Hi,

we dropped native support for linux some time ago, see https://unknownworlds.com/ns2/a-note-to-our-linux-users/

For further details see https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/app/4920/discussions/0/2692512878719460182

+1, the only way to play NS2 is via proton (v5 at the moment, for me it didn't work well with proton UNTIL this v5 release).

Nevertheless, the game runs smoothly on Ubuntu (got the LTS 19.10 version) on my 5-year-old rig (i7 4790S@3.3/3.99GHz, 16Go ram, 970 GTX), so it won't be a problem for most Linux users going through Proton to play NS2...even with old rigs.

Corrosive, Did you notice any loss in framerate with linux/proton compared with running the game on any Win "xx" OS? That may interest me to know as I run full Linux now and got no dual boot to compare the difference of performances.

Originally posted by Shroomy:

+1, the only way to play NS2 is via proton (v5 at the moment, for me it didn't work well with proton UNTIL this v5 release).

Nevertheless, the game runs smoothly on Ubuntu (got the LTS 19.10 version) on my 5-year-old rig (i7 4790S@3.3/3.99GHz, 16Go ram, 970 GTX), so it won't be a problem for most Linux users going through Proton to play NS2...even with old rigs.

Corrosive, Did you notice any loss in framerate with linux/proton compared with running the game on any Win "xx" OS? That may interest me to know as I run full Linux now and got no dual boot to compare the difference of performances.

HW: i5 3550, DDR2, GTX1050Ti 4GB, others is from 2012
SW: X11, Nvidia 555beta, KDE5 Kwin activated, Lutris>Steam>NS2 copied from Windows

I haven't tested it yet in a big melee battle where there are lots of items flashing and effects around. But preliminarily, it seems that it will work even better than on Windows. Because on Windows I am forced to use a lower resolution. And for now I'm using native 1920*1200. I will continue testing today.
I set up Proton 9.x in Steam.

I also had the error with executable not find ns2.exe. I solved it by deleting the inside of the game directory and copying the Windows installation there. I still need to copy the data from %appdata. I use Reshade for gamma because my Nvidia doesn't respond much to gamma changes in the game. And since I have a muted IPS monitor because of my eyes, I would see nothing but black. Although it is possible that the driver will react differently under Linux. I still have to test it.

Otherwise it seems that Steam is installing some other version of the game. Maybe the Linux one. And it's not compatible with Steam.
I don't know how to solve it without installing from Windows. But even Windows can be emulated. GPU Passthrough is also available here today. So anything is possible.

Too bad I don't have KDE6 and Wayland here now. That would be great. But I don't want to play with it anymore.

The reality is that in the course of a month or months, there will be further updates to the system and the performance should increase even more.