[Bug Report]: SA Mod Manager Doesn't open in Linux.

[AIMYII]

Report Verification

• This report is for a bug with the SA Mod Manager.
• I have checked and verified this issue has not been reported previously.

Bug Description

I'm using Ubuntu Mate 20.04.

When I run the executable, using wine, it starts up with the welcome, the language settings, and the changes, but then it doesn't run the manager.

Reproduction Steps

Use Ubuntu Mate 20.04, or run a linux virtual box.

Please select which build you are using.

Release Build

Please select your Operating System.

Linux

Operation System Information

Ubuntu Mate 20.04

Additional Information

No response

[RostovShev03]

Linux based operating systems including Steam OS on Steam Deck are not supported yet. It can be ran only on Windows 10/11 OS

[ItsEasyActually]

That's only partially true. The current release of the application is built in WPF, which is Windows only. However, the program can be run through WINE; we have a small amount of the user base operating on Steam Deck or Linux. Most of them followed this guide for setting up on Steam Deck. As far as I'm aware, similar steps can be followed for Linux environments in general.

That said, neither myself nor Sora have easy ways to test on Linux ourselves other than VMs, and I can't say testing in a VM is as good as testing on an actual system. This means without super clear direction on the issue, we won't really be able to assist with the problem.

In this specific instance, I would look to see if the program is correctly running in Local mode. Wherever the executable is, there should be an SAManager folder next to it. If there isn't, try creating one and re-running the program. Unfortunately, without additional information here, we don't have much to work on as to what the issue is. It could be an issue with the WINE version being used, something weird with the WINE setup, maybe an issue with paths due to WINE or this specific Linux environment. It's a lot of factors that we simply cannot easily account for given the require of the program being Windows only and needing to run through an emulation layer.

We also are currently in the progress of a rewrite for Avalonia, which will make the program cross platform properly. Due to that and the aforementioned fact that neither of the main developers for this have Linux systems, we're pretty limited on fixing stuff for Linux unless the issue is very easy to find or is something affecting more than just Linux users.

If you want to keep track of the Avalonia rewrite, you can view that in the #296 and its related branch. It's still very early in development and cannot actually be used at this moment in time though.

[AIMYII]

Thank you for your response!

I'm using wine version 9.0.

I downloaded the release_x64.zip, which gives me the SAManager executable.

I believe there was wine applications that I needed to install to run the SAManager. But it was some time ago, so I don't remember

[ItsEasyActually]

There are actually, but the program itself shouldn't have worked at all if they were missing. That being the .Net Desktop Runtime. It's the second link on the right column of the page, specifically says ".NET Desktop Runtime."

The issue you described, where you could get through the initials settings but then the program doesn't load afterwards, sounds like it's crashing somewhere in the initialization process. My guess is invalid settings data (could be path related, hence my mention of ensuring local mode is working) or it may be related to the auto detection for games. Both of those issues have happened before, but all of it was resolved previously as far as I can remember.

[TopHatHipster]

@ItsEasyActually Is it possible to provide a debuggable build (providing technical log files or logging in console), to try and narrow down the issues for starting the mod manager on Linux? Compared to OP, I can not run the Mod Manager at all on my Linux containers.

I've tried the following on a Ayn Thor (Android ARM device that uses apps like Winlator or GameNative to run x86_64 Windows apps on ARM via translation layers like WINE, Box64/FEX (x86_64 to ARM64)):

• Installed .NET Desktop 8 x64
  • The ".NET Desktop 8 not installed" error shows properly from the get-go, yet after installing .NET the application doesn't seem to start properly at all. (No errors, no logging when opening it via Command Prompt or the like.)
• Switch Proton versions (between 9, 10, 11 and arm64 translating versions (FEX) and x86_64 versions which use Box64)
  • No effect
• Switch between glibc and bionic containers
  • No effect (on the mod manager)
• Switch the ARM translation layers (Box64 <-> FEX) and its modes
  • No effect
• Trying to trigger Local Mode with a SAManager directory next to the SAModManager.exe binary
  • No effect

[ItsEasyActually]

You can run the program with the command debug and it should output an application.log file next to where the mod manager itself is. I'm not sure if it'll contain any helpful information though. Outside of that, general rule still applies that the current release is not natively supported on Linux, and fixing it won't really be in the plans since we have the Avalonia move happening (albeit slowly, I have not touched that branch in a while unfortunately). I have not run into anyone having the issues you've described, so I'm not familiar of any other fixes that you could try.

[TopHatHipster]

Thanks for the quick response! My case is a bit more "special" compared to running it in a VM, due to the x86_64 to ARM64 translation layer, which is probably the reason you haven't encountered my specific issues before.

Seems like running the debug command didn't yield any results - it doesn't output anything, not even in a log file.

I'll refrain from trying anything else then until the Avalonia branch is testable.

[yllekz]

Here to confirm the newest version does not work in Linux under Bottles or Proton.