How to play BORDERLANDS 3 ON LINUX
Borderlands 3 was released last week, and I was eager to try and see if it would run on Linux. Turns out, it does, and very well, but there is a fair bit of tweaking required. Let's see how to do it !
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Install the Media Fondation:
https://github.com/z0z0z/mf-install
https://github.com/z0z0z/mf-installcab
cd Downloads/mf-install-master
WINEPREFIX="PATH/TO/EPICGAMESSTORE/WINEPREFIX" ./install-mf.sh
cd Downloads/mf-installcab-master
WINEPREFIX="PATH/TO/EPICGAMESSTORE/WINEPREFIX" ./install-mf-64.sh
Download COLORCNV.DLL:
https://www.dllme.com/dll/files/colorcnv_dll.html
Registry edits:
Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID
In CLSID create a key named {98230571-0087-4204-b020-3282538e57d3}
Inside this key {98230571-0087-4204-b020-3282538e57d3} double click (Default) and type in Color Converter DMO.
Create another key in {98230571-0087-4204-b020-3282538e57d3} called InprocServer32
Inside InprocServer32, double click (Default) and type in C:\windows\system32\COLORCNV.dll
Create a String called ThreadingModel, double click it and type in Both
Install the Game
Borderlands 3 is still an Epic Games Store exclusive, which sucks. That means no easy Proton integration, but there is a simple way to get things started: Lutris. I won't spend too much time telling you how to install Lutris, all the instructions are on their website, follow them to make sure you have all the necessary libraries, and install Lutris from your package manager or the repositories they provide.
Once Lutris is installed, you'll need to install the Epic Games Store. In Lutris, click the search icon, and and type "epic games". Click the EGS, and then "install". You'll see a small pop-up window, click the install button, and select where you want the files to go. Let the installer run its course, it'll configure everything for you.
Once it's done, Lutris will let you know, click "Launch"! Next, you'll have to log in the EGS, or create an account if you don't already have one, which you probably don't.
You'll also have to buy Borderlands 3 from the store. You can get refunds for 14 days after purchase, as long as you haven't played more than 2 hours, so no worries here if those steps don't work for you.
Now, let's make the necessary tweaks.
Tweaks
In Lutris, right click the EGS, and select "Configure". In the "runner options" tab, click "disable esync". This will allow the game to run.
We need to add the necessary codecs and dlls so that the game can read these MP4 files.
Let's start with the Microsoft Media Foundation. You'll need to download 2 scripts that will install these for you.
Extract them both in your downloads directory.
Next, you need to run them in the wine prefix where you installed the Epic Games Store.
If you didn't change anything in the Lutris settings, it should be in your .local/share/lutris/games/ folder
Open a terminal, and type that command:
cd Downloads/mf-install
This will put you in the script's directory.
Then type WINEPREFIX equal doublequotes
Followed by the path to the wine prefix for the epic games store.
Close the quotes, and type
SPACE DOT SLASH install-mf.sh
The script will run and install the needed DLLS.
Repeat the same steps with the mf-installcab directory:
cd Downloads/mf-installcab
WINEPREFIX= QUOTES path to the EGS wineprefix
CLOSE QUOTES SPACE DOT SLASH install-mf-64.sh
If you get an error saying the file is not executable, you'll need to go into the file's properties, and enable its execution.
Final step for this part, you'll need to grab the mfplat.dll file that's located in the mf-installcab folder, and paste it right next to the borderlands3.exe file, in your EGS wine prefix. To get there, you can right click the EGS in Lutris, and select "browse files", then navigate to Program Files/Epic/Borderlands 3.
Register a new DLL
These media foundation dlls are not yet enough, we need a last DLL to make the videos work. We'll have to grab a colorcnv.dll file.
I put a download link in the video description, I can't host that file myself, since I don't have any rights to redistribute it.
Download that, and paste it in the EGS wine prefix, in Windows/System32.
Finally, we'll have to register it manually through regedit.
Right click on the EGS on Lutris, and select Wine registry. Now we'll have to create a new key, since the names and values are a bit long and convoluted, I left a written guide in the description of the video, here is what it should look like after you're done.
What I use to make my videos:
Microphone: https://amzn.to/2PsNWXl
GPU: https://amzn.to/2LHZ5o5
Motherboard: https://amzn.to/2KZt63t
CPU: https://amzn.to/2IFjKrw
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Borderlands 3 Statistics For The Linux Experiment
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