How to play Quake 1 on Linux
The developers behind Quake have a love-hate relationship with Linux. In the past, they’ve made it possible to use their games on the platform, by releasing the code (and Quake 1 game files) for Linux. As a result, Linux users are able to play the game on their favorite platform. In this tutorial, we’ll show you exactly how you can enjoy the first Quake game, Quake 1 on Linux!
Quake 1 – Quakespasm
The first Quake game is easy to run on Linux, via the Quakespasm engine. Better still, Quake 1 is freeware, so you don’t even have to purchase it to play. To get your copy of Quake 1 working on Linux, open up a terminal and follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1: Using your package manager, install the Quakespasm program. It’s very important that you install Quakespasm because it’s the only way to get this game working on Linux.
Note: If you own the Windows version of Quake 1, skip the step in the guide that goes over downloading FreeQuake and instead get your own Quake 1 Pak files and set them up in the id1 sub-folder in Quakespasm.
Ubuntu
sudo apt install quakespasm
Debian
sudo apt-get install quakespasm
Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S git base-devel git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/quakespasm.git cd quakespasm makepkg -sri
Fedora
There isn’t a Fedora RPM file for Quakespasm available, and it appears that the project doesn’t want to create one any time soon. Instead, grab the generic one.
wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/quakespasm/files/Linux/quakespasm-0.93.1_amd64.tar.gz/download -O quakespasm.tar.gz tar zvxf quakespasm.tar.gz
OpenSUSE
zypper addrepo https://widehat.opensuse.org/opensuse/repositories/games/openSUSE_Leap_15.0/ games
or, for Tumbleweed, do:
zypper addrepo https://widehat.opensuse.org/opensuse/repositories/games/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/ games
Install with:
sudo zypper install quakespasm
Generic Linux
Using a lesser-known distro? Grab the standalone Linux version.
wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/quakespasm/files/Linux/quakespasm-0.93.1_amd64.tar.gz/download -O quakespasm.tar.gz tar zvxf quakespasm.tar.gz
Step 2: Now that the Quakespasm application is working on your Linux PC, it’s time to download the game files. The only legal way to get the Quake 1 files is with FreeQuake. Sadly, it’s a Windows file.
Head over to our tutorial and set Wine up. Then, use wget to download the FreeQuake file.
wget https://www.quakeone.com/q1files/downloads/quake-shareware-setup-beta099a.exe -O quake.exe
Step 3: Run and install the Windows FreeQuake game. Keep in mind that you won’t be using this. It’s only to get access to the game files for Quakespasm.
wine quake.exe
Step 4: Copy the Pak files from the Wine directory and place them in the correct directory. Keep in mind that these directories change, depending on what distro you’re using.
Ubuntu/Debian
mkdir -p ~/id1
cp ~/.wine/drive_c/quake/id1/pak0.pak ~/id1
Arch Linux
mkdir -p /usr/local/games/id1
sudo cp ~/.wine/drive_c/quake/id1/pak0.pak /usr/local/games/id1
Fedora/Generic Linux
mkdir -p ~/quakespasm-*_amd64/id1 cp ~/.wine/drive_c/quake/id1/pak0.pak ~/quakespasm-*_amd64/id1
OpenSUSE
Run the quakespasm command in a terminal and read the output. It should tell you the directory you need to place the id1 sub-directory in.
mkdir -p /location/of/quakespasm/folder/id1 cp ~/.wine/drive_c/quake/id1/pak0.pak /location/of/quakespasm/folder/id1
Step 5: Play Quake 1 with the quakespasm command in terminal. Alternatively, launch the app via your application menu.
Quake 1 – GOG
Another way to get Quake 1 on Linux is through the GOG gaming platform. The primary reason is that it contains all of the game files (not just the freely available FreeQuake files).
To install the GOG version of Quake 1 on Linux, follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 2: Download the stand-alone Quake 1 installation file from your GOG.com library, or, buy it here if you don’t already own it.
Step 3: Once the download is complete, open up your file manager and click on the “Downloads” folder.
Step 4: Right-click on the EXE file and select “Open with Wine Windows program loader”. Clicking this option will launch the installer.
Step 5: Go through the GUI installation and set up Quake 1. When it’s done installing, you’ll be able to play it by clicking on “Wine,” then “Applications,” then “GOG.com” in your application menu.
Quake 1 – SteamPlay
Do you already own Quake 1 on Steam? Good news! Thanks to Valve’s SteamPlay, it easily runs on most Linux distributions without needing any additional software . To get it running, follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1: Head over to our tutorial about SteamPlay for Linux. Follow it and be sure to enable the technology for all games, and not just officially supported ones.
Step 2: Search through your Steam library and install Quake 1 to your Linux PC.
Step 3: Click the “Play” button and launch Quake on your Linux PC via SteamPlay and get it going!
Having issues playing the Steam version of Quake 1 on Linux with SteamPlay? Be sure to read the ProtonDB post on it, as it’ll help you troubleshoot any problems that may arise when running the game on Linux in this way.
It works great with quakespasm!
Thank you!
SO how do you actually run the game when using the Wine method?