Launcher, NO!

[Rommel 459]

launcher died again with the newest patch, seems to update in Hoi, but not stellaris.
stellaris will no longer start the launcher after updating.
EU4,
Imperator,
ck2 start fine post update.

 

[AndrewT]

EU4, IR and Stellaris all use the same installation of the same launcher. If you scroll down to the end of the launcher page has it updated to 2020.2 okay?

 

[Rommel 459]

it has at this point, but after updating it to 2020.2 the first time, there was some issues with connectivity with steam, uninstalling/deleting the relevent files in the user directory, and reinstalling via stellaris resulted in errors and a failed install, installing by starting HoI4 worked, but had an additional error message (stating it couldn't sync with steam) in stellaris(which has since worked itself out somehow)

 

[Rommel 459]

I doubt it would make a difference, but i just realized that stellaris is the only relevant game that I'm currently running the beta patch for.

 

[AndrewT]

it has at this point, but after updating it to 2020.2 the first time, there was some issues with connectivity with steam, uninstalling/deleting the relevent files in the user directory, and reinstalling via stellaris resulted in errors and a failed install, installing by starting HoI4 worked, but had an additional error message (stating it couldn't sync with steam) in stellaris(which has since worked itself out somehow)

Steam has been having problems over the last day.

I doubt it would make a difference, but i just realized that stellaris is the only relevant game that I'm currently running the beta patch for.

Me either but may as well try opting out of the beta!

 

[Kepos]

Got similar issues with the launcher on Linux Mint OS.

Actually I tried the HOI-4 free test week on Steam. After installation, the launcher + game started once, but on second try the other day, it just collapsed and didn't run. So I lately de-installed it.

Stellaris worked before with mods, with betas, no issue. But when I try to start the launcher today, it also just collapses. Starting the game directly from '..steamapps/common/Stellaris' worked, but without the launcher I can not change any mods or dlc.

So, the new PDX launcher app is producing the issue, no mods, no betas for me.

 

[AndrewT]

It's unusual for the Linux launcher to have a problem, although it's only tested and supported on Ubuntu.

Please Attach the log files Found here $XDG_DATA_HOME/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2 (if $XDG_DATA_HOME is set)
OR
~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2 (if it was not set)

 

[Kepos]

@AndrewT , thank you for the fast response.
It's kind of weird, because, the same launcher using shared Steam library with different OS (Arch Linux), is running without an issue. Even after updating the launcher, which I had to restart then.
Tested again actually, got the same issue. The launcher is collapsing on my main system with Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu.
Added the compressed logs-folder and the *.logs in the main folder found at the given adress (~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2), as I could not locate $XDG_DATA_HOME.


Update:
After I actually tested and upgraded the graphics driver for my AMD RX480 to AMDGPU-PRO on my second OS (Arch Linux) with shared Steam library too, the launcher now also collapses on this system. It seems to me, your launcher has an issue regarding the official AMD pro drivers.

 

[AndrewT]

What if you use Mesa drivers instead? For our games (launcher aside) I'd recommend them over the AMD proprietary drivers.

 

[Kepos]

@AndrewT
I waited for that question and if you read my other posts in this thread, I already did. This is how I found out, your new v2 launcher isn't supporting official AMD drivers.
First of all, it's the official AMD amdgpu-pro driver. Second, some of my other games are not running without. So it would be a downgrade for me. Third, I bought PDX games for the reason, that your company supported Linux down-the-line.

Do you change your policy now? I sadly had to back down from buying HOI4 already, due to this launcher issue...

For Windows, the official driver is supported, so why it shouldn't for Linux, while it did before?

 

[Rodmar18]

Two years ago, it was not obvious why a gamer should prefer the proprietary driver over Mesa:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxmasterrace/comments/5xjdvk/amd_gpu_pro_or_amd_mesawhich_is_why/
... but that was two years ago.

 

[AndrewT]

@AndrewT
I waited for that question and if you read my other posts in this thread, I already did. This is how I found out, your new v2 launcher isn't supporting official AMD drivers.
First of all, it's the official AMD amdgpu-pro driver. Second, some of my other games are not running without. So it would be a downgrade for me. Third, I bought PDX games for the reason, that your company supported Linux down-the-line.

Do you change your policy now? I sadly had to back down from buying HOI4 already, due to this launcher issue...

For Windows, the official driver is supported, so why it shouldn't for Linux, while it did before?

Of course we continue to support our games on Linux (well, on Ubuntu). That doesn't mean we can support them in every conceivable configuration of the OS and drivers; for instance most of our games won't run under Wayland, only X.org.

Certainly my experience is that other Linux players not on nVidia (so with Intel or AMD video) use Mesa just fine. If you don't want to, that is your right of course.

Best now to report this as a bug in the launcher directly to the developers; I think the thread on the new version would be best as it seems this issue was introduced there:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/new-launcher-version-2020-2.1332578/

 

[Kepos]

@AndrewT
Thank you for the advice. I posted the issue at the other thread and also started a ticket about on the helpdesk.

Well, I'll see where my ticket will lead me. It would be a quite sad development if we see PDX quitting out of Linux supported games.

 

[AndrewT]

It would be a quite sad development if we see PDX quitting out of Linux supported games.

Not supporting one rare configuration - if that were to be the outcome here - does not IMO equate to not supporting games on Linux at all.

 

[Kepos]

Not supporting one rare configuration - if that were to be the outcome here - does not IMO equate to not supporting games on Linux at all.

The official AMD drivers have been supported all the time before. That's why I bought all my PDX games and all of a sudden I can no longer play them due to changed launcher. Yeah, I can start those games in folder manually, but am no longer able to play modded, which is one great part of your games.
How could official drivers be 'rare configuration' btw? And why is there a different supported setup for game and launcher?

 

[AndrewT]

The official AMD drivers have been supported all the time before.

Configurations that are untested may happen to work, that doesn't make them officially supported. While I'm not across QA's testing procedures for games or launcher I'm going to bet they do not include the Pro AMD drivers.

How could official drivers be 'rare configuration' btw?

I've been doing this job for over a decade. Use of anything except Mesa drivers for AMD video in Ubuntu is vanishingly rare in my experience.

The link up in post #11 seems to support that to me:

Mesa is better supported, more conformant, and often faster. It is what all consumers should be using. If/when Mesa supports compat profiles I wouldn't be surprised to see the PRO OpenGL driver die completely.

And why is there a different supported setup for game and launcher?

The launcher has to work with several games that may have different requirements to each other.

Anyway, I see you've had basically the same answer from the launcher devs in that thread I linked to you before.