How to play Final Fantasy 14 Online on Linux
Final Fantasy 14 Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Square Enix. The game was released in 2013 for Windows, PS3, PS4, and macOS. The game centers around the player’s character as they adventure through the fictional land of Eozea, completing quests, team up with friends, and fight baddies from the Final Fantasy Universe. In this guide, we’ll show you how to play this excellent MMORPG on the Linux platform.
Please note that Final Fantasy 14 Online requires a monthly subscription to play the game. You will also need to purchase the game itself through Steam for it to work correctly in Linux. To get your hands on the Steam release of FF14, click here. For information on subscribing to the game, click here.
Getting FF14 Online working
The best way to get FF14 Online up and running on Linux is done with Valve’s Steam Play, a program that works with Wine, and various other applications and tools to make Windows video games work on Linux. Follow the step-by-step instructions below to get FF14 working with Steam Play.
Step 1: To run FF14 Online in Steam, you must install the Linux Steam client. Press Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard to open up a terminal window. Then, follow the command-line installation instructions to get the Linux Steam client set up on your distribution.
Ubuntu
sudo apt install steam
Debian
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb sudo dpkg -i steam.deb sudo apt-get install -f
Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora
Fedora Linux does not carry the Steam app in its official software repositories. If you’d like to use Steam in Fedora, your best bet is to install the Steam client through the Flatpak instructions below.
OpenSUSE
Are you using OpenSUSE Linux? Install the Steam app through the Flatpak app store, as it is generally the easiest way to get the app working.
Flatpak
To install the Steam client on Linux as a Flatpak, you must first ensure you have the Flatpak runtime set up on your system. Then, once the Flatpak runtime is up and running, enter the commands below to get Steam working.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Step 2: With the Linux Steam client installed on your Linux PC, launch it. Then, log into your Steam account through the login dialog that appears on the screen.
Step 3: After logging in to Steam, you must enable the Steam Play feature in the client. Unless Steam Play is enabled, FF14 will not work correctly in Linux.
To enable Steam Play, open up “Settings,” find “Steam Play,” and enable the setting. Be sure to check the box that says “Enable Steam Play for all titles” as well!
Having issues setting up Steam Play on your Linux PC? Follow this guide here.
Step 4: With Steam Play enabled, it is time to install FF14 on your Linux PC. To do this, locate the “Library” button and click on it with the mouse.
Once in the “Library” section, find the search box, type “FINAL FANTASY XIV Online,” and press the Enter key.
Step 5: Click on “FINAL FANTASY XIV Online” in the search results to access FF14’s Library page. Then, locate the blue “INSTALL” button to start downloading/installing the game on your Linux PC.
Step 6: With FF14 installed on your Linux PC via Steam, click on the green “PLAY” button to start up the game launcher.
Step 7: When the game launcher is open, log into your account and let the launcher update. The launcher must be up to date, or it will not work on Linux.
When the updating is done, exit the launcher and close it. Then, open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard and open up the launcher’s config file with the commands below.
cd '~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/39210/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/My Documents/My Games/FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn/'
nano -w FFXIV-BOOT.cfg
Step 8: Look through the configuration file and change Browser from 2 to 1, Then, change CutsceneMovieOpening from 0 to 1. Once the edits are done, press Ctrl + O to save, and Ctrl + X to close the editor.
Step 9: Go back to Steam and click on the green “PLAY” button to start up the launcher a second time. Sign in, and allow the game to download.
Please keep in mind that the base game for Final Fantasy 14 Online is enormous. The download process will take a lot of time, so be patient.
Once the launcher is done downloading the game, click the button to start it up. Enjoy!
Troubleshooting
As Steam Play’s compatibility tools are pretty advanced, there should be no issues running Final Fantasy 14 Online. However, if you do run into problems with the game, check out ProtonDB. You’ll be able to find many different fixes for FF14 to make it work properly on Linux.
the 1st screenshot is up to date, but the last screenshot is from at least 2013. You might as well use your own screenshots instead of using old screenshots that are no longer relevant to the current version of the game or to linux use.