Linux Setup

Elite Dangerous on Linux

A practical guide to getting Elite Dangerous running on Linux with Steam and Proton, paired with the supporting tools that make it worth playing.

This guide covers the base installation — one game, one account, one set of tools. If you want to run multiple pilots simultaneously, see DUAL_PILOT.md once you have this working.

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System requirements

This guide was written on Arch Linux with i3 as the window manager. The steps are the same regardless of distro or desktop environment — path conventions and package names are the only things that differ, and those are called out explicitly where they matter.

You will need:

• Steam (via your distro repo or the Steam installer)
• Python 3.11 or later
• A terminal you are comfortable with
• A private Discord server for notifications (free — highly recommended)

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Step 1 — Install Steam and Elite Dangerous

Install Steam via your package manager or from the Steam website. Then install Elite Dangerous through Steam, open its Properties, and set your Proton version under the Compatibility tab. Proton Hotfix is a solid default — your experience may vary depending on your hardware and driver stack.

Launch Elite Dangerous once through Steam to confirm it runs and to log in to your first account. Then close it.

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Step 2 — Minimal ED Launcher

The standard Frontier launcher is resource-heavy and unreliable on Linux. Minimal ED Launcher replaces it with a lightweight alternative that handles authentication cleanly and gets out of the way.

Download the latest release from the GitHub page and extract it somewhere permanent. The author's documentation covers installation thoroughly — follow it. This guide will not duplicate instructions that may change between releases.

A straightforward location that works well:

mkdir -p ~/games/ed-mods/medl
# extract the release archive here

When Minimal ED Launcher runs for the first time it will create a settings file at ~/.config/min-ed-launcher/settings.json. A working baseline configuration:

{
    "apiUri": "https://api.zaonce.net",
    "watchForCrashes": false,
    "language": null,
    "autoUpdate": false,
    "checkForLauncherUpdates": true,
    "maxConcurrentDownloads": 4,
    "forceUpdate": "",
    "processes": [],
    "shutdownProcesses": [],
    "filterOverrides": [
        { "sku": "FORC-FDEV-DO-1000", "filter": "edo" },
        { "sku": "FORC-FDEV-DO-38-IN-40", "filter": "edh4" }
    ],
    "additionalProducts": []
}

Important: before using Minimal ED Launcher, confirm that your Frontier account is linked to your Steam account. Both can originate through Steam — what matters is that the Frontier account exists and is connected. Log in at frontierstore.net to verify.

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Step 3 — Launch script

Put this script somewhere on your $PATH — ~/.local/bin/ is a clean choice.

vim ~/.local/bin/edp1

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Environment variables
export ED_JOURNAL_DIR="$HOME/games/ED-Logs/EDP1/"
export STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH="$HOME/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/EDP1"
export STEAM_COMPAT_CLIENT_INSTALL_PATH="$HOME/.local/share/Steam"

# If compat data path doesn't exist, copy from 359320 (default ED install)
if [ ! -d "$STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH" ]; then
  cp -r "$HOME/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/359320" "$STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH"
fi

# Ensure directories from env vars exist
for dir in "$ED_JOURNAL_DIR" "$STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH" "$STEAM_COMPAT_CLIENT_INSTALL_PATH"; do
  mkdir -p "$dir"
done

# Launch Elite Dangerous via Minimal ED Launcher
"$HOME/games/ed-mods/medl/MinEdLauncher" \
  "$HOME/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton Hotfix/proton" \
  run \
  "$HOME/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/EDLaunch.exe" \
  /novr \
  /autorun \
  /autoquit \
  /edo \
  /frontier \
  edp1 &

# Wait for the game to reach the main menu before launching companions
sleep 60
python "$HOME/.local/bin/EDLD/edld.py" -p EDP1 &

Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/edp1

Run it from a terminal the first time so that Minimal ED Launcher can prompt you to authenticate with Frontier and write the credential file it will use for future logins. You only need to do this once per account.

The sleep values give the game time to reach the main menu before companion tools try to attach. Adjust them to suit your hardware — slower machines may need more time.

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Step 4 — EDLD

EDLD monitors your Elite Dangerous journal in real time: a dashboard of your commander, ship, session and career, alerts for hull, shields and fuel, and, if you want them, posts to a Discord webhook.

Follow the installation instructions in the repo root, then configure EDLD for your pilot profile — see example.config.toml for a complete reference.

EDLD's config.toml lives in ~/.local/share/EDLD/config.toml (created by install.sh). At minimum, set your journal directory and Discord webhook:

[EDP1]
Settings.JournalFolder = "/home/username/games/ED-Logs/EDP1"
Discord.WebhookURL     = "https://discord.com/api/webhooks/..."
Discord.UserID         = 123456789098765432

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Step 5 — Session cleanup script

When you are done playing, this script cleanly terminates all ED-related processes in the correct order:

vim ~/.local/bin/edquit

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# edquit — terminate all Elite Dangerous companion processes

# Defined targets — only these processes are touched
TARGETS=(
    "EliteDangerous64.exe"
    "MinEdLauncher"
    "edld.py"
)

for target in "${TARGETS[@]}"; do
    pids=$(pgrep -f "$target" 2>/dev/null) || true
    if [[ -n "$pids" ]]; then
        echo "Stopping: $target (PID $pids)"
        kill $pids
    fi
done

# Give processes a moment to exit gracefully
sleep 2

# Force-kill anything that did not respond
for target in "${TARGETS[@]}"; do
    pids=$(pgrep -f "$target" 2>/dev/null) || true
    if [[ -n "$pids" ]]; then
        echo "Force-killing: $target (PID $pids)"
        kill -9 $pids
    fi
done

echo "Done."

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/edquit

Only the three named processes are targeted. Nothing else is touched.

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Adjusting sleep timers

The sleep 60 in the launch script is a starting point, and it is there for companion tools that need the game running before they start. EDLD does not: started before the game, it picks up the new journal as soon as the game opens one, and nothing is missed. If you run other tools that do need it and your machine is slower, increase the wait; there is no penalty for erring on the long side.

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Fly dangerous, CMDR.

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Guide by CMDR MERRICK CALBRUIN