How to play VRChat on Linux
VR Chat is a socializing interactive video game for PC. It works in both desktop mode and VR headset mode. In the game, users can explore user-created worlds, play mini-games, socialize, and much more. Here’s how to play it on Linux.
VRChat on Linux
VR Chat will work on Linux, but only with Steam’s “Steam Play” feature. To gain access to this feature, you must install the Linux version of the Steam client.
Install Steam
To install the Linux Steam client, launch a terminal window. Once the terminal window is open and ready to go, follow along with the command-line installation instructions outlined below.
Ubuntu
Steam is well supported on Ubuntu. To get it set up on your operating system, enter the following Apt command below in a terminal window.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
If you’re using Debian Linux, it is best to avoid installing the Steam client on your Linux PC through the Debian software repositories in favor of downloading it directly from Valve.
Using the wget command below, download the latest Steam DEB package to your computer. After that, install Steam on Debian using the dpkg command. If you run into any errors in the terminal while installing, follow this guide to fix it.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
Arch Linux
On Arch Linux, you’ll be able to install the Steam client after enabling the “multilib” software repository. To enable “multilib,” open up your /etc/pacman.conf file and edit it.
Once you’ve enabled the “multilib” software repository, use the Arch Linux update command to resync the repos. After that, you will be able to install the latest version of Steam using the following Pacman command.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
On OpenSUSE and Fedora Linux, getting Steam working through traditional means is quite tedious. As a result, we recommend getting Steam working using the Flatpak instructions instead.
Flatpak
To use Steam from the Flatpak store, you must install the Flatpak runtime. To set up the runtime on your computer, install the “flatpak” package. If you’re having issues setting up the runtime, follow this guide on the subject.
After setting up the Flatpak runtime on your Linux PC, you will need to enable the Flathub app store. To do that, make use of the flatpak remote-add command below.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Once you’ve added the Flathub app store to your system, you will be able to install the Steam Linux app with the flatpak install command below.
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Install VRChat on Linux
With the Steam client set up on your Linux PC, launch it on the Linux desktop and log in using your user account credentials. After logging in to Steam, follow the step-by-step instructions below to get VRChat working on Linux!
Step 1: To get VRChat working on Linux, you must enable Steam Play. To enable Steam play, start by clicking on the “Steam” menu in the Steam app, followed by the “Settings” button. Selecting “Settings” will launch the Steam settings area.
Inside of the Steam settings area, locate “Steam Play” and select it. After that, select the boxes next to “Enable Steam Play for supported titles” box and “Enable Steam Play for all other titles.” Select “OK” to apply the changes.
Step 2: Select the “STORE” button at the top of Steam to head to the Steam Storefront. Find the search box, type in “VRChat,” and press Enter to search on the Storefront.
Look through the search results for “VRChat,” and click on it to access its Steam Store page. On the Steam store page, find the green “Play game” button and select it. By clicking on this button, Steam will attempt to download and install the game. Allow it to do so.
Step 3: Upon downloading VRChat to your Linux PC, the game is installed. From here, locate the “LIBRARY” button at Steam’s top and select it with the mouse. After loading up your Steam library area, find the search box, and type in “VRChat” into the box.
By typing in “VRChat” in the text box, you will filter out games that do not have that title. After that, find the green “PLAY” button and click on it to start the game. When the game starts up, you’ll be able to enjoy VRChat!
Troubleshooting VRChat
VRChat has a gold rating on ProtonDB, so it should work for most people. If you’re having issues with your mic or other things in the game, please check out the VRChat ProtonDB page. There you’ll find fixes to common problems with the game.
Be sure to also keep in mind that VRChat is an early access game. As such, breakages are bound to happen that nobody can foresee! Happy gaming!
