Hi! I am trying to get LAN multiplayer working with the disc/retail version of SW Battlefront 2004 (1.2) working between a Linux machine and a Windows machine.
To get it working on Linux, I followed the sticky guide to install the disc version via Wine. That worked, although the resolution was a bit wonky, so then I added the EXE as a non-Steam game in Steam and forced it to use Proton 4.11-13 Steam Play compatibility. This works quite well overall outside of multiplayer. However, although I can see and attempt to join multiplayer games hosted by the Windows computer, the Linux computer times out while connecting to the match.
Does anyone know how to speed up the loading times? Perhaps some sort of command line flag ("Launch Options") in Steam could be added that would make it load faster?
I believe that the bug is this one:
https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=29582
Unfortunately, compiling bespoke versions of Wine just for this is outside my skill level. Can anyone help?
I've only had experience running the dedicated server for SWBF 2004 original on linux. SWBF2 2005 server seemed to have the issue you mention.
GoG version of SWBF 2004 game works with Steam Deck (mostly) so there is probably a way to make it work with wine (*not sure about multiplayer).
I did verify that if I use the Linux computer to host, the Windows computer can join. However, the Linux computer is an older machine, so I'd rather the Windows PC be the actual host.
I just don't know how to improve the loading times so that the Linux installation loads the map before timing out.
Does the GoG version of SWBF 2004 use the same EXE as the retail/disc version (i.e. version 1.2) or does it use the Steam version (v1.3.7) or something different? If the GoG variant is using the same v1.2 EXE, it'd be interesting to see how it is getting run on the Steam Deck under the hood.
Adding the v1.2 EXE as a "non-Steam Game" allowed me to run it via Proton, but Proton v4.11-13 was the newest version that would run... I'd be curious if the Steam Deck has additional compatibility shims or settings somehow...
My understanding is that the GoG/Steam version uses a recompiled 1.3beta executable that incorporates GoG Galaxy support. Others here can provide more detail about that. It most definitely does not use the retail 1.2 version.
I don't think that there will be many performance issues with hosting on linux even if that is an old computer. SWBF came out in 2004, so unless it is a really really old computer, it should be able to host just fine (use the dedicated server software).
(Also, are you running LAN mode or internet mode?)
You can make SWBF1 load waaaaay faster by browsing to GameData\DATA\_LVL_PC\LOAD\ and deleting all the files except for load.lvl
Keep load.lvl, what happens then is the game defaults to the generic load screen which should only take a few seconds for most computers.
Great idea on deleting non-essential files in load.lvl, but that unfortunately did not speed it up in Linux...
I am running in LAN mode, not internet mode
I hate to say it, but Linux ain't for gaming. At least not for the Battlefront games.
You said it's an older PC? I recommend backing up your important stuff and installing Windows again.
Judging by that Wine bug log, it seems like some call when loading is not being handled by Wine correctly, which no mod is going to fix.