I went full Linux a few months ago and haven't looked back. Steam has superb support for basically everything I could want to play -- in some cases I feel like Linux actually performs better than Windows on the same hardware. I really appreciate the huge investment Valve made into making Linux gaming work.
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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I'm in the process of swapping over now. Certainly some speed bumps after many years of Windows, but it's been kind of fun.
There are a few games I've hit that I can't play, but that why I'm dual booting for the near future. Linux as the daily driver and then back to windows when I have to.
Yeah a lot of games with really strong anti-piracy just don't work at all. I was shocked that Roblox was one of the few ones that just wouldn't make the jump, for example, Grapejuice notwithstanding.
Pro tip: You don’t have to deal with anti piracy if you pirate it.
Oh the beautiful irony
Except Roblox is currently working on providing unofficial support to Wine (and by extension Roblox). See the post from one of their employee: https://devforum.roblox.com/t/why-did-roblox-stop-supporting-linux-users (Need to be logged in)
I did the same, I've used Linux off and on since like 2010 but this year is the first time where everything I want to do just works. I have a windows drive available just in case but so far I haven't had to use it
Only thing so far is other game launchers, and VR. I'm still dual booting, especially for VR.
in some cases I feel like Linux actually performs better than Windows on the same hardware
What are those cases?
Im may not be the person asked but i can still give you 1 particularly impactful case: minecraft. Now Minecraft (java) has native linux support so this isn't valve's doing but i get a massive performance lift in minecraft. On my old pc on windows i had barely 50 fps. On Linux i had 80 that's 30 fps more with the exact same mods and settings
Windows actually can run the games faster if there's wasn't so many BS Microsoft ad services and antiviruses running in the background holding it back. I have a dual boot setup with a lite version of windows packaged by some Russian guy i don't trust and it runs things was faster than the normal MS windows.
I love that so many people rather use a sus version of windows than actual windows... on an unrelated note where would one aquire such a windows version? Asking for a friend
Just use chris titus' debloat tool, and don't bother with sus windows. Link: https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil
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...but trust Microsoft even less, no doubt. Russian guy might be fucking with you, but MS definitely is.
I believe directx 10 games run better on dxvk or whatever, to the point that people recommend it on Windows for some games (GTA IV)
@Llewellyn
File system operations are often faster. This is in part due to Windows doing more; it has a more complex and more flexible permissions system.
Spawning threads and processes is also normally faster. Linux apps thinks nothing of spawning lots of processes with abandon, then have them opening and closing files all over the place. If you move it straight over to a Windows machine it will tend to run very badly as a result.
In addition to the differences in permissions and kernel behavior you've pointed out, there's also a huge difference in the filesystems themselves.
Windows' default filesystem is NTFS. Linux's is EXT4.
EXT4 is significantly more modern (2008 vs 2001) and featureful (no fragmentation, handles small files much better, journaling, etc) than NTFS.
I really appreciate that I can buy first-party hardware from Valve and then install and run GoG games on it without any BS barriers or workarounds.
I got some GoG games on sale yesterday. Installed Heroic Games Launcher. Logged in. Installed the games. Clicked "add to Steam library" and boom, there they are in the Steam launcher alongside my other Steam games.
This is just such a breath of fresh air in a modern world consumed by proprietary bullshit. Valve is the anti-Nintendo.
I've always wondered how good proton is when the hardware is less standardized than a console/pc hybrid. Can you really just slap in any modern x86 CPU and Nvidia Card and just go? How's driver handling? It's been years since I've used a linux desktop environment, so I'd be coming to it with navigational/file-handling skills in terminal alone.
Should work out of the box, if you want a better experience I would definitely recommend an AMD gpu. Nvidia drivers are a huge mess on Linux since Nvidia actively refuses to support Linux
What? You just have to install the proprietary drivers, they work perfectly fine. I get that if you don't want any proprietary stuff NDIVIA is not the best experience (opensource drivers are not good because of lack of support) but I'd hardly call that a huge mess.
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They're an extra thing you have to install, which makes them less plug and play than AMD, but a huge mess? It's far from being that bad nowadays
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They did it! They finally surpassed the number of people with VR headsets!
The number of vr headsets is actually pretty high. Iirc, the Quest 2 alone has 20m sales
It's sold a ton but my guess is that the majority of people who bought it are using it as a standalone device
I have a decently high end pc(12700k/4070) and i use it standalone more than plugged in myself
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I really hope they will continue maintaining it and release new versions 🤞
The Steam Machine lives!
I took the steam deck on my last trip out of country to use on the flight.
There was a monitor, mouse and keyboard at my destination. I worked for several weeks and used the steam deck in desktop mode for me, and used remote desktop on it for work.
So I didn't have to bring my laptop anymore.
Awesome little device.
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I've been using Mint OS for gaming and it's been perfectly fine. I probably can't play some burning edge, this year games, but everything else has been fine. And I'm free from Windows garbageware.
As a noob to Linux and a very casual/ infrequent gamer, I have a question for you. I recently made the switch from Windows to Mint (dual boot so I have a fall back) and found that I can't play half of my steam games on it. I was surprised by the quantity since I have read a ton of comments referencing the high % of supported games. Much of my library consists of the indie genre, could this be the reason why I have lower playability? Or could there be some add-on that I am missing?
Most of Steam games rely on Proton for support. You need to enable it in Steam's settings, under Steam Play.
You can check how well a game runs on protondb. Some games may require additional steps to be playable (using a specific version of Proton, installing something), protondb reports most of the time include required information.
You need to enable it in Steam's settings, under Steam Play
Honestly, this needs to go away, there is never a scenario where Linux gamers only want to play some of their games. There should be instead some pop up window for non proton verified games instead of an obtuse setting.
Wow thank you so much for this - I had no idea! I am midway through a CPU change but as soon as I can get back in I will give this a try. Cheers!
NGL, I play games off of Steam, which is easy mode. You can run the Windows game off of Proton, which is Valve's program for Windows to Linux gaming. Did you try right clicking on the game in Library, going to Properties, then Compatibility tab, then choosing Proton. Almost always the newest version of Proton (8.0-3) will do the trick. Rarely the experimental version or an older version is better.
Adding "gamemoderun %command%" [without the speech marks] to the launch options usually improves performance.
There's a bit of learning curve, but you can do it, comrade.
Indie games actually usually work best through proton too
1.96% Linux compared to 1.84% Mac.
I mean, it is technically more yeah.
An upward trend is an upward trend
@yogthos I just got a Mac but I would love to have a laptop that has Linux and play triple AAA games.
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