Lutris

Lutris helps you install and play video games from all eras and from most gaming systems. By leveraging and combining existing emulators, engine re-implementations and compatibility layers, it gives you a central interface to launch all your games.

The client can connect with existing services like Humble Bundle, GOG and Steam to make your game libraries easily available. Game downloads and installations are automated and can be modified through user made scripts.

Running Lutris

If you have not installed Lutris through your package manager and are using the source package, it is recommended that you install lutris at least once, even an older version to have all dependencies available. Once all dependencies are satisfied, you can run lutris directly from the source directory with ./bin/lutris

If you need to run lutris through gdb to troubleshoot segmentation faults, you can use the following command:

gdb -ex r --args "/usr/bin/python3" "./bin/lutris"

Installer scripts

Lutris installations are fully automated through scripts, which can be written in either JSON or YAML. The scripting syntax is described in docs/installers.rst, and is also available online at lutris.net.

Game library

Optional accounts can be created at lutris.net and linked with Lutris clients. This enables your client to automatically sync fetch library from the website. It is currently not possible to sync from the client to the cloud. Via the website, it is also possible to sync your Steam library to your Lutris library.

The Lutris client only stores a token when connected with the website, and your login credentials are never saved. This token is stored in ~/.cache/lutris/auth-token.

Configuration files

~/.config/lutris: The client, runners, and game configuration files

There is be no need to manually edit these files as everything should be done from the client.
lutris.conf: Preferences for the client's UI
system.yml: Default game configuration, which applies to every game
runners/*.yml: Runner-specific configurations
games/*.yml: Game-specific configurations

Game-specific configurations overwrite runner-specific configurations, which in turn overwrite the system configuration.

Runners and the game database

~/.local/share/lutris: All data necessary to manage Lutris' library and games, including:

pga.db: An SQLite database tracking the game library, game installation status, various file locations, and some additional metadata
runners/*: Runners downloaded from lutris.net <https://lutris.net>
banners/*.jpg: Game banners

~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/lutris_*.png: Game icons

Command line options

The following command line arguments are available:

-v, --version              Print the version of Lutris and exit
-d, --debug                Show debug messages
-i, --install              Install a game from a yml file
-b, --output-script        Generate a bash script to run a game without the client
-e, --exec                 Execute a program with the lutris runtime
-l, --list-games           List all games in database
-o, --installed            Only list installed games
-s, --list-steam-games     List available Steam games
--list-steam-folders       List all known Steam library folders
-j, --json                 Display the list of games in JSON format
--reinstall                Reinstall game
--display=DISPLAY          X display to use

Additionally, you can pass a lutris: protocol link followed by a game identifier on the command line such as:

lutris lutris:quake

This will install the game if it is not already installed, otherwise it will launch the game. The game will always be installed if the --reinstall flag is passed.

Planned features

Lutris is far from complete, and some features have yet to be implemented.

Here's what to expect from future versions of Lutris:

TOSEC database integration
Management of personal game data (i.e. syncing games across devices using private cloud storage)
Community features (friends list, chat, multiplayer game scheduling, etc.)

Support the project

Lutris is 100% community supported, to ensure a continuous development on the project, please consider donating to the project. Our main platform for supporting Lutris is Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lutris but there are also other options available at https://lutris.net/donate

Come with us!

Want to make Lutris better? Help implement features, fix bugs, test pre-releases, or simply chat with the developers?

You can always reach us on:

Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/Pnt5CuY
IRC: ircs://irc.libera.chat:6697/lutris
Github: https://github.com/lutris
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LutrisGaming

sbreatnach / lutris