BeamNG on Archlinux guide with Logitech G wheels Force Feedback

Hey everyone,
I just wanted to share my experience with BeamNG and Archlinux and I'll teach you how you can make it work on your Archlinux / Manjaro (or pretty much any Arch-based system)

This will very likely also work on other Linux distros if the correct packages are downloaded from your package provider (like pkg etc.) but to keep it simple, I'm gonna teach it like I did it on my Arch system. (Also because I think that Archlinux is superior to all distros aside from vanilla Debian, but that's just my opinion)

To begin with, this my relevant hardware and OS/Kernel:
Intel Core i9-12900K
64GB DDR4-4200
RTX 3090 Ti
Logitech G923 Wheel
Logitech G27 Wheel (Testing purposes)
Archlinux (Linux-Zen Kernel 6.5.7 at the time of writing)
Wine-GE-Custom w/ Proton-GE


Now before we start, this is the formatting I will use:
Warnings will be marked in red and optionally with an arrow (-->)
Commands to input in a terminal will be in bold text and the fields you have to edit according to your system config will be underlined
Notes and extra comments will be in italic

IMPORTANT
This guide assumes that you already have the normal Steam-Games-On-Linux dependencies (like Wine, Steam and Proton), the AUR helper ''yay'' and all of your GPU drivers installed correctly. If you do not have these, Install them first with the appropriate guides !
Sidenote: I strongly suggest wine-ge and proton-ge (from the AUR, this single package (yay -S wine-ge-custom) installs both) since they work better for gaming than standard wine/proton 99% of the time from experience.​

So, first we will have to download the necessary packages. You can paste the following command in the terminal of your choice:

yay -S new-lg4ff-dkms-git oversteer --noconfirm

--> if you have a G923, you also need to install logitech-g923-xbox-udev:
--> yay -S new-lg4ff-dkms-git oversteer logitech-g923-xbox-udev --noconfirm

--> if you have any errors during the installation, remove the --noconfirm tag to get the logs



Now we need to be able to launch BeamNG via Steam. If you can already launch BeamNG via Steam and does open correctly, skip this.

First we need to enable the compatibility layer in Steam as shown here:


In my case, I use GE-Proton8-20, but you can use any Proton build that you want. Note that your game performance may vary depending on which you choose.
Steam will now prompt you to restart steam, which you need to do right now.

Once this is done, BeamNG should start just fine. You will likely get a prompt that Steam is processing Vulkan shaders. You can either wait for it to complete or disable it (not a huge impact) under the same Setting window we went through, but this time in a different tab:


Now plug in your wheel and launch oversteer. BeamNG should launch when you click play on Steam. If BeamNG instantly crashes when you click ''play'' without any error message and your drive where BeamNG is installed was formatted under Windows (NTFS) you will need to make a symlink between your NTFS drive and your main linux drive. This is how you do it (Source):

--> Skip this if your game launches or if your game is installed on a drive formatted under linux
--> (for example formatted as EXT4).

sudo mkdir -p ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata
sudo ln -s ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata /your-gamedisk-path-here/Steam/steamapps/

--> These commands will only work if the user you are currently logged in has administrative
--> (root/sudo) privileges. If you do, it will ask you for your root password.

This should resolve your issue. If it does not, there might be something else that goes wrong. Double check that the previous step were completed correctly.

When BeamNG launches
Now you can launch BeamNG normally. You can import your existing BeamNG save (if you have one) by changing the user folder under the support tools menu (BeamNG Launcher). I strongly suggest that you use the Vulkan Build of BeamNG as Linux does not support DirectX (Because it's a Windows / XBox Exclusive) and will use a translation layer to translate to Vulkan anyway (DXVK), so you should only use the DirectX mode if you hate good performance* or if the Vulkan build doesn't work well on your system.

*Fact: I get 80 FPS in the DirectX build with an i9-12900K and a 3090 Ti and 150+ with the Vulkan build @ 1440p Ultra on West Coast USA 1 car.


Now that BeamNG is launched, you will need to rebind your clutch & brake (And maybe more, your mileage may vary) and set a setting inside the Force Feedback Tab:


Once you added your wheel, you will need to enable FFB as it will be disabled by default. If you just leave it enabled without changing anything else, it will not work. You will need to set ''Update Type'' to ''Full (Slow Fallback)'':


Then the last step you will need to do is to adjust the FFB settings to your liking as the default (at least on my system) rubber bands alot.

If you still have no force feedback, try running a test inside the ''Oversteer'' program we installed earlier:


If Oversteer isn't able to trigger your FFB or does not detect your wheel at all, try rebooting your system or switching USB ports.

--> If you are using a Logitech G27 and under, ensure that it is plugged in a USB 2.0 port as it hates --> USB 3.0 ports. If you are using a G29 and above, use a USB 3.0 port.


Enjoy !