This page is dedicated to information on how to use our favorite games on Linux.
We are using Linux Mint as a basis, but your favorite distribution may be different. We chose Linux Mint because this Linux distribution does not require the user to use system commands too often, and many things can be done using the main menu.
Basic questions and answers
Drivers and video cards. First of all, you need to resolve the issue with video card drivers. If your system works fully with your video card, then you can try running modern games, such as Hogwarts Legacy. Otherwise, only relatively old games will be available to you. If you don’t understand something at this stage, we recommend discussing it in one of our chats.
But in general, if your computer has a built-in Intel HD4000 level video subsystem, it may be sufficient for games released before 2012, as well as more modern games based on the Ren’Py engine.
Games from Steam. If you have purchased games from this store, be sure to install the store application. For example, using your system’s Application Manager. This will allow you to run games from your library by specifying the path to their executable file. You don’t need to install anything in Steam: even if the games don’t run directly from Steam, they can work when launched in other ways, for example, by specifying the game’s executable file with the exe extension to the emulator or Wine..
Games for Windows and older game consoles. For these, you can install PortProton (using the Application Manager built into your system). This is a set of emulators and shells for Wine software.
Availability of cartridge and disc images for the Wine virtual file system. To allow Wine-based emulators to access these images, create a link to your game image folder and place this link in your Home folder (/home/[username]/), which is equivalent to the user folder in Windows. This can be done by dragging the cartridge folder to this Home folder with the right mouse button and selecting the “Create Link” command from the menu that appears (similar to shortcuts in Windows). In the virtual file system, this folder is available as Drive H.
Wine prefixes. There are usually two settings available:
- Default. Used for most programs (software) and games.
- Dotnet. Required for programs created on the .Net platform. Programs that use this platform are available for download on our website.
3D API versions. Here, a lot depends on the video card drivers and the age of the video cards themselves. For example, for NVidia GT 600 series video cards, the Vulkan API is not available, and it is better to choose an option without its support. This can affect the quality of graphics and the overall performance of games. For newer hardware, you can usually leave the default value.
Wine versions. This is a bit ambiguous: on the one hand, newer versions are usually better, but some games may require an older version. The issue is often resolved through experimentation.
Running programs based on the .Net platform
Just right-click on the executable file (with the exe extension) and select the “Open with PortProton” command. Then, in the launch window, select the Dotnet prefix.
Ren’Py (WaW: Stories)
To run games on this engine, it is usually enough to run the file with the sh extension in the terminal (the game will work as reliably as possible, since nothing needs to be emulated). To do this, it is usually enough to right-click on the file and select the “Run with (program) Terminal” command.
If there is no such file, you can either ask the game author to make a Linux build of the game or experiment with running the file with the py extension. As a last resort, use the same methods as for Windows games.
Game engines for Windows
Here, the situation largely depends on the characteristics of the game engine, its age, and the technologies it uses. And, of course, on the video card drivers: if your computer is fairly new and the original video card drivers are available for it, then there are usually no problems with launching: you just right-click on the game’s executable file and select the “Run with — PortProton” command. Then you just use the default settings and play.
If your system uses an inferior driver, which is often the case for older devices, it may be difficult to play games on hardware-intensive engines such as Unreal Engine: you will have to look for workarounds and fine-tune the emulation settings. But even this does not guarantee a 100% chance of a normal gaming experience.
Console emulation
For console games, you can use the emulators that come with PortProton:
- Gameboy (GB, GBC, GBA): VBA-M.
- Playstation 1: ePSXe.
- Playstation 2: PCSX2 (the Linux version can be found on the official website of this emulator).
- XBox: xemu.
- XBox 360: Xenia.
- PSP: PPSSPP.
- Wii, Gamecube: Cemu, Dolphin.
Discuss this topic with other members of our community
You can do this at the addresses listed on the feedback page. We do not provide a complete list in the articles, as it is subject to change.
Communicated with Linux and wrote this article: AlexeyMS
P.S. The article may be supplemented as new information becomes available.