Guide: Installing TDU2 on Steam Deck (+ save migration)

[doomista]

Prerequisities

• You see hidden files in Dolphin file explorer
  
• You have installed PeaZip through discover
  
• You have activation key for TDU2
  
• Download Unofficial Patch v0.4.1 from here to your Deck: https://turboduck.net/forums/topic/31293-tdu2-unofficial-patch/
  
• Download Universal Launcher from here to your Deck: https://turboduck.net/forums/topic/28202-knyazev-tdu2-universal-launcher-v36/

How to get activation key?

1. Install the game on Windows
   
2. Launch it via Steam
   
3. Steam will show you the activation key. Note it down

NOTE: Steam doesn't show you the keys on Deck (Valve please fix it). I couldn't find any other way to display it.

Installation guide

1. Install the game to your Deck via Steam
   
2. Unpack universal launcher and put the .exe somewhere into your /home/deck folder
   
3. Add the universal launcher to steam and select Proton Experimental to run it (don't launch it yet)
   
4. Unpack the unofficial patch installer. There will be bunch of files, one of them is called install. Unpack that file.
   
5. You will get 3 files. Copy those files to: /home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Test Drive Unlimited 2 and confirm overwrite
   * Source: https://turboduck.net/forums/topic/31293-tdu2-unofficial-patch/?do=findComment&comment=616177
   
6. In gaming mode, launch the Universal Launcher
   
   1. Go to Tools and select where the TDU2 is installed (Z:/home/deck/.steam/... etc)
      
   2. uncheck all checkboxes
      
   3. confirm and go back
      
   4. select offline mode and launch the game
7. Game will prompt you to activate, do it using the key you have noted down
   
8. If activation stucks, restart the app and try again
   
9. If the activation passes, you can click the Start button
   
10. Game may crash. Restart
    
11. Game should work now. Enjoy!

NOTE: Only launch the game through the Universal Launcher.

How to migrate saves?

On Windows, saves are located in Documents/Eden Games/Test Drive Unlimited 2. On Steam Deck, user documents are emulated in sandbox, so every game you install have its own instance. So you need to figure out where those saves are. I recommend playing TDU2 for a while (you can quit once you get to used car dealership).

1. Go to desktop mode and open up Console/Terminal/Bash (click the "start button", type in console, press enter)
   
2. Type these commands:

cd /home/deck
find . | grep "Eden Games/Test Drive Unlimited 2/savegame"

It will print you the path to your TDU2 savegames. Go there, delete contents of the savegame folder and copy over your backed up saves from Windows.

[Einstein]

Thank you very much for that guide but i am stuck at point 6 because i can not select thz game folder because it is hidden

Edit: got it working, had to type in th (correct!) path, now it is working, thanks again for all your hard work

[TheTrain]

If you care about steam stats and achievement, when you finish all the steps listed above you can copy the universal launcher .exe inside of the games folder and rename it as UpLauncher.exe
This way you can launch the game directly from Steam by using the normal Test Drive Unlimited 2 entry. The game will load up the universal launcher and from there it will be all the same. (Double check in Tool if you have the correct path of the game selected, when i did this modification all the settings inside the Universal Launcher were resetted)

[Quenchiest™]

I did all of this and was able to launch the game and was able to get past the intro splash screen but now I'm at a loading screen I'm not able to get past.

[Einstein]

Originally posted by Quenchiest™:

I did all of this and was able to launch the game and was able to get past the intro splash screen but now I'm at a loading screen I'm not able to get past.

I had the same problem, copying the whole tdu2 folder out of the (hidden) steam folder and launching from the new location did the trick for me

[DioMeD22]

Originally posted by Einstein:

Originally posted by Quenchiest™:

I did all of this and was able to launch the game and was able to get past the intro splash screen but now I'm at a loading screen I'm not able to get past.

I had the same problem, copying the whole tdu2 folder out of the (hidden) steam folder and launching from the new location did the trick for me

This helped.
But now i have another issue. The game does allow to change controls from keyboard to xbox 360 controller, but does not recognize any inputs, so i can't drive.

[Einstein]

If I remember correctly you can change the input device by clicking with the button with the mouse cursor, very counter intuitiv, i know 🤪

[DioMeD22]

Originally posted by Einstein:

If I remember correctly you can change the input device by clicking with the button with the mouse cursor, very counter intuitiv, i know 🤪

No, as i said the game allows me to switch devices between keyboard and controller,
but when i switch to controller, literally nothing works. Not a single button.

[Just_Little_Ghost]

Ok. So, this litteraly took me days of trying and reading multiple threads left and right but here is what I did to get TDY2 running on my steam deck:

1. Installed TDU2 on pc and then
2. Copied the directory over to a a none-hidden location.
3. Unzipped the offical patch in the game dir. (you could probably do this on PCand then move the complete folder)
4. I then made folder for the universal launcher (just to keep it clean) and copied the launcher and the 2 bat files into it
5. Added the launcher to steam
6. In gaming mode, started the launcher (set to proton experimental)
7. Add the path to the game folder in the settings of the launcher

Run the game.

There's obviously the registration/activation step somewhere in between, but that is kinda self-explanatory.

[Cyris™]

Originally posted by Einstein:

Originally posted by Quenchiest™:

I did all of this and was able to launch the game and was able to get past the intro splash screen but now I'm at a loading screen I'm not able to get past.

I had the same problem, copying the whole tdu2 folder out of the (hidden) steam folder and launching from the new location did the trick for me

Thank you so much for this.
This was the only solution that worked for me.

I thought it was an issue with the format/codec the intro uses since it seemed to try to load the intro, and there was no mod out there that skipped them if that was the issue.

The workarounds provided did not help me, but copying the folder that weren't placed in the hidden folders.

If you really care to still boot this via steam and get achievements or other purposes use a steam metadata editor (steam metadata edit or steamedit for windows) to point it to a different folder