GTA IV Independence FM: Steam Deck Fix

Easily add your own music to GTA IV’s Independence FM on Steam Deck with this step-by-step guide. It covers configuring Proton, managing Linux file paths, and fixing common issues to ensure a seamless custom radio experience.

Intro & Disclaimer

Several Grand Theft Auto IV's song licenses expired back in 2018 and the music was removed from the game, but Rockstar replaced it with other songs. I was very annoyed when I didn't find my favorite songs on Vladivostok FM, and on some other stations, when I decided to re-run GTA 4 once again, but on a Steam Deck. So decided to gather all these songs on Independence FM by placing .mp3 files in the User Music folder, like I did on a PC, but everything turned out to be not so simple, and it took me several hours to figure everything out. And yes, this is exactly the moment when more time was spent on finding solutions to problems than on the game itself.

And a small disclaimer. I am not that well versed in Linux or Proton, I am only presenting the experience and solutions that I was able to find reading Reddit, ProtonDB, and any other sources on the Internet. It is quite possible that my method may not work for you as it worked for me. Please let me know if this is indeed the case. But I will try to present every step that I took to solve this problem, maybe it will help you.

Setting up Proton GE

First of all, we need to fix the Quick and Global scan error, it occurs every time if you added somehow your music into the User Music folder, but your game is running in default mode, without forcing any other Proton versions. For some reason, when you do this, your scan progress is stuck and you have to reboot GTA IV to fix it. So that's where we need a Proton GE.

Proton GE (Glorious Eggroll) is a custom, community-developed version of Proton, Valve's compatibility layer for running Windows games on Linux systems, such as the Steam Deck. Unlike the official Proton releases from Valve, Proton GE includes additional patches, updates, and experimental features that improve compatibility and performance for specific games or applications.  

So, here we go:

• Switch your Steam Deck to a Desktop Mode. And navigate to Discover Application. In a search field at the top type ProtonUp-Qt, and then install it. This application allows to install and manage Proton-GE for Steam.
  
  
  
  
• Launch this application, you can do it right from Discover Application by pressing "Launch" on the top right corner. In the dialog box that pops up, click Add version.
  
  
  
  
• In next window choose Compatibility Tool - GE Proton, and the latest version available, for me it is GE-Proton9-20. And then click Install.
  
  
  
  
• Right after installation you should restart your Steam (you can find Steam Icon in the tray on your taskbar), and then, navigate to your GTA IV, and set the "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool", and choose the Proton-GE version, which you installed in a previous step. And double check it later, when you back in Gaming Mode.
  
  
  
  And that's it. Now we can navigate to our GTA IV User Music folder, which should be located somewhere at path below, and place your music there:
  
  

  /home/deck/.steam/steamapps/compatdata/12210 (this folder could have a different digit name, just try every one you have there) /pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/My Documents/Rockstar Games/GTA IV/User Music/

  
  
  
  

  Important, try to place more than 3-5 songs. Someone told me, that less than 3 songs won't work.

  
  Next, you can try to go back to the game mode and launch GTA IV (check from Gaming mode that you have the correct Proton in the compatibility settings, just in case). The game can take a long time to launch, give it time, it took me about 5-10 minutes, just trust the process and wait. And if the game launched for you, go to the audio settings, and perform a Quick and Global scan so that the game detects your tracks. If everything worked for you, congratulations. If you get an error when launching GTA IV, read this guide further:
  
  
  
  
  
  

Windows 7 & 8 Launcher Error

I'm sorry you're here, but let's finish it. So, If you did everything correctly, but when you launch GTA IV you see this error, then you need to tinker a little bit more.

• Switch your Steam Deck to a Desktop Mode once again. Here in a Discovery Application we need to find another application named Protontricks. If you are familiar enough with Linux, you may know Winetricks, so Protontricks it is literally the same thing but for Proton. With that think we will make GTA IV think that we are launching it from Windows 10. So install this application and follow the next instructions.
  
  
  
  
• After you launch it, you'll see every game installed on your Steam Deck. Choose the GTA IV.
  
  
  
  
• After that, choose Select the default wineprefix
  
  
  
  
• Then choose Change Settings.
  
  
  
  
• And then choose win10 and click OK.
  
  
  
  And that's it! Now you can proceed to your Gaming Mode and try launch GTA IV once again. It may re-install Social Club, and you probably have to login into your account once again. And don't forget to perform a Quick and Global scan. Enjoy your game.
  
  
  
  

Outro

I appreciate you for getting to the end of this guide. I hope this guide was useful for you and you were able to add your music to the game. If you have any questions or problems, feel free to leave a comment below and let's try to figure it out together. And finally go bowling with Roman.

[Onkul]

That's weird, I'll try to investigate further

[automatic_bazooti]

i receive this errror no matter which version of Proton or GE Proton i select for GTA IV "Running /home/deck/.var/app/com.github.Matoking.protontricks/cache/protontricks/proton/Proton 9.0/bin/wineserver -w. This will hang until all wine processes in prefix=/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/12210/pfx terminate"

[IzzieDevil]

Oh that was the error message. "Cannot launch game. Try reinstalling."
Thanks for making this guide!

[Onkul]

This is very strange, tell me what specific error you are receiving so that I can figure it out.Thank you for your feedback guys!

[IzzieDevil]

GTA 4*

[IzzieDevil]

I was also getting an error. Cannot launch game. Try reinstalling. Stayed even after I reinstalled GTA I. However it worked fine when I switched back to plain Proton from GE. Even played my music totally fine when I actually did the audio scan

[Onkul]

@YourResidentBell what error are you getting?

[YourResidentBell]

It gives me an error when I try to switch to win10, then the game becomes unplayable until I reinstall :(

[Onkul]

Glad to help you :) Enjoy!

[mkr.m0n3y996633]

Bro, you are the best!! I love you!! :D Your method is work! I spent 3 hours independently searching for a solution to the problem and surfing the Internet. And your method solved it in 5 minutes!