Linux Support

Linux support in Flashpoint is currently experimental due to a lack of maintainers. This page describes the current state of our Linux support. If you need assistance with installing or playing, ask in the help forum on the Discord server.

Flashpoint for Linux supports Flash, HTML5, Shockwave, Unity, Java and various other web platforms. Not every platform is supported, such as DevalVR and Viscape, because some may rely too heavily on Windows features and can't run through Wine. If you want support for platforms that are Windows-exclusive, there are 2 options:

• Download the Windows version of Flashpoint and run it in a Windows virtual machine. This is the recommended non-native option.
• Run the Windows version of Flashpoint with Wine. This may or may not work well depending on the exact build of Wine used.

Otherwise, if you don't need support for those platforms, you may continue reading through this page.

Compatibility

Flashpoint for Linux only officially supports the x86_64 architecture and, for compatibility and security reasons, the GNU C Library (glibc). This is because the launcher uses Electron, which doesn't support 32-bit x86 for Linux, and several binaries only have x86_64 + glibc versions. If you want to run Flashpoint on other architectures like ARM or RISC-V, you must use an emulator like Box64. Likewise, for C libraries other than glibc like musl, you must recompile everything you wish to use that's not already packaged, and link them with the desired C library. You may also use a glibc compatibility layer like gcompat for proprietary binaries, such as the native Flash projector.

The main Linux version is built on Debian 11, which uses glibc 2.31, making it the minimum supported version. Flashpoint cannot be built on older Debian versions without significant changes to the launcher, due to some dependencies being incompatible. Any distro that uses glibc 2.31+ should also be supported, including but not limited to:

• Ubuntu 20.04+
• Fedora 32+
• openSUSE Leap 15.3+
• Any distro based on the above, including by proxy
• Any rolling release distro maintained after February 2020

If you use a distro older than those listed, you must upgrade to a newer version to run Flashpoint.

Main Version

The main version of Flashpoint for Linux contains everything we currently support on Linux, and includes its own libraries and Wine runtime. The libraries are used to run Flashpoint in a known-working container, and the Wine runtime contains the binaries and libraries that the Windows-only programs need to run. These allow us to support as many different distro configurations as possible (including both mutable and immutable ones), and efficiently run non-native programs through the Flashpoint launcher without taking up too much extra space.

If you use a mutable distro (i.e. one where the root file system can be modified) and do not want all of the components, you may choose to remove the Libraries and FPSoftware/Wine directories post-install. This will leave you with only the main Flashpoint files, which total about 2 GB. See Dependencies for more information.

For the best experience, at least 4 GB of free space is recommended on the partition you wish to install Flashpoint to.

Installation

To install Flashpoint, follow these steps:

1. Download this archive file. (SHA256: f393a98c5c35e229a744c102b0cb53270b1b4f1b3ebd40d604f98323444a4b1f)
2. Extract the contents of the file to an empty directory that your user has read & write permissions for. This can be done graphically, or in the terminal by entering the following at the file's directory:

   7zr x fp*_lin_*.7z -oFlashpoint

3. Open the directory you extracted Flashpoint to, then run setup-desktop-entry.sh to generate a desktop entry that opens the launcher. Alternatively, if you are unable to run desktop entries, run start-flashpoint.sh instead.

Once you've done that, Flashpoint is now installed. If you don't want to use the libraries and Wine runtime provided by Flashpoint, see the Dependencies section below.

Dependencies

If you're on an immutable distro, the following does not apply.

If you don't plan on using the libraries and Wine runtime provided, you must first remove them from your Flashpoint install. To do so, delete the Libraries and FPSoftware/Wine subdirectories from the directory you extracted Flashpoint to. Afterwards, you'll need to install the following packages for everything to work properly. A dependency listed with more than one package for a given distro means you can choose any one package from that distro according to your needs.

Distro	X11	GTK3	NSS	PulseAudio	PHP	7-Zip	Wine	32-bit Xcomposite	32-bit LibPulse
Debian-like	xserver-xorg-core / xwayland	libgtk-3-0	libnss3	pulseaudio / pipewire-pulse	php	7zip	(link)	libxcomposite1:i386	libpulse0:i386
Arch-like	xorg-server / xorg-xwayland	gtk3	nss				wine	N/A
Fedora-like	xorg-x11-server-Xorg / xorg-x11-server-Xwayland			pulseaudio / pipewire-pulseaudio		p7zip		libXcomposite.i686	pulseaudio-libs.i686
SUSE-like	xorg-x11-server / xwayland	libgtk-3-0	mozilla-nss		php7	7zip		libXcomposite1-32bit	libpulse0-32bit

There are also some packages that aren't required, but can enhance your experience:

Distro	GTK2	LibXt
Debian-like	libgtk2.0-0	libxt6
Arch-like	gtk2	libxt
Fedora-like		libXt
SUSE-like	libgtk-2_0-0	libXt6

These packages are needed in order to use the native Flash projector, which is not enabled by default due to minor audio delay and performance issues. If you wish to enable it, go to your Flashpoint config, click the "Platforms" dropdown beside the Native Platforms setting and click the checkbox next to "Flash".

To install any of the dependencies, use your distro's package manager:

Distro	Package manager install command
Debian-like	sudo apt-get install $PKG
Arch-like	sudo pacman -S $PKG
Fedora-like	sudo dnf install $PKG
SUSE-like	sudo zypper install $PKG

ChromeOS Extra Steps

For ChromeOS users, some additional steps will need to be taken for Flashpoint to run properly. It will be assumed that you already set up a Linux terminal.

By default, when transferring files from the ChromeOS host to the Debian guest in the terminal, execute permissions are removed from all files. This will prevent everything from running, including the Flashpoint launcher. To fix this, run the following command in the terminal, replacing $DIR with the path to the directory you have Flashpoint installed in:

chmod -R +x $DIR

This command will add execute permissions to all files in the directory recursively. After running it, you can then run $DIR/start-flashpoint.sh to open the launcher.

Nix Shell

The main Flashpoint files can also be launched under a Nix shell if Nix is installed:

{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {} }:

(pkgs.buildFHSEnv {
    name = "flashpoint";
    targetPkgs = pkgs: (with pkgs; [
        # Shell utils
        toybox
        # Electron for the launcher.
        electron
        # Flashpoint requirements
        pipewire pulseaudio
        gtk3 gtk2 nss php wine
        xorg.libX11 xorg.libXt xorg.libXcomposite
        # ldd requirements
        mesa #libgbm
        glib nspr at-spi2-atk cups dbus libdrm pango cairo expat libxkbcommon alsa-lib
        xorg.libXdamage xorg.libXext xorg.libXfixes xorg.libXrandr xorg.libxcb
        udev
    ]);
}).env

Simply save this code into a .nix file and run it with nix-shell {file}.nix --run ./start-flashpoint.sh.

You can also use steam-run (nix-shell -p steam-run --run "steam-run ./start-flashpoint.sh").

Minimal-Dependency Version

Due to the inherently barebones nature of this option, do not expect to receive help in the Discord if a specific game does not work.

If you are looking for a fully-native or minimal setup Flashpoint experience on Linux, Flashpoint Nano exists as a lightweight (albeit heavily limited) script-based alternative to the other installation options.

Only two platforms are supported: Flash (using Ruffle; non-embedded entries only) and HTML5 (using Pale Moon). Each software is Linux-native, downloaded upon first launch and updated automatically.

Dependencies

Only a few command-line utilities that may not be available on your system by default are required: tar, curl, sqlite3, and unxz (from XZ Utils). You should be able to install these using your distro's package manager.

Installation

1. Download Nano from the GitHub repository by clicking the Code button and then Download ZIP. Alternatively, if you have git installed, you can use the git clone https://github.com/WumboSpasm/flashpoint-nano.git command to download the repository. The latter option may be preferable so you can download updates to the scripts using git pull.
2. If you downloaded the ZIP archive, extract it using your method of choice.
3. Enter the created directory and run the following command in the terminal: ./flashpoint.sh <entry-id>. You can find the ID of the desired entry using the Flashpoint Database search tool. If you wish to launch an additional application, simply append its ID to the end of your command (with a space separating it from the entry ID).

Windows Version Using Wine

Alternatively, you can attempt to run the Windows version of Flashpoint using Wine, which is a compatibility layer for Windows programs. There are several advantages to doing this, like being able to run more up-to-date versions of Flashpoint that have only been made for Windows. However, it is not guaranteed that Wine will work properly, as the experience varies greatly depending on the hardware, choice of distribution, and packages you have installed. For this to work, you currently need to install either the development or staging versions of Wine running a completely fresh prefix. How to install them depends on the distro, so consult WineHQ's download page for instructions on yours. You will also need the php package for Flashpoint to work post-install.

As of now, you can install the latest Windows version of Flashpoint Infinity by running the installer through Wine. To be able to run the installer, you need to install a recent version of Wine Mono, which should be provided upon creating a new Wine prefix or installed as a package on most distros. The process for installing Flashpoint this way is similar to how it is on Windows, except you may have to change the installation path to a location that can be written to, like your user directory. An example of a proper installation path would be Z:\home\$USER\Flashpoint, replacing $USER with your username. You may get an error upon finishing the installation; this is expected behavior. Quit the installer and kill it from your process manager if needed, and all of the files should be where you installed them.

Once done, you can then run Launcher/Flashpoint.exe through Wine and set the "Flashpoint Path" in the launcher's config to .., then click "Save and Restart" on the bottom of the page. If everything has been done correctly, you should now have a working Flashpoint install! If you are having issues running the launcher with Wine, you can instead try using various other "flavors" such as Wine GE, which has extra patches that aren't upstream. Users of Arch-like distros can install Wine GE as a package from the AUR, however no binary is provided, so it must be compiled.

Troubleshooting

Audio Glitches in Wine

Some users may experience audio glitches when running programs through Wine, like constant crackling or distortions. If this is happening to you, you may have to switch to a different audio driver. As of writing, Wine currently uses PulseAudio as the default preferred backend, but other backends are available. For example, to enable the ALSA driver, run the following command, replacing $DIR with the full path of the prefix you wish to modify:

WINEPREFIX=$DIR wine reg add 'HKCU\Software\Wine\Drivers' /v Audio /d alsa

To modify the default prefix, don't set WINEPREFIX. For reference, Flashpoint's prefix location relative to the installation directory is FPSoftware/Wine.

Switching audio drivers may or may not fix the problem right away. If you are still experiencing glitchy audio, please ask for help in the Discord server.

Launcher Sandbox Errors

Some users may receive the following error when attempting to run the launcher:

The SUID sandbox helper binary was found, but is not configured correctly.

To fix this, the permissions and owner of the sandbox have to be changed. Open a terminal in the Launcher directory of your Flashpoint install, and run the following:

chmod 4755 chrome-sandbox
sudo chown root:root chrome-sandbox

The first command will allow the owner of the sandbox to read, write and execute it; other users will only be able to read and execute. The second will set the root user and group as the owner of the sandbox. The root group should only contain the root user by default.

Afterwards, the launcher should now be able to open without issue. If you still encounter errors, try running start-flashpoint.sh with the --no-sandbox switch to fully disable sandboxing. If it works, add the switch to the end of the command that runs the launcher (either in the desktop entry or in the start script) so that you do not need to keep specifying it.

Optional Enhancements

Wine Wayland Support

Enabling this feature could break compatibility with some games/animations.

Starting with Wine 8.4 and being officially added in Wine 10.0, a new display driver can be used to run Windows programs through Wayland instead of X11/Xwayland. To enable it, run the following command, replacing $DIR with the full path of the prefix you wish to modify:

WINEPREFIX=$DIR wine reg add 'HKCU\Software\Wine\Drivers' /v Graphics /d wayland,x11

To modify the default prefix, don't set WINEPREFIX. For reference, Flashpoint's prefix location relative to the installation directory is FPSoftware/Wine.

After making this change, all programs running in Wine from now on should be using Wayland.