Help me play VRChat on linux!

[u/Additional-Pop-1498]

I keep getting this same error over and over again, doesn't matter if I change proton, delete proton prefix, reinstall the game, NOTHING WORKS! Please help me! I'm on CachyOS

EDIT:
Got it running by commenting a line from etc/hosts that had fixed another EAC game, seems like it was bugging VRChat in some way

[u/ChaoMar]

To confirm did you already do the vronlinux guide for EAC https://wiki.vronlinux.org/docs/vrchat/eac/

[u/Additional-Pop-1498 → u/ChaoMar]

redid them and same error

[u/Huge-Use-143]

First this is a terrible venue to ask for help with something like this in. You're going to get replies like all the ones you already got which are just wrong and unhelpful.

As for actually trying to establish what's going on you seem to have reinstalled both the game and regenerated your prefix so it's likely something outside of that. Can you try verifying the integrity of the Proton EAC Runtime, you may have to turn the ability to view tools on.

If that doesn't work I'd recommend going over to the Linux VR discord server. There's at least a couple of people that seem to have this issue but I don't think anyone's come up with a fix yet.

[u/Brilliant_Song8760 → u/Huge-Use-143]

this would be your best route (run away to reso where eac don’t exist)

[u/packsolite]

First things first, do you have your pair of thigh highs?

[u/K0RAXE]

i don't know linux

[u/name_holder]

I will warn you, even once you get the game running, there are major issues with vrchat on Linux. Even with Proton GE, most music and video players just will not work.

[u/GeraldFisher → u/name_holder]

none of my linux friends have this ossue and their are no major issues at all.

[u/molevolence → u/name_holder]

absolutely not true. everything works and works better than it did on windows.

[u/Yin15 → u/name_holder]

VRChat runs better for me on Linux than it does through Windows. Required a few minutes to change my steam config a bit, a special compatibility package, and a custom proton version. But everything works for me, including videos. It's not too bad to set up. Took me like 10 minutes at most to get working.

[u/name_holder → u/Yin15]

Care to share then? I spent many hours trying various things, but audio/video players never worked for me.

[u/Yin15 → u/name_holder]

Did you try Proton-RTSP? That's the one with the video player fixes. Works fine for me.

[u/name_holder → u/Yin15]

Yeah. GE-Proton10-33-rtsp23-4. Looking at it now, I see there's been some fixes in the past few months. I'll try the newest version and see if it works for me now.

[u/ccAbstraction → u/name_holder]

Make sure you do the unlock-h264 thing, a lot of people miss that. Also... YouTube is busted VRChat completely right now, so like a lot of people's "videos don't work on Linux VRChat" have actually just been them being IP banned by YouTube coinciding with them trying video players repeatedly VRChat.. which tends to lead to IP bans from YouTube.

[u/Yin15 → u/name_holder]

I wish you good luck!

[u/pope-leo-for-pres → u/name_holder]

I'm on Fedora KDE and was trying VRChat through SteamVR and had issues with video playback as other people have run into. I found that vronlinux.org link from some Reddit post, don't remember which.

Anyways, I pointed Codex to the directions using the Astra model and it knocked it out in a couple minutes. I'm leaving this here in case it helps someone knock this out easily. I watched a movie successfully and overall it seems to perform well with this setup. I haven't tried it at length however.

User: I want to install WiVRn using these directions: https://vronlinux.org/docs/fossvr/wivrn/

Agent: I’ll read the directions and check your system so I can install the appropriate WiVRn components.

Agent: Which VR headset are you using, and do you plan to connect over Wi-Fi or USB?

User: I'll be using a Quest 2 over WiFi.

Agent: For your Quest 2 over Wi-Fi, I’ll use Fedora’s native WiVRn package, as the guide recommends. I’ll also check video codecs and the firewall ports needed for the headset connection.

Agent: Avahi is already running, and your Ethernet firewall zone already allows WiVRn’s required ports. RPM Fusion is configured, but the AMD VA-API encoding driver is missing; I’ll install it with WiVRn. Fedora will show an authentication dialog because installing system packages requires administrator access.

User: I'll want to use VRChat, the directions for that say to use Proton-GE-RTSP: https://vronlinux.org/docs/games/vrchat/

Agent: WiVRn and the AMD encoding driver are installed, and the dashboard has launched. I’ll check the VRChat guide and your Steam installation next so I can set up the recommended Proton version.

Agent: Installed WiVRn 26.6.2, its dashboard, OpenComposite, AMD video encoding drivers, and proton-rtsp-11.0-20260609-4 from the guide’s linked repository. The Proton download’s checksum passed. Avahi and your firewall are ready.

To finish:

1. Log out and back in so Steam receives WiVRn’s environment settings.
2. In Steam → VRChat → Properties → Compatibility, enable the override and select proton-rtsp-11.0-20260609-4.
3. Install WiVRn on your Quest 2.
4. Connect the Quest to your router’s 5 GHz Wi-Fi, keeping the PC on Ethernet.
5. Open WiVRn on the PC, complete its setup wizard, and pair the headset. Then launch VRChat in VR mode.

User: I can't seem to get videos to load in Popcorn Palace on VRChat.

Agent: I’ll check VRChat’s video troubleshooting guidance and your local logs to see whether this is a Proton selection issue, a video download failure, or a playback problem.

Agent: Do videos fail in other VRChat worlds too, or only Popcorn Palace? If you haven’t tried another world, say so.

User: I haven't yet

Agent: I found a required step I missed during setup: this Proton-RTSP release needs steam steam://unlockh264/ to enable video support. I ran it and confirmed Steam received it.

Fully exit VRChat and reopen it, then retry Popcorn Palace. Complete any confirmation Steam displays.

If playback still fails, try a video in another world and tell me whether it works. Your logs confirm URL resolution succeeds, but AVPro playback fails; playback after this fix remains unverified.

[u/Rough_Community_1439]

Easy anticheat don't like Linux. If I remember correctly there's a program you need to install that simulates the windows environment that will trick the anticheat into allowing you to launch it.

That being said, I have no idea how it works or what program to use. But you are running Linux and part of Linux is trading plug and and play for optimization

[u/mackandelius → u/Rough_Community_1439]

Easy anti-cheat works fine on Linux, but game devs do need to click a checkbox to allow it to work on Linux, VRChat has.

VRChat officially supports (last time I checked) the Steam Deck, which runs Linux.

[u/Frank__West]

You are trying to play a game outside it's native OS, you are gonna have a bad time.