If I knew it was going to be so hard to install on linux I would not have purchased

[KenK]

They really need to say this is a windows game that you can sort of maybe get to run on linux, but maybe not your distro. I am going to give up for now and hope it becomes easier in the future.

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums! Sorry to hear that you're having trouble installing the game. I don't know a lot about Linux, but maybe these links will help? 

https://wiki.vintagestory.at/Installing_the_game_on_Linux/en

 

[MagpieOAO]

What distro are you running? 

I'm a complete linux newbie and testing things out, first thing I did was check if I could play it on Linux Mint (Cinnamon). Used the flatpack installation method and the game appears under the "Games" area on the menu and runs for me. I know "it werks" isn't very helpful but the mint distro is easy to use and stable. Nvidia GPU and intel CPU. 

[zand]

Greetings Kenk, I myself am a Linux user and am sorry to hear that you are having trouble running the game.

One of the main issues with getting the current stable 1.20 running on Linux is due to it using .NET 7. Most distros don't include packages for .NET 7 due to security issues as it is no longer supported and has vulnerabilities which will not be patched.

If .NET 7 not being installed is the issue, then you will need to find a way to install it for your distro. For example, with an Ubuntu based distro you could do the following in order to install .NET 7.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dotnet/backports
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install dotnet7

The next version of Vintage Story 1.21 will be using .NET 8, which will be supported and easier to install until near the end of next year 2026.

If you could provide what distro you are using and more details on the problem you are having, there may be someone here that will be able to provide better assistance.

Edited July 12, 2025 by zand

[Teh Pizza Lady]

i was going to mention the backport repo because I had to utilize it to install my server on linux, but I see @zand beat me to it.  

[Thorfinn]

Or play 1.21 Prerelease. It's moved onto .NET8

[EWsssfhioewhg]

Fedora user here. The flatpack version works without a problem for me. You don't need to install .NET7 or anything else. The flatpak has everything it requires to run, and I've had no problems with it. You might give that a try.

[Timmyew]

It's very easy to play the game with a newer dotnet version. 
I play it with version 8. 
You just need to change the follow file in the game folder: 
Vintagestory.runtimeconfig.json
 

{
  "runtimeOptions": {
    "tfm": "net8.0",
    "framework": {
      "name": "Microsoft.NETCore.App",
      "version": "8.0.0"
    },
    "configProperties": {
      "System.Reflection.Metadata.MetadataUpdater.IsSupported": false,
      "System.Runtime.TieredPGO": true
    }
  }
}

Change the 7.0 to 8.0. 
Works for me.

By the way... 
For the files VintagestoryServer.runtimeconfig.json and VSCrashReporter.runtimeconfig.json too.

Edited July 19, 2025 by Timmyew

[KenK]

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for answering, sorry I did not get back sooner. I am using Mint linux and they dropped the .net7 package. I guess the VS wiki wasn't updated to reflex this, so I was frustrated because of that. Since the next release sounds like it will be going to .net8, that should fix my issue. In the mean time, I still have a Win10 partition I can boot into, so I install the game there for now and have been playing it. 

 

Thanks

[zand]

2 hours ago, KenK said:

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for answering, sorry I did not get back sooner. I am using Mint linux and they dropped the .net7 package. I guess the VS wiki wasn't updated to reflex this, so I was frustrated because of that. Since the next release sounds like it will be going to .net8, that should fix my issue. In the mean time, I still have a Win10 partition I can boot into, so I install the game there for now and have been playing it. 

 

Thanks

The commands I listed to install .NET 7 from backports should also work for Linux Mint.

On 7/12/2025 at 7:46 PM, zand said:

Greetings Kenk, I myself am a Linux user and am sorry to hear that you are having trouble running the game.

One of the main issues with getting the current stable 1.20 running on Linux is due to it using .NET 7. Most distros don't include packages for .NET 7 due to security issues as it is no longer supported and has vulnerabilities which will not be patched.

If .NET 7 not being installed is the issue, then you will need to find a way to install it for your distro. For example, with an Ubuntu based distro you could do the following in order to install .NET 7.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dotnet/backports
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install dotnet7

The next version of Vintage Story 1.21 will be using .NET 8, which will be supported and easier to install until near the end of next year 2026.

If you could provide what distro you are using and more details on the problem you are having, there may be someone here that will be able to provide better assistance.

[KenK]

23 hours ago, Timmyew said:

It's very easy to play the game with a newer dotnet version. 
I play it with version 8. 
You just need to change the follow file in the game folder: 
Vintagestory.runtimeconfig.json
 

{
  "runtimeOptions": {
    "tfm": "net8.0",
    "framework": {
      "name": "Microsoft.NETCore.App",
      "version": "8.0.0"
    },
    "configProperties": {
      "System.Reflection.Metadata.MetadataUpdater.IsSupported": false,
      "System.Runtime.TieredPGO": true
    }
  }
}

Change the 7.0 to 8.0. 
Works for me.

By the way... 
For the files VintagestoryServer.runtimeconfig.json and VSCrashReporter.runtimeconfig.json too.

 

[KenK]

Quote

It's very easy to play the game with a newer dotnet version. 

While I was able to start the game using your instructions, I was not able to nap a flint knife, so more that that is needed.

[Timmyew]

Why? 
I mean, did the game crash or did something else? 
Did you use the feature in a right way? 

[KenK]

The game does not crash, it acts like it is working when I click on the bits, but they are not removed. Not just a visual issue, since I tried clicking on all on the outline and the knife did not popup.

[falco_lombardi]

Yes, extremely misleading. Could not get the game to work on my linux machine for the same .NET compatibility reasons, and barely works on my Win11 WoA device. Why even bother migrating to .NET 8 if they plan to upgrade soon enough anyway? Sorry about your bad experience, I sincerely hope they grant you a refund should you wish. The way you frame it, I'm sure your bank would agree that you were misled in your purchase.

[Timmyew]

I use Nobara and it work fine for me. 
You should start Vintagestory with your Terminal. 
Then look in the console for error's or exception and post this here. 

I knew it is hard to run Vintagestory with Linux. 
But it is possible.

[Timmyew]

If nothing work, then install the game with flatpak. 

[radfast]

Guys if you're having problems getting things working in Linux, please use game version 1.21.0-rc.4 which is built for .net 8.   Not 1.20.12.   1.21 should be trouble-free, that's our intention at least.   It also has a flatpak.

Obviously it's super hard to cater for every possible variation or customisation of Linux, but if it doesn't work by default you can ask for help.

[Wilihey]

theres a flatpak with the stable latest release but it takes a while to get updated, or you can download the linux tar.gz from the account manager in additional downloads, and you extract it in a folder, you open the terminal in that folder and you enter ./Vintagestory

and the game will run flawless,

[hstone32]

I keep seeing people say they're having problems installing vintage story natively on Linux, but they aren't saying why or what's going wrong. Is it .net 7? I thought the instructions on the wiki were pretty comprehensive on how to get that installed. How are people having problems installing it?

[Dilan Rona]

I just went with the zip file, and ran it from the vintage story folder after extracting it to linux. had no issues running it from day one (think it was 1.19.3 for me the first time).

[radfast]

One tip: if relevant to you, it may be important to enable the flag: "use dedicated gpu if available".  Some people forget to do that ...