Table of Contents

About

This guide is originally posted to my gist, but to create this new blog, moved from gist to this blog as the first post. Contents are almost same but a bit refined. Comments are still welcome!

Screenshot

Disclaimer

I have not tested stabilities of them yet. If you want to try things written below, do it at YOUR OWN RISK.

Motivations (why I want to use FAR on Linux)

  • I'm using a 144Hz monitor, so I want to unlock FPS by FAR.
  • I want to use HD Texture Pack for better graphics, which requires FAR.

System

  • OS: Arch Linux
  • Kernel: Linux 5.5.2-11-tkg-pds (fsync enabled)
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-8700
  • RAM: 16GB
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
  • Driver: NVIDIA 440.59
  • DE: Plasma
  • WM: KWin

Prerequisites

  1. Install protontricks to system wide (use later).

    • For Arch Linux, it can install from AUR.

  2. Install tkg-version of proton into Steam. I used Pronton-tkg 5.1.r9.gc26be86c. See Tk-Glitch's PKGBUILD repo for details. proton-tkg.cfg are attached to the original gist post.

  3. On Steam client, set NieR:Automata to use proton-tkg.

  4. Launch NieR:Automata.

    • If this is the first time to run NieR:Automata, Steam will automatically run Windows DirectX setup and install it to the default prefix of this game.

    • Otherwise, Steam will update the default prefix of this game for your proton-tkg.

  5. Check NieR:Automata runs correctly.

Game directory for NieR:Automata is ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/NieRAutomata/ by default.

Run protontricks -s NieR and check that NieR:Automata's steam app ID is 524220.

FAR - Fix (NieR) Automata Resolution

Install

I tried latest version of FAR (v0.7.0.23), but it was not stable and had a performance issue. Here, I use version v0.7.0.14, which is better in performance, though have a problem on GUI menu (but have a workaround as below).

  1. Configure NieR:Automata as windowed mode, 1600x900 resolution, and VSYNC to OFF, then close the game. I'm not sure, but these setting was worked OK anyway. Disabling VSYNC is mandatory to uncap FPS.

  2. Download FAR v0.7.0.14 (FAR_0_7_0_14.7z) from https://github.com/Kaldaien/FAR/releases and extract it.

  3. Copy all extracted files/folders into the game directory (~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/NieRAutomata/ by default).

  4. Install vcrun2015 and dinput8 by protontricks.

    1. Run protontricks 524220 vcrun2015 dinput8 and install vcrun2015 and dinput8.

    2. Run protontricks 524220 winecfg and open winecfg.

      1. Check windows version is set to Windows 10.

      2. Go to Library tab, then set dinput8 to Native then Builtin.

  5. Launch NieR:Automata. You will see FAR's OSD (if not seen, press Ctrl + Shift + O), but probably fail to open GUI menu (press Ctrl + Shift + Backspace, then game crashes).

  6. Close the game. You'll see FAR.ini and dinput8.ini are generated in the game directory.

  7. Edit FAR.ini and dinput8.ini. These settings uncap FPS limit in game and fix GUI menu crash (maybe).

    1. In FAR.ini, edit UncapFPS=false to UncapFPS=true.

    2. In dinput8.ini, edit as below:

      1. LogLevel in SpecialK.System section to 2 to see logs on OSD.

      2. TargetFPS in Render.FrameRate section to larger value than 60. Or set to 0 to disable FPS limitter.

      3. Silent in Steam.Log section to true. (workaround for fixing GUI crash, maybe)

  8. Launch game again. Then in the SquareEnix logo scene you'll see FPS on OSD is higher than 60. And logs on top of the OSD will say uncapped. If you missed to see it in the logo scene (it's quite short), continue and load the save data. In the game (not menu), you'll also see uncapped FPS. If log is not shown on the OSD, disable and enable OSD again by pressing Ctrl + Shift + O twice.

  9. Maybe you can now open GUI menu by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Backspace without game crashing. Tweak FAR as you like there. Do not forget to turn off debug logging (in compatibility/debug section, set log level to 0), which has performance cost.

My FAR.ini and dinput8.ini are attached to the original gist post.

Issues

  • When moving mouse, the game stutters a bit.

Uninstall

Rename or remove dinput8.dll in the game directory.

HD Texture Pack

Same as Windows, no linux specific.

Install

FAR is required to use this pack. If you still not installed FAR, install it first.

  1. Download HD Texture Pack from NexusMods. You need to create account and sign-in to this site.

  2. Extract the downloaded file and move FAR_Res folder to the NieR:Automata game directory (~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/NieRAutomata/ by default).

  3. Launch the game. You will see improved graphics.

Uninstall HD Texture Pack

Rename or remove FAR_Res folder in the game directory.

ReShade (or GShade, which is a fork of ReShade)

Install

I used GShade, so in this section I write mainly about GShade, but the procedure will be almost same for ReShade. For ReShade on Linux, this guild would be helpful but little a bit different from my case.

  1. Close NieR:Automata if it's running.

  2. Download and extract GShade/ReShade.

    • For GShade, go to https://gposers.com/gshade/ and click ZIP FILE button. Then simply extract the downloaded file.

    • For ReShade, go to https://reshade.me/ and click Download ReShade *.*.* button. This link will downlaod .exe version, but you can simply unzip it by unzip command.

  3. Manually install GShade/ReShade to NieR:Automata game directory.

    • For GSahde, copy all files/folders other than d3d9.dll into the game directory.

    • For ReShade, copy ReShade64.json and ReShade64.dll to the game directory, then rename ReShade64.dll to d3d11.dll.

  4. Install d3dcompiler_47 by protontricks.

    1. Run protontricks 524220 d3dcompiler_47. This command installs d3dcompiler_47.dll for the wine prefix.

    2. Run protontricks 524220 winecfg.

      1. Set Windows version to Windows 10.

      2. Go to Library tab, then set d3dcompiler_47 to Native, press OK.

  5. Launch NieR:Automata and press Shift + F2 (or Home key for ReShade). If successfully installed, GShade or ReShade menu will be shown on the game. Tweak it as you like.

Issues of Gshade/ReShade

  • I tested GShade 2.1.0 (including ReShade 4.5.3 updates) and ReShade 4.5.3, both had an issue on moving mouse. When mouse cursor is moved, the game is stuck for a couple of seconds. This issue is also shown in FFXIV (stand alone version) on my environment.

    • NOTE: In the case of FFXIV, it seems to be a bug of wine-staging patch.
    • UPDATE (2020-07-05): This issue seems to be fixed on recent wine/proton (tested on Proton-tkg 5.11.r11.gb6c28187 and i3-wm/picom).

Uninstall GShade/ReShade

Rename or remove d3d11.dll file in the game directory.