Running Flagrum on Linux - Kizari/Flagrum GitHub Wiki

Huge thanks to Sp3ci3s8472 for a large chunk of the information in this guide that makes running Flagrum on Linux possible!
 

[!CAUTION]
READ THIS OR YOU MAY LOSE YOUR MODS AND MOD PROJECTS!

Flagrum uses software to update automatically that does not work properly on Linux.
When an update is available, Flagrum will get stuck trying to update infinitely.
You must manually preserve your data before reinstalling from the new version otherwise it will be deleted!

See the Handling Software Updates section for instructions on how to do this correctly.

 

Table of Contents

 

Overview

[!WARNING]
Flagrum is a Windows application, and as such, it requires compatibility layers like WINE or Proton and may not behave correctly on Linux. It may also behave differently between different distros and WINE/Proton versions, so use at your own risk. While you are welcome to post issues on this repository if you encounter them, be aware that support for Linux will be limited for the aforementioned reasons.

While there are multiple ways to get Flagrum working on Linux, this page only covers how to install Flagrum via Lutris, as it's a simple GUI method for running Windows executables in the same Proton prefix as FFXV.

[!TIP]
For further insights or troubleshooting information, refer to the issue that prompted the creation of this guide.

 

Installing Lutris

You can download Lutris here. Follow the instructions for your distro, or prefer the Flatpak for an easier installation.
 

Installing FFXV

Install FFXV via Steam, and run it at least once to generate the binmod.list file that is required by Flagrum later.

[!WARNING]
FFXV will not generate the binmod.list file until a certain point in its startup process. It is safest to at least let the game reach the main game menu before closing it back down.

If you have already installed and launched FFXV prior to now, you may skip this step.
 

Installing Windows software via Lutris

This section explains how to install software using a Windows executable (.exe) into the FFXV Proton prefix.

  1. Launch Lutris
  2. Click the + button in the top-left to "add a game to Lutris"
  3. Choose "add locally installed game" from the list
  4. In the game info tab, give it a name that you will recognise as an installer
  5. Select "Wine" from the "Runner" dropdown
  6. Switch to the "Game options" tab
  7. Under the "Executable" field, select the installer .exe file
  8. Under the "Wine prefix" field, select the FFXV Proton prefix. By default, this will be somewhere like ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/637650/pfx, note that 637650 is FFXV as this is its Steam app ID
  9. Do not alter the runner options or system options, as you do not want to overwrite the options Steam has set for the prefix
  10. Click "Save" in the top-right

[!TIP]
If your Proton prefix isn't in the location outlined above, it may be at ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/637650/pfx instead.

The installer should now have an entry in the "Wine" tab of Lutris. You can launch this entry to run the installer, then once it has completed, you may remove the entry to avoid accidentally running it again.
 

Installing Flagrum

Download Flagrum from the releases page. Run Setup.exe via Lutris, again using the steps from above. Flagrum should automatically run after the installation completes.

[!CAUTION]
Flagrum will likely crash at this point. This is expected on Linux! Keep reading as this will be resolved.

Remove the setup.exe entry from the Lutris library to avoid running it again, as this will wipe your mods.

Set up a new entry in Lutris following the same steps again, but this time, point it to Flagrum.exe, which can be found within the Proton prefix at .../pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/AppData/Local/Flagrum/current/Flagrum.exe. You can now launch Flagrum from this Lutris entry whenever you wish to use it.

You may also right-click this entry from Lutris and select "create a desktop shortcut" if you wish to launch Flagrum without needing to first launch Lutris. You can then pin this to your taskbar as you would any other Linux application if desired.
 

Installing WebView2

Flagrum relies on Edge WebView2 to run. It will have attempted to install this automatically during the setup above, but this fails on Linux. WebView2 version 92.0.902.73 is known to work best with Linux. Download the x64 .cab file from the WebView2 Runtime Archive. Extract the .cab file somewhere, then copy all the contents of this folder. Find the WebView2 folder in the Proton prefix for FFXV, this should be somewhere like .../pfx/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft/EdgeWebView/Application/<VERSION_NUMBER>. Open this folder. It should contain something like an EBWebView folder with nothing else. Delete this folder, then paste in the contents you copied before.
 

Configuring Flagrum

At this point, you can launch Flagrum using Lutris or the shortcut you created, and it should work as expected.

Once Flagrum has launched, you should be on a configuration page that won't let you proceed until it is set up. You will need to provide the executable path, which you can do by clicking the browse button next to it. This will be located in your Steam directory from earlier, for example ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/FINAL FANTASY XV/ffxv_s.exe.

[!TIP]
If you can't see hidden folders such as .steam or .local when browsing for the executable path, you can try either Ctrl+H or Alt+. to reveal them. If this does not work on your distro, go to the folder where the hidden folder is (such as /home/<YOUR_USER_NAME>) and type the name of the hidden folder (such as .steam) into the file name box, then hit enter. This should put you inside the folder, so you can continue navigating from there.

The binmod.list path should already be populated automatically, but if it is not, you can navigate to it manually within the Proton prefix and select it from there.
 

Launching Modded FFXV

You may now launch FFXV using the play button in the Mod Manager tab within Flagrum now to play modded.

However, you can also launch directly through Steam or Lutris!

Lutris

This method is simpler, and more convenient if you Lutris anyway.

  1. Right-click the Flagrum entry in Lutris you created earlier and select Duplicate
  2. Give it a new name, such as "Final Fantasy XV"
  3. Right-click the duplicate entry and select Configure
  4. Under the "game options" tab, add --launch to the Arguments field then hit Save
  5. Optionally create a desktop shortcut from this new entry

This will now launch modded FFXV directly without needing to open Flagrum first.

[!WARNING]
Steam will still need to be active in the background to play this way, as FFXV itself relies on Steam's services and will provide an error message if not available.

Steam

This method is preferable for Big Picture Mode and Steam Deck.

Go to your Steam Library, then right-click the FFXV entry and select "properties." In the "general" tab, enter the following into the "launch options" field:

eval $(echo $(echo "%command%" | sed -r "s/proton waitforexitandrun .*/proton waitforexitandrun/") "<PROTON_PREFIX_PATH>/drive_c/users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/AppData/Local/Flagrum/current/Flagrum.exe" --launch)

Make sure you replace <PROTON_PREFIX_PATH> with the absolute path to your FFXV Proton prefix, and <YOUR_USER_NAME> with the username from your Linux install. For example:

eval $(echo $(echo "%command%" | sed -r "s/proton waitforexitandrun .*/proton waitforexitandrun/") "/home/Kizari/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/637650/pfx/drive_c/users/Kizari/AppData/Local/Flagrum/current/Flagrum.exe" --launch)

What this command does:

  • $(echo "%command%" | sed -r "s/proton waitforexitandrun .*/proton waitforexitandrun/") takes the command Steam normally uses to launch FFXV, and removes the path to FFXV from it by matching on the text before it
  • $(echo $(...) "<FLAGRUM_PATH>" --launch) appends the Flagrum path with the --launch options, so that Steam will launch FFXV through Flagrum to ensure it is played modded
  • eval $(...) tells Steam that everything else is a bash command so that it is executed instead of being interpreted as a string literal

Close the properties window. From now on, whenever you launch FFXV from Steam, it will launch modded. To undo this, simply remove the command from the launch options.
 

[!WARNING]
If Flagrum spits out a crash message when launching the game through Steam instead of launching the game, you may need to configure the game path directly through Steam. Alter the launch options as above, but omit the --launch text from the command. Launch FFXV from Steam, and Flagrum will open instead. If you are experiencing this issue, you should be forced to the configuration page automatically. The executable path may begin with something like S:\<YOUR_USER_NAME>\, when Steam expects Z:\home\<YOUR_USER_NAME>\. To fix this, simply select the FFXV executable path again as outlined in the previous steps, and it should change to the expected form. Finally, close Flagrum and add the --launch flag back to the Steam launch options. It should now work as expected.

 

Handling Software Updates

The updater software Flagrum uses to automatically update when a new version is available appears to not work on Linux with Proton. It will get stuck in an endless loop. You will need to close it down (Stop button in Lutris works) and then take the following steps to safely update so as not to lose your mods and projects.

  1. Navigate to local application data for your FFXV Proton prefix at <PROTON_PREFIX>/drive_c/users/<YOUR_USER_NAME>/AppData/Local
  2. Rename the Flagrum folder to something like Flagrum_Backup
  3. Download Setup.exe for the new Flagrum release
  4. Install Flagrum from the setup file as explained earlier in this guide
  5. Make sure Flagrum is closed before proceeding
  6. Copy your important data from the Flagrum_Backup folder to the new Flagrum folder created by the installer, following the table below
Item Type Action
earc Directory Delete the new one, replace with the backup one.
profiles Directory Delete the new one, replace with the backup one.
configuration.fcg File Replace with the backup one, do not start Flagrum again until this is present!

[!CAUTION]
Directly after some updates, Flagrum may alter your data to make it compatible with the new version. It does this by checking your configuration file to see which data migrations have and haven't been applied, as well as which version of Flagrum you last used. Make sure you have restored your configuration file before starting Flagrum again so that it can do this correctly. Make sure you verify that the new version works and all your expected data is present within Flagrum before deleting the backup folder!

 

Known Issues

This list is by no means exhaustive, these are just issues I have either encountered myself, or heard of from other users. If a workaround is known, it will be included as well.

  • The UI will feel horribly unresponsive and have visual artefacts on some systems, likely due to WebView2 running poorly on Linux. One user reported that using Proton-Experimental to run Flagrum made WebView2 behave better
  • The model viewer in the Asset Explorer crashes when previewing model files
  • The Copy button next to the Steam launch settings in the Flagrum settings tab will crash Flagrum, but these launch settings are irrelevant anyway and the ones earlier in this guide need to be used instead