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Is your Discord Rich Presence not working while gaming on Proton or Wine?
If yes, you’re not alone.
Many Linux gamers using Proton/Wine to run Windows games on their system have reported issues with Discord’s Rich Presence not showing up.
Rich Presence is a feature that displays your current game, status, and sometimes even details about your in-game activity.
However, when running games through Proton or Wine, Discord may fail to detect them, leaving you without a proper status update.
This issue is frustrating, especially if you want to showcase what you’re playing to your friends.
Fortunately, you can fix Discord Rich Presence in Proton/Wine gaming with a few tweaks.
In this guide, you will learn why Discord Rich Presence is not working and how to fix it step by step.
How To Fix Discord Rich Presence In Proton/Wine Gaming
To fix Discord Rich Presence in Proton or Wine, you need to ensure that Discord is running properly, enable specific environment variables, and allow Proton/Wine to communicate with Discord correctly.
The fixes include:
- Ensure Discord is running natively on Linux
- Enable Rich Presence via Environment Variables
- Check Wine’s Discord IPC Socket Compatibility
- Manually Create a Symlink for the Discord Socket
- Use a Rich Presence Proxy (RPCSocks)
Let’s go through each fix in detail.
1. Ensure Discord is Running Natively on Linux
If you are using the Windows version of Discord through Wine, that may be the reason Rich Presence is not working.
The Linux-native version of Discord works best with Proton/Wine gaming.
- Uninstall the Windows version of Discord if you are using it through Wine.
- Download and install the Linux-native Discord client from your package manager or directly from the Discord website.
- Restart your system and check if Rich Presence starts working.
If the issue persists, move to the next fix.
2. Enable Rich Presence via Environment Variables
For games running under Proton, some environment variables may not be set correctly, causing Discord to fail in detecting the game.
To fix this:
- Open Steam and navigate to Library.
- Right-click the game you’re having issues with and select Properties.
- Under Launch Options, add the following command:
DISCORD_PIPES=1 %command% - Launch the game and check if Discord is now detecting it.
If this doesn’t work, continue with the next fix.
3. Check Wine’s Discord IPC Socket Compatibility
Discord communicates with games via an Inter-Process Communication (IPC) socket.
Sometimes, Wine does not properly forward these messages to the Linux-native Discord.
To check if this is the issue:
- Open your terminal and type:
echo $XDG_RUNTIME_DIRThis should return a valid path like/run/user/1000. - If the output is empty, set the environment variable manually by running:
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/$(id -u) - Then, restart your game and Discord to see if Rich Presence works.
If not, move to the next step.
4. Manually Create a Symlink for the Discord Socket
Proton/Wine games expect Discord’s IPC socket in a different location than where the native Linux Discord client places it.
A quick fix is to manually create a symbolic link.
- First, close Discord completely.
- Open your terminal and run the following command:
ln -s /run/user/$(id -u)/discord-ipc-0 ~/.wine/run/user/$(id -u)/discord-ipc-0 - Restart Discord and launch your game again.
This should allow Discord to detect your game through Proton/Wine.
5. Use a Rich Presence Proxy (RPCSocks)
If none of the previous fixes work, you can use a tool called RPCSocks, which acts as a bridge between Wine applications and the Linux-native Discord client.
To install and use RPCSocks:
- Open a terminal and install Python 3 if you haven’t already:
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip - Clone the RPCSocks repository:
git clone https://github.com/0e4ef622/wine-discord-ipc-bridge.git - Navigate to the cloned directory:
cd wine-discord-ipc-bridge - Run the script:
python3 rpcsock.py - Keep this terminal window open while playing your game.
This method ensures that Wine-based applications can communicate properly with Discord.
Conclusion
Discord’s Rich Presence not working in Proton/Wine gaming is a common issue, but fortunately, it can be fixed with a few simple tweaks.
By ensuring you are using the Linux-native Discord client, setting the correct environment variables, creating an IPC socket symlink, or using a Rich Presence proxy like RPCSocks, you can get your game to show up in Discord.
If this guide helped you fix the issue, share it with others who might be struggling with the same problem!
Now, go enjoy your Linux gaming experience with Discord working as it should!
Additional Reading
How To Fix Discord Overlay Keybind Not Saving
How To Fix Discord Stuck On Game Even After Closing It
How To Fix Discord Login Or Password Is Invalid Error
Brianna is based in Minnesota in the US at the moment, and has been writing since 2017. She is currently a 3rd Year med student at the time of writing this.
