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Issues with games on secondary drive (lemmy.org)
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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Both primary and secondary ssd (internal both) are formatted Ext4 (linux mint)

I am facing this weird issue: Some games, they play flawless when installed in the secondary drive. Some others however, they don't launch. I have to move them to the primary drive for them to launch and then they work perfect.

How come some games are ok on the secondary drive, while others aren't? Have you experience this?

Everything I find online points to a drive being NFTS format, but mine are both Ext4, default settings and automounting.

Games that gave problems on secondary drive, but are perfect on primary driver; Ghost of Tsushima, Resident evil 4 and Witcher 3. They don't launch, and in the case of RE4 it even said my computer had a virus :D or was tampered when launched from the secondary drive (non-sense)

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[–] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 child)

Try using a folder symlink that encompasses the game's folder, so that the game thinks it is on the main drive, but is actually on the secondary drive. Might work around whatever issue is here.

Steps:

  1. Create a folder for the game: /home/Games/SpecificGameWithAnIssue

  2. Create a symlink from /home/Games/SpecificGameWithAnIssue to /mnt/DriveTwo/WhereTheGameNowLives

  3. Install game to /home/Games/SpecificGameWithAnIssue

  4. Run game

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Thanks for the explanation, i will try. On Step 3, shouldn't the game be installed in /mnt isntead of home?

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago* (2 children)

    shouldn’t the game be installed in /mnt isntead of home

    No.

    The symlink creates a link between /home/Games/SpecificGameWithAnIssue (dir1) and /mnt/DriveTwo/WhereTheGameNowLives (dir2). Anything you put in dir1 will actually live in dir2. However, you can access all the files as if they are in dir1 (you can also access them directly from dir2, but we aren't going to do that here).

    By installing it on the main drive (dir1), you are telling the game it is actually in dir1, and it should look at dir1 for its files. The fact they happen to be elsewhere is immaterial to the game, it's looking at dir1 for the files. Think of it like a magic portal, you step through a door and suddenly you are in neverland. The way to get to neverland is through that door.

    I'm thinking this will workaround your issue as, for all intents and purposes, everything is on the main drive (they just happen to be stored elsewhere via the symlink).

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    I see. When I tried the last step to move the game from /mnt to /home, it told me that it couldnt move because the folder already existed (the one i created in Step 1)

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago* (2 children)

    Have both directories be completely new, then install the game into the /home directory. I think you might be accidentally moving the symlinked folder around.

    You can test you did it right by creating the symlink, then creating a text file in the /home directory. You will be able to see that from both the /home directory and from the /mnt directory.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 6 months ago

    Hey thanks. It does look complicated indeed. Maybe I did something wrong and I think I created a symlink and not even know where/how to remove it. I am not sure I am capable of that. I hope that someone has an idea of the root cause for this strange behaviour (I dont mean about the symlink, but rather why games need the primary drive to run)

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