Linux

This section contains information about Kerbal Space Program on operation systems based on GNU/Linux.

Running on non-English localized systems

Source of the problem

KSP doesn't work on some localization, because the English writes the decimal fractions with points (3.1415), and in other languages uses comma (3,1415). As a result of this, the Unity engine is attempting to use one method for writing and tries another method to read.

Command line on Steam

For starting in English localization use this command line:

LC_ALL=C ./KSP.x86

for the 64-bit version:

LC_ALL=C ./KSP.x86_64

The command lines can be used in console, placed in shell file or in the command or in the command line of menus. For Steam version the file name has to be replaced with the %command%:

<code>LC_ALL=C %command%

for the 64-bit version:

LC_ALL=C %command%_64

(See the picture on the right)

Text is missing in menus and the game

Source of the problem

The game needs Arial and Arial Black fonts not installed.

Solution

In case of Debian based systems (Ubuntu, Mint) install the "Microsoft TrueType core fonts" package (or something like this), in case of AchLinux "ttf-ms-fonts" package, and so in case of other distros too.

Mods

Source of the problem

There are no problems. The mods are usually compatible with each-others, and you do not have to pay special attention of compatibility of mod.dll -s.

64-bit version

Source of the problem

The KSP sometimes can run out of memory, especially if you use many mods - the 32-bit application cannot handle memory over 4GB, and the 64-bit Linux version has a small bug, but can be cured before use.

Solution

This works only on a 64-bit system. The command uname --hardware-platform replies x86_64 on 64 bit systems.

In the root directory is the executable named KSP.x86_64 and it needs to be patched. First you need to change to the directory using cd depending on your installed directory. Two bytes need to be set to 0, depending on the installed version:

Version	Positions
0.24 — 0.24.2	0099f587 and 0099f58c
0.23.5	090f377 and 090f37c
0.23	838077 and 83807c

For example for version 0.24.2 it looks like:

echo "0099f587: 00" | xxd -r - KSP.x86_64
echo "0099f58c: 00" | xxd -r - KSP.x86_64

Automatic script

Alternatively based on ksp_installer by Voidi the following script will automatically search for the erroneous position and fix it. It'll also backup the original file as KSP.x86_64.unpatched if anything has gone wrong.

#!/bin/sh
position1=$(echo "obase=16; $(perl -n0777e 'print pos()-1,"\n" while /\x01\x00\x00\x00\xB8\x01\x00\x00\x00\xC3\x41\x56\x41\x55\x49/g' "./KSP.x86_64") - E" | bc)
if [ $position1 != "-E" ]
then
	echo "Patching Segfault out of the Rockets ..."
	cp -n "./KSP.x86_64" "./KSP.x86_64.unpatched"
	position2=$(echo "obase=16;ibase=16; $position1 + 5" | bc)
	echo "$position1: 00" | xxd -r - "./KSP.x86_64"
	echo "$position2: 00" | xxd -r - "./KSP.x86_64"
else
	echo "This seems to be not a vanilla KSP executable"
fi

From now, only your hardware limits the usable memory. Install as many mods as you wish.

Joystick

The joystick has to work by default. If your joystick is not available for the game, check the availability for Linux: ls -l /dev/input/js* /dev/js*. If the command is not replied with any file, that means there is noe driver installed. If you have driver install it, for example in case of Fedora install kernel-modules-extra package. If the driver is installed, plug in the joystick, and try again!

External Links

KSP Linux compatibility forum

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Kerbal_Space_Program - KSP on Archwiki