How To Organize Video Games On Linux With Lutris

Do you have too many video games installed on your Linux PC? Find it difficult to organize video games and keep track of them all due to all the different ways they’re installed? Wish you could put them all in one place? With Lutris, you can!

Introducing Lutris, an open gaming platform and game organizer that makes keeping track of video games much easier. It handles all sorts of video games, including things like emulators, web-browser video games, Steam (both Linux and Wine) and even purchases made on the Lutris.net website!

Ubuntu

The Lutris app has a third-party software repository set up for Ubuntu users. Unfortunately, it’s not a PPA, so adding it is a bit more complex. Start the process by detecting your version of Ubuntu.

ver=$(lsb_release -sr); if [ $ver != "18.04" -a $ver != "17.10" -a $ver != "17.04" -a $ver != "16.04" ]; then ver=18.04; fi

Next, add the repo to your /etc/apt/sources.list file.

echo "deb https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/strycore/xUbuntu_$ver/ ./" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lutris.list

Download the repo’s GPG release key. Don’t skip this part because, without the key, Lutris will not work!

wget -q https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/strycore/xUbuntu_$ver/Release.key -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Run the apt update and refresh Ubuntu’s software sources.

sudo apt update

Finally, install the Lutris app to your Ubuntu Linux PC.

sudo apt install lutris

Debian

Much like on Ubuntu, you’ll need to add a third-party software source to Debian before Lutris will install. Open up a terminal and use the following command to add the software source to your /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ folder.

Note: as of now, Lutris only officially supports Debian 9 Stable. Upgrade to Stable if you are using Old Stable before attempting to install it.

echo "deb https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/strycore/Debian_9.0/ ./" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/lutris.list

Wget the release key to finish the pre-setup process.

wget -q https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/strycore/Debian_9.0/Release.key -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Finally, update Debian and use the install command to get Lutris working.

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install lutris

Arch Linux

Arch Linux has Lutris available thanks to the AUR. To install it, run the commands below.

Note: you may need to install dependencies manually. Find them here.

sudo pacman -S base-devel git
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/lutris.git
cd lutris

makepkg -si

Fedora

Lutris works on Fedora thanks to the OBS. To install, open up a terminal and download the compatible RPM package. Then, install it using the DNF package manager.

wget https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/strycore/Fedora_28/noarch/lutris-0.4.18.1-4.1.noarch.rpm

sudo dnf install lutris-0.4.18.1-4.1.noarch.rpm -y

OpenSUSE

The OBS has the Lutris game organizer app available for all different types of releases of OpenSUSE. To install it, head over to the official download page, select the OpenSUSE logo, click your release and then select the “1-Click Install” button.

Generic Linux Installation

Need Lutris but on a Linux distribution that doesn’t have direct support from the developer? No problem, there’s a standalone version of the app that can run on pretty much every Linux distribution out there. To download it, open up a terminal and use the wget tool to download it. Then extract it using the tar command.

wget https://lutris.net/releases/lutris_0.4.18.tar.xz
tar -xf lutris_0.4.18.tar.xz

CD into the Lutris folder and update the permissions of all the files.

cd lutris_0.4.18

sudo chmod +x *

Ensure that Python is installed on your Linux PC with the following command:

python --version

Running that command should return a Python version number. If nothing happens, you’ll need to install Python before continuing.

Finally, install Lutris with:

python setup.py

Organize Video Games With Lutris

Before importing your offline Linux games, it’s a good idea to connect your Lutris account to the app. This will allow you to automatically import and download any Linux games purchased from Lutris.net.

To connect your account, click the “Lutris” button, then select “Connect”. Enter your Lutris account details and sign in. Soon after, your purchases should appear.

Note: Lutris will not function correctly unless you create a free account to use.

Add Steam Games

To add a Steam game, you’ll need to sync your Steam profile. Log into lutris.net, and access your user profile here.

Scroll down and look for the “sign in through Steam” button. Select it and connect your Steam account to Lutris. With your Steam account connected, go back to Steam and install some games.

Now that you’ve got some games installed on your Linux PC, return to the Lutris app and click “Lutris” and select “Import”.

In the import menu, find “Steam for Linux”, click the slider next to it in the “on” position and click the “sync” button to import everything. Clicking sync in the app will automatically detect any steam games on the system and download your entire steam library.

Note: to sync non-Linux Steam games, install the Steam app with Wine, go to import and click sync next to “Steam (wine).”

Add Local Games

The great thing about Lutris is that it allows users to import and manage video games from all kinds of platforms, and not just ones purchased from their website. To import a non-Lutris Linux game, click the “Lutris” menu, and look for the “import games” button.

In the “import games” menu, there are several options. Lutris can import through many places. To import native Linux games you’ve manually put on your Linux PC, click the slider next to “desktop games”.

With the “desktop games” option turned on in Lutris, importing can begin.

Click the “Game” menu, then “add” to open up the “Add a new game” menu.