Linux Support#50

I run Age of Empires 2 DE on Linux with Steam Proton.
It would be great to be able to use the best™ spectating tool with that setup as well.

The things we do to the poor Windows APIs are kinda disgusting.

No promises, but could you describe your current efforts and the issues you face when trying to get it to run?

I tried to get it to run using wine but failed. I created an entry in the wine appdb to track any progress: https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=39970

I tried it too.. It would be amazing if it worked but I could see it being a pain

I tried installing CaptureAge through proton on linux/fedora and it launches fine
the problem is it doesn’t find the paths for replays nor the actual aoe2 installation
if it was configurable I think I might work out of the box
have you guys considered adding an option in settings to set the game installation/replays path?
I’d be happy to test if needed

I managed to have CaptureAge and AoE2DE talk to each other by duplicating the compatdata directory for AoE2DE, and using the duplicata as a base in order to launch both programs at the same time. Using the same 813780 directory results in only one of the two programs launching, the other one hangs.

So, basically, I would run Age Of Empires 2 DE the “normal” way, using the steam launcher with GloriousEggroll 6.5; then, once the game is running, I would launch CaptureAge this way, using the duplicated compatdata folder (here called “test”):

STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH=”/home/user/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/test/“ /home/user/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/Proton-6.5-GE-2/proton run /home/user/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/test/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Local\ Settings/Application\ Data/Programs/CaptureAge/CaptureAge.exe

or, if it’s the first time and I want to install CaptureAge:

STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH=”/home/user/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/test/“ /home/user/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/Proton-6.5-GE-2/proton run /SOMEFOLDER/CaptureAgeSetup.exe

This works up to a point. I can see the replays, use the filters, select the one I want to watch. Once I click “watch”, the already running AoE2DE starts the replay automatically, and after about 15-30 seconds the loading screen “Waiting for Interface” appears in CaptureAge. Then, an error message in the bottom right appears, “Unexpected error encountered in application”, and the loading screen hangs forever.

Woah, how are you starting it with proton? That would probably be a great start!

@Ian Main: actually, the easiest way would be to do this:
1) copy the 813780 folder in “/home/user/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata” to a folder named “test” in directory compatdata
2) run Age of Empires 2:DE using the steam launcher (with proton) as you would do normally
3) run CaptureAgeSetup.exe this way in a terminal:
env WINEPREFIX=”/home/user/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/test/pfx” wine /SOMEFOLDER/CaptureAgeSetup.exe
(replace “user” by your user folder)

i am launching the game and capture age in a similar way as Flaburgan. usually ca tells me that connection has been lost, but one time i got a rendering error

I tried using Flaburgan approach. Notice that for noobs like me, it must be stated that the quotation marks in this forum are not valid in the
Unix terminal. So there are errors when copy/pasted from this forum. They must be manually replaced by fresh quotation marks.

@Flaburgan how were you able to install CA under “compatdata/813780/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser”? In my case, it was installed in my personal user. Because of this, CA was not able to find the game (which is installed under “steamuser”). I had to run CA using

“$STEAMAPPS/common/Proton - Experimental/proton” run “$STEAMAPPS/compatdata/813780/pfx/drive_c/users/MY-USER/AppData/Local/Programs/CaptureAge/CaptureAge.exe”

Hello, I play AOE 2 on my MAC using poorting kit. AOE2 works great but capture age does not work. Can you guys release a build for m1 macs.

Any update regarding captureage running through steam proton? It seems Flaburgan’s approach is the furthest we got.

I am a paying member who recently switched from a Win laptop to a more capible Linux desktop and I would love it if the devs would make this work on Linux ! It seems now what .Net is fully cross-platform , this should be possible without too much distraction . Thanks !

I would pay for CA if this support arrived. Not even asking for a 1-click solution, even a blog post explaining how to make it run would be good enough for me.

I got it working on Linux, it does load the UI and I can get it to run the replay, but starting is flaky.

Ive posted on the #support channel on discord, but here is the TL;DR:

E0804 21:18:48.572000000  2136 ssl_transport_security.cc:556] Corruption detected.
E0804 21:18:48.572000000  2136 ssl_transport_security.cc:532] error:1408F119:SSL routines:ssl3_get_record:decryption failed or bad record mac
E0804 21:18:48.572000000  2136 secure_endpoint.cc:304] Decryption error: TSI_DATA_CORRUPTED
E0804 21:18:48.572000000  2136 ssl_transport_security.cc:583] SSL_write failed with error SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL.

Looks like its coming from gRPC and it could be something with openssl and a combination of missing/misconfigured ciphers and/or the certificate chain being passed incorrectly (missing bundled ca chain).

Weirdly CA continues to try to sync with the game and if you let it sitting for a while it eventually succeed. I’ve posted a screenshot of it working from my linux machine. Happy to help debug from my machine (there is a bunch of Sentry exceptions when this happens, perhaps they include an extra hint on the openssl part)

If CA had a standalone version you could download e.g. via Steam and just feed it with replay files, it could just work perfectly fine.