About
The Simpsons: Hit & Run is a 2003 open-world action game built around Springfield, often described as a family-friendly riff on Grand Theft Auto. Players control members of the Simpson family and Apu across seven story levels, driving missions, races, and collectible hunts in a faithfully recreated cartoon world. Developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games, it was widely praised and is frequently cited as the best Simpsons game ever made. It was never re-released on modern digital storefronts and has long been out of print, so it survives mainly through its dedicated modding community.
Identity
Launch
- Binary
- Lucas' Simpsons Hit & Run Mod Launcher.exe
- Needs files
- none beyond the binary
Proton
- Version
- GE-Proton
- Winetricks
- —
- ProtonDB
- ProtonDB Gold runs perfectly after tweaks
⚙ Setup notes
Game: 2003 Radical Entertainment open-world game (a GTA-style Simpsons romp).
DRM: Never re-released digitally and long out of print — bring your own copy.
Proton: Runs well on Deck under recent stable Proton (Proton 9.0+ / GE-Proton both work).
Install: Strongly recommended — add Lucas' Simpsons Hit & Run Mod Launcher.exe to Steam instead of the base exe — point Proton at it.
Controller: In the launcher's Hacks, enable XInput for full Steam Deck gamepad support.
Display: Enable Modern Resolution Support/Widescreen for 16:10.
Cosmetic: Enable the Direct3D 9 renderer plus Anti-Aliasing (MSAA) for cleaner visuals.
Note: Base game runs without the launcher but defaults to 4:3 and uses keyboard/mouse; the launcher is what makes it a clean controller + widescreen experience on Deck.
The one thing to know
Supply your own copy: Out of print, never digitally re-released — supply your own copy; configuration only, no links.
Install: Add Lucas' Simpsons Hit & Run Mod Launcher.exe to Steam and run that under Proton — it adds widescreen/modern-resolution, a Direct3D 9 renderer, MSAA anti-aliasing, and (critically) XInput so the Deck's built-in controller works natively. Enable those hacks in the launcher's Hacks list.
Note: Base game runs without the launcher but is 4:3 and keyboard/mouse only, so the launcher is the recommended path.
Community: Community reports (Donut Team forum, SteamDeckHQ) confirm it plays well on Deck with this setup.
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, Proton version)
and registers the shortcut with artwork.