Launching t7x.exe on Linux

T7x Client Support
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Hello everyone!

A number of Linux users (i.e. Steam Deck, Bazzite, or any regular Linux distro) have run into issues running the T7x Client on their system. The most common ones are:

  • t7x.exe not acknowledging being in the game folder
  • An error about Steam not being installed
  • An error about Windows Media Feature Pack missing
  • t7x.exe hanging and doing nothing with no error being reported

For a good number of these users, some steps have been found to make T7x work. If you think you may be impacted, please follow the steps below.

  1. Check that you have Protontricks installed on your system. If you don’t, please go ahead and install it. If you’re a Flatpak user, it is available here: https://flathub.org/en/apps/com.github.Matoking.protontricks. In any case, you can refer to the official repo here: https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks?tab=readme-ov-file#installation.
  2. Download the t7x.exe executable if you don’t already have it.
  3. Place it at the root of your game folder. t7x.exe should be in the same folder of BlackOps3.exe as a result.
  4. In Steam, add t7x.exe as a non-Steam game.
  5. In the newly added non-Steam game, right click on it and hit Properties. In the compatibility tab, check “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool”. In the list, choose the same option as the one you chose for the regular BO3 Steam. If you don’t know, select Proton GE, or the latest Proton stable. It should not make a big difference as it doesn’t affect the Proton runtime used by the game.
  6. Run the T7x non-Steam game at least once, even if it doesn’t work, to ensure that the Proton prefix is created and available.
  7. Open a terminal in your game folder (from your explorer of choice or just by using cd), where t7x.exe is located.
  8. Execute the following command: protontricks-launch -v --no-runtime t7x.exe -headless
  9. When Protontricks asks you for a prefix, choose the one corresponding to the T7x non-Steam game.

Now keep your eye on your terminal and wait. There are two possibilities:

  • The game starts, and you can see “T7x [version number]” at the top-left of your screen, you are good to go by using the command in step 8! Of course, you may want to have a more convenient shortcut. Keep reading then!
  • The game does not start or you encounter some error. Feel free to talk about it on the AlterWare Discord server or on the forums, the right steps and environment for running T7x on Linux are still being studied and discussed!

If you’re aiming to have a more convenient shortcut to T7x after successfully running the game with the previous steps, here is a configuration suggestion:

  1. Open a terminal and execute which protontricks-launch. Keep note of the result.
  2. In Steam, right click the T7x non-Steam game and hit Properties. You will have to make some modifications:
    • For “Target”, enter the result of step 1. Wrap it between double quotes "like this".
    • For “Start in”, enter the ABSOLUTE path to your game folder, also in double quotes.
    • Uncheck the Steam overlay option.
    • In the “Compatibility” tab, ensure the “Force the use of a specific compatibility tool” option is UNCHECKED now.
    • Feel free to go to the shortcut customization tab if you want to give a proper name and even icons and banners to the non-steam game.
  3. If everything is OK, you can launch T7x from Steam and enjoy the game!

I hope this will be helpful for any Linux/Steam Deck user that wants to enjoy T7x!

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