Installation Linux

RiftLauncher publishes five Linux build types: AppImage, DEB, RPM, pacman and Flatpak. AppImage works on any distro. AppImage, DEB, RPM and pacman all update themselves automatically; Flatpak doesn't yet, so with it you'll need to grab a new file yourself for each release.

Note: the Flatpak build isn't packaged with .NET, so on an immutable distro Vintage Story itself may not work through it yet.

AppImage (recommended)

1. Go to the GitHub Releases page and download the .AppImage file from the latest release's Assets list.

2. Move it somewhere you won't accidentally delete it, for example your Desktop or ~/Applications.

3. Make it executable:

   chmod +x ./riftlauncher-X.X.X.AppImage

4. Double-click it to open RiftLauncher.

Note: some users have reported that AppImageLauncher interferes with RiftLauncher's automatic updates. If you use it, make sure you're on the latest version when you install.

DEB, RPM or pacman

Grab the file matching your distro's package manager from the Releases page and install it once:

sudo dpkg -i riftlauncher-X.X.X.deb
# or
sudo rpm -i riftlauncher-X.X.X.x86_64.rpm
# or
sudo pacman -U riftlauncher-X.X.X.pacman

Then just open RiftLauncher like any other app. From that point on the launcher updates itself: it downloads the next package and applies it through your package manager, so the package database stays consistent. Since installing a package needs elevated privileges, expect a system password prompt (pkexec, sudo or similar) each time an update applies.

There's no repository or AUR package yet, so the first install is always a manual download; if you'd like to maintain one, say hi on the Discord.

Flatpak

flatpak install riftlauncher-X.X.X.flatpak

Flatpak doesn't auto-update yet, so check the Releases page for new versions yourself.

Moving your config between build types

AppImage, DEB, RPM and pacman builds store their config under ~/.config; Flatpak builds store it in Flatpak's own per-app data directory under ~/.var/app/. If you switch build types and want to keep your installations, versions and settings, copy your config.json from the old location into the new one, then restart RiftLauncher.

Installing Vintage Story's own dependencies

RiftLauncher itself needs no extra dependencies, but Vintage Story does, and this isn't automated since Linux distros vary too much to cover them all from inside the launcher. Pick your distro below.

Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives

wget https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh -O dotnet-install.sh
chmod +x ./dotnet-install.sh
sudo ./dotnet-install.sh --channel 7.0 --install-dir /usr/lib/dotnet
sudo ./dotnet-install.sh --channel 8.0 --install-dir /usr/lib/dotnet
sudo ./dotnet-install.sh --channel 10.0 --install-dir /usr/lib/dotnet
sudo apt install libopenal-dev mono-complete
sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144

You'll also need your graphics driver installed; how to do that depends on your card and distro.

Arch and derivatives

sudo pacman -S dotnet-runtime-7.0 dotnet-runtime-8.0 dotnet-runtime glibc openal opengl-driver mono

Again, install your graphics driver separately first.

SteamOS

sudo steamos-readonly disable
sudo pacman-key --init
sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux
sudo pacman-key --populate holo
sudo pacman -S dotnet-runtime-7.0 dotnet-runtime-8.0 dotnet-runtime glibc openal opengl-driver mono
sudo steamos-readonly enable

This sequence is inherited from the original VS Launcher docs; nobody on the current team has a Steam Deck, so it hasn't been verified step by step. If you run it and something is off, a report on the Discord would be very welcome.

NixOS

AppImages need a couple of options enabled, since they can't see system libraries like .NET by default:

programs.appimage.enable = true;
programs.appimage.binfmt = true;
programs.appimage.package = pkgs.appimage-run.override { extraPkgs = pkgs: [
  pkgs.dotnet-runtime
]; };

This enables AppImage support system-wide, and every AppImage on the system gets .NET available to it, not just RiftLauncher's.

Something not working?

Report it on the issue tracker, or ask on the Stratum Discord server or the official Vintage Story Discord.