How to play DCS World Steam Edition on Linux
Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) is a combat flight simulator developed by Eagle Dynamics and The Fighter Collection. Here’s how you can get Digital Combat Simulator working on your Linux PC.
Getting DCS World Steam Edition working on Linux
DCS World Steam Edition isn’t native to Linux, but despite this, you can enjoy the game on your Linux system with a bit of tweaking. However, this tweaking requires the Linux Steam app.
You must open up a terminal window to install the Linux Steam app on your computer. You can open up a terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, search for “Terminal” in the app menu and launch it that way.
With the terminal window open and ready to use, you’ll be able to install Steam. Follow the instructions below that correspond with the Linux OS you use.
Ubuntu
To use Steam on Ubuntu, run the following apt install command.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
To get Steam working on Debian, start downloading the latest Steam DEB package to your computer. You can download it with the following wget download command.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb
Once downloaded, install the Steam DEB package on your computer with the dpkg command below.
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
Finally, correct any dependencies that may have occurred during the installation process by running the following apt-get install -f command in the terminal.
sudo apt-get install -f
Arch Linux
You’ll need to enable the “multilib” software repo to install Steam on Arch Linux. First, open up the /etc/pacman.conf file in a text editor (as root). Once open, find the “multilib” line and remove #.
After removing the # symbol, remove the # symbol from the line below “multilib.” Then, save, close the editor, and run the pacman -Syy command.
sudo pacman -Syy
Finally, install Steam with the pacman -S command.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
Both Fedora and OpenSUSE users can install the Steam app through software repositories included on their system. However, consider installing the Flatpak release of Steam, as it tends to work better on Fedora/OpenSUSE.
Flatpak
Setting up Steam as a Flatpak requires the Flatpak runtime. Please follow our setup guide to set up the Flatpak runtime on your computer. Once the Flatpak runtime is working on your system, you can install Steam with the two commands below.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Launch the Steam app and log into your account using your user credentials when it is installed. Once logged in, follow the step-by-step instructions below to get DCS World Steam Edition working on Linux.
Step 1: Find the “Steam” menu and select it with the mouse. Then, in the “Steam” menu, select the “Settings” button. Clicking on this button will open up the Steam Settings area.
Inside the Steam Settings area, look for the “Steam Play” section, and click on it with the mouse. When you select this button, you’ll load up the compatibility area of the Steam app.
Step 2: In the “Steam Play” area, check both the Enable Steam Play for supported titles” box and the “Enable Steam Play for all other titles” box. Click “OK” to save.
Once you’ve saved your settings, the Steam app will reboot.
Step 3: With Steam rebooted, you’ll need to install the ProtonUP tool. This tool makes it very easy to set up the latest version of a custom version of Proton (which you need for DCS to run on Linux).
Ensure you install “GE-Proton7-21” or newer. When the custom Proton version is installed, reboot Steam a second time.
Step 4: Find the “Store” button, and click on it with the mouse. After selecting the “Store” button, find the search box, and click on it. Then, type in “DCS World Steam Edition” into the box. Finally, press Enter to view the search results.
Step 5: Look through the search results for DCS World Steam Edition. Select it with the mouse to load up the DCS Steam storefront page when you’ve found it. Then, look for the green “Add to cart” button on the DCS Steam storefront page.
Select the “Add to cart” button to add DCS to your cart so you can purchase it and add it to your Steam games library.
Step 6: Find the “Library” button, and search for “DCS World Steam Edition.” Once you’ve found it, select the “Properties” button, and click on it with the mouse.
Find the “Launch options” text box and paste in the following code.
PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60 WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n;msdmo=n' %command%
Step 7: After pasting in the code, find the “Compatibility” section of the DCS “Properties” window. Then, select the checkbox next to “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool.”
Note: select “GE-Proton7-21” or newer.
Step 8: Find the blue “INSTALL” button for DCS, and select it with the mouse to download and install the game to your computer. Then, when the installation is complete, select the green “PLAY” button to enjoy the game!
Note it does not say install game just says play . I haven’t downloaded it yet and it doesn’t say install Please help me , you can write me on my email im sure you can see it.
You need to enable Proton as stated in the guide for the game to install on your Linux system.
It doesn’t show add to cart, only says play game
Help
If it doesn’t say “add to cart,” you likely already own it.
It didn’t say “Add to cart”, only “Play”, because it’s free to play. They obviously took away the add to cart bit. It’s uncertain if it’s a pre-requisite to modify Proton settings *before* installation. I only had GE 7.17 and it didnt load. I’ll try 7.21 and see if it works. If not, then these instructions are already outdated as it cannot be added to library before installation.