Wine Launcher 404

Although this game is sold on Steam and Steam does officially support wine through Proton I don't think we're going to see a fix from Square, even if this issue gets 2,000~ views in a single day. I don't believe the changes to be malicious in nature but it is a bit suspect that all Linux users would be shafted in such a way after five plus years of a seamless experience. By a hotfix patch no less. If I have to choose between consigning myself to a Microsoft platform for the sake of one video game, and Linux, I would stay with the latter.

Good morning, folks! Just checking in. We've had some progress on Git, someone managed to force the game to run but we are missing some part of the authentication process.
But it pretty much confirms the game executable is unaffected so there is hope!

To be honest though, all Square would need to do is give us the source code for the launcher and we could fix it ourselves.
That'd be a great boon to us Linux users!

Edit: Square, this topic's gotten almost 3000 views now. That's potentially <3000 people who are having problems here. We may be a minority but we are not few. Please consider throwing us a bone? =(

Just another Linux user, hitting the same bug, chiming in to hopefully add more attention to the issue.

achurch in the github issue came with some interesting information!

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Somebody said something about Transgaming, so I tried adding an IsTransgaming function to Wine: https://gist.github.com/achurch/3d01...1637018f076ecd

This lets the launcher start up (so the libcef code is in fact still live), but once you actually log in you get that "no service account" message. I wonder if IsTransgaming makes the launcher think it's running on a Mac, so the server checks for a Mac service account?

In any case, this still only works on the 32-bit binary, so however useful it is, it's only good for another couple of months - beyond that we need a proper fix to Wine's mshtml.

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And, this topic has reached 3000 views. Wow!



EDIT:
Some more news/updates
Theory from github is that using the old BrowserType now ends up identifying as "Mac" or even just "invalid platform", while mshtml is required for a new login flow.
A wine dev in the bugzilla tracker for wine seems to have an idea of what is causing the issue. And also attached a patch which does fix the 404 error (but still the launcher will not render)
Custom launcher still works fine on windows. This makes me positive that we can replicate their efforts and make a temporary launcher.

Another Linux user having the same problem

I was let down by this problem too. Once there's a solution, I might consider continuing my subscription. I hope for the best :)

This thread is soon the most viewed topic in tech support if it isn't already.

3000 views * $12 / month = $432,000 in potential annual lost revenue.

Just saying.

Updated my first post with the workarounds that are available at this time :)

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Originally Posted by oleerik

So, time for a quick summary!

Patcher related issues:

• Wine parses the url incorrectly, hence a custom patch is needed to fix this issue
• With the custom url patch the launcher is rendered black and unusable. mshtml issue?

Workaround:
Patch game in a VM and copy the game files over. Then use a custom launcher to bypass the launcher. https://github.com/HereInPlainSight/FF14Launcher


Gamerelated issues:
If you manage to get into the game with any of the custom launchers you'll get errors related to your service accounts. They seem to believe we are mac users.

Workaround:
Configure wine to hide wine version. (This is done through wine configuration or regedit key HKCU\Software\Wine, string value HideWineExports, value "1")


"Conclusion"

We now have workarounds so we can play the game again, but there is still a lot of work to be done to make sure we can patch the game again.

So, it's not perfect, but we can play!!

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That is a pretty flimsy fix that I fear if Square has gone the way of EA and Blizzard they might start using it as an excuse to banhammer calling it "cheating". Let us know if it triggers jeol. I prefer to not have to run a VM with Windows, not like I am running a cpu with meltdown so Microsoft cannot peek down to the host OS; this should be illegal as sin but as we all know the Corporations run the world now so there is no promises they cannot hop rings on any CPU. So with no support from Square until Proton is working I will be playing No Man's Sky and like looking at LostArk when it releases in Russia. What I hear, they are a real threat to all MMOs to date.

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Originally Posted by oleerik

Workaround:
Patch game in a VM and copy the game files over. Then use a custom launcher to bypass the launcher. https://github.com/HereInPlainSight/FF14Launcher

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what does this even mean?

TBH it sounds like there's some better methods than my repo coming around, though they're in the early stages. Unfortunately it -does- seem like they're probably temporary work arounds unless the 64-bit launcher gets some changes Linux will need it to have.

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Originally Posted by Erebea

what does this even mean?

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It means you can spin up a Virtual Machine running Windows just to do the update, and then use a custom launcher to run the game itself. Honestly... I'd give it another few days to see what people are coming up with. There's talk of some wine patches to work around some of the issues. Like I said, they're not permanent fixes, but hopefully we'll get some better options in time from Square.

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Originally Posted by Erebea

what does this even mean?

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What this means is this

1) Either have a dual boot or virtual machine running Winblows 10

2) To update FF14

3) Then go back into Linux and use a Python script to login

This might be good for the technical minded power users, programmers, and sysadmins of Linux but to a basic user this is going to look a bit perplexing. Sorry for the mind set of many Linux power users who think everyone is a dev, hacker, or freak on Linux.

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Originally Posted by HereInPlainSight

TBH it sounds like there's some better methods than my repo coming around, though they're in the early stages. Unfortunately it -does- seem like they're probably temporary work arounds unless the 64-bit launcher gets some changes Linux will need it to have.



It means you can spin up a Virtual Machine running Windows just to do the update, and then use a custom launcher to run the game itself. Honestly... I'd give it another few days to see what people are coming up with. There's talk of some wine patches to work around some of the issues. Like I said, they're not permanent fixes, but hopefully we'll get some better options in time from Square.

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Hopefully we do get a bone but after the shizshow of AAA game developers we seen in 2018; would not surprise me if Square Enix is intentionally doing this. I am not holding my breath. I found where they are checking OS in their ECMAscript 6-7 (Browser.js, line 60 to 72) so they are definitely snooping the OS...Literally stonewalling so unless it was just some horridly overlooked mess, it is making Square look really shile at the moment.

People have found fixes for all the issues now. The launcher will work with the istransgaming patch. https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Pro...ment-486246408

I would expect a custom wine build to be available soon. If you want to build yourself, make sure wine version can be hidden and that you have the transgaming patch in.

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Originally Posted by AruTheUnicorn

Sorry for the mind set of many Linux power users who think everyone is a dev, hacker, or freak on Linux.

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No, I just misunderstood because you said "patch" instead of "update"

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Originally Posted by oleerik

People have found fixes for all the issues now. The launcher will work with the istransgaming patch. https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Pro...ment-486246408

I would expect a custom wine build to be available soon. If you want to build yourself, make sure wine version can be hidden and that you have the transgaming patch in.

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Hello, I'm unfamilliar with this patch. I found a page on SourceForge but it hasn't been updated since 2016. Could you provide a link?

just adding that I as well have this issue. I have cancelled my account until this gets fixed, I do not have a windows PC to patch nor will I do it. They need to remove the launcher from being a thing, it's annoying and serves little to no purpose.

Success! Selecting this edited version of Proton in Steam compatibility settings https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dL...EqSvSSvoRmBBwi lets me open the launcher and patch the game.

You can download the free trial if you don't already have the base game in Steam, it functions just like the retail version and will let you log in to any existing account.

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Originally Posted by quartz90

Success! Selecting this edited version of Proton in Steam compatibility settings https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dL...EqSvSSvoRmBBwi lets me open the launcher and patch the game.

You can download the free trial if you don't already have the base game in Steam, it functions just like the retail version and will let you log in to any existing account.

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I can confirm that this works! For more details check out the issue on github, a lot of explanation & troubleshooting has been going on: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/580

I patched my wine-staging with the patch and it does indeed work.

I also happen to have Heavensward for Mac OS and can confirm if you log in without hiding your wine exports, it will assume you are playing with a Mac OS account, as it allowed me to do all content up to HW as if I were logged in on my Mac.

Hmm, I wouldn't really mind trading my Shadowbringers Windows version for a Mac OS version so I could play on my laptop and my PC easily, but I could see things changing again and I'd need a Windows key again. I never understood why Mac OS and Windows key were separate, anyway. I also have a PS4 key, and it always feels like such a cash grab that I must upgrade each version individually...

updated OP with some fix instructions. Let me know if you want anything added to it(more comprehensive steam fix instructions perhaps?)

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Originally Posted by feffe

FIX FOR LUTRIS
Problem 1: wrong url.
Fix: patched wine version. Either add this patch and build from this or untar this to

Code:

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~/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine

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Problem 2:
Now the client thinks you're running on a mac.
Fix: Go to Wine configuration for FFXIV, then to Staging tab and check "Hide Wine version from applications".
OR

Code:

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WINEPREFIX=$FFXIVPREFIXLOCATION winetricks hidewineexports=enable

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I can't get any of these fixes to work on my system. For example, using your build on lutris results in:

wine client error:0: version mismatch 580/579.
Your wine binary was not upgraded correctly,
or you have an older one somewhere in your PATH.
Or maybe the wrong wineserver is still running?
Waiting on children
All children gone
Exit with returncode 1

If I toggle system libraries/lutris runtime I see it looking for libraries on the builder's machine instead, like with the other solutions posted today..

wine: failed to initialize: /home/feffe/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine/wine-tkg-staging-esync-lutris-git-4.6.r9.ga0708adf/lib32/wine/ntdll.dll.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

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Originally Posted by Raaben

I can't get any of these fixes to work on my system. For example, using your build on lutris results in:

wine client error:0: version mismatch 580/579.
Your wine binary was not upgraded correctly,
or you have an older one somewhere in your PATH.
Or maybe the wrong wineserver is still running?
Waiting on children
All children gone
Exit with returncode 1

If I toggle system libraries/lutris runtime I see it looking for libraries on the builder's machine instead, like with the other solutions posted today..

wine: failed to initialize: /home/feffe/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine/wine-tkg-staging-esync-lutris-git-4.6.r9.ga0708adf/lib32/wine/ntdll.dll.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

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Good catch. Ill have a look to see if I can fix up a proper package tomorrow. In the meantime you could try compiling with the patch yourself. If you dont use arch youcould build it in a docker container instead.

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Originally Posted by feffe

In the meantime you could try compiling with the patch yourself.

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I'll look into it assuming I get a break tomorrow night. I could use the learning experience at least.

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If you dont use arch..

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I'm starting to get the feeling that's what's making me the odd man out when it comes to these fixes :)

Hey, it's really easy to apply patches in gentoo, too!

Just a little bump, because SE in their infinite wisdom decided to move a topic about technical problems with the game out of tech support, where people who experience this problem would have seen it and found the fix.
Square, this topic overtook a pinned topic from several years ago in there, in the matter of <2 days. =(
At least pin this thing so the other thousands of Linux users can find it? Pretty please? It's literally just hitting a button. We did all the work already.

I noticed they moved it and wasn't sure why. We found fixes ourselves, so the least they can do is keep it visible; that way people can find the solution more easily instead of bothering SE directly (or unsubscribing). You'd think that would be in their interests...

Hello, managed to build a version that should work with any lutris install, confirmed by at least one other person so far. Link is in op.

EDIT: Also yeah, why is this no longer in tech support? Seems really weird to put it in general, can we get an admin to move it back?

Tried the new runner, but get this error now: https://i.imgur.com/p3c6MD2.jpg

The error list is longer if I try to use dx9.

I get that often when running any fresh version of wine, something something cache probably. Could you try just starting it again without any changes?

Killed all wine processes, same result.

seems weird, are you using dxvk through lutris or some other method?
https://files.feffe.it/scrot_ffxiv_settings_lutris.png

my config looks just like yours.

does it crash on the launcher or the client?

The client, the launcher logs in and works fine itself.

no clue in that case, if it was the launcher we could have tried to see if it still happened on other wine versions

Quote:

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Originally Posted by feffe

Hello, managed to build a version that should work with any lutris install, confirmed by at least one other person so far. Link is in op.

EDIT: Also yeah, why is this no longer in tech support? Seems really weird to put it in general, can we get an admin to move it back?

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You're the best. Logged in, no issues so far. https://i.imgur.com/wfYqrBo.png

Also yes, this is better in tech support as that's the first place many would look.

And let's not forget this is really a hacky bandaid; Square, please throw us the bone of not keeping this launcher change. I can't see the harm in how it worked before letting Windows force CEF - the MSHTML part of the launcher is the only bit Linux can't do and this requires no real effort or official support on your end.

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Originally Posted by junmoxiao

I noticed they moved it and wasn't sure why. We found fixes ourselves, so the least they can do is keep it visible; that way people can find the solution more easily instead of bothering SE directly (or unsubscribing). You'd think that would be in their interests...

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If linux isn't officially supported, they probably did it because they don't see it as a technical issue that linux users can't play the game.

I guess they just want this thread spam-linked from technical support whenever someone inevitably makes a thread about this now.