Symlinks

Symlinks

For some time, Proton has used symlinks for its system files in the Compatdata Wineprefix. This saves a lot of space and is probably faster to generate, but it also leads to some customization problems, e.g. when using Winetricks.

Also, switching between Proton Versions can be problematic, and the Wineprefix Compatdata sometimes needs to be removed to be recreated correctly.

Therefore tinkergame offers the following options, which could help (depending on the symlink count, both might need some time to finish, and there is no guarantee that they can't break the Wineprefix):

Fix Symlinks

• When enabling FIXSYMLINKS (in the Game Menu), tinkergame searches for outdated symlinks in the current Compatdata/Wineprefix directory that point to a system file of a different Proton version than the currently used one, and it tries to fix them. If the system file is not available in the current Proton version, the symlink will remain untouched.

Unsymlink

• When enabling UNSYMLINK (in the Game Menu), tinkergame searches for all symlinks in the current Compatdata/Wineprefix directory that point to a system file of a Proton directory, and replaces them with the real file. If copying over the original file fails for any reason, the original symlink is restored. This should help with several Winetricks problems.

Both options can be combined; FIXSYMLINKS will be called first, so when using UNSYMLINK, the system file for the currently used Proton will be copied if it is available.

For symlinking the steamuser directory in a Compatdata/Wineprefix, see here.