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Launching Prism Launcher - Minecraft Games with RetroDECK

Prismlauncher logo

This experiment was initiated by the users murkl and Daeymon. Then later expanded upon by the RetroDECK Team. The goal was to explore the possibility of launching external desktop games and apps within RetroDECK.

Note: RetroDECK was never intended to be used in this manner, so things like inputs may work as expected.

Disclaimer on Experiments

These experiments are created by the RetroDECK Team and/or Community. The guides are intended for people with technical knowledge and a passion for tinkering. Using these guides might put RetroDECK and your data at risk. The RetroDECK Team can't provide any support for these experiments or fix any issues they might cause on your system or RetroDECK installation.

Prerequisites

Flatpak Spawn Permission

Information:

This experiment requires the flatpak-spawn permission, which breaks the sandbox environment that RetroDECK operates in. Therefore, we do not recommend attempting this unless you are confident in your understanding of the process and its implications.

You can enable it by running this command in the terminal.

flatpak override --user --talk-name=org.freedesktop.Flatpak net.retrodeck.retrodeck

Add RetroDECK to Steam

We also recommend that you add RetroDECK to Steam to utilize Steam Input as there is a higher chance of inputs working from the external source.

Also some RetroDECK built-in hotkeys in the radials like Alt+F4 might help you close windows.

Directory structure

Type Folder Comment
Desktop Roms Folder retrodeck/roms/desktop/

How-to: Launch Prism Launcher - Minecraft Instances

Smooth Settings

For a smoother experience enable these settings in Prism Launcher:

  1. Open Prism Launcher.
  2. Go to Settings → Minecraft
  3. Enable Start Minecraft maximized , Close Launcher after game window opens and Quit Launcher after game window closes.
  4. Exit Settings

Step 1: Create .desktop file from Prism Launcher

  1. Open Prism Launcher.
  2. Make sure you are logged in.
  3. Install a game (specific version or a modpack).
  4. Right Click the game → Create Shortcut.
  5. Save the shortcut to: retrodeck/roms/desktop/.

Step 2: Edit the .desktop file

Open the .desktop file and edit it.

  • Exec= Add the `"flatpak-spawn" --host' in front of "flatpak" 'run'.

Example: Original - Fabulously Optimized

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Categories=Game;ActionGame;AdventureGame;Simulation
Exec="flatpak" 'run' 'org.prismlauncher.PrismLauncher' '--launch' 'Fabulously Optimized'
Name=Fabulously Optimized
Icon=/var/home/deck/.var/app/org.prismlauncher.PrismLauncher/data/PrismLauncher/instances/Fabulously Optimized/icon.png

Example: Edited - Fabulously Optimized

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Categories=Game;ActionGame;AdventureGame;Simulation
Exec="flatpak-spawn" --host "flatpak" 'run' 'org.prismlauncher.PrismLauncher' '--launch' 'Fabulously Optimized'
Name=Fabulously Optimized
Icon=/var/home/deck/.var/app/org.prismlauncher.PrismLauncher/data/PrismLauncher/instances/Fabulously Optimized/icon.png

The Last Step: Launch the Games via RetroDECK

After the .desktop files have been created and everything is working as expected, RetroDECK will recognize the .desktop file the next time you start it.

The games will appear under the Windows tab in ES-DE.

Minecraft Tips

Controlify (Controller support)

For a seamless experince on a handheld gaming device use the mod:

Controlify)

You can manually add it to your modpacks via (but more then often its already included).

Minecraft JVM Arguments & Optimizations

Minecraft JVM Arguments

Mukul1127 has created a great GitHub page for various Java versions JVM arguments and Optimizations on how to make your Minecraft Java experience more performanant.

These can be added to Prism Launcher per Minecraft instance or Globally under Settings → Java → JVM arguments.