Internationales Forum on PlayingTux

Tools and links for gaming on Linux

Sat, 01 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Here I want to gather some useful tools and links around Linux gaming. I’ll update this list with more in the future, so please let me know, if you find something! Also please take a look at our Links-page. :-)

Steam

SteamCMD The Steam Console Client or SteamCMD is a command-line version of the Steam client. Its primary use is to install and update various dedicated servers available on Steam using a command-line interface.
install_unity_windows_only_on_linux.md How to install and use Windows-only Unity games on Linux.
SteamDOS Compatibility tool to run DOS games on Steam through native Linux DOSBox version.
Goldberg Emulator Steam emulator that emulates steam online features. Lets you play games that use the steam multiplayer apis on a LAN without steam or an internet connection.
steam-autologin.sh This script enables you to switch between steam accounts without the need to enter credentials and a Steam Guard code everytime you try to switch accounts.
ProtonDB for Steam A plugin for Firefox and Chrome that shows ratings from protondb.com on Steam.
SamRewritten Steam Achievement Manager For Linux. Rewritten in C++.
SteamTinkerLaunch SteamTinkerLaunch (stl) is a linux wrapper script for Steam. It creates/reads game config files on the fly, making it very easy to setup and use, but still giving you the possibility to fully customize game configurations live on game start. The idea is that you just have to edit the steam command line once (imho the editor is not very usable) and everything else can be changed and controlled easily using stl.
~~steam-mv~~ ~~Move Steam applications with large files to another install folder.~~ (deprecated, you can now move games properly in the Steam client itself).

GOG

LGOGDownloader LGOGDownloader is unofficial downloader to GOG.com for Linux users. It uses the same API as the official GOGDownloader.
Minigalaxy A simple GOG client for Linux that lets you download and play your GOG Linux games.
Comet Minimal GOG Galaxy compatible daemon to allow users to authorize with games that use the Galaxy service.
Games Nebula Unofficial Linux client for GOG.

Epic

Legendary Game Launcher A free and open-source Epic Games Launcher replacement.

Multiplatform clients

Lutris Lutris is an Open Source gaming platform for Linux with support for GOG, Steam, Battle.net, Origin, Uplay and many other sources.
GameHub GameHub allows to view, download, install, run and uninstall games from supported sources (currently Steam, GOG, Humble Bundle, Humble Trove).
Chiaki Chiaki is a Free and Open Source Software Client for PlayStation 4 Remote Play for Linux, Android, macOS, Windows and potentially even more platforms.
./play.it ./play.it is a libre software that automates the build of native packages for multiple distributions from DRM-free installers for commercial games. The generated packages are then installed using the standard tools provided by the distribution. Native Linux games are supported, as well as games developed for other systems thanks to tools like WINE, DOSBox and ScummVM.

Controllers (Gamepads. Wheels, Mice etc.)

Oversteer Steering Wheel Manager for Linux. Graphical application to configure Logitech Wheels.
new-lg4ff new-lg4ff - Experimental Logitech Force Feedback module for driving wheels. This driver implements all possible FF effects for most Logitech wheels, except the Logitech G920 Driving Force that should already support them by hardware.
ffbtools ffbtools - Set of tools for ForceFeedBack testing and debugging on GNU/Linux (contains ffbwrap).
pyLinuxWheel A simple utility to configure logitech steering wheels for Linux.
Thrustmaster T150 Force Feedback Wheel Linux drivers Linux driver for Thrustmaster T150 Steering Wheel USB.
Telemetry Telemetry Application for Codemasters F1 201x games.
FFB plugin (v2.5.4) Force feedback plugin for steering wheels in Euro Truck Simulator 2 & American Truck Simulator.
Config for FFB plugin Improved configuration file for the force feedback plugin for steering wheels in Euro Truck Simulator 2 & American Truck Simulator.
SC-Controller User-mode driver, mapper and GTK3 based GUI for Steam Controller, DS4 and similar controllers.
Steam Controller Rumble Hack A hack to get steam controller to support rumble on linux.
ds4drv A Sony DualShock 4 userspace driver for Linux.
xow Linux driver for the Xbox One wireless dongle.
xpadneo Advanced Linux Driver for Xbox One Wireless Controller (shipped with Xbox One S) .
libratbag A DBus daemon to configure input devices, mainly gaming mice. libratbag currently supports devices from Logitech, Etekcity, GSkill, Roccat, Steelseries.
Piper Piper is a GTK+ application to configure gaming mice using libratbag.
mousekeys.sh Automate switching profiles on libratbag supported devices (gaming mice).
mx3000control Unofficial tool to configure the Perixx MX-3000 (or Sharkoon Drakonia Black) mouse on Linux.
AntimicroX Graphical program used to map keyboard buttons and mouse controls to a gamepad. Useful for playing games with no gamepad support.
~~Antimicro (v2.24.1)~~ ~~Abandoned graphical program used to map keyboard buttons and mouse controls to a gamepad. Useful for playing games with no gamepad support.~~
Input over SSH A tool to forward game controllers and other input devices over SSH.
Linuxtrack Linuxtrack is a project aiming to bring head tracking to Linux and Mac.
opentrack Head tracking software for MS Windows, Linux, and Apple OSX.
Yoke (desktop client) Desktop client for the Yoke Gamepad App. Yoke is a hackable Android gamepad for Linux (and Windows).
Yoke Xbox Controller (desktop client) This project is built on top of the awesome yoke, but just provides one joystick: an Xbox Controller, and all the tools needed for using it with Steam.
GX52 (GUI for X52/Pro) GX52 is a GTK application designed to provide control for the LEDs and MFD of Logitech X52 and X52 Pro H.O.T.A.S.
Joycon Joy-Con input driver for Linux.
Open Joystick Display A powerful and easy to use streamer-ready overlay for your joystick or gamepad. Completely free and open source. (Project Discontinued)
JoyShockMapper A tool for PC gamers to play games with DualShock 4s, JoyCons, and Pro Controllers. Gyro aiming, flick stick.
MoltenGamepad Flexible Linux input device translator, geared for gamepads.

General tools (Video, Audio, CPU etc.)

Feral Interactives GameMode GameMode is a daemon/lib combo for Linux that allows games to request a set of optimisations be temporarily applied to the host OS.
Vulkan Hardware Capability Viewer The Vulkan Hardware Capability Viewer is open source and displays the Vulkan capabilities of your GPU.
primus_vk Vulkan GPU-offloading layer - It is basically the same as Primus for OpenGL.
Vulkan Device Chooser Layer A implementation of a Vulkan layer to force a specific physical device to be used. This is useful for Vulkan games which do not provide an option to choose the device themselves.
Optimus Manager This Linux program provides a solution for GPU switching on Optimus laptops (i.e laptops with a dual Nvidia/Intel GPU configuration).
LinVAM Linux Voice Activated Macro. Utilising Pocketsphinx, a lightweight voice to text engine you can specify voice commands for the tool to recognise and actions to perform.
pulseeffects Limiter, compressor, reverberation, equalizer and auto volume effects for Pulseaudio applications.
GtkStressTesting (GST) GST is a GTK system utility designed to stress and monitor various hardware components like CPU and RAM.
GreenWithEnvy (GWE) GWE is a GTK system utility designed to provide information, control the fans and overclock your NVIDIA video card and graphics processor.
NVTOP Nvtop stands for NVidia TOP, a (h)top like task monitor for NVIDIA GPUs. It can handle multiple GPUs and print information about them in a htop familiar way.
Simple screen recorder (ssr) SimpleScreenRecorder is a screen recorder for Linux. Despite the name, this program is actually quite complex. It’s ‘simple’ in the sense that it’s easier to use than ffmpeg/avconv or VLC :).
OBS Studio OBS Studio - Free and open source software for live streaming and screen recording.
ReplaySorcery An open-source, instant-replay solution for Linux.
MangoHud A Vulkan and OpenGL overlay for monitoring FPS, temperatures, CPU/GPU load and more.
GOverlay GOverlay is an open source project aimed to create a Graphical UI to manage Vulkan/OpenGL overlays.
vibrantLinux vibrantLinux is a gui tool that serves the same purpose as VibranceGUI on Windows. Currently only for NVidia cards.
vibrantLinux AMD vibrantLinux is a graphical tool that serves the same purpose as VibranceGUI on Windows. This fork of vibrantLinux only supports AMD cards.
ckb-next: RGB Driver for Linux and macOS ckb-next is an open-source driver for Corsair keyboards and mice. It aims to bring the features of Corsair’s proprietary CUE software to the Linux and Mac operating systems.
OpenRGB Open source RGB lighting control that doesn’t depend on manufacturer software. Supports Windows and Linux. ASUS, ASRock, Corsair, G.Skill, Gigabyte, HyperX, MSI, Razer, ThermalTake, and more supported.
CoreCtrl CoreCtrl is a Free and Open Source GNU/Linux application that allows you to control with ease your computer hardware using application profiles. It aims to be flexible, comfortable and accessible to regular users.
TuxClocker TuxClocker is a GUI/Qt5 overclocking tool. Currently supported cards are nvidia 600-series cards and newer, and AMD GPUs using the amdgpu driver until (not including) Radeon VII.

Tools/Addons for Games

truckersmp-cli A simple launcher for TruckersMP to play ATS or ETS2 in multiplayer. On Linux it’s possible to start TruckersMP through Proton.

Useful tools and links for Proton aka SteamPlay

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

So you all heard about Proton aka SteamPlay by Valve and/or are already using it (at least, I am :-) ). Here I want to gather some useful tools and links around this topic. I’ll update this list with more in the future, so please let me know, if you find something!

protontricks A simple wrapper that does winetricks things for Proton enabled games, requires Winetricks. This is a simple wrapper script that uses Winetricks to allow you to specify the game’s App ID rather than the full length directory to the Proton prefix itself.
protonfixes A module for applying fixes at runtime to unsupported games with Steam Proton without changing game installation files. The idea is to include seperate fixes that are only loaded when a game matching that ID is run. This should keep the individual game fixes from affecting any other games. Applying the fixes at runtime should also them to persist after game updates.
Proton Wine Manager Two tools that ease getting to and changing the proton wine prefixes. Similar to protontricks but nicer to use.
proton-shared-user-directory Creates a shared user directory for Proton prefixes and prevents Steam from deleting your save and config files.
ProtonDB The goal of ProtonDB is to gather reports from other gamers as they test games with Proton on Linux and provide aggregate scores of how well games perform.
Subreddit for SteamPlay The subreddit on Reddit for SteamPlay / Proton.
cheese talks to himself about Proton An very interesting in-depth look into Proton and the current state of Linux gaming as a whole.
official issue tracker for Proton Report any issues and/or whitelist requests here direct to Valve.
official FAQ for Proton Official FAQ for Proton from Valve.
README for Protons esync How-to raise your file-limits (needed for Protons esync).
README for Proton with runtime config options General README for Proton including the runtime config options.
Changelog for Proton The current changelog for available Proton versions.
GloriousEggroll / proton-ge-custom A custom build of Proton with the most recent release of vanilla wine, has ffmpeg enabled for faudio by default, and all of Proton’s patches ported over to be applied to wine, as well as wine-staging and vkd3d.
Tk-Glitch / Proton-tkg This is an addon script for wine-tkg-git.It can create Steamplay compatible wine builds based on wine-tkg-git + additional proton patches and libraries. Wine-staging based? Latest master? Yup, you can.
Tk-Glitch / wine-tkg-git Wine-tkg is a build-system aiming at easier custom wine builds creation. You can now easily get the “plain wine + pba + steam fix” build you’ve been dreaming about!
mf-install Media Foundation workaround for Wine/Proton.
Roberta Steam Play compatibility tool to run adventure games using native Linux ScummVM.
Luxtorpeda Steam Play compatibility tool to run games using native Linux engines.
Boxtron Steam Play compatibility tool to run DOS games using native Linux DOSBox.
~~Native2Proton~~ ~~Native2Proton is a runner for forcing the install and execution of Windows versions of Steam games rather than running the native Linux version.~~ (deprecated, you can now force-enable Steam Play in per-title properties in the Steam client itself).

HOWTO: Get access to the steam hardware survey popup

Sat, 10 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

You can force the Steam Survey Popup to appear on Linux as follows:

Entirely shutdown / quit from steam.
run: sed -i -e '/\"SurveyDate\"/ s/"[0-9].*"/"'$(date +%Y-%m-%d -d "1 year ago")'"/' ~/.local/share/Steam/config/config.vdf
Start steam. Source: Reddit, Changes: Reddit

Witcher 2: How to import save games from Witcher 1

Sat, 11 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

If you want to import your save games from The Witcher 1 into The Witcher 2, put your complete “The Witcher” folder into ~/.local/share/cdprojektred/witcher2/GameDocuments/ Source: Steam Forum

Guards: Howto fix the game not starting on Linux

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve recently bought Guards, because I really like turn-based games. But the game did not start on my system (it just exited without any error message), and the developer sadly had no clue how to fix it. So I investigated the issue, and found a fix, which might also help for other Unity-based games.

take a look at the Player.log. It is located here: /home/yourname/.config/unity3d/Battlecruiser/Guards 3D Mine said something like invalid resolution: 11x1000 (some bogus numbers here) so I opened the file prefs and saw this: pref name="Screenmanager Is Fullscreen mode" type="int">0 pref name="Screenmanager Resolution Height" type="int">11 pref name="Screenmanager Resolution Width" type="int">1000 which is clearly NOT my screen resolution and changed it to: pref name="Screenmanager Is Fullscreen mode" type="int">1 pref name="Screenmanager Resolution Height" type="int">1080 pref name="Screenmanager Resolution Width" type="int">1920 Also I’ve had to change the startup options in the Steam-Client, and then the game started and worked.

Uncensor Steam-Version of HuniePop

Sun, 08 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The Steam-Version of HuniePop is censored. To uncensor the game, do the following: a) go to the directory where you’ve installed the Steam-version, eg: cd /your/path/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/HuniePop b) create an empty file named “huniepop_uncensored_patch.game”, eg: touch huniepop_uncensored_patch.game c) That’s it! Start the game. You’ll now read in the main screen (right beneath the version number in the lower left corner) the word Uncensored. Enjoy! Hint: The GOG-Version is not censored.

Downfall on Linux not starting up

Sat, 24 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

If you want to play the Adventure-Horror-Game Downfall on Linux, you’ll currently also need The Cat Lady, because it needs some libraries from this game to start. Tested on Debian Jessie 64bit:

Install Downfall and The Cat Lady via Steam
Open the the data-dir of both install-folders, eg. /your/path/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/Downfall/data and /your/path/SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/TheCatLady/data in your favorite filebrowser
rename the libs32 and libs64-directories of Downfall to eg. libs32.old and libs64.old
copy over the complete libs32 and libs64-folders from The Cat Lady to Downfall
if you want to double scale the screen-size, open the file /your/path/steamapps/common/Downfall/Downfall in a text-editor and append "–gfxfilter hq2x" on the execution line, like: … “$SCRIPTPATH/data/ags64” “$@” “$SCRIPTPATH/data/” –gfxfilter hq2x There are 2 lines like that, depending if you run the game in 32 or 64 bits. Source: Steam Forum

PlayOnLinux: install The Saboteur (GOG-Version)

Sun, 13 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

There is currently no ready-made install-script for The Saboteur for PlayOnLinux available. But installation of the game in PoL is very easy:

create a new PlayOnLinux-drive

choose all three available options (other Wine-Version, configure Wine, install packages)
I’m using Wine version 1.9.8, but others may also work
configure wine to show a local desktop of 800 x 600
install package d3dx9

install the game using the GOG-installer

ignore the error-message at the last install step
create a shortcut to Saboteur.exe

start the game for the first time.

choose your options
save the game!
exit the game

now you have to manually edit the file config.ini, which is located for me in ~/documents/My Games/The Saboteur™/SaveGames (you may have a different path setting)

choose the parameters, as you like and depending on your hardware. If you get low FPS, experiment. :-) Here is my current config.ini:

DisplayProfile 2 ScreenWidth 1920 ScreenHeight 1080 TextureQuality 2 SliceQuality 1 ClipRange 3 ObjectQuality 1 RainDensity 75 Shadows 1 RefreshRate 60 PostProcessing 1 VSync 0 Windowed 0 // Available Fullscreen Resolutions // 800x600 @ 60Hz // 640x480 @ 60Hz // 1024x768 @ 60Hz // 1152x864 @ 60Hz // 1280x960 @ 60Hz // 1280x1024 @ 60Hz // 1400x1050 @ 60Hz // 1920x1080 @ 60Hz

PlayOnLinux: install The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (GOG-Version)

Sun, 13 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

There is currently also no ready-made install-script for the GOG-Version of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter for PlayOnLinux available. But installation of the game in PoL is very easy, if you pay attention to some details:

install a program that’s not listed, create a new PlayOnLinux-drive

choose all three available options (other Wine-Version, configure Wine, install packages)
I don’t use a 64 bit version of Wine, because DotNet is not available for 64 bit.. I’m using Wine version 1.9.23 (32 bit), but others may also work
configure wine to show a local desktop of 800 x 600 and (important!) capture the mouse in fullscreen
install packages d3dx9, dotnet40

install the game using the GOG-installer

ignore the error-message at the last install step
create a shortcut to Launcher.exe

start the game for the first time.

choose your options in the launcher

Fix for stuttering/missing audio in cutscenes of Saints Row 2

Thu, 19 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re using Pulse Audio, there is a fix for the stuttering or even missing audio in the cutscenes of Saints Row 2:

open the properties of Saints Row 2 in your steam-client, select local files and browse local files
locate the file “saintsrow2” (it’s a shell-script) and do a backup of this file
edit the file “saintsrow2” and add export PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60 right before this line: ./saferun.sh ./saintsrow2.i386 “$@” NOTE: this does NOT fix the missing music in some radio stations! The problem with this is some forgotten converted audio files in the port of the game.

Shadow of Mordor doesn't show bodies or ground texture

Thu, 19 May 2016 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re playing Shadow of Mordor with nvidia linux driver 364.12 and have graphical glitches like missing bodies or textures, add the following in your steam-client to “Properties > General > Set Launch Options…”: __GL_ShaderPortabilityWarnings=0 %command% Source: Steam Forum

List of Unity Games in Steam which need special Steam startup-options to work properly

Sat, 06 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

In this Thread I’ll try to collect a list of Unity Games which need special startup-options (Properties -> Set launch options) in Steam to work properly. Please add more to this thread, if you’ve found out more games that need special options! Use LC_ALL=C %command% (if your current Linux locale isn’t set to C) for these games to fix graphical glitches, savegame and/or controller issues:

Alien Robot Monsters
Battletech
Cyberline Racing
D Series OFF ROAD Driving Simulation
Gnomes Vs. Fairies
Gone Home
Greenwood the Last Ritual
Grow Home
Guards
Hard West
Hatred
Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?!
Living Dungeon
Lucius 2
Majestic Nights
Man O’ War: Corsair - Warhammer Naval Battles
Never Alone
PULSAR: Lost Colony
Shelter 2
SmuggleCraft
Sunken
Sword Coast Legends
Tyranny
Wasteland 2 (and Directors Cut)
Worms W.M.D.

Divinity: Original Sin - highlight Items with Key

Wed, 06 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

If you are looking for the function to highlight all visible Items with your Keyboard, you will notice, that the Standard-Key (ALT) is not working. In the Linux-version of D:OE this function has by default been mapped instead to the X-key, but you can change this in the options anytime.

GRID Autosport: fix startup-bug on Steam

Sun, 13 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Depending on the local language/locale code settings of your Linux-computer, it is likely that GRID Autosport doesn’t fully load. When you launch it, the pre-game options-panel displays, and after closing it, the GRID Autosport Logo is displayed, but the game loads forever. There is a very easy fix for this problem: Set the launch-options for GRID Autosport in your Steam-Client to LANG=C %command% and GRID Autosport will work fine! Source: Steam Forum

Skip Intro-Movies on Metro 2033/Last Light Redux

Sat, 24 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

If you don’t want to see the Intro-Movies on Metro 2033 and/or Metro Last Light (Redux), just hold down the E-Key while the movies are being played. This key will skip any Ingame-Movie, except the “Legal Video” at the beginning. To also remove this video, go to the installation folder and delete or rename “legal.ogv”. If the game seems to load forever after this change, just create an empty file and rename it to legal.ogv.

Sword Coast Legends: Fix for graphical and savegame-bugs on Linux

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

To fix all graphical and other bugs in Sword Coast Legends, just set LC_ALL=C %command% in your steam-client as launch-options!

Prevent hard Kernel-crashes in UE (and possibly other) games

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

There exists a bug in the Linux xpad-driver, which can lead to serious hard-crashes mostly in UE (Unreal Engine) games, when a Xbox360-controller is connected to your computer What you can observe when you hit this bug varies from simple Kernel-messages to complete Kernel-lockups with “hard crashing” your system. There is a fix for it, but you have to recompile the “xpad”-module. The following was written by the user metalcaedes in a Steam-Forum.

Bioshock Infinite - prevent freeze

Tue, 24 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Bioshock Infinite for Linux seems to freeze on Multi-Core-CPUs. With two little changes, we can minimize or even prevent this freezes: a) deactivate the “Steam-Overlay” for this game b) limit the number of CPUs/Cores the game is running on through the Steam-Client: Properties -> Set Launch Options -> taskset -c 0,2 %command%

Magnetic by Nature (Steam) won't start

Mon, 16 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

If you have trouble with “Magnetic by Nature” on Steam not starting (or hanging while “loading”), open the “Properties”-Page of the game, and click on “Set Launch Options”. Then type in: LC_ALL=C %command% and start again. :-)

Steam-Achievments for The 39 Steps

Fri, 29 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

If you run into the same problem as me, that Steam-Achievments for “The 39 Steps” are not working on the Linux Platform, do the following: cd ~/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/The39Steps ln -s lib/libsteam_api.so libsteam_api.so Now your Achievments will work also on Steam for Linux! Cheers, PlayingTux