About
The Godfather II is a 2009 third-person open-world action game by EA Redwood Shores, based on the 1974 film and a sequel to 2006's The Godfather. The single-player story moves between New York, Miami, and Havana as the player builds a crime family using a strategic 'Don's View' map layer to manage rackets and crews. It earned mixed reviews, often compared to Grand Theft Auto. It was delisted from Steam in 2014 over the expiry of the Paramount film license.
Identity
Launch
- Binary
- godfather2.exe
- Needs files
- none beyond the binary
Proton
- Version
- GE-Proton
- Winetricks
- —
- ProtonDB
- ProtonDB Borked does not run under Proton
⚙ Setup notes
Game: 2009 EA Redwood Shores open-world crime game (Steam appid 24830), delisted over the Paramount film license — bring your own copy.
Proton: Reports are thin — only one ProtonDB report exists (Proton 9.0-1), and it describes the game installing and opening but getting stuck in an endless boot loop after character creation. Treat this as not-yet-working; try GE-Proton and older/newer Proton builds to get past the loop.
DRM: The retail copy is SecuROM PA (product activation) protected with an activation limit, and EA's activation servers may be unreachable. If the launcher hangs or refuses to authenticate, the game won't boot under Proton until the activation step is satisfied with a legitimate community fix for this delisted title.
Install: The startup binary is godfather2.exe (the game also ships a The Godfather 2 The Game_code.exe code wrapper).
Controller: This is an EA RenderWare-style engine; controller mapping is not guaranteed to bind cleanly, so enable Steam Input with a Gamepad layout rather than relying on the game's native pad handling.
Cosmetic: For modern compatibility some players drop a d3d9.dll + dxwrapper.dll wrapper into the game folder; remove it again if it introduces visual glitches or crashes. Add PROTON_USE_WINED3D=0 only if you hit the wrapper path.
The one thing to know
Supply your own copy: Delisted (film license) — configuration only, no links.
Compatibility: Reports are very thin. The lone ProtonDB report (Proton 9.0-1) has the game installing and opening but then looping endlessly after character creation, so it is not confirmed playable through to gameplay. Marked accordingly until someone gets past the boot loop.
DRM: SecuROM PA with an activation limit. EA's activation servers may be down and offline activation isn't supported, so the retail launcher can fail to authenticate under Proton; the game won't boot until the activation step is satisfied.
Install: Launch exe is godfather2.exe (confirm against your install).
Controller: Don't assume native pad support binds correctly — enable Steam Input with a Gamepad layout.
Cosmetic: Optional d3d9.dll + dxwrapper.dll wrapper helps on modern setups but remove it if it causes visual glitches/crashes.
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.