HD2 Modding on Linux

Introduction

This is a walkthrough on how to get various modding tools to work on Linux by using Steam and Proton.
I'm assuming you have a cursory knowledge of filesystems and unzipping files.
These are not the only methods that work! There are a few ways to get this running, but these are the ways that worked for me.

Helldivers 2 Mod Manager - HD2MM - (GitHub)

This is only relevant for v1.2.1.0! Version 2.0 of HD2MM and Arsenal v0.28 are planned to natively support Linux. There is also the Helldivers 2 Linux CLI Modding Tool.

Running HD2MM Through Proton

  1. Download HD2MM and unzip it somewhere
  2. Open Steam and add HD2MM as a non-Steam game
    1. All the way at the top, click Game --> Add a Non-Steam Game to my Library --> Browse
    2. Navigate to wherever you unzipped HD2MM and select the .exe
  3. Setup Proton for HD2MM
    1. In your Steam Library, right click HD2MM
    2. Click Properties (This is where you can give it a cute name :3)
    3. In the menu on the left, click Compatibility
    4. Click Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool
    5. Select a Proton version (I use GE-Proton because that's what I use for the game itself)
  4. Launch HD2MM through Steam
At this point, the HD2MM window should appear and work as it does on Windows. The only difference is the file pathing. It should look something like this.
hd2mm file path
However, Steam Deck players need another step. In this case, the game is installed in the `.local` folder, which HD2MM cannot access. A solution to this is to create a symlink pointing to your Steam library, and place it in an accessible folder. (Thanks to @DryRose in the Discord for sharing this).
From this point on, follow the regular guides on how to use HD2MM.

Through Winetricks

Through Bottles

Idk but people say these work

HD2 Community SDK for Blender

When running Blender natively, trying to add the SDK will throw a missing HDTool_Helper error, regardless of version.
Also, I only set this up to repatch some abandoned mods. I never got it working, and I don't know if that's an issue with the SDK and Proton, or if it was just skill issue.

All releases of Blender can be found here, but you don't need that for this method.
  1. Install Blender through Steam
    By default, this will install v4.4, which is not compatible with the SDK. Rollback to v4.0 by:
    1. In your Steam Library, right click Blender
    2. Click Properties
    3. In the menu on the left, click Betas
    4. In Beta Participation, open the dropdown and select "v4.0 - Stable"
  2. Setup Proton for Blender
    1. In your Steam Library, right click Blender
    2. Click Properties
    3. In the menu on the left, click Compatibility
    4. Click Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool
    5. Select a Proton version (I use Proton 9.0-4 for no reason)
  3. Open Blender through Steam and follow the HD2 Modding Guide: Workspace Setup section