Tutorial Others Playing On Linux - Tutorials, Tools And Help

[eevkyi]

I normally would not argue but what you are doing is giving bad advide and a false sense of security, let's break it down.

My advice from the beginning was, in short, not to run random games without some kind of isolation. You might think that a beginner user should learn how to use firejail or bubblejail on day one, but this type of isolation is by no means a bad practice or bad advice.

No, what is important is to NOT INSTALL MALWARE! Not even sanboxing tools are safe.
Does not matter if you are on windows or any other operating system, DO NOT INSTALL MALWARE!

You might have some superpower to know with absolute certainty whether a software contains malware or not, but most people can't do that, and they won't stop playing and running whatever software they want just out of sheer paranoia. While a sandbox isn't infallible (just as nothing is), if properly configured, it offers quite satisfactory protection.

If that is your standpoint, I suggest you stop using computers, because that argument is completely fkn bonkers.

I simply don't ignore reality or let myself be carried away by paranoia. I assess the risks and act accordingly.

You mean stuff like updating the system to MAKE SURE IT IS UP TO DATE WITH SECURITY PATCHES?
This is like telling someone: "Do not ever go outside, because you might get murdered or ran over by a bus", it's nonsense.
What you are saying will only give a false sense of security and that the user should assume there is a keylogger on the system (for those who the comment about wayland flew over your head, that is what is implied). Fkn wild dude...
Either you don't know what you are talking about or you are maliciously giving bad advice. Either way, please stop.

At this point, you're just throwing random stuff out there without any connection while trying to pin your own paranoia on me. I simply illustrated a way a user with unnecessary sudo privileges could have this exploited. If YOU really knew what you were talking about, you'd know that xorg is "insecure by design" and that wayland's main purpose is to fix this.

To begin with, having a user not being part of the sudo group does NOT PROTECT YOU AT ALL. Privelege escalation is done without the use of sudo, or by all means, show me a few cve:s where sudo was used to escalate. I can only think of one in the past 5 years, but pretty much one cve every month involving privelege escalation using other means. Again, false sense of security!

We could sit here until 2035 arguing that x isn't enough to protect against y. Obviously, there will be critical vulnerabilities that will override everything, but that doesn't mean we should give privileges to a user who doesn't need them.

It's all VERY simple, this has nothing to do with operating system or "technical knowledge, it's common sense and the same is true for any computer:

• Don't click random links in for example emails
• Only use software from safe sources
• Don't download "random files or applications" from the internet
• If there is just a 0.1% risk, run a complete virus scan on the files.

The risk of a updated virus tool not detecting a virus/malware is close to non existent (again, "dont go outside you might die"). The ONLY stuff not being detected are 0-day vulnerabilities and they are EXTREMELY rare and will NOT be used on some random dude downloading an application. They will be used on valuable servers that can actually give the hackers something of value in return. You know like a collection of users, email, credit card credentials etc.
0-day vulnerabilities are EXTREMELY valuable and as soon as detected by researchers the flaws will be fixed. Hackers discovering a 0-day will NOT put that into something a lot of people will download and use, like a pirated game for example because it will be detected WAY faster and the malware then becomes useless on those valuable servers.
I have honestly never heard of a normal user getting affected by a 0-day (other than being a user of above said servers therefore being vulnerable for whatever having your sensitive information leaked in a massive hack means, like the recent discord hack for example). But feel free to prove me wrong if you can.
I have a pretty deep knowledge about these things or I would never downplay something like this.

False positives and non-detections are more than recurrent, and zero-day vulnerabilities have nothing to do with them. Antivirus software are not vulnerability scanners, and the discussion here is not for a moment about the risks of being affected by a zero-day. Once again, you're mixing up unrelated things.

Besides, if you use correct sources for pirated stuff, ie NOT piratebay, or here for that matter, there are no viruses.
If you are a hacker, and you put malicious stuff on a hacker driven forum/torrent site, you will get every single hacker on that platform to turn on you, it simply does not happen.
Make friends with the correct people, ask for invite to a "private" torrent site, profit.

This website is NOT one of those safe platforms btw and you should run a virus check on every single thing you download linked from here.

With this kind of mentality, you're the one trying to create a false sense of security. There are absolutely no "correct sources" for pirated stuff. There will always be a risk and antivirus programs are far from infallible, which is why it's crucial to have some form of isolation beyond them.

 

[its_not_real]

My advice from the beginning was, in short, not to run random games without some kind of isolation.

Having a separate user is NOT ISOLATION. I have already explained that multiple times, all that does is complicating stuff without reason.

You might think that a beginner user should learn how to use firejail or bubblejail on day one

No, I have never said anything of the sort, now you are going into some really disturbing behavior claiming I say stuff I never did.
THE USER SHOULD UNDERSTAND SUDO. PERIOD.
What I said about firewall is if the user wants an EXTRA layer of security, or even just want to know about/stop some tracking, since nothing will leave the computer without the user knowing about it. The system won't even be able to sync the clock without the firewall asking for permission if configured that way.
I also said this is complicated, absolutely not the "first thing a user should learn", you are taking what I wrote completely out of context.

At this point, you're just throwing random stuff out there without any connection while trying to pin your own paranoia on me.

Might sound like that for someone who does not understand. But you not understanding does not change facts.
No idea what paranoia you are talking about, I'm not the one claiming creating another user will protect you, you are.
I'm saying that is completely bonkers and untrue and the best form of protection is common sense and to use trustworthy stuff.
If you do not trust the maintainers of the distribution you use, you should simply stop using that distro and move to one where you DO trust them, simple as that.

I simply illustrated a way a user with unnecessary sudo privileges could have this exploited.

How? Time to own up and prove your point. Because without any reference, like blog post, a wiki, a cve, ANYTHING, this is just complete bs.
sudo (and in extension PAM) was created becaus it is SAFER than just having access to su, because no matter what you do, you can NEVER remove su and the ability to escalate priveleges.

but that doesn't mean we should give privileges to a user who doesn't need them.

What "privilege" is that? Did someone say users belong in the adm or root group? Or that passwd checks SHOULD be removed with sudo?

False positives and non-detections are more than recurrent, and zero-day vulnerabilities have nothing to do with them

It has EVERYTHING to do with it. Again, you clearly do not understand.

Antivirus software are not vulnerability scanners, and the discussion here is not for a moment about the risks of being affected by a zero-day. Once again, you're mixing up unrelated things.

No, you are the one now SUDDENLY talking about "vulnerabilities" in combination to AV:s, I have not claimed an antivirus is some magical tool you can run on your system to detect vulnerabilities. There are tools that can do that, but a normal user would never have the need to use something like that. That is for server administrators and such.

"Some malware won't be found by antiviruses", sure, technically it's true, but so is you running the risk of an airplane falling from the sky hitting you on the head. Polymorphic viruses for example can be very tricky, but the risk of becoming infected by something like that is extremely small (don't go outside, you might get ran over by a bus).
You installing the wrong plugin in your browser for example can infect you like that, so again, only use trusted sources and employ common sense to your computer activity and you are fine.
False positives however are COMPLETELY HARMLESS, since they claim to find malware when there is none.

With this kind of mentality, you're the one trying to create a false sense of security. There are absolutely no "correct sources" for pirated stuff.

Riiiiight, you clearly do NOT know the correct people, and you do NOT have access directly to for example any of The Scene distribution platforms. Therefore you probably think that, because if you did have access, you would know what I am saying is true. Thing is, to get access to something like that you have to put in a bit of effort.
So if you ARE using sites like piratebay that is swarming with malware, well, YOU the USER will have to make sure it is safe, and the best way is to run it though a capable AV deep scanning every single file.

Imagine you were a bit clever here, and instead of acting like a fool you would ask ME for an invite, but you can forget about that now, we do not want unreliable users on those platforms... xD
Frankly, I can get into trouble for giving out invites to unreliable users, it's all built on trust and honor system, and you think providing malware through a platform like that would go unpunished, you are a fool.

There have been instances of it happening, last time about 6 years ago, and the consequences were swift and brutal, all described on their forum live as it was happening, pretty fascinating to follow when it happened tbh.
They doxxed the shit out of that dude, name, address, phone number, credit card and everything, IIRC his computer was also wiped clean within 24hrs and I would suspect his phone was unusable within the same timeframe. You do NOT want to have +30 angry hackers making it their personal mission to destroy you because you came onto their territory acting maliciously. A "you don't shit where you sleep" kinda thing.

Again, I would NEVER downplay security if there actually were any risk of using a linux distribution without having to jump through hoops to stay on the secure side. (that's what you have to do on windows, not linux)

Lets say a hacker somehow gets a hold on your /etc/shadow the passwd will be encrypted anyway, it's not GREAT and you definately should change password immediatley, but for the fun of it, try to crack this passwd.

Hints:

• It's not randomized with letters, numbers and symbols with a passwd manager
• It consists of words, symbols and numbers (a password a human can remember)

So if someone wants to have fun with some cracking, go at it:

openssl passwd -6
Password:
Verifying - Password:
$6$YZ9tmJfWq.piQMlH$Wx3n4wqx475uKwWHoCQ0skx9wZDirxNdq6EsukH4eGqziR9M1ObLtYNHWh2jhzqom1ECzo3gXelRg4WKqizKz/

My prediction is it's not possible unless you have access to an extremely powerfull computer and are ready to run it for weeks or maybe even months or years, but I could be wrong with all the hints given above.
This is obv not a password used anyware...

 

[allanl9020142]

That IS all you need (and proton for games), if you know how to set it up.
What are suggested is you using a tool, like heroic or lutris mentioned to manage all those things instead of doing it manually.
If you install steam for example, you don't even need to install wine, steam will install it because it's a dependency for steam.

A bit about package managers on linux

On linux, you should strive to use package managers to install things. If you use linux mint that manager is called apt.
Apt keeps track on what you have installed on your system as long as you use it to install packages.

With each package, a package could be an entire application, like steam for example, there are usually a bunch of dependencies required for it to function, those dependencies are also packages, that can in turn have their own dependencies and so on.
Some packages might rely on different versions of the dependencies, therefore the maintainers of your distribution is responsible to make sure there are no collisions between dependency versions. Hence, most point release distributions (non-rolling releases) like ubuntu and mint for example, are not releasing the absolute newest versions of some applications but rather make sure to update everything when they release a new version.

This is not to confuse with "the packages are never edited after distro release", security patches for example will always be implemented immediately.

Another package manager that works on ALL linux distros is flatpak. It essentially work the same way as apt, but instead of using your system:s packages, every single dependency is bundled inside directories flatpak manages. Hence some people calling it "bloated".
The upside with containerized managers is that they do not risk messing with your system and since it therefore does not matter what system you use, it works on any distribution.

When updating your system, or installing stuff that is going to interact with your system on a deeper level, you should ALWAYS stride to use the package manager.
Externally maintained drivers for example. On linux a LOT of the drivers exist directly in the kernel, amd drivers for example, nvidia does not so let's use that as an example.
Nvidia users on linux mint will have to wait a long time before new drivers are released and tend to go to nvidia website and look. They then realize "hey, there are new drivers", they download, run the script file and are then confused when the computer wont boot correctly due to dependency issues, files not in the correct location etc.
Therefore, use the package manager or a script/application provided to you by the maintainers of the distribution you use (I actually don't know how it works exactly on mint). By doing so, the maintainers make sure that no conflicts arise and the kernel modules (that is what a kernel driver is called on linux) are loaded correctly when you boot your computer.

This is not to say you can not do this, you absolutely can, this is linux we are talking about, but it also requires deep knowledge on what it is exactly you are doing when going outside the package manager to install system wide things.

Games on linux

As mentioned earlier, for windows games on linux, not only wine is needed, but also proton.

• wine lets windows applications work
• proton translates directX calls made to the computer into Vulcan

DirectX is microsoft propriatery so on linux we use something called vulcan as the graphics API.
So when you start a dx game, the requests to the API, you can think of it as the application using a phone to talk to your kernel where the game request stuff to happen on your screen, linux has no idea what those directX calls mean and that is where proton steps in. It translates the DX calls into the same calls for vulcan so the kernel can understand them and perform the actions the game wants.

So when launchers are mentioned, you can essentially think of them as small package managers for your games. When you install the launcher, wine will be a dependency so you won't even need to install that, just like with steam.
And inside the launcher, you can also install local games, mangage proton versions, specify specific proton version per game etc etc.
Steam is also such a launcher, but it mostly uses THEIR store (you can use it for local games, but other launcers are just better fitted for it) while other launches can use both local games AND other gaming platforms like steam, epic games or GOG for example.

It might all seem very confusing at first, but when you start messing around with it, it's not actually that complicated, you just have to get the basics. Just like with anything new you learn.

Ah, ok. Thanks. You explained it thoroughly.

Well, usually because if you want to run it locally, on windows in most cases you run it through WSL (windows subsystem for linux), witch is linux running/emulated in a sandbox environment witch can sometimes complicate things.
But when you get into local llm:s that way and you want to run them "bare metal" you should first learn about pyenv and venv, because you most likely have to use a specific version of python, and then use pip to install specific python packages INSIDE python (again, dependencies might have different versions and your system relies on others) so you want to sandbox it to use a separate python environment from what your system is using.
You can instead use stuff like docker to sandbox the LLM, kinda like how flatpak does as I mentioned earlier (VERY simplified description here).
But all that is a whole other thing I am not going to go into here.

What I am getting from what you type is you are not afraid to learn and have a basic understanding of computers, witch is a GREAT starting point when you get into linux.
You'll have a blast the first time you really realize: "hey, I am in COMPLETE control over everything on my system".

Yea, I actually tried it on Windows first. I'm at least acquainted with what you've mentioned because I've tried doing it on Windows: WSL, pyenv, docker, specific version of python I need, etc. The only reason I didn't finish is because I kept running into problems and it was also super slow when testing it (what I have right now isn't going to cut it.) to the point where I was just like, "Oh my God, this isn't going to be worth the trouble until I get better hardware". lol.

So what you're saying is that running local LLMs on Linux as opposed to something like Windows or Mac is better simply because it's less complicated? It's possible the problems I encountered stemmed from that but I can't even remember right now.

Also, yea of course. I'm not afraid to learn. I feel like people should always be trying to learn new things and create that "friction" of doing something difficult (of course, there needs to be incentives to do so because then it's just a weird form of masochism). Otherwise, you just kind of start mentally atrophying. Pretty much the same as working out. All it really comes down to in the end is having the time and energy for all of it.

 

[Vazian]

NW.js (includes many RPGM games, Construct and many others):

Spoiler

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where does NW.js put save files on linux?

 

[eevkyi]

where does NW.js put save files on linux?

Normally, ~/.config/<name-in-package.json>, but depending on the engine, it is also possible to save elsewhere if node support is enabled. This is the case with rpg maker mv/mz games, which create files within a save subfolder in these circumstances.

 

[Faustthe3]

Complete linux newbie here ( and english is not my first tongue so sry in advance for poor wording )
So i looked at OP's post but then saw the edit date is 2020 so i wanted to know if any new methods exist for playing japanese rpgmaker and NW.js games on linux, or if the shown ways are still the only option

 

[keengamer2]

Complete linux newbie here ( and english is not my first tongue so sry in advance for poor wording )
So i looked at OP's post but then saw the edit date is 2020 so i wanted to know if any new methods exist for playing japanese rpgmaker and NW.js games on linux, or if the shown ways are still the only option

For NW.Js games just use the automated script on page 1 and for other Rpgm game just need Wine. What games are you having trouble with?

 

[Faustthe3]

For NW.Js games just use the automated script on page 1 and for other Rpgm game just need Wine. What games are you having trouble with?

Well i haven't tried one yet because i wanted to inform myself first before messing something up, also i heard on a linux forum that wine is not safe or should at least be avoided by linux newbie's like myself

 

[keengamer2]

Well i haven't tried one yet because i wanted to inform myself first before messing something up, also i heard on a linux forum that wine is not safe or should at least be avoided by linux newbie's like myself

Well there is a risk with malware but as far as Wine itself breaking your system I never heard of that. At least get ClamTk to scan the games from here for virus and you will probably be fine.

 

[Vazian]

Normally, ~/.config/<name-in-package.json>, but depending on the engine, it is also possible to save elsewhere if node support is enabled. This is the case with rpg maker mv/mz games, which create files within a save subfolder in these circumstances.

Was regarding Symphony of the Serpent, I found them straight in my home dir as ".SotSSotS0.rmmzsave" looks like it misses the / and thus they don't end up in the correct subfolder(".Sots/").

What ended up fixing that was going to the file SavesInUserDir.js and adding + "/" to the line

basePath = path.join(os.homedir(), '.' + gameName + "/");

To load my old save the only way was to create a new one and then while on the loading screen replace the new file with the old one, load it and save again, otherwise my savegame wouldn't show up

 

[eevkyi]

Complete linux newbie here ( and english is not my first tongue so sry in advance for poor wording )
So i looked at OP's post but then saw the edit date is 2020 so i wanted to know if any new methods exist for playing japanese rpgmaker and NW.js games on linux, or if the shown ways are still the only option

Use

You must be registered to see the links

(If your distribution came with some kind of app store, just search for "bottles" in the utilities section). Create a gaming bottle named "JPN", click it, go to settings>compatibility and change the language to japanese. Put the games in ~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/JPN/drive_c/ and use the option "Run Executable". Most of nw.js games will also run fine with this method, but you can move the game files to a

You must be registered to see the links

and run just like any other linux app.

Well i haven't tried one yet because i wanted to inform myself first before messing something up, also i heard on a linux forum that wine is not safe or should at least be avoided by linux newbie's like myself

Regarding cybersecurity risks, the simplest way to protect yourself is to create an additional user without administrative privileges and only play when logged in as that user. This way, unless there's a security vulnerability or other serious problem, your main home folder and the rest of the system won't be affected by any malware that might be present in those games. Other solutions, such as a sandbox, may require a slightly more complicated setup that could be confusing for a beginner.

 

[Faustthe3]

Use

You must be registered to see the links

(If your distribution came with some kind of app store, just search for "bottles" in the utilities section). Create a gaming bottle named "JPN", click it, go to settings>compatibility and change the language to japanese. Put the games in ~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/JPN/drive_c/ and use the option "Run Executable". Most of nw.js games will also run fine with this method, but you can move the game files to a

You must be registered to see the links

and run just like any other linux app.

But i still need to install the "NW.js" as well "RPG Maker run time package" from the OP posts right ?

 

[cold_arctus]

But i still need to install the "NW.js" as well "RPG Maker run time package" from the OP posts right ?

No.

Bottles is an 'emulator' that runs Windows files on Linux. However, most RPG Maker MV/MZ games do not need to be emulated because the runtime required to execute them natively on Linux is available for free from nwjs.io. Games developed using older versions of RPG Maker (MV or MZ) cannot be run natively on Linux and must be "emulated" using Wine, Proton, Bottles, Lutris etc.

Some games won't be able to run natively on Linux due to additional add-ons (external programs) used by the game. This often happens with games from Japan or China.

Which game do you try to run?

 

[eevkyi]

But i still need to install the "NW.js" as well "RPG Maker run time package" from the OP posts right ?

NW.js is basically a tool that allows you to run apps developed with browser technologies as a regular application. Games that require it will already come with it built-in. Switching versions or using a native one can offer certain advantages, such as better performance, but it's entirely optional.

RPG Maker RTPs may not be necessary depending on the game, but you sure can pre-install them using the same method I described in my previous post.

 

[Faustthe3]

Which game do you try to run?

this,
https://f95zone.to/threads/colorlust-oni-v1-02-hall-of-corruption.275225/

but i haven't set up the"bottles" yet

 

[cdvz23]

this,
https://f95zone.to/threads/colorlust-oni-v1-02-hall-of-corruption.275225/

but i haven't set up the"bottles" yet

Download the game,
download the latest Dazed patch if needed and apply it,
download the latest (or whatever version you want really) nwjs from

You must be registered to see the links

,
extract it to a folder,
move the www folder and the package.json file from the game folder to the nwjs folder,
open the package.json file in a text editor and make sure the line with "name" is not blank, you can put the title of the game there,
click on nw,
play.

 

[Kintty]

So I decided to try my hand at modding, and like a naive little boy I was expecting that the biggest hurdle would be to learn how code works, but instead I ended up running into a most unexpected of problems:

Game in question is Leane 2, uses kirikiri engine and it works just fine using lutris. I tried taking a peek at the files using a kirikiri extractor I found... somewhere in this forum, and the end result was what you see above. Most of the code looks fine, but what is presumably japanese text is unreadable. Probably harmless if it's only in comments, but I'm pretty sure there's some actually important code in japanese that would probably break the game if I leave it like this.

For diagnosis:
- I'm using the default text editor that comes with linux mint. I'm sure it can read japanese because several other .txt files that come with other games can be read just fine with all their japanese symbols. Just in case, I installed every other japanese font I found. Problem is unfixed.
- I run kikiriki.exe through wine to extract the files, and it gave me the mess you see above. I tried doing it again through a wine prefix I have specifically prepared for my japanese visual novels, with all the necessary fonts installed and a japanese locale set up, and it gave me exactly the same mess as before.
- I downloaded and installed GARbro, installed it in the same wine prefix as my VNs, run it using the same method and tried to open the game's .xp3 files. It told it me that "file could not be opened as a resource archive." Then I tried opening the .xp3 files I have of Fate/Stay Night, just in case, and it gave me the same result. I figure I don't know how to use GARbro, but I don't know what I'm messing up.

I really hope someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong. I can't believe my first attempt at modding is being strangled in its crib by a language barrier I thought I'd overcome...

Also, I've thought of setting up a virtual machine, but I've made do without one so far and I'd really like to keep it that way.

EDIT: Nevermind. The default text editor in linux mint is stupid. I opened the files in Notepadqq and the japanese text looks fine.

 

[Holodeck]

I'm using Bottles to run this game: https://f95zone.to/threads/hara-kano-ano-ko-to-lovelove-harabote-seikatsu-swaneye.1003/, but I get error messages like this:
Anyone has a solution? Thank you in advance.

 

[cold_arctus]

I'm using Bottles to run this game: https://f95zone.to/threads/hara-kano-ano-ko-to-lovelove-harabote-seikatsu-swaneye.1003/, but I get error messages like this:
Anyone has a solution? Thank you in advance.

What does the error message in the error output actually say?

 

[eevkyi]

I'm using Bottles to run this game: https://f95zone.to/threads/hara-kano-ano-ko-to-lovelove-harabote-seikatsu-swaneye.1003/, but I get error messages like this:
Anyone has a solution? Thank you in advance.

Move the game to the folder ~/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/bottles/<insert-bottle-name-here>/drive_c/.