders.
(Remove them if there are, you could rename them but you're starting from scratch anyway)
Then, reinstall the game through steam.
If i were you i'd first try this without downloading the EA launcher manually, let Steam do it for you as that's what worked on my Deck (no prior EA installation).

If you still get your failure to connect error, maybe try downloading EA launcher manually, log in to your mirror's edge bound account and keep it open as you launch the game again.
Idk if there's a linux equivalent of "run as administrator" but if there is you might want to use that for both steam and EA.

I hope this helps and i hope you manage to get it working too bro.

[_utara]

Originally posted by Roy:

Hey man i have good news for you; i got it working!
I uninstalled the game through steam (couldn't find any save folders under "documents" so i just uninstalled through steam, which completely removed the mirrors edge from steamapps folder).

First i tried logging in to EA with a different account, but this will end up giving an error that the game is not activated on that account and it will just close you out.

Then i logged into my account on which the game is activated (also containing the broken cloud save), i let the game launch and as soon as the game itself opened (white background followed by a brightness slider), i quickly turned off my wifi through the deck's quick menu.
Opening the game with wifi off from the start simply gave me an error about failing to connect. (Maybe thats the error you had too).

With my wifi off, the game continued like normal and i picked my brightness. The cutscene started and this time i was instantly able to hold a button to skip, putting me in control of faith and officialy starting the game!

This must mean there's still hope for you to play your favorite game, because it CAN work.

In your case you should probably try completely wiping EA's launcher and it's folders, uninstall the game through steam and doublecheck if any mirror's edge/save folders remain in your steam directory and/or documents folders.
(Remove them if there are, you could rename them but you're starting from scratch anyway)
Then, reinstall the game through steam.
If i were you i'd first try this without downloading the EA launcher manually, let Steam do it for you as that's what worked on my Deck (no prior EA installation).

If you still get your failure to connect error, maybe try downloading EA launcher manually, log in to your mirror's edge bound account and keep it open as you launch the game again.
Idk if there's a linux equivalent of "run as administrator" but if there is you might want to use that for both steam and EA.

I hope this helps and i hope you manage to get it working too bro.

I'm glad you got it to work! It gives me hope.

On the other hand, I spent ALL DAY applying various fixes to make it work... Now it says "running" for a few seconds before closing itself. It doesn't even start. At least it runs... I will have to try more fixes another time. You enjoy your game.

[Roy]

Originally posted by _utara:

Originally posted by Roy:

Hey man i have good news for you; i got it working!
I uninstalled the game through steam (couldn't find any save folders under "documents" so i just uninstalled through steam, which completely removed the mirrors edge from steamapps folder).

First i tried logging in to EA with a different account, but this will end up giving an error that the game is not activated on that account and it will just close you out.

Then i logged into my account on which the game is activated (also containing the broken cloud save), i let the game launch and as soon as the game itself opened (white background followed by a brightness slider), i quickly turned off my wifi through the deck's quick menu.
Opening the game with wifi off from the start simply gave me an error about failing to connect. (Maybe thats the error you had too).

With my wifi off, the game continued like normal and i picked my brightness. The cutscene started and this time i was instantly able to hold a button to skip, putting me in control of faith and officialy starting the game!

This must mean there's still hope for you to play your favorite game, because it CAN work.

In your case you should probably try completely wiping EA's launcher and it's folders, uninstall the game through steam and doublecheck if any mirror's edge/save folders remain in your steam directory and/or documents folders.
(Remove them if there are, you could rename them but you're starting from scratch anyway)
Then, reinstall the game through steam.
If i were you i'd first try this without downloading the EA launcher manually, let Steam do it for you as that's what worked on my Deck (no prior EA installation).

If you still get your failure to connect error, maybe try downloading EA launcher manually, log in to your mirror's edge bound account and keep it open as you launch the game again.
Idk if there's a linux equivalent of "run as administrator" but if there is you might want to use that for both steam and EA.

I hope this helps and i hope you manage to get it working too bro.

I'm glad you got it to work! It gives me hope.

On the other hand, I spent ALL DAY applying various fixes to make it work... Now it says "running" for a few seconds before closing itself. It doesn't even start. At least it runs... I will have to try more fixes another time. You enjoy your game.

Is it the EA client or the game that crashes on you?
My game crashed everytime very shortly after opening at first too, which i was able to fix by selecting Proton 8 under compatability, but you're probably not having the same issue..

[_utara]

Originally posted by Roy:

Is it the EA client or the game that crashes on you?
My game crashed everytime very shortly after opening at first too, which i was able to fix by selecting Proton 8 under compatability, but you're probably not having the same issue..

I got it to work! Finally. Thank God. I played for a good hour, even plugged in my DS5 controller and it worked nicely. The game stutters a bit sometimes but not too much of an issue. I played on medium settings. Also both Steam and ME:C are in my HDD so I guess it's normal for it to stutter a bit.

I will try to write a more comprehensive guide later on, but basically I ran the game on Proton 7.0-6 first, apparently this is the Proton version that you need for EA games. It won't let the game run, but it made the EA app work! Then it crashed the game lol. After that I switched to Proton 8.0-5 and after a few tries of starting and crashing the game, it finally worked. Mind you I needed to install some WINE stuff, but I'm too tired to write about those right now.

Thank you for the virtual support hahah. I was really giving up.

[Roy]

Originally posted by _utara:

Originally posted by Roy:

Is it the EA client or the game that crashes on you?
My game crashed everytime very shortly after opening at first too, which i was able to fix by selecting Proton 8 under compatability, but you're probably not having the same issue..

I got it to work! Finally. Thank God. I played for a good hour, even plugged in my DS5 controller and it worked nicely. The game stutters a bit sometimes but not too much of an issue. I played on medium settings. Also both Steam and ME:C are in my HDD so I guess it's normal for it to stutter a bit.

I will try to write a more comprehensive guide later on, but basically I ran the game on Proton 7.0-6 first, apparently this is the Proton version that you need for EA games. It won't let the game run, but it made the EA app work! Then it crashed the game lol. After that I switched to Proton 8.0-5 and after a few tries of starting and crashing the game, it finally worked. Mind you I needed to install some WINE stuff, but I'm too tired to write about those right now.

Thank you for the virtual support hahah. I was really giving up.

That's really good to hear mate, i was rooting for you there!
Strange that it's so unstable, but i'm glad you are at least able to play it again.

I wrote a steam guide on what fixed it for me (proton 8 vs crashing & wifi toggle vs infinite loading), if you'd prefer i can add it together with your part as a collab but that's entirely up to you mate.

Did you end up having any issues with the infinite loading? Or did it just start you on a fresh save right off the bat?