Welcome to the unofficial Flathub distribution of Minecraft. To get started, as customary for the installation of any Flathub app, make sure to follow the setup guide before installing the Minecraft Flatpak.
For non-vanilla Minecraft players, please read these important usage notes.
If you want to use various resource packs or modifications (mods), you can transfer the resources (typically .jar files) to ~/.var/app/com.mojang.Minecraft/.minecraft.
A common way to use Minecraft resource packs and modifications is through Minecraft Forge. Essentially, Forge will act as an entire Minecraft instance that you will launch. Each Minecraft Forge instance is versioned similarly to regular Minecraft instances (e.g. one instance for Forge 1.7.10, another instance for Forge 1.15.2). Note that each Forge version corresponds to a regular Minecraft instance of that version, only modded to allow for easy resource pack and mod installations.
To install, download a version of Minecraft Forge from their official website. This will be a .jar file. Once you download the .jar file, open it from your File Manager or using a terminal by executing java -jar /path/to/your/download/location/forge*.jar (you need to have Java Runtime Environment installed on your system). This will launch the forge installation window. There, navigate to ~/.var/app/com.mojang.Minecraft/.minecraft and click "OK" (screenshot shown below).
Now, when you restart the Minecraft launcher, you will see a new Minecraft listed clearly with "Forge" and the version number you installed. Happy modding!
Please note that Minecraft Launcher currently has a bug causing Microsoft accounts to not remain logged in when used on a Steam Deck. For now, the only easy solution to this issue is to use Prism Launcher instead.
