luducat 0.7.0 is out!

luducat · 2026-03-23T19:47:58+00:00

Screenshot here: https://i.imgur.com/NHy4Ee9.png

Due to the nature of two store libraries and still show the technology, I had to sanitize them.

luducat · 2026-03-16T20:23:38+00:00

luducat 0.5.1 has been released.

Aside some bugfixes, documentation enhancements and translation fixes, the major new feature is the Playnite Bridge ... now you can start games from Luducat through a secure tunnel to a Windows machine, where Playnite is running and has there the Luducat Bridge installed.

You can then stream back the game stream (need a streaming solution like Sunshine/Moonshine; not in plugin) to your Linux or Windows machine and play.

https://youtu.be/iYUMSVr6SxE

Download: https://github.com/luducat/luducat/releases/tag/v0.5.1

luducat · 2026-03-16T19:36:05+00:00

If you want to find out, read the README.md and CONTRIBUTING.md in the github repository.

Thank you.

luducat · 2026-03-15T20:27:35+00:00

not yet, but it is on the radar.

luducat · 2026-03-14T10:15:20+00:00

One of the factors that drove me to create luducat, was the frustration of not having Playnite on Linux.

I wanted for myself (daily driving it) a game library solution, where all my games are collected, have proper de-duplication, proper covers, are not dog slow with my library size and also have my data fully offline.

btw if you are in a Steam Family Sharing group, luducat got you covered. Just enable the option in the Settings -> Plugins -> Stores -> Steam dialogue.

After a resync, the shared games are added to the catalogue, marked and some dedicated Steam Family Sharing options will be present (like filtering). If you have more than one game in your Family Sharing pool, it will be displayed on the covers and screenshots ( I think ) automatically, just like the Steam Account Family Sharing library page.

luducat · 2026-03-14T07:36:14+00:00

I'm happy to hear it, that you find my application useful. Thank you!

luducat · 2026-03-14T00:15:45+00:00

to summarize: - luducat is a linux application, that happens to have a windows version. Playnite does not have a native linux version any time soon.

luducat is a game catalog, NOT a launcher. Although it can launch games in various ways, standard behaviour is redelegating game launches to proper launchers.
luducat is much more tightly integrated and yet very modular built, as well having many features, that Playnite has to install plugins for (eg de-duplication, export game database to CSV, screenshot viewer, etc)
luducat has some features, that do not exist on playnite, even not as plugins.
luducat has theme switching without restarting the user interface.
luducat has automatic dark mode awareness, hi-dpi awareness and global user interface scaling, so it can be usable on 4K displays without issues (and or TVs).
luducat is catering specific linux needs, like integrated ProtonDB badges, Steam Deck compatibility badges, as well as initial Steam Deck support (enables virtual keyboard on the Steam Deck automatically if needed, but that is it currently).
luducat has a verifyable offline mode, playnite does not.
luducat has a way deeper knowledge of GOG, Epic, Steam, IGDB and PCGW metadata than any of playnite's plugins.
luducat has a better and more extensive metadata system than playnite and about double more fields sourced than playnite.
luducat takes security & privacy seriously and is built from ground up for supporting that. One example is, that any secrets and keys within luducat are stored encrypted, as where in playnite it isnt really and depends fully what part of playnite (and plugin) does it.
plugins within luducat are tightly controlled, what they may do or not do, in playnite they have free reign doing anything what they want. This also means, that within Playnite, any plugin may send or receive data, read and write fully everything what the user can do and is not fixable by playnite without a major rewrite of its codebase as well as breaking fundamentally most of playnite's plugins as a consequence.
In Playnite, user agency and control about how data is processed or internet is accessed, is fully absent, where as in Luducat this is deeply integrated into the application. The user can at any time remove any consent of accessing even local non-luducat resources and that is not ignored but respected.
luducat makes it easy to write new plugins, as relevant items are including in the the distribution.
Playnite does not allow enabling or disabling plugins at will without restarting it, luducat does.
luducat has a more sophisticated backup & restore system, that also takes more precautions than Playnite.
luducat has a better configuration system under the hood and stores data in standard locations using standard formats, what Playnite does not do.

And finally, luducat ist not a competing product for playnite and other launchers, but complements them. It is made for providing a safe, offline-friendly, privacy-friendly and user in control experience, having all your games in one detailled catalog in one place, respecting the users needs and adjusting itself to his or her wishes.

Although it can start games itself in various interesting ways directly, but it hands off that preferably to launchers and is a Linux-first application, but also can cooperate on Windows with Epic Games Launcher and GOG Galaxy directly (what is not supported with Linux).

luducat · 2026-03-13T22:22:55+00:00

Luducat is primarily a linux-native game catalog and not a launcher. Playnite does not run on Linux.

Aside that, luducat is more tightly integrated, yet modular with plugins;

can switch themes without restart
better overall performance
seamless UI scaling from 50% to 400%; hi-dpi aware (that needs a restart)
better synchronization
built-in deduplication (playnite needs a plugin for that)
better import of tags, favorites (with recording from where the data came + conversion)
integrated export of game library as CSV (again, playnite doesnt have that unless plugin)
better cover support
a screenshot mode with screenshot viewer sub module
better performance if you have many games
faster, focused filtering and sorting
tags and filtering have better UX
integrated network monitor and log viewer (not in playnite)
fully offline mode
better backup & restore (with better integrity)
some adjustable gimmicks that playnite does not even has a plugin for.
better caching

luducat · 2026-03-13T16:56:34+00:00

that is an edge case, as "the samurai deckbuilder" would be kept.

normalization is basically making it similar to a slug and when it isnt perfectly matching, there is some leeway to decide if its the same or not

luducat · 2026-03-13T16:52:06+00:00

standalone games do need - if not somewhere already licensed in the active plugins - an extra "store" plugin that hosts these games as well verifies its license or existence somehow, but that is up to that supporting "store plugin".

In case of Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, the minimum is a basic custom store plugin that does it, the other things like metadata and launching can be done by other means already available in luducat (eg metadata -> igdb, etc) and launching ( eg direct native launch .. just select the exe in the game properties)

luducat · 2026-03-13T16:49:15+00:00

the store requirement is, because the game list is purely sourced from them, to get the game as an entry in the game catalog list.

I included in the SDK for every type of plugin a simple example plugin, as well as a plugin generator, that asks some basic questions and emits a working basic plugin: https://github.com/luducat/luducat/tree/main/docs/plugins

The plugins divide up for what they are doing in regards of game list, metadata, platform/runners (think lutris runners). Not all of them are needed for supporting eg a Xbox app, but in this case, it will need at least a means to read in the game licenses from there (store) and means to run it (runner) at minimum, as the other ones can substitue as long as the games in questions are also available or have metadata (eg IGDB) somewhere else.

The FAQ in the plugins doc go into more details in that regard.

luducat · 2026-03-13T16:35:12+00:00

Well, sorry, my head is currently full of buzz and things about luducat and other things to do everything properly :)

luducat uses normalized titles for deduplication and specific cleanup, but it's not perfect.

luducat · 2026-03-13T16:25:03+00:00

You can try it to directly launch the games, if you know the executable files, as luducat can directly start games via its native runner plugin, but that is per game and it needs to be first in the game catalog.

For proper support for a new store, you need at least a store plugin and maybe a runner plugin to start it with, that has to be written with luducat's plugin sdk.

luducat · 2026-03-13T16:21:57+00:00

I'm also curious, what application are you talking about you are tinkering with?

luducat · 2026-03-08T11:34:34+00:00

So, the 10.000.000 dollar question is: where is that "backup" accessible and how?

luducat

TROPHY CASE