About
Black & White (Lionhead Studios/EA, 2001) is a landmark god game in which the
player guides a morally influenced creature and a tribe toward dominance — using gesture-based
spells and direct creature control via mouse. Never re-released digitally after Lionhead's
closure, it remains disc-only but runs on Steam Deck via Proton Experimental at ~6W TDP, and
gyro input makes the gesture system surprisingly playable on handheld.
Identity
Launch
- Binary
- runblack.exe
- Needs files
-
- runblack.exe
- data\CreatureMesh.bwm
Proton
- Version
- Proton Experimental
- Winetricks
- d3dx9, vcrun2005
⚙ Setup notes
Overview
Black & White (2001) is a disc/ISO-only title — EA and Lionhead (now defunct)
have never re-released the original god game digitally. (A separate, unrelated
2023 game also titled "Black & White" exists on Steam, app 1998450 — that is
NOT this game, so this recipe has no steam_appid.) Supply your own copy from
your original disc or a personal disc image.
The game has been confirmed running on Steam Deck by SteamDeckHQ
(Classics on Steam Deck #1, paired with Unreal Tournament III). Use
Proton Experimental as the compatibility layer.
Installation
1. Install Black & White from your disc/ISO.
Typical install path: ~/Games/BlackAndWhite/
2. Apply the official patches — the 1.1 and 1.2 (a.k.a. 1.20) updates.
These are the final official patches (see PCGamingWiki for sources).
3. Add runblack.exe as a Non-Steam game in Steam.
4. In Properties → Compatibility, force Proton Experimental.
Disc check / SecuROM (community fix)
The retail release uses a SecuROM disc check, so the game refuses to start
without the disc — and SecuROM's CD authentication does not behave well under
Wine/Proton. The Black & White community maintains an unofficial patch
(bwgame.net) that produces a clean, modern-OS-friendly binary, and the
open-source openblack/bw1-patches project provides additional compatibility
and widescreen fixes that apply on top of it. Use those community patches as
documented on their own pages — see links below. Do NOT use third-party
download sites for the game itself; supply your own legally owned copy.
Resolution / Widescreen
Black & White uses a software cursor and a fixed internal resolution.
To force 1280x800 (native Deck resolution):
1. Open the game's data\engine.cfg (create if absent) and add:
ScreenResX=1280
ScreenResY=800
2. Alternatively, set resolution in-game from the Options menu —
the game will enumerate display modes via Wine/Proton.
Cap the framerate at 30fps via Steam Deck's per-game framerate limiter;
the game's internal physics runs at a fixed step and behaves best at 30.
Controller / Input
Black & White is designed around mouse gestures for creature commands.
Recommended Steam Input layout:
- Right stick → mouse movement (sensitivity ~120)
- Gyro → fine mouse control (enable gyro-on-touch on right touchpad)
This combination makes gesture drawing (spells, creature commands)
feel natural on Deck.
- Left stick → camera pan
- Right trigger → primary interact / grab
- Left trigger → alternate hand
- A button → leash / unleash creature
- B button → zoom toggle
- Back/Select → toggle village camera
Search the Steam Input community layouts for "Black and White" — several
gyro-optimized layouts exist.
Power / Battery
Very light load: ~6W TDP at 30fps, 720p.
Expected battery life: ~7h on OLED Deck.
This is an ideal game for low-power Deck sessions.
Creature Isle Expansion
Black & White: Creature Isle installs on top of the base game.
Add it from your disc/ISO after the base game + 1.20 patch are installed.
Launch is still via runblack.exe; Creature Isle content is selectable
from the main menu once installed.
Known Issues
- Intro cinematics may stutter or fail to play; skip them with Escape.
- Audio occasionally drops on first launch; restarting the game resolves it.
- The creature AI pathfinding has always had edge-case quirks — these are
original game bugs, not Proton-specific.
The one thing to know
- Supply your own copy — disc or personal disc image only; no legal digital storefront exists.
- The official 1.1 + 1.2 (1.20) patches are required before the game is stable; do not skip them.
- The retail copy uses a SecuROM disc check that misbehaves under Proton; apply the community
unofficial patch (bwgame.net) / openblack bw1-patches so the game launches without disc-auth
problems. Supply your own legally owned copy — patch only your own install.
- Framerate MUST be capped at 30fps; physics step is tied to frame timing above this.
- Intro cinematics may fail to play under Proton; press Escape to skip them safely.
- Gyro + right-stick combo strongly recommended for gesture input — pure stick aim for
gesture drawing is imprecise.
- Creature Isle expansion requires base game + patch installed first.
Community guides
Write-ups and threads from people who got this (or a similar) game running. deckport links to them — it doesn't reproduce them.
Get the artwork
deckport never hosts game images. Open this game on SteamGridDB, pick
the cover / hero / logo / icon you like, and drop them into the
game folder under .deckport-art/ before you push it to the
Deck. The importer files them under the right names automatically.
Run it on your Deck
Two files: the one-time importer (deckport.py) in your
Deck's home folder, and this game's install helper. Copy the game
into ~/Games and run the helper with Steam closed — it
writes the recipe (binary, launch options, Proton version)
and registers the shortcut with artwork.