Here is my experience with this game.
Game Crashes sometime after the Epic Online Services does its thing and before the game can open at all.
Installed Steam (flatpak) from the fedora software store
Installed The Forever Winter (2828860)
Change proton to force Experemental
Launch Game
it crashes
I repeated with the other versions of proton with the same effect.
I tried renaming the Movies folder to bak.movies (The Forever Winter/Windows/ForeverWinter/Content/Movies) but it didnt help.
After the first launch the Epic online services windows doesnt show up, I assume its because it was doing its initial setup as the same behavior happens when I launch the game on windows.
Game fails to boot after pressing Play. It attempts to launch for ~15-30 seconds, the game's window never opens, and it simply returns to the green Play button state. Epic Online Services processes do start, but it is unclear if they successfully do anything or simply fail. I have tried various things such as deleting the game's prefix and installing fresh with different Proton versions and launching with VKD3D_FEATURE_LEVEL=12_1, but nothing changes.
I think this is a notable addition as I am experiencing the same crash as BorealBlizzard above, but with seemingly radically different hardware. EOS services do seem to install whenever you refresh the prefix, but it is unclear if they install properly, as no indication that they are running ever appears after attempting to launch. I have also tried using a 6.10.9 kernel, and swapping between KDE Plasma with X11 and Wayland, neither of which makes a difference.
Edit: Using the launch parameter "DXVK_CONFIG="dxgi.customVendorId = 1002" %command%" seems to resolve the issue for me and others, and seems related to the game not being able to select the correct GPU. "1002" is for AMD, "10DE" is for Nvidia and "8086" is for Intel. This information has also been posted on ProtonDB.
On all proton versions tested aside from 7 and 8, steam goes from Play > Launching > Play without anything else happening. Game window never opens. The only exceptions seem to be with Proton 8, where I see a wayland window pop open on my task manager, but it closes after a short period and steam returns to the green "play" button. With Proton 7 the game does actually seem to launch, letting me select language(first time) before showing Fundog logo and moving on to loading shader cache. During the shader cache loading, the game crashes to desktop with no error message. Both proton 7 and 8 do seem to create a memory nuke occassionally(primarily when switching to them) where it will seemingly repeatedly start multiple processes of the Epic Games Online Services until the memory reaches 100% and the entire OS locks up with the only resolution being to do a hard reboot.
Have attempted to delete the prefix multiple times with no change in behavior.
OS: Fedora Linux 40 (KDE Plasma) x86_64
Kernel: 6.10.11-200.fc40.x86_64
DE: Plasma 6.1.5
WM: kwin
CPU: 12th Gen Intel i9-12900K (24) @ 5.300GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Memory: 6870MiB / 31858MiB
(no idea what version my driver is)
EXACT same steps and issues (even with proton 7 booting but crashing) as TJohansen above, and we have very similar hardware, so no need to copy paste all the info that's the same anyway
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. ASUS TUF Gaming F15 FX506HM_FX506HM
Memory: 16,0 GiB
CPU: 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11800H @ 2.30GHz × 16
GPU: NVIDIA Corporation GA106M [GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile / Max-Q] / Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics (TGL GT1)
NVIDIA-SMI 560.35.03
Driver Version: 560.35.03
CUDA Version: 12.6
Mesa 24.0.3-1pop1~1711635559~22.04~7a9f319
OS: Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS, X11
uname: 6.9.3-76060903-generic #202405300957~1726766035~22.04~4092a0e SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu S x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Game does not launch, Epic-Online software installs, but game does not launch.
Checked Proton Versions: Proton 9.0-3, Proton Experimental, Proton Hotfix, Proton GE 9-15
Behavior is the same with all Proton Versions.
PROTON_LOG=1 %command% to dump logfiles.
Game never launches.
Logs dumped available in zip attached: ForeverWinterProtonLogs.zip
Proton 9, Epic Online Disabled: P9_EO_disabled_steam-2828860.log
Proton 9, Epic Online Disabled, Movies folder renamed: P9_EO_disabled_moviesRenamed_steam-2828860.log
Proton 9, Epic Online enabled (default): P9_EO_enabled_steam-2828860.log (!) This logfile is larger for unknown reasons, my suspicion is the root cause are problems with the EO launcher.
Proton Experimental, Epic Onine disabled: PEX_EO_disabled_steam-2828860.log
Proton Experimental, Epic Onine enabled: PEX_EO_enabled_steam-2828860.log
Launch game :)
ForeverWinterProtonLogs.zip
PROTON_LOG=1 %command%to dump logfiles. ^1
@Screak42, that 1st <li> is broken. You might want to see talk.commonmark.org/t/4453/2:
Also, there is an easy solution for your usage. For auto-numbered lists, use all
1s rather than0s.
// note: I have no expectations, I just skimmed through the logs, maybe it's useful:
Observation 1.) Launching Forever Winter with Proton 7 (selected via Steam UI), the game launches, but can't log in or access the synced Epic Online & Steam account. Resulting in still unplayable, but the game launches. In other games it used to sometimes help "spamming" the menu button, but this did not work here (This issue was fixed in with Proton 8.x I believe) But the game launches as it seems.
Observation 2.) Launching the game with Proton 9.0-3 and dumping logs, results in "Process exited with code: 0x3" and "kerberos_LsaApInitializePackage no Kerberos support, expect problems"
"P9_2024.10.06.steam-2828860.log.zip"
(attached log timestamp: 1001.588:0124:0128). These are first "proper" error messages I could see.
1001.588:0124:0128:warn:seh:OutputDebugStringW L"[2024-10-06 07:50:47.253] [Verbose] [FWindowsPlatform::TryRunExecutable] Process exited with code: 0x3\n"
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception code=4001000a flags=0 addr=7BC3D90A ip=7bc3d90a
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[0]=00000068
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[1]=0190eb80
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[2]=00000068
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[3]=001572b0
1001.588:0124:0128:warn:seh:dispatch_exception L"[2024-10-06 07:50:47.253] [Verbose] [FWindowsPlatform::TryRunExecutable] Process exited with code: 0x3\n"
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:call_stack_handlers calling handler at 7BC71D00 code=4001000a flags=0
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind code=4001000a flags=2
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind eax=00000000 ebx=00000000 ecx=4001000a edx=0145f984 esi=0145e7c8 edi=0145e818
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind ebp=0145e5a4 esp=0145e59c eip=7bc0b53e cs=0023 ds=002b fs=0063 gs=006b flags=00000216
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind calling handler at 7BF9E280 code=4001000a flags=2
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind handler at 7BF9E280 returned 1
1001.588:0124:0128:warn:seh:OutputDebugStringA "[2024-10-06 07:50:47.253] [Verbose] [FWindowsPlatform::TryRunExecutable] Process exited with code: 0x3\n"
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception code=40010006 flags=0 addr=7BC3D727 ip=7bc3d727
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[0]=00000068
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[1]=001572b0
1001.588:0124:0128:warn:seh:dispatch_exception "[2024-10-06 07:50:47.253] [Verbose] [FWindowsPlatform::TryRunExecutable] Process exited with code: 0x3\n"
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:call_stack_handlers calling handler at 7BC71D00 code=40010006 flags=0
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind code=40010006 flags=2
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind eax=00000000 ebx=00000000 ecx=40010006 edx=0145f8a4 esi=0145e708 edi=0145e758
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind ebp=0145e4e4 esp=0145e4dc eip=7bc0b53e cs=0023 ds=002b fs=0063 gs=006b flags=00000212
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind calling handler at 7BF9E280 code=40010006 flags=2
1001.588:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind handler at 7BF9E280 returned 1
1001.590:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\secur32.dll" at 7B220000: builtin
1001.592:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\Kerberos.dll" at 7B200000: builtin
1001.592:0124:0128:err:kerberos:kerberos_LsaApInitializePackage no Kerberos support, expect problems
1001.592:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:free_modref Unloaded module L"C:\\windows\\system32\\Kerberos.dll" : builtin
1001.595:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\dnsapi.dll" at 7B190000: builtin
1001.596:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\nsi.dll" at 7B130000: builtin
1001.596:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\iphlpapi.dll" at 7B150000: builtin
1001.596:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\netapi32.dll" at 7B1C0000: builtin
1001.596:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\MSV1_0.dll" at 7B200000: builtin
1001.596:0124:0128:err:ntlm:ntlm_LsaApInitializePackage no NTLM support, expect problems
1001.596:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:free_modref Unloaded module L"C:\\windows\\system32\\MSV1_0.dll" : builtin
1001.597:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:free_modref Unloaded module L"C:\\windows\\system32\\netapi32.dll" : builtin
1001.597:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:free_modref Unloaded module L"C:\\windows\\system32\\iphlpapi.dll" : builtin
1001.597:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:free_modref Unloaded module L"C:\\windows\\system32\\nsi.dll" : builtin
1001.597:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:free_modref Unloaded module L"C:\\windows\\system32\\dnsapi.dll" : builtin
1001.598:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\dnsapi.dll" at 7B1B0000: builtin
1001.599:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\nsi.dll" at 7B190000: builtin
1001.599:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\iphlpapi.dll" at 7B1E0000: builtin
1001.610:0124:0128:trace:seh:NtGetContextThread 0xfffffffe: eax=000000e2 ebx=00000001 ecx=40010006 edx=0145f8a4 esi=00000001 edi=0145f650
1001.610:0124:0128:trace:seh:NtGetContextThread 0xfffffffe: ebp=0145f760 esp=0145f620 eip=7bf4c8ec cs=0023 ss=002b flags=00000246
1001.610:0124:0128:trace:seh:NtGetContextThread 0xfffffffe: ds=002b es=002b fs=0063 gs=006b
1001.611:0124:0594:fixme:kernelbase:AppPolicyGetThreadInitializationType FFFFFFFA, 02C2FF18
1001.864:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\rsaenh.dll" at 7B140000: builtin
1002.409:0124:0128:trace:seh:NtGetContextThread 0xfffffffe: eax=000000e2 ebx=00000001 ecx=40010006 edx=0145f8a4 esi=00000001 edi=0145f650
1002.409:0124:0128:trace:seh:NtGetContextThread 0xfffffffe: ebp=0145f760 esp=0145f620 eip=7bf4c8ec cs=0023 ss=002b flags=00000246
1002.409:0124:0128:trace:seh:NtGetContextThread 0xfffffffe: ds=002b es=002b fs=0063 gs=006b
1002.956:0124:0128:trace:seh:NtGetContextThread 0xfffffffe: eax=000000e2 ebx=00000001 ecx=40010006 edx=0145f8a4 esi=00000001 edi=0145f650
1002.956:0124:0128:trace:seh:NtGetContextThread 0xfffffffe: ebp=0145f760 esp=0145f620 eip=7bf4c8ec cs=0023 ss=002b flags=00000246
1002.956:0124:0128:trace:seh:NtGetContextThread 0xfffffffe: ds=002b es=002b fs=0063 gs=006b
1003.683:0124:0128:warn:seh:OutputDebugStringW L"[2024-10-06 07:50:49.348] [Error] [FGenericBootstrapper::Bootstrap] Target application failed with exit code: 3h.\n"
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception code=4001000a flags=0 addr=7BC3D90A ip=7bc3d90a
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[0]=00000073
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[1]=019c7150
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[2]=00000073
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[3]=019515f8
1003.683:0124:0128:warn:seh:dispatch_exception L"[2024-10-06 07:50:49.348] [Error] [FGenericBootstrapper::Bootstrap] Target application failed with exit code: 3h.\n"
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:call_stack_handlers calling handler at 7BC71D00 code=4001000a flags=0
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind code=4001000a flags=2
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind eax=00000000 ebx=00000000 ecx=4001000a edx=0145fa88 esi=0145e908 edi=0145e958
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind ebp=0145e6e4 esp=0145e6dc eip=7bc0b53e cs=0023 ds=002b fs=0063 gs=006b flags=00000212
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind calling handler at 7BF9E280 code=4001000a flags=2
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind handler at 7BF9E280 returned 1
1003.683:0124:0128:warn:seh:OutputDebugStringA "[2024-10-06 07:50:49.348] [Error] [FGenericBootstrapper::Bootstrap] Target application failed with exit code: 3h.\n"
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception code=40010006 flags=0 addr=7BC3D727 ip=7bc3d727
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[0]=00000073
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:dispatch_exception info[1]=019515f8
1003.683:0124:0128:warn:seh:dispatch_exception "[2024-10-06 07:50:49.348] [Error] [FGenericBootstrapper::Bootstrap] Target application failed with exit code: 3h.\n"
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:call_stack_handlers calling handler at 7BC71D00 code=40010006 flags=0
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind code=40010006 flags=2
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind eax=00000000 ebx=00000000 ecx=40010006 edx=0145f9a8 esi=0145e808 edi=0145e858
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind ebp=0145e5e4 esp=0145e5dc eip=7bc0b53e cs=0023 ds=002b fs=0063 gs=006b flags=00000212
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind calling handler at 7BF9E280 code=40010006 flags=2
1003.683:0124:0128:trace:seh:__regs_RtlUnwind handler at 7BF9E280 returned 1
Fatal error!
Unhandled Exception: EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION reading address 0x0000000000000000
0x0000000144e1ee09 ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe!UnknownFunction []
0x0000000144e1f159 ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe!UnknownFunction []
0x0000000144e20c01 ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe!UnknownFunction []
0x0000000144e24020 ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe!UnknownFunction []
0x0000000144e63d27 ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe!UnknownFunction []
0x0000000144e93aa0 ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe!UnknownFunction []
0x00000001411cfa9e ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe!UnknownFunction []
0x0000000144e886e3 ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe!UnknownFunction []
0x000000014112f847 ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe!UnknownFunction []
0x000000014112cff1 ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe!UnknownFunction []
0x00006fffffed482d kernel32.dll!UnknownFunction []
Crash in runnable thread ElectraPlayer::Video decoder
Hardware:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz
Linux Mint 21.3 (64 bit)
Kernel Name: Linux
Kernel Version: 5.15.0-125-generic
Steam Runtime Version: steam-runtime_0.20241024.105847
Driver: Intel Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)
Driver Version: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 23.2.1-1ubuntu3.1~22.04.2
RAM: 15832 Mb
Problem:
The Forever Winter launches directly into the Unreal Engine crash reporter. Proton Experimental, Proton 9.03, Proton 7, and Proton GE 9.20 have been tried to no improvement.
Steps to Replicate:
Install the Forever Winter
Game does not launch
Use Proton versions mentioned above
Game still does not launch
Try renaming steamapps/common/The Forever Winter/Windows/ForeverWinter/Content/Movies/
Game still does not launch
WORKAROUND and/or potentially solution that has worked for a few people:
DXVK_CONFIG="dxgi.customVendorId = 10DE" %command%The root cause seems to be that the Unreal Engine does not seem to be able to select or determine the correct GPU in Hybrid systems like most laptops.
Note that this also has the same effect in Stalker2 - without this option the game does not launch.
The Forever Winter: ~30s stall on launch (Epic Online Services bootstrapper / named pipe handshake)
Issue transferred from https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/10057.
@Seralth posted on 2026-08-11T00:40:36:
The game reliably stalls for approximately 30 seconds before the splash screen appears, before the actual game binary (ForeverWinter-Win64-Shipping.exe) has even started — the delay is entirely within the outer bootstrapper process. This is not shader compilation (which is a separate, later, correctly-labeled stage) — it's a silent stall with no window and no indication anything is happening.
PROTON_LOG=1 %command% set in launch options.Loaded "C:\Program Files (x86)\\Epic Games\\Epic Online Services\\os_toolbox.node"
fixme:kernelbase:AppPolicyGetProcessTerminationMethod ...
warn:threadname:NtSetInformationThread Thread renamed to "wine_threadpool_waitqueue"
fixme:sync:GetNamedPipeHandleStateW ... : semi-stub
(repeated 3 times), immediately after which the game proceeds normally.Measured twice, on two different Proton builds:
mscoree:DllMain line)The two measurements differ by 2 milliseconds. The game's own bootstrapper debug output (visible via OutputDebugString passthrough in the attached log) shows it explicitly locating and launching an EOS helper process right before this stall:
[Info] [FGenericBootstrapper::Bootstrap] EOS User Helper application located:
'C:\Program Files (x86)\\Epic Games\\Epic Online Services\\EpicOnlineServicesUserHelper.exe'.
[Verbose] [FWindowsPlatform::TryRunExecutable] Creating process with command:
'"C:\...\\EpicOnlineServicesUserHelper.exe" '
This points at an IPC handshake (evidently over a named pipe, given the GetNamedPipeHandleStateW calls that follow the gap) between the game's bootstrapper and its EOS helper process, which either times out or hangs on Wine's incomplete implementation of that API before the bootstrapper gives up and continues anyway. Epic's own EOS SDK documentation states a default network/task timeout of 30 seconds when none is explicitly provided, which lines up closely with both measurements above.
GetNamedPipeHandleStateW's semi-stub status is not new — it's referenced in Wine bug reports going back to at least 2015 — so this may be a long-standing gap rather than a recent regression.
Full PROTON_LOG=1 output for the stock Proton 11 reproduction: https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Seralth/301c80e24e92217ec66122a6f1843586/raw/e053e3e218282ef6baac1dd981239b52e102f3d1/steam-2828860.log
proton 11.0-1bx1 2026-08proton experimentalx5 2024-11proton 9.03x1 2024-11proton 9.0-3x5 2024-10proton hotfixx1 2024-10proton 8.0-5x2 2024-09proton 7.0-6x1 2024-09ge-proton9-14x1 2024-09ge-proton9-3x1 2024-09proton9.0-3x1 2024-09PROTON_LOG=1x3 2026-08PROTON_LOG=1`x1 2026-08DXVK_CONFIG="dxgi.customVendorId = 10DE"x1 2024-11DXVK_CONFIG="dxgi.customVendorId = 1002"x1 2024-09VKD3D_FEATURE_LEVEL=12_1`,x1 2024-09DXVK_CONFIG="dxgi.customVendorId = 10DE" %command%x1 2024-11DXVK_CONFIG="dxgi.customVendorId = 1002" %command%x1 2024-09kernel32.dllx1 2024-11dnsapi.dllx1 2024-10iphlpapi.dllx1 2024-10kerberos.dllx1 2024-10msv1_0.dllx1 2024-10netapi32.dllx1 2024-10nsi.dllx1 2024-10rsaenh.dllx1 2024-10secur32.dllx1 2024-10
Compatibility Report
Name of the game with compatibility issues
Steam
AppIDof the game2828860
System Information
GPU
1 × XFX AMD Radeon RX 5700
Video driver version
Kernel version
It's
kernel-6.10.11-200.fc40.x86_64:Link to full system information report as Gist:
Attached at
gist.github.com/RokeJulianLockhart/2cec95507e5b3e4e3da01f3a5feea0d4. ^2However,
kinfoprovides a concise summary (useful for comparing against the undermentioned "others'" outputs):Proton version
Experimental ^1
Confirmation
Symptoms
Self
For me:
The UE5 update window renders as
[#000000](/issue/ValveSoftware/Proton/000000)(after rendering correctly):The video on the title screen doesn't play; it's
#FFFFFF:Others
For others, the problems are more numerous and significant:
discord.com/channels/1204839019502903407/1288224524550144042/1288506397335752715states:discord.com/channels/1204839019502903407/1288224524550144042/1288502479356563456states:These are paraphrased for consistency.
Reproduction
Install
Fedora-KDE-Live-x86_64-40-1.14.isousingdocs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/creating-and-using-a-live-installation-image/#using-fedora-media-writer. ^3Install
steam-1.0.0.81-1.fc40.i686: ^4Install
steamdb.info/depot/1493711/history/?changeid=M:5910949520286403139:Install
steamdb.info/depot/2828861/history/?changeid=M:6061529198125711756:Invoke
store.steampowered.com/app/2828860: