- You have a working install of Debian with Desktop environment
- Enough disk space (Around 12 Go for Wreckfest 2 game and 883 Mo for the dedicated server tool on march 2025)
- You have access to the router so you can enable port forwarding to the server

First, login as root and make sure your Debian is up to date with


Then you can switch to your steam user, create one if needed


Now install Steam


It may also install required dependencies depending on your system

You can launch Steam client and login.

By default you may not be able to install the game, first you have to go into Steam / Settings / Compatibility and enable Steam Play for all other titles, so you can download the game:



Now install Wreckfest 2 by downloading it.

Once done, there is a little trick so you will be able to run the server and use the game at the same time. The thing is you can run the server from the standard Steam game, but then it will prevent you to run the game from another computer at the same time because Steam client will think you try to run the game twice altough one session will run the server and another session will run the game itself.

So in order to avoid this you have to add Wreckfest 2 as a non Steam game. Go to Games / Add a non Steam Game to my library then browse for the path you installed the game and select the file Wreckfest2.exe. Give this game a specific name such as Wreckfest 2 server so you know which one to launch, game or server.

The server will need to be launched with a few options, so you need to setup the game properties launch options like that:



The server will need to be launched using Proton, so go to Compatibility and enable Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool:



I chose Proton experimental and it seems to run fine so far, but you may make your own tests to check if another version is stable depending on your needs.

Now, you can go to the directory chosen in previous step as save: /path-to-your-server-config-directory

You will need to add 2 files in here: server_config.scnf and server_privilege.sprv



You can refer to Gem's guide about the content of those files.

Now that everyting has been properly setup, you can launch the server directly with Steam. A new window should open like that:



Your Wreckfest 2 server is now up and running, now you just have to setup the port forwarding in your router that way:



The port that you specified in the server_config.scnf as ""game port" must be forwarded to the local IP of the machine running the server.

Now you should be able to launch Wreckfest 2 from another PC, see your server in the list and connect to it so you can play with friends.

I also know at least 2 other ways to run the server:

- Using the dedicated server tool with Steam client

You need to go into Games and tick "Tools":



Then search for Wreckfest 2 dedicated server tool:



Dedicated server tool will require less disk space than full game, so it may be interesting to use it. It was broken when I tested it but it may be fixed soon.

It will work pretty much the same way than using the game files, since .exe is exactly the same.

- Using the dedicated server tool with SteamCMD

Install SteamCMD as described here.

Launch SteamCMD:


Login with Steam ID is required, maybe anonymous download of the app will be authorized later:


Chose the install path:


Force platform type for cross-platform installation:


Install the Dedicated Server Tool:


Now you will be able to use those files to setup and launch the server using wine or proton. I'm not sure wine will be very stable for Wreckfest2.exe file so it may be better to launch it with Steam as a non Steam Game but you can make your own tests and give your feedback about what had worked or not.

After the Debian server had been up for one night, I can now see a massive difference. It is hosted on a NAS, and even though other VMs and stuff are also running, it's mostly at idle during the night.

Here we can see the big change before and after:



Wreckfest 2 server was previously running on a Windows 10 virtual machine, this VM was shutdown and replaced by the Debian VM around 23:00.

You can see on the graph that the left side is the Windows server, and the right side is the Debian one. Debian version is very light running 4°C to 5°C cooler with very low CPU usage which is much more efficient for our hardware.

Have fun :)