Fable III on Steam Deck, and the Framework 13 AMD board

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Greetings, all! It’s been a while. Recently, I’ve done some tweaking and tinkering to get the good old Fable 3 game from the early 2000s running fine on the Steam Deck. I’ve also gone ahead and upgraded my OG Framework 13 to the recent AMD 7840U board.

I don’t have too many photos of the motherboard replacement process for the FW13 board replacement, but needless to say, it took only about 4-5 minutes and the tool that they shipped with the laptop was all I used. What a wonderful experience!

Ended up having to get new DDR5 RAM for the Ryzen 7 7840U board, as it doesn’t take DDR4. Now, the only issue after updating the BIOS to 3.03 is that only one of my sticks is being seen. Am currently testing things and sorting that out with Framework’s support staff. Also need to replace this warranty-replacement screen, as it’s pretty bad. That will all get sorted in due time, though! Onwards to the other projects I’ve been working on.

With GloriousEggroll’s recent GE-Proton8-24 release, he’s made a few protontricks edits. While I’m not much of a coder myself, he figured out how to streamline the changes I and a few others made in the Steam Discussions tab for Fable 3. I went ahead and reinstalled the game using his recent Proton GE release to see if the game would start up.

Looks like, as per previous attempts, it gets stuck here even with the protontricks enabled.

I forgot if that protontricks change grabbed certain DLLs that were required, according to the community, to get this to work. I went ahead and opened up the protontricks application to grab those, but it looks like it still sticks at the install script part. I might need to replace that basic xlive.dll with one mentioned in an article, so let’s go try that.

Next, I went ahead and downloaded this file linked here as a Games For Windows Live DLL replacement that doesn’t seem to get added into the game directory by default when using GE-Proton nor Valve’s official Proton releases for some reason. I downloaded the zip file, extracted it in my Downloads folder and then moved the file to this directory where the local Fable 3 files are: /home/gamer/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Fable 3. Please note that it will be /home/deck/ for those of you currently on a Steam Deck. Note that I’m doing this on my Steam Machine ChimeraOS box in the living room, as this is the only machine I don’t have Fable 3 currently installed on.

BAM it works! Looks like you mainly need to replace that xlive.dll file to redirect the game to a local activation server or something and it’ll work fine! I’m not entirely sure if you need to do the protontricks thing, I think it’s mainly the xlive.dll holding us back.

Also, I’d like to note that this game saves game data to this directory on the Steam Deck, once you’ve opened it and started the game for the first time:

/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/105400/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Saved Games/Lionhead Studios/Fable 3

I went ahead and started a new game. Having messed up my syncthing configuration, it appears the 10 hours or so that I previously put into the campaign had disappeared. This game is so old and defunct that it doesn’t support Steam Cloud Saves, so you’ll have to come up with your own save-syncing solution. As sad as it is, I did it to myself, so I only have myself to blame. Onwards to a new campaign! Definitely going to sync this with the Framework as well, so I can play it on that too.

In other news, here are some articles and videos I’ve watched recently that I found interesting:

eOS on my Pixels and OnionOS on the Miyoo Mini

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Greetings again, fellow Linux lovers and open-sorcerors!

Digging around in my storage, I found that I still have my original Pixel 2 XL and a secondhand Pixel 3 I must’ve got from a friend. I only know this due to tracking the devices in my Google account. Let’s go ahead and wipe them to throw eOS from the E foundation on there!

I’ll add a video below that Nick from The Linux Experiment youtube channel created last year on the state of eOS.

The thought came to me; why not run the most recent builds of eOS on my previous Pixel devices? Perhaps future owners could enjoy these with a privacy-friendly and open-source replacement to Google’s “pixel” vision of Android on there. For now, I’ve just installed it following their documentation here on my Pixel 3. Note that I ran Fedora 37 when following those instructions, and had to make sure I had the android-tools package installed. Note to grab the “Android S” image for your Pixel 3 if your phone has been updated to Android 12. If not, the R images will work fine, but it’s recommended to upgrade to Android 12 before moving forward, as I believe eOS may use that slightly newer kernel.

Looking at the above image, it seems my Pixel 6’s camera decided to fuzz out the background so it could focus on the Pixel 3 running eOS. Either way, this is cool to see! As part of the instructions, you use a few handy dandy terminal commands to temporarily get it booting into a different recovery as you flash eOS which was a fun little adventure. I haven’t done more than poked around the install thus far, but it seems quite lightweight! Let me know, once I wipe her down with some alcohol if anyone would be interested in buying a device with eOS from the E Foundation preinstalled.

In the above little Carousel, you can flick through the different screens I’ve captured while messing with Android-based eOS on the Pixel 3. Note that the battery life on this device, being secondhand even when I received it years ago, has always been iffy. The stated expected battery life is still longer than it was with a stock Android 12 image from Google on there! Now, onto that Miyoo Mini…

I went ahead and upgraded the previously out-of-date firmware on this Miyoo Mini to the April 2022 firmware noted here by the OnionOS install instructions.

After upgrading that, I thought I’d make an image of this MicroSD card and flash that image to a new SanDisk MicroSD card, as I’ve heard a lot of horror stories from the Miyoo reddit about people easily bricking their handhelds with the low quality MicroSD cards they come with. I used Gnome Disks on my Fedora install for this, as the KDE equivalent usually screws permissions somehow.

Then, after backing up an image of that MicroSD card, I flashed it to the 64GB new in box SanDisk MicroSD that I had.

Then, I went ahead and installed OnionOS on it by copying some files over and restarting the device with the MicroSD back in it. Love this little distro!

Love this little device. I think this will become my go-to pocketable game device when I don’t have the space to take out my Steam Deck. Have a great week, everyone!

My Journey With Gaming on Linux in 2020

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Having used various Linux distros on and off since around Fedora Core 2, I started using Linux daily around Q4 2018. 2020 man, what a year for Linux gaming!

I remember back when Valve first worked with various community members to get Proton (SteamPlay) up and running to the point that you could play Windows games on Linux with a fairly button-press solution…then came the GloriousEggroll community releases in years to come, following Valve’s official releases (5.13) with big changes to how containerizing games are handled etc. Needless to say, a lot has happened in the WINE, Proton and Lutris worlds since I first started slowly moving all my games to a Linux install in 2018.

A few friends, such as my buddy Jason, have been posting about gaming on Linux in 2020. These publications inspired me to write my own post about my experiences this year. Believe it or not, excepting Genshin Impact and one other, I haven’t had to use Windows to play any games this year! Such a freeing feeling.

I’ll go into a little more detail on the playability and ease of getting into the games I’ve been playing on Linux this year. I’ll make sure each title name is clickable to send peeps to the associated storefronts or websites as well.

Note that I’ve been running all of these on Fedora 33 on an original Corsair One Pro with 16gb RAM, 1tb SSD, 7th gen Core i7 and GTX 1080 as well as my Thinkpad P51 with 48gb of RAM, Core i7 7th gen and Quadro M1200 4GB.

  • Starcraft II

    • Install Lutris, run the install script, sign into Battle.net afterwards to install it and you’re good to go! Runs fine on my Corsair One Pro and Thinkpad P51

  • Minecraft Java

    • I just install the flatpak that Mojang apparently contributes to, sign in and play the game from there! Flawless on the C1P and Thinkpad.

    • Note that you can also install the Technic Launcher, if you want to play modded installs of Minecraft etc, you just have to download the .jar and then open it in terminal with “java -jar TechnicLauncher.jar” and it will install. Note if you want a desktop shortcut, see here.

  • Oblivion

    • I have the GOTY version of Oblivion from a huge sale on GOG, so I just sign into my GOG account on Lutris, run the install script and I’m good to go! Alternatively, I’ve heard some people enjoy using the community-built Minigalaxy client to install GOG games.

  • Risk of Rain 2

    • This is probably one of my favorite games that released this year. I was looking forward to this and Borderlands 3, but since I’ve had too many glitches and hangs in Borderlands 3 I’ve given up on it and have mainly been playing this. This is a PERFECT 3D roguelike in my opinion!

    • Once you enable SteamPlay (Proton) for all titles in the Settings menu of Steam, you just install this title and you’re good to go! I highly recommend a nvidia 10xx series/Vega 64 or higher GPU for this title though, as it can get pretty heavy when you have a ton of enemies on your screen! The best part of how fun and replayable this title is, is that it’s a one-click install once you have SteamPlay enabled! Just see all the positive Linux feedback on it here!

  • Astroneer

    • Another fun exploration/crafting title on Steam! This game ran for me fine before Valve released Proton 5.13 for some reason, so I’ve been using an older version of Proton from GloriousEggroll that has this game running fine! I just extracted the .tar file with “tar -xvf” and then moved the extracted folder to ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/ and restarted Steam. Maybe in 2021 I’ll see a Proton release that has it running fine again with no need for older versions!

    • Note that after restarting steam, as of the date of this post, you have to go into game properties and force the older Proton version to get it running.

  • Littlewood

    • This game has a native release for Linux on Steam! Just install and run with no issues! This felt like a fun, peaceful mashup between Stardew Valley, Legend of Zelda and Terraria.

  • Veloren

    • Yet another Linux-native game! This game, which is still in active development, can be installed via Airshipper/flatpak/snap or other methods as listed on their install page! I’ve been using the flatpak with no issues at all. Note that this is a lovely, open source title! It kind of feels like older Legend of Zelda games meet a Minecraft graphics style.

    • Note that while an account is required to keep your save data consistent in the game, they don’t track or mine any of your data, as they wouldn’t want that either.

  • Empire Earth II

    • An oldie but goodie! I have this through GOG so I mainly just run the installer, follow the steps and jump into a game! I’ve also had LAN games with my buddies work fine.

    • Alternatively, I’ve heard some people enjoy using the community-built Minigalaxy client to install GOG games like this one as well.

  • Halo: The Master Chief Collection

    • I have this through Steam as well! I’m once again using the older version of Proton from GloriousEggroll, extracted and moved to the ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/ directory. This had some problems on 5.13 or newer for me for some reason. I love jumping into some classic Halo 3 and Reach games, though!

    • Note that, for multiplayer, you’ll have to choose to disable EAC when opening the game…as of the time of this writing, you can only play private games with friends. Also you’ll need a Microsoft account to sign in on first launch.

  • Satisfactory

    • Another title through Steam, once again using the older version of Proton from GloriousEggroll, extracted and moved to the ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/ directory. Runs fine! This game definitely requires a beefy GPU for the textures and the like though, so I’ve only been able to run this on my C1P, as the Thinkpad suffers from loading all the textures.

    • Though this game initially released on Epic Games, I have some problems with the way they run their company, so I waited for release on Steam. You can use your Steam account to “sign into epic games” and play this game on launch.

  • Void Bastards

  • Battlefield 2142 (via Reclamation Project)

    • This game has recently been re-awakened by the community! I’m so happy to see one of my earlier ahead-of-its-time first person shooters get some support from the community! I have no idea how to get this running on Linux yet, so stay tuned for news on that! I might need to install it via the Origin launcher using a CD key purchased off a third-party site….and then add some stuff via the Reclamation project…