This guide describes the installation of IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles (Steam) for use with ControllerBuddy on Linux via the Proton compatibility layer.
What you get with this setup:
- An installation of IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles that is nicely integrated into your Steam library.
- ControllerBuddy will start automatically when you start the game, load the correct profile, and exit when you quit the game.
- Steam (distribution package)
- protontricks Flatpak
- ControllerBuddy Flatpak
- IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles Steam Release
Important
Before starting with the steps, make sure to read the Important Notes section in the README of this repository.
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Download IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles in Steam.
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Select Proton 10.0-4 as compatibility tool.
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Launch IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles so that the Proton prefix gets created. The game will likely crash on the first launch, but that's expected.
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Export the
APP_IDenvironment variable:export APP_ID=307960
Important
All subsequent commands must be executed within the same shell session to retain the APP_ID environment variable.
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Make sure all your game controllers are connected.
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Hide all game controllers from the Proton prefix, except for ControllerBuddy's UINPUT joystick device:
reg_file=$(mktemp -p '' joysticks-XXXX.reg) && python3 - <<'EOF' "$reg_file" && import ctypes import ctypes.util import sys sdl2_path = ctypes.util.find_library("SDL2") if not sdl2_path: raise RuntimeError("Could not find SDL2 library") sdl = ctypes.CDLL(sdl2_path) Uint16 = ctypes.c_uint16 Uint32 = ctypes.c_uint32 class SDL_JoystickGUID(ctypes.Structure): _fields_ = [("data", ctypes.c_uint8 * 16)] sdl.SDL_Init.argtypes = [ctypes.c_uint32] sdl.SDL_Init.restype = ctypes.c_int sdl.SDL_Quit.argtypes = [] sdl.SDL_Quit.restype = None sdl.SDL_NumJoysticks.argtypes = [] sdl.SDL_NumJoysticks.restype = ctypes.c_int sdl.SDL_JoystickNameForIndex.argtypes = [ctypes.c_int] sdl.SDL_JoystickNameForIndex.restype = ctypes.c_char_p sdl.SDL_JoystickGetDeviceGUID.argtypes = [ctypes.c_int] sdl.SDL_JoystickGetDeviceGUID.restype = SDL_JoystickGUID sdl.SDL_GetJoystickGUIDInfo.argtypes = [SDL_JoystickGUID, ctypes.POINTER(Uint16), ctypes.POINTER(Uint16), ctypes.POINTER(Uint16), ctypes.POINTER(Uint16)] sdl.SDL_GetJoystickGUIDInfo.restype = None SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK = 0x00002000 if sdl.SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK) != 0: print("SDL_Init failed:", sdl.SDL_GetError().decode("utf-8")) sys.exit(1) # see: https://github.com/wine-mirror/wine/blob/master/dlls/hidclass.sys/device.c device_strings = { (0x045E, 0x028E): "Controller (XBOX 360 For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x028F): "Controller (XBOX 360 For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x02D1): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x02DD): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x02E3): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x02EA): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x02FD): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x0719): "Controller (XBOX 360 For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x0B00): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x0B05): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x0B12): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", (0x045E, 0x0B13): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", (0x054C, 0x05C4): "Wireless Controller", (0x054C, 0x09CC): "Wireless Controller", (0x054C, 0x0BA0): "Wireless Controller", (0x054C, 0x0CE6): "Wireless Controller", (0x054C, 0x0DF2): "Wireless Controller", } count = sdl.SDL_NumJoysticks() joysticks = [] for i in range(count): name_ptr = sdl.SDL_JoystickNameForIndex(i) if not name_ptr: continue name = name_ptr.decode("utf-8") if name == "ControllerBuddy Joystick": continue guid = sdl.SDL_JoystickGetDeviceGUID(i) vendor = Uint16() product = Uint16() version = Uint16() crc16 = Uint16() sdl.SDL_GetJoystickGUIDInfo(guid, ctypes.byref(vendor), ctypes.byref(product), ctypes.byref(version), ctypes.byref(crc16)) key = (vendor.value, product.value) if key in device_strings: name = device_strings[key] joysticks.append(name) sdl.SDL_Quit() if not joysticks: print("Error: No joysticks detected on this system.", file=sys.stderr) sys.exit(1) def escape_reg_string(s: str) -> str: return s.replace('"', '""') print("Found the following joysticks:") for name in joysticks: print(f" {name}") if len(sys.argv) > 1: path = sys.argv[1] with open(path, "w", encoding="utf-16") as f: f.write("\ufeffWindows Registry Editor Version 5.00\n\n") f.write("[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Wine\\DirectInput\\Joysticks]\n") for name in joysticks: safe_name = escape_reg_string(name) f.write(f"\"{safe_name}\"=\"disabled\"\n") print(f"Wrote registry file: {path}") EOF flatpak run --filesystem="$reg_file":ro com.github.Matoking.protontricks -c "wine reg import '$reg_file'" "$APP_ID" rm -f "$reg_file"
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Install d3dcompiler_47 and powershell into the Proton prefix:
flatpak run com.github.Matoking.protontricks "$APP_ID" d3dcompiler_47 powershell -
Make sure your game controller is still connected.
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Launch ControllerBuddy, and start local run mode to initialize the UINPUT joystick device:
flatpak run de.bwravencl.ControllerBuddy -autostart local &
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Configure IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles to work with the ControllerBuddy-Profiles:
controller_buddy_profiles_dir=$(realpath -s "$(flatpak info -l de.bwravencl.ControllerBuddy)/../active/files/share/ControllerBuddy-Profiles") && cd "$controller_buddy_profiles_dir/configs/IL-2_GB" && WINEDEBUG='-all' flatpak run --filesystem="$controller_buddy_profiles_dir" com.github.Matoking.protontricks -c 'wine pwsh Configure.ps1' "$APP_ID"
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Update the IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles Steam shortcut as follows:
LAUNCH OPTIONS:
"${STEAM_RUNTIME}"/scripts/switch-runtime.sh --runtime='' -- flatpak run de.bwravencl.ControllerBuddy -autostart local -profile /app/share/ControllerBuddy-Profiles/IL-2_GB.json -tray & timeout=15; timeout "$timeout" bash -c 'until grep -q "ControllerBuddy Joystick" /proc/bus/input/devices ; do sleep 1 ; done' && %command% || { [ $? -eq 124 ] && zenity --error --text="Launch aborted because ControllerBuddy wasn't ready within $timeout seconds.\n\nCheck if your controller is connected." --width 500 ; } ; killall -q ControllerBuddy
The configuration script must be run again whenever the ControllerBuddy-Profiles receive an update.
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Make sure your game controller is connected.
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Execute the following command (steps 4, 9, and 10 combined):
export APP_ID=307960 flatpak run de.bwravencl.ControllerBuddy -autostart local & controller_buddy_profiles_dir=$(realpath -s "$(flatpak info -l de.bwravencl.ControllerBuddy)/../active/files/share/ControllerBuddy-Profiles") && cd "$controller_buddy_profiles_dir/configs/IL-2_GB" && WINEDEBUG='-all' flatpak run --filesystem="$controller_buddy_profiles_dir" com.github.Matoking.protontricks -c 'wine pwsh Configure.ps1' "$APP_ID"