Piracy on Linux can be even easier than windows with the correct tools, and there is a consistent repacking scene in jc141 so most games are easy to find!
To begin with visit https://github.com/jc141x/jc141-bash/blob/master/setup/readme.md and select the correct language for you then have a quick read.
In summary:
- Install dwarFS (a read only compression system used on jc141 torrents for quick and efficient unpacking)
- Install a torrent client (any will do)
- Find the magnet link, personally i just Control + F then search the json file at https://github.com/jc141x/releases-feed/releases/download/feeds/releases.json however using one of the 1337 sites listed also works (make sure its got the right domain ending)
- Download the file with your client using the magnet url
- chmod +x /Path/to/Game/start.{n/e-w/n-w}.sh
- Run bash /Path/to/Game/start.{n/e-w/n-w}.sh none of the scripts are sketchy but I always check them with nvim before running then the game runs! no proton required if you want to run from steam you can add the .sh as non steam app and run from there
I hope you guys like this as much as I do!
common fixes:
- “error initializing file system: newer minor version” update your dwarFS installation (sometimes a problem on fedora and nix as the dwarFS packages are outdated)
- “cannot execute binary file: Exec format error” recheck the file in your torrent client
jc141 member here.
Glad you like what we do. Some observations: there generally is no unpacking, we use an archiving system which enables users to play without populating their drives with the extracted files.
Also glad that you find them safe. We started including a scanning result from ClamAV (open source cross platfrom malware scanner) to each new torrent as well as instructions to scan it yourself. And a blake3 checksum for authenticity.
Wouldn’t using an additional virtual layer for storage affect performance during load/save and normal asset streaming? I guess this might work for older games, but for newer games I don’t see how performance won’t be hit.
99% of the games tested are perfectly playable. In cases where its not we can relax the compression settings. And we use zstd which is super fast. Try for yourself and see.