OpenGOAL Launcher for NixOS

A Nix package for running OpenGOAL on NixOS — enabling native PC ports of the Jak and Daxter series through the official OpenGOAL Launcher.

AI Disclosure: This project was developed with heavy assistance from Claude (Anthropic). It works on my machine with all three games launching and playable, but your mileage may vary. Bug reports and PRs welcome.

Requirements

NixOS
nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true (required for steam-run)
A PS2 ISO of a supported game

Installation

Option A: Ad-hoc (no system changes)

git clone <your-gitea-repo-url>
cd opengoal-nix
nix-build
result/bin/opengoal-launcher

Option B: System-wide via `configuration.nix`

Add to /etc/nixos/configuration.nix:

nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree = true;

environment.systemPackages = [
  (pkgs.callPackage /path/to/opengoal-nix/package.nix {})
];

Then rebuild:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch
opengoal-launcher

First Time Setup

Launch the launcher and set your install directory
Select a game and let the launcher download the game version binaries
Run the patch script to make the downloaded binaries NixOS-compatible:

opengoal-patch-bins /path/to/opengoal/versions/official/vX.Y.Z

For example:

opengoal-patch-bins ~/.local/share/opengoal/versions/official/v0.3.1

Point the launcher at your PS2 ISO and let it extract, decompile, and compile the game
Click Play

Note: You must re-run opengoal-patch-bins each time the launcher downloads a new game version.

Updating the Launcher

When a new launcher version is released on GitHub:

Get the new hash:

nix-shell -p nix --run '
  nix-prefetch-url \
    https://github.com/open-goal/launcher/releases/download/vX.Y.Z/OpenGOAL-Launcher_X.Y.Z_amd64.AppImage \
    --type sha256
'

Convert to SRI format:

nix-shell -p nix --run '
  nix hash convert --hash-algo sha256 --to sri <hash-from-above>
'

Update version and hash in package.nix and rebuild:

nix-build

Troubleshooting

Game crashes with code 134 after clicking Play Run opengoal-patch-bins on the version directory — the game binaries need to be patched for NixOS after each download.

opengoal-patch-bins says "already patched" but game still crashes Restore the originals and repatch:

cd /path/to/opengoal/versions/official/vX.Y.Z
for bin in gk extractor goalc; do
  [ -f "$bin.real" ] && mv "$bin.real" "$bin"
done
opengoal-patch-bins /path/to/opengoal/versions/official/vX.Y.Z

GPU test failed / OpenGL error Your GPU and drivers support OpenGL — this is a false positive on NixOS. Use the "Bypass error" option in the launcher.

Wrong ISO error during extraction Make sure you are using a PS2 ISO of the original game, not a PSP version. Supported game IDs are SCUS-97124 (Jak 1 NTSC-U), SCES-50456 (PAL), and SCPS-15021 (NTSC-J).

How It Works

The OpenGOAL Launcher is distributed as a DwarFS AppImage (not the more common SquashFS). This package:

Fetches the AppImage and extracts it using dwarfsextract
Installs the self-contained sharun launcher bundle
Provides opengoal-patch-bins — a helper that patches downloaded game binaries (gk, extractor, goalc) with the correct NixOS dynamic linker and wraps them in steam-run for a full FHS environment

Contributing

PRs and issues welcome. The eventual goal is to upstream this to nixpkgs.

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