If you've ever wanted to play fan-made Tomb Raider levels but found the process of downloading, installing, and managing them frustrating, Tomb Launcher is for you.
The Tomb Raider community has been creating incredible custom levels for over two decades. It all started with the Tomb Raider Level Editor (TRLE) — originally shipped with Tomb Raider: Chronicles back in 2000 — and has since evolved into a vibrant ecosystem of engines and tools. Today, builders use a variety of platforms to craft their adventures:
- TRLE — The original Level Editor, still widely used
- TRNG — An enhanced scripting engine built on top of TRLE, adding powerful new capabilities
- TombEngine — A modern, open-source engine rewrite with support for new features and improved visuals
- TR1X / TR2X — Open-source reimplementations of the Tomb Raider 1 and 2 engines, enabling custom levels for the classic games
Talented builders have crafted thousands of adventures spanning ancient temples, sunken shipwrecks, snowy mountain fortresses, and places Lara Croft has never been before. Some of these levels rival the quality of the original games.
But here's the problem: finding these levels means browsing multiple websites, each with a different interface. Installing them usually involves downloading ZIP files, manually extracting them into the right folder, making sure the right version of the game engine is in place, and hoping everything works. If it doesn't? You're on your own.
Tomb Launcher changes that. It brings everything you need into one clean, modern interface. Search across multiple community sites, download with a single click, and start playing — Tomb Launcher handles the setup behind the scenes. It also keeps track of everything you've played, so you can pick up where you left off or revisit old favorites anytime.
Whether you're a seasoned raider who's been playing custom levels since the early 2000s or someone who just discovered the TRLE community, Tomb Launcher is designed to make your experience as smooth as possible.
 Welcome Dashboard |
 Game Search |
 Library – Grid View |
 Library – List View |
Finding custom levels used to mean browsing multiple websites with very different search experiences. Tomb Launcher brings them all together.
You can search for levels from within the app, pulling results simultaneously from:
- TRLE.net — The original and largest Tomb Raider Level Editor community site
- TRCustoms.org — A modern, community-driven platform with rich metadata
- AspideTR.com — An Italian community portal with a curated collection of levels
- Raiding the Globe — A Tomb Raider fan site that hosts a small number of levels not available anywhere else
Results from all sources appear side by side, so you can compare ratings, read descriptions, and pick the adventure that suits your mood — all without leaving the app.
Each download source displays a real-time response indicator, so you can see at a glance which sites are reachable and how quickly they're responding. If a request fails, Tomb Launcher retries automatically.
Found a level you want to play? Just click Download. Tomb Launcher takes care of the rest:
- Downloads the level archive from the source
- Extracts the files into a managed folder
- Sets up the level so it's ready to launch
No more hunting for the right folder, no wondering if you extracted things correctly. Just click, wait a few seconds, and play.
Every level you install lives in your personal library — a clean, organized view of your entire collection. At a glance, you can see:
- Which levels are installed
- When you last played each one
- How much time you've spent on each level
- Whether a level came from TRLE.net, TRCustoms, AspideTR, or Raiding the Globe
If you come across a link to a level page on the web, you can open it directly in Tomb Launcher — it will navigate straight to that game without any searching.
Think of it as your personal Tomb Raider dashboard.
Curious about your gaming habits? Tomb Launcher silently tracks your play sessions and turns them into interesting insights:
- Most played levels — See which adventures you kept coming back to
- Average session length — Are you a quick raider or a marathon explorer?
- Play patterns by day of the week — Discover which days you raid the most
- Disk space usage — See how much room your collection is taking up, broken down per level
All data stays local on your machine. Tomb Launcher doesn't phone home or share anything with anyone.
Each level's savegames are tracked and associated with the level itself. You can see your save files at a glance without digging through folders. Never lose progress again — and never accidentally overwrite a save from a different level.
For levels running on the TRNG engine, Tomb Launcher can also extract and display the in-game screenshot embedded in each savefile, so you can see exactly where you were when you last saved.
Playing Tomb Raider from the couch? Tomb Launcher integrates with AntiMicroX to bring gamepad support to classic Tomb Raider engines that don't natively support controllers. Configure your profiles once and Tomb Launcher will launch AntiMicroX automatically alongside the game.
The Gamepad Support Matrix gives you a quick overview of which engines support gamepads on your current platform, so you know what to expect before you start.
Tomb Launcher includes built-in tools to improve the out-of-the-box experience for classic game engines:
- Widescreen Patcher — Automatically patches a level to support modern 16:9 and ultrawide aspect ratios, replacing the original 4:3 display. Includes a backup/restore pipeline so you can always undo the patch.
- Borderless Window — Force any classic-engine game into borderless window mode on a per-game basis, without touching the game files.
A Platform Support Matrix is also available from the sidebar, showing at a glance which engines are supported on Windows and Linux.
Tomb Launcher integrates with Discord to show what you're playing in your activity status. When you launch a level, your friends can see the level name and the engine you're running — no setup required beyond having Discord open.
Can't decide what to play next? Tomb Launcher can pick a random level from your library for you. It's a great way to rediscover levels you installed months ago and forgot about.
Tomb Launcher is currently available in 7 languages: English, Italian, French, Spanish, German, Polish, and Czech. More languages are always welcome (see Contributing).
The app automatically detects your system language and switches accordingly. You can also change the language manually from the settings.
Tomb Launcher runs natively on both Windows and Linux. It's built with Avalonia UI, a modern cross-platform UI framework, so the experience is consistent regardless of your operating system.
On Linux, you can run it as an AppImage, install it via DEB/RPM, or build from source. On Windows, a traditional installer gets you up and running in seconds.
Experimental — this feature requires a local LLM backend and is disabled by default.
Stuck on a level that won't launch? Laura is Tomb Launcher's built-in AI assistant, designed to help you diagnose and fix common issues with custom levels and legacy game engines.
Opening the chat
On any game's detail page, click the Talk to Laura button. Laura automatically receives context about the game you're troubleshooting — engine type, last exit code, crash logs, stderr output, and your current savegame data — so you don't have to paste anything manually.
Enabling AI features
AI features are turned off by default. To enable them, open Settings → AI and choose a backend:
| Backend | Notes |
|---|---|
| Ollama | Run local LLMs with a single command. Recommended for most users. |
| LM Studio | A desktop app for running local models with a friendly UI. |
Configure the endpoint URL to match your backend (e.g. http://localhost:11434 for Ollama). Any model supported by the chosen backend can be used, though a reasoning-capable model will give better results.
Knowledge base
Laura's answers are grounded in a curated knowledge base of troubleshooting guides and known issues for Tomb Raider custom levels. The knowledge base is fetched automatically from tomblauncher.app and kept up to date in the background — no manual updates needed.
Known limitations
- Requires a running local LLM backend (Ollama or LM Studio). No cloud API keys are needed, and no data leaves your machine.
- Answer quality depends on the model you choose. Larger models generally perform better.
- The feature is experimental. Results may occasionally be incomplete or incorrect.
Head to the Releases page and download the latest version for your platform.
Download the .exe installer and run it. The setup wizard will guide you through the installation. Once installed, you'll find Tomb Launcher in your Start Menu.
Several package formats are available:
- AppImage — Download, make executable (
chmod +x), and run. No installation required. - DEB — For Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions. Install with
sudo dpkg -i tomb-launcher.deb. - RPM — For Fedora/openSUSE-based distributions. Install with
sudo rpm -i tomb-launcher.rpm.
You can also launch Tomb Launcher from the terminal with tomb-launcher.
Tomb Launcher is under active development. Here's what's planned for future releases:
- 🛠️ Automatic issue detection — Detect and fix common compatibility issues with legacy game engines on modern systems without manual intervention
- 🎨 dxWrapper integration (Windows only) — A graphics wrapper that improves compatibility with modern GPUs, solving visual glitches and rendering issues in classic engines
- ⚙️ Per-game settings — Customize resolution, keymaps, and other options for each individual level
- 🍎 macOS support — A native build for macOS, bringing Tomb Launcher to Apple Silicon and Intel Macs
Have a feature request? Feel free to open an issue and share your ideas.
If you're a developer, here's what's under the hood.
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| UI Framework | Avalonia UI |
| Runtime | .NET 10 |
| Architecture | MVVM with CommunityToolkit.Mvvm |
| Database | SQLite via Entity Framework Core |
| Charts | LiveCharts2 |
| Packaging | PupNet Deploy (Linux), InnoSetup (Windows) |
Prerequisites:
- .NET 10 SDK or later
Clone and build:
git clone https://github.com/ALDamico/TombLauncher.git
cd TombLauncher
dotnet build TombLauncher.slnxRun the application:
dotnet run --project src/TombLauncherRun the tests:
dotnet testThe solution follows a clean separation of concerns:
TombLauncher/
├── src/
│ ├── TombLauncher/ # Main application (UI, ViewModels, Services)
│ ├── TombLauncher.Ai/ # AI subsystem (Laura, RAG, Ollama/LM Studio backends)
│ ├── TombLauncher.Contracts/ # Shared interfaces, enums, and contracts
│ ├── TombLauncher.Controls/ # Reusable Avalonia UI controls
│ ├── TombLauncher.Core/ # Core logic (platform-agnostic, no UI dependencies)
│ ├── TombLauncher.Data/ # Database access and EF Core migrations
│ ├── TombLauncher.Gamepad/ # AntiMicroX gamepad integration
│ ├── TombLauncher.Integrations/ # Third-party integrations (Discord Rich Presence)
│ ├── TombLauncher.KnowledgeBase.Embedder/ # CLI tool to build the Laura knowledge base
│ ├── TombLauncher.Localization/ # Localization resources (i18n)
│ └── TombLauncher.Patchers/ # Game binary patching (widescreen, TRX native)
├── tests/
│ └── TombLauncher.Tests/ # Unit tests (xUnit)
└── deploy/ # Packaging configs (PupNet, InnoSetup)
The architecture keeps the core logic decoupled from the UI layer. TombLauncher.Core has no knowledge of Avalonia and can be tested in isolation. The UI layer follows the MVVM pattern, with ViewModels acting as the bridge between the views and the underlying services.
Tomb Launcher is open to external contributions! Whether you want to fix a bug, add a feature, or improve the codebase, pull requests are welcome.
If you'd like to translate Tomb Launcher into your language, that's a great place to start. The app currently supports English, Italian, French, Spanish, German, Polish, and Czech. English and Italian are maintained by hand; the other languages were generated with the help of an LLM and may contain inaccuracies — human-reviewed translations are very welcome. Adding a new language is straightforward and doesn't require deep knowledge of the codebase.
Feel free to open an issue to discuss your idea before diving in.
Q: Is Tomb Launcher affiliated with Core Design, Crystal Dynamics, or Eidos Interactive? No. Tomb Launcher is an independent, fan-made tool. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of the companies behind the Tomb Raider franchise.
Q: Does Tomb Launcher include any game files? No. Tomb Launcher is a management tool. It helps you download custom levels from community websites, but it does not distribute any copyrighted game assets.
Q: Where are my levels stored? Tomb Launcher keeps its data in a local application data folder on your machine. You can see the exact path in the settings.
Q: Can I use Tomb Launcher to manage the official Tomb Raider games? No. Tomb Launcher is designed specifically for custom levels built with the Tomb Raider Level Editor (TRLE) and its derivatives, including TRNG, TombEngine, TR1X, and TR2X.
At one point, some features were prototyped with the help of AI coding agents. This approach was quickly abandoned — writing code for a hobby project shouldn't feel like work, and delegating the actual implementation defeated the purpose. AI agents are now used exclusively as a sounding board for design discussions and as a code review tool. All code in this repository is written by a human developer.
Tomb Launcher is released under the MIT License.
Made with ❤️ for the Tomb Raider community.