How to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl on Linux
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a survival-horror FPS game developed by GSC Game World and published by THQ. In this guide, we’ll show you how to get S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl up and running on Linux.
How to get S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl working on Linux
Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl is an excellent game. Unfortunately, it isn’t native to Linux. Thankfully though, that doesn’t matter as the game works well with the Proton compatibility program included in Steam.
Install Steam
To get Steam working on Linux, you’ll have to open up a terminal window. You can open up a terminal window on the Linux desktop by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or by searching for “Terminal” in the app menu.
With the terminal window open and ready to use, the installation of Steam can begin. Using the installation instructions below, get the Steam app working on your computer.
Ubuntu
To install Steam on Ubuntu, you’ll have to use the apt install command down below.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
If you use Debian Linux, you’ll be able to get the Steam application up and running using the downloadable DEB package on the Steam website. To download the Steam app, use the following wget download command.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb
After downloading the DEB package, the installation process can begin. Using the dpkg command down below, set up Steam on your computer.
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
With the Steam DEB package is configured, you must configure the dependencies on your system using the apt-get install -f command.
sudo apt-get install -f
Arch Linux
Steam works on Arch Linux. However, you’ll need to set it up through the official “multilib” software repository. To enable this software repository, open up the /etc/pacman.conf
file in a text editor (as root).
With the text editor open, locate the “multilib” line in the text file and remove the # symbol. Also, remove this symbol from the lines directly below it. When done, save the text file and run the pacman command below.
sudo pacman -Syy
Finally, install the Steam app on your computer using pacman.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
If you use Fedora or OpenSUSE, Steam is available through software repositories included out of the box. However, the Flatpak version of Steam works much better, so we suggest following those instructions instead.
Flatpak
Before it is possible to install Steam on Linux as a Flatpak package, the Flatpak runtime must be configured. To do that, follow our guide on the subject. After setting up the runtime, enter the two commands below to get Steam working on your computer.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Install ‎Stalker on Linux
After setting up Steam on your computer, open it up on your Linux system. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions down below to get Stalker working on Linux.
Step 1: Find the “Steam” menu inside the Steam app and click on it with the mouse. Inside the Steam menu, find the “Settings” button to access the Steam settings area.
Inside the Steam settings area, find the “Steam Play” section, and click on it with the mouse. Then, check the Enable Steam Play for supported titles” and “Enable Steam Play for all other titles” box. Click the “OK” button to save the settings.
Step 2: Find the “Store” button inside of Steam and select it with the mouse to access the Steam store. In the Steam store, find the search box, and click on it with the mouse. Then, type in “Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl.” Press the Enter key to view the search results.
Step 3: Look through the search results for Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. Once you’ve found it, click on it with the mouse. Selecting the game will take you to Stalker’s Steam Storefront page.
On the Stalker Steam page, find the green “Add to cart” button, and click on it with the mouse to add Stalker to your Steam cart. With the game added to your Steam cart, go through the process of purchasing the game.
Step 4: Once you’ve purchased Stalker, find the “Library” button and click on it with the mouse to access your game’s Steam library page. After accessing the Steam library page, find “Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl.”
Click on the blue “INSTALL” button to download Stalker to your computer. The download process will take some time to complete.
Step 5: When the installation process is complete, the blue “INSTALL” button will turn into a green “PLAY” button. Select this button to play Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl on your Linux computer. Enjoy!