Installing Linux Games in One Directory

JoltBolt

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Hey all,

As the title suggests, I am looking for a way to install Linux games in one directory.

My main drive is a SSD, the secondary HDD has a partition named 'Games' that will host the obvious; all my games. For Steam that is simple as it installs game files in one directory. As a recent arrival from Windows I am used to program files to be placed in one folder. On first sight this makes a lot of sense to me as all the files for one application will be found quickly in one place. (I hear you breath ' registry'! Touché). I slowly start to appreciate the way Linux organizes files, almost making me wish there would be a '/locator' directory containing an application file pointing out the whereabouts of its files! (Or am I pushing buttons now?).

I digress! My question: Is there a way to get all the required Linux game files contained in one directory on the HDD?

Example: 'Games' being the mounted HDD partition:
/media/Games/Steam/<Steam game 1>/
/media/Games/Steam/<Steam game 2>/
/media/Games/Linux/<Linux game 1>/<game 1 directories>/ ... (e.g. usr/... (and/or) bin/...
/media/Games/Linux/<Linux game 2>/<game 2 directories>/ ...

Thanks in advance!
 


Do you mean that the way you have it now your games end op on the SSD while you want them on your HDD, and your question being how do I get the Steam games on your HDD?
 
Almost! Steam is sorted out. It installs games in the one 'common' directory. So I added the installation path to the Steam library and it now installs games in the Steam directory on the HDD; exactly how I want it.

Now the same for games installed from the Software Center! I would like the game files to be installed in one directory on the HDD. Is that possible?
 
Almost! Steam is sorted out. It installs games in the one 'common' directory. So I added the installation path to the Steam library and it now installs games in the Steam directory on the HDD; exactly how I want it.

Now the same for games installed from the Software Center! I would like the game files to be installed in one directory on the HDD. Is that possible?
Do you know where the games from software center are installed under your distribution? What distribution do you running, and what games have you installed from the software center?
 
Last edited:
Without knowing where they are installed you could probably use symlinks. For example if /usr/share/games is the directory where your games are installed from the software center. You could move the content of /usr/share/games to /media/Games/Linux, and then you could remove the directory /usr/share/games. Then in /usr/share you could then create a symlink pointing towards /media/Games/Linux. The other option is the same as the first option except for the last part, instead of symlinking you could also bind mount /media/Games/Linux to /usr/share/games.
 
Currently running Solus 4.1. This is 'the problem'. Files for the one game are scattered over a variety of directories. I would like these to be found in '/media/Games/Linux/Xonotic/' after which they can scatter into their directories as shown below.

Code:
$ sudo find / -name 'xonotic*'
/var/lib/eopkg/package/xonotic-0.8.2-5
/usr/bin/xonotic-sdl
/usr/bin/xonotic-dedicated
/usr/bin/xonotic-glx
/usr/share/xonotic
/usr/share/xonotic/data/xonotic-20170401-music.pk3
/usr/share/xonotic/data/xonotic-20170401-data.pk3
/usr/share/xonotic/data/xonotic-20170401-maps.pk3
/usr/share/xonotic/data/xonotic-20170401-nexcompat.pk3
/usr/share/icons/Papirus/24x24/apps/xonotic.svg
/usr/share/icons/Papirus/48x48/apps/xonotic.svg
/usr/share/icons/Papirus/22x22/apps/xonotic.svg
/usr/share/icons/Papirus/32x32/apps/xonotic.svg
/usr/share/icons/Papirus/16x16/apps/xonotic.svg
/usr/share/icons/Papirus/64x64/apps/xonotic.svg
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/xonotic.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/xonotic.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/xonotic.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/xonotic.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/22x22/apps/xonotic.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/xonotic.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/xonotic.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/xonotic.png
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/xonotic.png
/usr/share/applications/xonotic-sdl.desktop
/usr/share/applications/xonotic-glx.desktop
find: ‘/run/user/1000/gvfs’: Permission denied
 
You can always manually install it, download the zip file from the website, then extract it. Looks like all the games files are extracted in one directory, then you can place those files in the location of your choice.
 
Perfect! Downloading the zip file and extracting its content into the directory I intended, works. Now I would like to make a menu item by creating a .desktop file. I placed and named it in /usr/share/applications/xonotic.desktop. It does not create a menu item with the following:

Code:
[DESKTOP Entry]

Encoding=UTF-8
Path=/media/Games/Linux/Xonotic/
Exec=/media/Games/Linux/Xonotic/xonotic-linux64-glx
Icon=/media/Games/Linux/Xonotic/xonotic-icon.png
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Comment=Free and Fast Arena Shooter
Name=Xonotic
GenericName=First Person Shooter
StartupNotify=false
Categories=Game

What am I missing?
 
Just have a look at one of the already existing application in /usr/share/applications and compare to what you already have. Otherwise in some DE's you are able edit the menu and click a menu item together and selecting and icon, then you can drag to your desktop.
 
Steam is something that must be overcomed
Steam/Valve is good for Linux gaming, it shouldn't be overcome because it is good for progress towards making more games run under Linux.
 
Just have a look at one of the already existing application in /usr/share/applications
Aaaah, so case sensitive! For those wondering what the difference was; the .desktop file needs to start with: [Desktop Entry]. Not capitalized [DESKTOP Entry] as read on a different forum.

Steam is something that must be overcomed
Why? My experience so far is that Steam on Linux has been great!
 
Actually, regardless of where any program is installed, it can be referenced in the system's menu system. Linux puts specific files in specific locations, as it is a logical and consistent way of installing packages of program files, icons, doc, etc as you see in post #6.

If you use the distro menu system, it makes the game visble to the user while the executables stay where they belong, logically.
 

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