I think this game has some (sad) native version history. Maybe you need to force it to "compatibility tool" Proton?

Bazzite is somewhat like an immutable OS and has a different directory layout than a normal Linux. It makes a great impression on first use, but the longer you use it, the more unusual problems you will encounter. Don't choose a Linux distribution based on advice from a YouTuber who has a few hours of experience with Linux.

Steam OS is also an immutable OS, but apparently it has tools that enhance its compatibility with desktop operating systems.

The above advice to use the Windows version of the game seems reasonable, as things will probably be saved in a different location.
The native game is likely trying to save something in a location that exists in a full-fledged Linux but does not exist in bazzite.

I’ve got quite a number of years of enterprise Linux engineering behind me and chose Bazzite to get away from the grime of Windows. Everything else has been fine but if I can’t play Ark so be it. I just find it odd that the game shows 0 bytes before I even install. I’ll check things re Proton.

Is it just Ark, have you installed others that worked ok?

Originally posted by Blazey:

I’ve got quite a number of years of enterprise Linux engineering behind me and chose Bazzite to get away from the grime of Windows. Everything else has been fine but if I can’t play Ark so be it. I just find it odd that the game shows 0 bytes before I even install. I’ll check things re Proton.

If you have full basic experience with Linux, you can solve this in a simple way.
Check where the game tries to save, and mount a piece of disk space there with write permissions.

Steam constantly checks numerous locations to see if it can save something there (!!!), and the game likely tried as well but did not gain access to the requested location.

Steam OS, once installed on a PC, also severely restricts the user, but by behaving aggressively, it was possible to force it to bend. I am convinced that you can force bazzite to do what you demand, after all, it's a kind of Linux. I didn't suggest this earlier because I thought you were just starting your journey with Linux.
Just mount a partition or folder somewhere, a symbolic link will probably be enough.

Create a root account for yourself, these systems without a root account have many protections against using sudo in a foolish way. That's why everything is more difficult. If you want to do something more serious, it's more burdensome and labor-intensive, but always is a workaround.

This is the most beautiful thing about Linux, everything can be changed to suit your needs and preferences.

Originally posted by DonMcK:

Is it just Ark, have you installed others that worked ok?

Yeah it’s just Ark that shows a 0 bytes size before you install. Everything else shows it’s correct size.

Originally posted by grzegorz77:

Steam OS, once installed on a PC, also severely restricts the user, but by behaving aggressively, it was possible to force it to bend. I am convinced that you can force bazzite to do what you demand, after all, it's a kind of Linux. I didn't suggest this earlier because I thought you were just starting your journey with Linux.
Just mount a partition or folder somewhere, a symbolic link will probably be enough.

Create a root account for yourself, these systems without a root account have many protections against using sudo in a foolish way. That's why everything is more difficult. If you want to do something more serious, it's more burdensome and labor-intensive, but always is a workaround.

This is the most beautiful thing about Linux, everything can be changed to suit your needs and preferences.

Thanks, I’ll give this a whirl, I really haven’t dug deep on it yet due to the way it was presenting itself.