sitebackground
Return to Linux Compatibility Reports

Crysis 3:

Rating: Gold
Release(s) Tested: Origin
Application Version: N/A
WINE/Proton Version: GE-Proton 8.1
Test Scope: Entire single-player compaign
Mods: NanoContinuity
Input Method: Keyboard & Mouse
Launch Options: DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 %command%
Date of Report: 31 May 2023

Summary

An enjoyable and generally smooth experience, with some graphical oddities.

Installing & Running

There are a few ways to add Origin games to Steam, which I will not enumerate here as the launcher itself keeps changing.

That aside, I chose to add Crysis 3 as a non-Steam game. I then created a new, empty folder to contain the Crysis 3 Proton prefix (/mnt/games/proton/crysis3; you can create a folder wherever your want).

To reduce screen tearing, I chose to limit my FPS to 60, resulting the following Steam launch options:

STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH=/mnt/games/proton/crysis3 DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 %command%

To reduce game stutter, create a file dxvk.conf in the Crysis3/Bin32/ directory (the same location where crysis3.exe is located). Give it the following contents to enable triple buffering:

dxgi.numBackBuffers = 3

This allowed me to play the game smoothly.

Results & Issues

Performance was very similar to Windows, and even seemed a bit smoother in some poorly-optimized areas (the first level, in particular, was less stuttery for me on Linux than it had ever been on Windows).

Water and terrain shading did not appear the same as compared to Windows. There were no glitches; the rendering was simply a bit "different". You would only notice this disparity in side-by-side screenshots, or when playing the game on Windows and immediately again on Linux, as I did.

The game crashed for me just prior to the train scene, where you have to defend Psycho from Ceph runners as he requests help over the radio. The autosave itself became corrupted; loading from it would produce a guaranteed crash. Reloading a prior save allowed me to play through the scene and rest of the game as normal. I did not encounter any other crashes.

Notes

If you saved a copy of your game files before the 2021 update, you can still run mods in Crysis 3 on Linux! A full guide for setting up Cheat Engine with Proton games can be found here; however, a summary of the steps you need to perform is given below:

  1. Download Crysis 3 Mod Enabler and follow the instructions to prepare your game files for modding use (just follow the readme up until section VI). If you already did that on Windows, you can just copy everything over from there.
  2. Download Cheat Engine and copy all of its contents—the exe files, dll files, everything—into the Crysis3/Bin32 folder (the same location where crysis3.exe is located).
  3. Create a new file in the same folder called RunCrysis3.bat and set its contents to the following:
    start "" "Cheat Engine.exe"
    pause
    start crysis3.exe
  4. Set Steam to launch Crysis 3 using your bat file:
    • If you added Crysis 3 as a non-Steam game, go to its properties and set the Target field to the following:
      "/path/to/Crysis3/Bin32/RunCrysis3.bat"
    • If you did not add Crysis 3 as a non-Steam game, you will need to use a tool like Bat to Exe Converter:
      1. Rename crysis3.exe to crysis3_original.exe.
      2. Change the above line in the bat file to start crysis3_original.exe.
      3. Convert RunCrysis3.bat into RunCrysis3.exe using Bat to Exe Converter, and place the resulting file in your Crysis3/Bin32 directory.
      4. Rename RunCrysis3.exe to crysis3.exe.
         
  5. Copy the crysis3ModEnabler.CT file into your Proton prefix for Crysis 3. In my case, I copied it to /mnt/games/proton/crysis3/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Desktop. Wherever your prefix is, make sure to put this file in the drive_c Desktop folder, as this will make it easier to find the file when you open Cheat Engine.
  6. Run Crysis 3 through Steam. The first thing you will see is a Windows Command Prompt, and then Cheat Engine should appear. Ignore the command prompt for now and open the crysis3ModEnabler.CT cheat table within Cheat Engine.
  7. Execute the Lua script when prompted. You can also do this manually from the menu of Cheat Engine (refer to the readme for Crysis 3 Mod Enabler, section VI for screenshots).
  8. Click on the Windows Command Prompt and press Enter.

At this point, Crysis 3 should now continue launching. If you make it to the title screen, congratulations! Mod support is now working for you in Linux!