Discussions and news about gaming on the GNU/Linux family of operating systems (including the Steam Deck). Potentially a $HOME away from home for disgruntled /r/linux_gaming denizens of the redditarian demesne.
This page can be subscribed to via RSS.
Original /r/linux_gaming pengwing by uoou.
No memes/shitposts/low-effort posts, please.
WWW:
Discord:
IRC:
Matrix:
Telegram:
Let's not become delusional now. Linux as an overall operating system feels much better to use but only because we care to become tech savvy and to troubleshoot. There are so many headaches that come with Linux which makes it unattractive to most people.
We are probably not most people.
Thank you for being the sane one.
I've recently stumbled upon a lot of people like whoever wrote the article, rampaging all over the place, going "Linux is more user-friendly than Windows", which is just an insane thing to say.
Linux is great, I love my Garuda to bits. But games are still optimised for Windows, we still need to use compatibility layers to get them running, and even though it's gotten MUCH easier these days, there's still a lot of titles that require tweaking/hacking. And some just refuse to run, period.
And then you have all the hardware compatibility issues that come with manufacturers just not supporting stuff. I can't turn my GPU's RGB off without Windows. I had to distro-hop to get the GPU drivers working correctly (it might be a "skill issue", but that just proves the point, I think). Even titles that are marked as Gold on ProtonDB sometimes crash or refuse to run randomly.
do you have nvidia?
i'm going to push back on this a bit. gaming on Linux today is nothing less than a miracle story thanks to Vulkan, Valve and Wine. i can play AAA titles on launch and it just works, and often better than on windows.
gaming on Linux isn't like it was 10 years ago. i'd say for most users, it'd be perfectly fine on an easy to use distro.
some things will not work, because of companies that still oppose Linux, like Epic and Nvidia, making using those products difficult. but that isn't Linux's fault, it's theirs.
do you have nvidia?
AMD. The distro I had did something weird where I was getting around 10-15 FPS on the Desktop until I added the community repos and installed drivers from there. Everything was great until I realised that Steam stopped working at all and Heroic Launcher wouldn't launch any games. After hopping over to Garuda, everything is fine-ish. Every now and again I launch something like Hogwarts Legacy and just need to reboot because nothing loads after the disclaimers. Still haven't figured out how to launch Mafia DE. Etc., etc.
i’m going to push back on this a bit (...) gaming on Linux isn’t like it was 10 years ago
I'm not arguing that, I myself said that it's great today with things like Proton.
But saying that it's "better than on Windows" is just flat out insanity.
but that isn’t Linux’s fault, it’s theirs.
Average Joe doesn't care who's fault it is, just that he can't play his favourite game without issues or terminal hacking.
If it is not the best, we will make it the best
They will know our peaceful ways, by force if necessary
I'm not a techy, or a sys admin, or anything.
I never wanted ot think about my OS. I just want to click things and go.
Linux did have headaches when I switched. Some from my lack of knowledge, some from shit in linux just being fuckywucky. but that was many years ago.
I wouldnt say I'm any smarter today, than i was back then.. but I will say Linux is so much better today than it was back then. Its reached the "it just works" stage, even for gaming, in everything I've tried with it. I am back to where I was on windows all those years ago, where I dont even think about my OS. I just click things and go.
I'm not so foolish to say its all sunshine and lollipops, especially with gaming, I'm sure there will always be a problem that crops up that needs a tweak/patch/config change to fix it.. but honestly? Windows had that shit too. which is why I'd say, from a usability aspect, Linux is pretty much at parity with windows at this point.
And thats for gaming and shit.
if you are just a regular PC user where entertainment/email/bills/etc are all done in the webbrowser? Fuck..Linux has been good and ready for that for over a decade. My grandparents PC has run linux for over 15 years now, without nary an issue.
Depends on what types of games you want to play. If you play a lot of competitive multiplayer games you're gonna have a bad time.
More people need to say that if you're going to want ring 0, I'm not going to give you my money.
...which is a completely valid point if you don't mind not playing those games. But if you do want to play them (for example because back when you got to love them, they didn't have this), you have yourself a dilemma.
Unless you want to play against a shitload of cheaters every day (ruining the fun whenever you have 30 minutes to wind down), your game should have a decent enough AC to detect when someone loads a cheat, including the lowest level. And guess who doesn't have a problem with 3rd party programs accessing ring 0.
So there you have it, you either stop playing all multiplayer games (not even just competitive ones!) entirely, or stick with Windows and all the awful things that come with it. I've been wanting to switch to Linux for the past 20 years, have been playing various multiplayer games over the past 2 decades, and it was always either the AC or just the sheer incompatibility (especially in the earlier years). There was even a time when people could happily cheat on Linux and get away with it in Counter-Strike: Source, because VAC simply didn't work on Linux.
So there you have it, you either stop playing all multiplayer games (not even just competitive ones!) entirely
There's plenty of multiplayer games that run just fine on linux. Including FPS games with perfectly functional anti cheat, it's just a select few which are unfortunately very popular that actively block linux. This is the part where you put your money where your mouth is and support the games that support the system you want to game on.
Linux is now the best gaming system.
I'll just share how my latest bout with gaming on Linux looked like, compared to Windows.
Install Anno 1800 on Windows:
Install Anno 1800 on Linux:
Next day:
Next day:
As much as I want to like it, this experience makes me feel that Linux is not fully ready for the masses yet.
Ubisoft isn't ready for the masses yet. Linux works just fine
Steam is supposed to handle installing the Ubisoft launcher during the first-time setup, it sounds like for whatever reason it failed to do that. It's very likely that verifying the game files would've fixed the issue easily, as it re-runs the first time setup. If that didn't work, deleting the compatibility files would probably have been the next step. I'd be very surprised if one of these didn't fix it.
The rest of the troubleshooting steps you took until the GPU stuff were unnecessary, as they were basically Windows troubleshooting steps, not Linux ones. It's completely expected to have to relearn how to troubleshoot stuff on a different OS and I'd really recommend asking in a Linux gaming community when you run into issues like that, until you've gotten the troubleshooting steps down.
Install Ubi launcher using method 'add installer as game, set compatibility layer, install and change executable for application executable' ... Install Lutris and install Ubi launcher through that
Wine/Proton games are run in their own individual "prefixes", which are essentially individual Windows instances. Both of these steps just installed Ubisoft launcher in a different instance. This would be a fine fix on Windows, but this is a different OS. The correct fix isn't necessarily harder either, just different.
Install Protontricks through Flatpack instead of system package, as the Flatpack version is slightly newer. Accept that this will result in a much larger installation due to not using system-provided libraries.
"much larger" is relative, software is pretty small in general, especially compared to any modern games. It's really not much space, and the flatpak runtimes will be reused for other flatpaks you install.
As much as I want to like it, this experience makes me feel that Linux is not fully ready for the masses yet.
I don't even entirely disagree, but also don't think the issues you faced completely demonstrate that. The Ubisoft installation issue was most likely a Steam client bug. First-time installations failing is 100% something that has happened on Windows, that's why verifying game files is often the first recommended step when troubleshooting a game. Most distros that get recommended now have features to easily install Nvidia drivers. My personal recommendation for gaming, Bazzite, has an Nvidia ISO, which would've had them set up from the beginning.
Do you mind sharing what distro you were using? It sounds like whatever it is has bad instructions for setting up Nvidia drivers, I'd like to avoid recommending it.
Edit: Just read this back and wanted to add that I wasn't trying to be rude or condescending at any point, or blaming you for the issues. I don't think gaming on Linux is difficult, but I think people do need to do a better job preparing new users when they recommend it. It isn't, and never will or even should be, the exact same as Windows. You have to learn the differences to be able to troubleshoot effectively, which just takes some time. Nobody knows how to troubleshoot correctly the first time they use Windows either.
I'm a bit strapped for time, so I won't be able to touch on everything you said. But here goes:
It's very likely that verifying the game files would've fixed the issue easily, as it re-runs the first time setup. If that didn't work, deleting the compatibility files would probably have been the next step. I'd be very surprised if one of these didn't fix it.
Of course I had to condense the experience a bit for readability and I don't remember every step, but validating the game files, doing a reinstall and trying different Proton versions were parts of my troubleshooting steps. They absolutely didn't work. I didn't try removing the compatibility files afaik, but switching versions should basically have had the same result as that did trigger an first-time setup each time. The Ubisoft installer wasn't part of that install for as far as I could see, or failed for each proton version without any visible signs.
The rest of the troubleshooting steps you took until the GPU stuff were unnecessary, as they were basically Windows troubleshooting steps, not Linux ones. It's completely expected to have to relearn how to troubleshoot stuff on a different OS and I'd really recommend asking in a Linux gaming community when you run into issues like that, until you've gotten the troubleshooting steps down.
Linux is far from new to me, but gaming is a whole different beast compared to what I usually do with it. The steps I took were the recommendations from Linux gaming communities I came across. Even though I already suspected that the whole 'install the Ubisoft installer through Steam' wouldn't work, if it is suggested, I'm not one to ignore that.
The problem here is mostly that the information offered on various locations differs and it is a question of trial and error to find out what works and what not, especially if you're still figuring out the gaming ecosystem.
"much larger" is relative, software is pretty small in general, especially compared to any modern games. It's really not much space, and the flatpak runtimes will be reused for other flatpaks you install.
From the top of my head it was 3 GB vs 160 MB. Which is quite the difference, especially if you're working with a relatively small SSD. Flatpack is a mixed blessing in that regard, it's not meant as criticism against Flatpack, it's just a trade-off of having sandboxed applications.
Do you mind sharing what distro you were using? It sounds like whatever it is has bad instructions for setting up Nvidia drivers, I'd like to avoid recommending it.
It was Linux Mint, on an Nvidia Prime-based laptop. Drivers were included by default, no installation required, but couldn't load due to not being signed. Hence the 'turned off Secure Boot'. I could have MOK'ed around and signed them, but at that point I simply couldn't be bothered anymore and just went for the simplest solution. Not sure it were official drivers or Nouveau.
Just read this back and wanted to add that I wasn't trying to be rude or condescending at any point, or blaming you for the issues.
No worries, even though I don't fully agree with you on everything, I appreciate your response and the fact you are trying to help out. I already saw somebody else mentioning Bazzite, so my next attempt will be to try that distribution.
I also noticed some 'Ubisoft is just shit' remarks, which might be true, but telling aspiring Linux gamers "well, you shouldn't play that part of your gaming library anyway" is simply off-putting and unhelpful. So thanks again for being constructive, that's what this community needs.
Huh... I just installed and played Anno 1800 on my Bazzite PC a month or two ago with no issue whatsoever. Played great.
Yeah, the secret here is Bazzite honestly. If a game will run on Linux, then it'll run with minimal setup on Bazzite.
I'm not just willing to never play another ubisoft game, I'm eager to. The games that don't work are typically exploitative investment vehicles moreso than games.
As a happy and satisfied Linux gamer I disagree.
Linux is the best OS overall, at least for me, but not the best for gaming for most people. Not yet.
Emulators Xenia (xbox 360 emulator) was not mentioned, because it is Windows only. There is no Xbox 360 emulator for Linux.
Game compatibility 80% are platinum or gold on ProtonDB https://www.protondb.com/
This is impressive, but you can't claim that a system that can't play up to 20% of game titles is better. Not to mention that some of the other titles might need some tinkering as well.
Conclusion Linux gaming is now a great and viable option for most people. But it still isn't better than Windows if you don't care about bloatware, security or privacy, and just use your machine exclusively for gaming.
Bonus: Linux is free, so you could maybe also get slightly better hardware by selecting it over Windows.
Well, there are games you can't play on current Windows. Like I couldn't get Fahrenheit work on it at all. On Linux it worked first try no modifications.
Probably not as many as 20% of games, though.
Until recently, the only Ps4 and Ps5 emulators were linux only.
This particular point cuts both ways and has for a while. Some emulators are Windows only, some (though likely fewer) are Linux only, and the vast majority are cross-platform
a system that can't play up to 20% of game titles is better
That's not how those ratings work.
The author lost me when they showed the terminal command to install Nvidia drivers on Debian. Yes, it's one sentence. That's still extremely daunting to the vast majority of computer users. It undermines the author's own thesis.
Linux is a better gaming OS for some (myself included) but there is still a small learning curve. It's nowhere near as bad as it's made out to be, but it's not nothing.
I'd have softened the title and focused on the ways Linux shines as a gaming OS: compatibility with older games (1990-2010 in my experience) that dont work on modern Windows, the ability to get more performace out of older hardware, consistent behavior, and a much more pleasant desktop experience.
Windows is a better choice for many people, but Linux is just as good for many and a better choice for some.
I agree with your comment....except for the part about a small learning curve. The learning curve is steep and difficult. You've got to be willing to jump in as an enthusiast and not a casual user. This is not the choice for the vast majority of normies (as you rightly conclude). The saving grace for Linux will be pre-installed systems with extremely polished UI's (like the Steam Deck).
I'm highly motivated to stay on Linux, but there's still a list of open issues for me (this is a year and a half after adoption....I'm just living with these limitations now, and there are a couple more I've added to my list of unsolvable problems since).
That's still a five year old stance. Just install bazzite and have a steam deck like experience on any PC without ever touching a terminal. It even does nvidia drivers out of the box for you. The curve is not steep at all. It's still there, but it's getting much easier very fast.
Until you need to install something that isnt on Flatpak. Then the flat learning curve suddenly becomes a vertical cliff :)
Agreed. There are tons of random papercuts that a lot of us just ignore or workaround without thinking about it.
I absolutely think Linux is the bees knees, but I always list a bunch of caveats whenever I recommend it. If you go in with modest expectations, you'll be pleasantly surprised, and that's much better than being disappointed.
On the one hand, there absolutely are some places where Linux has so dramatically improved it's insane. Apps like Lutris have really blown me away, it's incredible how some popular multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft which used to take me hours to get running back in high school can now practically run out of the box.
On the other hand, one of the major gpu manufacturer's still has terrible driver support. Systems like Proton are imperfect, and seem to be depressing interest in making native Linux clients. Even though some things work out of the box, you can just as easily spend months failing to get a modern title running. To argue it's the best gaming system is just laughable. In some respects, it hasn't progressed at all in the last decade. When it gets to a point where users can run literally any game out of the box without any additional hassle, then it will be the best gaming system. Until then, this is a gross exaggeration at best.
But it's not like Windows is necessarily better! I've spent far longer trying to get some games to work on there than I do on Linux. I've spent more time on random driver issues in Windows than I do on Linux. I'm quite technical, and Windows has been far more frustrating in the bad cases - especially when talking about older games.
When it gets to a point where users can run literally any game out of the box without any additional hassle, then it will be the best gaming system. Until then, this is a gross exaggeration at best.
No, that's ridiculous. It will be the best gaming system when it can run more games out of the box without any additional hassle than Windows can. I'm not sure we've reached that point, but we're damn close - since I switched to Linux full-time, there's been a handful of games that I've had trouble getting to work, but all of them were niche (or modded) games. All the big titles have worked flawlessly, and better than on Windows (since all the additional crap like launchers, background services etc. are contained to when the game is running).
I've spent more time on random driver issues in Windows than I do on Linux.
I'd honestly be interesting to hear why this is, because it's the exact opposite for me. I can count on my hands the number of times I've experienced driver issues on Windows. Now, I typically only use stable updates, so I generally avoid the dreaded "new update breaking driver compatibility" or "new driver incompatible with old version" issues, but compared to working with Nvidia drivers on Linux? literal night and day difference. even trying to stick to the stable 535 drivers on Ubuntu 22.04 has been a huge nightmare, and many of my favorite titles are still unplayable after weeks of tinkering.
On my rog ally X no man's sky runs far better on bazzite than windows. On windows, it's unplayable
It's quite easy. Just don't buy NVIDIA...Consoles aren't using NVIDIA either and with the tariffs they make even less sense
My experience with Linux is that a lot of games tend to run better than windows these days
Not everyone wants to play AAA stuff
Lots of people comment on this subject pointing out that some games don't run on Linux, and conclude that Linux is still behind Windows. This fails to recognize a distinct advantage that Linux has: More efficient use of hardware.
If your system doesn't have an especially fast SSD or lots of RAM, you might find that Linux gives a better gaming experience. It can often do more with less.
Edit to add: When I consider the fact that we're mostly talking about games designed and built just for Windows, I find this really damn impressive. And it just keeps getting better.
The counter argument is that some games don't run on Windows anymore either. All the software, all the time is the classic disingenuous argument that is always levied against Linux. It has to do something that not even windows does anymore. Then people ignore the fact that Linux sometimes offer greater compatibility with old games than windows itself.
If your system doesn't have an especially fast SSD or lots of RAM, you might find that Linux gives a better gaming experience. It can often do more with less.
This has been tested to death and, barring some exceptions, and barring Nvidia hardware, performance is more or less the same.
Then whomever tested it "to death" wasn't particularly comprehensive. I speak from more than a little personal experience.
Of course it won't help in every case, nor did I claim it would. That's not the point, and your contrarianism doesn't help anyone. Good day.
Well...it has the opportunity to be. More native integration and/or wine fixes for certain issues, and anti-cheat being allowed would definitely put it on track to be there.
Anti-cheat is allowed. There are a handful of anti-cheat systems that can't work on Linux, but IIRC, they are in the minority.
They are the minority, but have large player bases. Eliminating that barrier would mean that Linux devices (not just desktops) would be a one-shot win for most consumers.
personally, I'm really glad they are not writing kernel level rootkits disguised as games for Linux yet
Yep im waiting for windows kernel emulation or some other techniques to fool it to think it's on windows. Honestly I want to break client side cheating to the point they have no choice but to go back to server side cheat detection.
I just installed bazzite on a spare drive this week, trying to get off win11.
So far generally pretty impressed but hardware support is eh for some lesser known devices. For example my headset (Lucidsound LS50) detects the dongle but can't find drivers for the dedicated wireless channel and Bluetooth is patchy at best.
It's friction points like that that make migration from a lifetime of windows challenging.
Hopefully I'll figure out a solution that doesn't involve replacing the headset!
I want to move to Linux, I tried a few months ago with a few distros but ran into two issues. One, I'm a content creator so easy access and use of my digital tools is paramount.
Secondly I make extensive use of VR and the support for VR graphics drivers was not good. I heard many duct tape and bubble gum solutions to run virtual desktops but I can't mess around with my operating system every day when I need my machine to run and do what I need it to do without lots of little roadblocks.
I want to move to Linux but I do not think it's where it needs to be yet to take me off of Windows :(
Advocate for more Linux support with VR vendors. Remember that most of the time, what halts Linux development is not technical impossibility, but lack of political will. Companies refusing to spend money on development of compatibility for their hardware or intentionally blocking open source efforts is what halts the ecosystem. It's the same exact computer, if it works on Windows but not on Linux is because someone in a suit angrily said "no".
While I agree, the article mostly explains how Linux is almost caught up to Windows for gaming. For me, Linux > Windows, so if Linux can play enough games to keep me occupied, it's a better "gaming" system. This was true for me before Steam even came to Linux.
That said, this article completely ignores the fact that many of the most popular games rely on anti-cheat w/o Linux compatibility, so that right there kills Linux as a contender regardless of its many other merits.
I guess my point here is to please don't oversell Linux. You want someone's first impression to be positive, and if they run into game compatibility issues at the start, the experience will be far from positive. I would much rather see a section right at the top about how to check game compatibility, since that's what most people would want to check before looking at the various other things that are awesome about Linux.
Epic Games
...
We also don’t have to worry about download speeds, as they’re even better compared to the Windows client.
Is this true? If so, it's very surprising.
By the way, I always encountered risk control and couldn’t enter the game when playing Rogue Company on Windows. I don’t understand why the anti-cheat component considers me a threat, but after switching to Linux, I no longer faced this issue; it has been much smoother than on Windows.
Anecdotal. I doubt this is a Linux vs Windows thing, but more that they saw different OSes being used by the same account and flagged based on that.
Some of these emulators also have versions for Windows or macOS, but on Linux, we can directly download and install them from the store, without the need to worry about dependencies or version issues, making it a lot easier compared to Windows and macOS.
Good point. Package management is really nice on Linux. However, if you don't know what you're looking for, you're in a similar camp as on Windows.
Games on the Android platform can also run on Linux. In addition to virtualization ways like Windows and macOS, Linux can run without virtualization by using namespaces. If you’re interested, you can check out my previous article on Android Application on Linux without Virtualization.
Huh, neat!
Besides Steam, we can also use cross-platform tools like Flathub: Parsec to control Windows hosts directly on Linux. This means that even games that can’t be run through the aforementioned ways can still be played on Linux, completing the last piece of the puzzle.
So you'd need a second PC? That hardly seems convenient.
Actually, I also wanna introduce some advantages of the Linux graphical interface over Windows in terms of gaming experience. For example, GNOME’s Do Not Disturb botton allows me to toggle all notification alerts with a single click.
Yeah, this is certainly neat. I'm actually surprised Windows doesn't have something similar, but maybe each app handles notifications itself there?
Additionally, I have never encountered the issue on Linux where I can’t temporarily return to the desktop during fullscreen gaming, which is something I often face on Windows, where the taskbar pops up but returning to the desktop is impossible. On Linux, regardless of which game I’m playing, whether in fullscreen mode or borderless window mode, I can freely switch between windows.
On the flipside, I've had a lot of really odd problems switching applications on Linux. I don't know if it happens on Windows too since I haven't used Windows in a decade or so, but I'm guessing the Linux experience here is worse.
I also sometimes have games completely lock up Linux, which I'm guessing is probably the Wayland compositor crashing. That used to happen to me on Windows, but again, this is from >10 years ago, so I'm not sure if it applies today.
Not really. Linux is all about openness and choice, but going with Linux as the only OS will significantly limit what you can play. As a modder, I'm against EAC and and the like as much as the next person here, but ideally I want to be able to play anything that looks appealing, not have to skip games for no reason other than their anti-cheat solutions not being compatible with Linux. I agree that we shouldn't support those practices, but it's one thing to willingly boycott something and another is to not have that agency at all.
Drivers
Linux has no problem with them. Unlike only one manufacturer, that breaks all drivers without holy blessing since late Maxwell era.
Hah. Nope.
Man, I would look like much less of a hater if people didn't keep making demonstrably incorrect claims.
No, installing Nvidia drivers wasn't a one line affair for me last time I tried (which was just this year, btw), and even after I got things set up it was a toss-up whether features would work, work but perform horribly or not be available at all. That includes HDR, VRR, DLSS, DLSS transformer model, DLSS frame gen and Ray Reconstruction. On Windows some of the newer versions of those can be a hassle to set up in old games and necessitate forcing in dlls using third party applications, but at least official support works reliably.
Some distros do come with Nvidia drivers prepackaged and that's fine, but all the feature issues remain. If you want a gaming-first distro there still isn't semi-decent game mode support for SteamOS or Bazzite.
Intel GPU support is slightly better but a bit short of hassle-free. You probably don't have an Intel GPU anyway, so we can let that one pass.
HDR support in applications is still sub par. That includes gaming and is true regardless of GPU brand, as far as I can tell.
Anticheat support is still poor and it still prevents many very popular games from running. At this point nobody has anything close to a solution to this, even conceptually. Yes, some anticheat providers have some degree of Linux support, but there is nothing close to kernel-level anticheat from Windows. Yes, this is a genuine problem.
Performance is... trading blows, I'd say. In some games you can get much better frame pacing and better overall performance. In others, particularly when using newer functionality it can go the exact opposite way. This is very situational. If you want cutting edge stuff and paid to get the hardware to run it, Linux is probably not for you. Salvaging weaker or aging hardware for older games is a better use case.
Gaming on Linux is much better than it was and it likely will keep getting better. That's good news in itself, getting hyperbolic just triggers flamewars and negativity on something that should be a pretty clean net positive. It really doesn't help.
there is nothing close to kernel-level anticheat from Windows
Long may this continue. Fuck kernel level ~~anticheat~~ malware, and fuck the developers that use it.