How to play Call of Duty: Black Ops III on Linux
Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a military FPS game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It is the 12th game in the COD franchise. Here’s how you can play this game on Linux.
Getting Call of Duty: Black Ops III working on Linux
Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a game for Microsoft Windows. However, it is possible to enjoy this game on your Linux PC with the help of Steam Play and Proton.
Install Steam
Getting Call of Duty: Black Ops III working on Linux requires the latest version of the official Steam client. To get this Steam client working on your Linux PC, you’ll need a terminal window.
To open up a terminal window on the Linux desktop, press Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Alternatively, you’ll be able to launch the terminal window on the Linux desktop by searching for “Terminal” in the app menu.
Ubuntu
Use the following apt install command to get Steam working on your Ubuntu Linux system.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
Those on Debian can install Steam by downloading the latest release of Steam through the official website as a DEB package. To grab the latest Steam DEB on your computer, make use of the following wget download command.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb
With the latest DEB package downloaded to your computer, use the dpkg command to install Steam to your Debian system.
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
After installing the latest version of Steam on your Debian Linux system, you will have to correct any dependency errors that may have occurred during the installation. Using the apt-get install -f command below, fix the issues.
sudo apt-get install -f
Arch Linux
You’ll be able to install Steam on Arch Linux, assuming you have the “multilib” software repository enabled. To enable this software repo, open up the /etc/pacman.conf file in your favorite text editor (as root).
Once the file is open in a text editor, locate the “multilib” line and remove the # symbol. Also, remove the # symbol from the lines directly below it. Then, save your edits and run the pacman command below.
sudo pacman -Syy
Finally, install the latest release of Steam on Arch using the command below.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
If you use Fedora or OpenSUSE Linux, you’ll be able to install Steam on your computer using the software repositories included out of the box. However, the Flatpak release of Steam tends to work better on these operating systems, so we suggest following those instructions instead.
Flatpak
Steam on Flatpak is easy to get working. However, you’ll have to set up the latest release of the Flatpak runtime on your computer to start. To do that, follow our guide on the subject.
After setting up the Flatpak runtime on your computer, use the two commands below to install the latest Steam release onto your computer.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Install Call of Duty: Black Ops III on Linux
Once the Steam app is up and running, open it up and log into your account. Then, follow along with the step-by-step instructions below to get Call of Duty: Black Ops III working on Linux.
Step 1: Open up the “Steam” menu inside Steam and click on the “Settings” button. Once inside of the settings area, find “Steam Play.” Inside the Steam Play area, check both the “Enable Steam Play for supported titles” box and the “Enable Steam Play for all other titles” box.
Find the “OK” button and click on it to save changes.
Step 2: Open up a terminal window, as you will need to install a custom version of Proton. Then, enter the commands below to set up a custom Proton.
Native Steam
mkdir -p ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/ wget https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom/releases/download/6.21-GE-2/Proton-6.21-GE-2.tar.gz tar xvf Proton-6.21-GE-2.tar.gz -C ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/
Flatpak Steam
mkdir -p ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/data/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/ wget https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom/releases/download/6.21-GE-2/Proton-6.21-GE-2.tar.gz tar xvf Proton-6.21-GE-2.tar.g -C ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/data/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/
Step 3: Find the “Store” button inside Steam and click on the search box. Then, type in “Call of Duty: Black Ops III,” and press the Enter key to view the search results.
Look through the search results and click on “Call of Duty: Black Ops III” to access the game’s store page.
Step 4: Find the green “Add to cart” button on the Black Ops III store page. Selecting this button will add the game to your Steam cart. Next, select the Steam cart and use it to purchase your game.
Step 5: Find the “Library” section of Steam and click on it. Then, search for Call of Duty: Black Ops III. Right-click on the game and select “Properties.” Inside of the “Properties” window, find the “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool” and check the box next to it.
After selecting the box, set the Proton version to “Proton-6.21-GE-2”. Click “OK” to save the changes.
Step 6: Find the blue “INSTALL” button and select it to download the game and install it to your Linux PC. When the installation process is complete, the blue “INSTALL” button will become a green “PLAY” button. Select it to start up the game.
