this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2025
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This is a myth and has been for several years. The only games that do not work with linux are ones that have intentionally artificially disallowed the use of linux using kernel level anticheat (rootkit). Many of these games worked on linux until adding no-linux policies to their anticheat.
There is no technical incompatibility, only artificial policy choices that game companies have made
EDIT: you can downvote me, but I am still correct.
I have been trying to get the sims to work on my wife's Linux laptop. I can either get it to run at 3-4fps, or I can get it to run without the ability to save anything.
I have Steam deck and with every game I have tried on it so far working, I thought it would be the same with a laptop. Boy was I wrong.
Not sure which Sims you're referring to, but it looks like it should work: https://www.protondb.com/search?q=the+Sims+
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It looks like The Sims 4 is the only one that might need some tinkering. Stupid EA installers...
Though the only entry for the first Sims game that appears in the results is the "Legacy Collection," so if you're referring to like the original CD-ROM or something, it might be different.
Edit: just noticed that Sims 3 doesn't appear to have any entries on ProtonDB so I don't know... If any of them don't work is most likely because of EA bullshit
Sims 4, and I have tried every version of Proton, I have tried proton ge or whatever it is, I have tried every suggestion in the sims 4 protondb entry.
I have tried the suggestions in my thread about it. (I think there was one I still need to try, actually)
I have the fitgirl repack, I have tried via steam, I have tried the .exe from EA.
Bummer, sorry to hear that.
What distro of Linux did you install on the laptop? I've had no luck getting wine to work on Fedora, but my desktop is running Bazzite which is based on the steam deck OS and I'm games run great (sometimes with tweaking required).
Mint Cinnamon
Oh, Sims 4 fit girl pack Ive gotten to run consistently on Cinnamon. Feel free to ping me sometime if you try it and run into an issue, I may be able to get lucky with a pointer.
It's got a shit ton of expansions in it.
Edit: (Believe the last couple of times I did the installs through Lutris. I just picked the .exe and used the standard wine defaults for the install, then once it's done I believe it worked fine by adding a game and pointing it to the .exe for the play file. Then if you feel like it you can switch to proton to see if you get better performance, but a Mint install with a Pentium Processor with 4gb of ram (HP touchsmart) was able to run it, so most anything should be able to use the standard wine setup just fine.)
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I receive this error while running the setup.exe through lutris.
I also tried installing the version you can download through lutris which seems to only be a simsync app that never connects to anything.
Edit to add:
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Drop down, change Z to X and I usually pick program files (That should hopefully fix the permissions / "not enough space" errors)
Let me know what it says if it doesn't work
There was no option for X:, and there was no program files in Z:, however C:\program files appears to be installing, 45 minutes to completion.
Awesome, glad to hear it!
If it fails near the end, just run it again and it will go through usually, not sure why but I've had that happen with a couple installs on Lutris, but they usually work the second time
I went to bed while it installed, woke up and it finally completed. When I launch either via the icon within lutris or the script in the desktop it gives me a language selection dialog, the sims 4 icon appears in the tray, I select the language and that is all it does. I am out hiking with my dog, I will copy the script contents when I get home.
I ran the install and created an Inpress(PowerPoint for LibreOffice) document with all the screenshots this morning., then realized I can't upload it here. But hopefully the only error you had was trying to run it from the installer. If so, add the locally installed game in Lutris using the + and choosing the last option (locally installed game).
Then point it to your .exe file
Should be something like Games/Sims/drive_c/program files/the Sims 4/game/bin_le/ts4.exe
DM me an email address or somewhere I can drop the Screenshots if you would like them.
Edit: found a work around so you don't need to give me an email, apparently a site called file.io is run by the makers of lime wire, link to Impress file https://limewire.com/d/tnxkQ#Eq702rvgjW
Link to PowerPoint in case https://limewire.com/d/k1LhN#lJC6g3xCkt
Thanks, I run two d&d games today. I will try it when I get home.
I had some time before game and got it to load. But I am getting the cannot save error again, which prevents me from actually entering the game.
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I downloaded the file, but did not have a chance to open it yet.
Damn, I haven't seen that before, but I wonder if it's a permissions error? The save files for The Sims are located in a user documents folder within the install location we made. I assume you installed with the same user that's running the game so I'm not sure why it wouldn't have permissions to that folder. Could check the permissions on that save folder just in case. Was the installer a new one you downloaded when we started talking? If so that would have ruled out a corrupt installer too. I'll let you know if I think of anything else
I had previously downloaded it. But I also get this error when I am able to get the Steam version running.
Was that steam version downloaded through steam? Aka is it a different installer, or did you install in steam using the non-steam game option. (Just trying to verify it's a different installer, don't do the install again if it's 2 seperate install packs you installed from)
Steam installs in a different location than Lutris as well, so it shouldn't be the specific folder not having permissions. I assume Steam user Proton by default as well while Lutris likely defaulted to Wine.
Grr.. this is going to be something stupid and frustrating for you.
Edit: I checked my location (you will have to modify it to fit your install path, my username was mint on this machine, so keep that in mind) /home/mint/Games/sims/drive_c/users/mint Then I'd check that Documents folder (Where I am hoping the permissions got botched) and if those are right check the EA and The Sims 4 folders drilling down until you check the save folder in /home/mint/Games/sims/drive_c/users/mint/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4 (if you followed down the rabbit hole you are already there.
If that all looks good honestly I don't know why it would be acting so strange after using 2 separate installers.
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@theunknownmuncher @TheFeatureCreature
Ok let's give you some more software which still don't work with linux
- recordbox
- serato
- traktor
- engine dj
While recordbox 6 still worked in a kvm environment ... recordbox 7 crashes even in this environment.
You can to a certain degree avoid maybe serato or traktor and use "engine dj in a kvm" to prepare denon stuff but you always need recordbox for preparing usb sticks too as a dj.
Again, further proving my point. Rekordbox was arbitrarily designed to detect if it is being run with WINE to prevent use with linux. There is no technical incompatibility, only a policy choice, and you can get rekordbox to run with linux if you jump through hoops to defeat the WINE detection.
@theunknownmuncher i used a kvm not wine. My guess it requieres a certain level of HW Acceleration on the GPU Side to be runable ( the new AI Stuff in RB 7.x ).
Fun fact their support wanted me to install a amd gpu driver in my kvm ( i was laughing ) ... after telling them this doesn't make sense i got to some other support unit and they told me this isn't a supported environment and i should keep using RB 6 which basically is getting slower and slower with every release ...
PS: if you got a good link to get RB 7.x to run in WINE ( Proton ) and being able to hand in removable media and such i would not mind to take my time to set this up.
I never gave a reason why a game would/wouldn't run on Linux. I just said that games are a reason some people continue to use Windows.
It's a very small subset of games and most are live service microtransaction garbage not worth playing anyway. Many are spyware and viruses disguised as games, eg Valorant
The quality of those games is irrelevant. The user asked why people still use Windows and I gave a few examples. Simple as that.
You are arguing for the sake of it.
No, they're saying you are making a mountain of molehill and using it as justification. You are saying you are technically correct, the best kind of correct.
Now you two feel free to proceed, I have my popcorn.
Yeah but they are saying a reason why people don't move, not a justification of why he isn't.
That said I had to run a program that detected my computer specs for a job interview recently, and they flagged my machine because I had just booted Windows in Virtual box so I could hopefully pass their test. Instead I had to borrow my spouses laptop, run the test then went back to using my computer for everything else once the test was over.
That said, you should never take a job that requires you to use your own hardware... But desperate times...
You gave examples, but they were incorrect and invalid examples. As I already corrected you, you're parroting a myth because games do run on Linux. In fact, games run better and faster on linux than windows
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/06/games-run-faster-on-steamos-than-windows-11-ars-testing-finds/
I just wanted to chime in that there's far more reasons that your software doesn't work on Linux than just the developer saying no.
Basically, if your game or software has to interface with anything at the driver level, such as a keyboard or a headset configuration software, or anything that needs to access complete system access such as kernel level access or being able to see processes outside of the wine environment. It's going to be incompatible. This is by design for system security and is unlikely to change on official releases any time soon.
Additionally, if the game requires any type of integration into basically anything Microsoft, so be it the Microsoft account services, the authentication token services, multiplayer services, applications on the MS store etc, it's going to be a no go as they have yet to make a decent translation layer for those systems. Being said with the push for demand of Game Pass on PC, there are people working on those projects, but I haven't personally seen anything that had decent progress.
I have to hard disagree with the statement that it's a myth. Yes, many games will work with minor tinkering. However, We are still a long way from having something that is just a click play and it works style system and it's not usually from developer choices (outside of choosing not to make a Linux distributable)
Being said, it has gone a long way since I started using Linux back with Mint Maya. ProtonDB is an excellent resource to find known workarounds when it breaks, But you definitely should not go into any Linux system expecting it to "just work™"
Tell me you haven't tried Proton on Linux without telling me you haven't tried Proton on Linux.
I have multiple versions of proton installed currently. However, I've mostly given up on the glorious egg rolls because they seem to have caused more issues than they are worth. But if you have a specific version that you've found is easier to use and not as annoying, I'm up for suggestions.
Once my system loads, I'll tell you what versions I've tried and which ones I've had issues with.
lmk
Currently I have proton GE 9-7 as my default for steam(with the hope that it works), and when that fails I swap to proton 9-0-4 or experimental, but I have GE 10-10 and 10-4 installed but they currently aren't on any games as I haven't got any games to seem to want to run with them.
Then on lutris main I'm using a custom runner for one of my games because it needs to get around EAC since standard support is iffy, but I default to Wine 10 for it as they state proton shouldn't be used on non-steam. However I do have Lutris-GE-8-26 installed but it only ever worked right on one of the games.
Then for lutris on my distrobox Arch container(because FF XIV and Genshin launchers & controller support break for some reason otherwise) I use Wine-ge-8-26 which is a coinflip of if it lets me launch or crashes which makes me suspect that theres a race condition somewhere.
I haven't had good experiences with GE which is why I was hoping you might have some recommendations on a /stable/ version if you can call GE stable lol
Is it possible that old system files are your problem? I've never had problems with any version of GE or Lutris.
If it is a system file issue, I'm not sure what it would be because I've already tried nuking out the wine and proton versions and reinstalling them and that had zero luck. And I have similar issues between lutris and steam in terms of it as well, and those should use completely separate paths
You haven't told me any of the games you're trying to get to work.
If they have kernel anti-cheat, anti-Linux checking, etc then you're going to have bad luck and may want to consider a VM and GPU passthrough.
With the vast majority of games I have tried on Linux, things Just Work out of the box.
sorry yea, I was moreso curious if you had seen a version that tended to work better than others so I didn't include them!
Currently my main grievances is phasmaphobia which doesn't let you talk in lobby, the spirit box is broken and campground maps have massive artifacting.
The Isle, which can't play at night due to the sky being a rave
FF XIV which won't pass the main launcher outside of a distro box (which currently works but bugs me)
Death stranding which hard freezes around BT's
and Ark SE, which I personally hate the studio but, my friends still play so not having to wait 30+ minutes to enter a modded server would be /amazing/ lol
And star citizen which runs almost flawlessly on Windows with no lag, but crashes to a crawl on my main OS.
I have researched into these games quite extensively to try to find solutions and failed but if you have any ideas of what might be causing it, I'm all ears, or like before if you have any suggestions for versions that seem to work better I can default to those to maybe remove some troubleshooting time in the future.
Unfortunately I don't have a lot of overlap with you. (I do own Star Citizen from the initial kickstarter, but haven't tried it on Linux. There IS a Bottles setup for it that says it works well, but I have no experience to share.)
Phasmophobia I thought I played on Linux a bunch, but the game itself was just terribly buggy. Could be that was Linux, but I could swear my friends on Windows were having similar problems. (One reason we don't play this anymore.)
The rest I haven't tried, so can't help. It feels like either you game quite a bit more broadly than I do, or you got really unlucky. Here's a quick list of my recently played games with no hiccups - maybe the issue is indy titles tend to work better?
Vampire Survivors Schedule I Kingdoms Reborn PULSAR: Lost Colony Mindustry Star Trek: Resurgence Tales and Tactics Powerwash Simulator Motor Town The Headliners Ale & Tale Tavern Space Engineers ...
No problems. Didn't really have to think about anything with any of these.
Thank you for your assistance regardless. And yes, I have noticed indie games ironically do tend to function a lot better than AAA titles, I do play quite a few indie games as well.
I prefer simulation style games but it defo isn't a hard lock to the genre... I fell into the money trap that is humble bundle choice and every month I end up getting another 7 or 8 games which is why they add up fast, and I accumulate faster than I can play lol. I've never been very good at sticking to one game and playing it for an extended period of time.
Also, if you do end up playing Star Citizen again, definitely use the custom wine runner their LUG forum has, it's one of the few that let's it through EAC, But where it says to have 32 gigs of native ram, and 8 gigs of swap, definitely bump that up to like 15 gigs minimum of swap because it's rough and was bottlenecking still at 32 native with 10 gb of SWAP. it's still laggy as heck, but at least it will be somewhat playable.
anyway thanks again lol happy gaming!
Tl;dr parrotted talking points completely irrelevant since 2022
If you want to specifically use Microsoft software then you have to use Microsoft software? Wow, gee, what a perceptive point. You got me there lmao
I'm parroting old talking points because those talking points still exist. They existed in 2022. They existed in 2012 when I started, and they still exist today August 2025.
I said I agree that wines gotten better, but I'm sick and tired of people thinking that it's some sort of magical unicorn that can just resolve all the inner communication issues with Windows & Linux.
In the last 2 months alone I have had several games that have failed to launch completely. at least 10 games that have required me using a specific proton version. One game that required me to install a custom wine runner that's specifically configured for the game to function, a handful of software incompatibilities, The most annoying of which being the software that is supposed to make my headset compatible with the computer, which required me due to the fact it's not compatible with wine, to have to make my own audio profile to split the two mixes it has, and I'm currently working on a custom user interface for it to allow me to actually change the settings on the headset.
All of these examples are completely ignoring the reason that you provided of companies not wanting to support it. It's just the support doesn't exist in the current wine infrastructure. If we're including the games that are using kernel level AC or disabling the usage on Linux, that list becomes bigger.
Nope!
So in other words, 10 games that worked on Linux...
10 games that /launched/ on linux. there is a difference. It was for sure not 10 games that ran the same as if in a windows enviroment. For example one of those games in that critera you can't tab out of it or it hard crashes. (Safecracker if you were curious)
Another one of those games was "The Isle" which has a raving disco ball sky during the night time.
Then theres phas... which while it functions the mic support is iffy cant work in lobby and night vision video is broken
Of the popular titles, of what I tried was probably Phas, Death Stranding (random crashes when the BT's show), Sniper Elite 3 (overall laggy), Ark SE (not surprising but it has massive pre-game queueing if the server is modded so it takes 20-30 minutes to enter a modded server), Genshin Impact (controller issue on my main OS so i need to run it on my Arch distrobox) and FF XIV which launcher crashes unless I run it in a distrobox, and has weird audio issues.
LOL That's literally a classic window bug. Try borderless-windowed. You're welcome!
You should probably try this again, I can only assume that it has been a long time since you tried, because the protondb posting for the last 4+ months all say there are zero issues and it works perfectly. No clue why you'd need to use a specific version of proton because the posts include the latest version as well as a variety of others.
Lol I literally play this one on linux, and no, it works 100% without any issues or bugs.
this doesn't work sadly, I tried it already. it's not the act of tabbing out that causes it, it's the fact the window loses focus which is still done with borderless
I tried The isle 2 weeks ago but i guess I'll try giving it another shot
I don't know what to tell you here. The phas proton db page for it is filled with others having the issue. Mic works in game, spirit box requires text mode, and no communication in lobby. I have tried GE 9-20, experimental, latest and bleeding edge, the issue remained. I have been waiting for another major update to hopefully address it. (I forgot to add, i have tried the launch option solution as well)
edit: made the parts I was referencing more clear cause full chain doesn't show in notices.
gamescope should work.
I did try GameScope as well. It launched with it, however, I wasn't able to actually interact with it(nor was any of the text easily decipherable), but it was my first time trying to use GameScope as well, so I don't know if I just screwed something up with it, or if it wasn't compatible. Other games were able to run with the same setup using it, so I figured it just wasn't compatible.
Sounds like you didn't set the resolution on gamescope.
gamescope -w 1920 -h 1080 -W 1920 -H 1080 -f -- %command%I believe I tried that as well, but I'll try it again when I have the chance just in case.