How to play Timberborn on Linux
Timberborn is a city-building game based around beavers and other animals. The game was developed and published by Mechanistry. Here’s how you can play Timberborn on Linux.
Getting Timberborn working on Linux
Timberborn is not a native Linux video game. However, it has an excellent ProtonDB rating, and people are having an easy time getting it working. Here’s how to play Timberborn on your Linux PC.
To get Timberborn working, you must install the Linux release of Steam. Then, you’ll need to open up a terminal window to install the app. Unsure about how to open up a terminal window? Press Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard, or search for “Terminal” in the app menu and launch it that way.
Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, the installation can begin. Set up the Steam app on your Linux PC by following the instructions below that correspond to the Linux OS you use.
Ubuntu
To install Steam on Ubuntu, use the following apt install command.
sudo apt install steam
Debian
To install Steam on Debian, you’ll need to download the official DEB package to your computer. You can download the DEB package to your computer using the wget command below.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steam.deb
After downloading the software to your Debian Linux system, you can install it using the following dpkg command below.
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb
With the Steam DEB package installed on your system, you’ll need to correct all the dependency issues that may have occurred during the installation process. Run the apt-get install -f command below to fix it.
sudo apt-get install -f
Arch Linux
To use Steam on Arch Linux, you must first enable the “multilib” software repository. You can do this by opening up the /etc/pacman.conf file in a text editor (as root). Once it is open, find the “multilib” line and remove the # symbol from in front and the line directly below.
Once finished editing, save your edits and run the pacman -Syy command.
sudo pacman -Syy
Install Steam with the pacman -S command.
sudo pacman -S steam
Fedora/OpenSUSE
If you use Fedora or OpenSUSE Linux, you can install Steam on your computer via the software repositories included with your operating system. However, consider installing the Steam software as a Flatpak instead, as it tends to work better on Fedora/OpenSUSE.
Flatpak
Want to install the Steam app as a Flatpak? You’ll need to install the Flatpak runtime on your computer. You can install the runtime by following our guide on the subject.
After setting up the Flatpak runtime, enter the two commands below to install Steam as a Flatpak.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
Once the Steam app is installed, open it up and follow the step-by-step instructions below to get Timberborn working on your Linux system.
Step 1: Find the “Steam” button in the Steam app and click on it with the mouse. After that, click on the “Settings” button to open up the Steam settings area. Then, find the “Steam Play” section.
Inside the Steam Play section, check both boxes to enable Windows compatibility for Linux so that Timberborn will run on Linux.
Step 2: Find the “Store” button inside the Steam app and click on it to access the Steam store. Then, click on the search box, and type in “Timberborn.” Finally, press the Enter key to view the Steam search results.
Step 3: Look through the Steam search results for “Timberborn.” Once you’ve found it, click on it to access the game’s Steam store page. Then, once on the game’s page, look through and find the “add to cart” button and click on it with the mouse.
When the game is added to your Steam cart, click on the icon to access your shopping cart. After that, go through the process of purchasing the game for your Steam account.
Step 4: Upon buying Timberborn for your Linux PC, click on the “Library” button to load up your Steam games library. Then, search for “Timberborn” in the library. When you’ve located it, click on the blue “INSTALL” button to download and install the game to your computer.
Step 5: Once Timberborn is done downloading to your computer, the blue “INSTALL” button will become a green “PLAY” button. Select it with the mouse to start up Timberborn on your Linux PC. Enjoy!
This process is now streamlined just by using the compatibility tab under the properties in Steam for each game, and choosing a Proton version, most work well with Proton 7.0-4. I’m using that for Timberborn on Garuda Linux. Then simply install the game as you would any on Steam. The only problem I have is trying to use mods from the mod repositories for Timberborn.