Battlefield 4 on Linux

This guide shows how to setup Battlefield 4 with the newest Version of Punkbuster on Linux.

Installing Battlefield 4

Installing Battlefield 4 on Linux is easy. Right click the game in your library and go to "Properties...".
Then under the compatibility section enable "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool". Choose the latest Proton Version.
After closing the properties menu you will be able to download and install Battlefield 4 over the normal "Install" button.

Don't forget the DLC Operations

There are 3 free DLCs that contain more maps:

• Legacy Operations
  
• Night Operations
  
• Community Operations

Go to the DLC Page of BF4 and add/download them to play all maps.

Update PunkBuster

We now need to update PunkBuster to make sure we don't get kicked from online games.
Since we're on Linux this can be a bit tricky but following this guide should make it easy.

Protontricks

Protontricks is a utility tool that makes launching external Windows executables inside Steam game environments easy.
Make sure it is installed on your Linux System.
You can find how to install it for your distro on the Protontricks github.

Download PBSetup

Now we need to download the newest Windows version of PunkBuster. This is important, because Protontricks uses the Windows version of PunkBuster to run Battlefield.
To download PunkBuster go to their website.
Unzip the downloaded file to access pbsetup.exe.

Start pbetup.exe with Protontricks

Make sure you have started Battlefield 4 at least once!
To start the installation use the following protontricks command:
protontricks-launch --appid 1238860 ./pbsetup.exe

With this we tell Protontricks to launch pbsetup.exe inside the Battlefield 4 environment. The AppId of 1238860 corresponds to Battlefield 4. The location of pbsetup.exe is the last parameter. Make sure it matches to where you saved the file!

Configure PunkBuster

After a moment the PunkBuster Installer Windows should open.
Here you have to accept the License Agreement.
You will see the configuration menu next. Select the "Add Game" Button (marked with red).
Add Battlefied 4 from the dropdown menu. The file location should be found automatically.
Now it will update PunkBuster for your game installation. After this, Battlefield 4 shows up in the menu.
You can now close out of the menu by pressing the "Quit" button.

Troubleshooting

If you're having trouble with running Protontricks this section might help you by detailing common errors.

Protontricks - Using the newest Proton version

When starting Protontricks you might get the Error "SyntaxError: Invalid file magic number".
Make sure Protontricks uses the newest (experimental) version by setting the PROTON_VERSION variable:
export PROTON_VERSION="Proton Experimental"

Protontricks - Set Steam directory explicitly

If Protontricks does not find your Steam directory directly you can set the STEAM_DIR variable:
export STEAM_DIR=/path/to/steamdir

Wrap up

Future Improvements

If you have any suggestions or have specific problems (with or without solution) please let me know in the comment.
I will add it to the guide.

Thanks

The main section of the guide was first written by Yagato on the protondb entry for battlefield 4.

Thank you for reading!

[Dr. Now]

Bf4 works and punk buster has been updated. Do you have any suggestions on getting the ping to show in game? I just have a dash and some servers will kick.

[LA.]

Been a long time since I played BF4, glad you managed to find a fix or atleast shared it. Downloading BF4 on my ubuntu right now. However, maybe you know if there is a similar fix for other battlefield games?

[wizzim]

@Schneider regarding the list of friends not loading in the EA App overlay, this trick did it for me:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1jegtfo/found_a_solution_to_the_ea_app_friends_connection/

[Schneider(9er) Zero]

This got me going on bf4 under linux mint! Exciting stuff. The only problem I have is that the EA app says it couldn't connect and therefore my entire friends list is offline.

Leading up to this, I tried so many things with Lutris to no avail. I re-purchased the game through steam for 2$ on sale so I could try your method. In this case, I was able to keep my progress, as I signed in with the same EA account.

[AJKI11A]

## BF4 Non-Steam Setup on Lutris

1. Install EA App through Lutris (Far Left Menu Click Play Button)
2. Install Battlefield 4
3. Download Windows PunkBuster from official site
4. Unzip pbsetup.exe to EA App folder
5. Install PunkBuster, add BF4 path

Add new game in Lutris:
- Name: BF4 (or any name)
- Executable: /pathtoEAApp/EALauncher.exe
- Wine Prefix: /pathtoEAApp
- Arguments: pbservice.exe

Runner Options: Wine-ge (latest) in my case

This launches PBService when game runs. Verify PunkbusterA is running & appears in Wine Task Manager(Bottom Left Menu) after starting EA App.

If experiencing ping kicks, run: not all of these will apply to your system
sudo setcap cap_net_raw=epi /bin/wine-preloader
sudo setcap cap_net_raw=epi /bin/wine64-preloader
sudo setcap cap_net_raw=epi /bin/wineserver

[Dimitrion]

@bol
Thanks for the last advice, this made it run on my laptop! Great. No all i need is some tinkering to make it stop freezing randomly. :-D

[bol]

@Dimitrion,
I recommend checking the protondb website for battlefield 4 and searching for mint.
I found a user "A Button" that got it to run on mint.
He wrote:
"EA Launcher doesn't work on both Steam and Lutris without changing GE Proton back to 7-43. Changing to this version allows EA app to be properly installed. Changing to Proton Experimental makes the game still work but in the next launch, EA app refuses to launch the game, even returning to GE Proton 7-43. Had to reverify it. I never changed this compatibility again ever since. EA app has to be the worst launcher that I've ever dealt with, even in Windows."

[Dimitrion]

Thanks for replying @bol.
I tried proton 8.0-5. Didn't work.
Steam downloads the proton version, at clicking start; EA screen shortly pops up, Vulkan shaders load up and after that it just stops.

[bol]

Hi @Dimitrion, I can confirm it still works for me with proton 8.0-5 on my arch linux install.
I had to start it twice because the EA App wanted me to log in again. But once i did that the game started into the main menu.

[Dimitrion]

Didn't work for me.
Is there some more to it? I followed this instructions to the details. BF4 just doesn't start. Running proton GE-9-25. On POP OS.
I hope someone has tips.