P99 STEAMDECK STEP BY STEP

[loramin]

Originally Posted by framk71389 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Also just connect a Bluetooth keyboard for your text input makes life a whole lot easier.

Heh, I know; I have the Steam Deck dock thingee, so I can hook up to my TV (effectively a giant monitor), and I have extra USB keyboards lying around (not Bluetooth but good enough) ... but like I said, I basically just have PTSD from getting it all working on my Linux PC [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Originally Posted by framk71389 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I had posted on on the wiki simultaneous to me posting this this one just seems easier to locate however it was just a post with a link to this guide iirc.

Awesome! Although, in my defense, I don't see it when I search for "steam"; all I see is steam elementals and steam overload.

[nalgene]

Could use some help if anyone has encountered this. I found some reddit posts about similar behavior, but no thoughts on solutions.

I was able to get logged in based on these posts. Copied a working P99 folder from a PC via GDrive, tethered to my mobile, got logged in. No controls worked, so quit the game via Steam (maybe this nuked me?).

I renamed to Project 1999 and was able to find community controls. But now I can't log in - every time I start the game via Game Mode or Desktop mode, I see (what I think, it's fast) a console try to run the .bat file, but then nothing happens. The button goes back to Play within Steam, and I'm back to where I started.

I removed the game from my Library and tried adding again, but I can't ever get logged back in. It's like it never starts.

Anyone encounter similar?

[NaturalHalfling]

Hey guys, this works perfectly on my Linux distro (Mint 22.1) but there's no Audio at all, anyone else had a similar issue?

Edit: Scratch that, ambience of the outside has sound, and I have spell effects, but there is no music.

[Vagaron]

Very cool guide. I've had the steam deck on my list to get for a while. Just can't justify the cost yet. Hopefully there will be some good sales on it soon.

[Swish]

Originally Posted by magnetaress [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

*buys a steam deck, ends up playing p99 instead*

lmao

[patlefort]

It used to work but I can't get it to work anymore. I am using https://github.com/Zaela/eqemu-login-helper to login. I can get to the server selection, but I get kicked back to login screen if I try to enter a server. Logs shows:

2025-05-07 19:34:37 WorldAuthenticate: Initiating Login.
2025-05-07 19:34:37 WorldAuthenticate. I got a message of type 0xfa6 (4006).
2025-05-07 19:34:37 WorldRPServer message: server name P1999Green
2025-05-07 19:34:37
2025-05-07 19:34:37 WorldAuthenticate. I got a message of type 0x4ec (1260).
2025-05-07 19:34:37 WorldAuthenticate. I got a message of type 0x3c25 (15397).
2025-05-07 19:34:37 Networking: Connection Closed [0] with 0 pending bytes.
2025-05-07 19:34:37 *** ERROR: WorldAuthenticate. My message arrival was NULL, the net has been shutdown.
2025-05-07 19:34:37 *** WorldAuthenticate. Checkpoint 3.

Did something change server side? Does the login helper need changes?

I have tried many different versions of wine/proton.

[Mach1073]

Same, just extracted the latest patch files (v61) and tried launching on my Steam Deck. When I get to server selection and select my server, the game is crashing back to desktop. I am using the native EQ/P99 launcher, not sure where logs are stored if at all. If anyone knows that would be helpful in determining what’s happening.

Edit: Found some logs, posting mine here for comparison. I see there others are reporting similar in Tech Issues, but no official word or fix yet. Most seem to keep trying until they eventually get in.

2025-07-04 14:26:17 Starting EverQuest (Build Oct 31 2005 10:33:37)
2025-07-04 14:27:07 WorldAuthenticate: Initiating Login.
2025-07-04 14:27:08 WorldAuthenticate. I got a message of type 0xfa6 (4006).
2025-07-04 14:27:08 WorldRPServer message: server name P1999Green
2025-07-04 14:27:08
2025-07-04 14:27:08 WorldAuthenticate. I got a message of type 0x4ec (1260).
2025-07-04 14:27:08 WorldAuthenticate. I got a message of type 0x3c25 (15397).
2025-07-04 14:27:11 WorldAuthenticate. I got a message of type 0x6957 (26967).
2025-07-04 14:27:11 WorldAuthenticate. I got a message of type 0x4513 (17683).
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Check 1sa. 0x7837b74b
2025-07-04 14:27:11
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Check 1x. 0x9e15bc94
2025-07-04 14:27:11
2025-07-04 14:27:11 WorldAuthenticate. I got a message of type 0x7cba (31930).
2025-07-04 14:27:11 WorldAuthenticate. I got a message of type 0x52a4 (21156).
2025-07-04 14:27:11 WorldAuthenticate. Access granted.
2025-07-04 14:27:11
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Race Manager loaded 475 races from racedata.txt.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Player Animations loaded 9 specific sounds from file AnimationSounds.txt.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Initializing display.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Initializing Particle System.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Setting display options.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 CRender::InitDevice: Using 32bit mode.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 CRender::InitDevice: Using vsync 0.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 CRender::InitDevice: Using 24bit depth buffer with 8 bit stencil.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 CRender::InitDevice: HardwareTnL Enabled.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Using hardware vertex shaders.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 CRender::InitDevice: Retrying without lockable backbuffer.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 CRender::InitDevice: Using Software Vertex processing.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 CRender::InitDevice: CreateDevice failed.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Display options set, return code 0.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 AutoMipMapping set to 1.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Camera created.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Storing display options.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Initializing fonts.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Loading string tables.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Initializing UI.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Initializing UI manager.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Initializing fonts.
2025-07-04 14:27:11 Parsing UI XML.
2025-07-04 14:27:12 Loading default UI resources.
2025-07-04 14:27:12 Initializing Music.
2025-07-04 14:27:12 Activating Load Screen.

[patlefort]

I managed to make it work. I had to reinstall the game and reinstall the patch as I messed up something with my script that convert files from upper to lower case. However, it doesn't work with the current proton from cachyos (20250702), but it's working with stock wine from Arch Linux (10.11). You have to make sure your wine prefix is 64 bits. I also have to use gamescope with `--backend=sdl --force-grab-cursor` to fix problems with the mouse not properly constrained to the window. Even so, mouse isn't working in the login and server selection menu but it's possible to navigate with the keyboard.

To recap:

- Change all files to lower case in the installation. Do the same to the patch files before installing them. You can use this script: https://pastebin.com/E07B2EeL. `cd` into a directory and run the script and it will convert all files and folders to lower case recursively.
- Use either p99-login-middlemand, eqemu-login-helper or p99_login_helper. Make sure it's started and running in the background before running the game.
- Change eqhost.txt Host= line to `localhost:5998`
- Find a wine/proton version that work. I use wine 10.11 at the moment.
- Make sure the wine prefix is 64 bits.
- Launch the game with `gamescope -w <monitor width> -h <monitor height> --backend=sdl --force-grab-cursor -- ` as prefix.


It's very brittle, any updates could break it. If you are serious, you might want to have a separate system or use containers to keep it stable.