Running the publisher exclusive version of this title through Proton as a non-steam game saves in the correct location. "steamuser > Documents > minori > ef - the first tale".
It likely saves and loads from the incorrect location due to the steam edition having brackets in the save folder name while the non-steam edition does not.
Locking the Framerate to a common value in-game such as 30 or 20 does not fix the audio crackling and popping.
proton experimentalx1 2025-07
Compatibility Report
Name of the game with compatibility issues: ef - the first tale. (All Ages)
Steam AppID of the game: 1144300
Proton versions tested: Proton 9, Proton 10, Proton Experimental.
I’ve tested this game on both my main PC running Linux and the Steam Deck, and the problems happen on both.
And none of the problems below happen on Windows
I confirm:
Symptoms
This game has two big problems when being played through Proton, those being: Audio Crackling and Popping whenever a voice or sound effect is played, and the save location is incorrect
The game saves in the root drive_c folder in the proton prefix instead of in the Documents folder (where it saves on Windows and where my Steam Cloud Save still downloads into)
There is a third problem regarding video playback, the main issue is the lack of Windows Media Player functionality in Proton.