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Linux Quick Start Guide

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BlueInterlude edited this page Jan 24, 2025 · 13 revisions

Linux Quick Start Guide

Table of Contents

  1. If you do not already have Flatpak installed, see https://flatpak.org/setup/ for instructions.
    • If you are on SteamOS (Steam Deck) or Bazzite, Flatpaks are pre-installed.
  2. Open your software manager and search for "Heroic Games Launcher", double check that the software manager is installing the Flatpak version and install the application.
    • If you are on KDE (SteamOS), the software manager is named "Discover". If you are on GNOME, the software manager is named "Software".
    • Alternatively, you can open a terminal and type flatpak install com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl to install the Heroic Games Launcher Flatpak.
  3. Once Heroic Games Launcher is installed, open the application and proceed to the next section.

First Steps

  1. Open the Heroic Games Launcher.
  2. On the left-hand side of the screen, click the Log in button and log into your Epic, GOG, or Amazon account. If you have accounts for all three, you may log into all three on this menu.
    • Once you have logged into your desired accounts, your Heroic library will now contain games from the various stores. However, make sure to follow all of the steps in this section before you start to install any games.
  3. On the left-hand side of the screen, click Settings, Advanced, and check Use UMU as Proton runtime under Experimental Features
  4. On the left-hand side of the screen, click Wine Manager, click Proton-GE at the top of the screen, and download either the latest numbered Proton-GE version or Proton-GE Latest
  5. You may now proceed to install games from your library. On the left-hand side of the screen, click Library (this will only appear if you have logged into an account), select a game to install.
  6. If you are on the library view, click the small down arrow to install the game. If you are on the game page, click the Install button to install the game.
    • Library View
    • Game Page
  7. Installation Page:
    • Typically, if a game offers both Linux and Windows installation options, you will want to select the Windows option. In some cases, the Linux version will work but typically the Linux version may require older libraries or may be outright broken.
    • On the installation page, you may select both the game's installation path and the game's prefix. The game installation page will contain the primary contents of the game. The prefix is equivalent to a "virtual Windows C: Drive" and will contain any dependencies and game saves.
    • Click Show Wine Settings and select the Proton-GE version you installed in Step 4.
    • Once you are satisfied with the options on the installation page, you may press Install
  8. Once the game is finished installing, you may play the game.

For future installations, you do not need to repeat the Umu and Proton-GE steps above. However, new Proton-GE versions release every few months or so. These releases may contain game-specific fixes and general improvements to Proton. You do not necessarily need to update to the latest Proton-GE version when it releases but it is typically a good idea to keep up with new releases and to not lag too far behind. When installing new Proton-GE versions, you do not necessarily need to apply these versions to already installed games but rather ensure you are selecting the latest version when you are installing new games.

How to Add Heroic Games to Steam

Non-Steam games added to Steam will automatically appear in Game Mode under the "Non-Steam" tab. In order to add non-Steam games to Steam, follow the below steps.

Manual

These steps will cover how to manually add a Heroic game to Steam after it is installed.

  1. Open the Heroic Games Launcher.
  2. Either install a game or select an already installed game in Heroic.
  3. Click the three vertical dots in the top-right section of the screen.
  4. Click Add to Steam.
  5. The game will now be added to Steam and appear under the "Non-Steam" tab in Game Mode.

Automatic

These steps will cover how to automatically add a Heroic game to Steam after it is installed.

  1. Open the Heroic Games Launcher.
  2. On the left-hand side of the screen, click Settings.
  3. On the left-hand side of the screen, click Add games to Steam automatically.
  4. Any newly installed Heroic games will automatically get added to Steam and appear under the "Non-Steam" tab in Game Mode.

How to Add Heroic Games to Non-Steam Front-Ends

If the front-end you are using supports desktop files, you can create desktop files in Heroic and add these to a folder of your choice. For example, if you are using ES-DE, you may copy these desktop files to the desktop folder in order to run Heroic games directly from ES-DE.

  1. Open the Heroic Games Launcher.
  2. Either install a game or select an already installed game in Heroic.
  3. Click the three vertical dots in the top-right section of the screen.
  4. Click Add Shortcut.
  5. A desktop file for the game will be added to the desktop, you may move these to a folder of your choice.

Flatpak Permissions

By design, Flatpaks are sandboxed applications with limited access to your filesystem and host system. This ensures increased security. For more information, see https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/sandbox-permissions.html. However, sometimes, you may want to grant a Flatpak additional permissions to access a folder it may not have access to otherwise. For Heroic, this would allow you to install games in additional locations or grant Heroic permissions to access additional folders.

This section will cover how to grant Heroic additional permissions. Select one of the below methods.

Flatseal

Flatseal is an application that allows you to easily manage Flatpaks and their permissions.

  1. Open your software manager and search for "Flatseal", double check that the software manager is installing the Flatpak version and install the application.
    • If you are on KDE (SteamOS), the software manager is named "Discover". If you are on GNOME, the software manager is named "Software".
    • Alternatively, you can open a terminal and type flatpak install com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl to install the Heroic Games Launcher Flatpak.
  2. Open Flatseal and select Heroic Games Launcher on the left-hand side of the screen.
  3. Scroll down to Filesystem
  4. Under Other Files, type the name of the folder you would like to grant Heroic access to
    • If you are trying to grant Heroic access to an external storage device, keep in mind these external storage devices are mounted as file paths on Linux. Heroic has access to /media and /run/media by default. However, if there is another storage path, you may add that in Flatseal.
    • If you are trying to grant Heroic access to a folder in your home folder, you may type ~ as a substitute for home. For example, if you are trying to grant Heroic access to $HOME/Applications, you may type ~/Applications instead.
    • Added paths will have a blue triangle to the right which will state Changed by the user if you hover over the blue triangle.
  5. Restart the Heroic Games Launcher if it was open prior to making any permission changes. Once Heroic is restarted, Heroic will now access to whichever folder you added in Flatseal.

Command Line

This section will only cover how to grant Heroic access to additional folders. For a full list of permissions you can grant via the command line, see https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/flatpak-command-reference.html#flatpak-override.

  1. Open a terminal of your choice.
    • If you are on SteamOS, you may open Konsole.
  2. Use the following template:
    • flatpak override com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl --filesystem=/PATH/TO/FOLDER
    • For example, if you are trying to grant Heroic access to ~/Applications, type flatpak override com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl --filesystem=~/Applications
      • If the path has a space, make sure to use quotes. For example, flatpak override com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl --filesystem="/mnt/ntsf1/My Harddrive"
    • If you get error: Permission denied, add sudo in front of the command:
      • sudo flatpak override com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl --filesystem=/PATH/TO/FOLDER
  3. Once you have adjusted the template command to your path, press enter.
  4. Restart the Heroic Games Launcher if it was open prior to making any permission changes. Once Heroic is restarted, Heroic will now access to whichever folder you added via command line.

If you would like to revoke Heroic's access to a folder, use the following command:

flatpak override override com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl --nofilesystem=/PATH/TO/FOLDER

KDE

If you are on KDE (Steam Deck included), you may use KDE's built in Flatpak permissions manager to grant Heroic access to additional folders.

  1. Open the System Settings
  2. Under Personalization, click Applications
  3. Click Flatpak Permission Settings, click Heroic Games Launcher, scroll down to Filesystem Access
  4. Click Add New and type the name of the folder you would like to grant Heroic access to
    • If you are trying to grant Heroic access to an external storage device, keep in mind these external storage devices are mounted as file paths on Linux. Heroic has access to /media and /run/media by default. However, if there is another storage path, you may add that in Flatseal.
    • If you are trying to grant Heroic access to a folder in your home folder, you may type ~ as a substitute for home. For example, if you are trying to grant Heroic access to $HOME/Applications, you may type ~/Applications instead.
  5. Click the drop-down and select read/write, click OK
  6. Restart the Heroic Games Launcher if it was open prior to making any permission changes. Once Heroic is restarted, Heroic will now access to whichever folder you added via command line.

Troubleshooting

If you suddenly notice any issues with Heroic, open a terminal of your choice and enter the command below:

flatpak update && flatpak install --reinstall com.heroicgameslauncher.hgl
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