

Even without the FF13Fix, it's playable out the box but the framerate will fluctuate a lot.
Installed FF13Fix to resolve performance issues.

Very sharp looking game even at 4x MSAA and lower quality shadow rendering. Good performance if you're willing to do a little bit of modding
PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command%
Installed ff13fix and changed the PresentationInterval
to -1
, TripleBuffering
to 0
, and IngameFrameRateLimit
to -1
.
Pretty much a locked 60 fps at 720p with all tweaks applied, but there's still occassional instability and some rough frame spikes for seemingly no reason.
GE Proton 9-1 broke some UI elements, I've been running with the latest vanilla release and had no issues.

Played from start to finish with minimal tweaks on an OLED Steamdeck, probably not even needed. Perfect!!
FPS limited to 24; selected FSR and setted to 5

Occasional stutters that last about half a second when running at default shadows level

I can never launch the game on Windows due to the lack of AMD harware support for the game. The game launches flawlessly using proton so I can finally play it again.
It runs at full speed but only at 720p if i try to play it at 1080p the game would just freeze.
Works out of the box. Runs great on max settings @ 3440x1440.

The enemy scan text bug is arguably game breaking but the fix is hardly any more difficult than the fix on Windows.
The game runs as it would on Windows in the most recent Proton versions. Which also means that at any resolution other than 1280x720 the enemy scan text will be bugged (missing). Blame Square Enix for this, not Valve.
While you would normally use FF13Fix (https://github.com/rebtd7/FF13Fix) to solve this issue, on Linux this causes really bad stutter. However, someone posted a modified build of FF13Fix that solves the Linux stutter and makes the game playable with FF13Fix: https://github.com/rebtd7/FF13Fix/pull/102 No idea if the original maintainer will ever merge the commit but at least there is a build for now.
No other adjustments really needed. Anisotropic filtering can be enabled by using dxvk.conf - no idea where proton looks for it normally but you can force any path with DXVK_CONFIG_FILE=/path/to/dxvk.conf in the steam launch options. https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/blob/master/dxvk.conf
Hope this helps anyone.

Works well with stock Proton 9.0-2.
Had very poor performance and incorrect resolution when testing lower resolution fullscreen (eg. 720p) even when using FSR. Worked perfectly at 1080p.
Graphics surprisingly acceptable for a 2014 release.

used FF13 Fix mod
ocassional crackling
some traversal stutters when moving around or when loading the game.
works well on the Steam Deck once you set up the FF13 Fix mod, can definitely play at 60 FPS but there are some ocassional frame rate drops when giant enemies are at the screen or during heavy magic usage especially if played with high settings, for this reason I recommend locking the game at 30 FPS for extra battery life and stability.

PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 %command%
Initially tried using PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 DXVK_ASYNC=1 gamemoderun PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 %command% and WINEARCH=win32 PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command% But video was choppy and slow text at times. I tried PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 %command% and the result was much smoother playback. This is on my aging system so is antequated by today's standards, but was play was acceptable. I'm new at this -- so just a shot in the dark, but hope this might help someone :)

PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 DXVK_ASYNC=1 PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 gamemoderun MANGOHUD_CONFIG="fps_limit=60" mangohud %command%
Pretty bad stuttering during chapter 1, don't know if it has anything to do with linux, probably just a bad port
Doesn't launch with proton 8, use proton 7 or older

Just use Proton 7.0-6 and a couple of launch parameters in this game and everything will be OK
PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 DXVK_ASYNC=1 gamemoderun PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 %command%
When using any new version of Proton (including Proton GE 9), I had constant graphic artifacts. When the game name appeared before the main menu, the graphic effects were distorted (glitches and artifacts) and there were lighting distortions in the game itself. No options or launch parameters helped. In the end, the problem was solved simply: I launched the game with the specified launch parameters and with the old version of Proton (7.0-6). After that, everything returned to normal and all the artifacts disappeared.
There were stutters in the first chapter, then performance improved
The solution to the problems is simple: Proton 7.0-6 and these launch parameters:
PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 DXVK_ASYNC=1 gamemoderun PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 %command%
There will probably be stutters in the first chapter, but after a while there will be much less of them and you will be able to play without any problems. I did not install any unofficial fixes, mods or anything like that. Just the "vanilla" version from Steam.

WINEARCH=win32 PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command%
Works almost completely out of the box with the correct proton version and the FFXIII patch. I followed the instructions from this post -> https://www.protondb.com/app/292120#5VhnSA17zR
I changed the launch options as per more recent posts.
The text was a mess, I had to downgrade to proton version 7.0-6.
Finally, I used |# protontricks 292120 winecfg |, but you may not have to. I only ran it while trying to figure out the cause of the messed up text.
The game is notably quieter than other apps/games on my machine, but that could just be bad audio design. The game still outputs loudly enough that a decent headphone amp can pick up the slack.
Upon loading in the first chapter (mostly through the first cutscene) and sporadically thereafter, there are some significant lag spikes that slowly smooth back into a stable experience. As others have noted, it does not detract from the experience IMO either.
It took about 20 minutes for me to figure out how to get the game to run on my machine, YMMV. It is a long game, so the amount of tinkering required is negligible. I've played the first two chapters with no significant issues, and I will update my report should I come across anything game breaking.

If you're not comfortable with having additional installation steps, then just cap your framerate to 30fps and you're good to go. Some dips to the high 20s, but definitely playable. But believe me, the gaming experience that you'd get between installing the fix and not is NIGHT AND DAY. If you install the fix, you dont have to mess with anything ever again. The game plays at a stable 45fps/90hz at 9w TDP on my OLED everytime. or you can uncap everything for a 60fps framerate most of the time.

Takes quite a bit of tinkering to maximize performance and frame rate for FF13, but it will run on the deck. It plays well once operational
PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command%
Downloaded Final Fantasy XIII fix .ini from github. Adjusted VRAM to 4gb. Forced single core processing using. Modified .ini file: Presentation Interval: -1, TripleBuffering: 0 Ingame Frame Rate Limit: -1
Need to start game through a secondary launch window the first time starting up. Or every time if leaving the bypass box unchecked.
Ocassionally
Minor shader compilation stutter at times.
Frame Rate can vary dramatically, and hold well randomly
OOTB runs okay a fixed 30fps experience. But there is more to be gained taking the time to apply fixes and tweaks.

Si hace Alt+Tab se genera un tremendo stuttering que hace el juego injugable.
Problemas de stuttering. Para arreglarlo debe de desactivar Split Lock Mitigate.
En algunos casos, la mitigación del bloqueo dividido puede ralentizar el rendimiento de aplicaciones y juegos. Hay un parche disponible para desactivarlo a través de sysctl.
- Desactivar split lock mitigate:
sudo sysctl kernel.split_lock_mitigate=0
- Activar split lock mitigate:
sudo sysctl kernel.split_lock_mitigate=1
Para hacer este cambio permanente haz lo siguiente:
sudo nano /etc/sysctl.d/99-splitlock.conf
Añade la siguiente línea de código y guarde el archivo:
kernel.split_lock_mitigate=0
Si experimenta de Stuttering, debe de desactivar el Split Lock Mitigate.

Borked
gamemoderun MANGOHUD=1 %command%
Game hangs when trying to get to main menu
PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command%
Install FF13Fix.
Set the following options in the .ini for FF13Fix: PresentationInterval to -1, TripleBuffering to 0, and IngameFrameRateLimit to -1.
Install Powertools and set SMT to off. The 'performance' scheduler helps a bit too.
Launcher is a bit fiddly - tick 'never show again' after the first go around.
Runs at a constant 60fps with tweaks. There is some stuttering esp. when loading in to new areas, but it's not too bad, and didn't really hurt the experience.
Locked at 30fps, could not get a stable >40 anyway

DXVK_ASYNC=1 %command%
First of all: install decky loader then powertools plugin (easy to find on google for the installing process). Then all you have to do is:
-put the command line : DXVK_ASYNC=1 %command%, it'll patch 95% of stutters.
-in powertools plugin, disable MT (you will get only 4 cores running) and in "..." Menu of the deck put the GPU power to 1600mhz...this 2 things will erase 100% of slowdowns.
-then in config menu of the game you can put all the settings to the max, it has no impact on performances.
Like this you'll get a perfect 30 fps with no more drops and stutters, 100% of the time. No need to install any game patches or forcing another proton version, all will running perfectly fine ;)!
On first-boot (and every subsequent boot) the game starts with a launcher for video settings and language settings, but this can be turned off (although these settings can only be configured in the launcher).
Text in the enemy scans screen is a little small, as is the menu screens.
Stuttering during camera cuts and battles but no big framerate issues. (Although, personally I prefered locking the game to 30fps to mitigate the double-buffered vsync jutter)
This report was made after playing 3+ hours on the Steam Deck both docked and handheld.
Capped framerate at 30.
Game has a launcher that requires touch screen or mouse, but you can disable it permanently after your first run.
Very minor framedrops when entering combat, and loading new areas.
If you simply want to enjoy the game out of the box, don't get the FF13 fix, IMO. It made the game run a lot worse for me.
PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command%
Used FF13Fix and the 4GB "Large Address Aware" with the readme's indications here: https://github.com/rebtd7/FF13Fix
Set up 3 back buttons, one for "Enter", one for "Esc" so you can esc + enter to quickly quit the game out and a final button for A turbo for extended fights, this all as QoL extras.
When on handheld I did 40hz/40fps with 10w TPD and no GPU limit on the performance part of the QAM, I found 10w was the border line to not dropping frames in gameplay in the most taxing areas, but if you don't mind elongated drops to 30 in few places or will play with 30fps, 8w is fine. I found myself on 3hrs+ battery/2:30 on the heaviest areas.
In launcher I did x4 MSAA (noticeable diff on hair up close) and 1024 shadows. If you're a new player x2 MSAA is fine and 2048 shadows are also doable in case you want them, resolution to 720p, test changes a couple times and when you decide it's fine for you close the game, open it and set the don't show again checkbox to be done with the launcher.
This is what has worked out so far:
- Using FF13Fix (link above), no changes to the default .ini settings
- In Decky Loader (https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-loader) install PowerTools plugin, in game turn off SMT and set gpu min freq to 1200mhz
- Applied 4GB patch to ffxiii.exe in a PC and then retransferred the file to the deck, this paired with the noted launch options. This one isn't as important as the first two if you want to avoid the hassle but it does help stability/smooth out stutters.
I've been on a rollercoaster of a ride trying to get this abandoned PC port to the forbidden smooth 60/40fps target when docked/handheld. Using the fixes above just turn off the per game profile when docked in the QAM and you should experience a decent 60 or close to 60 most of the time, then turn the profile back on when playing on handheld for the 40h/40 3hrs+ battery life.
Also if you're fine with 30 fps, that plus the fixes I explained above should get you the most consistence with battery life and performance headroom. I will post an update later on if I find any other "breakthroughs" beyond the big two changes with powertools and the and the ff13fix. Also as a final note I did not find disabling the Powertools fixes on handheld to improve battery, so I recommend you just set them, leave them alone and adjust the QAM as necessary.
DXVK_ASYNC=1 %command%
The game would have shader-comp-like stutter during gameplay each time any new thing happened, despite having shader pre-comp downloaded. DXVK_ASYNC improved the issue.
The game will only run at 30 or 60 FPS nothing inbetween, unless patched. With patch it ran with unstable 45FPS. Disabling SMT cores in Powertools plugin bumped the FPS to unstable 60(depending on scene the game drops into 5x).
The game still gets very low FPS during battle transition, but it's masked by the battle transition.
There is fan-patch that basically removes all crashes, but without it the game would crash each time it would need to use 2GB of vram.
Out of the box the game will be a fine 30FPS experience on Steam Deck. With fan patches and some tinkering you can improve it to a great 40/60 FPS experience depending on your preference. Even on 60FPS the battery life is pretty good for such a good looking game.
I'm still not very far, so later denser locations might make 60FPS too unstable, but I think 40 should keep trough the whole game, since there's buffer of 20+ FPS with SMT cores disabled.
Capped FPS to 30 TDP to 5 GPU Clock to 700
Runs the game on 6-8 hrs
Sometimes shows KBM buttons
Despite the performance issues, with the FF13 fix its completely playable and arguably better than playing it on original console hardware.
Has serious FPS issues by default but very playable with FF13 Fix: https://github.com/rebtd7/FF13Fix
Audio can fall out of sync during cutscenes when the framerate drops, causing audio to play at normal speed while video is behind.
game would slowdown about 10 fps in some high-demanding areas. Would not affect gameplay performance.
Without FF13 fix, the framerate is choppy enough and the game is buggy enough that it is not worth playing. With the fix, this might be the best way to experience FF13 today.
Capped to 30fps and got a good 4-5 hours battery
PS3 game that can't reach 60 FPS. Still playable.
Forced x16 AA through dxvk.cfg, + used FF13Fix v.1.4.6
Minor artifacts (pop-in, blinking) but those are pretty rare.

Runs poorly
The game runs poorly because it doesn't allow me to disable MSAA which is taxing on the GPU
Works out of the box
Very small framerate drops. I assume it is related to the realtime shade compilation. Otherwise, it is without issues.
Frames are usually solid 50 but they dip occasionally shouldn't bother most. Haven't experienced any crashing.
Installed the FFXIII from https://github.com/rebtd7/FF13Fix
Occasional low frames when loading areas but it doesn't last more than a second or two frames are usually solid 50ish sometimes dipping toward 30. Cutscenes usually run a solid 60.
The game should run with similiar performance on default proton though I haven't tested it. I would definitely install the FFXIII Fix from github as it solves alot of issues the game has when normally running on windows. The game should run without it but you'll probably experience much lower perfomance.
The game by default has some issues with famerate caps and pacing issues. It's probably best to install the game, then open Desktop Mode to drop the FF13Fix files into the installation folder as per the instruction on GitHub. Link: https://github.com/rebtd7/FF13Fix
Generally the whole experience is better at 40FPS @ 40Hz refresh rate. Set this up as a profile specific game setting.
First launch required the configuration window to be set. Use Steam mouse control. Windowed, 720p, 2048 shadows, 2xAA. Check to never show again.
Pausing the game to then sleep the Steam Deck to then resume an hour later lead to crackling static in audio. The only way it would stop is by closing the game and launching again.
The game will play choppy by default until the FF13Fix is applied. Afterwards, you will see an improvement but the framerate still has quirks. I have noticed these quirks in the following locations:
- Loading screens
- Entering a battle, just before you can select a command and the UI appears
- Traversing the world in spots, which might be shader based. It does clear up once the spot has finished lagging.
The game will launch and play but has the aforementioned bugs. After the tweaks and changes, the game will play very well. Keep in mind that will have framerate hiccups but they aren't enough to warrant "not playable" status by any stetch. Here's a few more things:
- No FSR (negligible improvement for poor UI/Text).
- No forced resolutions via steam game settings.
- All tweaks done on Steam Deck with no external peripherals.
- Don't touch the FF13Fix ini. It's default is fine given the Steam Deck.
- 3+ hours of battery @ 8-10w pull. Full brightness. 40FPS/40Hz. Little fan noise.
- Proton 7.0-3
Fun note: Assign a back paddle for turbo “A” button.
gamemoderun PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command%
Applying FF13Fix helped performance ( https://github.com/rebtd7/FF13Fix ).
Some minor stuttering when compiling shaders (proton/vulkan specific), and sometimes when the game is loading a lot (textures, meshes, whatever...) all at once during play.

Low volume overall
Lots of shader compilation and general slowdown
I played just a few hours. Encountered quite a lot of shader compilation stuttering, but I expect that to not be a problem for future players.
Aside from that and the need to boost the volume to near max to hear everything (game, not Deck issue), there were no problems at all. Game looks great and runs for nearly 5 hours on a full battery.

DXVK_HUD=compiler WINEARCH=win32 PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command%
winecfg to enable dinput8 override
i followed this guide (https://www.protondb.com/app/292120#VwopQBZ6LN)
Laucher opens, can select screen settings but when starting game it says "could not secure sufficent VRAM when booting the game"

Minor stalling issues with no significant impact
When opening item orbs, or when a cutscene is about to begin, and often when a battle is about to start, the game soft-freezes for several seconds. You lose control of the character (mostly) but after a bit, the game resumes as it should. It's awkward, but not substantially impactful to the game as a whole.