DCS World with ControllerBuddy on Linux

📖 Description

This guide describes the installation of DCS World (standalone) for use with ControllerBuddy on Linux via the Proton compatibility layer.

What you get with this setup:

A standalone installation of DCS World that is nicely integrated into your Steam library and configured for use with ControllerBuddy.
ControllerBuddy will start automatically when you start the game and exit when you quit the game.
When switching aircraft in DCS, ControllerBuddy will automatically load the corresponding profile.

🧩 Prerequisites

Steam (distribution package)
Git (distribution package)
ImageMagick (distribution package)
GE-Proton-10-34
protontricks Flatpak
ControllerBuddy Flatpak

🪜 Steps

Important

Before starting with the steps, make sure to read the Important Notes section in the README of this repository.

Download the DCS World installer (DCS_World_web.exe) from here.
Add DCS_World_web.exe as a Non-Steam game.
Rename the DCS_World_web.exe Steam shortcut to DCS World.
Select GE-Proton-10-34 as compatibility tool.
Launch the DCS World Steam shortcut and install DCS World.

Obtain the APP_ID of the Proton prefix:

export APP_ID=$(flatpak run com.github.Matoking.protontricks -l \
    | grep '^Non-Steam shortcut: DCS World ([0-9]\+)$' \
    | sed -E 's/.*\(([0-9]+)\).*/\1/' \
    | head -n1)
echo "APP ID: $APP_ID"

Important

All subsequent commands must be executed within the same shell session to retain the APP_ID environment variable.

Install d3dcompiler_47, powershell, and vcrun2022 into the Proton prefix:

flatpak run com.github.Matoking.protontricks "$APP_ID" d3dcompiler_47 powershell vcrun2022

Make sure all your game controllers are connected.

Hide all game controllers from the Proton prefix, except for ControllerBuddy's UINPUT joystick device:

reg_file=$(mktemp -p '' joysticks-XXXX.reg) &&
python3 - <<'EOF' "$reg_file" &&
import ctypes
import ctypes.util
import sys

sdl2_path = ctypes.util.find_library("SDL2")
if not sdl2_path:
    raise RuntimeError("Could not find SDL2 library")

sdl = ctypes.CDLL(sdl2_path)

Uint16 = ctypes.c_uint16
Uint32 = ctypes.c_uint32
class SDL_JoystickGUID(ctypes.Structure):
    _fields_ = [("data", ctypes.c_uint8 * 16)]

sdl.SDL_Init.argtypes = [ctypes.c_uint32]
sdl.SDL_Init.restype = ctypes.c_int

sdl.SDL_Quit.argtypes = []
sdl.SDL_Quit.restype = None

sdl.SDL_NumJoysticks.argtypes = []
sdl.SDL_NumJoysticks.restype = ctypes.c_int

sdl.SDL_JoystickNameForIndex.argtypes = [ctypes.c_int]
sdl.SDL_JoystickNameForIndex.restype = ctypes.c_char_p

sdl.SDL_JoystickGetDeviceGUID.argtypes = [ctypes.c_int]
sdl.SDL_JoystickGetDeviceGUID.restype = SDL_JoystickGUID

sdl.SDL_GetJoystickGUIDInfo.argtypes = [SDL_JoystickGUID, ctypes.POINTER(Uint16), ctypes.POINTER(Uint16), ctypes.POINTER(Uint16), ctypes.POINTER(Uint16)]
sdl.SDL_GetJoystickGUIDInfo.restype = None

SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK = 0x00002000

if sdl.SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK) != 0:
    print("SDL_Init failed:", sdl.SDL_GetError().decode("utf-8"))
    sys.exit(1)

# see: https://github.com/wine-mirror/wine/blob/master/dlls/hidclass.sys/device.c
device_strings = {
    (0x045E, 0x028E): "Controller (XBOX 360 For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x028F): "Controller (XBOX 360 For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x02D1): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x02DD): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x02E3): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x02EA): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x02FD): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x0719): "Controller (XBOX 360 For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x0B00): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x0B05): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x0B12): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)",
    (0x045E, 0x0B13): "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)",
    (0x054C, 0x05C4): "Wireless Controller",
    (0x054C, 0x09CC): "Wireless Controller",
    (0x054C, 0x0BA0): "Wireless Controller",
    (0x054C, 0x0CE6): "Wireless Controller",
    (0x054C, 0x0DF2): "Wireless Controller",
}

count = sdl.SDL_NumJoysticks()
joysticks = []

for i in range(count):
    name_ptr = sdl.SDL_JoystickNameForIndex(i)
    if not name_ptr:
        continue
    name = name_ptr.decode("utf-8")

    if name == "ControllerBuddy Joystick":
        continue

    guid = sdl.SDL_JoystickGetDeviceGUID(i)
    vendor = Uint16()
    product = Uint16()
    version = Uint16()
    crc16 = Uint16()
    sdl.SDL_GetJoystickGUIDInfo(guid, ctypes.byref(vendor), ctypes.byref(product), ctypes.byref(version), ctypes.byref(crc16))

    key = (vendor.value, product.value)
    if key in device_strings:
        name = device_strings[key]

    joysticks.append(name)

sdl.SDL_Quit()

if not joysticks:
    print("Error: No joysticks detected on this system.", file=sys.stderr)
    sys.exit(1)

def escape_reg_string(s: str) -> str:
    return s.replace('"', '""')

print("Found the following joysticks:")
for name in joysticks:
    print(f" {name}")

if len(sys.argv) > 1:
    path = sys.argv[1]
    with open(path, "w", encoding="utf-16") as f:
        f.write("\ufeffWindows Registry Editor Version 5.00\n\n")
        f.write("[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Wine\\DirectInput\\Joysticks]\n")
        for name in joysticks:
            safe_name = escape_reg_string(name)
            f.write(f"\"{safe_name}\"=\"disabled\"\n")
    print(f"Wrote registry file: {path}")
EOF
flatpak run --filesystem="$reg_file":ro com.github.Matoking.protontricks -c "wine reg import '$reg_file'" "$APP_ID"
rm -f "$reg_file"

Install SEGUISYM.TTF into the Proton prefix:

cd "~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/$APP_ID/pfx/drive_c/windows/Fonts" &&
curl -O -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/elfie-arriba/master/Arriba/Arriba.Web/fonts/SEGUISYM.TTF

Important

In the following step the placeholders denoted by <...> must be replaced accordingly to the following table:

Placeholder	Description
`<USER>`	Your username
`<APP_ID>`	The Proton prefix APP ID obtained in step 6

Update the DCS World Steam shortcut as follows:

TARGET:

"/home/<USER>/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/<APP_ID>/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/Eagle Dynamics/DCS World/bin/DCS_updater.exe"

START IN:

"/home/<USER>/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/<APP_ID>/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/Eagle Dynamics/DCS World"

LAUNCH OPTIONS:

"${STEAM_RUNTIME}"/scripts/switch-runtime.sh --runtime='' -- flatpak run de.bwravencl.ControllerBuddy -autostart local -tray & timeout=15; timeout "$timeout" bash -c 'until grep -q "ControllerBuddy Joystick" /proc/bus/input/devices ; do sleep 1 ; done' && override_vram_size=8192 CONTROLLER_BUDDY_PROFILES_DIR=/app/share/ControllerBuddy-Profiles WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 WINEDLLOVERRIDES='wbemprox=n' %command% || { [ $? -eq 124 ] && zenity --error --text="Launch aborted because ControllerBuddy wasn't ready within $timeout seconds.\n\nCheck if your controller is connected." --width 500 ; } ; killall -q ControllerBuddy

Launch the DCS World Steam shortcut to download and install your modules.

Convert the DCS-1.ico file to .png:

ICONS_DIR="$(xdg-user-dir PICTURES)/Icons"
cd "$HOME/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/$APP_ID/pfx/drive_c/Program Files/Eagle Dynamics/DCS World/FUI" &&
mkdir -p "$ICONS_DIR" &&
magick DCS-1.ico "$ICONS_DIR/DCS_World.png"

Edit the DCS World Steam shortcut and select /home/<USER>/<PICTURES_DIR>/Icons/DCS_World.png as the icon.

Set up ControllerBuddy-DCS-Integration:

scripts_dir="~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/$APP_ID/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Saved\ Games/DCS/Scripts" &&
git clone https://github.com/bwRavencl/ControllerBuddy-DCS-Integration.git "$scripts_dir/ControllerBuddy-DCS-Integration" &&
echo 'dofile(lfs.writedir()..[[Scripts\ControllerBuddy-DCS-Integration\ControllerBuddy.lua]])' > "$scripts_dir/Export.lua"

Make sure your game controller is still connected.
Launch ControllerBuddy, and start local run mode to initialize the UINPUT joystick device:
```
flatpak run de.bwravencl.ControllerBuddy -autostart local &
```

Configure DCS to work with the ControllerBuddy-Profiles:

controller_buddy_profiles_dir=$(realpath -s "$(flatpak info -l de.bwravencl.ControllerBuddy)/../active/files/share/ControllerBuddy-Profiles") &&
cd "$controller_buddy_profiles_dir/configs/DCS" &&
WINEDEBUG='-all' flatpak run --filesystem="$controller_buddy_profiles_dir" com.github.Matoking.protontricks -c 'wine pwsh Configure.ps1' "$APP_ID"

🔄 Re-running the Configuration Script

The configuration script must be run again whenever the ControllerBuddy-Profiles receive an update.

Make sure your game controller is connected.

Execute the following command (steps 6, 17, and 18 combined):

export APP_ID=$(flatpak run com.github.Matoking.protontricks -l \
    | grep '^Non-Steam shortcut: DCS World ([0-9]\+)$' \
    | sed -E 's/.*\(([0-9]+)\).*/\1/' \
    | head -n1)
flatpak run de.bwravencl.ControllerBuddy -autostart local &
controller_buddy_profiles_dir=$(realpath -s "$(flatpak info -l de.bwravencl.ControllerBuddy)/../active/files/share/ControllerBuddy-Profiles") &&
cd "$controller_buddy_profiles_dir/configs/DCS" &&
WINEDEBUG='-all' flatpak run --filesystem="$controller_buddy_profiles_dir" com.github.Matoking.protontricks -c 'wine pwsh Configure.ps1' "$APP_ID"

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DCS World with ControllerBuddy on Linux

📖 Description

🧩 Prerequisites

🪜 Steps

🔄 Re-running the Configuration Script

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DCS World with ControllerBuddy on Linux

📖 Description

🧩 Prerequisites

🪜 Steps

🔄 Re-running the Configuration Script