Paradox Launcher not found when launching Stellaris
Was trying to start up Stellaris and received the not-so-fun message in the screenshot about a valid installation of the Paradox Launcher not being found. I attached the game log from Heroic.
For context, the game is:
* from GOG
* native Linux version (no exe or Proton!)
* freshly installed
In poking at the issue, I discovered that the Paradox Launcher will run correctly in different cases.
What didn't work:
* Disabling GameMode in Heroic before starting via Heroic
* Setting
/home/chase/Games/Heroic/Stellaris/game/dowser as alternative EXE in Heroic before starting via Heroic (wasn't entirely sure that feature made any difference for non-Proton games)
What did work:
* Directly executing /home/chase/Games/Heroic/Stellaris/game/dowser outside Heroic
* Directly executing /home/chase/Games/Heroic/Stellaris/start.sh outside Heroic
Hopefully that is helpful information. If there's anything else I can provide, please let me know!
20 Replies
rare-sapphireOP•2w ago
A little sad nobody ever replied. 😥
Still, I have not sat idly in the meantime and may have discovered the trail to the culprit while continuing to poke at the problem.
Apparently, how it's supposed to work is that the mentioned
launcherpath file is normally located at /home/$USER/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/launcherpath. I don't know when it's actually created. It's just a plain text file that by default has the single line of text /home/$USER/.paradoxlauncher/ at the top.
As with all GOG games, Stellaris is normally started with a shell script named start.sh. This script ends up pointing at an executable, which for most games is the game executable. In the case of Stellaris, it is not; the script calls an executable called dowser that is in the same directory as stellaris. As far as I can tell, the purpose of dowser is to call up the Paradox Launcher, and get it set up if it's not there. For some reason, inside the sandboxed environment of the Heroic Launcher flatpak, it starts looking for launcherpath directly in/home/$USER/.var/app/com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl/data/Paradox Interactive/ as shown in the error message screenshot instead of the usual location. (Inside the flatpak sandbox, /home/$USER/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/launcherpath is located at /home/$USER/.var/app/com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/launcherpath on the host machine outside flatpak.)
I ended up avoiding the error message and successfully launching Paradox Launcher and the game in Heroic by simply creating a symlink at /home/$USER/.var/app/com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl/data/Paradox Interactive/ pointing to /home/$USER/.var/app/com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/. No static directory permissions for the flatpak are necessary.
I'm not really sure what to do with this information. It's a very simple and easy fix, but it's extremely specific to only games on GOG that use the Paradox Launcher that are started from Heroic in a flatpak. Even though I'm 99% confident the issue is caused by that dowser doing something screwy, is there any way to have this fix automated into Heroic?rare-sapphireOP•2w ago
I see that Heroic as a "known fixes" repository on Github, but apparently only winetricks are supported for this functionality in Heroic, and not symlink creation as this would need.
https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/known-fixes
GitHub
GitHub - Heroic-Games-Launcher/known-fixes
Contribute to Heroic-Games-Launcher/known-fixes development by creating an account on GitHub.
xenogeneic-maroon•2w ago
Good job figuring this out. I know it has come up before, but no one had solved it in the past. I don't think anyone on the dev team plays these games, and the issue seems very launcher-specific.
in terms of running commands such as
ln, I don't think it can be done with Heroic's known fixes as you have already found. I know it can be done in GE-Proton's gamefixes, but that's not for linux builds like hererare-sapphireOP•2w ago
I assume at this point that the best next step would be to file an issue on Github to have symlink creation added as a known fix option?
xenogeneic-maroon•2w ago
that would probably be best
rare-sapphireOP•2w ago
In the meantime, I will also repost this info somewhere publicly, so it isn't lost in the bowels of Discord. Probably start with a post on the HGL subreddit.
reduced-jade•2w ago
I don't know if we can code a
symlink feature in the known fixes that would be useful for all games that need some kind of symlink fix (I don't know about many games needing something like that to justify the work)
one thing that can be done is to create a Wiki page in the heroic repo and then use the wiki link feature of the known fixes feature
it won't automatically apply the symlink, but it will show the link to the wiki in heroic's UI so users can find that more easilyreduced-jade•2w ago
something like this for heroes of might and magic https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/known-fixes/blob/main/gog/1207658787-gog.json
GitHub
known-fixes/gog/1207658787-gog.json at main · Heroic-Games-Launche...
Contribute to Heroic-Games-Launcher/known-fixes development by creating an account on GitHub.
rare-sapphireOP•2w ago
I was able to successfully reproduce the exact same error for the Linux version of Prison Architect from GOG. This means this same error will occur for any native Linux game from GOG using the Paradox Launcher, which includes at present:
* Stellaris
* Prison Architect
* Europa Universalis IV
* Imperator: Rome
I don't have the last two on GOG, so I can't directly confirm, but I have no reason to think otherwise. It's also in use for the native Linux versions of Crusader Kings III, Hearts of Iron IV, and Cities: Skylines over on Steam. If those games are ever released on GOG by Paradox, as well as any future new titles that will likely use this launcher, that would become a decently sized list of games all affected by this issue. Whether that makes it worth it to implement a symlink fix in Heroic now is up to y'all of course. 🤷♂️
For now, I have added a new page to the wiki and its sidebar. I've also created a pull request to the
known-fixes repository to add wikiLinks for all four currently affected games.
https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/HeroicGamesLauncher/wiki/Paradox-Launcher-for-native-Linux-games-from-GOG
https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/known-fixes/pull/14
Out of curiosity, where exactly in the UI is the wiki link shown?GitHub
Paradox Launcher for native Linux games from GOG
A games launcher for GOG, Amazon and Epic Games for Linux, Windows and macOS. - Heroic-Games-Launcher/HeroicGamesLauncher
GitHub
Added wikiLink fixes for Paradox Launcher issue by MacDhughaill · ...
Adds wikiLink references to an issue with the Paradox Launcher startup in Heroic flatpak for four affected titles on GOG.
eastern-cyan•2w ago
lol, paradox fucked up bad
the installer doesn't respect XDG standard, but the launcher bootstraper does
fun
@Allora do you think Paradox would care if we report it? I imagine updating all games that ship this installer would not be ideal for them
their GetDataDir function uses home directory and always concatenates ~/.local/share there
eastern-cyan•2w ago
xenial-black•2w ago
Paradox spends no time on their launcher even when we as an internal studio reported bugs that blocked launch on xbox they were reluctant to fix things.
You can try but the team that manages it doesnt care
eastern-cyan•2w ago
awesome
I'll ask flatpak guys if they know how can I workaround this
xenial-black•2w ago
Worth it to report but I wouldnt expect much. I guess is what im saying ahah
eastern-cyan•2w ago
oh I'll definitely report it
reported
rare-sapphireOP•2w ago
Seems my hunch was in the right direction. Thanks for taking a deeper look into this! As a side question, is the Github repo in the screenshot private? I couldn't find it, and I was interested in looking to answer some other (noncritical) questions about the Paradox Launcher on Linux. (Moatly wanted to know if I could avoid having a
.paradoxlauncher directory created in my home folder!)
Will there be an issue created somewhere for this that I could follow in the meantime?eastern-cyan•2w ago
it's not actually in home
it's persisted in Heroic's sandboxed location
there will be a forum post, customer support directed me there
and the stuff I posted was not a github repo, it's a decompiled installer code with a bit that gets the data location
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/linux-the-launcher-fails-to-install-when-custom-xdg_data_home-is-set.1742531/
rare-sapphireOP•2w ago
Seeing as there is now a known temporary fix, and a permanent fix in the works, I'm marking this as resolved.
Don't forget to approve my pull request in the meantime! 😁
https://github.com/Heroic-Games-Launcher/known-fixes/pull/14
GitHub
Added wikiLink fixes for Paradox Launcher issue by MacDhughaill · ...
Adds wikiLink references to an issue with the Paradox Launcher startup in Heroic flatpak for four affected titles on GOG.
eastern-cyan•2w ago
let's maybe also add a link to the forum into the wiki and say that paradox has been made aware of this issue
rare-sapphireOP•2w ago
@Linguin Just added.