xivomega

If using Steam Deck, please try using this Decky Plugin instead. If you don't want to use Decky or are using Linux, you can go ahead and use this solution.

XIVOmega - Latency Mitigator for Steam Deck based on XivMitmLatencyMitigator

Playing Final Fantasy XIV on Steam Deck and unable to doubleweave things??

Troubled because XivAlexander doesn't run natively on SteamOS and don't want to install Windows??

Don't have another PC where you can run XivMitmLatencyMitigator??

This solution is for you!! - Run XivMitmLatencyMitigator on your Steam Deck with a container acting as bare metal man-in-the-middle.

This Python Script relies on Podman to create and run the container - Podman is bundled by default in Steam Deck as part of Distrobox since SteamOS 3.5.

This script also handles all networking steps to enable the mitigator without having to enter additional commands and allow customization of some variables.

• Recommendations for usage:

For Game Mode, it's highly recommended to have Decky Loader installed with the Decky Terminal plugin (link here). If you are not using Decky Loader, then add Konsole as a Steam App, so you can open it from game mode. How to set up Konsole in game mode is outside the scope of this document, so look it up.

• How to use:

  • Go to Desktop Mode in Steam Deck and download from latest releases (link here ) - extract the contents to /home/deck. you should end up with a folder called xivomega on /home/deck
  • Open Konsole and and run the installer (sudo python /home/deck/xivomega/installer.py) - this will install the binary in /var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin/xivomega so it's easier to call it later on.

• This can run in both Desktop and Game Modes:

  • If using Desktop Mode:
    - Open Konsole and execute sudo xivomega and wait until the mitigator starts running -
    - Open FFXIV and game
  • If using from Game Mode with Decky Terminal:
    - Open the QAM (three-dotted button under the right trackpad) and open a Decky Terminal - then execute sudo xivomega - wait until the mitigator starts running
    - Press the Steam Button and open your launcher and game
  • If using from Game Mode without Decky Terminal:
    - Open Konsole from your library
    - from inside Konsole, run sudo xivomega
    - wait until the mitigator starts running
    - Press the Steam Button and open your launcher and game

When running the script, the output of XIVMitmLatencyMitigator will be displayed on the console running it - just like if using it on another PC like the traditional XIVMitmLatencyMitigator, and just like it when running the output of the actions you execute should display on the console.

Once you finish gaming, press Ctrl-C - this will stop the whole the program and will automatically remove all container/network elements created by it. Run sudo xivomega again if starting a new play session.

Options and Customization:

This program creates 2 virtual network adapters to allow the container to communicate with the internet - By default, this happens on the program:

• 2 IPVlan adapters are created using wlan0 (Wifi Adapter) as parent
• Each got assigned the last 2 IP addresses from the network the Deck is connected in

If you need to customize the IP addresses - you can do so from the config.ini file inside the /xivomega folder - just change the values from default - to the desired IP addresses - make sure both are part of the same subnet you are connected in.

FAQ:

-Q: Why is there a message saying "Failed to read previous opcode definition files: Definitions file older than an hour" every time I run this thing?

-A: That's because each time XIVOmega runs, it creates a new container everytime, which gets removed after exiting the program via Ctrl-C. Since the container itself is new, it goes thru the rule set up in XivMitmLatencyMitigator, which downloads the opcodes file for use with the game if the file is older than one hour.

-Q: I stopped playing and turned the Deck off quickly because reasons - what happens with this thing??

-A: Although the recommended way of exiting will always be by Ctrl+C to have everything cleaned up, there are no problems. The next time you start the script, it will autoclean any dangling elements and will recreate the container and all the networking steps without hassle.

-Q: Why putting the binary in /var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin/ and not in some other more common location like /usr/bin

-A: This location was selected due to how the SteamOS purges almost everything whenever an OS update is applied to the deck - the exception being the home/ folder and most of var/.

-Q: I need to type my password everytime I run sudo xivomega - is there anyway to avoid this??

-A: There are ways! but after some thought I decided not including this for the time being. Implementing this requires the user to save the password somewhere in a plain text file, something which some persons might not be keen to do. If the feature is requested, we can see how to try and implement it.

-Q: Will this always need/require a terminal to run??

-A: For the foreseeable future, yes. Until I turn this into a Standalone Decky Plugin

-Q: What happens if I play XIV on Linux, but not SteamOS?? Will this app work??

-A: This should work on a Linux setup, provided you have Podman installed properly - just have in mind this app is made specifically for the Steam Deck and hence is made to circumvent some limitations you will not encounter on a normal Linux Distro (not being able to sudo install things, restricted to wlan0 adapter only, wipes of system data between SteamOS updates, etc). If you are capable and want to extend this to make it work with any other distro, you are welcome to do so.

Special Thanks:

• Soreepeong for creating the original XivMitmLatencyMitigator script and XivAlexander
• Bankjaneo for inspiring this by creating the Docker version of XivMitmLatencyMitigator.
• bbnuy for helping with testing on a clean setup and helping me finding and improving stuff.

License

Apache License 2.0