wanda

(noun) : cosmo??

WANDA runs WeMod — a Windows game-trainer app — on Linux through Wine/Proton, and gets it to actually hook into your Steam games. It handles the fiddly parts: building a compatible Wine prefix, installing a working WeMod build, and launching WeMod and the game together so WeMod can attach to the running process.

Status: early (v0.1.0). Expect rough edges.

---

Why this is non-trivial

WeMod can only apply trainers to a game if WeMod and the game run in the same Wine prefix (the same wineserver instance). If the game launches in its own Proton session, WeMod can't see it. Most of WANDA exists to force that co-location, plus to work around a handful of WeMod/Wine compatibility issues:

• WeMod version pinning — WeMod 12.x renders a black window under Wine, so WANDA installs a known-good older build (11.6.0) instead of the latest.
• .NET check — WeMod's trainer engine requires .NET Framework ≥ 4.7. Wine Mono reports 4.0, so WANDA patches mscorlib.dll's version metadata to satisfy the check, and installs real .NET 4.8 via Proton (not winetricks, which corrupts 64-bit Proton prefixes).
• Proton selection — Proton Experimental works best; GE-Proton 10.x breaks WeMod's renderer (wow64), so WANDA ranks versions accordingly and warns on bad picks.

---

Requirements

• Linux with Steam installed (native or Flatpak)
• A working Proton — Proton Experimental or GE-Proton 8/9 recommended (install via Steam or ProtonUp-Qt)
• wine and winetricks available on PATH
• Rust toolchain (2021 edition) to build from source; Node.js 20+ for the GUI

Run wanda doctor at any time to check that these are in place.

---

Install

From source (CLI)

cargo build --release -p wanda-cli
# binary at target/release/wanda

Nix

A dev shell and a CLI package are provided:

nix develop           # dev shell with Rust, Node, Tauri deps
nix build             # builds the wanda-cli package

shell.nix additionally provides an FHS environment (wanda-fhs) for running Wine/Proton binaries on non-FHS distros like NixOS, configured to use the system NVIDIA drivers.

GUI (Tauri)

cd crates/wanda-gui/frontend && npm install
cd .. && cargo tauri dev      # dev mode
cargo tauri build             # production bundle

---

Quick start

wanda init          # detect Steam + Proton, build the Wine prefix, install .NET + WeMod
wanda scan          # list your Proton/Windows games
wanda launch <game> # launch a game together with WeMod
wanda doctor        # diagnose problems

wanda init can take 10–15 minutes the first time (mostly the .NET 4.8 install).

---

CLI reference

Global flags: -v/-vv/-vvv (verbosity), -q/--quiet, --config <path>.

wanda init

Detects Steam and Proton, creates the default Wine prefix, installs .NET 4.8, downloads and installs WeMod.

Flag	Description
--steam-path <PATH>	Override Steam auto-detection
--proton <NAME>	Force a specific Proton version
--skip-wemod	Don't install WeMod
--skip-dotnet	Don't install .NET (WeMod trainers may then fail)
-f, --force	Recreate the prefix even if it already exists

wanda scan

Lists installed games.

Flag	Description
-f, --filter <STR>	Filter by name
--all	Include non-Proton (native) games
-l, --long	Detailed output (path, size, prefix)

wanda launch <game>

Launches a game with WeMod. <game> is an App ID or a name substring.

Flag	Description
--no-wemod	Launch via Steam without WeMod
--standalone	Start WeMod in the game's own prefix; you press Play in WeMod's UI
--delay <SECS>	Wait after starting WeMod before starting the game (default 3)
--args <STR>	Extra arguments passed to the game
--proton <NAME>	Override the Proton version for this launch
-w, --wait	Block until the session exits

wanda inject %command%

A Steam launch-option wrapper. In a game's Steam properties, set:

wanda inject %command%

WANDA then intercepts Steam's launch, sets up WeMod inside the game's own Proton prefix, and starts WeMod so it shares the game's Wine session. If WeMod is already running for that prefix (e.g. started via launch --standalone), it passes the launch straight through into the existing session.

wanda prefix <cmd>

Manage Wine prefixes: list, create <name>, delete <name> [-f], repair [name], validate [name], info [name]. Most default to the default prefix.

wanda wemod <cmd>

Manage WeMod: status, install, update, uninstall, run (launch WeMod standalone).

wanda config <cmd>

show, path, edit, reset, and set <key> <value>. Settable keys:

steam.install_path        proton.preferred_version   prefix.base_path
steam.scan_flatpak        wemod.auto_update          prefix.auto_repair
                          wemod.version

wanda doctor

Read-only diagnostic report (Steam, Proton, prefix health, WeMod, system deps). --full lists every detected Proton version; --export <path> writes the report to a file.

wanda cleanup

Kills stale WeMod/Wine processes (WeMod, wineserver, winedevice, steam.exe, …).

---

GUI

The Tauri desktop app wraps the same core library with a guided setup flow and four views:

• Setup — checks Steam/Proton and runs first-time initialization
• Games — searchable grid; launch with or without WeMod
• Prefixes — prefix health, repair, and WeMod update status
• Settings — Steam/Proton/WeMod config plus an in-app doctor

---

How it works

• Steam discovery (wanda-core::steam) — parses libraryfolders.vdf and appmanifest_*.acf with a small built-in VDF parser to find libraries, games, and existing Proton prefixes.
• Prefix building (wanda-core::prefix) — initializes the prefix via Proton's own wineboot, patches mscorlib.dll, and installs .NET 4.8 through proton runinprefix.
• Co-location — WANDA symlinks the real steamapps/common and app manifest into the prefix's fake C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam, writes Steam registry keys, and launches the game via its C: drive path so WeMod's process-image match succeeds. It does this through one of three paths: launch (batch coordinator), launch --standalone (game's own prefix), or inject (Steam launch option).

Paths used:

~/.config/wanda/config.toml     configuration
~/.local/share/wanda/           prefixes, metadata, wanda.log
~/.cache/wanda/downloads/       WeMod / .NET installers

---

Known limitation: WeMod trainers need real .NET Framework

WeMod's UI is Electron (works under Wine once GPU compositing is disabled — WANDA passes --disable-gpu --disable-gpu-compositing --disable-direct-composition), but its trainer engine (WeModAuxiliaryService.exe) is a .NET Framework app that requires a real Microsoft .NET runtime (≥ 4.7.2556). Wine Mono is not sufficient — the auxiliary process exits with code 0xC8 and WeMod shows "failed to load".

WANDA patches mscorlib.dll so WeMod's version check passes, but that only masks the missing runtime. You need real .NET 4.8 (or 4.7.2) actually installed in the prefix, and that install is fragile on modern Wine. Observed failure modes:

• Proton Experimental (wine-11, wow64): the .NET installer's MSI cabinet extraction fails (err:msi:extract_cabinet FDICopy failed on netfx_core.mzz) — real .NET won't install.
• GE-Proton 9 (wine-9): winetricks dotnet48/dotnet472 deadlocks on the Wine-Mono uninstall step (msiexec /x{…} blocked in anon_pipe_read); even after killing the stuck uninstall, the dependency chain wedges without installing .NET.

So on some machines WeMod's UI launches and the game runs, but trainers can't activate until real .NET is present. If your Wine stack does install .NET 4.8/4.7.2 cleanly (many do), WANDA works end to end. For the .NET install itself, winetricks dotnet48 against the WANDA prefix, or the battle-tested wemod-launcher project's .NET handling, are the paths most likely to succeed.

The .NET 4.8 install step in wanda init currently uses proton runinprefix, which often silently no-ops; treat "installed successfully" with suspicion and verify (a real install makes mscorlib.dll ~5 MB and writes HKLM\...\NDP\v4\Full\Release).

---

Project layout

crates/
  wanda-core/   library: config, error, steam, prefix, wemod, launcher
  wanda-cli/    the `wanda` binary (clap subcommands)
  wanda-gui/    Tauri 2 backend + React/TypeScript/Vite frontend

License

GPL-3.0