How to get LazyDuchess' Smooth Patch to work on Linux / Steam Deck / Proton / Wine

Without extensive Proton tweaks, Smooth Patch unfortunately does not work out of the box. This guide will show you how to get Smooth Patch working on a Debian based Linux system.

Prerequisites

You'll need to have these utilities installed consecutively:

• winetricks[github.com]
  
• protontricks[github.com] (I personally recommend installing this via pipx)

And obviously, having Smooth Patch installed and your game configured to run on Proton, I found Proton 6.3 to work for my game.

Getting game ID

Skip this if you got the game from Steam.

If you're coming from Origin and added the game as a non-Steam game, the default "47890" ID will probably not work in the next sections and you'll need to locate its new ID, you can use protontricks to do this by entering this in the terminal:

• Depending on how you named the Steam shortcut, what you need to put in the search query may vary.

protontricks -s "Sims 3"

This will return a number, simply replace "47890" in the command lines in the next steps with the protontricks' output.

vcredist

From what I've heard, this step is essential for people who launch their game through the launcher, but the launcher itself doesn't boot without heavy tweaking, fortunately there's already a guide for that:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2192964372
If you launch the game directly via the game executable, you can probably move on to the next section, go back to this if problems arise.

1. Go to this link[www.microsoft.com] and download the vcredist installers.
   
   • If you're on a 32-bit OS, download vcredist_x86 only, if you're on a 64-bit OS, grab both vcredist_x86 and vcredist_x64.
   
   
   
   
2. Open the terminal and enter:
   

   protontricks 47890 shell

   
   
   
   
3. The terminal should change directory, now enter consecutively:
   

   wine "<Path to vcredist>/vcredist_x86.exe"
   wine "<Path to vcredist>/vcredist_x64.exe"
   

   eg:
   

   wine "/home/conundroy/Downloads/vcredist_x86.exe"
   wine "/home/conundroy/Downloads/vcredist_x64.exe"
   

   
   
   
   
4. For each installation prompt, continue how you normally would on Windows.

winecfg

1. In your terminal, enter:
   

   env WINEPREFIX="<Path to Steam>/steamapps/compatdata/47890/pfx" winecfg
   

   eg:
   

   env WINEPREFIX="/mnt/Storage/SteamLibrary/steamapps/compatdata/47890/pfx/" winecfg
   

   
   
   
   
2. In the next window, go to Applications tab, add TS3W.exe to the application list and set its Windows Version to Windows 7.
   
   • Note: If you renamed TS3W to Sims3LauncherW like I did, or whatever game executable you use, you'd need to add that instead.
   
   
   
   
3. Make sure you have clicked on the exe you just added in the Applications tab. Next, open the Libraries tab, manually add "ddraw.dll" override to the list.
   
   

Debugging

To ensure the mod is working, edit the TS3Patch.txt that comes with the mod and change "Debug = 0" to "Debug = 1"




This would launch a text prompt saying "Patching Game!" every time you open the game. Once you make sure the game can be played and the mod is functional, you can go back and change the Debug back to 0 if you wish.

Acknowledgements

Much thanks to Reddit user KittyTheSnowcat, specifically this thread here, for offering a good primer for this guide to happen. I simply filled in the gaps that people were asking them about in that thread.

[Jesus]

I installed using lutris and added it as a non steam game, i have proton tricks installed but the first command isn't working, (steam deck)

[Master Dilbert]

Newest version of smooth patch uses different .dll file. Different name but works on steam deck protontricks

[Tstormn3tw0rk]

Hey, could you give some more detail on adding this game from EA desktop? No matter which exe file I use, it has an error just booting the game normally. Thank you!

[PlayerNotFoundException]

Thank you for posting this guide, it helped me get the Smooth Patch to work on my Arch Linux PC.

The borderless option still causes issues (window flickering) when enabled, but I can easily live without that feature. The performance upgrade and the FPS cap are far more important.

(I hadn't even realized the Smooth Patch wasn't loading for me before today - oops. Had just assumed the FPS limiter was broken and blindly installed a second tool for that.)

[og95]

Thank you!

[ButterflyCrimeScene]

omg thank you i just got a steam deck this is amazing!

[Conundroy]

@heartcore Can you do this for TS3 executables?

[heartcore]

@Conundroy Yeah, I enabled Proton experimental on the EA App through Steam.

[Conundroy]

@hearcore This seems to me they don't have Proton enabled yet. Turn these on in Properties and see if that helps.

[heartcore]

Hi, thanks for this! Do you know how to get it working for the EA Desktop version of the game? It doesn't seem to work at all. I've tried adding just the TS3.exe and TS3W.exe files to Steam directly, but they won't open.