Don't want to see articles from a certain category? When logged in, go to your User Settings and adjust your feed in the Content Preferences section where you can block tags!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Following on from the Boxtron tool to run Steam games through a native Linux version of DOSBox, the same developer has now put out Roberta to do the same for ScummVM.

What does it do exactly? It means you can run pretty much any game on Steam that uses ScummVM, through your native version of ScummVM, even if those games don't have a Linux build up. Instead of trying to run them through Steam Play's Proton.

To use Roberta, you need a native install of ScummVM and the easiest way to install Roberta is to download the pre-made package available from the releases page on GitHub.

Like other unofficial Steam Play compatibility tools, you need to have a folder set up ready for it like "~/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/".

Simply extract the download into that folder, restart Steam and you will then be able to choose it as your specific tool. To do that, right click on a game in your Steam library, go to Properties and see this at the bottom:

See more about it on the GitHub page.

Really awesome to see more tools like this being made!

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
20 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
28 comments
Page: «3/3
  Go to:

t3g Aug 25, 2019
I use GameHub for GOG games and like how they integrate native DOSBox and ScummVM. Would like to see Valve take the same approach for Steam Play out of the box. :-)


Last edited by t3g on 25 August 2019 at 10:44 pm UTC
slaapliedje Aug 26, 2019
So is Boxtron / Roberta supposed to autodetect MIDI devices? Doesn't seem to be working, had to manually set up the system's DOSBox, and still can't seem to get MIDI output for any of the ScummVM based games.
dreamer_ Aug 26, 2019
Quoting: slaapliedjeSo is Boxtron / Roberta supposed to autodetect MIDI devices? Doesn't seem to be working, had to manually set up the system's DOSBox, and still can't seem to get MIDI output for any of the ScummVM based games.

Boxtron: yes; there's explicit support for UM-ONE v2 and other hardware; if it does not work for you - maybe you have some HW we haven't seen before (very probable) - swing by the Discord server or create an issue in the Boxtron bugtracker on GitHub - I will need additional information to find out why it's not working for you. I also created brand new IRC channel #luxtorpeda on freenode, which is not hooked up to Discord yet, but you can ping me in there as well.

Roberta: no, it works exactly the same way as ScummVM (which has some form of autodetection, but I don't know the exact scope of it, and it probably depends on ScummVM version you have installed).
slaapliedje Aug 26, 2019
Cool, I'll do that when I get a chance.

I have noticed that it all depends on which USB port I connect the UM-ONE into is what alsa device ID it gets. Like one of my front ports was 24:0, one in the back was 28:0.

What should the dosbox config look like for the auto detect to work?

Edit: I did get an email stating that Bard's Tale IV Director's Cut should be available for Linux tomorrow, so I should test this tonight before I'm never heard from again... well at least until I can tear myself away from that...


Last edited by slaapliedje on 26 August 2019 at 11:21 pm UTC
slaapliedje Aug 27, 2019
Working great on Star Wars: Dark Forces. Played that quite a bit last night. Not sure if it's my audio cable, or another issue, but the MT-32 is working, it's just very quiet.

The pain in the butt is that some games properly support the sound canvas, and others support the MT-32. There is a 3 hour long video explaining all of this on youtube, but I was only able to make it an hour in since I had games to play!
cprn Sep 17, 2019
So... Steam Play is now a Windows games running platform similar to Lutris? Does Valve support any of the native versions of engines and translation layers other than Proton officially (as in: do any of the runscripts of officially supported Steam Play games run Roberta or Boxtron when you click "Play")?
Liam Dawe Sep 17, 2019
Quoting: cprnSo... Steam Play is now a Windows games running platform similar to Lutris? Does Valve support any of the native versions of engines and translation layers other than Proton officially (as in: do any of the runscripts of officially supported Steam Play games run Roberta or Boxtron when you click "Play")?
They are unofficial so no, you need to force it onto the games like you would a specific version of Proton.
slaapliedje Sep 17, 2019
Quoting: cprnSo... Steam Play is now a Windows games running platform similar to Lutris? Does Valve support any of the native versions of engines and translation layers other than Proton officially (as in: do any of the runscripts of officially supported Steam Play games run Roberta or Boxtron when you click "Play")?
To be fair, these aren't Windows games, but more DOS+other platform games as well. Boxtron covers the DOS games, and ScummVM supports games from a whole lot of platforms. Not sure how many of the games that it supports are actually Windows versions (only a small percentage if I recall).

Either way, MIDI music on these are amazing, if you've got the cash, I highly recommend getting an old fashioned MIDI module :)
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.