How To: Use Dedicated Radeon GPU on Minecraft for Linux/Ubuntu

4 min readJul 29, 2021

UPDATE: MultiMC updated their client to support Microsoft accounts. Read here.

Linux and Ubuntu are pretty broad terms so I’ll be specific and mention this guide was done on Linux Mint 20.

Some requirements before we begin:

Some terminal know-how
Your Copy of Minecraft (obviously)
MultiMC (an open source Minecraft launcher)
A positive attitude 😁️

Admittedly, if you’re new to Linux, it can be quite a handful. Especially if you have a combination of a Ryzen + Radeon laptop, then you also want to run Minecraft with the dedicated GPU.

Updating Java

Most distros that cater to a wider and more casual user-base like Linux Mint will already have a version of Java installed. In this case it’s Java 11 or OpenJDK 11. This is fine if you’re running vanilla Minecraft without the need to use MultiMC. We need to update this version of Java otherwise MultiMC won’t launch Minecraft.

Thankfully this is super easy, just open your terminal and type:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install openjdk-16-jre

Check Java Version

After installation finishes, check your version of Java.

$ java -version
openjdk version "16.0.2" 2021-07-20
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 16.0.2+7-67)
OpenJDK 64-bit Server VM (build 16.0.2+7-67, mixed mode, sharing)

Okay! Let’s actually move on to the Minecraft section.

MultiMC

According to their website:

MultiMC is a free, open source launcher for Minecraft. It allows you to have multiple, cleanly separated instances of Minecraft (each with their own mods, resource packs, saves, etc) and helps you manage them and their associated options with a simple and powerful interface.

Basically a more advanced version of the vanilla or default launcher that Minecraft comes with. Why do we need this though?

Well, the old version of the default launcher used to have the ability to write wrapper commands that allow us to pass environment variables to the Minecraft Java Runtime. The new one, from my understanding and experience, does not have this feature anymore due to a security update.

Thankfully installing MultiMC is pretty painless and super convenient. Just grab the Ubuntu or .deb installer and then hit Install Package.

Once it’s done installing, launch MultiMC.

Sign In To Your Mojang/Microsoft Account

This is optional but if you want to be playing Multiplayer or Realms, you’ll have to be logged in. Just click the dropdown at the upper right corner of MultiMC. Click Manage Accounts, then Add, and then type in your credentials.

Make sure your account is checked then click close.

Install Your Preferred Minecraft Version

At the upper left corner is the Add Instance button, click on that and install whatever Vanilla version you want. Once that’s done installing, we’ll move on to the next part.

Use The Correct Java Version

Right click on your new instance and click Edit Instance on the menu.

Go to Settings and at the Java tab, enable that by clicking on the checkbox of Java Installation. Click Auto-detect and choose the version 16 or later that we’ve installed earlier.

First Launch

Just to make sure everything’s okay, we’ll have to launch it for the first time. This will allow MultiMC to grab our relevant Minecraft data. After downloading is finished, and you see the main menu load, proceed to the next part.

Create a new world, call it whatever you want, be it Creative or Survival, it doesn’t matter. We just need a new world.

Once it’s fully loaded, hit F3 on your keyboard and check the right hand side of the screen. If says anything along the lines of “AMD Raven” it means it’s using the CPU’s Integrated Graphics (this highly depends on what type of CPU you have, consult your device model). This is what we intend to change.

Wrapper Commands

Close Minecraft and return to MultiMC. Edit Instance again and go to Settings. Click on Custom Commands tab. Enable the Custom Commands checkbox.

At the Wrapper Command form, write this:

env DRI_PRIME=1

What this does, if you’re not already familiar with it, is basically the way to tell Minecraft’s Java Runtime to use the dedicated Radeon Graphics, like the RX series. DRI_PRIME=1 in general is quite a tricky subject, but it does work on most apps. Minecraft just made it significantly more difficult to use because of its launcher.

That’s it. We’re done! 😆️

Launch the game again and hop into the world created earlier. Once more, hit F3 and check which GPU it’s using this time.

And there you have it, Minecraft should use your laptop’s dedicated Radeon Graphics.

Conclusion

I hope I was able to help at least a few people out there with this how-to article. I had quite a hard time myself figuring all this out without much outside guides. Most discussions were either dead-ends or Nvidia-based problems, which are so vastly different to AMD GPUs.

Thanks for reading. If you liked it, give it a clap. 😊️