About
Tyrian 2000 (Epic MegaGames, 1999) is a vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up and one of the most feature-rich shmups of the DOS era, now playable via OpenTyrian2000 — a native Linux port by KScl that eliminates the DOSBox requirement entirely. Epic released Tyrian 2000 as freeware, making this a completely legal zero-cost setup on Steam Deck.
Identity
Launch
- Binary
- opentyrian2000
- Needs files
-
- Tyrian 2000 game data (free freeware download from camanis.net — see caveats)
Runtime
- Runs as
- Native Linux
- Proton
- not needed
The one thing to know
- Tyrian 2000 game data is freeware (legally free). Per the README, download tyrian2000.zip from camanis.net (https://www.camanis.net/tyrian/tyrian2000.zip) and place the extracted data files in the same folder as the executable.
- IMPORTANT: the GitHub releases only ship prebuilt WINDOWS binaries (opentyrian2000-x64-Release.zip / x86). There is no prebuilt Linux binary. On Steam Deck you have two paths: (a) build the native Linux binary from source via the Makefile, which needs SDL2 and SDL2_net (output binary: opentyrian2000); or (b) add the prebuilt Windows x64 zip to Steam as a non-Steam game and run it through Proton.
- The native source build produces a binary named opentyrian2000 (Makefile TARGET); no DOSBox is required either way.
- Set the scaler/fullscreen option in the in-game video settings for a proper Steam Deck display fit.
- Status is needs-test: neither the native build nor the Proton-on-Windows-zip path has been verified on hardware here.
Community guides
Write-ups and threads from people who got this (or a similar) game running. deckport links to them — it doesn't reproduce them.
Get the artwork
deckport never hosts game images. Open this game on SteamGridDB, pick
the cover / hero / logo / icon you like, and drop them into the
game folder under .deckport-art/ before you push it to the
Deck. The importer files them under the right names automatically.
Run it on your Deck
Two files: the one-time importer (deckport.py) in your
Deck's home folder, and this game's install helper. Copy the game
into ~/Games and run the helper with Steam closed — it
writes the recipe (binary, launch options)
and registers the shortcut with artwork.