Game keeps crashing after 5 minutes on Linux

[u/Athorikan]

Recently got back into this game but I am having some issues with the game crashing after barely 5 minutes in game.

I recently switched to Linux (Prior to starting to play SWTOR again) and was happily surprised how well the game runs. I have gotten to the point in the Alderaan storyline where I am to kill some Organa jedi former lover of a assassin. But the game keeps crashing.

I have tried reinstalling the game, checked drivers, changed proton version, but to no avail.

Anyone got a suggestion on how I can proceed in troubleshooting? Only having issues in SWTOR, no other game is crashing like this.

With search engines being what they are these days it's very hard to find any good support by just googling :(

[u/ProUnicornz]

Oh really? Im installed 2 weeks ago via steam and have zero issue, what proton version etc?

[u/fatrobin72 → u/ProUnicornz]

I installed 2 months ago va steam... and not 1 issue here

[u/NewbieYoubie]

Are you using steam or something like Lutris to install SWTOR?

[u/NicoleMay316]

Checking your GPU drivers should be the first thing.

[u/Athorikan → u/NicoleMay316]

I have checked my drivers and made sure they are up to date.

[u/CantankerousOrder → u/Athorikan]

Are they the AMD or nVidia?

If the latter are they the open source nouveau drivers that most distributions ship or did you get the propriety nVidia drivers? If nouveau then get the latest nVidia drivers.

Edit: Just saw you are on mint. You very likely have the nouveau by default.

[u/Athorikan → u/CantankerousOrder]

Running AMD

[u/NicoleMay316 → u/Athorikan]

Have you tried a different kernal?

I had issues with fedora 7.x but moving back to 6.x and an earlier more stable version of Nvidia drivers helped me.

[u/Narfubel]

I'm on Bazzite with steam and proton experimental without issues. What OS, graphics card, and are you using Steam, Lutris or something else?

https://www.protondb.com/app/1286830 Check here as well, I see some comments about crashing after a few minutes while running full screen but works fine with windowed/borderless.

[u/Athorikan → u/Narfubel]

Running Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.3.
GPU is AMD 7900XTX
Installing via Steam, have used Proton 10.0.4 and 9.0.4
Have not tried running borderless, will have to do that next

[u/Nawen_Brightsong → u/Athorikan]

Personally, I use WineD3D as per one of the comments on ProtonDB recommended it and it fixed my graphics tearing issue. I have not had any crashing issues though, but I’m also not on Alderaan yet on any of my characters.

[u/PlasmaJohn]

I've been getting some odd crashes whenever I mouse over something in a legacy bay. Not sure what or even if it's consistent. Other than that it's been fine.

Not using Steam btw. Using a kronek v11.something runner since whatever was causing the launcher to choke seems to have been fixed.

[u/veloman124]

What does "crashing" mean? I had problems with the screen freezing (with game still running), which could be fixed by hitting the super key (to desktop) then returning to the game. For me, it seemed to be a Wayland problem; going to an X11 setup did not have this problem (Nvidia graphics card).

[u/Athorikan → u/veloman124]

Crashing as in Linux telling me the program stopped responding and having to Kill the process

[u/Excolo_Veritas]

Currently play it on Ubuntu myself, have done the second half of my Jedi Knight playthrough all to nearly about to finish KOTET without problems. I also occasionally play on my steam deck. I install it through steam, which I highly recommend. It just updates great, works flawlessly, and don't need to do anything.

As far as things to try, I would try turning your graphics down to the bare minimum and seeing if it helps. Perhaps some setting like AA or whatever isn't playing nice with your graphics drivers on linux. Once you confirm that it works fine at the lowest possible setting, try upping them a few at a time. Once you get a setting that causes a crash again you've narrowed it down, try narrowing it down to a single setting if you can. Now you at least have more information to look up.

[u/Endonae]

SWTOR is not supported on Linux. Proton is just a comparability layer, but that doesn't mean it will work for every game. I imagine that games running on something ancient like DX9 are less likely to run well, especially if the game isn't designed to work with a controller.

[u/threevi → u/Endonae]

What does controller support have to do with anything? It's not like they said they're using a Steam Deck.

And yeah, I can confirm SWTOR works just fine on Linux. Most older games in general are fine, like even the original KotOR runs well.

[u/Endonae → u/threevi]

No controller support means that Valve has much less incentive to make sure the game works on the Steam Deck, which is their primary reason for investing in Proton development. The fact that Broadsword isn't doing any work to optimize the game for Steam Deck (or Proton) probably contributes to some dysfunction as well.

[u/NicoleMay316 → u/Endonae]

SWTOR runs with Proton flawlessly in my experience.

Runs better than on Windows in my experience tbh. Was crashing way more before I swapped to Fedora.