Publish Linux / Steam Deck version

[Raicuparta]

I've tested a lot of Rai Pal on Linux and have developed it with that in mind since the beginning. I'm focusing on getting all the important features on Windows first, since the vast majority of users will be there. There's a bunch of weird extra stuff that needs to be handled when installing mods on Linux, so even though the app can already be built for Linux, some actions wouldn't work properly.

If you're here because you want to use Rai Pal on Linux (including on Steam Deck), please leave a react / comment so I can gauge interest.

Some tasks

• App starts on Linux
• Find Steam games.
• Find Itch games.
• Copy what R2ModMan does for Unity games with BepInEx (the whole deal with making the doorstop dll actually be used). Matter of converting the JavasScript code to Rust. There's one thing in the R2ModMan flow I don't like, which is the part where it asks you to change the launch params on Steam. Would be nice to find a way around that, but might not be possible.
• Use Proton for UEVR (https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality_linux/comments/18vxkc3/psa_praydogs_uevr_injector_can_work_on_linux_too/)
• Add Heroic Launcher support for GOG and Epic (maybe R2ModMan helps with this too?)

[Cesium06]

Definitely interested, and I would like to help in any way possible. Currently running POP_OS Pre-Cosmic.

[Raicuparta]

Definitely interested, and I would like to help in any way possible. Currently running POP_OS Pre-Cosmic.

I'd love to have help with this on the dev side :) If you're comfortable diving into Rust (even if you've never used it before, can be learned relatively quickly). But definitely wait until #219 is merged, since that brings some significant changes.

For Unity games I had it mostly working with BepInEx before, just had to remove that code for now because it was getting in the way. It's mostly just copying what R2ModMan does.

For UEVR I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done, no idea if UEVR works on Linux at all. But if it does (via Proton for instance), it would be nice to make that easier on the user too. (EDIT: as mentioned below, it does work with Proton, so I added that to the list).

As for the game list itself, that part already works fine for Steam and Itch.io games. Would probably want to add Heroic launcher support for Epic and GOG games.

All of these can be implemented independently of course.

I'll add this list to the issue body so we can track things if anyone ever contributes something.

[jarettmillard]

UEVR absolutely works via Proton: https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality_linux/comments/18vxkc3/psa_praydogs_uevr_injector_can_work_on_linux_too/

I've tried half a dozen games with this method, and it seems to work just as well as the game running normally in Proton does.

[Raicuparta]

Nice. Rai Pal could theoretically automate that entire process :)

[Raicuparta]

Although tbh, with UEVR being open source, someone could also make a dedicated Linux alternative frontend for UEVR that skips some of that work altogether

[jurassicjordan]

is there a linux build as of now? or is the checklist just on the development side?

[Raicuparta]

is there a linux build as of now? or is the checklist just on the development side?

Only on the dev side for now.

[jurassicjordan]

Excited to see what will come of it. Wish I knew enough about programming to help

guess the best I can do is spread the word of this project and see if I can get some JavaScript and rust fluent devs to help with the project :)

[Laegel]

Fluent with JS/Rust here, I'm interested in helping but I don't know how to get started.

[Raicuparta]

Fluent with JS/Rust here, I'm interested in helping but I don't know how to get started.

Great! I'll try to set up some quick documentation over the weekend if I have the time, hopefully that will help.

[abenfield]

If you still need help on this project, please reach out. I would love to contribute towards making this happen!

[Raicuparta]

Thanks! @Laegel and @abenfield, I've started writing some docs about this, but it's still pretty barebones. It's currently in the dev branch only: https://github.com/Raicuparta/rai-pal/blob/dev/CONTRIBUTING.md

Make sure to always look at the dev branch only for now, since the main branch is very far behind (still uses Tauri v1 instead of v2). It will probably take a while to learn the ins and outs of the project even after reading that contributing document.

If you're interested in contributing, you can try to pick up one of the task items on the issue list up there (probably starting with the UEVR with proton stuff). If that's all still too vague, I'll write more detailed issues for each task explaining how it should work soon, I've just been super busy with Trombone Champ: Unflattened lately :)

And don't hesitate to ask whatever questions you may have. I might take a while to answer them, but I'll eventually come back to you.

[jurassicjordan]

If you ever need someone to testing on both desktop and steamdeck, I’d be happy to help

[Laegel]

Thanks for your doc @Raicuparta ! I did not see the notification about the mention last month but today I wanted to have a look at the project, so I discovered everything you mentioned on my own. By the way, I used to contribute to Tauri so I know how it works!
Project is running locally at the moment, which is a good sign.

[Raicuparta]

That's great to hear @Laegel! If you wanna chat in more real-time about the project, you can find me on the Flat2VR Discord (there's a Raicuparta category there)