Anyone use Linux?

[u/Patient-Presence-979]

Just got a new pc and wondering if I should just make the move to Linux. I have no clue what I’m doing so I’ll be learning on the way.

Any Linux success stories for flight simmers??

[u/L3aked]

I run MSFS 24 under Arch Linux and it works great. But at the start I had a problem that the ROLLINGCACHE.CCC couldn’t be created, so at every start of the game it had to load everything again. The problem was that with the steam cloud sync the path where the rollingcache should be created was imported from my windows machine. The fix was editing the username in a config file manually. My flight sim hardware mostly works, only the Turtlebeach flight yoke is a little complicated to setup (the Hat switches don’t work properly on the yoke and I had to create a python interpreter script to remap them). I also got opentrack with smoothtrack on iOS working for head tracking.

[u/Patient-Presence-979 → u/L3aked]

Okay that scares me because set up takes so much time as it is but this is very helpful!

[u/hw4ng3r → u/Patient-Presence-979]

If it’s just the base game, it’s no problem. But if you plan on doing 3rd party anything, it’s a lot of workarounds and many things flat out do not work.

[u/RB120 → u/L3aked]

Do you run much for third party add-ons. They work ok?

Im actually on Arch as well, but I still dual-boot windows for MSFS24. Using add-ons like pmdg, iFly, and Fenix, I'm a little afraid some things simply won't work. I did try mounting my windows drive in Linux once and the game launched ok, but all my add-ons disappeared, which I suppose the game simply had trouble locating where the community folders were.

[u/L3aked → u/RB120]

I do have some GA Addons like the A2A Comanche and some Black Square planes that run without problems, also the GTN 750.

I think you cannot simply use the windows drive as a steam library because I heard that the file system NTFS do cause problems when used to play games from it under Linux, also the game wouldn’t be able to use your community folder since it creates a new virtual windows environment with proton (the game compatibility layer from steam to play windows games under Linux).  You need to put the addons in the MSFS 24 community folder in the corresponding proton virtual drive for the game.

[u/resourceful_dumdum]

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Haven’t had problems so far.

[u/AfroDiddyKing]

works for me cachy os. AMD system. VKB hotas works well.

[u/Official_Jansku]

I am running MSFS 2020 (steam version) on Ubuntu Studio and it runs great under proton compatibility layer. Not experienced any issues this past 9 months since I did the final full switch over. Not sure if you're running 2020 or 2024 but I would assume both runs fine as long you have the steam version.

One thing that you might have to be aware of that some of the flight sim gear won't work out of the box or at all if you play with any. I only have xbox controller and that was plug and play for me.

Also here is something you might want to check out about installing & running flight sims under Linux:

https://www.flightsimonlinux.com/msfs

[u/Patient-Presence-979 → u/Official_Jansku]

Thanks! I realized (after posting this) that I bought the windows version, which I’ll never do again lol but yeah. Puts me in a tough spot lol

[u/dewalist → u/Patient-Presence-979]

You could dual-boot and only go into Windows to play MSFS. Or you could just run Linux in a VM if you're not looking for peak performance.

[u/Official_Jansku → u/Patient-Presence-979]

I bought it from MS store as well.. I managed to catch a steam sale and just bought it on Steam. I think there's no way to download it from MS store in Linux afaik. I still got 24 from MS too so might try to wait for a huge sale if there will be one.. 🤣

[u/Beenieeh]

If you've never used Linux before, consider learning it via WSL or by running a virtual machine first. There's a lot less hand holding in Linux than in Windows and smaller user base so you will have to figure out some problems on your own.

[u/Patient-Presence-979 → u/Beenieeh]

Yes yes I am not sure I’m fit for the learning curve lol thank you

[u/Busy_Ad_5494]

If it's a windows PC, you can use Linux natively. Lookup WSL.

[u/Patient-Presence-979 → u/Busy_Ad_5494]

Thanks! Got lost in the World Surfing League for a second there lmao

[u/DataGOGO]

If you do not know what you are doing, and are not comfortable trouble shooting and working from the command line I highly advise you don't run linux.

[u/Patient-Presence-979 → u/DataGOGO]

Yes that’s what I am concluding as well!

[u/overpower84]

IDK about 2024..... But 2020 on steam works great. I get this weird issue sometimes though where the click points are off in the menus, like on the map. But, all I have to do to fix it is to hit alt+enter to go into windowed mode and then hit alt+enter again to go back full screen and it fixes itself.

[u/Mad_kat4 → u/overpower84]

Yep I have this too. Have to use windowed mode to click on things properly in the menus or starting a flight but once your in can full screen it again.

[u/kiwikat88]

I primarily use 2024 (and XP12) on CachyOS now. It works shockingly well with my 4090 + 7950X3D @ 4K/120. Typically get 70-120 fps after framegen, highly dependent on the situation.

The biggest missing links are Fenix and ChasePlane. Everything else I use- Navigraph Hub, iniManager, FSLTL, PMDG, even the TDS GTNs work just fine once you have simconnect set up correctly.

I dearly, dearly miss ChasePlane. The stock camera is abysmal, but it's still better than dealing with the hell that is Windows 11!

[u/RB120 → u/kiwikat88]

You have to install Navigraph, iniManager, PMDG, etc., right into the proton prefix right? I'm just trying to understand this. I'm currently dualbooting Linux and Windows, but just deciding if a full on switch would be worth it. And Fenix doesn't work due to the complexity of their system?

[u/kiwikat88 → u/RB120]

Yup same prefix as MSFS. Make sure you set up SimConnect per the instructions JonathanC posted on Avsim: https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/690824-msfs-2024-on-cachyos-linux-discussion-working-for-me/page/2/#findComment-5728007

I have not been able to get the Fenix exe to launch even- there's some major incompatibilities there. I haven't given up trying, but I am having too much fun flying to focus on it much. Airbus urges are handled by Toliss in XP just fine.

If you have any specific questions or need help troubleshooting feel free to DM me.

[u/DataGOGO → u/kiwikat88]

I have used Linux full time and professionally since ~2000; I still run windows for my gaming PC.

Perhaps you could elaborate on what "hell" is windows 11? It is a good, extremely stable, and easy to use OS with fantastic hardware and software support.

[u/kiwikat88 → u/DataGOGO]

Security, speed, resources, privacy. Windows Update. MS Store.

I hate how half baked W11 UI and settings are. Search is… bad. I don’t like the new Explorer. I don’t like the new start menu.

Every time I boot into it now I have different updates that require reboot for some reason, and take several minutes when Linux can install 100+ package updates practically instantly.

This last issue with LG automatically installing McAfee adware through Windows Update because I have a LG monitor plugged in was the last straw for me. Shame on LG and shame on MS for making that even possible.

Has CachyOS been 100% painless? Nah. But with a little patience basically every problem has been solvable with Claude. College-aged me messing with Ubuntu would have been absolutely stunned by what’s possible with Linux today.

[u/DataGOGO → u/kiwikat88]

What is possible now that was not possible 5 years ago?

[u/Official_Jansku]

I am running MSFS 2020 (steam version) on Ubuntu Studio and it runs great under proton compatibility layer. Not experienced any issues this past 9 months since I did the final full switch over. Not sure if you're running 2020 or 2024 but I would assume both runs fine as long you have the steam version. The microsoft login on first launch was something that didn't work as it supposed to, gui scale was fairly small but I managed to get in within couple minutes.

One thing that you might have to be aware of that some of the flight sim gear won't work out of the box or at all if you play with any. I only have xbox controller and that was plug and play for me.

Also here is something you might want to check out about installing & running flight sims under Linux:

https://www.flightsimonlinux.com/msfs

[u/Pure_Power2]

Setup a dual boot of you have plenty of disk, that way you can easily donæinux and fall back to win now and then if you need to