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EmuDeck guide Xenia Tips and Tricks

Troubleshooting Tips

How to Configure Multiplayer

Multiplayer for Xenia is configured out of the box, no additional configuration is needed.

You may need to re-arrange the controller order in Game Mode for your controllers to function as expected. See How to Re-Arrange the Controller Order for more information.

How to Swap Out Xenia Builds

Xenia, through Proton/Wine, is currently in an experimental state. Updates may break or affect the emulator in unexpected ways. If an update does break certain games launching from Xenia, it is easy to swap out the build for an older one so you can continue playing.

This section will go over how to swap out the latest build of Xenia Canary for e9d1e51_canary_experimental as an example. However, you can take what is written here and apply it to any build of Xenia Canary as well.

Tutorial

  1. In Desktop Mode, download xenia_canary.zip from: https://github.com/xenia-canary/xenia-canary/releases/tag/e9d1e51
  2. Extract the zip file to a folder of your choice
  3. Copy or move xenia_canary.exe in the newly extracted folder to Emulation/roms/xbox360 and overwrite the pre-existing xenia_canary.exe
  4. To test, you can open Xenia by launching xenia.sh from Emulation/tools/launchers or xenia (Proton) from the applications launcher in the bottom left
  5. Xenia will now be using your swapped out build. However, you can update to the latest build at any time through EmuDeck

Visual Tutorial

How to Swap Between Vulkan and DX12

Recent (as of August 2023) updates of Proton Experimental increased compatibility for DX12. These updates allow more games to boot through Xenia using DX12. At the moment, EmuDeck sets Xenia to Vulkan by default, but swapping between the two is fairly easy.

Here's How

  1. Open Emulation/roms/xbox360
  2. Right click xenia-canary.config.toml and click Open with Kate or a text editor of your choice
  3. Locate the gpu = "" line
  4. By default through EmuDeck, this line should write gpu = "vulkan"
  5. To swap between Vulkan and DX12, select one of the two below and write it on the gpu="" line:
  6. Vulkan:
    • gpu = "vulkan"
  7. DX12:
    • gpu ="d3d12"
  8. "vulkan" and "d3d12" must be in quotes

Photos

Vulkan:

How to Swap Between Vulkan and DX12: Vulkan

DX12:

How to Swap Between Vulkan and DX12: DX12

Video

How to Manage Multiple Discs

Xenia does not support M3U files.

Xbox 360 Multi-disc games are not all the same. Some Xbox 360 multi-disc games may contain the disc content on Disc 1 and optional content on Disc 2, allowing you to complete the entire game using only Disc 1. Some Xbox 360 multi-disc games are split in parts, requiring you to use all included discs to complete the game. Some may contain the entire game on Disc 1 and allow you to install additional content from the other discs, similar to DLC.

Xbox 360 Games With Optional Content on Separate Discs

You can treat each disc as separate "games", and only need Disc 1 to complete the full base game.

List of Games

  • Red Dead Redemption
  • The entire base game is on Disc 1 and the Undead Nightmare DLC and multiplayer are on Disc 2

Xbox 360 Games With Split Parts on Each Disc

Xenia Canary will prompt you to select the next disc after you complete one disc. If you are using Steam ROM Manager, you may elect to only parse Disc 1 and hide any additional discs, see How to Manage ROMs with Multiple Discs to learn how.

List of Games

  • Lost Odyssey
  • Each disc contains a portion of the full content

Xbox 360 Games With Installable Content on Additional Discs

To download the content on the additional discs and use it on the base disc , you will need to install them and treat them as "DLC". Xenia does not have a way of directly supporting this yet. There may be other ways to accomplish installing the additional content, but this wiki will not cover those methods.

List of Games

  • Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

How to Set Up Xbox Live Arcade Games

File Format

Xbox Live Arcade ROMs typically come in nested folders with an alphanumerically named file.

For example, Banjo Kazooie:

Banjo Kazooie
└── 58410954
    └── 000D0000
        └── DA78E477AA5E31A7D01AE8F84109FD4BF89E49E8

The DA78E477AA5E31A7D01AE8F84109FD4BF89E49E8 file is the game file used to launch Banjo Kazooie.

To make this format easier to use with both Steam ROM Manager and ES-DE, rename the game file to match the game name. Using Banjo Kazooie as an example, rename DA78E477AA5E31A7D01AE8F84109FD4BF89E49E8 to Banjo Kazooie.

Move the newly renamed Banjo Kazooie file to Emulation/roms/xbox360/roms/xbla. Note the second roms folder.

Use the Microsoft Xbox 360 - Xenia - XBLA parser in Steam ROM Manager or ES-DE to play your game. You do not need any of the additional folders included with the original ROM. You may delete these folders.

Xenia Configuration

In order to play Xbox Live Arcade Games, you also need the full license. Xenia makes activating this license fairly easy.

Here's How

  1. Open Emulation/roms/xbox360
  2. Right click xenia-canary.config.toml and click Open with Kate or a text editor of your choice
  3. Locate the license_mask = line
  4. By default, this line should write license_mask = 0
  5. To activate Xbox Live Arcade ROMs, change the 0 to a 1:
  6. license_mask = 1

Photos

Unactivated License:

How to Set Up Xbox Live Arcade Games: Unactivated

Activated License:

How to Set Up Xbox Live Arcade Games: Activated

How to Delete Xenia's Prefix

Since Xenia is packaged as a Windows application and has no Linux version widely available, EmuDeck downloads and runs Xenia through Proton using a script. All of Xenia's important files (saves and configurations) are localized to Xenia's folder in Emulation/roms/xbox360.

However, running Xenia through Proton will still create a prefix (a sort of Windows virtual C:Drive). If you notice Xenia suddenly stops working (after it was previously working), you may try deleting the prefix. Deleting the prefix will not delete any of your saves or configurations since these are localized to the Emulation/roms/xbox360 folder.

IMPORTANT: If you changed Xenia's Proton version in Emulation/tools/launchers/xenia.sh, and notice Xenia suddenly stops working, it's recommended to delete the prefix. Deleting the prefix will "flush" Xenia and give it a clean slate (while retaining saves and configurations) with your newly selected Proton version.

How to Delete Xenia's Prefix

  1. In Desktop Mode, open Xenia
  2. How to Launch Xenia in Desktop Mode
  3. It does not matter if Xenia actually opens on this step. If opening Xenia does not do anything, proceed to Step 2
  4. Open the Emulation/tools folder
  5. Right click proton-launch.log and click Open with Kate or a text editor of your choice
  6. Locate the PFX: line
  7. For example: PFX: /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/3322499838
  8. Navigate to the path on the PFX: line in Dolphin
  9. Delete the numerical folder at the end of the path
  10. For example, with PFX: /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/3322499838, delete the folder named 3322499838 in /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata
  11. Re-open Xenia in Desktop Mode to re-generate the prefix
  12. Close out of Xenia and you may continue playing in Game Mode

How to Configure Language Settings

In-Game

  1. In Desktop Mode, open the Emulation/roms/xbox360 folder
  2. Right click xenia-canary.config.toml and click Open with Kate or a text editor of your choice
  3. Scroll down to the XConfig section, locate user_language = 1
  4. Replace 1 with your preferred language:
  5. 1=en
  6. 2=ja
  7. 3=de
  8. 4=fr
  9. 5=es
  10. 6=it
  11. 7=ko
  12. 8=zh
  13. 9=pt
  14. 11=pl
  15. 12=ru
  16. 13=sv
  17. 14=tr
  18. 15=nb
  19. 16=nl
  20. 17=zh
  21. Save and exit out of the text file

How to Apply Patches

When you install Xenia through EmuDeck, a collection of game patches are also automatically downloaded to your Emulation/roms/xbox360/patches folder. These patches provide ways to fix various issues in games.

To apply patches:

  1. In Desktop Mode, open the Emulation/roms/xbox360/patches folder
  2. Right click a text file matching your game name or game ID and click Open with Kate or a text editor of your choice
  3. Each text file will typically have multiple patches identified with the [[patch]] header and the name of the patch below the header. Select a patch to enable and locate the is_enabled field
  4. On the is_enabled field, change false to true
  5. Save the text file and exit out
  6. The patch you selected will now be applied for your game

Do note that if your game ID does not match the ID in the patch, the patch may not apply. Game IDs typically vary depending on the region or version of your game. For example, the patches folder contains multiple patch files for "Project Gotham Racing" depending on which version of the game you have. Ensure that your game version matches the patch file you are using and the patch will successfully apply to your game.

How to Set Game Settings On a Per-Game Basis

For a full list of Xenia configurations, see https://github.com/xenia-canary/xenia-canary/wiki/Options.

Depending on which front-end you are using, the below sections will cover how to apply the Xenia configurations as flags for your games. To convert these configurations into flags, remove any spaces and add two dashes to the beginning of the config name.

A few examples:

Xenia Config

license_mask = #

user_language = #

gpu = string

mount_cache = bool

Xenia Flag

In order to enable license mask:

  • --license_mask=1

To set Polish as the language:

  • --user_language=11

To set the GPU as vulkan:

  • --gpu="vulkan"

To enable mount_cache:

  • --mount_cache=true

ES-DE

  1. In Desktop Mode, open the Emulation/roms/xbox360/roms folder or Emulation/roms/xbox360/roms/xbla folder
  2. Right click anywhere in the folder, click Create New --> Text File
  3. Match the name of the text file to the game and set the file extension to .esprefix
  4. For example:
    • ROM Name: Peggle
    • New text file name: Peggle.esprefix
  5. Open the newly created text file in Kate or a text editor of your choice
  6. On a single line, write:
  7. --configname=configvalue
    • For example:
    • --license_mask=1
    • --user_language=11
    • --gpu="vulkan"
    • --mount_cache=true
  8. The config you set will now be applied to this specific game in ES-DE

Pegasus

  1. In Desktop Mode, open the Emulation/roms/xbox360/roms folder
  2. Right click metadata.txt, click Open with Kate or a text editor of your choice

  3. At the bottom of the text file, add a new section using the following format:

    game: GAMENAME
file: FILENAME
launch: /PATH/TO/xenia.sh "Z:{file.path}" --CONFIGNAME=CONFIGVALUE

  4. Replace GAMENAME with the name of the game

    • For example:
    • Banjo-Kazooie - Nuts & Bolts
  5. Replace FILENAME with the file name
    • For example:
    • Banjo-Kazooie - Nuts & Bolts.iso
    • If your ROM is in Emulation/roms/xbox360/roms/xbla, write xbla/FILENAME
    • For example:
      • xbla/Peggle
  6. Edit /PATH/TO with the path to xenia.sh, the path for xenia.sh will be at the top of the metadata.txt file, you may copy it here
  7. Edit --CONFIGNAME=CONFIGVALUE with your preferred configuration
    • For example:
    • --license_mask=1
    • --user_language=11
    • --gpu="vulkan"
    • --mount_cache=true
  8. Save and exit out of the file
  9. The config you set will now be applied to this specific game in Pegasus

Steam Shortcuts through Steam ROM Manager

  1. Add your ROMs to Steam through Steam ROM Manager
  2. On the game page in Steam, click the Gear icon, click Properties
  3. In the Launch Options box, type --CONFIGNAME=CONFIGVALUE
  4. For example:
    • --license_mask=1
    • --user_language=11
    • --gpu="vulkan"
    • --mount_cache=true
  5. The config you set will now be applied to this specific game in Steam

How to Access Xenia Settings in Game Mode

If you added Xenia as a shortcut to Steam through the "Emulators" parser in Steam ROM Manager, you may notice that it launches into a black screen if you try to open it in Game Mode. This is a quirk of how Proton interacts with Game Mode. However, there is a workaround.

How to Access Xenia Settings in Game Mode

  1. On the Xenia shortcut in Game Mode, press the Controller icon
  2. Toggle Enable Back Grip Buttons if they are not already enabled
  3. Select one of the four back buttons and bind it using sub-commands to one of the below keyboard shortcuts depending on which setting you would like to open in Xenia. For instructions on sub-commands, see How to Bind Sub-Commands
  4. Alt + F = File
    • The "File" menu is used to launch games
  5. Alt + G = CPU
  6. Alt + H = GPU

How to Bind Sub-Commands

  1. Click on one of the four back buttons, bind it to Alt
  2. Click the Gear icon to the right of the button, click Add sub command
  3. Bind it to the corresponding letter in the list above, How to Access Xenia Settings in Game Mode depending on which setting you would like to open in Xenia

How to Extract ISOs to the XEX Format

If you have an Xbox 360 ISO and you would like to extract it to XEX, either for compression or for modding purposes, you can do so using extract-xiso, a tool bundled with EmuDeck. extract-xiso is typically located in Emulation/tools/chdconv and this path will be used for the below instructions. However if extract-xiso is not in this folder, it can also be found in /home/deck/.config/EmuDeck/backend/tools/chdconv. If extract-xiso is in neither of these folders, you may need to re-install EmuDeck (uninstalling first is not necessary).

  1. In Desktop Mode, open the Emulation/tools/chdconv folder
  2. If you are not comfortable with a terminal, copy extract-xiso to Emulation/roms/xbox360/roms
  3. If you are comfortable with a terminal, right click anywhere in Emulation/tools/chdconv, click Open Terminal Here, type ./extract-xiso "/PATH/TO/ROM"
  4. In Emulation/roms/xbox360/roms, right click anywhere, click Open Terminal Here
  5. Type ./extract-xiso "NAMEOFROM"
  6. The quotes are required for the ROM name. Alternatively, you can type the first few letters of the ROM name, press Tab on a keyboard, and the terminal will automatically escape the rest of the name
  7. Wait for it to finish extracting
  8. A folder matching your ROM name will be created containing a default.xex file which can be used to launch the ROM

How to Convert Xbox Live Arcade ROMs to XEX

If you have an Xbox 360 ISO and you would like to extract it to XEX, either for compression or for modding purposes, you can do so using the Xenia GUI.

  1. In Desktop Mode, open Xenia
  2. In the top left, click File, Install Content, and navigate to your Xbox Live Arcade ROM
  3. The game will be installed to the Emulation/roms/xbox360/content folder to a folder matching the Game ID of the game
  4. The folder will contain a default.xex file which can be used to launch the ROM

How to Compress ROMs to ZAR

ZAR is a newer file format created by the Cemu developers allowing for optimized file storage. In a recent update, Xenia added support for ZAR allowing users to compress Xbox 360 ROMs.

As an example, Banjo-Kazooie - Nuts & Bolts in the ISO file format was 7.3 GB. When compressed, Banjo-Kazooie - Nuts & Bolts was 4.8 GB in the ZAR file format.

If you are using ISOs, first extract your ISOs to XEX. For instructions, see How to Extract ISOs to the XEX Format. For Xbox Live Arcade ROMs, see How to Convert Xbox Live Arcade ROMs to XEX.

  1. In Desktop Mode, open Xenia
  2. In the top left, click Zar Package, Create, and navigate to the folder containing your default.xex file
  3. Select the destination for your ZAR file
  4. Wait, there may not be any response from the application for several minutes depending on how large your original file is
  5. Once it is complete, a ZAR file will be located in the directory you selected in Step 3

How to Optimize Sonic Unleashed

This section is a heavily modified version of the section from THE DEFINITIVE STEAM DECK SONIC DOC.

This section will assume you have installed and configured Xenia through EmuDeck. For instructions on how to install Xenia through EmuDeck, see How to Download Xenia.

  1. Extract Sonic Unleashed using the instructions in How to Extract ISOs to the XEX Format
  2. Install Xenia through EmuDeck
  3. For instructions, see How to Download Xenia
  4. EmuDeck will automatically download the patches folder and create a portable.text file. You do not need to add Xenia as a non-Steam game. If you would like to add Xenia to Steam, you may do so using the Emulators parser in Steam ROM Manager
  5. In Emulation/roms/xbox360, right click xenia-canary.config.toml, click Open with Kate or a text editor of your choice
  6. Change max_queued_frames to 16, change vsync from True to False
  7. The Google Doc also suggests you use Vulkan, however D3D12 been massively improved in the year since the Google Doc was written. It is recommended you use D3D12 first and only try Vulkan if D3D12 does not work as expected
  8. It may not be necessary to change Vsync or max_queued_frames, these are directly copied from the Google Doc. It is recommended you test these and see if these are required
  9. In Emulation/roms/xbox360/patches, right click 53450812 - Sonic Unleashed.patch.toml, click Open with Kate or a text editor of your choice. For each patch you would like to enable, change is_enabled = false to is_enabled = true
  10. (Optional)
    • 60 FPS
  11. (Highly Recommended)
    • Disable Color Adjustment
    • Disable Shadow Maps
  12. The remainder of the Google Doc covers how to apply the "AMD Grass Explosion Fix" using the Unleashed Mod Manager. At this point, it is recommended you first test the game to test the performance. If you would like to apply the "AMD Grass Explosion Fix", proceed to the Unleashed Mod Manager section
Vertex Explosions

If you are seeing vertex explosions, bind F5 to L4/R4/L5/R5 (the back bumpers). While in game, press the respective button to clear the GPU cache. You may be required to press this button from time to time while playing Sonic Unleashed.

Unleashed Mod Manager

Lutris
  1. In Desktop Mode, open Konsole
  2. Enter:
  3. mkdir -p $HOME/Games/Lutris/UnleashedModManager/pfx
  4. This command will create a couple of empty folders to make managing and installing the patcher easier
  5. Download UnleashedModManager, https://github.com/hyperbx/Unleashed-Mod-Manager/releases/tag/1.12 to /home/deck/Games/Lutris/UnleashedModManager
  6. Download latest.zip
  7. Right click latest.zip, click Extract, Extract Archive Here
  8. If the .zip creates a subfolder, move the contents out directly into /home/deck/Games/Lutris/UnleashedModManager
  9. In Desktop Mode, open Discover and download Lutris
  10. Click the Wine button on the left, click the little page icon to the right, download wine-ge-8-26
  11. Click the + button in the top left of the Lutris application
  12. Click Add locally installed game
  13. On the Game Info tab:
    • Name: Unleashed Mod Manager
    • Sort Name: Leave Blank
    • Runner: Wine (Runs Windows games)
    • Release Year: Leave Blank
  14. On the Game Options tab:
    • Executable: Click the Browse button and navigate to the Unleashed Mod Manager.exe file in /home/deck/Games/Lutris/UnleashedModManager
    • Arguments: Leave Blank
    • Working Directory: Leave Blank
    • Wine Prefix: Click the Browse button and select the /home/deck/Games/Lutris/UnleashedModManager/pfx
  15. On the Runner options tab:
    • Wine version: wine-ge-8.26-x86_64
    • Leave everything else at defaults
  16. Click the Save button in the top right
  17. To open the patcher, open Lutris, select the UnleashedModManager tile, and click Play
Applying the AMD Grass Explosion Fix
  1. In Emulation/roms/xbox360, create a mods folder
  2. Download the AMD Grass Explosion Fix, https://gamebanana.com/mods/download/393182#FileInfo_840774 to the Emulation/roms/xbox360/mods folder
  3. Right click amd_grass_fix.7z, click Extract archive here
  4. Open Unleashed Mod Manager.exe through Lutris
  5. Mods Directory: Emulation/roms/xbox360/mods
  6. Game Executable: The default.xex file in the folder wherever you extracted your Sonic Unleashed ISO
  7. Emulator Executable: Emulation/roms/xbox360/xenia_canary.exe
  8. Click Continue, click Refresh Mods List and the AMD Grass Explosion Fix will appear
  9. Check the mod, click Save checked mods, and it will now be applied to Sonic Unleashed
  10. Uncheck Uninstall mods automatically