how is linux for gamers?
i know that some games arent compitable and been to the site that shows which game is and which is not, and i also know most mods dont work on linux version which is a boomer (skyrim and rimworld mostly)?
so for gamers, why did you change to linux being a mostly a gamer?
im not a huge gamer but i don get along quite well with steam games and gog games.
i do miss warcraft classic and would love to play it again but i could never get it to work :(
If you just want to play the game, then gaming works surprisingly well on Linux. Very well.
I have the same game on Steam running on 2 separate computers, Fedora and Win 11. On the Fedora one, everything is just rock solid. Heck, even when I am rendering some very intensive 3D stuff on another workspace for work and use 50% of the RAM, the game is still running. On the Win 11 laptop, random issues happen where my cursor dissapears and the entire desktop freezes.
OTOH, if you need the gaming accessories to work properly then I'm not sure, could be a 50/50. For eg, if your laptop has some proprietary sound card, then Linux might not be able to take advantage of that. On Windows, these should work OOTB.
Because linux wasn't a problem for me gaming anymore
It's great if you're not into online multiplayer, and I was already running Linux for years as a daily driver before it 'got good.'
To clarify there are several very popular online games with anti-cheat that will never work BUT there are also a ton of other multiplayer games that do work great. You aren't going to be stuck in single-player only moving to Linux, you'll just miss out on a handful of popular competitive games.
Built.myself a new.gaming desktop and decided to dive into thw deep end by installing linux. Been working quite well, so far. Almost all the games i play do not use any anti-cheat, so i don't feel that i'm missing out on anything. The only game which does not work that well is Roadcraft. I'll just wait until it is patched to run better. I have lots of games in my backlog to play anyway.
I've only had problems with Stellaris mods, i guess they use some windows only libraries? Ah and Elite Dangerous mods. Games like Starbound work even better on Linux though
Can you elaborate as to which Elite Dangerous mods you are having issues with?
Are you able to get EDMC to work?
Hmm, that's weird. I've had linux-issues with Stellaris mods exactly once. They've been working pretty well otherwise
Most of them work fine, it's just a couple that crash the game when loading. But it's been a few years it might be fixed
As a gamer and a Linux user for more than 20 years this thread is so awesome.
I actually mostly stopped playing sometime in the late 2000s (dual booting was annoying) and restarted around 2017. We have come so far...
every single player game i want to play works well, sometimes better than windows. straight up.
the only issue you are gonna have nowadays is some studios blocking linux out from multiplayer games.
here's a comprehensive list of what works: https://areweanticheatyet.com/
I switched to Linux a few weeks ago after being a windows user. Windows is pretty much all I've known and grew up on it. I made the switch after my partner had been using it for a long time. We are both gamers and play things like palworld, sims 4, dark souls, etc. I've found that most games run fine even though they say that it's not Linux supported. My PC runs faster and responds faster than I'm used to than it was on windows.
most games run fine even though they say that it's not Linux supported
You might appreciate ProtonDB as a resource!
edit: ProtonDB
Pretty good. Some games have issues on Linux, especially some that don't have native controls for DualShock 4 controllers and not using Steam Input. Even the ones that do sometimes dont work without Steam Input on (which shows XBOX buttons).
I've only had actual crashes with Forza Horizon 4 and 5 on Linux. Everything else works fine.
Distro is Arch Linux (BTW).
As to why I swapped, I get better performance on Linux than on Windows.
You can change to generic button glyphs in the controller settings I believe
I've never played Rimworld, so I don't know the modding situation on it.
I attempted to mod Skyrim, and as far as I can tell, it's not that the mods don't work, it's that the primary mod manager Nexus is currently using (Vortex) is kind of a pain in the ass to set up on Linux. They are currently working on a new mod manager that should be natively compatible and should resolve that issue.
But for every other game I've ever modded on Linux it works exactly the same as it does on Windows.
Truthfully, outside of the handful of games that don't want me playing them because of my OS, 90% of my games work exactly the same, if not better. The remaining 10% might require a little tinkering to get running, or have some weird hiccup (having to run it in Proton instead of native because for some reason they're "different versions" thus menaing I can only play with friends on Windows in the Proton version), but I honestly couldn't be happier.
It feels like I'm playing on my computer again, not Microsoft's computer.
I had a little bit of success using steamtinkerlaunch to set up MO2 or vortex through steam!
Yee, vortex is inferior to mod manager 2 since long time tho. I guess MO2 world flawless on Linux :o
MO2 does work in Linux through proton, however afaik there's some jank with the extra tools you might need for Skyrim modding
Honestly, we've been eating pretty good fam. See https://www.protondb.com/ for game compatibility on Linux.
The only remaining pain points are (see the provided links for databases on what does and doesn't work):
VR on linux actually works just fine from my experience. I've never had a game not work. The big issue is just headset support. The HTC Vive and Valve Index are the only headsets with official drivers, since they were made by Valve. Standalone headsets, like the Quest for example, also work using ALVR. Anything else doesn't really work. There are open source drivers but they're not complete enough to be useable unless something majorly changed there since I last checked.
most mods dont work on linux
Mods work just fine, it's mod managers that sometimes don't work.
If mods don't have manual setup instructions, I install them on Windows, copy back to Linux the mod config file and happily play on Linux.
In my experience running the Windows version of the mod manager in the same prefix as the game also works.
If the game uses Unity and the mods are posted on Thunderstore, then Gale works perfectly.
I’m joining the linux cult. I’m switching my main gaming pc this week. I’m sick of seeing news of Microsoft aiding in atrocities and destroying game studios.
90% of games can be played on Linux, though some of them actually happened to require some sort of tweaks to get them working. That said, the experience my producer and I have had for about 5 years (August 20th I think will be 5 years) was nothing short of wondrous.
We'll continue to use LInux until we die.
I switched full time to Linux last year and primarily use my computer for gaming. It's been great. I play games through steam so YMMV with other systems. I haven't had any issues playing a variety of games such as Factorio (built for Linux), GTFO, Horizon: Forbidden West, PEAK, Ready or Not, Plate Up... It's been rare for me to have an issue. I remember an issue trying to play Plate Up via steam remote play.
I play PlateUp with a friend, we started on remote play while I wasnt sure if I liked the game. It had issues where if the window lost focus, I'd crash and the entire game session was lost. Anyway, I bought the game and have never had any issues since. Its super fun!
I uninstalled Windows few years ago even though I play the latest AAAs and indies games, including in VR, that's how good Linux for gamers.
You can check my post history but basically once you have your hardware well supported (basically the right drivers) and rely on a good system to evaluate compatibility (e.g. ProtonDB) then you won't get any surprise.
I suggest though that you try it yourself, e.g setup a Linux distribution of your chosing, a game you already own and... see if it feels good. If it does not, feel free to ask around and people will be happy to help if you provide a clear problem with your documented attempts to fix it, at least you can count on me.
So... finally why did I change? Well beside the "it actually works" it is also a lot more coherent with my own WorldView and my skillset. I'm a professional developer, WebXR prototypist to be more specific, so having an OS that does not put arbitrary (well, mostly about control for profit) limits on what I can or can not do is simply better. I can play for fun AND I can tinker with the same OS. I don't have to reboot if I just happen to have an idea that I want to try, I can just do it right here and there.
TL;DR: it works and it's better, giving me all the freedom I need to be creative and not feel constrained.
PS: also not giving more money to multibillionaires from Microsoft does feel nice.
Pretty good unless your game doesnt enable anticheat support for Linux like the battlefield games or fortnite for example. Performance per game is either on par or better than Windows. Game support can be checked on https://protondb.com/
Multiplayer fps games in general suck so no real loss.
Games mostly work. If they have a native Linux version they work (and more games have a native Linux version than you may expect). For Windows-only games, there's a compatibility layer called Proton (which is a gaming-focused fork of a more general compatibility layer called Wine) that lets you run Windows executables on Linux. IME most Windows games run flawlessly with Proton. You can check games on https://www.protondb.com/ to see how well they run on Proton.
Rimworld has a native Linux version, and I've not had any problems with Rimworld mods from Steam workshop on Linux. Never tried modding Skyrim so can't say on that.
The native version of rimworld has a bug where your FPS get nuked if you use the mouse to move the screen around, but there is a mod thay fixes that issue lol. I have had no other issues with rimworld on linux.
I've never experienced that tbh but I use WASD, occasionally mouse scrolling as in when the screen moves when your cursor is near the edge of the screen. Unless you mean that kind of mouse scrolling causes the bug, in which case it doesn't seem to happen for me. Glad there's a fix though
I dual boot Windows and EndeavourOS. I've got a range of games running great on Linux, performance does take a hit in most cases but as long as you have good hardware and aren't chasing ultimate FPS numbers, it is usually acceptable.
I wish I could make the full switch but music recording just isn't a good experience on Linux. High latency, lack of audio device configuration, and a limited range of instruments and effects (VST files), all means a Mac or Windows are the only options.
I have bazzite on a gaming only HTPC and it's a gazillion times easier to use than having windows boot into big picture mode. It's just so much better, I rarely have to keep a mouse around with me now for when I want/need to change system settings.
Because it's easier, it just works and it doesn't nag me.
I use Bazzite, it's been the best computing experience I had.
Ask anything you want.
have you tryed more distros other then bazzites? what would you recommend?
I tried my first linux distro: Mandriva
Every year I chose a distro and spent a month with it. Mandrake was a an eye opener. Then Ubuntu was the easiest, but it was not ready for me yet.
Linux is now ready for work & gaming, so I switched and tried these major distros and their downstream forks:
- Ubuntu
- Zorin
- POP OS
- Mint
- Tails
- Vanilla OS
- Manjaro
- Endeavour OS
- Crystal
- BlendOS
- SteamOS
- Fedora Workstation
- Nobara
- Fedora Silverblue
- Ublue:
- Aurora
- Bazzite
I recommend Bazzite for gamers and Aurora, for everyone else. They are as if not easier to use than a smartphone.
I use Aurora on my work laptop, and Bazzite on my gaming desktop. Both have been great with no issues.
The only reason I kept Windows on my PC was to play League with a friend occasionally. So at some point I removed Windows completely to free disk space and I told my friend he could install Dota 2 if he wants to keep playing with me :D
Pop!_OS was a lifesaver when I was learning Linux. You can just look up Ubuntu related questions for tech support, the graphics drivers are preconfigured, and the interface is easy to use.
I'm on CachyOS with KDE now, but I highly recommend Pop! for a first-timer not looking to tinker.
Also, with ProtonTricks you can still mod stuff. It's not perfect, but there's a version of Mod Organizer 2 for Linux ;P
The Venn diagram of games I want to play and games that won't run on Linux is two disjoined circles. My buddy really likes Helldivers, but that didn't play nice because of the invasive anti-cheat. That has been the only one.
Tell your buddy you can play Helldivers with him!
Helldivers 1 and 2 are platinum and gold rated on ProtonDB with recent reports on both confirming they work well.
The only game I have not been able to get work has been pubg. Everything else has been great and run fine once proton was up and running. I am using bazzite 41 as my current distro.
As far as I know, all Rimworld mods will work with Linux. You can either subscribe to them on the Steam Workshop (and enable them from the mod menu in-game) or download them manually and put them in the mods folder in the installation directory. I've played with modlists that had more than 100 mods in them and never had a Linux related issue.
To answer your other question, I dual booted Linux for a while, mainly because of privacy concerns, but switched to Linux full time around the time Windows 10 came out. The thing that gave me the final push was Windows 10 on my new laptop telling me it couldn't open a zipped folder and I would need to pay for that feature! There was also a backup copy of W10 on a second drive that I didn't know about which automatically overwrote Linux when I tried to install it.
thanks! i guess i can have one ssd just for windows, and one ssd for linux?
It was a while ago but I can confirm that all the Rimworld mods I tried on my steam deck worked flawlessly.
I built my wife a gaming PC. She's controller only. It's basically an xbox. Decided to try ubuntu to see if we could avoid paying for windows.
She's already 100% Hogwarts Legacy and played a dozen other games.
The only hangup was controller support for Slime Rancher on her 8bitduo. Had to use an xbox controller.
She knows nothing about linux, but she'll install and play games through Steam no problem.
Sorry your wife likes Harry Potter
Bazzite looks good for beginners, I like cachyos as a beginner but im a tinkerer, using gnome reminds me of cydia, I like cachyos because unlimited options, never feel like I can't install something, it's prob on the aur or whatever.
if cachyos pacman for cachyosrepo paru for aur At first I was confused on packages being missing
grab flatpak support and use flathub for some things
appimages are nice with gear lever (updates/menu)
can easily grab snapd support if you want to cover more areas
debtap to make debs usable on arch
I had always been turned away from linux because of the many formats deb, snap, etc. and being confused about support. But now I know I can get support for most things just installing whats needed from their website. (seems easiest with arch, least instructions)
BTW, while that made me comfortable when I swapped, knowing I can have whatever. I only needed to add flatpak support, and grab gearlever, everything else is unnecessary and available on the aur or as an appimage typically.
Its has been great:
Most of the games I already played worked on Linux.
Some you might have more fps.
Some less
Some Games (e.g, Gmod) use Proton instead of the Native build.
Some games (e.g, Tf2) you can only Use Native which uses DXVK.
For Gmod cause its very outdated(Chromium is outdated,OGL only,lower fps)
Had to quit Roblox and Fortnite to remove windows + those games sucked anyways and roblox just platform decision
I also Like how Directx 9 and 11 are Vulkan underneath the hood results in more fps.
And you can also Translate OGL calls into Vulkan via Zink. (Also via Nvidia it works)
Modding is also Similar how you do it on Windows(except maybe for some special windows only mods)
The only things I hate is VKD3D-PROTON sucks on Nvidia.
And that some games require launch options(which is fine for me,But not fine for people who want No tinkering).
Seems like most mods work fine on Linux, but I'm sure it depends on the game. For games with built-in mod managers like Baldur's Gate 3, it all just works. For games with manual mods that involve replacing or editing game files, they should generally work since you're running the same game files to begin with.
I haven't had any big compatibility problems recently, though again, I'm sure it depends on that game. Proton (built into Steam) works very very well nowadays.
Just a few years ago I found the experience frustrating. It seemed like everything had something wrong with it, even if it wasn't big. Lots of games had glitchy input, whether using a controller or keyboard/mouse. But somewhere down the line it totally flipped, and everything I play runs great now. I still have a bootable Windows 10 system, but I haven't actually booted it in...two years, maybe?
Every game works on my Steam Deck so far.
I always check ProtonDB before buying a game, but I might stop as everything without special anticheat works out of the box.
I just have to add that I’m not into multiplayer games so it might be why everything works easily.
I can play all of my games (well, the ones my 10 year old craptop can handle). The only issue I have is that vulkan shaders can take a minute to cache for some games.
It really depends, what you want to play. Old games run great for me, emulation is also good.
New games mostly work if they are not competetitive multiplayer.
Mods also mostly work for the games I play (FTL and Celeste e.g.), also mods through steam workshop like in Tabletop Simulator just work for me.
What didn't work are as mentioned some multiplayer games that are too harsh on anti cheat. SMITE e.g. works, but LoL doesn't.
As others mentioned, its best to have either a native version or an entry in ProtonDB with gold or platinum.
Gaming on Linux is flourishing. Achievable migration for most games. Biggest niche asterisk from my perspective is VR. Already a technical pain in the ass to get working reliably/efficiently on Windows. Throw Linux into the mix and expect to have a hell of a time configuring and troubleshooting.
good that i dont use vr yet :O
I have found WiVRn to be a delight to use on Linux with my Quest headset. Works with many other wireless headsets, too. Very little issues with it playing Windows VR games on Linux.
I've swapped to linux mostly due to aging hardware and low disposable income. I'm still running A PC that was lower MID a decade ago.
So far its a blast, nothing short of shotty anticheat gets in my way. ProtonDB is a great resource. Wine and the proton layers basically give you parity (and in some cases better performance than windows).
It works pretty well. I don't currently play any pc games with anti-cheat, so most games work well without having to do anything special outside of running them in Wine or some other application and there are some games that actually work noticeably better on Linux than Windows. Some games have required some additional setup but it's pretty rare for games to just not work at all. Something I find kind of funny though, is that most of the games I haven't been able to get working on Linux aren't working on Windows either.
I should also mention that I don't really use mods for games. I have used mods for the Linux version of SRB2 but the game is designed to be easily modable, so it makes sense that the mods would just work.
What games were you wanting to mod? Mod Organizer 2 works great on Linux. The setup is a bit more complex if you are using it with Steam games though.
skyrim and Rimworld mostly!
Skyrim works great with Mod Organizer 2. I've never played Rimworld, but it looks like there is a mod manager for it that runs on Linux natively.
I play Skyrim SE on Linux (Via Steam) and currently have about 30 mods on it, and it runs fine. I have run Oblivion Remastered (no mods) and have experienced occasional crashes, but it is at least playable.
Aside from some occasional glitches with SteamVR, it's been several years since I encountered a game which didn't run as good if not better on linux than on windows, and I don't think I've ever had a linux-specific issue with mods. My understanding is that anti-cheat software compatibility can still be an issue for some people, but I haven't run into that yet.
For me, switching to linux was a no-brainer; I prefer it in every way.
So far most things have worked fine.
It's a little annoying when steam wants to redo the vulkan compilation thing every time, but it seems to work fine if I skip that.
Modding I'm not sure how it'll work yet. Some stuff probably just works, if it's like "edit this file" or "replace that file" but I haven't tried yet.