unify

Automatically port Unity games for macOS or Windows to Linux

Games based on the Unity engine can be deployed and run on multiple platforms, including Linux. The platform-specific engine files are mostly generic, so we take the official game files and run them with Unity's Linux binaries. This way we get a native Linux version of the game without the need of compatibility layers, such as Wine.

This method can work as long as the game was exported with OpenGL renderer enabled. Windows versions usually default to DirectX and only rarely have OpenGL enabled, but macOS versions mostly have OpenGL enabled and chances are high to get them to run.

Many Unity titles are officially available for Linux, but there are also some cases where this method can create a missing Linux port. I have tested all the Unity games from Epic Games that I collected for free. Since Epic Games does not support Linux game versions, you can also benefit from this method to play your Unity games that you may have collected on that platform.

Take the compatibility status list as reference if you are only interested in games that are known to be playable.

Install Unity Games

To determine which games are based on Unity, you can check out steamdb.

Epic Games

You can download games with Legendary, the free and open-source Epic Games Launcher alternative.

List all your titles for macOS or Windows

legendary list --platform <Mac|Windows>

Install the macOS or Windows version of game with

legendary install --platform <Mac|Windows> <App name>

Steam

You can download Steam games for a specific platform with steamcmd. To download macOS versions, use the following command:

steamcmd +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType macos

Inside steamcmd run the following:

login <account_name>
app_update <app_id>

Porting

If the game has a _Data directory prefixed with the game title (e.g. The Last Campfire_Data), you should rename it to just Data. Then run the script with the path of the Unity game as argument

./unify.sh <game dir>

The script probes the game for the Unity version and OpenGL renderer, then downloads the relevant engine files and copies them into the game directory. If it succeeded, try to start the game via the LinuxPlayer binary. If it does not run, make sure to check the logs usually in ~/.config/unity3d/<vendor>/<title>. In most cases, the game misses some native libraries that need to be replaced. For Steam games it might work to just copy an arbitrary .so file to the place of the expected libsteam_api64.so.

The script will cache the downloaded and extracted unity files by default in the folder ~/Unity/Hub/Editor, but you can override this location using the UNITY_REPO environment variable.

If the script is not successful, the game may not be a Unity game or it may have a different structure. The script in its current state is very basic and does not cover all cases.

Compatibility Status

macOS

App title	App name	Unity version	Linux available	OpenGL enabled	Playable	Notes
Duskers	1e9c3a9a10c6463e9c065f371b8b42bf	5.3.4f1	yes	yes	yes
Sunless Sea	2420b50453144c07b3b847fff941275d	5.5.1f1	yes	yes	no	can not find matching unity engine
Darkwood	923130ebb546417b9d3115507f752d34	5.5.3f1	yes	yes	no	can not find matching unity engine
Night In The Woods	cd1b8a6e5b6c47369e2a1e2cf7b7f536	5.6.2p4	yes	yes	no	can not find matching unity engine; 5.6.2xf1Linux can be used instead1; needs fmod 1.7.82
Stories Untold	Parsley	5.6.3p2	no	yes	no	can not find matching unity engine; 5.6.3xf1Linux can be used instead1; needs fmod 1.8.02; needs AVProVideo and more
Inside	Marigold	5.6.6f2	no	yes	no	can not find matching unity engine
The First Tree	cd98b47155654e1f9a9e84e60d0b49e4	2017.4.11f1	yes	yes	yes	rewired: Rewired_OSX_Lib.dll must be removed
Absolute Drift	19927295d6e3467887d4e830d8c85963	2017.4.16f1	yes	yes	no	needs EOSSDK-Mac-Shipping3; rewired: Assembly-CSharp.dll needs to be patched4; starting but unplayable due to white screen
Enter the Gungeon	Garlic	2017.4.27f1	yes	yes	no	needs AkSoundEngine
Hand of Fate 2	808f0dfbf3b84c2680793724d7f207bf	2017.4.40f1	yes	yes	no	needs InControlNative
Tacoma	Flagfin	2018.4.9f1	yes	yes	yes	rewired: Rewired_OSX_Lib.dll must be removed
Rise of Industry	cf6c487e39a14113b75d1f625fed1da7	2018.4.11f1	yes	yes	yes	needs EOSSDK-Mac-Shipping3
Totally Reliable Delivery Service	Hoatzin	2018.4.14f1	yes	yes	yes	rewired: External.dll needs to be patched4
Faeria	Vulture	2018.4.18f1	yes	yes	no	needs libepic_api.so3; needs rewired
Iratus	82ab0adb6e0b41bea531fcbb0c43cfc7	2018.4.26f1	yes	yes	yes	needs EOSSDK-Mac-Shipping3
Crying Suns	18fafa2d70d64831ab500a9d65ba9ab8	2018.4.30f1	no	yes	yes	needs AkSoundEngine
Moonlighter	Eagle	2019.2.20f1	yes	yes	no	needs InControlNative
Kerbal Space Program	a1e2ce30defe4a9187ebc14fc9d2bd8b	2019.4.18f1	yes	yes	yes	mv GameData KSP.app/Contents/Resources/
Verdun	38c0129b680e4843b4807b98bad67027	2019.4.29f1	yes	yes	yes	needs EOSSDK-Mac-Shipping3; needs to be started with ./LinuxPlayer -epicusername=<something> -epicuserid=<something> -AUTH_PASSWORD=<something>; rewired: Assembly-CSharp-firstpass.dll needs to be patched4; no sound, needs fmod
Tannenberg	ecfdc10170eb49b6b61cf16b3aa36d56	2019.4.29f1	yes	yes	yes	needs EOSSDK-Mac-Shipping3; needs to be started with ./LinuxPlayer -epicusername=<something> -epicuserid=<something> -AUTH_PASSWORD=<something>; rewired: Assembly-CSharp-firstpass.dll needs to be patched4; no sound, needs fmod
The Fall	daac7fe46e3647cb80530411d7ec1dc5	2020.2.2f1	yes	yes	yes
Magic The Gathering Arena	stargazer	2020.3.13f1	no	yes	no
Terraforming Mars	582c8940f499450d9033840efe5937a6	2021.3.12f1	no	no	no
while True: learn()	4f272a49a39742b795d63e1f483a7c7d	2021.3.14f1	yes	no	no
The Long Dark	ed93b18355a84230938c705121c63661	2021.3.16f1	yes	yes	no
Stacklands	(itch.io release)	2022.3.4f1	no	yes	yes

Windows

App title	App name	Unity version	Linux available	OpenGL enabled	Playable	Notes
Shadowrun Returns	dc29cb42f32e4a17af1d68c715fa459c	4.2.0f4	yes	no	no
DARQ	ee96375fac2f47de978170a24398e581	5.3.6f1	no	no	no
Yooka-Laylee	ce2a78bf70b646e9b9f57c46dac99184	5.4.3p3	yes	no	no
Shadow Tactics	Fangtooth	5.4.4f1	yes	no	no
The Escapists 2	Fowl	5.5.0p4	yes	no	no
AER Memories of Old	26b63c46de9e4dcc856b3c6b106b6777	5.6.1f1	yes	no	no
Dungeons 3	351fe5b32e22412d8fa41f4c7395fed1	5.6.6f2	yes	no	no
Sheltered	b9af0845f9d64b0d9e851d9811141f67	5.6.7f1	yes	no	no
Halcyon 6	b9e848fc5e844f4285b0624789476664	2017.2.1f1	yes	no	no
For The King	Discus	2017.2.2p2	yes	no	no
The Messenger	Jay	2017.4.12f1	no	no	no
Void Bastards	595e35287b824902a2f7107139603732	2017.4.21f1	no	no	no
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018	8032b75cf0914afa87c78d6914adc165	2017.4.24f1	no	no	no
PC Building Simulator	ab277c0995e945d2b2c50c46883627f1	2018.4.16f1	no	yes	no
Neon Abyss	a26f991a5e6c4e9c9572fc200cbea47f	2018.4.21f1	no	yes	yes	needs fmod 2.0.82
Moving Out	8e29583ae4b44a21883038668f7e301e	2018.4.21f1	no	no	no
Horizon Chase Turbo	bb406082b69a47208489d3616b22b5c2	2018.4.27f1	yes	no	no
Overcooked! 2	Potoo	2018.4.32f1	yes	no	no
Offworld Trading Company	Snapper	2018.4.36f1	no	yes	yes	needs libEOSSDK-Win32-Shipping.dll3; needs to be started with ./Offworld -AUTH_LOGIN=<something> -AUTH_PASSWORD=<something>
Idle Champions	40cb42e38c0b4a14a1bb133eb3291572	2019.3.0f6	no	no	no
Tunche	fd51551d919847beb178985f6daf0306	2019.4.0f1	no	no	no
Pine	6d564ff21f9c45b7b782b7113ad60be8	2019.4.10f1	yes	no	no
Recipe for Disaster	61e074e998044594b7bb566fe111687b	2019.4.24f1	no	no	no
Fall Guys	0a2d9f6403244d12969e11da6713137b	2019.4.37f1	no	no	no
Never Alone	f38de9fa4c6d43eabac080942cb394a1	2020.3.19f1	yes	no	no
Among Us	963137e4c29d4c79a81323b8fab03a40	2020.3.22f1	no	no	no
City of Gangsters	002b00085aeb49b1a3f3c42e3f918f2f	2020.3.28f1	no	no	no
Gloomhaven	1bcd791d54684eb29ed32ad1c0593d12	2020.3.33f1	no	no	no
Stranded Deep	02107cba432c4551a027d25d597adc49	2021.2.7f1	yes	yes	no	needs libBCrypt.so
Epistory - Typing Chronicles	4ec72fd8cbd94aa4acc61624c68fbc4f	2021.3.3f1	yes	no	no
Shop Titans	329064225aaf4df29c4658f141173905	2021.3.10f1	no	no	no
Bloons TD 6	7786b355a13b47a6b3915335117cd0b2	2021.3.16f1	no	no	no
Against All Odds	ad8aff099d2a445599f9797a24e9ff93	2021.3.19f1	no	no	no
The Last Campfire	990630	2018.4.24f1	no	yes	yes	Needs an arbitrary .so file named as Data/Mono/x86_64/libsteam_api64.so. Controller input doesn't work (may require patching the Rewired library)

Footnotes

1. Older Unity builds for Linux can be found in the forum here. The LinuxPlayer executable can be binary patched to match the expected version. ↩ ↩²

2. FMOD Engine can be downloaded for free after registering from here. ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. The file libEOSSDK-Linux-Shipping.so can be taken from the EOS-SDK and renamed to replace the missing library. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

4. The file can be patched to use Rewired_Linux.dll instead of Rewired_OSX.dll with dnSpy. Rewired_Linux.dll can be taken from the macOS version of Totally Reliable Delivery Service. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴