protonscr

Little Fighter 2

protonopen Game compatibility - Unofficial
ValveSoftware/Proton#7277 · opened 2023-11-22 by denilsonsa · updated 2025-01-01 · 4 comments · github
Ddenilsonsa 2023-11-22 github

Compatibility Report

System Information

  • Steam Deck:
    • GPU: AMD Custom GPU 0405
    • Video driver version: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 23.1.3
    • Kernel version: 6.1.52-valve7-1-neptune-61
    • It's just an up-to-date LCD Steam Deck.
  • Proton version: Many versions tested, see below

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.

Symptoms

A window called "ActiveMovie Window" shows up with a placeholder test pattern image. Depending on the Proton version, the game either freezes, or the game continues working fine if I close that window.

This window does NOT show up on vanilla Wine. What's more, the application doesn't even contain any movie whatsoever.

Reproduction

Installation

  1. Use Wine or a Windows computer to run the installer. (Feel free to use a brand-new, disposable WINEPREFIX.) It will extract and install all the files in the Program Files. The game, however, is portable.
  2. Copy the whole LittleFighter installed folder to somewhere else, a place of your preference. (Feel free to discard that WINEPREFIX, because we only used it to extract the game files.)
  3. Add lf2.exe to Steam.
  4. Force a specific version of the compatibility tool.

Running

Press Play.

Depending on the Proton version, the "ActiveMovie Window" will pop up and freeze shortly afterwards, or it won't freeze.

  • Both Proton and Wine
    • There are visual glitches on the initial menu. The "Update on/off" at the top-right is not visible. Any in-game dialog on the initial menu is incorrectly rendered, the buttons are not visible unless the mouse is over them. (e.g. clicking on the invisible "Update" at the top-right, or on the "control settings")
    • Upon trying "game start", it loads until it stops at data/henry_wind.dat, then it freezes there taking 100% of one CPU core.
  • Wine 8.20 (vanilla, on a Manjaro Linux PC)
    • Upon launch, there is an error message "Could not create a filter graph for this file!", but afterwards the initial menu opens fine.
  • On all Proton versions (on Steam Deck)
    • "ActiveMovie Window" pops up, showing a placeholder color-bar movie.
    • Closing that window lets me interact with the game initial menu.
  • On recent Proton versions (on Steam Deck)
    • After about 5 seconds, the "ActiveMovie window" freezes. In such case, the entire game freezes and cannot be interacted with.

Lutris and winetricks

There are reports of installing from Lutris working fine. That installation includes a couple of winetricks, and uses Wine GE Proton 8.24.

That "Could not create a filter graph for this file!" shows up at the game launch, and also a few other times later (after selecting the characters and before starting the game proper; after each major stage change; and also when navigating back to the main menu after a game over).

After the game is installed by Lutris, I can switch to using the system Wine version (8.20) and it also works fine. This makes me believe the vanilla Wine/Proton installation is missing the WMA codecs. (In addition to several library overrides.)

Real MS Windows OS

  • The game fails to load unless Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Runtime libraries are installed. (Or any later binary-compatible version.)
  • Otherwise, it runs fine, no extra window.
  • The initial menu can be used to configure the controls and start the game. The initial menu only responds to mouse inputs.
  • Afterwards, the main menu cannot be interacted with the mouse, but the players must use their configured controls.

Music

Apparently, no music is played at any moment. All the game music is in *.wma files with WMA2 codec (32-bit, 44.1kHz). That is likely the reason why "ActiveMovie" thing shows up.

Summary

Behavior Wine 8.20 Proton 5.13-6 Proton 6.3-8 Proton 7.0-6 Proton 8.0-4 Proton Experimental Lutris
"Could not create a filter graph for this file!" 😡 yes ✅ no ✅ no ✅ no ✅ no ✅ no 😡 yes
"ActiveMovie Window" pops up ✅ no 😡 yes 😡 yes 😡 yes 😡 yes 😡 yes ✅ no
Freezes seconds after "ActiveMovie Window" shows up ✅ N/A ✅ no ✅ no 😡 yes 😡 yes 😡 yes ✅ N/A
Invisible "Update on/off" on the initial menu 😡 yes 😡 yes 😡 yes 😡 yes 😡 yes 😡 yes 😡 yes
Freezes after data/henry_wind.dat 😡 yes 😡 yes 😡 yes ? ? ? ✅ no
Game playable 😡 no 😡 no 😡 no 😡 no 😡 no 😡 no ✅ yes

Related issues

Final thoughts

Even though this game isn't on Steam, it's probably small enough and simple enough that it should be easier to analyze and understand, and thus easier to make it work. If that's the case, fixing this game should help fixing other games using similar technologies.

Given how recent Proton version started freezing about 5 seconds after launching the game, while older versions didn't, I think this is probably a regression.

ZZelphirKaltstahl 2025-01-01 github

I can confirm the behavior of freezing at data\henry_wind.dat using the following:

  • wine: wine-6.0.3 (Ubuntu 6.0.3~repack-1)

Also confirming the "Could not create a filter graph for this file!" part and missing WMA decoder:

Missing decoder: Windows Media Audio 8 (audio/x-wma, wmaversion=(int)2, bitrate=(int)128000, depth=(int)16, rate=(int)44100, channels=(int)2, block_align=(int)743, codec_data=(buffer)00000000010000000000)

This is on Linux Mint:

Distributor ID:	Linuxmint
Description:	Linux Mint 21
Release:	21
Codename:	vanessa

No music is OK, freeze at Henry file is game breaking.

ZZelphirKaltstahl 2025-01-01 github

I figured something out with Lutris. The System option named Prefer system libraries has to be off/disabled to get past the data\henry_wind.dat freeze:

image

I am not sure which thing in WINE that corresponds to. Would be cool if anyone can shed light on that.

ZZelphirKaltstahl 2025-01-01 github

I experimented around with PlayOnLinux and let it install Wine 9.0. Then I made a new prefix using POL, which uses the just installed Wine 9.0. Then I installed the components, also using POL:

  • d3dx9
  • devenum
  • vcrun2005
  • directplay
  • wmp9
  • directmusic
  • quartz
  • I set the Video memory size under Display settings for the prefix to 2048.
  • I also configured the prefix to use a virtual desktop of 1280x1024.

Using this configuration I get a new error symptom, but get a loadable and playable game:

  • Could not create filter graph for this file! the moment I run the game's executable and the window borders are drawn.
  • Click OK and start the game. Loading works fine. Game works fine. Except for when you leave the music on. Then each time the music changes I will see the same error again.

I guess this will be my way to play the game for now. I don't need the music and this was the behavior I had for some time now.

Ddanielw1990 2025-01-01 github

Remaster on Steam announced:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3249650/Little_Fighter_2_Remastered/

Proton versions

Launch options