Generally speaking games of this time frame on the PC we're just beginning to properly support x input on pc. The issues that you end up running into with this game are pretty common. At least this game does properly support direct input, which x input is compatible with. The only issue you end up having is you actually have to go in and remap all the controls from the ground up because the standardized controls are x input, not Direct input. It would take a few years after this game was released before games started more correctly supporting x input, Xbox 360 controllers, and so I kind of expected this. Otherwise I used exactly the basic proton version that steam uses by default on the deck and the whole game just worked. Please keep in mind that I have tried this game many times in the past on Linux as well as the steam deck and have never been able to get it to work until today. I have also had severe issues getting this game to work on Windows as well, beginning as recently as Windows 7 for a purchased physical copy of this game. Thankfully the steam version of the game at least does not come with the same copy protection that the physical release did when it was new so you don't have to worry about working around that.