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Grand Theft Auto III / Vice City / San Andreas are three of the best games in existence, in my opinion.

It isn't because of the killing.
It isn't because of the hookers.
It isn't because of the missions.
It's because of the freedom to roam around an expansive city and steal/buy cars and just drive around, walk around, and interact with your environment, by purchasing items, weapons, etc.

I had both of them installed on my Windows installation before I wiped it, and I was wondering if a free/open source game exists with the freedoms of Grand Theft Auto, even if limited, that exist for Linux (in source or compiled binaries). Are there? If so, which and where?

WITHOUT WINE.

I mean, I would love a game where I can just roam around a city and use cars to get places, etc. Even if it's just the engine, with no missions.

Does one / multiple game(s) exist?

Also, what do you call this genre of game?

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Dani AI

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Short answer: those games are usually called "sandbox" or "open‑world" games. Native, free/open projects that reproduce a full GTA‑style city with cars, pedestrians and interactivity are rare; most practical options fall into two groups — native open projects (smaller sandboxes/vehicle sims) or engine reimplementations that need the original game data. See the general taxonomy at Sandbox game and a catalog at List of open-source video games.

About the Passenger trouble: already found it and was right to suggest running the launcher from a terminal so you can read error output. If your file manager opens .sh in an editor, set the file to be executable via the file properties or the file manager's context menu. If the client starts then hangs/dims, typical causes are a Java/window‑manager/graphics interaction, a 32‑ vs 64‑bit runtime mismatch, or a missing native library. Capture stdout/stderr when you launch and look for Java exceptions (AWT/GL/UnsatisfiedLinkError) — those lines are what you paste into the project issue tracker or support forum.

Practical next steps: run the launcher from a terminal and save its output; try a different Java implementation or the matching bitness for the binary; test under a simpler window manager or with software rendering; check GPU drivers and look for missing shared libraries with the platform tools. Many Java clients can be toggled between hardware/software rendering via JVM properties — the project README or issue list often documents known flags.

If the aim is just free roaming rather than exact GTA content, vehicle‑sandbox projects exist (for example, see Rigs of Rods), and modern distro repos/Steam have Linux native sandbox titles. When asking for more help on Passenger, include OS, desktop/window manager, Java vendor and bitness, GPU driver, and the first few lines of the launcher log. ’s MUD quip is fair — a lot depends whether you want single‑player freedom or a persistent online world.

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Member Avatar for John A

I'm not much of a gamer, so I guess I'm not really qualified to answer this question, but... Second Life has a client available for Linux. I dunno if that's what you're looking for. It has a monthly fee or something as well, if I remember correctly.

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Eh, that's close, but not exact. (And it's free, btw).

I'm not really looking for an online game, just a game that I can play anywhere, like Grand Theft Auto or DRIV3R (just remembered that one).

I'll give Second Life a try though.

Anyone else have any ideas?

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Alright I found Passenger, which is pretty much exactly what I wanted.

Now, why can't I run the *.sh file? It just brings me into gedit to edit the file.

Member Avatar for John A

>Now, why can't I run the *.sh file? It just brings me into gedit to edit the file.
You'll need to run it in the Terminal. cd to the directory where the script is, then do something like

$ ./start.sh

If it won't execute, you may need to set the executable bit in the permissions:

$ chmod ugo+x start.sh
Member Avatar for linux

Alright, I figured that I could use

bash start_linux_client.sh [icode] to run it, which worked, but now it just hangs at the main screen and then goes darker and darker until I have to force quit the window.

I think it has something to do with how my Java is set up, let me reinstall and try again.

Btw, what's the apt-get command for reinstall?

EDIT: Nope, reinstalled Java 6 and it still hangs once I hover my mouse over the window.[icode]
bash start_linux_

to run it, which worked, but now it just hangs at the main screen and then goes darker and darker until I have to force quit the window.

I think it has something to do with how my Java is set up, let me reinstall and try again.

Btw, what's the apt-get command for reinstall?

EDIT: Nope, reinstalled Java 6 and it still hangs once I hover my mouse over the window.[icode]
to run it, which worked, but now it just hangs at the main screen and then goes darker and darker until I have to force quit the window.

I think it has something to do with how my Java is set up, let me reinstall and try again.

Btw, what's the apt-get command for reinstall?

EDIT: Nope, reinstalled Java 6 and it still hangs once I hover my mouse over the window.

Member Avatar for John A

>Btw, what's the apt-get command for reinstall?

apt-get --reinstall install [I]package[/I]

>Nope, reinstalled Java 6 and it still hangs once I hover my mouse over the window.
I take it you've installed sun-java6-jre and java-common ? Anyway, beyond that I don't really know. I would ask for help at the package maintainer's website (perhaps they have a support mailing list, or even a forum).

Member Avatar for linux

Iight.

These kinds of games are called "Sandbox" games. Does anyone else know any free sandbox games for Linux?

Member Avatar for Sturm

How about MUDs? ;-p

Member Avatar for linux

Hahah. You mean like a Nethack style game?

Ehhhhh.

How about a MUD with 3-D graphics?

=P

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