Playing Steam games on FydeOS with Borealis

Last Update: 2024-06-07

The following guide or recipe requires shell access to your FydeOS installation, therefore developer mode is assumed to be enabled. If altering system file is required, you will also need to disable root file system verification.

What is Borealis

Borealis is an innovative virtual machine based on ArchLinux, designed to empower Linux users to run Steam games seamlessly. It leverages a translation layer known as "Proton" to enhance gaming on Linux. Proton, which is largely built on Wine—an open-source compatibility layer—enables Windows applications to run on Linux systems.

Only works for x86 device.

The gaming landscape on Linux has witnessed significant improvements over the years, thanks to the active support and collaboration from the gaming community, game publishers, and Proton itself. For detailed information on compatibility, supported games, and minimum requirements, the community-supported ProtonDB is an invaluable resource.

Disclaimer: Borealis is currently in its experimental phase. This implies potential unexpected issues and a risk of game data loss. Please proceed with caution.

Borealis-Compatible FydeOS Distributions

• FydeOS for PC, v16.1 onwards version
• FydeOS for You, v16.1 onwards version

If your device and FydeOS version are not mentioned above, please refrain from proceeding with the following operations. This list will be updated as new versions of FydeOS are released.

For an optimal gaming experience via the Borealis component on the Steam platform, we recommend your device to have at least 4GB of working memory (8GB preferred) and over 50GB of free disk space. If your system configuration falls significantly below our recommendations, we cannot guarantee a satisfactory gaming experience.

Setting Up Borealis: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Access the bash shell environment and type sudo -i to gain root privileges.

   Note: From FydeOS v17 and openFyde r114 onwards, use sudo -i instead of sudo su. This change does not affect older versions.

2. Execute the following commands in sequence to download and place the necessary files for Borealis. Please note that these commands will download approximately 500MB of data from a public domain internet location, so ensure your network connection is stable:

   mount -o remount,rw /
   wget https://github.com/secretmem/borealis-dlc/releases/latest/download/borealis-dlc.tar.zst -O /tmp/borealis-dlc.tar.zst
   tar -Izstd -xvf /tmp/borealis-dlc.tar.zst -C /
   rm -v /tmp/borealis-dlc.tar.zst

3. Restart your FydeOS device.

4. Once you're on the FydeOS desktop, search for Steam in the search bar located at the bottom left corner and open it.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Steam client configuration.

Installing the Community Edition Compatibility Layer - Proton GE (Optional)

1. Press Control + Alt + T to open the Crosh terminal.

2. Enter vsh borealis to access the Borealis virtual machine terminal.

3. Navigate to the Steam file directory by typing cd .steam.

4. Move to the root directory by typing cd root.

5. Create a new directory by typing mkdir compatibilitytools.d.

6. Type cd compatibilitytools.d

7. Download Proton GE:

   wget -O latest_release.tar.gz $(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom/releases/latest | grep browser_download_url | grep .tar.gz | head -n 1 | cut -d '"' -f 4)

8. Decompress Proton GE by typing tar -xf *.tar.gz.

9. Reboot the system.

10. In Steam, select GE-Proton 8-4 as the compatibility layer.

Known Issues

• The "System Backup (beta)" feature introduced in version 16.1 cannot back up all data generated by Steam running on Borealis.
• After successfully setting up the Steam client on Borealis and installing games, if the system undergoes an OTA update, the Steam client and installed games will become inaccessible. To reactivate, you must execute the aforementioned script again.