Using the FFXIV Dawntrail Benchmark on Linux & Steam Deck

There are two recommended ways to get the Dawntrail benchmark running, either by using the Lutris install script or by using Bottles. For most users I recommend following the Lutris method as it’s easier and does more for you, however a bottles guide is also provided further down in this guide for those who may not want to use Lutris.

Setting Up

Using Lutris (Recommended Method)

In order to get the benchmark working, you’ll need to download the Lutris flatpak and the Lutris benchmark install script.

Lutris will be used to install and run the Dawntrail benchmark by using the steps defined in the install script. After you have Lutris installed and the Lutris install script ready follow the steps below:

Add a new game to Lutris by pressing the plus button in the top left corner of the UI.

Select 'Install from a local install script' from the popup menu.

Open up the file picker and select the yaml file you previously downloaded above.

After you’ve imported the script above you should follow the steps that appear on-screen and practice a little patience while it installs and extracts various components as it can take a while. Once completed you will be prompted with a message informing you that you can start the game up.

From here you can safely move on to the next section of the guide as long as you are able to launch the benchmark without any issues. If you do experience issues with things like seeing a black screen or the benchmark not launching correctly you should try and use the flatpak version of Lutris with a Wine-GE-8 build if you have not already.

Using Bottles (Alternative Method)

Another way to setup the benchmark is by using Bottles. I haven’t done this myself but a member of the XIVLauncher community has confirmed the following steps work:

1. Download and extract the benchmark from the official download website to your drive.
2. Create a new gaming bottle (or use an existing one if you wish).
3. Use the dependencies menu to install dotnet45.
4. Run the launcher by clicking the launch executable button and selecting the benchmark executable.

Benchmark Settings

All settings within the benchmark should work as intended as long as they are saved correctly including FSR and DLSS. You can also run the benchmark with gamemode and other optimizations to try and improve performance.

Character Creator

The benchmark includes a fully fledged character creator that includes the new Female Hrothgar race as well as all the other graphics changes. Everything inside of the character creator is fully functional as long as you first open and close the settings menu with the cancel button before opening it.

Importing character appearances from FFXIV (XLCore)

First of all you should save your character(s) appearance data. Launch the full game, go to the character selection menu an right click your the name of the character you want to save appearance data for and click the save appearance data button; Once you have done this for each character you’d like to have access to in the benchmark close the game and read on.

Select the 'Save Appearance Data' option from the dropdown menu.

Assuming you are using XIVLauncher.Core, navigate to $HOME/.xlcore/ffxivConfig and make a copy of all files ending in .dat and place the copies inside of <lutris-prefix>\drive_c\users\<user>\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn (Benchmark). Once the copies have been placed inside of the benchmark directory rename every file named FFXIV_CHARA_XX.dat to FFXIV_CHARA_BENCHXX.dat (replacing all “XXs” with actual numbers, e.g: FFXIV_CHARA_BENCH01.dat).

After you have copied the data over fully close the benchmark and re-open it again to make sure your changes are detected. Afterwards, launch the Character Creator and all of your characters will be listed.

Known issues

• The “Character Creator” button will launch the actual benchmark instead unless the ‘Cancel’ button is pressed in settings first.
• The checkbox for “Loop” does not display a check mark even when selected.
• Settings within the benchmark will fail to apply unless you reopen the settings menu a second time and press the ‘Cancel’ button.

Benchmark Results

My Desktop

Other Mentions

A unofficial benchmark launcher Python script created by doitsujin is available on GitHub here that uses QT as a GUI instead of the official .NET launcher. While I have not personally used it (and thus cannot provide support for it) you may find that it works for you if the other methods do not.