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Nikke_on_Linux_with_Steam.md

Nikke On Linux Using Steam and DWProton

This guide steps through the process of installing and running Nikke using Steam and DWProton on Linux as of April 2026. While other versions of Proton may also work, this is the process that worked for me. Why not just use Bottles or Lutris? It was fun to see if I could get it to work with fewest tools possible and I like having my games all listed in my Steam Library.

Caution

Linux is NOT the inteded platform for Nikke. Following the steps of this guide may have unintended effects (I cannot rule out account suspension as an example possibility). Proceed at your own risk.

Environment as April 18, 2026

  • OS: Arch
  • WM: Hyprland
  • Steam: 64 bit beta
  • Proton: dwproton-10.0-23-x86_64

Steps

Install DWProton

  1. Navigate to preferred DWProton source Dawn.Wine (most up-to-date: version 10.0-24 available as this writing) GitHub (mirror of Dawn.Wine: version 10.0-22 available as of this writing)
  2. Choose to either build from source, or install a pre-built. I acquired a prebuilt copy: click to download dwproton-10.0-23-x86_64.tar.xz Then extracted to the steam compatibility tools directory to "install it":
tar -xvf ~/Downloads/dwproton-10.0-23-x86_64.tar.xz -C ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/
  1. Launch steam, you should now see dwproton-10.0-23-x86-64 or the version you chose.

Acquire Nikke's Miniloader

  1. Navigate to Nikke (nikke-en.com in my case)
  2. Click on the Windows (hawk-tuah) client -- no offense to Windows, just making a joke a-la Primeagen
  3. Move the miniloader into ~/Games/NIKKE.
mkdir -p ~/Games/NIKKE
mv ~/Downloads/nikkeminiloader_oG7STxbESBb.wg.intl.exe ~/Games/NIKKE

Add Nikke to Steam

  1. Open Steam
  2. From the bottom left corner, click Add a Game > Add a Non-Steam Game... in the bottom left corner of the window, or from the menu bar, Games > Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library.
  3. Click Browse
  4. Locate the miniloader. ~/Games/NIKKE/nikkeminiloader_oG7STxbESBb.wg.intl.exe
  5. Click Select
  6. Click Add Selected Program

Install Nikke

  1. Click on the newly added non-steam game "nikkeminiloader_oG7STxbESBb.wg.intl.exe"
  2. Click ⚙ > Properties and the Shortcut tab should be open by default
  3. Turn off Enable the Steam Overlay while in game (you may try leaving it on, but if problems occur, turn it off)
  4. Click Compatibility > Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool > dwproton-10.0-23-x86-64
  5. Click Play
  6. Click Install Do NOT change the default install location from C:\NIKKE
  7. Close the installer once finished.

Confirm the Nikke Install Location

I believe it is the Play action which creates a new folder in ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/. The 0 folder is the base folder, but all of the random number folders are added as needed to create the Windows folder structure needed for a given game. Use the newly created folder to finish the setup process. To find the compatdata folder where Nikke was installed:

  1. Open a terminal window
  2. Run find ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata -maxdepth 4 -type d -name NIKKE

This returns a path with the identified random number folder containing NIKKE (e.g. /home/<user>/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/<number>/pfx/drive_c/NIKKE where <number> is a random number such as 1234567). I will refer to this number folder as <number> again below.

Run Nikke

  1. From the Nikke Steam game page in your Steam Library, again click ⚙ > Properties and the Shortcut tab should be open by default.
  2. Under TARGET and next to the path, click Browse...
  3. Navigate to ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata//pfx/drive_c/NIKKE/Launcher
  4. Click on nikke_launcher.exe
  5. Click Select
  6. Under START IN and next to the path, click Browse...
  7. Navigate to ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/pfx/drive_c/NIKKE
  8. Click on Launcher
  9. Click Select
  10. Click Play

Log In to Nikke

  1. At the login window, Click on the Steam logo, or click Other Login If you choose other log in, enter username and password, and then click Login
  2. Click Launch

Finish Installation

From here, Nikke gives you the option to load the remaining season data and select a server as usual. A couple optional clean-up steps to make the install look nice are listed below.

  1. From the Nikke Steam game page in your Steam Library, again click ⚙ > Properties. Shortcut should be open by default.
  2. Change the title under Shortcut to "Nikke: Goddess of Victory"
  3. Download some artwork The icon may be changed next to the shortcut title The remaining artwork may be set under the Customization tab at the left. SteamGridDB has some pre-made artwork with most of the desired sizes for Nikke. Consider contributing if you have of your own.
  4. Delete unnecessary files ~/Downloads/dwproton-10.0-23-x86_64.tar.xz

Notes and Troubleshooting

Tip

I am not sure if the miniloader needs to stay in ~/Games/NIKKE, but in case something breaks, I recommend keeping it there to "re-attack" if needed to the Non-Steam game you created. Re-attach by going back to the ⚙ > Properties > Shortcut menu and setting the TARGET and START IN paths back to ~/Games/NIKKE/nikkeminiloader_oG7STxbESBb.wg.intl.exe and ~/Games/NIKKE, respectively. Then run the miniloader again to re-install Nikke to fix a broken game.

Warning

If you remove and then re-add Nikke, a new random number folder will be created in compatdata. Steam will not use the prior folder and at this time, I do not know the inner workings of Steam to adjust the links created when "Add Non-Steam Game" is performed. You'll need to ensure the correct ../compatdata/<number> folder is selected to get the game to launch. Early on Steam got confused and would load folder 0, but not the linked <number> folder with NIKKE in it.

  1. Try completely closing down Steam (pkill -f steam; pkill -f steam_helper if necessary). Then re-open steam and try again.
  2. If restarting Steam does not work, rm -rf ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/0 and then clicking Play not only recreates folder 0, but seems to reset the links and fixes the issue. Haven't had this issue in a bit, so may have been first with a Steam patch, or a system patch.

Note

I have noted periodic hitches in sound or connection. Sounds hitches are quite short. Connections issues may kick you back to the home screen, but not completely out of Nikke. Sound and connection hitches seem to occur with data transfer. In my particular situation, my connection to my home wi-fi is poor (nearest wi-fi router is either down stairs, or two rooms over with my room's separating wall being the previous outside of the house before an expansion), and during spring and summer lots of tourists come to my area and clog up the internet normally. I am usually able to play Nikke without notable issues when I play during lower internet traffic parts of the day. Because of my specific internet situation, these two issues may not be experienced at all by other users if they have a reasonable, and steady internet connection. Hopefully, I'll have a better connection option someday.

Tip

If you choose to login with Steam, it's a one-click login. If you choose Other Login, the launcher does not remember your username and password and must be entered in every time. I had this remember password issue when I was playing on Windows before using the Steam login option.

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