A curated list of trick to run native linux games on Wayland
| Game | Wayland | Engine | Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aragami | no | Unity | SDL2: crash |
| Baba Is You | no | Multimedia Fusion 2 | SDL2: crash |
| Bastion | yes* | FNA-XNA | SDL2 preload mouse KO, xbox pad OK |
| BattleBlock Theater® | no | - | SDL2: crash |
| Besiege | no | Unity | SDL2 : no effect |
| BioShock Infinite | yes* | Unreal Engine 3 | SDL2 preload |
| BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien | no | - | SDL2: crash |
| Black Mesa | yes* | Source | SDL2 preload |
| Borderlands 2 | no | Unreal Engine 3 | SDL2: error |
| Celeste | yes* | FNA-XNA | SDL2 preload |
| Chivalry: Medieval Warfare | yes* | Unreal Engine 3 | SDL2 preload mouse KO |
| Cities: Skylines | no | Unity | launcher fail to start game |
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | yes* | Source | SDL2 preload |
| Crusader Kings II | no | Clausewitz Engine | SDL2: crash |
| Day of Infamy | yes* | Source | SDL2 preload |
| Dead Cells | no | - | SDL2: crash |
| Deus Ex: Mankind Divided | no | Dawn Engine | SDL2: no visible window |
| DiRT Rally | no | Ego Engine | SDL2: no visible window |
| Distance | no | - | SDL2 : no effect |
| Dreamfall Chapters | no | Unity | SDL2 : no effect |
| Euro Truck Simulator 2 | no | Prism3D | SDL2 : no effect |
| Europa Universalis IV | no | Clausewitz Engine | SDL2: crash |
| EVERSPACE™ | no | Unreal Engine 4 | SDL2: crash |
| Factorio | yes* | - | Need SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland |
| fault - milestone one | yes* | Ren'Py | SDL2 preload |
| FEZ | yes* | FNA-XNA | SDL2 preload |
| From the Depths | no | - | SDL2: no visible window |
| FTL: Faster Than Light | no | - | SDL2 : no effect |
| Game Dev Tycoon | no | NW.js | SDL2 : no effect |
| Garry's Mod | yes* | Source | SDL2 preload |
| Gear Up | no | - | SDL2 : no effect |
| Guns of Icarus Online | no | Unity | SDL2 : no effect |
| Hearts of Iron IV | no | Clausewitz Engine | launcher fail to start game |
| HITMAN™ | no | - | SDL2: no visible window |
| Hollow Knight | no | Unity | SDL2: no visible window |
| Iconoclasts | no | Construct 3 | SDL2 : no effect |
| Indivisible | yes* | - | SDL2 preload |
| Insurgency | yes* | Source | SDL2 preload |
| ISLANDERS | no | Unity | SDL2: crash |
| Kerbal Space Program | no | Unity | SDL2: crash |
| Left 4 Dead 2 | yes* | Source | SDL2 preload |
| Life is Strange - Episode 1 | no | Unreal Engine 3 | SDL2: crash |
| Life is Strange 2 | yes* | Unreal Engine 4 | SDL2 preload |
| Life is Strange: Before the Storm | no | Unity | SDL2: no visible window |
| Mad Max | no | Apex Engine | SDL2: no visible window |
| Metro 2033 : Redux | no | 4A Engine | SDL2 : OpenGL 4.0 or later has not been found |
| Metro Last Light : Redux | no | 4A Engine | SDL2 : OpenGL 4.0 or later has not been found |
| Minecraft | no | LWJGL | LWJGL crash |
| Mini Metro | no | Unity | SDL2: crash |
| Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight | no | GameMaker Studio | SDL2 : no effect |
| Northgard | no | - | SDL2: crash |
| PAYDAY 2 | no | Diesel Engine | SDL2: crash |
| Portal | no | Source | SDL2: logo and crash |
| Portal 2 | yes* | Source | SDL2 preload |
| PokeMMO | yes* | GLWF | Need a newer version of GLWF, use the Flatpak version and remove the x11 permission |
| Project Zomboid | LWJGL | XWayland: compatibility mode | |
| Robocraft | no | Unity | SDL2: no visible window |
| Rocket League® | yes* | Unreal Engine 3 | SDL2 preload Native RL deprecated, for online game need Proton/RocketLeague |
| Saints Row IV | yes* | - | SDL2 preload |
| Saints Row: The Third | yes* | - | SDL2 preload |
| Seers Isle | no | - | XWayland crash |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | yes* | - | SDL2 preload |
| Shan Gui (山桂) | no | - | XWayland crash |
| Sid Meier's Civilization® V | no | Gamebryo | SDL2: crash |
| Snow Light | no | - | SDL2: logo and crash |
| Sound of Drop - fall into poison - | yes* | - | SDL2 preload |
| Star Conflict | no | Hammer Engine | SDL2: crash |
| Stellaris | no | Clausewitz Engine | SDL2: crash |
| Tabletop Simulator | yes* | - | Need SDL_DYNAMIC_API and SDL_VIDEODRIVER |
| Terraria | yes* | FNA-XNA | SDL2 preload mouse KO |
| The Coma: Recut | no | - | SDL2: crash |
| The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition | yes* | REDengine | SDL2 preload need mouse border calibration |
| Tomb Raider | no | - | SDL2: no visible window |
| Transistor | no | - | SDL2: logo and crash |
| Unturned | no | Unity | SDL2: crash |
| VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action | no | GameMaker Studio | SDL2 : no effect |
| VirtuaVerse | yes* | Unity | Need SDL_DYNAMIC_API and SDL_VIDEODRIVER |
| War Thunder | no | - | SDL2 : no effect |
| We. The Revolution | no | - | SDL2: no visible window |
| Whispering Willows | no | Unity | SDL2: crash |
| XCOM® 2 | no | Unreal Engine 3 | SDL2: crash |
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| yes | Run on Wayland natively without any configuration |
| yes* | Can work on Wayland natively, but need some tinkering with the environment variables |
| no | Require XWayland to run |
You need to install the sdl2 package on your distro before doing this.
| Launcher | How to find it |
|---|---|
| Steam | Library > Properties > Launch options > Add environment variables before %command% |
| Heroic game Launcher | Library > Settings > Environment Variables |
To run an SDL2 application on Wayland, set SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland
SDL_DYNAMIC_API override the SDL library used by a particular game. Useful if the game use a old version without Wayland support.
Fedora, Arch: SDL_DYNAMIC_API=/usr/lib64/libSDL2-2.0.so
Flatpak: SDL_DYNAMIC_API="/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libSDL2-2.0.so.0"
Forked from: https://gist.github.com/mrintrepide/6bf1bf5cc087928009545d4d28c4af08