Linux and Steam Deck desktop app

Abiotic Editor has a native Linux desktop release. It opens its own window and keeps your saves on your computer. It finds your saves inside Steam Play (Proton) folders, and reads your game from your Steam library for item pictures and the 3D view. The editor itself does not need Proton.

Everything in the Windows app works here too, including live editing for a game running through Steam Play.

The Linux app looks and works the same as on Windows.

Start here

1. On Steam Deck, switch to Desktop Mode first: press the Power button, then choose Switch to Desktop.
2. Download and extract the Linux / Steam Deck release ZIP somewhere you will keep it.
3. Double-click launch-linux.desktop.
4. On KDE Plasma and Steam Deck Desktop Mode, choose Trust and Launch the first time.

That should open Abiotic Editor in its own window.

If the launcher does not open

Open a terminal in the extracted folder and run:

bash launch-linux.sh

This works even if the launcher does not yet have permission to run. In Dolphin, right-click empty space in the folder and choose Open Terminal Here.

The desktop window needs GTK 3, WebKitGTK 4.1, and libnotify. On Debian or Ubuntu, install missing parts with:

sudo apt-get install libgtk-3-0 libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 libnotify4

Ubuntu 24.04 may call the first package libgtk-3-0t64. Other Linux distributions use different package names.

Steam Deck fallback

Steam Deck's system partition can make those libraries awkward to install. You usually do not need to change the read-only system setting. Use the browser fallback below instead.

Browser fallback

If the desktop window cannot start, run:

./launch-linux.sh --headless

Then open http://127.0.0.1:37246 in a browser on the same machine. Keep the terminal open while you use the editor. This address only works on your own computer.

Add it to your app menu

Once the release is in a permanent home, run this from its folder:

chmod +x launch-linux.sh install-linux-desktop.sh
./install-linux-desktop.sh

You can then open Abiotic Editor from your desktop's app menu. To update, close the editor, replace the files in that same folder with the new release, and run ./install-linux-desktop.sh again. To remove the menu entry, run ./install-linux-desktop.sh --uninstall.

Optional local port

The normal launcher uses http://127.0.0.1:37246. If that port is occupied, choose another local port:

ABIOTIC_EDITOR_URL=http://127.0.0.1:41000 ./launch-linux.sh

Use only a 127.0.0.1 address. The editor refuses network, wildcard, HTTPS, path, query, and privileged-port addresses because it can open your local saves.