Install on Linux

The editor is built for Linux x86_64 and runs on distributions from about 2020 on (it’s built against glibc 2.31). Everything it needs is inside the download, SDL included. Your system only has to provide a graphics driver with Vulkan.

Install

There are two downloads. Both are on the Download page (and the GitHub releases, marked pre-release).

AppImage
tar.gz

Download Crossfire_Editor-<version>-x86_64.AppImage.
Make it executable, then run it:
Terminal window
```
chmod +x Crossfire_Editor-*-x86_64.AppImage
./Crossfire_Editor-*-x86_64.AppImage
```
You can also tick “Allow executing file as program” in your file manager’s properties dialog, then double-click it.

The AppImage is read-only, so the editor runs “installed”: its settings and build folders go in ~/.local/share/crossfire-editor, and the demo project is copied to ~/Documents/Crossfire Editor the first time.

Download crossfire-editor-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz and unpack it anywhere:
Terminal window
```
tar -xzf crossfire-editor-*-linux-x64.tar.gz
cd crossfire-editor-*-linux-x64
```
Run it:
Terminal window
```
./crossfire-editor
```
Optional: add it to your application menu, with its icon:
Terminal window
```
./install-desktop-entry.sh
```

From the archive, the editor keeps its settings (editor.ini) beside itself, and opens the demo project from examples/demo_project in the same folder.

First run

The editor opens the demo project. Press F5 to play it: a space game, and from its menu a platformer level. Close the game window (or press Shift+F5) to come back.

To open another project, use File > Open Project (Ctrl+O), or pass its folder: ./crossfire-editor path/to/MyGame. The editor manual explains the window.

Scripts: Odin and a linker

Projects without scripts play and export with nothing else installed: the editor ships a prebuilt game player.

Projects with scripts are compiled, which needs two things:

Odin. Open Edit > Settings… (Ctrl+,) > Toolchain and press Install Odin dev-2026-10. It downloads the version the engine uses (about 70 MB) into ~/.local/share/crossfire-editor. If you already have Odin dev-2026-10 in your PATH, the editor uses that.

clang, which Odin links games with. The editor can’t install it. Use your package manager:

sudo apt install clang        # Debian, Ubuntu
sudo dnf install clang        # Fedora
sudo pacman -S clang          # Arch

Check Settings > Toolchain again: Odin compiler and Linker (clang) should have a green check.

The demo project has scripts, so it needs these too. See Settings and the toolchain for every row of that tab.

Common problems

The editor doesn’t start, or says it can’t create a Vulkan device. Install your GPU’s Vulkan driver and the Vulkan loader, then try again:

sudo apt install libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers vulkan-tools   # Debian, Ubuntu (AMD, Intel)
sudo dnf install vulkan-loader mesa-vulkan-drivers vulkan-tools # Fedora
sudo pacman -S vulkan-icd-loader vulkan-radeon vulkan-intel vulkan-tools # Arch (pick your GPU's)

NVIDIA’s proprietary driver includes Vulkan. vulkaninfo --summary should list your GPU.

The AppImage does nothing when double-clicked. It isn’t executable yet: chmod +x it (above).

The AppImage says FUSE is missing (dlopen(): error loading libfuse.so.2, or “AppImages require FUSE to run”). AppImages mount themselves with FUSE. Install it (sudo apt install fuse3, sudo dnf install fuse, sudo pacman -S fuse3), or run the AppImage without mounting it:

./Crossfire_Editor-*-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run

Or use the tar.gz archive, which needs no FUSE.

Play says “No Odin compiler” or the build fails at linking. The project has scripts: install Odin and clang as above. The Output tab (Ctrl+J opens the bottom panel) shows what the build said.

The window is tiny on a tiling window manager. The editor’s layout wants room. Make the window floating or fullscreen.