DCS World Wiki - Hoggitworld.com - User contributions [en]

DCS on linux

2026-03-09T20:08:30Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no version of DCS that is made to run on linux natively. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide] for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option works with Standalone as well, but if you have bought your DCS modules on Steam, then it is massively easier. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple devices in one file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a joystick device, adding the user access tag and running the evade-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but certain features, like the wheel for Jester and the sketch on the canopy are borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (seemingly only for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''I have The AH-64 module, but DCS crashes when I try to fly it''

'''A:''' This is probably due to your prefix missing a certain font, called Segoe UI Symbol and should be in the seguisym.ttf file. You can try finding it online and then you need to drop it in ''/drive_c/windows/Fonts/'' within your prefix. Technically this is piracy, but ED is the one at fault. They should have used their own font instead of using a proprietary Microsoft font which they haven't even properly licensed.

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

If you use Monado, you can possibly can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. It will take a fair bit of effort. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, using the command line to launch the installer via wine or proton for the former, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Some work is being done on scripting the installation. See the [https://github.com/ChaosRifle/DCS-on-Linux ChaosRifle git repo] for more details.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/ChaosRifle/DCS-on-Linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2026-03-09T19:52:29Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no version of DCS that is made to run on linux natively. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide] for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option works with Standalone as well, but if you have bought your DCS modules on Steam, then it is massively easier. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple devices in one file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a joystick device, adding the user access tag and running the evade-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but certain features, like the wheel for Jester and the sketch on the canopy are borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (seemingly only for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''I have The AH-64 module, but DCS crashes when I try to fly it''

'''A:''' This is probably due to your prefix missing a certain font, called Segoe UI Symbol and should be in the seguisym.ttf file. You can try finding it online and then you need to drop it in ''/drive_c/windows/Fonts/'' within your prefix.

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

If you use Monado, you can possibly can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. It will take a fair bit of effort. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, using the command line to launch the installer via wine or proton for the former, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Some work is being done on scripting the installation. See the [https://github.com/ChaosRifle/DCS-on-Linux ChaosRifle git repo] for more details.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/ChaosRifle/DCS-on-Linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2026-03-09T19:51:27Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no version of DCS that is made to run on linux natively. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide] for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option works with Standalone as well, but if you have bought your DCS modules on Steam, then it is massively easier. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple devices in one file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a joystick device, adding the user access tag and running the evade-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but certain features, like the wheel for Jester and the sketch on the canopy are borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (seemingly only for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''I have The AH-64 module, but DCS crashes when I try to fly it''

'''A:''' This is probably due to your prefix missing a certain font, called '''Segoe UI Symbol'''. You can try finding it online and then you need to drop it in ''/drive_c/windows/Fonts/'' within your prefix

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

If you use Monado, you can possibly can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. It will take a fair bit of effort. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, using the command line to launch the installer via wine or proton for the former, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Some work is being done on scripting the installation. See the [https://github.com/ChaosRifle/DCS-on-Linux ChaosRifle git repo] for more details.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/ChaosRifle/DCS-on-Linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2026-03-09T18:59:14Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no version of DCS that is made to run on linux natively. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide] for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option works with Standalone as well, but if you have bought your DCS modules on Steam, then it is massively easier. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple devices in one file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a joystick device, adding the user access tag and running the evade-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but certain features, like the wheel for Jester and the sketch on the canopy are borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (seemingly only for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

If you use Monado, you can possibly can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. It will take a fair bit of effort. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, using the command line to launch the installer via wine or proton for the former, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Some work is being done on scripting the installation. See the [https://github.com/ChaosRifle/DCS-on-Linux ChaosRifle git repo] for more details.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/ChaosRifle/DCS-on-Linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2026-03-09T18:48:13Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no version of DCS that is made to run on linux natively. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide] for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option works with Standalone as well, but if you have bought your DCS modules on Steam, then it is massively easier. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple devices in one file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a joystick device, adding the user access tag and running the evade-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but certain features, like the wheel for Jester and the sketch on the canopy are borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (seemingly only for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

If you use Monado, you can possibly can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. It will take a fair bit of effort. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, using the command line to launch the installer via wine or proton for the former, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/ChaosRifle/DCS-on-Linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2025-02-27T19:20:45Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide] for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option works with Standalone as well, but if you have bought your DCS modules on Steam, then it is massively easier. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple devices in one file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a joystick device, adding the user access tag and running the evade-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but certain features, like the wheel for Jester and the sketch on the canopy are borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (seemingly only for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

Some if you intend to use Monado can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2025-02-27T19:17:39Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide] for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple devices in one file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a joystick device, adding the user access tag and running the evade-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but certain features, like the wheel for Jester and the sketch on the canopy are borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (seemingly only for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

Some if you intend to use Monado can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2025-02-27T18:57:09Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide] for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple files in one file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a joystick device, adding the user access tag and running the evade-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but certain features, like the wheel for Jester and the sketch on the canopy are borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (seemingly only for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

Some if you intend to use Monado can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2025-02-27T18:49:06Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide] for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple files in once file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a stick, adding the access tag and running the evdev-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but certain features, like the wheel for Jester and the sketch on the canopy are borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (seemingly only for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

Some if you intend to use Monado can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

Hoggit DCS World Wiki

2025-02-27T18:37:57Z

0nn0: correct error on last edit :)

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===Learn to Fly===
Welcome to Hoggit's DCS: World Wiki! We're a noob-friendly SeriousFaceTM multiplayer and singleplayer flight simulation community based on Reddit. This Wiki is meant to be a resource for anyone looking for information on the simulations we primarily play, DCS: World and Falcon BMS. We're gathering and organizing all the information related to the games, their peripherals, their quirks, and their tweaks/mods into this central repository in hopes that the World community will find it a valuable "one-stop shop" resource for everything you'd want to know.

[[Frequently Asked Questions]]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apvriPLtiZA&list=UUHa9LMylydkT0T3qSzAVrlw&feature=c4-overview What is DCS World?]

[[Simulator Scripting Engine Documentation|Looking for MIST/Scripting Documentation?]]

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<div class="col-sm-12">
[https://discord.gg/hoggit <span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button"><img src="images/b/bb/Discord_main.jpg" /> Join the Discord!</span>]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-12">
[[Tuesday Night Noob|<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button"><img src="images/b/bb/Discord_main.jpg" />Looking to ease your way into multiplayer? Join Tuesday Night Noob!</span>]]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-12">
Hoggit was created as a laid back place for flight simmers of all skill levels to get together and fly online all while learning the modules of DCS World. Multiplayer DCS World groups tend to be very strict and regimented so we wanted to create a niche where people could casually come together and focus on having a good time. A great place to start is our Discord, where you'll find a community of sim pilots who are always willing to lend a hand to a new player, or just talk about sims in general.
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== DCS World Modules ==

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====Fighter/Multirole====
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:F-A-18C-icon.png|link=F/A-18C]]</p>
[[F/A-18C]]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:F14 Icon TEMP.png|75px|link=F-14A/B]]</p>

[[F-14A/B]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:M2000-icon.png|link=Mirage 2000C]]</p>

[[Mirage 2000C|M-2000C]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:F5.png|link=F-5E Tiger II]]</p>

[[F-5E Tiger II]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Mig21.png|link=Mig-21bis]]</p>

[[Mig-21bis]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:F86f.png|link=F-86F Sabre]]</p>

[[F-86F Sabre]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Mig15.png|link=Mig-15bis]]</p>

[[Mig-15bis]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Fc3.png|link=Flaming Cliffs]]</p>

[[Flaming Cliffs]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:F16CM icon.png|link=F-16C]]</p>
[[F-16C|F-16CM]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:RWR-Track.png|80px|link=JF-17]]</p>
[[JF-17]]
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4" style="margin-bottom: 3rem; border-right: thin solid #f1f1f1">

====Attack====
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:A10C-icon.png|link=A-10C]]</p>

[[A-10C]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:av8b.png|link=AV-8B(NA)]]</p>

[[AV-8B(NA)]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:ajs37.png|link=AJS-37]]</p>

[[AJS-37]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Su25t.png|link=Su-25T]]</p>

[[Su-25T]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4" style="margin-bottom: 3rem;">
====Rotorcraft====
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:ka52.png|link=Ka-50]]</p>

[[Ka-50]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:uh1h.png|link=UH-1H]]</p>

[[UH-1H]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:mi8.png|link=Mi-8]]</p>

[[Mi-8]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:sa342.png|link=SA342]]</p>

[[SA342]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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<div class="col-md-4" style="margin-bottom: 3rem; border-right: thin solid #f1f1f1">

====World War 2====
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<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:p51.png|link=P-51D]]</p>

[[P-51D]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:bf109.png|link=Bf 109 K-4]]</p>

[[Bf 109 K-4]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:spitfire.png|link=Spitfire Mk. IX]]</p>

[[Spitfire Mk. IX]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:fw190.png|link=Fw 190 D-9]]</p>

[[Fw 190 D-9]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
</div>
</div>
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====Trainers====
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<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:l39.png|link=L-39]]</p>

[[L-39]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:c101.png|link=C-101_Aviojet]]</p>

[[C-101]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:hawk.png|link=Hawk T.1A]]</p>

[[Hawk T.1A]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
</div>
</div>

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====Tools & Utilities====
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Srs.png|link=Simple Radio Standalone]]</p>

[[Simple Radio Standalone]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:LotATC.png|link=LotATC]]</p>

[[LotATC]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Tacview.png|link=Tacview]]</p>

[[Tacview]]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-4">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Combatflite_logo_abbreviated.png|100px|link=CombatFlite]]</p>

[[CombatFlite]]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-4">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Voice_attack.png|80px|link=Voice Attack]]</p>

[[Voice Attack]]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-4">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:OVGME_Logo.PNG|170px|link=OVGME]]</p>

[[OVGME]]
</div>

</div>
</div>

==Non-DCS World Sims==
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<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0;">[[File:Bms.png|86px|link=Falcon BMS]]</p>
[[Falcon BMS]]
</div>
</div>

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== Technique Guides & Resources ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Basic Airmanship|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Basic Airmanship</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Air-to-Air_Combat|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Air-to-Air Combat</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3326416/ <span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" role="button"> DCS Beginner's Guide by Goldwolf</span>]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318384/ <span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" role="button"> DCS Quick Reference Guide by Goldwolf</span>]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Threat Database|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Threat Database</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Air-to-Ground_Combat|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Air-to-Ground Combat</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Charts and Checklists|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Brevity (Jargon), Charts and Checklists</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Carrier Air Operations|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Carrier Air Operations</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Getting started with GCI/AWACS|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Getting started with GCI/AWACS</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Helicopter Operations (Logistics)|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Helicopter Operations (Logistics)</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[ATC and Airfield Communications|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">ATC and Airfield Communications</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Attack Helicopter Operations|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Attack Helicopter Operations</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[JTAC|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">A/G Communication with JTAC's</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
</div>
</div>



== Multiplayer Guides ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Getting Started With Multiplayer|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Getting Started With Multiplayer</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Simple Radio Standalone|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Multiplayer Comms</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Running a Server|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Running a Server</span>]]
</div>
</div>

== Setup Guides ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Peripherals Guide|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Peripherals Guide</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Joystick Profiles|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Joystick Profiles</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Headtracking Guides|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Headtracking Guides</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Cockpit Views|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Cockpit Views</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Exporting MFCD Displays|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Exporting MFCD Displays</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS Bios / Cockpit Building|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">DCS Bios / Cockpit Building</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS on linux|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Running DCS on linux</span>]]
</div>
</div>

== Mission Making ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Simulator_Scripting_Engine_Documentation|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Simulator Scripting Engine Documentation</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Mission Scripting Tools Documentation|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Mission Scripting Tools (MIST) Documentation</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS_mission_editor|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Mission Editor Documentation</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS_mission_editor_tools_mods|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Editor Tools and Mods</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Mission Design Resources|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Mission Design Resources</span>]]
</div>
</div>

== Modding ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Modding_Basics|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Getting Started</span>]]
</div>

<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS_export|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Export</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS_server_gameGUI|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">DCS Server Control Documentation</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS_liveries|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Liveries</span>]]
</div>
</div>

== Other Links ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[https://www.reddit.com/r/hoggit <span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Hoggit on Reddit</span>]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[https://forums.eagle.ru <span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Eagle Dynamics Forums</span>]
</div>
</div>

== Current Prices on Recommended Gear==
<div class="row">

<div class="col-sm-4 col-lg-2">
{{#iDisplay://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hoggitworld-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B004I5XB4K&asins=B004I5XB4K&linkId=839983d8016d022c4e361d068dcedd5e&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff|200|280}}</div>

<div class="col-sm-4 col-lg-2">
{{#iDisplay://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hoggitworld-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01LY285ZH&asins=B01LY285ZH&linkId=0f1fe6cb2b72e84f9187d474626d1d93&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff|200|280}}</div>

<div class="col-sm-4 col-lg-2">
{{#iDisplay://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hoggitworld-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B0029M6VKA&asins=B0029M6VKA&linkId=0f3882a4ce7cc8e7c03973917133f9d2&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff|200|280}}</div>

<div class="col-sm-4 col-lg-2">
{{#iDisplay://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hoggitworld-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01LX398IE&asins=B01LX398IE&linkId=60ad1f8062e080986ecea05098ed8a21&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true|200|280}}</div>

<div class="col-sm-4 col-lg-2">
{{#iDisplay://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hoggitworld-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B005CMOV06&asins=B005CMOV06&linkId=3696e75c77379f2aab8dc914c2de19a6&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff|200|280}}</div>

<div class="col-sm-4 col-lg-2">
{{#iDisplay://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hoggitworld-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B0000512IE&asins=B0000512IE&linkId=c0fc561a2ac5effe5ca2540e14a2f9af&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff|200|280}}</div>
</div>
<div class="row">If nothing appears here, Amazon links are removed by AdBlock. Consider whitelisting our wiki in your ad blocker! We use the money for things like giveaways, contests, and funding our dedicated server.

Check out the [[Peripherals Guide]] for more information.</div>

Hoggit DCS World Wiki

2025-02-27T18:37:10Z

0nn0: Small change for DCS on Linux section

<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-12 hidden-xs">
[[File:Toc.png|class=img-responsive center-block|link=Hoggit DCS World Wiki]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-12 hidden-sm hidden-md hidden-lg">
[[File:Toc_small.png|class=img-responsive center-block|link=Hoggit DCS World Wiki]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-12 hidden-xs">
[[File:GAWupdate.png|class=img-responsive center-block|link=Georgia At War]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-12 hidden-sm hidden-md hidden-lg">
[[File:GAWupdate_small.png|class=img-responsive center-block|link=Georgia At War]]
</div>
</div>

===Learn to Fly===
Welcome to Hoggit's DCS: World Wiki! We're a noob-friendly SeriousFaceTM multiplayer and singleplayer flight simulation community based on Reddit. This Wiki is meant to be a resource for anyone looking for information on the simulations we primarily play, DCS: World and Falcon BMS. We're gathering and organizing all the information related to the games, their peripherals, their quirks, and their tweaks/mods into this central repository in hopes that the World community will find it a valuable "one-stop shop" resource for everything you'd want to know.

[[Frequently Asked Questions]]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apvriPLtiZA&list=UUHa9LMylydkT0T3qSzAVrlw&feature=c4-overview What is DCS World?]

[[Simulator Scripting Engine Documentation|Looking for MIST/Scripting Documentation?]]

<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-12">
[https://discord.gg/hoggit <span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button"><img src="images/b/bb/Discord_main.jpg" /> Join the Discord!</span>]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-12">
[[Tuesday Night Noob|<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button"><img src="images/b/bb/Discord_main.jpg" />Looking to ease your way into multiplayer? Join Tuesday Night Noob!</span>]]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-12">
Hoggit was created as a laid back place for flight simmers of all skill levels to get together and fly online all while learning the modules of DCS World. Multiplayer DCS World groups tend to be very strict and regimented so we wanted to create a niche where people could casually come together and focus on having a good time. A great place to start is our Discord, where you'll find a community of sim pilots who are always willing to lend a hand to a new player, or just talk about sims in general.
</div>
</div>

<center>{{#widget:AdSense
|name=Hoggitwiki header
|width = 728px
|height = 90px
}}</center>

== DCS World Modules ==

<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-4" style="margin-bottom: 3rem; border-right: thin solid #f1f1f1">
====Fighter/Multirole====
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:F-A-18C-icon.png|link=F/A-18C]]</p>
[[F/A-18C]]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:F14 Icon TEMP.png|75px|link=F-14A/B]]</p>

[[F-14A/B]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:M2000-icon.png|link=Mirage 2000C]]</p>

[[Mirage 2000C|M-2000C]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:F5.png|link=F-5E Tiger II]]</p>

[[F-5E Tiger II]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Mig21.png|link=Mig-21bis]]</p>

[[Mig-21bis]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:F86f.png|link=F-86F Sabre]]</p>

[[F-86F Sabre]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Mig15.png|link=Mig-15bis]]</p>

[[Mig-15bis]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Fc3.png|link=Flaming Cliffs]]</p>

[[Flaming Cliffs]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:F16CM icon.png|link=F-16C]]</p>
[[F-16C|F-16CM]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:RWR-Track.png|80px|link=JF-17]]</p>
[[JF-17]]
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4" style="margin-bottom: 3rem; border-right: thin solid #f1f1f1">

====Attack====
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:A10C-icon.png|link=A-10C]]</p>

[[A-10C]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:av8b.png|link=AV-8B(NA)]]</p>

[[AV-8B(NA)]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:ajs37.png|link=AJS-37]]</p>

[[AJS-37]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Su25t.png|link=Su-25T]]</p>

[[Su-25T]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4" style="margin-bottom: 3rem;">
====Rotorcraft====
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:ka52.png|link=Ka-50]]</p>

[[Ka-50]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:uh1h.png|link=UH-1H]]</p>

[[UH-1H]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:mi8.png|link=Mi-8]]</p>

[[Mi-8]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:sa342.png|link=SA342]]</p>

[[SA342]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-4" style="margin-bottom: 3rem; border-right: thin solid #f1f1f1">

====World War 2====
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:p51.png|link=P-51D]]</p>

[[P-51D]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:bf109.png|link=Bf 109 K-4]]</p>

[[Bf 109 K-4]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:spitfire.png|link=Spitfire Mk. IX]]</p>

[[Spitfire Mk. IX]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:fw190.png|link=Fw 190 D-9]]</p>

[[Fw 190 D-9]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4" style="margin-bottom: 3rem; border-right: thin solid #f1f1f1">
====Trainers====
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:l39.png|link=L-39]]</p>

[[L-39]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:c101.png|link=C-101_Aviojet]]</p>

[[C-101]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:hawk.png|link=Hawk T.1A]]</p>

[[Hawk T.1A]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="col-md-4" style="margin-bottom: 3rem;">

====Tools & Utilities====
<div class="row text-center">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Srs.png|link=Simple Radio Standalone]]</p>

[[Simple Radio Standalone]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:LotATC.png|link=LotATC]]</p>

[[LotATC]]
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Tacview.png|link=Tacview]]</p>

[[Tacview]]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-4">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Combatflite_logo_abbreviated.png|100px|link=CombatFlite]]</p>

[[CombatFlite]]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-4">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:Voice_attack.png|80px|link=Voice Attack]]</p>

[[Voice Attack]]
</div>

<div class="col-sm-4">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0">[[File:OVGME_Logo.PNG|170px|link=OVGME]]</p>

[[OVGME]]
</div>

</div>
</div>

==Non-DCS World Sims==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0;">[[File:Bms.png|86px|link=Falcon BMS]]</p>
[[Falcon BMS]]
</div>
</div>

<center>{{#widget:AdSense
|name=Hoggitwiki header
|client=ca-pub-6997190595986605
|slot=7221930773
|width = 728px
|height = 90px
}}</center>

== Technique Guides & Resources ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Basic Airmanship|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Basic Airmanship</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Air-to-Air_Combat|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Air-to-Air Combat</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3326416/ <span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" role="button"> DCS Beginner's Guide by Goldwolf</span>]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318384/ <span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" role="button"> DCS Quick Reference Guide by Goldwolf</span>]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Threat Database|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Threat Database</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Air-to-Ground_Combat|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Air-to-Ground Combat</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Charts and Checklists|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Brevity (Jargon), Charts and Checklists</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Carrier Air Operations|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Carrier Air Operations</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Getting started with GCI/AWACS|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Getting started with GCI/AWACS</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Helicopter Operations (Logistics)|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Helicopter Operations (Logistics)</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[ATC and Airfield Communications|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">ATC and Airfield Communications</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Attack Helicopter Operations|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Attack Helicopter Operations</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[JTAC|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">A/G Communication with JTAC's</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
</div>
</div>



== Multiplayer Guides ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Getting Started With Multiplayer|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Getting Started With Multiplayer</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Simple Radio Standalone|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Multiplayer Comms</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Running a Server|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Running a Server</span>]]
</div>
</div>

== Setup Guides ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Peripherals Guide|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Peripherals Guide</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Joystick Profiles|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Joystick Profiles</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Headtracking Guides|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Headtracking Guides</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Cockpit Views|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Cockpit Views</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Exporting MFCD Displays|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Exporting MFCD Displays</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS Bios / Cockpit Building|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">DCS Bios / Cockpit Building</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Running DCS on linux|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">DCS on linux</span>]]
</div>
</div>

== Mission Making ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Simulator_Scripting_Engine_Documentation|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Simulator Scripting Engine Documentation</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Mission Scripting Tools Documentation|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Mission Scripting Tools (MIST) Documentation</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS_mission_editor|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Mission Editor Documentation</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS_mission_editor_tools_mods|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Editor Tools and Mods</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Mission Design Resources|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Mission Design Resources</span>]]
</div>
</div>

== Modding ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[Modding_Basics|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Getting Started</span>]]
</div>

<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS_export|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Export</span>]]
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS_server_gameGUI|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">DCS Server Control Documentation</span>]]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[[DCS_liveries|
<span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Liveries</span>]]
</div>
</div>

== Other Links ==
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6">
[https://www.reddit.com/r/hoggit <span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Hoggit on Reddit</span>]
</div>
<div class="col-md-6">
[https://forums.eagle.ru <span class="btn btn-lg btn-primary btn-block" href="#" role="button">Eagle Dynamics Forums</span>]
</div>
</div>

== Current Prices on Recommended Gear==
<div class="row">

<div class="col-sm-4 col-lg-2">
{{#iDisplay://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hoggitworld-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B004I5XB4K&asins=B004I5XB4K&linkId=839983d8016d022c4e361d068dcedd5e&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff|200|280}}</div>

<div class="col-sm-4 col-lg-2">
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Check out the [[Peripherals Guide]] for more information.</div>

DCS on linux

2025-02-27T18:11:54Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide] for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple files in once file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a stick, adding the access tag and running the evdev-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

Some if you intend to use Monado can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2025-02-27T18:11:38Z

0nn0: added link to budderball's version of TheZoq2's guide

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux TheZoq2's guide] or [https://github.com/budderpard/DCS_Standalone_on_linux/blob/master/README.md#Vr-References Budderball's guide]for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple files in once file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a stick, adding the access tag and running the evdev-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

Some if you intend to use Monado can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2025-02-27T18:08:24Z

0nn0: update of udev section after feedback

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.

another example:
<pre style="color: red">
# Custom Joystick Udev Rules

# Virpil Throttle
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0197", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Right Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="40cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Left Stick
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="80cb", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"

# Virpil Rudder Pedals
ACTION=="add", \
ATTRS{idVendor}=="3344", ATTRS{idProduct}=="01f8", \
MODE="0664", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1", TAG+="uaccess", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/evdev-joystick --e %E{DEVNAME} --d 0"
</pre>

This example adds rules for multiple files in once file, matching them on vendor id and product id, setting the access to the device with MODE, setting them up as a stick, adding the access tag and running the evdev-joystick command using RUN for adding the device as a virtual device.

You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

Some if you intend to use Monado can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2025-02-27T17:48:52Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in my game controller testing application?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.
You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

Some if you intend to use Monado can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2025-02-27T17:48:10Z

0nn0: update to udev rule section

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". It is a system level change and won't alter the firmware of the stick. The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

You'll have to match the device and then add an attribute to make the system think that it is a joystick. Matching on the name attribute is probably the easiest to understand, but some devices have mutable device names. In that case you can also match on (a combination of) USB attributes, like ''idVendor'' and ''idProduct'', for example. The [https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/udev.7.html udev documentation] provides a bit of insight on what you can do in this regard. By adding '''''ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"''''', the environment variable for making it a joystick is added to this device.
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"</pre>
In this example we matched the name attribute for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" and added the property for a joystick so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix in the listing.
You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or asking around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

Some if you intend to use Monado can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2025-02-17T17:21:43Z

0nn0: added envision and LVRA

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
</pre>
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.
In this example we changed the name for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix. You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or ask around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

Some if you intend to use Monado can benefit from [https://gitlab.com/gabmus/envision Envision], a tool which helps you set up a VR rendering context.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

https://lvra.gitlab.io/ : Linux VR Adventures - useful resource for getting VR to work on linux

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

Frequently Asked Questions

2025-02-01T19:47:51Z

0nn0:

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A list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that get asked when joining Hoggit or Combat Flight Sims.

__TOC__

=== Where do I start? ===

DCS is an intimidating game for people to get into. The first step would be to check out our [https://wiki.hoggitworld.com/view/Hoggit_DCS_World_Wiki#Setup_Guides Setup Guides] and ensure your controls are working with DCS. DCS World comes with two free planes, the [[Su-25T]] and the TF-51D (trainer version of the [[P-51D]]). Check out their training missions inside DCS World, and also check out their linked wiki pages for any resources related to them.

Nowadays DCS offers also [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/personal/licensing/trial/ a free to play system], where you can try out any module for two weeks at a time every six months.

If you have a particular module you'd like to learn, check out [https://chucksguides.com/ Chuck's Guide] for that module (usually linked on our wiki's pages for that plane, if there's a guide available). It's a great starting point (and reference for later) for every module in DCS.

==== How do I get a tutor? ====
If you're interested in learning with an actual person, join our [http://discord.gg/hoggit Discord] and tag the @Instructors ([[Hoggit_Instructors]]). It's useful to mention which module you want to learn, and if you want to learn something specific (eg. landing, bombing, navigation).

=== What gear should I buy? ===

Very much depends on your budget/seriousness. Our [[Peripherals Guide]] should guide you towards some good choices.

=== Does DCS have sales? ===

Yes, both Steam and the Eagle Dynamics stores will have sales, and the modules are usually discounted on both stores around 30-50%. The sales will occur usually around the same time, but the duration of the Eagle Dynamics store sales are typically a bit longer.

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=== Should I get the Steam Version or Standalone Version? ===

A point of contention in the DCS community. If you're new to DCS World and are looking to buy a module, AT THIS TIME we suggest the standalone version.

However, there are a few trade-offs to consider:
* Differences in price due to currency conversions and Steam regions
* Standalone
** [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/personal/licensing/trial/ gives you a two-week free trial period for each module, which can be used every six months]
** [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/Discount/#3317029 50% discount for your first purchase]
** has 10% cash-back in the form of [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/miles_rules/ ED Miles]
*** Note that it's essentially a "Buy 10, get 1 for free": if you use any ED miles for a purchase, that specific purchase won't give you any ED miles
** tends to have a bit longer sales
** gives better version control for roll-backs (in case the newest update breaks something, for example)
* [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/500/ Steam]
** auto-update without launching the game
** Steam overlay and friend list
** [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/500/#3303126 you can link your Steam account to Standalone] to use modules bought via Steam in either version
** When playing on linux, using Proton makes it easier to get going when using the Steam edition.

=== Which modules are transferable between Steam and Standalone? ===
All modules can be transferred from Steam to Standalone, but transferring modules from Standalone to Steam is not available. The modules transferred from Steam will remain available in your Steam inventory, and you can remove the sync later if you wish.

Follow this guide on the DCS website to transfer your modules: [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/steam/#3303126 https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/steam/#3303126]

=== How do I switch my install from Steam to Standalone version? ===
# Download installer from ED and run it
# Untick "download" at end of setup
# Copy across files from Steam to Standalone
# Delete retail.cfg in YourDCSFolder/Config/
# Run Repair DCS World

=== How do I move to the Open Beta Branch? ===
You no longer can or have to, the Open Beta Branch has been abolished.

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DCS on linux

2024-12-23T22:42:40Z

0nn0: Added ALVR to VR section, updated some links

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
</pre>
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.
In this example we changed the name for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix. You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or ask around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on [https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit r/hoggit] and on the [https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org DCS on Linux matrix channel]. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough [https://monado.dev/ Monado], but often support for controllers is lacking.

If you have a stand-alone HMD, like a Pico or Quest, you might want to have a look at [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide Air Light VR (ALVR)] This tool can be used to connect to the HMD via a (wireless) network connection and presents the HMD as an OpenXR device. There are some caveats. ALVR is mostly geared towards nVidia GPUs, but AMD GPUs can be made to work. However, only the closed source drivers will work. Please check the [https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Linux-Troubleshooting ALVR documentation] to see how to deal with this.

VR certainly is not an easy thing to get going on linux. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the [https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher Opentrack-launcher script]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called [https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch SteamTinkerLaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out [https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/wiki/Installation-guide : ALVR installation guide.

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently and not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

3. Thanks for everyone who has contributed by giving feedback via Matrix!

DCS on linux

2024-07-11T21:15:31Z

0nn0: New launcher requires WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' again, so removed the remark on not needing it.

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
</pre>
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.
In this example we changed the name for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix. You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or ask around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit and on the matrix channel linked below. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough Monado[https://monado.dev/], but often support for controllers is lacking. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the Opentrack-launcher script[https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called SteamTinkerLaunch[https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out linuxtrack[https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently, not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

DCS on linux

2024-06-17T07:10:14Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>. Note: this step doesn't seem to be necessary any longer for many, but some still need to have it in their launch options.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
</pre>
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.
In this example we changed the name for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix. You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or ask around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit and on the matrix channel linked below. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your launch parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough Monado[https://monado.dev/], but often support for controllers is lacking. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the Opentrack-launcher script[https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called SteamTinkerLaunch[https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out linuxtrack[https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently, not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

DCS on linux

2024-06-17T07:09:28Z

0nn0: added fix for RDNA3 screen blanking issue

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>. Note: this step doesn't seem to be necessary any longer for many, but some still need to have it in their launch options.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
</pre>
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.
In this example we changed the name for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix. You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or ask around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit and on the matrix channel linked below. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

'''Q:''' ''My screen is flashing black every couple of frames.''

'''A:''' This is a known problem with RDNA3 based AMD GPUs. It can be fixed by adding this to your command line parameters: <pre style="color: red">RADV_DEBUG=llvm %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough Monado[https://monado.dev/], but often support for controllers is lacking. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the Opentrack-launcher script[https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called SteamTinkerLaunch[https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out linuxtrack[https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently, not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

DCS on linux

2024-06-10T10:26:23Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>. Note: this step doesn't seem to be necessary any longer for many, but some still need to have it in their launch options.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
</pre>
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.
In this example we changed the name for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix. You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or ask around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit and on the matrix channel linked below. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough Monado[https://monado.dev/], but often support for controllers is lacking. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the Opentrack-launcher script[https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called SteamTinkerLaunch[https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out linuxtrack[https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C ([https://old.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqnwfj4ooad.onion/r/hoggit/comments/1ah5nom/dcs_on_linux/kowov4v/ related hoggit comment thread])

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently, not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

DCS on linux

2024-06-10T10:21:41Z

0nn0: added link to glass cockpit

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>. Note: this step doesn't seem to be necessary any longer for many, but some still need to have it in their launch options.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
</pre>
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.
In this example we changed the name for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix. You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or ask around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit and on the matrix channel linked below. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough Monado[https://monado.dev/], but often support for controllers is lacking. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the Opentrack-launcher script[https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called SteamTinkerLaunch[https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out linuxtrack[https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

https://github.com/stoertebecker/electron_glasscockpit : cockpit for exported MFDs for the F/A-18C

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently, not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

DCS on linux

2024-06-08T08:19:11Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>. Note: this step doesn't seem to be necessary any longer for many, but some still need to have it in their launch options.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
</pre>
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.
In this example we changed the name for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix. You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or ask around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit and on the matrix channel linked below. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

'''Q:''' ''I have The F-4E module, but it Jester seems to be borked''

'''A:''' This is a known problem, but there is a fix (for X11 users). You have to add the following to your launch parameters <pre style="color: red">WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%</pre>

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough Monado[https://monado.dev/], but often support for controllers is lacking. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the Opentrack-launcher script[https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called SteamTinkerLaunch[https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out linuxtrack[https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently, not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

DCS on linux

2024-02-25T19:15:04Z

0nn0:

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>. Note: this step doesn't seem to be necessary any longer for many, but some still need to have it in their launch options.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
</pre>
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.
In this example we changed the name for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix. You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or ask around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit and on the matrix channel linked below. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough Monado[https://monado.dev/], but often support for controllers is lacking. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==
Head tracking has transformed flight simming ever since its first appearance about 20 years ago. Using DCS without it is almost inconceivable nowadays.

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using the Opentrack-launcher script[https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher]. This script downloads the latest version of opentrack at the time of first launch. This will opentrack run by adding a commandline option to the steam launcher. It works great for most users.

If somehow the opentrack-launcher script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer.

Another possible option is to use a tool called SteamTinkerLaunch[https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out linuxtrack[https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

----

Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently, not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

DCS on linux

2024-02-25T19:08:11Z

0nn0: converted opentrack chapter to head tracking chapter. Added previous content for opentrack to the relevant paragraph for opentrack and added new paragraph for linuxtrack

DCS can be made to run on linux. You will need to use either wine or proton to make it work, as there is no native client. Overall it does work reasonably well. Compared to running DCS on Windows, the performance is slightly reduced, but decent. It doesn't matter if you use Gnome or KDE, but please be aware that there are many hotkeys in Gnome which use modifiers that collide with DCS default key assignments. DCS is known to run well on Ubuntu, OpenSUSE and Fedora and is likely to run well on many other distributions also.
See the FAQ and external references for more info on known problems and how to fix them.

==Setting Up DCS==
===Using Wine===
You can check out https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux for tips and tricks for running DCS Standalone on linux.

You can also try to use Lutris to make installation easier. See: https://lutris.net/games/dcs-world/ Please note that scripts tend to get out of date over time.

===Using Proton===

This option requires that you have bought your DCS modules on Steam. This guide assumes an installation of Steam using the native package manager for your distribution. This option is available for most distributions. Alternatively you can use the Flatpak version of steam, but it is known to cause problems when using extra software like SRS or opentrack due to how security is managed in Flatpak.

At the time of writing (february 2024) the following steps are confirmed to be working on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed while using KDE and on Kubuntu 22.04.3. You might notice here that the description is basically about linux with KDE. The reason is that this is what you'll probably want to use this anyway, as there are a lot of keystrokes in DCS which interfere with Gnome's global hotkeys.

Install steps:

1. Enable compatibility mode for DCS: Go to your library, right click on DCS and select the properties menu item from the context menu. Then open the compatibility tab and enable the tick-box for enabling the compatibility mode in the settings. Setting the proton version to "Proton Experimental" as the version usually works best.

2. Install the game via steam, now that this has become possible.

3. If you get an error with compiling the shaders during startup, you'll need to install the proper d3d compiler into the Proton prefix for the game. (this applies for 99% of users) You will need to install "protontricks"[https://github.com/Matoking/protontricks] so you can install extra libraries into the Proton prefix for DCS. This is available for most linux distributions, but is not always part of the distribution's own packages. It's best to first check the package manager to see if it is available. If it is not, then look for alternative ways to install it for your specific distribution by using your favourite search engine. The version required changes from time to time. At the time of writing, the version to use is "d3dcompiler_47". You can use following protontricks command to fix the compiler problem: <pre style="color: red">protontricks 223750 d3dcompiler_47</pre>

4. Sometimes proton doesn't load properly or seems to hang during loading, resulting in a borked startup. You can try to set up the following launch options in the "General" of the properties in steam: <pre style="color: red">WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command%</pre>. Note: this step doesn't seem to be necessary any longer for many, but some still need to have it in their launch options.

DCS should now start up normally.

==FAQ / troubleshooting==

'''Q:''' ''I have my Proton version set to 'Experimental', as was recommended. Now my DCS install refuses to work after installing a Proton update. What should I do?''

'''A:''' Sometimes a newer version of Proton, which gets installed automatically if you have the version selection set to experimental, causes things to break. If you find all of a sudden that you can't get DCS running, and you have recently installed an update for Proton while having Experimental selected as the version to use, then consider running one of the fixed versions of Proton available in the drop-down list under the compatibility options.

'''Q:''' ''I get the error "Authorization error. Error code is: 500" while starting up DCS and I don´t have access to my modules now?''

'''A:''' This is a general issue with DCS, but it is more prevalent on linux. DCS checks if your clock matches the reported time zone for your IP address. On linux the clock might be skewed because it handles time settings a little differently than windows does. Make sure you have your clock set up correctly before starting DCS. [https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/authorization/] If you dual boot, then make sure that your bios uses UTC and that windows is set up to use an offset to UTC instead of setting the time in the bios clock. (search for "How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times" if you don't know how to)

'''Q:''' ''There are textures which are not shown properly while in the game.''

'''A:''' Yes, this happens with certain modules. For instance, in the Ka-50 III the Skval is not usable because of this problem. The RWR in the F-16C is also affected. A re-export of the image file with an image editor in the same file format might fix this. [https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux#f16-rwr-shows-a-opaque-square-on-the-rwr-over-the-priority-contact]
Unfortunately this fix breaks the integrity check for multiplayer.

'''Q:''' ''The contrails are puffy?''

'''A:''' This is a known and persistent problem. Unfortunately there is no fix available. Hopefully this will be fixed with the introduction of Vulkan to DCS.

'''Q:''' ''One of my input devices is not showing up in DCS, even though I can see it in the game controller application in KDE?''

'''A:''' This is a problem with how the udev subsystem in linux scans for usb devices and categorises them in "'''/dev/input/by-id/'''" and then in turn how wine/proton scans for devices based on their names in that same directory. You will need to add a rule which tells udev to categorise the device properly, so that wine/proton knows it is a joystick device and which properties it has. This is done by adding a file to "'''/etc/udev/rules.d/'''". The file needs to have a name starting with a number, and this number actually means something, as it denotes the priority of the file in the udev loading sequence. This can be different from system to system, but somewhere in the 30 to 50 range seems to work well. Each line in the file describes what attributes of a device that you want to modify.

As an example for the Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals, you can use the following:
Create a file called "'''51-rudder-pedals.rules'''" as the root user, and inside the file, use the following line:
<pre style="color: red">SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals", ENV{ID_INPUT_JOYSTICK}="1"
</pre>
Save the file and reload the udev rules after creating and editing this file. If you don't know how to, you can also restart the computer to get it to work.
In this example we changed the name for "Saitek Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals" so that the device id ends with the "-joystick" suffix. You can also add calibration data and other options. For a more elaborate explanations or help, try searching the web or ask around.

'''Q:''' ''Where can I get help with installing DCS on linux?''

'''A:''' You can get help/support for running DCS on linux on https://old.reddit.com/r/hoggit and on the matrix channel linked below. Please note that this is on a best effort basis. In the end you still have to fix it yourself, but others might come up with suggestions you had not thought of.(..yet)

==VR==

This can be made to work, but it depends on the HMD support for linux. The requirement is that your HMD can run with OpenXR. The Valve Index and some standalone HMDs with linux support are your best bet. Certain WMR HMDs can be made to run trough Monado[https://monado.dev/], but often support for controllers is lacking. Ask around if you need help.

==Head Tracking==

===opentrack===

The most widely used program to do head tracking is opentrack. Opentrack can de made to run under Proton using a tool called SteamTinkerLaunch[https://github.com/sonic2kk/steamtinkerlaunch] to run multiple programs inside the same prefix.

If somehow that script doesn´t work you can also try to use a double installation. One inside the wine or proton prefix, and one outside the prefix. You then use the local loop network connection for data transfer. At present the option to use opentrack with the steam prefix directly seems to be broken.

Another possible option is to use the Opentrack-launcher script[https://github.com/markx86/opentrack-launcher]

===linuxtrack===
If for some reason you can't get opentrack to run, or you have another reason that you don't like to run opentrack, you can check out linuxtrack[https://github.com/uglyDwarf/linuxtrack]

==SRS==

Some have reported that SRS can work if installed via wine or proton, but there are no good guides on this which are current. Ask around to find out more.

==Useful resources:==

https://github.com/TheZoq2/dcs_on_linux : Git documentation for running DCS using Wine.

https://www.protondb.com/app/223750 : ProtonDB page for DCS.

https://matrix.to/#/#dcs-on-linux:matrix.org : A matrix space to discuss running DCS on linux. Matrix is kind of a counterpart to Discord that ''does'' respect your privacy.

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Final remarks:

1. This article is updated from time to time, but not very frequently, not very regularly. Please contact the author(s) via their contact pages for feedback.

2. This article describes steps to install DCS on linux mainly for Proton/steam users and refers to external sources for installation via a Wine prefix. Please consider adding to this article if you have experience installing DCS standalone with Wine. See the discussion page for discussions about the content of this article.

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