Bug Report: Total War: ROME REMASTERED on Linux (Pop!_OS 24.04)

System Information

Summary

Total War: ROME REMASTERED has two distinct Linux versions available through Steam: a native Linux port maintained by Feral Interactive, and a Windows version playable via Proton. Both versions have significant unresolved issues on this hardware and software configuration. This report documents all bugs found, workarounds applied, and the current state of playability.

Bug 1: Native Feral Port — SIGSEGV (Signal 11) Crash on Campaign Map

Version affected: Native Linux port (Feral Interactive)
Severity: Critical — game is unplayable
Frequency: Consistent, occurs within minutes of gameplay

Description:
The game crashes with a segmentation fault (SIGSEGV, Signal 11) while playing on the campaign map, typically during camera movement. The crash occurs during background asset streaming while the player is actively playing. The game produces a crash dump file but no useful log output pinpointing the cause.

Crash message:

Game crashed with signal SIGSEGV(11): Segmentation fault.

Crash dump location:
/home/[user]/.local/share/feral-interactive/Total War ROME REMASTERED/crashes/

Log output at time of crash (captured via stdout redirect):
The game was mid-way through loading data/menu/rome.lnt UI resources in the background when the segfault occurred, suggesting a memory corruption issue during concurrent asset streaming and gameplay.

Root cause analysis:
The native Feral port was last patched at version 2.0.5 in April 2021. The current kernel (6.18) is significantly newer than what was available at that time. The crash is consistent with known instability in Feral's Total War Linux ports on modern kernels, as also reported for Total War: Warhammer 2 on GamingOnLinux forums.

Attempted fixes (all unsuccessful):

• Verified game file integrity via Steam (no issues found)
• Forced NVIDIA GPU via __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia launch options
• Reduced graphics settings from Ultra to High
• Various asusctl power profile adjustments

Workaround:
Switch to Proton 9.0-4 (forced via Steam compatibility settings). See Bug 2 and Bug 3 for remaining issues under Proton.

Bug 2: Proton — Middle Mouse Button Camera Rotation Broken (Wayland)

Version affected: Windows version via Proton 9.0-4
Severity: High — significantly impacts battle gameplay
Frequency: Consistent and reproducible

Description:
Holding the middle mouse button (scroll wheel click) and moving the mouse to rotate the battle camera causes the camera to immediately shoot upward into the sky. Once this happens, the camera becomes locked rotating around an axis centered at the top of the sky, making it impossible to return to a normal ground-level battle view. The issue does not occur on the campaign map, only in battle mode.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Force Proton 9.0-4 in Steam compatibility settings
2. Launch game and start a battle
3. Hold middle mouse button and move mouse in any direction
4. Camera immediately flies to sky position

Expected behavior:
Holding middle mouse button should allow free camera rotation around the battlefield.

Environment:
COSMIC desktop running Wayland compositor. This is a known category of bug with Proton games under Wayland where relative mouse motion is handled incorrectly during middle mouse button hold events.

Attempted fixes (all unsuccessful):

• SDL_MOUSE_RELATIVE=0
• PROTON_USE_MOUSE_WGP=1
• SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 (force XWayland)
• SDL_MOUSE_RELATIVE_MODE_WARP=1
• SDL_MOUSE_RELATIVE_SPEED_SCALE=0.1
• PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1

Workaround:
Use keyboard camera controls instead of middle mouse button:

• Q — rotate camera left
• E — rotate camera right
• V — tilt camera up
• C — tilt camera down
• Z — lower camera
• X — raise camera

Also tested: Proton 10.0-4 and GE-Proton10-34 — both versions cause complete keyboard input failure in-game, making them unusable. Proton 9.0-4 is the only version with a working keyboard.

Bug 3: Proton — Keyboard Input Lost After Alt+Tab

Version affected: Windows version via Proton 9.0-4
Severity: Medium — recoverable without restart
Frequency: Consistent when alt+tabbing out of the game

Description:
After using Alt+Tab to switch away from the game and then returning, keyboard input is no longer recognized by the game. Mouse input continues to function normally.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Launch game under Proton 9.0-4
2. Alt+Tab out of the game to another window
3. Alt+Tab back into the game
4. Attempt to use any keyboard shortcut — no response

Workaround:
Alt+Tab out of the game again and immediately Alt+Tab back in. This re-establishes keyboard input grab. May need to be repeated.

Root cause:
Wayland input focus handling with Proton. The Wayland compositor (COSMIC) does not correctly restore keyboard grab to the Proton/Wine process when focus returns to the game window.

Bug 4: Proton — Blank Warning Dialog on Launch

Version affected: Windows version via Proton 9.0-4 and GE-Proton
Severity: Low — does not affect gameplay
Frequency: Every launch

Description:
A blank white dialog box with a warning icon (⚠) and an OK button appears before the game launches. The dialog box title bar shows "Total War: ROME REMASTERED" but the message body is completely empty. Clicking OK dismisses it and the game launches normally.

Root cause:
Proton/Wine is unable to render the text content of a Windows error/warning dialog, likely due to a missing font or a rendering issue with the Wine dialog renderer under Wayland. The underlying message is unknown but non-blocking.

Working Configuration (Current Best Setup)

Compatibility tool: Proton 9.0-4 (forced)

Steam Launch Options:

__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia DXVK_FRAME_RATE=90 DXVK_HUD=1 %command%

Notes:

• __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia — forces game to use NVIDIA GPU instead of defaulting to Intel Iris Xe. Without this, the game runs on the integrated GPU causing performance issues.
• DXVK_FRAME_RATE=90 — caps framerate at 90 FPS to reduce GPU fan noise and heat (game runs uncapped at 143-144 FPS otherwise)
• DXVK_HUD=1 — shows GPU info and FPS overlay (optional, can be removed)

Performance under working config:

• FPS: 90 (capped), capable of 143+ uncapped
• VRAM usage: ~1341 MiB / 4096 MiB
• GPU temp: ~60°C under load
• No crashes observed during campaign map play (contrast with native port)

Where to Submit This Report

1. Proton (Valve) — For Bugs 2, 3, and 4

Bugs 2, 3, and 4 are Proton/Wayland issues and should be reported to Valve's Proton GitHub issue tracker.

• Game name: Total War: ROME REMASTERED
• Steam App ID: 885970
• Proton version: 9.0-4
• System info (copy from Steam: Help → System Information)
• This bug report document

Note: There is already an open Proton issue (#9039) for Rome Remastered filed by another user with an RTX 3060 reporting similar issues. Consider adding your report as a comment on that existing issue rather than opening a duplicate.
Existing issue: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/9039

2. Feral Interactive — For Bug 1 (Native Port SIGSEGV)

Bug 1 is specific to Feral's native Linux port and should be reported directly to Feral.

Email: [email protected]
Subject: Rome Total War Remastered — SIGSEGV crash on Linux kernel 6.18 (Pop!_OS 24.04)
Attach: The crash dump file from /home/[user]/.local/share/feral-interactive/Total War ROME REMASTERED/crashes/
Also attach: Steam System Information (Help → System Information → Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C)

Note: Feral has not released a patch for Rome Remastered since version 2.0.5 in April 2021. Response may be limited, but the crash dump and kernel version information may be valuable for any future updates.

3. ProtonDB — Community Reference

Posting your findings to ProtonDB helps other Linux users find workarounds.

URL: https://www.protondb.com/app/885970
How: Click "Submit a Report" and summarize your working configuration and remaining bugs.