How to play The Sims 4 on Linux
The Sims 4 is a simulation game by Electronic Arts. In the game, the player creates a family and controls them in their house as they experience their daily lives. This game was never ported to Linux; however, making it work with a little tweaking is possible. Here’s how.
Sims 4 on Linux
The Sims 4 works on Linux, with a caveat. It only functions with the Steam Play feature available on the Linux Steam client. Sadly, you will not be able to get the Origin version of the game working.
Install Steam
To get The Sims 4 set up and ready to go on your Linux PC, you must first install the Steam for Linux client. To do that, open up a terminal window on the Linux desktop and enter the commands below that correspond with the OS you currently use.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu users can install the latest release of the Steam client using the Apt command below.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
On Debian Linux, it is best to install Steam by downloading the DEB package from the Steam website because the Debian version of Steam in the software repos that carry Steam is much more tedious to enable for new users.
To get the Steam DEB package, use the wget download command below in a terminal window. Once the file is done downloading, make use of the dpkg command to get the app installed.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
After installation, you may notice some errors popping up on the screen. To fix this, execute apt-get install -f in the terminal window.
Arch Linux
On Arch Linux, you can install the latest release of Steam on your computer by making use of the Pacman command below in a terminal window.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
On Fedora Linux, as well as OpenSUSE, the Steam app is not great to use. It’s tedious to install. A better way to go is to install the Flatpak release of Steam on your Linux PC.
Flatpak
Steam is on the Flathub app store as a Flatpak, which is perfect for those that don’t have any other way to get Steam up and running. To start the installation, open up a terminal window. Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, you must enable the Flatpak runtime on your computer.
After setting up the Flatpak runtime on your computer, you must add the Flathub app store to your system. To add the app store, make use of the flatpak remote-add command below. It will make the repo accessible.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Now that the Flathub app store is set up, you must install Steam on your Linux PC using the following command below.
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Play Sims 4 on Linux
After installing the Steam app on Linux, launch it via the app menu and log in. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions below to get The Sims 4 working on your Linux PC.
Step 1: Click on the “Steam” menu in the Steam app. After that, select the “Settings” option to open up the settings menu. Once inside the settings area in Steam, look for “Steam Play” and click on it with the mouse to access the Steam Play area.
Inside the Steam Play area, look for “Enable Steam Play for supported titles” and “Enable Steam Play for all other titles,” and check the boxes next to them to enable them. Click “OK” to close the window.
Step 2: Find the “STORE” button in the Steam app and click on it. Then, find the search box, and type in “The Sims 4.” Select it in the search results to go to The Sims 4 Storefront page.
On The Sims 4 Storefront page, find the green “Add to cart” button and click it to purchase the game for your account.
Step 3: After purchasing The Sims 4 for your Linux PC, find “LIBRARY” and click on it to access your Steam library. Then, look through your list of games for “The Sims 4.”
Once you’ve found the game, click on the blue “INSTALL” button to download and install The Sims 4 on your Linux PC.
Step 4: When the installation is complete, right-click on “The Sims 4” in the sidebar, and select “Properties.”
In the “Properties” window for The Sims 4, find “Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool. Then, set it to “Proton 5.13-4” and click on the “CLOSE” button to apply changes.
Step 5: With The Sims 4 installed, the blue “INSTALL” button will become a green “PLAY” button. Click on it to start up the game. Enjoy!
Troubleshooting The Sims 4
Having issues playing The Sims 4 on your Linux PC? Take a look at the official Sims 4 ProtonDB page for help troubleshooting any problems you may run into.
