I got it to work with a workaround. It needs the "PhysX" installer to run before the game game run.
I know this isn't an ideal solution going forward but it will allow the game to run for now. Hope this helps.
@supashang Thanks! Here is what I did.
It cuts out extra steps and does the same thing. Also, I have symlinks to the prefixes and binary directories in /path/to/steam/compatdata which makes all that easier.
Thanks again!
I was able to launch Sacred 2 Gold after running PhysXInstaller as @nstgc described. Here is the PhysX installation command that works for the default Steam library path (~/.steam/steam) and Proton 3.7 on Ubuntu 18.04 today:
WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/225640/pfx "$HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Proton 3.7/dist/bin/wine64" "$HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Sacred 2 Gold/redist/PhysX/PhysX_9.10.0513_SystemSoftware.exe"
The workaround of @supashang worked for me, but at some point the game goes crazy and mixes up all the sprites for UI, menus. 3D is fine when this happens.
Some regions on the map also seem to generate a massive FPS drop.
Maybe my an AMD GPU is involved.
@fer-rum Please can you include a gist with your Steam > Help > System Information. Others using a similar setup to you may be able to provide a solution.
Sure, here you go. I experimented with the graphics options, unchecked physx, but so far nothing changed. For completeness I attached steam-225640.log
I was wondering, why game fails to run PhysX installer. There is a typo in installscript.vdf file:
"commad 1" "/quiet"
Sadly, one cannot just fix this and re-run first time setup, as any modifications to installscript.vdf are lost when starting the game.
This remains reproducible in September 2026 with Sacred 2 Gold build 26066, Steam client build 1788652215, and Proton Experimental 11.0 (experimental-11.0-20260903c-x86_64). On a clean prefix, a normal Steam launch exits after approximately six seconds because the required PhysX runtime is not installed.
Host environment: Arch Linux, kernel 7.2.3-arch1-3, x86-64, NVIDIA proprietary driver 580.178.4.
The Steam-distributed, cryptographically signed installscript.vdf currently contains:
"physx"
{
"hasrunkey" "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\AGEIA Technologies"
"process 1" "%INSTALLDIR%\\redist\\PhysX_9.10.0513_SystemSoftware.exe"
"commad 1" "/quiet"
"nocleanup" "1"
"minimumhasrunvalue" "9100513"
}
There are two concrete errors, not only the commad 1 typo already noted in this issue:
PhysX subdirectory. The requested file does not exist:redist/PhysX_9.10.0513_SystemSoftware.execommad 1 is misspelled; Steam's documented key, also used elsewhere in this script, is command 1.The installer actually included in the depot is:
redist/PhysX/PhysX_9.10.0513_SystemSoftware.exe
File details from build 26066:
Size: 34,013,024 bytes
SHA-256: 449ad1fd72e9ceb6738a921fd803d3da1671048e49b0f4248fa7bb9bde3a4732
The Proton log reports:
err:module:import_dll Library PhysXLoader.dll (which is needed by ...\system\NxCharacter.dll) not found
err:module:import_dll Library NxCharacter.dll (which is needed by ...\system\s2render.dll) not found
err:module:import_dll Library PhysXLoader.dll (which is needed by ...\system\s2render.dll) not found
err:module:import_dll Library s2render.dll (which is needed by ...\system\s2editor.dll) not found
err:module:import_dll Library s2editor.dll (which is needed by ...\system\sacred2.exe) not found
err:module:loader_init Importing dlls for ...\system\sacred2.exe failed, status c0000135
Before the diagnostic installation, the prefix contained completed DirectX and Visual C++ prerequisite markers but no PhysX files or registry state.
As a diagnostic only, GitHub user SanD94 manually ran the bundled installer in the existing Proton prefix. It exited with status 0 and installed C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common\PhysXLoader.dll. On the next launch, Proton loaded PhysXLoader.dll, NxCharacter.dll, and s2render.dll; the game remained alive beyond the previous failure point and created its normal options/debug files. This isolates the original early exit to PhysX not being installed during first-time setup.
The manual installation was only a diagnostic. Users should not have to invoke Proton/Wine manually, rename executables, use Protontricks, or edit a signed script that Steam restores.
Could Steam/Proton please handle this prerequisite correctly for AppID 225640, or route the signed install-script correction through the appropriate Steam app/depot-maintenance channel? The effective corrected block is:
"physx"
{
"hasrunkey" "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\AGEIA Technologies"
"process 1" "%INSTALLDIR%\\redist\\PhysX\\PhysX_9.10.0513_SystemSoftware.exe"
"command 1" "/quiet"
"nocleanup" "1"
"minimumhasrunvalue" "9100513"
}
Please verify the resulting fix from a clean Proton prefix:
PhysXLoader.dll are installed.sacred2.exe launches without DLL status c0000135.proton experimentalx1 2026-09proton 3.7x1 2018-12WINEPREFIX=$HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/225640/pfxx1 2018-12WINEPREFIX="/path/to/Sacred 2/prefix"x1 2018-08nxcharacter.dllx1 2026-09physxloader.dllx1 2026-09s2editor.dllx1 2026-09s2render.dllx1 2026-09
Error log: https://gist.github.com/nstgc/aa7f19872652e98540559854537fabb5
System info: https://gist.github.com/nstgc/02457d7920931a3f8d69cc7b9fa41a2c
Sacred 2 crashes to desktop. I tried no esync, but that didn't help. I'm pretty sure this is an issue with 64b-only prefixes.
edit: the issue is that PhysX wasn't getting installed properly which can be fixed by installing it separately.