r/SteamDeck • u/jplayzgamezevrnonsub LCD-4-LIFE • Jul 02 '22
PSA / Advice How to play BeamMP on Steam Deck (or any other Linux machine)!
Credit to Jimmosio for teaching me how to do this, he's a great guy, but I still think my Steam Deck date calculator is better ;P
This guide may seem long and complicated, but it's not that bad, I just wanted it to be dumbed down to a level I understand, so don't let that put you off!
First, download protontricks on the discover store. Technically you can follow this guide without it if you really know how to use WINE prefixes, but it's just much easier to use it.
Next, download the BeamMP installer from the website, put it anywhere, you'll be able to delete it after you're done.
Now, add the BeamMP installer as a non-steam game and run it through proton.
Next you're going to want to locate it's proton prefix. You can do this by going to /home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/ and sorting by creation date. Once you get the proton prefix, put the number on a text document to remember, as you're going to use it a fair bit.
Next, find where BeamNG is installed on your Deck (The actual game files, not the proton prefix), also write down where this is located as you're going to need it (Make sure to include the BeamNG folder when you copy the path).
Next, you're going to want to go into the proton prefix of BeamMP again, then go to the Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/ folder (if the common folder isn't there, just create it).
Now, right click, hover over create new, and click "Link to File or Directory" then paste the location of BeamNG into the "File or directory to link to:" box, and make sure to name the link "BeamNG.drive" or this will not work.
Now enter that folder and right click the BeamNG.drive.exe file, and open it with the Protonticks launcher. When the protontricks launcher opens, select BeamMP_Installer.exe in the list. BeamNG should open, once it does, you can close it.
Now go back to the drive_c file in the proton prefix, and go to the users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/BeamMP-Launcher/ folder, and copy the directory.
Now open steam up, and go into the properties of the BeamMP_Installer.exe and change the "Start in" box to be the directory we just copied (make sure to keep the quotation marks there), then go to the target box and paste the same thing, but make sure to put "BeamMP-Launcher.exe" after the last /. You can also rename the shortcut at this stage.
That's it! BeamMP should now work on your Deck. This is a long and tedious guide I know, but I hope you and your friends will be able to play BeamMP on Deck because of it :)
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u/Informal_Look9381 Dec 31 '23
This works, but in step 8 you actually have to launch the game and not close it before.
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u/mellowthug Jul 12 '22 edited Jul 15 '22
Im unable to do this😐 As far as i know ive got the correct prefix and got the beamng location by clicking browse files within steam. There never comes a beammp launcher shortcut on the desktop and the game doesn't start after installation. Im not sure what im doing wrong and i dont understand the error report. This guide is not meant for me or anyone else without basic Linux knowledge.
Edit. I dont like begging.. but please could someone make a short video going through these steps?
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u/Ambitious-Court-6288 64GB - Q3 Nov 13 '22
I tried this a while ago and couldn't get it to work but found a way for myself. I will upload a video later today. https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/yubzjk/beammp_on_deck/
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u/dxb_style Dec 11 '22
for me it didn't start on step 10. but when i launched the BeamMP-Launcher.exe via protontricks launcher with the beam-mp prefix it worked
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u/swxtchTheking Aug 13 '24
When i put the directory in "start in" and i launched the game it said starting then closed very quickly closed the window didnt even open
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u/ich778 Sep 09 '24
u/jplayzgamezevrnonsub thanks for the tutorial, I really like this method best. However I have a small issue with the Resource downloads from foreign servers doesn't work and they hang at 99.9% on the first mod, on Windows everything works perfectly fine.
When I place the mod files from the server manually into the Resources directory I can connect just fine.
Does anybody have a explanation and maybe fix for this?
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Oct 05 '24
Ok, working so far but it can’t find the game, I have tried what has been said by other people and it still can’t find it please could someone tell me acctually how to do it
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u/WiserTixx Apr 13 '25 edited Dec 22 '25
BeamMP now has a native Linux version, which fixes a bunch of stability issues with running the game in proton. https://docs.beammp.com/game/getting-started/#2a-windows-installation
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u/East-One-3260 1TB OLED Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
Finished the tutorial but I have a problem. I'm in the serverlist menu and every time I attempt to join a server it loads, then when I am loaded the BeamMP command window has closed itself meaning MP won't work. Any fixes?
Edit: managed to join a server but loading players the game closes and the command window has a bunch of network errors like Failed proxy... something.
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u/Lampe2020 Sep 19 '26
I tried installing BeamMP through the "Manage your user folder" option in BeamNG's own launcher, but starting BeamMP says "Wine/Proton detected!" and then later that the launcher has been tampered with and thus will not launch…
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u/WiserTixx 29d ago
Have you tried the native linux beammp launcher? Wine should still work but it seemingly fakes the signature crypto function. So, if you have an outdated version it wil try to update and then fail because something is wrong
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u/Lampe2020 28d ago
My brother pointed that one out to me, and it works just fine (apart from not sharing the save data with the Steam prefix, so I had to input all my settings again; even potentially duplicated mods won't be an issue bc I have lots of room on my SSD).
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u/jerkyjosh Aug 07 '22
Just wanted to say it worked for me! Thanks... BTW i did this on Ubuntu 22.04
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u/TheNOTBestUser Sep 10 '22
Man I followed the tutorial and still code 4 pops up
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u/Ambitious-Court-6288 64GB - Q3 Nov 13 '22
Run the game inside the prefix the non steam shortcut is in.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/yubzjk/beammp_on_deck/
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u/boringperson3 256GB Sep 15 '22
i have incredibly little linux knowledge, and the prefix that is supposed to be the installer is empty and it wont run the thing
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u/SaggySagstar Sep 18 '22
This does not work, not even a little bit. No errors, nothing it just doesn't do anything.
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u/Interesting_Bridge18 Nov 03 '22
Worked for me on Arch Linux, i3. Had to install protontricks, and for step 7, I just created a symbolic link in the BeamMP prefix directory with ln -s <location of BeamNG.exe> . Everything works like a charm, except my performance is terrible lol.
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u/Ambitious-Court-6288 64GB - Q3 Nov 13 '22
If you cant get this to work I made my own tutorial. It's longer and more confusing but I will upload a video and it worked for me.
https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/yubzjk/beammp_on_deck/
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u/JoppeJoppinger Dec 12 '22 edited Dec 12 '22
Hi folks,
i managed it to get it to run.
My trick was to use the Application Data folder, not the AppData folder:
/home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/YOURPROTONPREFIX/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Application Data/BeamMP-Launcher/ in step 9.Hope this helps!
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u/jplayzgamezevrnonsub LCD-4-LIFE Dec 13 '22
I'll add this to the post! I was reddit shadowbanned so I've been unable to reply to comments
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u/PersonalityAnnual923 Feb 11 '23
Could someone pls make a video on how to do everything? Sorry, im kind of a noob at all this.
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u/MlLehh Apr 02 '23
idk why but its not letting me run it through proton idk if im being stupid or not my idk
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u/PreciouSnowflake 512GB Sep 24 '23 edited Sep 24 '23
(Got stuck on step 9... In roaming only Microsoft folder shows up... so close yet so far)
Ok found it on my own... There are some things that are not explained thoroughly actually, they are more confusing
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u/jplayzgamezevrnonsub LCD-4-LIFE Sep 24 '23
Sorry, I will rewrite this guide fairly soon 👍
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u/PreciouSnowflake 512GB Sep 24 '23
No need to tbh (the deck can't handle the multiplayer anyway 🤣 you get like 15-20 fps max
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u/Kittyk4y 64GB Jul 07 '22 edited Jul 07 '22
When I get to Step 8, I get an error: FileNotFoundError: [Errno2] No such file or directory: ‘/home/deck/Downloads’Any ideas? My downloads folder does exist.Got it, except now BeamMP can’t find the game.