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GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition on Linux/Steam Deck - Guide

#linux #tooling #tutorial

GTA Vice City Nextgen Edition on Linux — Guide

This is a shortened version of the original comprehensive guide, which is backed up here

Quick Reference

  1. Install the game via GE-Proton (any recent GE build) in Lutris — Wine is needed for actual play, but the installer needs Proton or it opens with a black window.
  2. Add the game to Lutris as a Wine game, DLL override d3d9=n, DXVK on.
  3. First launch: wine-ge-8-26. It will error out ("Invalid resource detected") — that's expected, it just creates the prefix.
  4. Switch Wine version to wine-10.16-staging, launch again — this is the one that actually runs the game.
  5. Install "Better Handling" and "Sprint Inside Interiors" mods (both are essential, not optional).
  6. Set all graphics to Low (shadows especially) for playable FPS.
  7. Skip the v1.2.7 patch — it drags in FusionFix and hurts performance.
  8. Saves: ~/gtavcne/0_pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/Rockstar Games/GTA VC/savegames

Setup 

sudo pacman -S lutris mangohud
mkdir -p ~/gtavcne/0_pfx
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Make sure Lutris has both wine-ge-8-26-x86_64 and wine-10.16-staging-amd64-wow64-X86_64 (Preferences → Runners → Wine, download if missing).

Add the installer as a Lutris game (Runner: Wine, Wine version: GE-Proton), run it, install into ~/gtavcne, click Complete without launching. Back up the clean install if you want an easy reset point:

cp -r ~/gtavcne ~/gtavcne-backup
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Configuring the game entry

  • Executable: ~/gtavcne/LaunchGTAIV.exe
  • Wine prefix: ~/gtavcne/0_pfx
  • Wine version: wine-ge-8-26-x86_64 (for the first launch only)
  • DXVK: enabled
  • DLL override: d3d9 = n
  • Optional: enable MangoHud overlay; on laptops with NVIDIA, pick the discrete GPU in System Options

Launch once → get the fatal error → that's fine, prefix is created. Switch Wine version to wine-10.16-staging-amd64-wow64-X86_64 in the game's config, launch again. You should see the ENB splash and working cutscenes.

Proton (any variant, including GE) doesn't work for this game — it crashes at various points depending on version/hotfix. Stick to Wine.

Mods (required, not cosmetic)

  • Better Handling — without it cars are nearly undrivable.
  • Sprint Inside Interiors — without it you suffer from slowness inside buildings when want to save.

Both just replace a handful of files — drop them into the game folder per their own instructions.

Performance

Set everything to Low in-game, especially shadows. Skip the v1.2.7 patch. Lower resolution to 1600x900 or 1280x720 if still under ~45 FPS — note this drops you into borderless window mode; alt-tab out and back in to force fullscreen. Don't touch commandline.txt, it does nothing here.

MangoHud config (~/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf):

position=top-right
font_size=10
fps
frametime
cpu_temp
gpu_temp
gpu_load
cpu_load
ram
vram
background_alpha=0.0
alpha=0.3
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Troubleshooting

  • Crash after helicopter cutscene: just restart, known issue.
  • Skipping cutscenes crashes the game: let them play a few seconds first.
  • Borderless window after resolution change: alt-tab away and back to force fullscreen.

Tested on

EndeavourOS, kernel 6.17.7-arch1-1, Lutris 0.5.19, wine-ge-8-26 / wine-10.16-staging, DXVK 1.4.328.1, MangoHud 0.8.1.

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