Get Gaming

Once you click on the Games option in the Library group top left in the program window after the install, the installed games appear on the right of the window. Select a game and press the Play button bottom center to launch the game in its own window.

Pressing the small triangle button to the right of Games opens a context menu that helps you configure further options. You can uninstall the selected game or create a shortcut on the desktop and in the Games menu of the desktop environment, if necessary. To do this, select the Create application menu shortcut or Create desktop shortcut option. In this way, the games can be started without having to open Lutris first.

To remove existing starters again, use the Delete desktop shortcut and Delete application menu shortcut options in the same context menu. The Install other version option also lets you integrate one of the other supported variants into the system for games of which two or more versions are available.

The Look at Lutris.net entry opens a web browser and calls the web page belonging to the selected game. The page provides further information about the respective game (see the "Online and Offline" box). If you want to change technical settings for the respective game, you can call up a detailed settings dialog via the Configuration entry. To remove a game's icon from the library after deleting it, click the hamburger menu top right in the client window and check the box to the left of the Only installed games option.

Uninstalled games that previously appeared grayed out in the library now disappear, making the library view clearer. If, contrary to expectations, an installed game fails to launch correctly, then in many cases you will find more detailed information via the Show logs entry in the game's context menu (Figure 4). In most cases it will be missing libraries, preventing the game from running. You can then install the libraries in question conveniently via your distribution's package manager.

Figure 4: The logfiles provide detailed troubleshooting information.

Game Center

Optionally, Lutris also lets you integrate games you installed manually – this makes the program the go-to location for all games. To do this, first make sure you know the path and command parameters for the game in question. Then press the plus button top left in the Lutris client's titlebar.

This opens a window where you can configure the game. In the Game info tab below Runners, define the runner to be loaded, if the game was not developed natively for Linux. The selection field shows the runners activated in Lutris.

The Game Settings tab in the dialog then displays various configuration options as a function of the selected runner, and the Runner Options and System Settings tabs let you modify the parameters for the system and the selected runner. You can adjust the runtime behavior of the game in this way.

Once you have made all adjustments, close the dialog by pressing Save bottom right in the window. Any games integrated in this way can be now used conveniently in Lutris.

Conclusions

Lutris turns out to be a powerful management platform for games that are not tied to an operating system. By integrating runners – that is, emulators and runtime environments – the Lutris client enables access to more than 13,000 games. The software is easy to use and configure in the process.

Some functions, such as creating launchers on the desktop and integration into desktop menus, are still buggy, but this is unlikely to diminish the pleasure of using the Lutris client. For gamers who want to use old games or games they used to play on consoles, or to play Windows games on Linux, Lutris is a serious alternative to PlayOnLinux.