EDHM UI on Linux using Bottles

Elite Dangerous just works via Steam on Linux. EDMC has a Linux version. Elite Observatory is fairly straightforward to install and run via Bottles. The hardest part of switching to Linux is EDHM UI, but it can and does work if you follow these instructions closely.

These instructions were developed on Nobara 40 using KDE Plasma 6; you may have to adjust paths if you’re using a different desktop environment or distribution, or if you have your Steam library on a different drive.

The (mostly) automated way

  1. Install Bottles as a Flatpak and run through its set up screens.
  2. Follow the instructions and run the script from my GitLab repository.

The tedious way

These are the same steps the script in the previous section runs for you. If you want or need to do these manually, this is how.

  1. Install Bottles and Flatseal if not already installed; you can find them in your app store (KDE Discover, etc.) or you can install them via the command line.
  2. Give Bottles access to the Elite Dangerous paths:
    1. Open Flatseal
    2. Choose Bottles in the sidebar
    3. Scroll down to Filesystem
    4. Under other files, add two entries:
      1. The game directory. In my case it’s /home/ambientimpact/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Elite Dangerous/ (replace ambientimpact with your user name)
      2. The journal directory. Mine is /home/ambientimpact/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/359320/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Saved Games/Frontier Developments/Elite Dangerous/ (replace ambientimpact with your user name)
  3. Launch Bottles
  4. Ensure the necessary runner is installed:
    1. Open the three dot menu (…) and go to Preferences.
    2. Go to the “Runners” tab.
    3. Expand “Soda”.
    4. Install soda-9.0-1 by clicking the floppy disk icon; if there is no floppy disk, it means it’s already installed.

  1. Click the plus icon (+) in the title bar. Name it whatever you like; I go with “EDHM UI”.
  2. Important: Choose “Custom” for the Environment.
  3. Choose soda-9.0-1 as the runner.
  4. Install the necessary dependencies by clicking the bottle name, and then clicking (you guessed it) Dependencies under Options:
    1. dotnet48 (this one takes a couple minutes; just wait)
    2. gecko
    3. allfonts
  5. Configure some optional but very recommended settings; open the bottle’s settings:
    1. Display section → Advanced Display Settings:
      1. turn off “Window Manager Decorations”; EDHM UI has its own themed title bar.
      2. If you have a high resolution display and don’t want EDHM UI to have really small text, you can up the Screen Scaling; I changed it from 96 to 120.
      3. Click save, obvee.
    2. Remember the long game and journal paths we gave Bottles access to via Flatseal? Compatibility section → Manage Drives:
      1. At the top, choose “G” for the letter (G = game), and click the checkmark; click the “Choose Directory” icon on the right of the newly created G drive; in the browse dialog, you can paste the game path from the Flatseal section at the start.
      2. Do the same for the journal directory with a “J” drive letter.

  1. Now you’re (finally) ready to install EDHM UI; download the latest EDHM_UI_Setup.msi and run it by clicking the big blue “Run executable” in your bottle’s details (it’s right at the top) and browsing for the downloaded installer.
  2. Launch EDHM UI and configure the basics; it won’t be able to automatically find the paths, unlike on Windows:
    1. At the time of writing, the game path won’t be editable just yet. Do you see that tiny pi (π) symbol? Hold the CTRL key and left click it; now you should be able to edit the game path; paste G:\Products\elite-dangerous-odyssey-64 into that text box.
    2. For the Player’s Journal Location path, paste J:\
    3. Click Save Changes.
  3. One last tweak to save you some headaches and swear words: the default theme creates some faux shadows that end up blocking clicks and alt-tabs under Wine/Bottles; in the bottom right of the main window, you can change the theme - I recommend “Metropolis Dark” as one that works and is fairly unobtrusive.

Updating EDHM UI

This can be a bit hit or miss, with the installer sometimes failing and breaking the install. I strongly recommend saving a full back up of your bottle before doing this, and restoring it if the installer fails.

You can either use EDHM UI’s built-in updater, or you can manually download the update from the GitHub releases, and then run it via the big blue “Run executable” button in the existing bottle’s details. The updater is more convenient, but more difficult to troubleshoot; if you can’t get it to work, running the installer manually using the terminal option will make it easier to see any errors.

References and thanks