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What Steam does differently than Lutris? (programming.dev)
submitted 5 months ago by muhyb@programming.dev to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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Hi there!

I have a situation about a game that has problems with running via Steam but the same binaries run fine via Lutris.

ProtonDB page of the said game: https://www.protondb.com/app/214590 (Fairy Bloom Freesia)

I tried it years ago, probably around Proton 4-2 times, and I was getting the very same error I get today if I run the game from Steam.

DirectX error: StrecthRect is invalid call

I don't know what Steam does differently but in the meantime it causes this error. Probably it's game's own problem at some circumstances (regarding it's a custom Japanese engine) and what Steam does triggers this error. I'm using Glorious Eggroll's Proton 10-15 on both Steam and Lutris, that's why I think it's related to Steam client itself.

Also tried WINE and if I run the game with regular WINE from my system, the performance would be really poor, but at least it runs.

So, I'm trying to understand what would be the difference. Do we know what might Steam client does behind the doors? According to the latest reviews on ProtonDB, the game should run fine. That's why I wanted to try it again after so many years.

I tried every Proton version and I get the same error almost on every version. For some, it crashes right away. Launch options such as PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 do not help either.

Any ideas what should I check or try?

I'm on EndeavourOS, my Steam is a native package.

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[-] rtxn@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Processes launched from Steam run in an altogether different runtime environment compared to Lutris. When Steam launches an application, it uses several wrapper processes that you can see in btop's process tree. Pressure Vessel (pv-adverb) and Bubblewrap (srt-bwrap) are sandboxing solutions by Valve and Flatpak respectively, and Reaper is responsible for tracking and cleaning up Wine processes when the game is closed.

This is what the process tree looks like when I launch Warframe:

[-] priapus@piefed.social 0 points 5 months ago

Steam uses the Steam runtime and can automatically apply specific settings and configurations known as Protonfixes.

Try using Proton in Lutris and enabling the Steam runtime. Lutris has support for a tool called Umu Launcher which essentially replicates Steams method of launching games and applies Protonfixes for you. I don't know the exact requirements to use it, but looking around in the discord (unfortunately) might get you some info.

[-] muhyb@programming.dev 1 points 5 months ago

Lutris (and so Umu launcher) runs the game just fine if I use GE-Proton. However there is no Steam connection there. If I select to run it via Steam runtime inside Lutris, I still get the same error. (I think that option just runs the game via Steam and nothing more?).

If there are auto-enabled flags like PROTON_USE_DXVK=1, I might try to disable them. Though there are many of these.

this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2025
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