protonscr

EA App games do not start at all

protonopen
ValveSoftware/Proton#6396 · opened 2022-12-18 by webodan · updated 2026-04-14 · 28 comments · github
Wwebodan 2022-12-18 github

Compatibility Report

  • Name of the game with compatibility issues:

  • Mirror's Edge: Catalyst

  • Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

(possibly other EA games that force this app, i don't know of any others since i don't have any more)

  • Steam AppID of the game:

1172380
1233570

System Information

  • GPU: Tested on both a GTX 1060 and an RX 6700 XT, GPU didn't matter
  • Driver/LLVM version: latest amdgpu and nvidia 525.60.11
  • Kernel version: 5.15 & 6.1
  • Proton version: Tried Proton 7.0-5, Experimental and GE-7.42. No difference.

I confirm:

  • [ x ] that I haven't found an existing compatibility report for this game.
  • [ x ] that I have checked whether there are updates for my system available.

Here's a log using PROTON_LOG=1 of Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order with Proton 7.0-6:

steam-1172380.log.zip

Symptoms

Some EA App pops up with a window saying "LET'S GO!", you install it, wait until it's done, then it pops up, waits for a while, and says "something went wrong, relink your account to continue and try again" (or something like that). These games simply won't launch at all on PC despite the latest fixes to EA App games for the Steam Deck as of 7.0-5.

It's not a system problem, as I also tried on this hardware on both a properly set up Linux Mint and on Garuda Linux (arch based distribution meant for gaming). Same "something went wrong" result.

Reproduction

  • Install the game and try to run it. The dumb app just won't let you play.

Please, can we have a fix for EA games on PCs running Linux? I'd like to try Catalyst and Fallen Order without bothering with Windows again.

Ttomaszg7 2022-12-23 github

I have the same symptoms on Gentoo with AMD Fury. Once I think the EA App managed to connect but some other problem crashed it anyway. I was also trying to run Jedi Fallen Order with Proton 7.0-5, Experimental and GE-7.42.

Wwebodan 2022-12-24 github

I ended up succeeding in playing EA App games, but I had to link my EA account to my Steam account using a Windows computer running one of these games there.

Horrible support by EA, these apps should be banned from Steam.

Everyone make sure your accounts are linked on a Windows PC before playing on Linux!

Ttomaszg7 2022-12-24 github

I have linked my EA account to Steam via the webpage, but that doesn't help.

Edit: to be more precise: as I start the game, I see EA app window which disappears and a message pops up with: "Oh snap, it crashed". I can restart the app and the game or app seems to keep loading up. Then I get another popup with: "Something went haywire. The background services aren't responding".

Nnitsvga 2022-12-29 github

Isn't there any way of skipping this nauseating app? Or replacing it with Origin, since at least it works.
I've been playing BTF4 through Lutris on Origin, and EA App seems to work fine there. But I got it on Steam and doesn't open up.

Ttuxtergames 2023-01-23 github

Isn't there any way of skipping this nauseating app? Or replacing it with Origin, since at least it works. I've been playing BTF4 through Lutris on Origin, and EA App seems to work fine there. But I got it on Steam and doesn't open up.

working nice here, with AMD card with proton experimental (bleeding edge), I want to know if theres a way to leave the ea app open after close the game, somentimes I can do, but I've no ideia how, with uplay connect works nice and uplay and ea games runs better than lutris through steam.

GGaaius 2023-01-28 github

This happens to me with Mass Effect: Andromeda (only EA game ive tried so far via steam; other proton games work fine)
Im playing on proton 6.3-8 and when i close the game it wont lauch anymore.
I then switch to another proton version (experimental or 7.0-5), let the "first time install" and subsequent game-start fail, then switch back to 6.3-8, let it install, wait a bit and then it starts
Im on Ubuntu 22.04 and sucessfully linked my accounts the first time the game startet.
(The next day) I could play without having to change anything

BBlackJar72 2023-02-04 github

I have a problem like this too, with The Sims 4. The EA app will launch for a short time, say it there is not internet connection (there is), then shut down without ever launching the actual game. I'd give more details, but that is all I know about the problem. (I don't remember how / where to get the Steam log off the top of my head.)

YYamiYukiSenpai 2023-03-04 github

My only issue right now with the EA app is that none of my games would launch when I'm in offline mode on my Steam Deck, which is just extremely annoying.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/4823#issuecomment-1447497979

Ttomaszg7 2023-03-21 github

I'm able to play e.g. Jedi Fallen Order with recent GE versions even though the EA App still crashes in the background. However I get no achievements. Other EA games like Battlefront 2 don't start due to EA App crash. Deleting prefix or reinstalling the game doesn't seem to do anything.

Ggarpu 2023-03-22 github

It seems like every time the EA App has to update, I need to delete the game's prefix to get it to launch again. (Sims 4. I haven't tried any other EA games.) Is this just a thing that one needs to do with the new EA app, or is there a fix for this?

BBlackJar72 2023-03-22 github

It seems like its not processing the vulkan shaders correctly. Its takes much less time that it use to, but (if it give an error message) seems will say there is no video card -- so shaders seem to be at least part of the problem, whether or not its the whole problem.

It seems like every time the EA App has to update, I need to delete the game's prefix to get it to launch again. (Sims 4. I haven't tried any other EA games.) Is this just a thing that one needs to do with the new EA app, or is there a fix for this?

Well, if that works ... what is the game's "prefix" anyway. I sure don't want to delete (and have to re-install) the whole game and its DLC.

XXenHat 2023-04-28 github

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition broke after the Proton 8.0 launch, now I can't play at all regardless of the version of proton used in compatibility mode. This being a 110GB game, I can't really afford to reinstall every day.

Behavior: EA App fails to launch, and/or crash before the game runs.

SSaeniv 2023-06-04 github

Titanfall 2. Played Last Week without problems. Wanted to play today. EA App urged me to restart and now the game won't launch.
Is there a way to reinstall EA App without reinstalling the whole 66GB of the game?

FFractal147 2023-06-26 github

Is there a way to reinstall EA App without reinstalling the whole 66GB of the game?

Yep. Delete the compatibility prefix folder - doable from the big picture mode game options menu, or by deleting the folder for the specific game id you want. (or rename it, so you don't lose saves if you need it). 'Play' in steam will run the installscript.vdf anew.

PPshemas 2023-09-16 github

on my end it is still a show stopper - can't launch Titanfall2 because of it. This damn EA launcher fails with "Ooop something went wrong" and that's it.

Aasier-ochoa 2023-09-22 github

on my end it is still a show stopper - can't launch Titanfall2 because of it. This damn EA launcher fails with "Ooop something went wrong" and that's it.

Im getting the same issue with Proton Experimental and all of my EA games, including Titanfall. Link to thread

Aasier-ochoa 2023-09-24 github

I have found that replacing ea app with origin works as a temporary solution. Here are the steps I took to make it work.

Llinuxissuper 2023-11-07 github

since the xorg update from 21.1.8 to 21.1.9 star wars jedi survivor doesn't launch anymore
this is the log when trying to start from the ea app:

Nov 07 21:30:00 desktop xsession[2058]: [ 07.11.2023 21:30:00.549 x_log_error WARN ] X error 3 WINDOW request 2 minor 0 serial 133379095
Nov 07 21:30:00 desktop xsession[2058]: [ 07.11.2023 21:30:00.549 x_log_error WARN ] X error 3 WINDOW request 2 minor 0 serial 133379097

and

Nov 07 21:30:26 desktop xsession[71349]: WARNING: discarding _NET_WM_PID 2 as invalid for X11 window - use specialized XCB_X11_TO_PID function!
Nov 07 21:30:26 desktop xsession[71349]: WARNING: discarding _NET_WM_PID 2 as invalid for X11 window - use specialized XCB_X11_TO_PID function!
Nov 07 21:30:26 desktop xsession[71349]: WARNING: discarding _NET_WM_PID 2 as invalid for X11 window - use specialized XCB_X11_TO_PID function!
Nov 07 21:30:26 desktop xsession[71349]: WARNING: discarding _NET_WM_PID 2 as invalid for X11 window - use specialized XCB_X11_TO_PID function!
Nov 07 21:30:26 desktop xsession[71349]: WARNING: discarding _NET_WM_PID 2 as invalid for X11 window - use specialized XCB_X11_TO_PID function!
Nov 07 21:30:26 desktop xsession[71349]: WARNING: discarding _NET_WM_PID 2 as invalid for X11 window - use specialized XCB_X11_TO_PID function!
Xxrtxn 2023-12-11 github
Xxrtxn 2023-12-13 github

Also, if I don't do this, it refuses to install under a wayland compositor. I switched to kde x11 and it installs fine using proton.

Sscroll44 2025-03-09 github

I have the same problem, kisak-valve put a link to my issue #8509. I want to know the following of this bug. Thanks.

Sscroll44 2025-03-09 github

The only new information I give is :

After a new installation of EA app, when I click on “Recover application” (in EA app) , the application crashes. I find this similar to what I see after an update.

Mminilandl 2025-03-21 github

Also, if I don't do this, it refuses to install under a wayland compositor. I switched to kde x11 and it installs fine using proton.

Its strange I have Jedi Fallen order on steam and that runs the EA app fine

However I am unable to install the EA app at all using Lutris the installer crashes
I have also tried Bottles with Proton GE 2.6 installs but when you launch the launcher interface it crashes shortly after

Same behavior on X11 for me

DDwarf1er 2026-04-10 github

With Mirror's Edge Catalyst in https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/6452 EA App installs and launches fine under Proton Experimental and GE-Proton-32/34, but once the initial loading screen is up for a few seconds the game crashes.

A "non-EA" copy does not suffer that problem and works just fine, so there's something on the EA App side that broke something

BBlackJar72 2026-04-10 github

With The Sims 4, it seems to launch and installer or updater for the EA App, but then crashes. I've tried many Proton versions, including experimental and GE, and none work, even on a fresh install.

Its strange, it started working for a short time, but then stopped; after just deciding to just give up on the game for a year or two (more?) I tried again, still doesn't work despite some claim to have it working recently on ProtonDB.

Ggarpu 2026-04-10 github

No problems here with slackware-current. (Plasma 5, x11, 6.18.21) profile here: https://gist.github.com/garpu/ae82701285c4c1f4b4dd8eb0746334db

I launched the Sims 4 with proton 10.0-4, and the EA app updated and launched, but the game didn't launch. I exited the EA app, stopped the game via Steam, and it launched fine the 2nd time. The version of the EA app is 13.680.0.6193.

DDwarf1er 2026-04-14 github

With Mirror's Edge Catalyst in [#6452](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/6452) EA App installs and launches fine under Proton Experimental and GE-Proton-32/34, but once the initial loading screen is up for a few seconds the game crashes.

A "non-EA" copy does not suffer that problem and works just fine, so there's something on the EA App side that broke something

Interestingly enough, STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order seems to be launching just fine despite using the same version of EA App just like others mentioned above.

DDwarf1er 2026-04-14 github

I got Mirror's Edge Catalyst to launch by doing the following:

  1. Set the game to use Proton Experimental
  2. Set the following launch options: PROTON_DISABLE_NVAPI=1 PROTON_NO_ESYNC=1 PROTON_USE_XALIA=0 %command%
  3. Add this line to my /etc/hosts file: 127.0.0.1 winter15.gosredirector.ea.com
  4. When EA App install screen pops up instead of clicking "let's go" click on "customize setup" and uncheck the box "create desktop shortcut"