Linux Discussion

[ShadowZone]

For what it's worth, I'm on Ubuntu 24.04 and the version of protontricks that was getting installed by default from the Ubuntu repos was too old. I needed to remove that and install protontricks with pipx. The older version didn't yet have dotnet9 as an option for install.

I went with one of the video guides from the One True Linux Thread and used pipx to install protontricks, but still got the error with the magic number. But yeah, not on the same distro as in the video but Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

 

[unit327]

Someone added a "linux release please" thread to the suggestions forum, go and give it an upvote:

P

Thread 'KSA and Linux compatibility'

Friday at 1:52 PM

Hello,

I'm a fan of KSP version 1. I just learned that you've released the first public pre-alpha version.

I'm only a Linux user (Debian 13), not Windows, and unfortunately, there isn't a Linux version of KSA ;-(

Is this planned for the near future ?

Could you at least release your game on Steam so that the Valve team can work on KSA and Linux compatibility via Proton so that we can all play it ?

Sincerely.

• phil995511
• Replies: 9
• Forum: KSA Feedback and Suggestions

• 

The "upvote" button is the little ^ chevron on the top right of the post.

 

[EidLeWeise]

I've 'technically' dabbled with Linux since the 90s installing MKLinux on my old 7300 powermac (I think!) but that was mostly for tinkering, and doing early java development. Since then I ran linux (Ubuntu) on my Work PC very unofficially (I mean everyone new I was doing it, but it was a case of don't ask, don't tell, and so long as you can work we don't care)! Still doing java development and everything was cross platform, and honestly I prefer developing on linux than on windows! Sadly that changed when work gave me a locked down laptop as my new PC, and didn't let it boot off of a thumb drive etc to install linux. This was back in 2012 or so. For my gaming PC I've been sticking to windows until I got myself a GPD Win 4 which after a month or two of putting up with a handheld running windows looked for gaming distro's and settled on Bazzite. Everything worked! Steam games were super easy, but even GTA worked great in story mode, and frankly GTA Online these days can take a flying leap!. I didn't care about it being immutable, it just worked! I stayed like that for 6 to 8 months Bazzite for my handheld, but still Windows as my "real" gaming OS. Then about November 2024 I started getting increasingly frustrated with the moves MS were taking, bloatware, ads, co-pilot, you name it. So in January I decided to dual boot my gaming PC still with Bazzite (they're a nice bunch over there) and basically I've never looked back. All the games I actively want to play just work and I am not constantly having to tinker. I can stream just fine. I have access to everything I need. Sure there are issues with Fortnite and other "competitive multiplayer" I don't play them anyway. My biggest issue is that I cant work out a way to play Forza with my son on his x-box since whilst Forza itself plays great, it's using the Windows Gamebar for the multiplayer stuff.

It'll be lovely is KSA gets native support, although I've gotten it running in Lutris just fine. I still want Linux to take off though!

o7

 

[phil995511]

Linux Mint has been very slow to receive updates, even compared to Debian. The flagship DE (Cinnamon) hasn't had anywhere near as much work put into it as KDE or Gnome over the past few years either. It was a good recommendation a few years ago, but I'd be hesitant to recommend it now, especially to someone with latest-gen hardware.

Fedora (which Baazite is based on) is a good, fairly stable, general-purpose distro. It'd be what I recommend. Most distros that try to focus on one specific use case tend to just be slightly annoying to use for anything else.

Mint isn't any slower than Debian at receiving updates. It's an LTS distribution, so it's guaranteed to be stable and functional. Cinnamon is constantly maintained and improved. Clem, the Mint leader, wouldn't be happy to read such criticism ;-(

Mint remains an excellent choice even today.

Its kernel can be updated throughout its lifespan, as can the official Nvidia drivers.

And for AMD GPU users, Mesa and the AMD GPU firmware are constantly updated, which again guarantees perfect compatibility for gaming.


Installing Nvidia drivers on Fedora is not easy for a beginner !! And when a new version is released with a new kernel, there are often incompatibilities with Nvidia drivers for a good month while they are being updated. It's really not a distribution for beginners, but for experienced users.

Regarding Bazzite, I haven't tested it, but it's primarily a gaming distribution like Steam OS.

If you want to use a game-oriented distribution really easy to use, opt for GLF OS… All the drivers needed for the game are included by default, whether for graphics cards, but also for game controllers, etc.

Regards.

 

[GhentZ]

Did anybody try to run it directly under mono? It would be cool, but I doubt that all libraries are not platform dependent.

 

[Carnildo]

Did anybody try to run it directly under mono? It would be cool, but I doubt that all libraries are not platform dependent.

Doesn't work: "Cannot open assembly 'KSA.exe': File does not contain a valid CIL image."

 

[Ateb Krassnitsa]

I for one would hope for KSA to just work on Linux as KSP does. No special setup needed. And, most importantly, mods 100% working the same.

Since this will probably never be released on Steam, we will not get the "curated linux adjustments" that makes so many windows-only games work on linux nowadays.

Personally, I would not want to fiddle around to make a windows-only game work on linux, it would need to be first-class supported )(== a real linux port) or at least like it is with steam, seemingly so.

I can only beg you to not make this windows-only.

 

[Per]

Just a hint: use flatplak . A package like Heroic Games Launcher as package in the flatpak hub, makes life much easier even with Debian.

 

[Ateb Krassnitsa]

Just a hint: use flatplak . A package like Heroic Games Launcher as package in the flatpak hub, makes life much easier even with Debian.

Thanks, I use Heroic Games Launcher and Steam currently. But how does that make KSA playable? Will it be offered through one of the Heroic supported platforms?
Flatpak would make modding very fiddly I am afraid, let alone wine.
A normal, native linux program that can then be packaged by packagers properly (including flatpak for those who want it) would be ideal in my opinion. I think us Linux tinkerers got so used to fiddle around to "make things work", that we forgot how easy life could be if we would simply get a native executable. As it is with KSP.
Well, without more market power probably won't happen

 

[Per]

You can move the folder for installing games in Heroic Games Launcher move to any place when looking at the config. I have my folder on a nfs drive (10Gbit network). To do this, allow the Heroic l,auncher to access /mn/<drive>/games with flatseal . It's muchg better than the solution with Steam

 

[BadSoap]

Going through protontricks or Lutris, it keeps giving a popup complaining of not having .NET 9.0, even though I installed that. I'm out of my comfort zone with this stuff, so it might be that somewhere something is incompatible. Or perhaps my very old hardware is the issue. No clue, but it doesn't work yet.

Going through the commandline using WINEPREFIX and/or protontricks gives me a SyntaxError: Invalid file magic number

I had a lot of the same and/or similar issues. I got it running in a glitchy way through Steam, but couldn't get it to run under Lutris, then I found a YAML script on Lutris.net: https://lutris.net/games/kitten-space-agency/

So I fully removed the installation of Lutris I'd made and followed this nice and accurate guide to getting the latest versions of it and Wine installed:

(Make sure you install Wine before you install Lutris, as it needs the Wine stuff to install properly).

I got GE-Proton10-25 via ProtonUP-Qt (great tool that's in Mint's repo).

Lutris seems to be able to use Steam's ~/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d, so I put it there (or you can symlink it there if you want it actually sitting somewhere else).

I think the Lutris YAML script needs to have its dotnet9 entry changed to dotnetdesktop9.

Then select Add Game > Install from a local install script (top left corner of Lutris) and follow the instructions.

The only weird thing I have is that the Transfer Planner window (F4) occurs as a separate window, so I have to set KSA to borderless in its menu.