DH on Linux - Fatal error: could not initialize video!

[Laninho]

Hi,
I'm having some trouble to play DH. I managed to launch the game, but it only works on full screen 1024x768 resolution. And that's a bummer. Since I'm on Linux and using Proton 3.16 to launch it, I can't use the launcher to handle the settings changes. I'm changing it directly from settings.cfg. If I try to launch it with any other resolution setting that isnt default (0, which means 1024x768) and full screen enabled, the game fails to launch -- I uploaded a picture of the error.
My savedebug.txt gives me the following:

DirectDraw object created
About to Initialize video!
Setting Mode.
Mode Set.
Unknown RGBFormat = 32 ,r=16711680 g=65280 b=255
Failed to initialize viXdeo.

It fails even on 1024x786 resolution if I try to launch it windowed.

Can somebody please help me? I've seen lots of people playing on higher resolutions. I wish just I could get rid of the 4:3 ratio aspect.

Thank you all.

 

[mccarty.geoff]

I suppose valve/proton is trying to force 32 bits per pixel color depth. Imagine there is some settings menu or config file where that can be fixed (DH uses 16bpp). If you are trying to run a windowed mode you would need to change your x11 configuration to 16 bit color depth. /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d, create xorg.conf, run "sudo gedit /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/xorg.conf":
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
DefaultDepth 16
EndSection

I wouldn't use proton. Nor steam software. Especially on a Linux DE. I suggest using the real deal; https://wiki.winehq.org/Download. Having proton naturally means you have some version of wine installed now. You could just type "wine executablepath" and bypass proton now.
Wonder if Steam allows you to download a local copy of the DH's installer? Then you could create a 32bit wine prefix and install normally. Otherwise all you need is to copy paste directory data then registry lines.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Proton-FAQ
from https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/blob/proton_3.16/user_settings.sample.py

I think this will work if you're receiving this error while using fullscreen;
#to enable these settings, name this file "user_settings.py"

user_settings = {

#Use gl-based wined3d for d3d11 and d3d10 instead of vulkan-based dxvk
"PROTON_USE_WINED3D": "1",

}

DXVK seems like a meme Direct3D implementation for (very few) newer games. Dunno why Proton would use it by default.

 

[Laninho]

@mccarty.geoff
Thanks for the reply. I don' wish to play it windowed, unless it is the only way. I just said in the original post that the game wont launch in any other resolution than 1024x768 even if it is windowed, it has to be fullscreen.

I suppose valve/proton is trying to force 32 bits per pixel color depth. Imagine there is some settings menu or config file where that can be fixed (DH uses 16bpp).

If that's the issue, do you know where do I change it to 16b? I mean, it's not on settings.cfg. And I don't know where to look. I really don't waanna mess on my xorg configuration just to play one game casually, hope you understand.

 

[mccarty.geoff]

Sorry for rambling but haven't slept much and am sick. The game settings are not at fault. Steam's Proton is. If you want to get it running with Proton you should probably be making support requests at https://help.steampowered.com/en/ . It is written in python and uses silly components like DXVK. I wouldn't waste my time trying to get that to work.

I mentioned windowed mode because that error gets posted when someone can't play in windowed mode with a 32 or 24bit desktop color depth. Find the Darkest Hour executable's location. I think you are using Ubuntu? You can right click the desktop and create a 'launcher'. In the command area you would enter 'wine path-to-DH/Darkest Hour.exe'. This way you bypass Proton altogether which is the easiest route.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/1734336452578488603/
So, you could correctly setup a wine 32bit prefix with "WINEARCH=win32 WINEPREFIX="PATH-TO-STEAM/steamapps/compatdata/73170/pfx" WINEPATH="PATH-TO-STEAM/steamapps/compatdata/73170/pfx" winecfg". The reasoning for bypassing Proton is because I think it is trash and attempting to run Darkest Hour in 32bit color depth when it obviously should not. This is a bad solution because Steam will probably end up re-writing the data so you might want to copy ../73170/pfx to $HOME/.wine after running winecfg and setting it as a 32bit prefix.

 

[mccarty.geoff]

Another thing if you want to get Proton working is to use the latest graphics drivers. If you have Nvidia installed there is an x server settings applet with X11 overrides. In one panel of the settings GUI there should be a color depth setting which makes configuring to 16bpp easier if you don't want to do it manually.

 

[Laninho]

@mccarty.geoff thanks for all the help and the time you took to reply my thread
Turns out the problem really is Proton, like you said. Since I'm using Steam Play to run DH, I can't play the game properly on my native steam client. If I call wine I can play the game just fine.

Another thing if you want to get Proton working is to use the latest graphics drivers. If you have Nvidia installed there is an x server settings applet with X11 overrides. In one panel of the settings GUI there should be a color depth setting which makes configuring to 16bpp easier if you don't want to do it manually.

Well, I'm not. Im trying to run the game on mye laptop, which has an Intel 520 graphics adapter, and my distro is Debian -- since you asked.

I guess I can play it on wine and hope for some fix on proton that solves this headache.

Again, thanks very much for your help.

 

[mccarty.geoff]

No problem. Debian 10 coming out next month and I might switch over myself. Getting Proton to play the game does seem like an interesting challenge and according to their feedback some have. They're probably using proprietary graphics drivers which DXVK requires. I bet if you enable WineD3D in the python settings you can get it to run through that goofy tiered launcher.