From download to launching the game in a few minutes.

Download

Official builds are published only on the GitHub Releases page. Every release includes a SHA256SUMS file for integrity verification.

Platform	Package	File
Windows x64	Installer (shortcuts and uninstaller included)	*-windows-amd64-installer.exe
Windows x64	Portable (no installation)	*-windows-amd64-portable.zip
Debian / Ubuntu x64	.deb package (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, and compatible)	*-linux-amd64.deb
Fedora / RPM x64	.rpm package (Fedora and RPM-compatible)	*-linux-amd64.rpm
Other Linux x64	Portable archive (requires GTK 3 and WebKitGTK 4.1)	*-linux-amd64.tar.gz

NixOS users should use the NixOS installation guide instead of the portable archive. The official flake currently supports x86_64-linux.

Caution

Windows SmartScreen Unsigned Waxlight builds may trigger a Microsoft Defender SmartScreen warning. Download Waxlight only from the official repository’s Releases page. See Code signing for details.

Integrity check

Compare the downloaded file’s SHA-256 with the value from SHA256SUMS:

# Linux
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing

# Windows (PowerShell)
Get-FileHash .\waxlight-*-windows-amd64-installer.exe -Algorithm SHA256

SHA-256 confirms the file is byte-identical to the release artifact but does not authenticate the publisher. That is what the Authenticode signature is for — see the code signing policy.

First steps

1. Sign in. Open Accounts and sign in with a Vintage Story account. TOTP/2FA is supported. See Accounts & sign-in.
2. Install a game version. Go to Game Versions → pick a version → Download. Progress is visible on the Operations page.
3. Create an instance. In Library, create an instance and select its account and game version.
4. Install mods (optional). The Mods section is a built-in Vintage Story ModDB browser with search and filters.
5. Press Play. A valid Vintage Story account with access to the game is required.

On Windows, Vintage Story also requires the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2015–2022 (x64). Without it, the game may fail to start with Unable to load DLL 'nanosvg' (or one of its dependencies). Install it from Microsoft’s latest supported Visual C++ Redistributable downloads.

Where data is stored

Platform	Default directory
Linux	~/.config/waxlight/
Windows	%AppData%\waxlight\

Inside are game versions (versions), instances (instances), downloads (downloads), cache (cache), backups (backups), logs (logs), and the launcher database. The main data folder can be relocated: Settings → Data folder. Account credentials stay in the OS credential store regardless.

The new location must exist or be creatable and writable by the current user. This is especially important for external drives on Windows: keep the drive connected and choose a directory where Waxlight can create and move files. If the target is not writable, the move is stopped and the original data remains in place; choose another location or fix its permissions before retrying.

Telemetry on first run

Optional telemetry is disabled by default. The Windows installer shows the privacy policy with a separate, unchecked opt-in box. The setting can be changed at any time: Settings → Privacy & telemetry. The full list of transmitted fields is in the Privacy Policy.

Need help?

Check the FAQ, ask on the Discord server, or submit a bug report there.