Recently, Psyonix, the developer of Rocket Leauge, has announced that their game will no longer be supported on Linux. The Linux version of the game is no longer getting updates, won’t connect to multiplayer, and it will likely stop working very soon.
Since the Linux community loves Rocket League very much, this decision is devastating. However, thanks to advances in Wine, Steam Play and Proton, it is still possible to enjoy this video game on your Linux PC. Follow along in this guide to learn how to get it working!
Getting Rocket League working
The popular method to run Rocket League on Linux is with Valve’s Steam Play tool. To get the game working in Steam Play, follow the step-by-step instructions outlined below.
Step 1: The first step in setting up Rocket League via Steam Play is to download the Steam app to your Linux system. Open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, install the Steam app with one of the commands below.
Ubuntu
sudo apt install steam
Debian
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb sudo dpkg -i steam.deb sudo apt-get install -f
Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora
On Fedora, getting Steam working can be a bit tedious. For best results, try the Flatpak release instead.
OpenSUSE
On OpenSUSE, it is possible to get Steam working through the traditional package manager. However, it is easier to install it with the Flatpak method.
Flatpak
Ensure you have the Flatpak runtime set up on your Linux system. Then, use the commands below to install Steam.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Step 2: After installing the Steam client on your Linux PC, log into your account. Alternatively, create a new account here. Then, when logged in, purchase Rocket League from the store if you haven’t already.
Step 3: Open up the Steam “Settings” area, locate the “Steam Play” area, and check the box to enable it. Be sure also to enable the setting that allows Steam Play to work with all titles, as Rocket League will not work without this setting.
Step 4: Click on the “Library” button in Steam to go to your Steam Library. After that, locate the search box and type in “Rocket League.” Once the game shows up in the search results, click on it with the mouse.
Step 5: Find the blue “Install” button and click on it to start the installation of Rocket Leauge on your Linux PC. Keep in mind that this game is close to 10 GB in size so the download process will take some time. Be patient!
Step 6: Locate Rocket Leauge in the Library sidebar and right-click on it with the mouse. Look through the right-click menu for “Properties” and select it to access the Steam Properties area for the game.
Step 7: Inside of the “Properties” window, find “Force the use of specific Steam Play compatibility tool” and check the box next to it to tell Steam to use Steam Play rather than the Native Linux version of the game.
Step 8: Once the “Force the use of specific Steam Play compatibility tool” box is checked, Steam Play is enabled for Rocket League. Next, find the drop-down menu next to “Force the use of specific Steam Play compatibility tool,” and set it to “Proton version 5.0-4”. This version of Proton runs Rocket League the best.
Step 9: Find the “close” button in the properties window and click on it to exit the settings for the game. When the properties window is closed, locate the “Play” button, and select it to start up.
When you click the “Play” button to start Rocket League on your Linux PC, it won’t start right away. Instead, Steam will install various Windows components needed to run Rocket League. These Windows components will take a bit of time to install, so be patient.
As soon as all Windows components are set up in Steam to run Rocket League, the game will launch on your Linux desktop. From here, you can start playing. Enjoy!
Troubleshooting Rocket League
Running Rocket League through Steam Play gets around the defunct native Linux version of the game. However, the Steam Play version of Rocket League is far from perfect. It has tons of bugs, as it is the Windows version.
If you run into problems playing the game on your Linux PC, don’t worry! You’ll be able to find tons of other users providing guidance and support for Rocket League on Linux by heading over to its page on ProtonDB.com. Additionally, if you solve bugs on your own with Rocket League in Steam for Linux, you’ll be able to submit fixes to the site for other users.
