ubuntu-post-install/docs/SWBF2-2017-wolf-setup.md

Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) — Wolf/Moonlight Setup

AppID: 1237950
Proton: GE-Proton10-34 (required — stock Proton does not work with EA App)
Platform: Wolf (Games-on-Whales) — WolfSteam Docker container

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Why this is hard

SWBF2 (2017) is an EA game. EA mandated their EA App launcher for all EA Steam titles. On launch, SWBF2 calls ShellExecuteW("link2ea://launchgame/1237950?platform=steam&theme=swbfii"). GE-Proton's steam.exe intercepts that URL, finds Link2EA.exe from the EA Desktop install, and hands off to the EA App which then launches the actual game.

Without EA Desktop installed in the Wine prefix, the game exits immediately.

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The bwrap problem (why you can't just docker exec)

The WolfSteam container runs Steam as uid 1000 (retro inside container). docker exec carries high Linux capabilities (CapEff ≈ 0xa8ac35fb). Steam processes have CapEff=0.

When a high-cap shell tries to run bwrap (used by Steam's sniper/pressure-vessel runtime), bwrap attempts a privileged uid-map path that fails:

setting up uid map: Permission denied

This means you cannot run Proton or wine64 via docker exec — bwrap always fails. Only Steam itself can properly launch programs through sniper+GE-Proton.

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Solution: Steam launch wrapper

Use SWBF2's Steam launch options to intercept the launch, run a helper script, then pass control back to Steam's real launch chain.

Steam passes all its args to the wrapper as $@:

steam-launch-wrapper -- reaper SteamLaunch AppId=1237950 -- <sniper> --verb=waitforexitandrun -- <proton> waitforexitandrun <game>

The wrapper runs msiexec (or anything else) inside the full sniper+GE-Proton environment that Steam set up, then exec "$@" to hand off to the game.

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Step-by-step

1. Lock localconfig.vdf against Steam overwriting it

Steam uses atomic rename (write temp + rename) when saving config. chmod 444 on the file is bypassed. Lock the directory instead:

WOLF_CONTAINER="WolfSteam_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"   # docker ps to find exact name
CONFIG_DIR="/home/retro/.steam/steam/userdata/XXXXXXXXX/config"

# Find container name
docker ps --format '{{.Names}}' | grep Wolf

# Find Steam user ID
docker exec "$WOLF_CONTAINER" ls /home/retro/.steam/steam/userdata/

docker exec "$WOLF_CONTAINER" chmod 555 "$CONFIG_DIR"

2. Set SWBF2 launch options

Edit localconfig.vdf while Steam is not running (or kill Steam first):

CONFIG_FILE="$CONFIG_DIR/localconfig.vdf"

# Kill Steam so it flushes and stops watching
docker exec "$WOLF_CONTAINER" pkill -f steam.sh || true
sleep 3

# Edit — find the LaunchOptions line for AppID 1237950
# Add before it if missing:
docker exec "$WOLF_CONTAINER" bash -c "
  sed -i '/\"1237950\"/,/}/ s/\"LaunchOptions\"\s*\"[^\"]*\"/\"LaunchOptions\"\t\t\"STEAM_UNIX_SOCKET=\/tmp\/steam.sock \/home\/retro\/ea_install.sh %command%\"/' '$CONFIG_FILE'
"
# Or if LaunchOptions key doesn't exist yet, add it manually.
# Verify:
docker exec "$WOLF_CONTAINER" grep -A5 '"1237950"' "$CONFIG_FILE" | grep LaunchOptions

3. Write the EA install wrapper

The wrapper runs msiexec /a (administrative install — no custom actions) to extract EA Desktop files, then execs the real game:

cat > /tmp/ea_install.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
echo "=== ea_install.sh called $(date) ===" >> /tmp/ea_install.log
echo "Args: $@" >> /tmp/ea_install.log
"$1" "$2" "$3" "$4" "$5" "$6" "$7" "$8" "$9" "${10}" "${11}" \
    msiexec /i "C:\\ea_app.msi" /qn \
    TARGETDIR="C:\\Program Files\\Electronic Arts" \
    /l*v "C:\\msi_admin.log" \
    >> /tmp/ea_install.log 2>&1
echo "MSI exit: $?" >> /tmp/ea_install.log
exec "$@"
EOF
chmod +x /tmp/ea_install.sh
docker cp /tmp/ea_install.sh "$WOLF_CONTAINER":/home/retro/ea_install.sh

4. Get the EA App MSI

The MSI ships inside SWBF2's game files. Copy it into the Wine prefix:

MSI_SRC="/home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/STAR WARS Battlefront II/__Installer/Origin/redist/internal/EAappInstaller.exe"
# EAappInstaller.exe is a WiX Burn bootstrapper — the real MSI is buried inside.
# Easier: use the MSI that gets extracted to the Wine prefix during a first launch attempt:
MSI_IN_PREFIX="/home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237950/pfx/drive_c/ea_app.msi"

The MSI appears in the Wine prefix (drive_c/ea_app.msi, ~227 MB) after SWBF2 is launched once — GE-Proton's protonfixes or steam.exe drops it there.

5. Extract EA Desktop files on the host (bypassing Wine custom actions)

The MSI's JunoConfigureRegistry custom action fails in Wine (it tries to set registry ACLs via SetSecurityDescriptorSddlForm which Wine doesn't support). This causes MSI rollback and removes all installed files. Bypass it by extracting on Linux:

# Copy MSI out of container
docker cp "$WOLF_CONTAINER:/home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237950/pfx/drive_c/ea_app.msi" \
    /tmp/ea_app.msi

# Extract (msitools package)
sudo apt-get install -y msitools
mkdir -p /tmp/ea_app_extracted
msiextract -C /tmp/ea_app_extracted /tmp/ea_app.msi

6. Copy EA Desktop into the Wine prefix

The MSI installs to C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\EA Desktop\ with a versioned subdirectory (14.2.0.3345) and a symlink EA Desktop -> 14.2.0.3345.

The normal MSI install creates that symlink via JunoSetupSymlinkMode. After a failed install + rollback, the symlink may remain but the versioned dir is gone.

PFXBASE="/home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237950/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/Electronic Arts/EA Desktop"

# Remove any broken symlink
docker exec "$WOLF_CONTAINER" bash -c "
  [ -L '$PFXBASE/EA Desktop' ] && rm '$PFXBASE/EA Desktop'
  mkdir -p '$PFXBASE/14.2.0.3345'
  ln -s 14.2.0.3345 '$PFXBASE/EA Desktop'
"

# Copy extracted files into versioned directory
docker cp "/tmp/ea_app_extracted/Electronic Arts/EA Desktop/EA Desktop/." \
    "$WOLF_CONTAINER:$PFXBASE/14.2.0.3345/"

# Verify
docker exec "$WOLF_CONTAINER" find "$PFXBASE" -name "Link2EA.exe"

Expected output:

/home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237950/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/Electronic Arts/EA Desktop/14.2.0.3345/Link2EA.exe

7. Switch wrapper to pass-through and launch

Once EA Desktop files are in place, update the wrapper to just exec the game:

cat > /tmp/ea_passthrough.sh << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
echo "=== launch $(date) ===" >> /tmp/ea_install.log
exec "$@"
EOF
chmod +x /tmp/ea_passthrough.sh
docker cp /tmp/ea_passthrough.sh "$WOLF_CONTAINER":/home/retro/ea_install.sh

Launch SWBF2 in Moonlight. Steam → GE-Proton → SWBF2 → link2ea:// → steam.exe finds Link2EA.exe → EA App launches → SWBF2 loads.

8. EA account login (one-time)

On first launch, EA Desktop will show a login screen. Log in with your EA account. Credentials are cached; subsequent launches skip login.

9. Restore clean state

After EA Desktop is confirmed working, remove the launch wrapper:

# Restore directory to writable
docker exec "$WOLF_CONTAINER" chmod 755 "$CONFIG_DIR"

# Remove LaunchOptions from localconfig.vdf
# (edit the file while Steam is stopped, remove the LaunchOptions line for 1237950)

---

Troubleshooting

"link2ea not found" / game exits in ~6 seconds

EA Desktop files are missing or in wrong path. Check:

docker exec "$WOLF_CONTAINER" find \
  "/home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237950/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/Electronic Arts" \
  -name "Link2EA.exe"

Wrapper never runs (Steam ignores launch options)

Steam wrote config before chmod 555 was applied. Kill Steam, chmod 555 the directory, then edit localconfig.vdf. Steam reads config fresh on startup.

INST-14-1603 error in EA App installer

JunoConfigureRegistry .NET custom action returns 0 in Wine. This is a Wine limitation with registry ACL operations. Use the msiextract bypass (Step 5–6) instead of running the MSI through Wine.

msiexec DISABLEROLLBACK=1 produces empty log

MSI detected a stale product registration from a previous failed install. Check: grep -i C2622085 /home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237950/pfx/system.reg If present, delete those registry keys then retry.

wine64 segfaults outside Steam (exit 139)

GE-Proton10's wine64 requires the sniper runtime. Never call it directly from docker exec — always use Steam's launch chain via the wrapper approach.

localconfig.vdf gets overwritten on Steam shutdown

Steam uses atomic rename (temp file + rename into place). chmod 444 on the file is bypassed by the rename. Solution: chmod 555 on the directory containing localconfig.vdf — this prevents new files being renamed into the directory.

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Key paths (inside WolfSteam container)

Path	Description
/home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237950/pfx/	SWBF2 Wine prefix
/home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237950/pfx/drive_c/ea_app.msi	EA App MSI (~227 MB)
/home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237950/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/Electronic Arts/EA Desktop/14.2.0.3345/	EA Desktop files
/home/retro/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237950/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/Electronic Arts/EA Desktop/EA Desktop	Symlink → 14.2.0.3345
/home/retro/.steam/steam/userdata/<uid>/config/localconfig.vdf	Steam per-user config (launch options)
/home/retro/ea_install.sh	Launch wrapper script
/tmp/ea_install.log	Wrapper log (inside container)