0 A.D. uses the standard [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S3_Texture_Compression S3TC] texture compression format, which saves at least 75% of video memory usage, improving the game's performance. Unfortunately S3TC is [http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/S3TC not supported by default in Mesa] (which provides OpenGL support on Linux) due to uncertainties over patents.

The game will automatically enable the `force_s3tc_enable` DRI configuration option, which helps when using drivers that support texture decompression but not run-time compression. (This can be disabled via the game's configuration file: see `force_s3tc_enable` in `data/config/default.cfg` in the install directory.)

If this does not work, and the game displays a warning message, you may need to '''install the libtxc_dxtn library''':
 * Manually install [http://cgit.freedesktop.org/~mareko/libtxc_dxtn/snapshot/libtxc_dxtn-1.0.1.tar.gz libtxc_dxtn-1.0.1.tar.gz] (simply extract and run `sudo make install`)
 * [https://launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/graphics-drivers/ Ubuntu package]: also available here updated mesa drivers with fixes and optimization for 0 A.D.
 * [http://debian-multimedia.org/ Debian Multimedia repository] ([http://debian-multimedia.org/pool/main/libt/libtxc-dxtn/libtxc-dxtn.php packages])
 * [http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=65607 Gentoo package]
 * [http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=15571 Arch package]