Linux Guide to "Warriors"/Musou/無双 Games

An (almost) all-in-one guide to getting the Koei Tecmo "musou" (Dynasty/Samurai/etc. Warriors) games working properly on Linux.

Why this guide?

Almost all of Koei Tecmo's musou (無双, aka "Warriors") games have problems playing through Proton and require specific versions of the GloriousEggroll[github.com] (GE-Proton) variant to work as intended. The primary cause of these problems is related to the video codecs used for pre-rendered cutscenes and the wide range of related incompatibilities and regressions that have occurred over the years in the Proton codebase.

Much of the information out there (on ProtonDB, PCGamingWiki, Valve's github, etc) is outdated and the default Proton setups don't work so I figured sharing my own obsessively compiled testing results may be useful for others. This guide is intended to cover all the musou games on Steam (that I have access to) and is based on my own first-hand experiences rather than hearsay.

Which Proton to use?

The following are the most up-to-date Protons I have found to fully work (cutscenes play, no unexpected performance or rendering issues, etc.) with each game, and in most cases the only versions. "Untested" games are ones I don't own and therefore can't test.

ENG	JPN	Proton
Dynasty Warriors 7: XLCE	真・三國無双６ 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 猛将伝	(untested)
Dynasty Warriors 8: XLCE	真・三國無双７ 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 猛将伝	🚧 GE-Proton7-55 [github.com]
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires	真・三國無双７ 𝙴𝙼𝙿𝙸𝚁𝙴𝚂	🚧 GE-Proton7-55 [github.com]
Dynasty Warriors 9	真・三國無双８	(untested)
Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires	真・三國無双８ 𝙴𝙼𝙿𝙸𝚁𝙴𝚂	(untested)
Dynasty Warriors: Origins	真・三國無双 𝙾𝚁𝙸𝙶𝙸𝙽𝚂	Proton Experimental
Samurai Warriors 4	戦国無双４	(untested)
Samurai Warriors 4-II	戦国無双４-𝙸𝙸	🚧 GE-Proton8-25 [github.com]
Samurai Warriors 4 DX	戦国無双４𝙳𝚇	GE-Proton9-2 [github.com]
Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada	戦国無双真田丸	🚧 GE-Proton8-32 [github.com]
Samurai Warriors 5	戦国無双５	GE-Proton9-2 [github.com]
Warriors Orochi 3 UDE	無双𝙾𝚁𝙾𝙲𝙷𝙸２𝚄𝙳𝚇	GE-Proton9-2 [github.com]
Warriors Orochi 4 UDE	無双𝙾𝚁𝙾𝙲𝙷𝙸３𝚄𝙳𝚇	GE-Proton9-2 [github.com]
Warriors All-Stars	無双☆スターズ	GE-Proton9-2 [github.com]
Dragon Quest Heroes	ドラゴンクエストヒーローズ	GE-Proton9-23 [github.com]
Dragon Quest Heroes II	ドラゴンクエストヒーローズ𝙸𝙸	GE-Proton9-23 [github.com]
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3	ワンピース海賊無双３	🚧 GE-Proton8-25 [github.com]
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4	ワンピース海賊無双４	🚧 GE-Proton9-2 [github.com]
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk	ベルセルク無双	(untested)
Arslan: The Warriors of Legend	アルスラーン戦記×無双	(untested)
Touken Ranbu Warriors	刀剣乱舞無双	(untested)
Persona 5: Strikers	ペルソナ５スクランブルザ ファントムストライカーズ	(untested)

🚧 Indicates GE-Proton alone won't fix everything and additional steps are needed for proper support. See the next section for game-specific details.

Game-Specific Fixes

Some of the games have very specific issues including: keyboard rather than controller prompts in-game, bad/unuseable default bindings, controller detection issues, etc. Some fixes require having the immeasurably useful Protontricks[github.com] toolset installed, but make sure you follow their shell alias instructions if you use the Flatpak version, otherwise the supplied commands won't work. Protontricks-related commands are performed in your Linux terminal and don't use sudo privileges.

Dynasty Warriors 8: XLCE / 真・三國無双７ 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 猛将伝

• Controller prompts require a mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3324691800
  Extract the mod according to the instructions, then apply it with:
  

  protontricks --no-bwrap --cwd-app -c "wine cmd /c Patch.bat" 278080

• You MUST fully rebind the controller in-game (ideally after the mod for less guesswork). Keyboard input is required to reach that menu.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires / 真・三國無双７ 𝙴𝙼𝙿𝙸𝚁𝙴𝚂

• Controller prompts require a mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=886358288
  Extract the mod according to the instructions, then apply it with:
  

  protontricks --no-bwrap --cwd-app -c "wine cmd /c Patch.bat" 322520

• You MUST fully rebind the controller in-game (ideally after the mod for less guesswork). Keyboard input is required to reach that menu.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins / 真・三國無双 𝙾𝚁𝙸𝙶𝙸𝙽𝚂

• Unique problems with 8bitdo controller detection. The only solution I've found can't be discussed here, but needless to say the problem is the specific Steam API dlls that come with the game.

Samurai Warriors 4-II / 戦国無双４-𝙸𝙸

• Pre-rendered cutscenes seem to have noticeable audio desync. A fix has not been found yet.
  
• Controller prompts require a mod:
  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=657934045
  Extract the mod according to the instructions, then apply it with:
  

  protontricks --no-bwrap --cwd-app -c "wine cmd /c Data/Patch.bat" 348470

• Controller detection in general seems to have issues that will require tinkering on your end.
  
  • Xbox One controller users may need to use the 2nd part of the mod linked above (I don't own one and can't test this)
    
  • My 8bitdo controller issues weren't resolved with the mod. The Right Trigger wasn't detected at all and the mini-map zooming hotkey was set in-game as Axis 4, which is the Left Trigger's release state. My non-ideal fix was:
    
    1. Unbind the mini-map controller hotkey (select it in the in-game settings, when prompted for the new binding press F10 to unbind the controller side of things, then press ESC to exit the rebinding prompt.
       
    2. Outside of the game use the Steam Input controller configuration to set the Right Trigger to be the game's mini-map keyboard binding: "." (period).

Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada / 戦国無双真田丸

• REQUIRES configuring the game to run in Windows 7 compatibility mode
  
  • The game's pop-up indicating this and asking if you want to change it will not work. Instead you need to forcibly set it through Protontricks. There are a few ways to accomplish this (through the "winecfg" or "Settings" Protontricks menus), but the quickest is to run this command:
    

    protontricks --no-bwrap 595740 win7

• There are very noticeable performance issues (30-40% FPS drops), but on my setup the Atelier Sync Fix[github.com] (atfix) modification meant for KT's Atelier games worked wonders. Just download atfix.zip from the release page[github.com] and extract the d3d11.dll file to the game's root folder. It will generate an atfix.log file on game launch if it's working. If it doesn't then your setup may also require adding the following to the game's launch parameters:
  

  WINEDLLOVERRIDES="d3d11.dll=n,b" %command%

  

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 / ワンピース海賊無双３

• Controller prompts require a mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=676138718
  Extract the mod according to the instructions, then apply it with:
  

  protontricks --no-bwrap --cwd-app -c "wine cmd /c LINKDATA_DX9/Patch.bat" 331600

• It is recommended to rebind the right thumbstick to use the keyboard camera controls (T/H/G/F for Up/Right/Down/Left, respectively) in Steam's controller settings for the game to have modernized controls (otherwise the game uses the triggers). Community bindings can do this for you if you can get that feature to work... but it never has for me and is a long-term, well-known problem.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 / ワンピース海賊無双４

• Unique problems with 8bitdo controller detection. The only solution I've found can't be discussed here, but needless to say the problem is the specific Steam API dlls that come with the game.

How-To: Use GE-Proton

1. Use the links in this guide to find the appropriate release on the GloriousEggroll github (or sift through the pages of releases[github.com] yourself)
   
2. Download the GE-Proton#-#.tar.gz file in the Assets of that particular release
   
3. Extract the contents of the .tar.gz to ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d so that the folder structure resembles:
   📁 /
    └📁 home
        └📁 <user>
            └📁 .steam
                └📁 root
                    └📁 compatibilitytools.d
                        └📁 GE-Proton7-55
                            ├📁 files
                            ├📁 protonfixes
                            ├📁 __pycache__
                            ├📄 compatibilitytool.vdf
                            ├📄 filelock.py
                            ├📄 LICENSE
                            └ ...
                        ├📁 GE-Proton8-25
                        ├📁 GE-Proton9-2
                        ├📁 GE-Proton9-23
                        └ ...
   
4. Enable forcing of a specific compatibility tool in the game's properties and select the appropriate GE-Proton version from the list (Steam may need to be restarted for it to show)
   

The next time you start the game there will likely be a short delay as the new Proton environment is setup, but when it does it should now be running in your selected version and (hopefully) working as intended!

How-To: Enable Steam Input

Controller support is a lot of trial and error on Steam, based on your hardware and software circumstances. This guide can't possibly cover controller problems that are system-wide, but if you know Linux is detecting it properly and if other games are working fine then the following may help.

Overall the main thing to try would be forcibly enabling (or, counter-intuitively, disabling) Steam Input and making sure Steam actually sees the device properly.

This can be accomplished on a per-game basis in the game's properties. Directly enabling or disabling Steam Input will do so for all controller types, whereas the default settings are based on your global settings.

You can further tinker with the global settings (as well as perform controller tests and configurations) in the overall Steam settings menu. Note that the per-game enable/disable takes priority.

What was tested?

Testing was done with the following versions in January 2025 with the goal of finding the most up-to-date version that still worked. While they may seem a scattershot of choices, the reasoning was often due to suggestions on resources like ProtonDB and from notes in GE-Proton changelogs that indicated when a fix/regression may have occurred.

• Proton 7.0-6
  
• Proton 8.0-5
  
• Proton 9.0-4*
  
• Proton Experimental*
  
• Proton Hotfix*
  
• GE-Proton7-28
  
• GE-Proton7-55
  
• GE-Proton8-3
  
• GE-Proton8-4
  
• GE-Proton8-25
  
• GE-Proton8-31
  
• GE-Proton8-32
  
• GE-Proton9-2
  
• GE-Proton9-5
  
• GE-Proton9-10
  
• GE-Proton9-20
  
• GE-Proton9-22
  
• GE-Proton9-23

*These versions are ever-changing and their status as working or not is based solely on their current (January 2025) status.

Acknowledgements

• idarion for their must-have controller prompt solutions
  
• doitsujin's Atelier Sync Fix[github.com]
  
• GloriousEggroll[github.com] for being the saving grace of all Linux gaming fans
  
• Protontricks[github.com] for the being most must-have of all Proton tools
  
• ProtonDB[protondb.com] for existing, if not always actually usefully so
  
• PCGamingWiki[pcgamingwiki.com] for sometimes having useful info
  
• MobyGames[mobygames.com] for meticulous data, names, and box art
  
• SteamGridDB[steamgriddb.com] for fan-made alternative box/icon/etc. art
  
• SteamDB[steamdb.info] for the most useful Steam data scraping efforts around

[ひき]

LATEST UPDATE:
- Samurai Warriors 4-II / 戦国無双４-𝙸𝙸 results added. Another uniquely broken title.

STILL TODO:
- OPPW3 and SW4-II rebinding sub-guides
- Protontricks installation sub-guide?
- Details on how to alternatively apply various Protontricks (ie through the GUI)?
- Something about when/how to disable Steam Input's desktop integration that can cause confusion (and overall troubleshooting misdiagnosis) with games that have controller detection problems?