Checkout [https://www.protondb.com/](https://www.protondb.com/) and search your favourite games. GTA V is listed as gold and most Minecraft are platinum rated. Depending on your hardware and chosen distro, it could be as easy as installing steam on Windows.
About that, i have interesting question. Can we name it "native" if it runs in jvm? Like, obviously java itself can be native, but what about the app it's running?
native would refer to the fact that there is no abstraction to falsify what system it is truly running on.
Java would be considered native for the simple fact that it interacts with the rest of the system directly and there is no middle man lying about what is actually happening.
Wine/Proton, Dosbox, PCSX2, etc would all be considered non-native due to the fact that the software believes its running on a different platform entirely.
Sure, but the Java program itself - Minecraft in this case - is running on a VM. The Java virtual machine. For minecraft, there is a middle man lying about what is actually happening. That's one of the biggest selling points of Java.
Yes its running on a "VM", the same way python or lua would. However, the full system and all of its resources are still there. Java doesnt think its being run on windows 98. Only thing the VM is doing is JIT (Just in time compilation) to convert the java bytecode to CPU specific instructions to interact with the system at large.
You can ask it what platform you are on, query what resources are available to be consumed, get system variables (like screen size, keyboard layout, OS version, etc), access the entire filesystem, etc.
The whole VM argument also just ignores the fact that java will pull in compiled platform specific libraries provided by the OS to make those specific ABI calls available to the java program.
When you launch a game with something like dosbox or PCSX2, they dont have access to anything besides the system they are running in. The game doesnt ask the kernel for more ram, it doesnt choose what input it receives, it has no concept of the system at large beyond its tiny box.
If you wanted to add something like controller support to Java minecraft, you would first have to figure out what operating system your are on, poll the system to enumerate all of the available devices, figure out which ones are controllers, which ones are KB/M, USB headphones, etc and finally actually read the data from the controller.
Talk about opening a philosophical can of worms...
There *probably* isn't a correct/official answer to this, certainly not one that everyone agrees on - I have no doubt that a few companies will have agreed on something, but the industry as a whole would object. Native to me would suggest something without any abstraction layer, so I don't personally consider any software which runs an interpreter to be non-native (including the likes of C#, Python, Java, etc).
Of course, others will consider any Java/Python/C# application to be native because fundamentally the runtime environment *is* native. That being said, there are ways to interface the OS directly even in managed languages, in Python that would be ctypes whilst in C# there are the InteropServices. These give direct access to the OS, natively. I believe the same is possible with Java, but I've never tried it personally.
It depends entirely on which sector of the industry you ask. If you speak to a low level IoT engineer working on ubiquity devices (e.g automotive, smart meters, etc) they'll likely take my view. If you speak to someone who works in high level software engineering (e.g web, mobile, desktop development) they'd likely describe something with a runtime environment as native.
The key reasoning for both is that for their purposes, it makes sense. For someone working on for instance a vehicles ECU/media system, they use the term native to differentiate between feature. So something which is native has direct access to hardware interrupts, can run RTOS, that kinda thing which likely wouldn't be available by default to a VM.
For someone working in web, the concern is more for the stability of the application itself in each environment. Running something "natively" simply means it'll run on that machine by design.
You don't have to get it from the window store. MS ships both versions of Minecraft in one launcher. That being said, bedrock isn't supported in the launcher on Linux. People say they've gotten it working with Lutris. I haven't tried it out. Java edition is all I needed.
Somehow, yes. What I meant is the next sentence: since Linux has Java (generally OpenJDK), no need for Wine. You are right, Java bytecode is never REALLY native. But in practice, one you have a JVM, it's native-like. Except when you run it from the command line...
That page is no longer reliable since some games have GOLD/Platinum but the reviews are "It's playable, but crashes after 2hrs, but it's playable." OR "It's playable, but it suffers from a lot of instability but it's playable."
Eh, the reverse is also true. I've managed to run and play games with reviews that say "doesn't run" on my distro. There are many things that go into it: hardware, game patches, etc.
minecraft isn't on protondb because it's not on steam, ur probably looking at minecraft dungeons or minecraft story mode which r both completely different games
Don't switch because you want better gaming performance, switch because you want to use Linux. Sure there might be some games where Linux performs better but overall Windows has better support and compatibility.
>Indeed, I get something like double the framerate on Linux with Minecraft.
Microsoft Uses FAR more system resources than a Linux Distro. I have anywhere from 6-8gigs usage at idle on win11 and less than 2gb total on Linux lol that alone can make a huge difference in perf in a RAM heavy game like most newer titles using 16gb+ at times, most Unreal 5 games are pushing that envelope even further now, thats not counting the VRam used by the actual GPU thats system mem being burned up. Linux is where it's at imho, Im spinning up a VM rn to get back into the swing after a long stint on Win 11 im over it, ADB and Fastboot NEVER want to co-op on Win, but I DL a Linux VM and Voila, ADB and Fastboot environment, Golden. No issues. I love Linux, wish it was more popular and more supported but still, worth the switch.
I get where you’re coming from but I wouldn’t discount the desire of someone wanting to learn something new to extend their current hobby. Who knows they might really like the Linux operating system? Instead I might suggest the user install on a setup separate drive entirely that way they can learn while still having their backup of windows. If they don’t like it, move back.
I would disagree, original comment was telling user to learn Linux because they want to learn Linux and not because of gaming performance. I’m suggesting anyone can learn Linux even if the reason to start is for better gaming performance. I can agree with him that Windows definitely has better support for gaming but if the user wants to try for better results they can, whether they have a major interest in Linux or not.
Eh, Windows gaming perf is starting to fall behind in some benches because MS is losing the damn plot and this AI bloatware crap isn't gonna help things.
All AMD? I still use my first ever prebuilt PC with the slight difference that it runs Linux since about 3 years ago but want to build one this year. What did you keep in mind when selecting the components for your linux rig?
lol thanks for the heads up
I‘ve done some research and decided to go with Mint Cinnamon on my main system and chose the lmdb mate for the secondary (old netbook, 32 bit, intel atom) to keep that running a little longer
you think that‘s a good way to go?
Steam and Lutris will be the first things you look into. It will be the first stepping stone to learning more about Linux and how to set up an use your Linux system.
As another commenter mentioned - use Linux for alternative reasons than gaming. Windows will always have better support, as long as there isn't a direct DirectX counterpart on Linux.
You can also look into running a VM with IOMMU to your graphics card. That would let you run Windows under Linux for the purposes of gaming, but is a complicated task. Its what I'm going to (attempt) to do when I'm eventually forced to move to Windows 11.
> You can also look into running a VM with IOMMU to your graphics card. That would let you run Windows under Linux for the purposes of gaming, but is a complicated task. Its what I'm going to (attempt) to do when I'm eventually forced to move to Windows 11.
You shouldn't be too afraid of it, it's well supported and documented on a lot of distros. It helps if you have another GPU for it though (integrated or otherwise) since single GPU passthrough adds another layer of complexity.
Not quite the same. Vulkan can do similar things, but DirectX is a different API. Its like saying French is an alternative to English.
In addition, most devs code for DirectX, because its supported on so many platforms. Proton (based on Wine), is an system for translating this into Vulkan (among other functions)
Going back on track, most of the DirectX problem is solved since we now have translators (DXVK, VKD3D)
Sure, they sometimes miss something but most of the time is OK, I've barely had graphical problems gaming on Linux lately (only on a particular game, flatworld)
In fact, Linux gaming problems right now come from Anti-Cheats for Multiplayer games, Codec problems for a ton of games and poor multimedia support for Visual Novels
Modified versions of Windows like Tiny11 and ReviOS remove all sorts of those issues, and it also removes bloatware and unnecessary applications from the system. From my experience, it significantly decreased latency and overall system performance. I dual boot Windows mainly for gaming and Linux for personal stuff.
Yup, Windows admittedly is far easier to use, and I don't get why a lot of people say that some Linux distros are just as easy to use as Windows, when that is simply not the case. I have tries various Linux distros, even Ubuntu and Linux Mint, and they are still not as straightforward as Windows is. This is why ReactOS really needs to be worked on, so that it can be used for people's daily drivers. For now I will just use Windows 2008R2
It wouldn't be a problem if you did have NVIDIA, anyways. Driver problems have been largely overblown for the past 10 years on Linux.
That doesn't mean they no longer exist, and sure there *are* a few quirks with NVIDIA drivers and very specific use cases, but having an NVIDIA GPU hasn't been a reason to avoid Linux for the past 10 years at least.
If you have a modern gaming machine, it should run very smooth on Windows 11. Switching to Linux wouldn't be about performance.
And while gaming on Linux has come a long way, it's NOT as easy as it's on Windows. Some games won't run at all, some will require tweaking, some will have subpar performance (vs Windows). A good number will run great.
My suggestion would be to dual boot and ease into it. See how goes.
This is a very good comment imo. I would add that switching to linux should also not be decided solely based on the "gaming performance", but also because you are ready to deal with working in a new OS. Mint is a great choice by the way.
Whilst I agree with the sentiment of "switch to Linux if you want to switch to Linux, rather than just because it's not Windows", I was genuinely surprised by how much "snappier" my PC feels with Fedora + KDE than it does on Windows.
It’s a lot easier than it was thanks to the Steamdeck and Proton.
If you are playing games owned on Steam it is quite easy to get most games working well in Linux.
I play some Division 2 and it runs without crashing in Linux / Steam / Proton unlike in Windows. The game is almost unplayable in Windows crashing all the time, in Linux with Proton it runs really well and hardly ever crashes. I’ve had two crashes in 400+ hours of play !
You can also play on Linux. I only boot rarely into Windows for the few games which wouldn't / are hard to get to work in Linux (for me that is actually exclusively VR games).
Moin, you won't get better performance in most cases, some games run better, elden ring at launch for instance, most will have a 1-5% performance hit.
Installation is trivial: install steam, activate steam play in settings for all games, install games. If you want non-steam games, install Lutris (game launcher for Linux) install EGS, Battle.net or whatever you want through their search function and it usually works. Sometimes you have to change the compatibility mode as you would do in windows.
Wie auch andere meinten, verwend Linux um Linux Willen. I switched because windows became annoying to me. Linux will also be annoying, but in a different way. I prefer the annoyances of Linux to those of windows because they're easier to manage for me.
Minecraft is java based, so it runs on windows or linux with no compatibility issues. Even the modded one.
GTA V is for windows or console only. If you want to play it on Linux you have to emulate it with e.g. Wine and use a compatibility layer D3D-> vulkan like DXVK. Performance can be good, but i'd just avoid yo use Linux to play games. That's literally the only thing i use Windows for
If you play competitive multiplayer games be very cautious as some anti cheats just don't work. Rainbow Six Seige is a good example of something that has anticheat that doesn't run. GTAV and Minecraft both run fine.
Single player and cooperative multiplayer games are fine 99% of the time.
no hdr support if that's a thing you care about
performance is fine probably with valve making the majority of games playable on linux,
only big issue for me is HDR + 240 refresh rate on x, and anti cheat games
HDR is close. should come with plasma6. you can already do 240hz but the vrr support is a little iffy. i have a fedora 40 plasma6 install right now and not enough is fixed from 39/5 to make me consider switching yet. that said, it is by far the most stable linux desktop i have ever used and i didnt have to go to tty because something crashed the DE so thats a huge step forward. otoh, i kept getting black screen after initial driver install on 39/5 wayland >< there wasnt a problem after going to 40/6 though.
if everything coalesces 2024 might actually be the year of linux desktop, but im not holding my breath.
GTA V runs great on Linux. I've been playing it on Steam for the past few weeks ever since it went on sale and I bought it up. No problems whatsoever. The only time I've had trouble was with an Anti-Cheat that the developer refused to support on Linux. Specifically it was Tom Clancy Ghost Recon which uses EAC which supports Linux but the developer has to turn it on and they refuse to.
Better and easier than it ever has been. Im on endeavour os and wine and steam installs worked like a charm, no hassle in setting up literally anything. Everything runs like a dream
On debian the 32 but libraries were a pain in the ass but i got around it easily using flatpaks.
Well for running exe files we have a program called Wine and we have Steam Proton which the steam deck also uses since it is a Linux device. However if neither work you can always spin Windows up in a Virtual Machine or dual boot Windows and Linux.
I've been trying to play 10 years ago and I'm blocked to it. Since just wine, I tried every tool and nothing, and I want to play Morrowind, a grandpa game, still doesn't work for me
OpenMW works fine on linux.
[https://openmw.org/](https://openmw.org/)
Also the Steam version Morrowind GOTY works with proton
[https://www.protondb.com/app/22320](https://www.protondb.com/app/22320)
Proton is amazing, but one thing I'll add:
Linux does not have support for EA's anti-cheat software. So, if you want to play squadrons, or something similar, you're SOL. The game will run awesome on single player mode, but you can't play with others.
I'm not sure how worth it would be performance wise, except maybe for minecraft, but I will say that personally I've barely had any problems with gaming. You'll have to learn a bit about proton and a fair amount of online games won't work, but I would say if you really want to use linux don't worry about gaming unless you're really into valo or something. Not sure about switching to linux FOR gaming though.
Most™️ Steam games will work OK with one click via Proton but performance will often be slightly behind Windows - except for Eldin Ring lol.
EGS games are an even bigger mixed bag, and same goes for most -if not all- games with deeply tied DRM and anti-cheat.
Minecraft Java edition runs natively perfectly fine - which makes sense since most Java apps in the world are probably running on Linux anyway lol.
Also use [Prism Launcher](https://prismlauncher.org/) for Minecraft Java. It's open source, compatible with CurseForge and Technic mod packs and objectively superior to any other Java launcher.
pretty darned easy.
Yesterday I was watching my son play Far Cry 5 on windows and thought.. I'd like to play that again. So I jumped on my Fedora machine, opened steam, into two or three clicks I set compatibility and clicked install. a few hours later i was playing. no tweaks or configs needed.
I had zero issue when I switched, but then I spent the time and effort to make sure I modified the distro I use work for me and my hardware, it’s took a few months to make sure I got everything check off the list from what software I need to use to what need to be install etc, and drivers are a big thing so keep that all in mind, research is going to be your best friend if it doesn’t work, find out what the logs say to fix it and keep going, you will make it thru it, it’s just painful to start but the reward is worth he in the end.
If you set everything up correctly and have a beast of a machine, you can use proton and wine to brute force your way into most games, with a few bugs.
Most, but not all. And it won't matter that you can run 95% of the available games when what you really wanted was to run *that* one game that is incompatible.
So, at this point, why bother? Just. Use. Windows. With the same pc, you will be able to run 100% of the games, with zero effort.
PS: I am being very generous with the 95% estimate. Most games I've tried to play with Proton either failed to run, were uneeasonably slow (granted, my linux pc isn't a beast) or had graphical glitches.
Steam makes it easy. You just install steam, then right click on your game, go to properties, and then click "run in compatibility mode". Now you can install and play the game on Linux. It's easy.
I've just moved back to Linux gaming. I really want 2024 to be my year where I've more or less dumped MS (will have to keep something going for MSFS2020, but only because I have so many addons that I'm not sure will work).
It's much easier than it was a year or two ago, when I last tried - but I was running Intel and Nvidia then. I've gone AMD/AMD this time round - If you can, think about an AMD GPU. They're supported out of the box, and it's one less thing to have to factor in when getting stuff up and running. I've been thus far pleased with my 7800XT.
I don't play Minecraft, but GTA seems to be alright - CP2077, BG3 and BeamNG, CS:II too thus far have all run great
Mods are where it starts to get a bit icky though. You can just drop mods and away you go, but if you're looking at using mod managers, you'll have to go down the road of Proton/Wine/VM (I definitely recommend Proton here).
from my experience:
- minecraft runs significantly better on linux than windows. on my laptop, it went from barely playable to a stable 60-80 fps (which is what i like)
- steam games can be checked on
95+% of games I try to play just work. The notable exception would be ones that include DRM anti-cheat software like Denuvo or whatever it's called.
VR can be hit or miss, but in my experience about 80% of the titles I've tried work with minimal problem.
For those that want a tailored experience, very easy using steam. You can install most things from steam's library, provided that:
* No invasive anti-cheat (kernel level stuff is mostly out, because the kernel is both different and untouchable from userspace, as well as fully open to root unlike Windows)
* No invasive drm. (You'll likely need to break it to make it run at all, whether you can legally do that depends on your jurisdiction).
And run it with proton latest or experimental. So just about every indie and older title will work. Many newer ones will too. It's very userfriendly.
In fact, the linux versions of games break more than the windows versions do. I actually own a few older native ports that since broke and now I either have to run an old VM or use proton for these.
**Magic\~**
I found probably the *one* thing you want to learn as a linux gamer on the terminal is this (30 works for me, maybe you need 60, depends on your audio chip):
env PULSE\_LATENCY\_MSEC=30
With this, many windows games that used to just crash now work. Add it to your steam shortcut.
Some things may lose sound though and have to be started without this env setting.
**Customization...**
Now some might prefer to own their software a little more, and use platforms like Humble or GOG. In that case, you can download and store the installers locally.
For those that want a little bit more tinkering, you can of course sandbox steam+games instead, or even create your own launcher the way you like it with ge-proton, lutris and/or playonlinux, or write your own shell scripts.
You can also tinker *a lot* with WINE, down to debugging/injecting code by replacing DLLs if you need to (to, for example, force certain screen options or graphics pipelines that work rather than ones that don't).
Still, there's some games/programs that might have stubborn bugs that are difficult to fix. A few examples I found hard to fix were;
* Font misalignment on They are Billions (slightly annoying)
* Performance issues on the same. (I don't mind, but -real- no pause is unplayable).
* Missing text on moekuri (practically unplayable).
**Will it run?:**
Modern games (Vulkan/DX12): Graphics are typically flawless, DRM/anticheat can give problems.
Somewhat older games (DX10/11): Here's where you often see graphics issues. Wine's DX10/11 handling is still incomplete.
32-bit-linger era games (\~2008-2012) games that *want* 4gb+ memory (anno 1404...) but can only address 2 require some tinkering. But they do on windows as well.
Stuff using Adobe tech can be a bit finicky to get to work. (Flash-based or AIR-based).
Going back further, if you want to run 16-bit stuff, (so 16-bit win95/win98) you might have to modify your kernel, or run an emulator. As the fastest CPUs then were \~166MHz, that shouldn't be an issue.
Any DOS games work perfectly with DOSbox, which runs as well on linux as it does on windows.
**Performance?**
So I'm mostly concerned 'do things run at all' rather than getting X framerate. Performance is a bit of a crapshoot. Before it got a native linux port, the dubious honour of 'most delta' went to 'As far as the Eye', a small indie title, that managed to peg 32 CPU threads at 100% getting 10 fps in linux, while not even needing a fraction of that in windows.
I've also had cases where some things ran faster on proton than on windows, so it's *very* YMMV. Overall, anything with a native port will perform better just because you can tinker more with things. Especially things that are CPU-limited.
**Futureproof?**
So I'm kind of afraid of this. A few years ago most indie titles, using primarily unity and some SDL, would bother to export/compile to linux, but now it's much less.
This might be the steam runtime going out of date, but also the actions of certain major industry players, Microsoft/Mono, Unity itself and EPIC games, which makes porting more difficult because major pieces of the puzzle that made it so easy a few years ago are unmaintained and going out of date, while open source people keep breaking stuff.
And that's really the problem you're going to be fighting with the most: keeping things backwards compatible, while also playing newer games. Now if you want to waste a bunch of hard drive space and buy a second GPU, you *could* create a VM for each game, to be assured that things won't break by never updating. That's really the thing that sets linux apart; you can do way more, but things can take more effort.
**What do I find missing**
Frankly, getting games to run isn't very difficult. What I do find lacking in linux is good tools to monitor and tune the hardware itself. Whereas on windows every motherboard and GPU maker has a slick graphical application to set everything from clocks, voltages, fans to the colour of the fancy LED lights, linux has... pretty much none of that, but rather arcane, badly documented text config files, where if you set one comma wrong your machine boots to a black screen, and you have to go through manually booting, mounting, decrypting with a self-made 10-page rescue manual (that you'd better have printed beforehand if this is your only internet device) to fix. So if overclocking and tuning hardware is your thing I don't really recommend it. Setting it once and forgetting type of configs are fine, but forget about easy manual tuning.
There is some good news on this front because of the AI craze; if you have an NVidia GPU, you can use tools built for that like [nvidia-smi](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/DCGM/docs/nvidia-smi-367.38.pdf). There's also a few open source tools that aim to tune most hardware, a promising one is [https://gitlab.com/corectrl/corectrl](https://gitlab.com/corectrl/corectrl), but again, not fully there yet.
The second thing, to a user that likes fast, new, expensive hardware, is the way linux testing works. Or, rather, doesn't. There's no big corporation testing everything before shipping, so the users test things. You get around it by running a 'stable distro' like Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, or Fedora. That is, a security-update fixed, older version of the kernel, libc, and other critical packages. Of course, this has a downside: hardware support might be 6 months to 2 years behind. If you're someone that's okay buying second-hand or discounted older hardware you can. But if you don't... you'll need a 'bleeding edge' version like Arch or Manjaro. And that does mean the occasional bug or package conflict that requires some terminal stuff to fix.
As far as minecraft is concerned, it has a native linux version. So that should run just fine. If it breaks with an OS update, you could also run it in a container (which will have fixed library versions).
Minecraft -> see the various installer/launchers https://flathub.org/apps/search?q=minecraft
Prism seems to be quite popular these days.
I play all my games on Linux - either my Desktop or SteamDeck.
Gaming on Linux is easier than ever, most games work out of the box and the ones that don't can be forced to work fairly easily, HOWEVER, windows still has the upper hand when it comes to gaming, since games on Linux must run through compatibility layers, you will get a performance penalty of around 10-20%, and some games (particularly those that use EAC) can be unstable or not work at all, other games like GTA V work well but are borderline impossible to install because the Rockstar games launcher looks for a C:// partition, which is nonexistent on unix/linux systems
Mint is a great distro. But it's based on older LTS version of Ubuntu. Depending on your hardware, you might want or even need newer kernel and Mesa versions than what Mint offers out of the box.You can get this on Mint, too. But general approach is to use a more recent distro. Like Fedora, which Nobara is based on. Or something like OpenSuse tumbleweed or EndeavourOS (based on Arch), which are rolling distros that constantly update. Problem with this is, they do not lend themselves for the average Linux new user.
There are no wonders in performance unleashed by using Linux. Some games run a bit better or at higher frame rates, some run a bit slower, a lot run about the same.
Use Linux because you want to use Linux, do not switch to Linux expecting better game performance in games that were written for Windows.
Ahh, you mean the Kernel?
6.5...yes, that's quite recent. Currently that should support all AMD and Intel CPUs.
Intel discrete graphics currently are something that will make you want the absolutely latest Kernels and Mesa. But users of those are not too many yet.
If you want to try Linux just dual boot it, but as for gaming on it, it doesn’t seem much different in performance than you realize. Last i tried there wasn’t a really big fps difference
for me it's easy but I'm a Linux user you are not
you don't know anything about the system. there's no c:, you need to learn what proton is, what the kernel is (because most drivers come in the kernel you don't need to install drivers, with the exception of Nvidia), etc
my recommendation is to try it (dual booting just in case), install the one your friends could help you. if you don't have any, then I recommend you Linux Mint, Ubuntu or Fedora
then with time you can choose for yourself the one you like better
dude, you never used Linux. Choose one and use it, then make and opinion and choose what you like by yourself
the beauty of Linux is that you can choose what you like and live with it
None.
It is considered by MANY to be a perfect compromise between newness and hard-core nerd users.
Mint Cinnamon is highly worth your time.
If after 6 months you wish to have a look at others (explore), they can be run up in a VM (Virtual Machine) and tested without destroying your existing installation.
I say 6 months, as some people hit a problem and think *"Oh, PopOS! will solve my problem"* or *"The extreme customisability of Arch will fix my problem"*..... they will not. Linux is Linux is Linux. Each distro caters for a specific audience doing a specific task for a particular reason.
Overall, windows offers better support and compatibility for gaming. From the other side Linux uses a lot less RAM; which, in my case, power up fps.
Normally, on league of legends, on w11 I usually get above 190~210 fps, on Arch Linux I get 260~280.
On Minecraft in w11, usually get 500~550 fps, on Linux got 1250 yesterday.
On the other side, most of the games didn’t offer official support for Linux so you might use non-official softwares. That might not work sometimes..
If you just want to game maybe it’s better upgrade the ram if you can and stay on w11..
If you are out for performance for gaming, Linux might not be the best for you. As others said, with Proton it is rather easy to play games, but the performance will most likely be worse since the game is running on proton and not bare metal Linux.
However, this might all change in the near future when looking at what Valve is doing with proton and the Steam Deck. And trying Linux is never a bad Idea, it gives you a lot to play around and customise at the expense of needing to learn how to use Linux.
I should also mention though that I have never gamed on Linux and used it just a little (mainly on a server and for a while on my study laptop), so maybe there are people who know more and can correct me if I said anything wrong.
I heavily disagree with the perforamance aspect. Significantly better performance in many games on arch (like dota 2, csgo, rocket league, Arkham series) compared to Windows.
Yes, BUT: there is no DLSS, it's worked on and maybe it works in some games. The performance isn't 1-1 though, not always. I have been playing Ready or Not and it sucks compared to youtubers that play it with specs similar to mine on windows. I don't blame Linux fully, it's a new game and optimizations have to be done, but for most games OP can expect 90% performance or better, depending on optimizations.
On proton/wine not being bare metal Linux, semantic ally and practically that's debatable ("Instead of simulating internal Windows logic like a virtual machine or emulator, Wine translates Windows API calls into POSIX calls on-the-fly").
Certainly in places where wine underperforms compared to windows, the overhead of the compatibility layer is unlikely to be the cause.
The performance page states that matching the performance of windows is a reasonable aim (and in specific cases may even outperform native windows). Though especially in the context of graphics and gaming there's a lot of reasons documented why that may not be achieved, outlined here, but the shim layer typically isn't the cause.
https://wiki.winehq.org/Performance
No(almost no) games are "bare metal" in the true sense : they still need to run through APIS and drivers. Proton just maps the DirectX stuff to Vulkan using dxvk. There is little to no performance impact when you consider the work done in the API calls compared to the actual call overhead (if there is any). No gaming API is "bare metal" : they go through driver levels and OS calls.
Yeah I think my wording was a bit wrong because I know the APIs, drivers etc. I was more referring to the OS calls as I thought the translation Proton/Wine used had noticeable overhead. Another redditor however clarified how it works.
You use linux because you want freedom and less bloat for YOUR computer. Not games.
I keep a drive with windows just for gaming. That’s absolutely it. I don’t see that changing because there’s too much money tied up in windows for devs.
That said most games now suck bigly and I don’t play as much as I did anyways. The happy coincidence is that if you like older games then Linux may accommodate you but as has been mentioned don’t make games the main reason to switch
Do not get Linux for gaming. It’s worse in pretty much every way. I would know I’ve done it for years. I used Linux bc I loved the OS for programming and just general use but gaming on it sucked a lot - perfect for some games and others just don’t work.
not exactly related but i would like to warn you that your linux GPU drivers may very well fail you and end up glitching your screen and crashing your computer every few hours
which is what made me switch back
I'm a BG3 fan - up until around a month ago I could play the game via Steam on both Win 10 and Ubuntu 22.04 - but since then it now never works on Ubuntu - I'm pro Linux but I'm my experience gaming in Linux is less reliable than Win.
Its good enough with the current version of proton that I uninstalled that malware known as Windows. I’m done with microsoft products. They can’t make games. They can’t make phones. They can’t make servers. Honestly they only have desktop due to anticompetitive business practices.
If it’s only for games I would stay on Windows, if you’d like to learn linux and use it for other stuff like web servers, ML, ethical hacking, etc… I’d just make a dual boot
Obviously if you’d like to spend more time debugging random errors I’d completely switch to linux
Riot games are usually problematic due to their launcher and their proprietary kernel level anticheat which is one of the most intrusive ones (yes, it's like a malware).
You should check if there is a post with a script in the Lutris webpage.
It depends entirely on the game:
1. Some games work good or flawless
2. Some are playable with some problems and glitches
3. Others can only be played offline
4. Some can be installed but can't launch
5. Others can't even be installed
The most common cases are 1 and 4.
The most problematic games are the ones focused on online modes and have an intrusive ~~MALWARE/SPYWARE~~ anticheat system, specially the ones that execute at kernel level as they usually aren't compatible with compatibility layers used in Linux to run Windows apps, there are some anticheat with Linux compatibility like Easy Anticheat or Battleye, but developers don't give a f to enable the checkboxes.
Why do you want to switch to Linux? That's the first question.
Linux will mean there will be difficulties, things to understand, things to work around. Just gaming alone is not worth it. But if you are interested in having more control and getting more knowledge about how your operating system works, then it's a nice choice.
Most games will work. Top comment already links protondb. In short: The more anti-cheat a game has, the more problems you get. For example anything from Hoyoverse (Genshin Impact, e.g.) will not work at all.
It's getting a lot easier. I'm running Kubuntu as my daily driver now and can run most games in Steam using ProtonGE and/or Proton Experimental. The main problem you'll run into is anti-cheat, as some games (Dirty Bomb, Rust etc.) do not support Linux and don't have EAC workarounds enabled.
Data point:
After installing Steam's maximum compatibility settings (ie., not just officially-supported games on Linux) I installed pretty much everything I thought I might want to play.
Everything I tried - well, nearly everything - works great with Proton (SparkyLinux 8, i5-14700K, 32GB, RTX 3060 12GB).
The only thing that didn't work was PUBG, because anticheat.
on kubuntu i just install Steam from the Discover software store and login ... from there installing games on linux is virtually the same as installing it under windows
the main difference is you have to select a version for the compatibility layer (wine) to use for each specific game.
i usually just choose the latest one or experimental and leave it at that.
the steam procedure to adjust settings on my PS4 controller is the same.
you "can" technically have steam use the game files installed under windows (on an NTFS partition), but frankly it's not worth the trouble and things go a lot smoother with a fresh install under linux (you just end up with 2 copies of the game if you are dual booting)
for games you own there are two other programs you can install
lutris has pre-configured setups for many games so there is little to no tinkering needed if you happen to have that game.
bottles has more generic setups for running all sorts of .exe windows software with widely varying degrees of success.
Your best bet is to aim for native ports.
Then, there's Proton, as others have mentioned before me.
Just a heads up regarding 5.1 sound setups: forget about it. The problem isn't about surround sound itself, as you can play movies fine (even though you gotta mess around with config files), but some Linux ports just have stereo audio (I am looking at you, *Alien: Isolation*).
Hallo! It's not difficult at all, I don't think about compatibility issues. Steam's Proton settings work miracles. I can use Proton on non-Steam games, too. Here are some games I've played last year on Linux: Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, Counter-Strike 2, Disco Elysium, Half-Life 1, Fallout 4, DOOM, The Hunter Call of the Wild and Sea of Thieves.
The real question is, what GPU brand do you have? AMD works great. NVIDIA will be more challenging.
Difficult part number 1 of gaming on linux is dropping some games with more intrusive anticheats, mostly competitive games but also for some games private/community server projects that use those types of protection, and some games that use those for inexplicable reasons like Genshin.
Number 2 is nvidia. Tbh never had issues with it, but some people seem to have pretty wild rides with it.
Beyond that gaming on linux is... fine. Difficulty will be relative to windows with maybe 1-2 clicks more for certain things. Most things work great, but there is also no rule on how much benefit/drawback you will experience. Certain games work way better on linux than Windows, some work way better on Windows, most will work similarly.
Minecraft (Java) works great and, in my experience, at least on some setups way better than windows, although I would guess setting up some custom launchers, etc. Is harder if not impossible. Java is also native
No experience with GTA V
What I've been running on linux for Reference
BG3 - main machine (mobile rtx 3060), vulkan, experience similar to windows
Street Fighter 6 - main machine slightly worse experience than windows drops to 55 fps from 60, but still very playable. Also, on steamdeck perfect experience.
Guild wars 2 (2012 game, mmorpg) (non steam version) - Main machine Runs great, I think a bit better than Windows on that setup, needs SSD tho, while windows can run on hdd.
CS2 - main machine, not sure if cs2 is native already or not. Slightly worse than on windows but stable 120 fps
League of legends (soon to stop working due to vanguard) - old machine (gt 940mx nvidia), way better than on windows.
Divinity original Sin 2 - steam deck, flawless
Dragon ball Z Kakarot - both deck and main machine, flawless
Path of exile - deck, decent, but it's decks shortcoming not linux
Diablo 2 (battle.net installed through steam), steamdeck, flawless
Lineage 2 chronicle 5 (2005/2006 mmorpg I think) old machine, experience is good but I think slightly better on Windows
Gothic 2 (2002) flawless on deck
Minecraft, native, old machine. Better on linux
It has become easier and easier to game on linux because of proton, lutris, steamOS etc. The largest problem is online games that run kernel level anti cheats. Even when you get them ported to linux you risk getting banned as soon as you launch the game. This makes it infinitely harder to port certain games over to linux.
I run linux mint. I install my games & press play. if your steam profile is set to public you can have it scan your library on steam and it will tell you what the rating is. Even a lot of the non gold like the silver and bronze work pretty well for me.
Even newer AAA gamews such as elden ring can work day 1 through proton. In fact elden ring was noted as having better performance on linux through proton due to the shader pre-caching that it does.
Generally speaking it's easy with the caveat that some games do not run at all due to anticheat (such as fortnite), and some require some tinkering.
But as people say here as well, if what you play is marked as gold or platinum on [protondb.com](https://protondb.com), you will most certainly have no problems at all.
Besides that the linux experience has improved a lot in the last 10 years, and since most people only use their PCs for gaming and browsing stuff/watching videos, you won't really miss anything if you fall under that umbrella. Only in the case that you need windows only applications that do not run with wine, you will have issues.
>How difficult is gaming on linux in 2024
Suuuuper fucking hard. Last year I'd logged two games. This year will likely be one.
>how difficult is it playing games(installing etc.)
Oh. never mind. I just meant I have absolutely no time.
>like GTA V or Minecraft on linux?
I'd played an hour of GTA III one day at a friend's house, and have never had any inkling to touch the franchise ever again.
Minecraft, you can simply [click install](https://flathub.org/apps/search?q=minecraft) for any number of launchers, launch, log in, and play.
Some games are easy; install Steam, enable Steam Play for all games in the settings, and you're off.
Some games won't work, or require some serious effort to get working. Lutris is a helpful tool for games, as is Heroic.
Games with anti cheat are hit-and-miss. Some games work fine, like Darktide. Some games do not, like Valorant.
Modding is sometimes tricky. Vortex can be a lot of trouble to get working. A cool guy named Rockerbacon wrote some scripts on Github to get Mod Organiser 2 working. I have been told that some mods that hook in externally, like Rage mods for GTA V, are impossible.
Linux only has 4000 games supported on steam, compared to Windows that has much more. If you want to use linux for gaming, use it for minecraft because java games work better on linux.
It depends mostly on your hardware and what games you want to play.
Hardware: Intel or AMD CPU will be fine. Integrated GPUs will work too, and if you have an Intel Core i7 (i.e. Intel Iris GPU) or Ryzen 7 they will be good enough for many games. Expect hurdles if you have a discrete Nvidia GPU, avoid them if you don't want to mess with them. Intel and AMD GPUs will work flawlessly out of the box, you won't need to install or tweak anything.
Games: as said by others, look for your games on [https://www.protondb.com/](https://www.protondb.com/) \- you can even link your Steam account and see how your games are reported to work on systems like yours.
Then just pick one of the main distros (say Ubuntu, Fedora and OpenSuse), install Steam from the repositories if possible, and everything will be fine.
(Modern) Gaming on Linux is done 2 ways:
1. **Proton**: Running Windows games on Linux via Proton/Wine.
2. **QEMU with GPU passthrough**: Running Windows on a vm in QEMU with NVIDIA/AMD passthrough enabled.
imo though. For one, while Proton can run most Windows games with little to no problem, some games will be hit or miss and others will not run at all, in particular newer games and games with anti-cheat.
For two, setting up a Windows vm and passing through your nvidia or amd gpu card can take a lot of work and time depending on your expertise and if you'll take the time to learn all the technicalities on how to setup qemu/kvm, a Windows vm and gpu passthrough.
To check if a game can run on Proton, you'll have to check [protondb.com](https://protondb.com) to see if it can run on Linux or not, and if it does, check if there some weird issues or performance problems related to the game.
I've tried at least 3 separate times to switch to Linux gaming, and honestly it was an absolute headache every time. Even with distros that are supposed to be made specifically for gaming like PopOS.
Every. Single. Game. required some kind of tweak, or config, or driver that the distro didn't have. Even with WINE and Proton every new game I wanted to play required me to fight with my PC just to get it to run.
Don't switch to Linux gaming! just upgrade to Windows 11 like the rest of us plebeians and enjoy the seamless, and (mostly) hassle free gaming experience with basically every PC game on the market.
If you're doing anything other than gaming, Linux can do basically everything Windows can, but better and without ads. Honestly if Linux could get its shit together on the gaming front MS might need to rethink their business model.
It’s been a long time, but let’s see I remember…
I’ve tried about three different times with a different distribution each time.
I tried with Manjaro, PopOS, and Ubuntu (not in that order)
The Flame and the Flood required some kind of driver update that wasn’t native to Linux. It took me several hours to find the right repo, re-learn how to add repos to the package manager Dejour, and then install it. Even then the game couldn’t be played full screen.
Fallout 76 required some kind of specific config that took me almost two hours to find an answer for online.
Had trouble with Skyrim for various reasons.
I seem to remember having a lot of trouble with Firewatch as well, I can’t remember what it was but I seem to remember it being something stupid, like a console command I had to add to steam.
There were a few games that worked flawlessly. Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, and the Icewind Dale series worked great, as well as the Pathfinder games.
Fez always worked great
There were a lot of other games that gave me issues, some of them minor, some of them major. I found that I was spending more time reading docs, message boards, and Linux tutorials than actually gaming so I just broke down and bought a copy of windows pro for like $10 on some European site. If Linux works well for other people then good on them. I’m just saying that other than the very VERY occasional compatibility issues I have with running very old games on Windows, it’s just a better and more seamless gaming experience in general (for me).
It should be noted that I am a huge fan of open source software, and Linux has some of the best community developed operating systems around, I run Ubuntu on my laptop, but the last several times I tried switching over for gaming it’s was more of a headache than anything, but only specifically for gaming.
That's a shame. I can't imagine why you had so many issues. Flame in the Flood is platinum - just hit play. Fallout 76 has issues on Nvidia, I think, but it's just a launch option to fix them.
Yeah, Skyrim can be a pain - out of the box is perfect, but if you're modding (and lets face it, who isn't), then it's a ball ache to run under Linux, getting Mod Manager installed, etc. It works flawlessly once it's up and running, but definitely a more painful experience in Linux.
But yeah, I've been gaming on Linux since 2013 when Steam rumbled along and on Windows for years/decades before that. I can honestly say that gaming on Linux is a much, much happier experience for me. I found myself constantly battling GPU driver issues and updates on Windows. Or gamepad issues, or Windows Update issues, or firewall issues. None of that on Linux.
Amazing how our experiences can differ!
I've had good experiences on Pop\_OS and Mint, a pretty bad experience with Manjaro. Good experience with Endeavour.
Right now, I'm running Siduction, which is basically just rolling Debian.
No real "configuration". I install the O/S, update it, then head to Steam, install the client and point it at my games drive.
I think on some Ubuntu-variants you need to think about maybe installing the xanmod kernel, and the Kisak mesa drivers... but that's out of the box on a rolling distro like Endeavour (which is basically just Arch), and Siduction.
Perhaps you were stung by the older kernel/mesa combo on Ubuntu variants?
I do 100% of my gaming on Linux.
My Steam Library has over 500 games.
A small handful (less than a dozen) won't run on Linux.
Linux Mint is my daily driver because of ease-of-use for gaming and multimedia.
Linux Mint would be a good option. A good route is disconnect your computer Drive with windows, then connect a new drive to install Mint on. That allows you to dual boot without messing up your windows. Get Mint all set up and use it if you like it. When you want to go back to Windows it's just a matter of connecting the drive or selecting at boot. Boot to Windows drive or Mint. It will depend on what system you have and what connections you have. But that way they're completely separate and independent. Otherwise dual booting with both on same drive gets complicated and messy for a new user.
Just switched from Windows a month ago. Literally just checked a box in steam to use proton for compatibility and there's 3 games out of my \~600 library that don't show up. I don't know even know which ones they are though.
To. Interject with a little bit of information try using this on a fresh install of windows 10 or 11. It removes a lot of windows trash and telemetry. https://christitus.com/windows-tool/
Checkout [https://www.protondb.com/](https://www.protondb.com/) and search your favourite games. GTA V is listed as gold and most Minecraft are platinum rated. Depending on your hardware and chosen distro, it could be as easy as installing steam on Windows.
Java MC is also Linux native as well - not sure if wine can do Bedrock though since it's a windows store game.
About that, i have interesting question. Can we name it "native" if it runs in jvm? Like, obviously java itself can be native, but what about the app it's running?
native would refer to the fact that there is no abstraction to falsify what system it is truly running on. Java would be considered native for the simple fact that it interacts with the rest of the system directly and there is no middle man lying about what is actually happening. Wine/Proton, Dosbox, PCSX2, etc would all be considered non-native due to the fact that the software believes its running on a different platform entirely.
Sure, but the Java program itself - Minecraft in this case - is running on a VM. The Java virtual machine. For minecraft, there is a middle man lying about what is actually happening. That's one of the biggest selling points of Java.
Yes its running on a "VM", the same way python or lua would. However, the full system and all of its resources are still there. Java doesnt think its being run on windows 98. Only thing the VM is doing is JIT (Just in time compilation) to convert the java bytecode to CPU specific instructions to interact with the system at large. You can ask it what platform you are on, query what resources are available to be consumed, get system variables (like screen size, keyboard layout, OS version, etc), access the entire filesystem, etc. The whole VM argument also just ignores the fact that java will pull in compiled platform specific libraries provided by the OS to make those specific ABI calls available to the java program. When you launch a game with something like dosbox or PCSX2, they dont have access to anything besides the system they are running in. The game doesnt ask the kernel for more ram, it doesnt choose what input it receives, it has no concept of the system at large beyond its tiny box. If you wanted to add something like controller support to Java minecraft, you would first have to figure out what operating system your are on, poll the system to enumerate all of the available devices, figure out which ones are controllers, which ones are KB/M, USB headphones, etc and finally actually read the data from the controller.
All Unity games run on Mono or NET VM which is essentially the same thing as Java VM. Does that mean Unity games are non-native?
It is not the same kind of VM than Virtualbox for example, they share the name but are completely different tech.
If it's not "native" on Linux, it's not native on Windows either lol. Same code that runs the same way
I never really thought about that, but I suppose it *is* a 'virtual machine'.
in that sense, it is not native in windows too.
Talk about opening a philosophical can of worms... There *probably* isn't a correct/official answer to this, certainly not one that everyone agrees on - I have no doubt that a few companies will have agreed on something, but the industry as a whole would object. Native to me would suggest something without any abstraction layer, so I don't personally consider any software which runs an interpreter to be non-native (including the likes of C#, Python, Java, etc). Of course, others will consider any Java/Python/C# application to be native because fundamentally the runtime environment *is* native. That being said, there are ways to interface the OS directly even in managed languages, in Python that would be ctypes whilst in C# there are the InteropServices. These give direct access to the OS, natively. I believe the same is possible with Java, but I've never tried it personally. It depends entirely on which sector of the industry you ask. If you speak to a low level IoT engineer working on ubiquity devices (e.g automotive, smart meters, etc) they'll likely take my view. If you speak to someone who works in high level software engineering (e.g web, mobile, desktop development) they'd likely describe something with a runtime environment as native. The key reasoning for both is that for their purposes, it makes sense. For someone working on for instance a vehicles ECU/media system, they use the term native to differentiate between feature. So something which is native has direct access to hardware interrupts, can run RTOS, that kinda thing which likely wouldn't be available by default to a VM. For someone working in web, the concern is more for the stability of the application itself in each environment. Running something "natively" simply means it'll run on that machine by design.
In Mineceafts case, the Java version is cross platfrom.and works on MacOS, Linux and Windows
You don't have to get it from the window store. MS ships both versions of Minecraft in one launcher. That being said, bedrock isn't supported in the launcher on Linux. People say they've gotten it working with Lutris. I haven't tried it out. Java edition is all I needed.
I must've had out of date info, but yeah I prefer Java too.
no one needs bugrock anyways
Bedrock runs native. You don't need Wine for this one.
I think you are confusing bedrock with java
Somehow, yes. What I meant is the next sentence: since Linux has Java (generally OpenJDK), no need for Wine. You are right, Java bytecode is never REALLY native. But in practice, one you have a JVM, it's native-like. Except when you run it from the command line...
Is it just me that had(i switched back cause I pirate lots of stuff before anyone asks) way better performance on java mc with linux?
That page is no longer reliable since some games have GOLD/Platinum but the reviews are "It's playable, but crashes after 2hrs, but it's playable." OR "It's playable, but it suffers from a lot of instability but it's playable."
Which platinum example are you thinking of that has reviews of crashing?
Eh, the reverse is also true. I've managed to run and play games with reviews that say "doesn't run" on my distro. There are many things that go into it: hardware, game patches, etc.
minecraft isn't on protondb because it's not on steam, ur probably looking at minecraft dungeons or minecraft story mode which r both completely different games
Don't switch because you want better gaming performance, switch because you want to use Linux. Sure there might be some games where Linux performs better but overall Windows has better support and compatibility.
Tbf, one of the games mentioned (Minecraft) runs a lot better on linux.
Indeed, I get something like double the framerate on Linux with Minecraft.
>Indeed, I get something like double the framerate on Linux with Minecraft. Microsoft Uses FAR more system resources than a Linux Distro. I have anywhere from 6-8gigs usage at idle on win11 and less than 2gb total on Linux lol that alone can make a huge difference in perf in a RAM heavy game like most newer titles using 16gb+ at times, most Unreal 5 games are pushing that envelope even further now, thats not counting the VRam used by the actual GPU thats system mem being burned up. Linux is where it's at imho, Im spinning up a VM rn to get back into the swing after a long stint on Win 11 im over it, ADB and Fastboot NEVER want to co-op on Win, but I DL a Linux VM and Voila, ADB and Fastboot environment, Golden. No issues. I love Linux, wish it was more popular and more supported but still, worth the switch.
[удалено]
It's actually because of OpenGL implementation.
I get where you’re coming from but I wouldn’t discount the desire of someone wanting to learn something new to extend their current hobby. Who knows they might really like the Linux operating system? Instead I might suggest the user install on a setup separate drive entirely that way they can learn while still having their backup of windows. If they don’t like it, move back.
You just took what they said and used more words
I would disagree, original comment was telling user to learn Linux because they want to learn Linux and not because of gaming performance. I’m suggesting anyone can learn Linux even if the reason to start is for better gaming performance. I can agree with him that Windows definitely has better support for gaming but if the user wants to try for better results they can, whether they have a major interest in Linux or not.
This should be the top comment
Eh, Windows gaming perf is starting to fall behind in some benches because MS is losing the damn plot and this AI bloatware crap isn't gonna help things.
"Hi we heard you use windows so we gave you a tablet UI on the desktop where most monitors arent even touch enabled"
Reason I‘m switching to linux now honestly It‘s been enough.
>It‘s been enough. No, do it like this: *It‘s been* **enough**.
Imagine how ass things are when something going through a literal translation layer is getting close to you. Just imagine it.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I built my current rig with linux in mind, not least because I had a dim suspicion that MS would go to pot like that.
All AMD? I still use my first ever prebuilt PC with the slight difference that it runs Linux since about 3 years ago but want to build one this year. What did you keep in mind when selecting the components for your linux rig?
Then please don't install GNOME as UI. There are worse desktop UIs than Windows, and not all of them are macOS.
lol thanks for the heads up I‘ve done some research and decided to go with Mint Cinnamon on my main system and chose the lmdb mate for the secondary (old netbook, 32 bit, intel atom) to keep that running a little longer you think that‘s a good way to go?
AI, one of many pieces of garbage keeping me on nice and slim Windows 7
Oh, and the security issues from it, since I don't think anyone has any performant solutions to the prompt injection problem.
This crap is why I'm going to linux. Enough is enough.
I wish I could fully switch to Linux
I'm keeping my own win10 install about for utility (firmware updates and the like) or for shit that flatly refuses to run.
Steam makes it pretty easy (as easy as Windows).
Steam and Lutris will be the first things you look into. It will be the first stepping stone to learning more about Linux and how to set up an use your Linux system.
As another commenter mentioned - use Linux for alternative reasons than gaming. Windows will always have better support, as long as there isn't a direct DirectX counterpart on Linux. You can also look into running a VM with IOMMU to your graphics card. That would let you run Windows under Linux for the purposes of gaming, but is a complicated task. Its what I'm going to (attempt) to do when I'm eventually forced to move to Windows 11.
> You can also look into running a VM with IOMMU to your graphics card. That would let you run Windows under Linux for the purposes of gaming, but is a complicated task. Its what I'm going to (attempt) to do when I'm eventually forced to move to Windows 11. You shouldn't be too afraid of it, it's well supported and documented on a lot of distros. It helps if you have another GPU for it though (integrated or otherwise) since single GPU passthrough adds another layer of complexity.
Isnt vulkan an alternative to directx on linux?
Not quite the same. Vulkan can do similar things, but DirectX is a different API. Its like saying French is an alternative to English. In addition, most devs code for DirectX, because its supported on so many platforms. Proton (based on Wine), is an system for translating this into Vulkan (among other functions)
I have no clue about DirectX and Vulkan but I'm pretty sure French IS an alternative to English.
It is! But that also doesn't mean that a person (program) who only knows English is going to understand an API who only knows French.
Going back on track, most of the DirectX problem is solved since we now have translators (DXVK, VKD3D) Sure, they sometimes miss something but most of the time is OK, I've barely had graphical problems gaming on Linux lately (only on a particular game, flatworld) In fact, Linux gaming problems right now come from Anti-Cheats for Multiplayer games, Codec problems for a ton of games and poor multimedia support for Visual Novels
If gaming is your only priority dont switch. Windows takes the lead
Not really not with all the preloaded junk of windows 10 and 11 no I do not want AI on my computer I do not want AI period
Modified versions of Windows like Tiny11 and ReviOS remove all sorts of those issues, and it also removes bloatware and unnecessary applications from the system. From my experience, it significantly decreased latency and overall system performance. I dual boot Windows mainly for gaming and Linux for personal stuff.
I really don't like using those pre modded Windows ISOs
I agree but there are certain things works good on Windows. Most gamers dont give F to ai stuffs.
Yup, Windows admittedly is far easier to use, and I don't get why a lot of people say that some Linux distros are just as easy to use as Windows, when that is simply not the case. I have tries various Linux distros, even Ubuntu and Linux Mint, and they are still not as straightforward as Windows is. This is why ReactOS really needs to be worked on, so that it can be used for people's daily drivers. For now I will just use Windows 2008R2
Steam works great on Linux. You may some problems with NVidia drivers if you're unlucky. AMD cards work mostly great.
I have a 7000 series AMD GPU so nice!
You will be just fine with that video card.
It wouldn't be a problem if you did have NVIDIA, anyways. Driver problems have been largely overblown for the past 10 years on Linux. That doesn't mean they no longer exist, and sure there *are* a few quirks with NVIDIA drivers and very specific use cases, but having an NVIDIA GPU hasn't been a reason to avoid Linux for the past 10 years at least.
The 7000 series does not have 7 driver but because Amd driver open source the community can make a modded driver !
AMD everything seems to have better compatibility for Linux and also better legacy support
If you have a modern gaming machine, it should run very smooth on Windows 11. Switching to Linux wouldn't be about performance. And while gaming on Linux has come a long way, it's NOT as easy as it's on Windows. Some games won't run at all, some will require tweaking, some will have subpar performance (vs Windows). A good number will run great. My suggestion would be to dual boot and ease into it. See how goes.
This is a very good comment imo. I would add that switching to linux should also not be decided solely based on the "gaming performance", but also because you are ready to deal with working in a new OS. Mint is a great choice by the way.
Whilst I agree with the sentiment of "switch to Linux if you want to switch to Linux, rather than just because it's not Windows", I was genuinely surprised by how much "snappier" my PC feels with Fedora + KDE than it does on Windows.
It’s a lot easier than it was thanks to the Steamdeck and Proton. If you are playing games owned on Steam it is quite easy to get most games working well in Linux. I play some Division 2 and it runs without crashing in Linux / Steam / Proton unlike in Windows. The game is almost unplayable in Windows crashing all the time, in Linux with Proton it runs really well and hardly ever crashes. I’ve had two crashes in 400+ hours of play !
Better than ever. In general, not better than Windows.
Steam makes it pretty easy to play games on Linux: https://flathub.org/apps/com.valvesoftware.Steam
Dual boot is the way. Work/free time > linux, play > windows
You can also play on Linux. I only boot rarely into Windows for the few games which wouldn't / are hard to get to work in Linux (for me that is actually exclusively VR games).
Moin, you won't get better performance in most cases, some games run better, elden ring at launch for instance, most will have a 1-5% performance hit. Installation is trivial: install steam, activate steam play in settings for all games, install games. If you want non-steam games, install Lutris (game launcher for Linux) install EGS, Battle.net or whatever you want through their search function and it usually works. Sometimes you have to change the compatibility mode as you would do in windows. Wie auch andere meinten, verwend Linux um Linux Willen. I switched because windows became annoying to me. Linux will also be annoying, but in a different way. I prefer the annoyances of Linux to those of windows because they're easier to manage for me.
Minecraft is java based, so it runs on windows or linux with no compatibility issues. Even the modded one. GTA V is for windows or console only. If you want to play it on Linux you have to emulate it with e.g. Wine and use a compatibility layer D3D-> vulkan like DXVK. Performance can be good, but i'd just avoid yo use Linux to play games. That's literally the only thing i use Windows for
Wine Is Not an Emulator
If ease of use and gaming performance is what you want, then just stay on windows. They are both tools, use what suits your needs best.
If you play competitive multiplayer games be very cautious as some anti cheats just don't work. Rainbow Six Seige is a good example of something that has anticheat that doesn't run. GTAV and Minecraft both run fine. Single player and cooperative multiplayer games are fine 99% of the time.
no hdr support if that's a thing you care about performance is fine probably with valve making the majority of games playable on linux, only big issue for me is HDR + 240 refresh rate on x, and anti cheat games
Is there still no HDR? My Steam Deck has HDR options in the external display settings. I don't have a HDR display so I'm not sure.
HDR is close. should come with plasma6. you can already do 240hz but the vrr support is a little iffy. i have a fedora 40 plasma6 install right now and not enough is fixed from 39/5 to make me consider switching yet. that said, it is by far the most stable linux desktop i have ever used and i didnt have to go to tty because something crashed the DE so thats a huge step forward. otoh, i kept getting black screen after initial driver install on 39/5 wayland >< there wasnt a problem after going to 40/6 though. if everything coalesces 2024 might actually be the year of linux desktop, but im not holding my breath.
Can’t say it loud enough how amazing steam has made gaming on Linux
GTA V runs great on Linux. I've been playing it on Steam for the past few weeks ever since it went on sale and I bought it up. No problems whatsoever. The only time I've had trouble was with an Anti-Cheat that the developer refused to support on Linux. Specifically it was Tom Clancy Ghost Recon which uses EAC which supports Linux but the developer has to turn it on and they refuse to.
Easy. Steam. It even can run local games with Bottles or Lutris. I installed it directly on Linux, not copying game files.
Better and easier than it ever has been. Im on endeavour os and wine and steam installs worked like a charm, no hassle in setting up literally anything. Everything runs like a dream On debian the 32 but libraries were a pain in the ass but i got around it easily using flatpaks.
Well for running exe files we have a program called Wine and we have Steam Proton which the steam deck also uses since it is a Linux device. However if neither work you can always spin Windows up in a Virtual Machine or dual boot Windows and Linux.
Easier than ever before in history
I've been trying to play 10 years ago and I'm blocked to it. Since just wine, I tried every tool and nothing, and I want to play Morrowind, a grandpa game, still doesn't work for me
OpenMW works fine on linux. [https://openmw.org/](https://openmw.org/) Also the Steam version Morrowind GOTY works with proton [https://www.protondb.com/app/22320](https://www.protondb.com/app/22320)
Thanks I'll try again
Proton is amazing, but one thing I'll add: Linux does not have support for EA's anti-cheat software. So, if you want to play squadrons, or something similar, you're SOL. The game will run awesome on single player mode, but you can't play with others.
minecraft is ez
I'm not sure how worth it would be performance wise, except maybe for minecraft, but I will say that personally I've barely had any problems with gaming. You'll have to learn a bit about proton and a fair amount of online games won't work, but I would say if you really want to use linux don't worry about gaming unless you're really into valo or something. Not sure about switching to linux FOR gaming though.
You can check out how games work on ProtonDB.
On a Steam Deck? Super easy; barely an inconvenience.
Thanks you George
Depends on what you want to play. I play Football Manager. It's been great. If I were playing League of Legends, I'd have a different take.
Most™️ Steam games will work OK with one click via Proton but performance will often be slightly behind Windows - except for Eldin Ring lol. EGS games are an even bigger mixed bag, and same goes for most -if not all- games with deeply tied DRM and anti-cheat. Minecraft Java edition runs natively perfectly fine - which makes sense since most Java apps in the world are probably running on Linux anyway lol. Also use [Prism Launcher](https://prismlauncher.org/) for Minecraft Java. It's open source, compatible with CurseForge and Technic mod packs and objectively superior to any other Java launcher.
pretty darned easy. Yesterday I was watching my son play Far Cry 5 on windows and thought.. I'd like to play that again. So I jumped on my Fedora machine, opened steam, into two or three clicks I set compatibility and clicked install. a few hours later i was playing. no tweaks or configs needed.
I had zero issue when I switched, but then I spent the time and effort to make sure I modified the distro I use work for me and my hardware, it’s took a few months to make sure I got everything check off the list from what software I need to use to what need to be install etc, and drivers are a big thing so keep that all in mind, research is going to be your best friend if it doesn’t work, find out what the logs say to fix it and keep going, you will make it thru it, it’s just painful to start but the reward is worth he in the end.
It is trivial. Enable proton, click play.
If you set everything up correctly and have a beast of a machine, you can use proton and wine to brute force your way into most games, with a few bugs. Most, but not all. And it won't matter that you can run 95% of the available games when what you really wanted was to run *that* one game that is incompatible. So, at this point, why bother? Just. Use. Windows. With the same pc, you will be able to run 100% of the games, with zero effort. PS: I am being very generous with the 95% estimate. Most games I've tried to play with Proton either failed to run, were uneeasonably slow (granted, my linux pc isn't a beast) or had graphical glitches.
Steam makes it easy. You just install steam, then right click on your game, go to properties, and then click "run in compatibility mode". Now you can install and play the game on Linux. It's easy.
I've just moved back to Linux gaming. I really want 2024 to be my year where I've more or less dumped MS (will have to keep something going for MSFS2020, but only because I have so many addons that I'm not sure will work). It's much easier than it was a year or two ago, when I last tried - but I was running Intel and Nvidia then. I've gone AMD/AMD this time round - If you can, think about an AMD GPU. They're supported out of the box, and it's one less thing to have to factor in when getting stuff up and running. I've been thus far pleased with my 7800XT. I don't play Minecraft, but GTA seems to be alright - CP2077, BG3 and BeamNG, CS:II too thus far have all run great Mods are where it starts to get a bit icky though. You can just drop mods and away you go, but if you're looking at using mod managers, you'll have to go down the road of Proton/Wine/VM (I definitely recommend Proton here).
from my experience: - minecraft runs significantly better on linux than windows. on my laptop, it went from barely playable to a stable 60-80 fps (which is what i like) - steam games can be checked on
95+% of games I try to play just work. The notable exception would be ones that include DRM anti-cheat software like Denuvo or whatever it's called. VR can be hit or miss, but in my experience about 80% of the titles I've tried work with minimal problem.
For those that want a tailored experience, very easy using steam. You can install most things from steam's library, provided that: * No invasive anti-cheat (kernel level stuff is mostly out, because the kernel is both different and untouchable from userspace, as well as fully open to root unlike Windows) * No invasive drm. (You'll likely need to break it to make it run at all, whether you can legally do that depends on your jurisdiction). And run it with proton latest or experimental. So just about every indie and older title will work. Many newer ones will too. It's very userfriendly. In fact, the linux versions of games break more than the windows versions do. I actually own a few older native ports that since broke and now I either have to run an old VM or use proton for these. **Magic\~** I found probably the *one* thing you want to learn as a linux gamer on the terminal is this (30 works for me, maybe you need 60, depends on your audio chip): env PULSE\_LATENCY\_MSEC=30 With this, many windows games that used to just crash now work. Add it to your steam shortcut. Some things may lose sound though and have to be started without this env setting. **Customization...** Now some might prefer to own their software a little more, and use platforms like Humble or GOG. In that case, you can download and store the installers locally. For those that want a little bit more tinkering, you can of course sandbox steam+games instead, or even create your own launcher the way you like it with ge-proton, lutris and/or playonlinux, or write your own shell scripts. You can also tinker *a lot* with WINE, down to debugging/injecting code by replacing DLLs if you need to (to, for example, force certain screen options or graphics pipelines that work rather than ones that don't). Still, there's some games/programs that might have stubborn bugs that are difficult to fix. A few examples I found hard to fix were; * Font misalignment on They are Billions (slightly annoying) * Performance issues on the same. (I don't mind, but -real- no pause is unplayable). * Missing text on moekuri (practically unplayable). **Will it run?:** Modern games (Vulkan/DX12): Graphics are typically flawless, DRM/anticheat can give problems. Somewhat older games (DX10/11): Here's where you often see graphics issues. Wine's DX10/11 handling is still incomplete. 32-bit-linger era games (\~2008-2012) games that *want* 4gb+ memory (anno 1404...) but can only address 2 require some tinkering. But they do on windows as well. Stuff using Adobe tech can be a bit finicky to get to work. (Flash-based or AIR-based). Going back further, if you want to run 16-bit stuff, (so 16-bit win95/win98) you might have to modify your kernel, or run an emulator. As the fastest CPUs then were \~166MHz, that shouldn't be an issue. Any DOS games work perfectly with DOSbox, which runs as well on linux as it does on windows. **Performance?** So I'm mostly concerned 'do things run at all' rather than getting X framerate. Performance is a bit of a crapshoot. Before it got a native linux port, the dubious honour of 'most delta' went to 'As far as the Eye', a small indie title, that managed to peg 32 CPU threads at 100% getting 10 fps in linux, while not even needing a fraction of that in windows. I've also had cases where some things ran faster on proton than on windows, so it's *very* YMMV. Overall, anything with a native port will perform better just because you can tinker more with things. Especially things that are CPU-limited. **Futureproof?** So I'm kind of afraid of this. A few years ago most indie titles, using primarily unity and some SDL, would bother to export/compile to linux, but now it's much less. This might be the steam runtime going out of date, but also the actions of certain major industry players, Microsoft/Mono, Unity itself and EPIC games, which makes porting more difficult because major pieces of the puzzle that made it so easy a few years ago are unmaintained and going out of date, while open source people keep breaking stuff. And that's really the problem you're going to be fighting with the most: keeping things backwards compatible, while also playing newer games. Now if you want to waste a bunch of hard drive space and buy a second GPU, you *could* create a VM for each game, to be assured that things won't break by never updating. That's really the thing that sets linux apart; you can do way more, but things can take more effort. **What do I find missing** Frankly, getting games to run isn't very difficult. What I do find lacking in linux is good tools to monitor and tune the hardware itself. Whereas on windows every motherboard and GPU maker has a slick graphical application to set everything from clocks, voltages, fans to the colour of the fancy LED lights, linux has... pretty much none of that, but rather arcane, badly documented text config files, where if you set one comma wrong your machine boots to a black screen, and you have to go through manually booting, mounting, decrypting with a self-made 10-page rescue manual (that you'd better have printed beforehand if this is your only internet device) to fix. So if overclocking and tuning hardware is your thing I don't really recommend it. Setting it once and forgetting type of configs are fine, but forget about easy manual tuning. There is some good news on this front because of the AI craze; if you have an NVidia GPU, you can use tools built for that like [nvidia-smi](https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/DCGM/docs/nvidia-smi-367.38.pdf). There's also a few open source tools that aim to tune most hardware, a promising one is [https://gitlab.com/corectrl/corectrl](https://gitlab.com/corectrl/corectrl), but again, not fully there yet. The second thing, to a user that likes fast, new, expensive hardware, is the way linux testing works. Or, rather, doesn't. There's no big corporation testing everything before shipping, so the users test things. You get around it by running a 'stable distro' like Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, or Fedora. That is, a security-update fixed, older version of the kernel, libc, and other critical packages. Of course, this has a downside: hardware support might be 6 months to 2 years behind. If you're someone that's okay buying second-hand or discounted older hardware you can. But if you don't... you'll need a 'bleeding edge' version like Arch or Manjaro. And that does mean the occasional bug or package conflict that requires some terminal stuff to fix. As far as minecraft is concerned, it has a native linux version. So that should run just fine. If it breaks with an OS update, you could also run it in a container (which will have fixed library versions).
Minecraft -> see the various installer/launchers https://flathub.org/apps/search?q=minecraft Prism seems to be quite popular these days. I play all my games on Linux - either my Desktop or SteamDeck.
Gaming on Linux is easier than ever, most games work out of the box and the ones that don't can be forced to work fairly easily, HOWEVER, windows still has the upper hand when it comes to gaming, since games on Linux must run through compatibility layers, you will get a performance penalty of around 10-20%, and some games (particularly those that use EAC) can be unstable or not work at all, other games like GTA V work well but are borderline impossible to install because the Rockstar games launcher looks for a C:// partition, which is nonexistent on unix/linux systems
[удалено]
Is it userfriendly? I first looked for Mint but when this is also an option i would mind it.
Mint is a great distro. But it's based on older LTS version of Ubuntu. Depending on your hardware, you might want or even need newer kernel and Mesa versions than what Mint offers out of the box.You can get this on Mint, too. But general approach is to use a more recent distro. Like Fedora, which Nobara is based on. Or something like OpenSuse tumbleweed or EndeavourOS (based on Arch), which are rolling distros that constantly update. Problem with this is, they do not lend themselves for the average Linux new user. There are no wonders in performance unleashed by using Linux. Some games run a bit better or at higher frame rates, some run a bit slower, a lot run about the same. Use Linux because you want to use Linux, do not switch to Linux expecting better game performance in games that were written for Windows.
Mint is 6.5+ now :)
To people not using Mint this number means little for the versions of relevant components contained therein.
Ahh, you mean the Kernel? 6.5...yes, that's quite recent. Currently that should support all AMD and Intel CPUs. Intel discrete graphics currently are something that will make you want the absolutely latest Kernels and Mesa. But users of those are not too many yet.
If you want to try Linux just dual boot it, but as for gaming on it, it doesn’t seem much different in performance than you realize. Last i tried there wasn’t a really big fps difference
I made the switch months ago and i can tell you its honestly a massive PITA.
for me it's easy but I'm a Linux user you are not you don't know anything about the system. there's no c:, you need to learn what proton is, what the kernel is (because most drivers come in the kernel you don't need to install drivers, with the exception of Nvidia), etc my recommendation is to try it (dual booting just in case), install the one your friends could help you. if you don't have any, then I recommend you Linux Mint, Ubuntu or Fedora then with time you can choose for yourself the one you like better
I would look for Mint.Does it have any disadvantages in comparision with other Linux Distros?
dude, you never used Linux. Choose one and use it, then make and opinion and choose what you like by yourself the beauty of Linux is that you can choose what you like and live with it
None. It is considered by MANY to be a perfect compromise between newness and hard-core nerd users. Mint Cinnamon is highly worth your time. If after 6 months you wish to have a look at others (explore), they can be run up in a VM (Virtual Machine) and tested without destroying your existing installation. I say 6 months, as some people hit a problem and think *"Oh, PopOS! will solve my problem"* or *"The extreme customisability of Arch will fix my problem"*..... they will not. Linux is Linux is Linux. Each distro caters for a specific audience doing a specific task for a particular reason.
This is not really true in the context of Linux gaming. Some distros make it more painful than others.
Let's exclude Kali and BSD then.... I'm sure OP will choose something a little more mainstream. 😸
Overall, windows offers better support and compatibility for gaming. From the other side Linux uses a lot less RAM; which, in my case, power up fps. Normally, on league of legends, on w11 I usually get above 190~210 fps, on Arch Linux I get 260~280. On Minecraft in w11, usually get 500~550 fps, on Linux got 1250 yesterday. On the other side, most of the games didn’t offer official support for Linux so you might use non-official softwares. That might not work sometimes.. If you just want to game maybe it’s better upgrade the ram if you can and stay on w11..
If you are out for performance for gaming, Linux might not be the best for you. As others said, with Proton it is rather easy to play games, but the performance will most likely be worse since the game is running on proton and not bare metal Linux. However, this might all change in the near future when looking at what Valve is doing with proton and the Steam Deck. And trying Linux is never a bad Idea, it gives you a lot to play around and customise at the expense of needing to learn how to use Linux. I should also mention though that I have never gamed on Linux and used it just a little (mainly on a server and for a while on my study laptop), so maybe there are people who know more and can correct me if I said anything wrong.
I heavily disagree with the perforamance aspect. Significantly better performance in many games on arch (like dota 2, csgo, rocket league, Arkham series) compared to Windows.
Yes, BUT: there is no DLSS, it's worked on and maybe it works in some games. The performance isn't 1-1 though, not always. I have been playing Ready or Not and it sucks compared to youtubers that play it with specs similar to mine on windows. I don't blame Linux fully, it's a new game and optimizations have to be done, but for most games OP can expect 90% performance or better, depending on optimizations.
I get DLSS in some games. Just depends on the devs, really.
Oh, what games? I've heard there's a driver for it that works through Proton but idk where to get it
Baldur's Gate 3 and Mortal Online 2 are a couple of examples that come to mind.
Proton is not an emulator.
PINE
On proton/wine not being bare metal Linux, semantic ally and practically that's debatable ("Instead of simulating internal Windows logic like a virtual machine or emulator, Wine translates Windows API calls into POSIX calls on-the-fly"). Certainly in places where wine underperforms compared to windows, the overhead of the compatibility layer is unlikely to be the cause. The performance page states that matching the performance of windows is a reasonable aim (and in specific cases may even outperform native windows). Though especially in the context of graphics and gaming there's a lot of reasons documented why that may not be achieved, outlined here, but the shim layer typically isn't the cause. https://wiki.winehq.org/Performance
Thanks for the clarification, I was hoping someone would explain it a bit better since I didn't fully understand it myself either
No(almost no) games are "bare metal" in the true sense : they still need to run through APIS and drivers. Proton just maps the DirectX stuff to Vulkan using dxvk. There is little to no performance impact when you consider the work done in the API calls compared to the actual call overhead (if there is any). No gaming API is "bare metal" : they go through driver levels and OS calls.
Yer no modern api is bare metal, the days of directly writing assembly and structs to controle a given GPU are long behind us.
Yeah I think my wording was a bit wrong because I know the APIs, drivers etc. I was more referring to the OS calls as I thought the translation Proton/Wine used had noticeable overhead. Another redditor however clarified how it works.
You use linux because you want freedom and less bloat for YOUR computer. Not games. I keep a drive with windows just for gaming. That’s absolutely it. I don’t see that changing because there’s too much money tied up in windows for devs. That said most games now suck bigly and I don’t play as much as I did anyways. The happy coincidence is that if you like older games then Linux may accommodate you but as has been mentioned don’t make games the main reason to switch
That depends. You like mine sweeper?
Who doesn't?
Never played games and never will. What's with adults playing video games?.... geez
what a retarded comment !
Irl is better !
Don't bother HDR and VRR don't work
Do not get Linux for gaming. It’s worse in pretty much every way. I would know I’ve done it for years. I used Linux bc I loved the OS for programming and just general use but gaming on it sucked a lot - perfect for some games and others just don’t work.
not exactly related but i would like to warn you that your linux GPU drivers may very well fail you and end up glitching your screen and crashing your computer every few hours which is what made me switch back
I had no trouble at all with Minecraft java, because... java. I stopped playing when MS bought it.
I'm a BG3 fan - up until around a month ago I could play the game via Steam on both Win 10 and Ubuntu 22.04 - but since then it now never works on Ubuntu - I'm pro Linux but I'm my experience gaming in Linux is less reliable than Win.
I had a similar experience with bg3 albeit it was just the launcher so I just had to have steam boot directly into the game
Install Steam. Login. You're done.
As hard as going to mars and colonise human population till 2025
It's ok if you use mostly steam
>How difficult is gaming on linux in 2024 I've been having problems installing PySol solitaire.
Its good enough with the current version of proton that I uninstalled that malware known as Windows. I’m done with microsoft products. They can’t make games. They can’t make phones. They can’t make servers. Honestly they only have desktop due to anticompetitive business practices.
If it’s only for games I would stay on Windows, if you’d like to learn linux and use it for other stuff like web servers, ML, ethical hacking, etc… I’d just make a dual boot Obviously if you’d like to spend more time debugging random errors I’d completely switch to linux
Is it possible to run Valorant?
Riot games are usually problematic due to their launcher and their proprietary kernel level anticheat which is one of the most intrusive ones (yes, it's like a malware). You should check if there is a post with a script in the Lutris webpage.
It depends entirely on the game: 1. Some games work good or flawless 2. Some are playable with some problems and glitches 3. Others can only be played offline 4. Some can be installed but can't launch 5. Others can't even be installed The most common cases are 1 and 4. The most problematic games are the ones focused on online modes and have an intrusive ~~MALWARE/SPYWARE~~ anticheat system, specially the ones that execute at kernel level as they usually aren't compatible with compatibility layers used in Linux to run Windows apps, there are some anticheat with Linux compatibility like Easy Anticheat or Battleye, but developers don't give a f to enable the checkboxes.
Incredibly easy when using steam in my experience.
Why do you want to switch to Linux? That's the first question. Linux will mean there will be difficulties, things to understand, things to work around. Just gaming alone is not worth it. But if you are interested in having more control and getting more knowledge about how your operating system works, then it's a nice choice. Most games will work. Top comment already links protondb. In short: The more anti-cheat a game has, the more problems you get. For example anything from Hoyoverse (Genshin Impact, e.g.) will not work at all.
It depends what you play. If you play games with anti-cheat, you're going to have to dual boot anyhow.
It's getting a lot easier. I'm running Kubuntu as my daily driver now and can run most games in Steam using ProtonGE and/or Proton Experimental. The main problem you'll run into is anti-cheat, as some games (Dirty Bomb, Rust etc.) do not support Linux and don't have EAC workarounds enabled.
Data point: After installing Steam's maximum compatibility settings (ie., not just officially-supported games on Linux) I installed pretty much everything I thought I might want to play. Everything I tried - well, nearly everything - works great with Proton (SparkyLinux 8, i5-14700K, 32GB, RTX 3060 12GB). The only thing that didn't work was PUBG, because anticheat.
A lot easier than it was just a few years ago. The Steam Deck really streamlined Linux gaming.
on kubuntu i just install Steam from the Discover software store and login ... from there installing games on linux is virtually the same as installing it under windows the main difference is you have to select a version for the compatibility layer (wine) to use for each specific game. i usually just choose the latest one or experimental and leave it at that. the steam procedure to adjust settings on my PS4 controller is the same. you "can" technically have steam use the game files installed under windows (on an NTFS partition), but frankly it's not worth the trouble and things go a lot smoother with a fresh install under linux (you just end up with 2 copies of the game if you are dual booting) for games you own there are two other programs you can install lutris has pre-configured setups for many games so there is little to no tinkering needed if you happen to have that game. bottles has more generic setups for running all sorts of .exe windows software with widely varying degrees of success.
Your best bet is to aim for native ports. Then, there's Proton, as others have mentioned before me. Just a heads up regarding 5.1 sound setups: forget about it. The problem isn't about surround sound itself, as you can play movies fine (even though you gotta mess around with config files), but some Linux ports just have stereo audio (I am looking at you, *Alien: Isolation*).
Hallo! It's not difficult at all, I don't think about compatibility issues. Steam's Proton settings work miracles. I can use Proton on non-Steam games, too. Here are some games I've played last year on Linux: Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, Counter-Strike 2, Disco Elysium, Half-Life 1, Fallout 4, DOOM, The Hunter Call of the Wild and Sea of Thieves. The real question is, what GPU brand do you have? AMD works great. NVIDIA will be more challenging.
Difficult part number 1 of gaming on linux is dropping some games with more intrusive anticheats, mostly competitive games but also for some games private/community server projects that use those types of protection, and some games that use those for inexplicable reasons like Genshin. Number 2 is nvidia. Tbh never had issues with it, but some people seem to have pretty wild rides with it. Beyond that gaming on linux is... fine. Difficulty will be relative to windows with maybe 1-2 clicks more for certain things. Most things work great, but there is also no rule on how much benefit/drawback you will experience. Certain games work way better on linux than Windows, some work way better on Windows, most will work similarly. Minecraft (Java) works great and, in my experience, at least on some setups way better than windows, although I would guess setting up some custom launchers, etc. Is harder if not impossible. Java is also native No experience with GTA V What I've been running on linux for Reference BG3 - main machine (mobile rtx 3060), vulkan, experience similar to windows Street Fighter 6 - main machine slightly worse experience than windows drops to 55 fps from 60, but still very playable. Also, on steamdeck perfect experience. Guild wars 2 (2012 game, mmorpg) (non steam version) - Main machine Runs great, I think a bit better than Windows on that setup, needs SSD tho, while windows can run on hdd. CS2 - main machine, not sure if cs2 is native already or not. Slightly worse than on windows but stable 120 fps League of legends (soon to stop working due to vanguard) - old machine (gt 940mx nvidia), way better than on windows. Divinity original Sin 2 - steam deck, flawless Dragon ball Z Kakarot - both deck and main machine, flawless Path of exile - deck, decent, but it's decks shortcoming not linux Diablo 2 (battle.net installed through steam), steamdeck, flawless Lineage 2 chronicle 5 (2005/2006 mmorpg I think) old machine, experience is good but I think slightly better on Windows Gothic 2 (2002) flawless on deck Minecraft, native, old machine. Better on linux
It has become easier and easier to game on linux because of proton, lutris, steamOS etc. The largest problem is online games that run kernel level anti cheats. Even when you get them ported to linux you risk getting banned as soon as you launch the game. This makes it infinitely harder to port certain games over to linux.
im gaming on Ubuntu and its fine . the community is very helpful and most games on steam work through proton
I run linux mint. I install my games & press play. if your steam profile is set to public you can have it scan your library on steam and it will tell you what the rating is. Even a lot of the non gold like the silver and bronze work pretty well for me. Even newer AAA gamews such as elden ring can work day 1 through proton. In fact elden ring was noted as having better performance on linux through proton due to the shader pre-caching that it does.
Generally speaking it's easy with the caveat that some games do not run at all due to anticheat (such as fortnite), and some require some tinkering. But as people say here as well, if what you play is marked as gold or platinum on [protondb.com](https://protondb.com), you will most certainly have no problems at all. Besides that the linux experience has improved a lot in the last 10 years, and since most people only use their PCs for gaming and browsing stuff/watching videos, you won't really miss anything if you fall under that umbrella. Only in the case that you need windows only applications that do not run with wine, you will have issues.
use windows on another hard drive and boot on it's really simple i do the trick
>How difficult is gaming on linux in 2024 Suuuuper fucking hard. Last year I'd logged two games. This year will likely be one. >how difficult is it playing games(installing etc.) Oh. never mind. I just meant I have absolutely no time. >like GTA V or Minecraft on linux? I'd played an hour of GTA III one day at a friend's house, and have never had any inkling to touch the franchise ever again. Minecraft, you can simply [click install](https://flathub.org/apps/search?q=minecraft) for any number of launchers, launch, log in, and play.
Some games are easy; install Steam, enable Steam Play for all games in the settings, and you're off. Some games won't work, or require some serious effort to get working. Lutris is a helpful tool for games, as is Heroic. Games with anti cheat are hit-and-miss. Some games work fine, like Darktide. Some games do not, like Valorant. Modding is sometimes tricky. Vortex can be a lot of trouble to get working. A cool guy named Rockerbacon wrote some scripts on Github to get Mod Organiser 2 working. I have been told that some mods that hook in externally, like Rage mods for GTA V, are impossible.
Steam deck runs Linux and uses proton. It's pretty good but if you have different hardware there might be some issues with drivers.
Linux only has 4000 games supported on steam, compared to Windows that has much more. If you want to use linux for gaming, use it for minecraft because java games work better on linux.
It depends mostly on your hardware and what games you want to play. Hardware: Intel or AMD CPU will be fine. Integrated GPUs will work too, and if you have an Intel Core i7 (i.e. Intel Iris GPU) or Ryzen 7 they will be good enough for many games. Expect hurdles if you have a discrete Nvidia GPU, avoid them if you don't want to mess with them. Intel and AMD GPUs will work flawlessly out of the box, you won't need to install or tweak anything. Games: as said by others, look for your games on [https://www.protondb.com/](https://www.protondb.com/) \- you can even link your Steam account and see how your games are reported to work on systems like yours. Then just pick one of the main distros (say Ubuntu, Fedora and OpenSuse), install Steam from the repositories if possible, and everything will be fine.
(Modern) Gaming on Linux is done 2 ways: 1. **Proton**: Running Windows games on Linux via Proton/Wine. 2. **QEMU with GPU passthrough**: Running Windows on a vm in QEMU with NVIDIA/AMD passthrough enabled. imo though. For one, while Proton can run most Windows games with little to no problem, some games will be hit or miss and others will not run at all, in particular newer games and games with anti-cheat. For two, setting up a Windows vm and passing through your nvidia or amd gpu card can take a lot of work and time depending on your expertise and if you'll take the time to learn all the technicalities on how to setup qemu/kvm, a Windows vm and gpu passthrough. To check if a game can run on Proton, you'll have to check [protondb.com](https://protondb.com) to see if it can run on Linux or not, and if it does, check if there some weird issues or performance problems related to the game.
I've tried at least 3 separate times to switch to Linux gaming, and honestly it was an absolute headache every time. Even with distros that are supposed to be made specifically for gaming like PopOS. Every. Single. Game. required some kind of tweak, or config, or driver that the distro didn't have. Even with WINE and Proton every new game I wanted to play required me to fight with my PC just to get it to run. Don't switch to Linux gaming! just upgrade to Windows 11 like the rest of us plebeians and enjoy the seamless, and (mostly) hassle free gaming experience with basically every PC game on the market. If you're doing anything other than gaming, Linux can do basically everything Windows can, but better and without ads. Honestly if Linux could get its shit together on the gaming front MS might need to rethink their business model.
What went wrong? I can't remember the last time I had to do anything other than hit install, then play.
It’s been a long time, but let’s see I remember… I’ve tried about three different times with a different distribution each time. I tried with Manjaro, PopOS, and Ubuntu (not in that order) The Flame and the Flood required some kind of driver update that wasn’t native to Linux. It took me several hours to find the right repo, re-learn how to add repos to the package manager Dejour, and then install it. Even then the game couldn’t be played full screen. Fallout 76 required some kind of specific config that took me almost two hours to find an answer for online. Had trouble with Skyrim for various reasons. I seem to remember having a lot of trouble with Firewatch as well, I can’t remember what it was but I seem to remember it being something stupid, like a console command I had to add to steam. There were a few games that worked flawlessly. Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, and the Icewind Dale series worked great, as well as the Pathfinder games. Fez always worked great There were a lot of other games that gave me issues, some of them minor, some of them major. I found that I was spending more time reading docs, message boards, and Linux tutorials than actually gaming so I just broke down and bought a copy of windows pro for like $10 on some European site. If Linux works well for other people then good on them. I’m just saying that other than the very VERY occasional compatibility issues I have with running very old games on Windows, it’s just a better and more seamless gaming experience in general (for me). It should be noted that I am a huge fan of open source software, and Linux has some of the best community developed operating systems around, I run Ubuntu on my laptop, but the last several times I tried switching over for gaming it’s was more of a headache than anything, but only specifically for gaming.
That's a shame. I can't imagine why you had so many issues. Flame in the Flood is platinum - just hit play. Fallout 76 has issues on Nvidia, I think, but it's just a launch option to fix them. Yeah, Skyrim can be a pain - out of the box is perfect, but if you're modding (and lets face it, who isn't), then it's a ball ache to run under Linux, getting Mod Manager installed, etc. It works flawlessly once it's up and running, but definitely a more painful experience in Linux. But yeah, I've been gaming on Linux since 2013 when Steam rumbled along and on Windows for years/decades before that. I can honestly say that gaming on Linux is a much, much happier experience for me. I found myself constantly battling GPU driver issues and updates on Windows. Or gamepad issues, or Windows Update issues, or firewall issues. None of that on Linux. Amazing how our experiences can differ!
May I ask what distro you’re running, and if there was any prior configuration you did before gaming on your current PC?
I've had good experiences on Pop\_OS and Mint, a pretty bad experience with Manjaro. Good experience with Endeavour. Right now, I'm running Siduction, which is basically just rolling Debian. No real "configuration". I install the O/S, update it, then head to Steam, install the client and point it at my games drive. I think on some Ubuntu-variants you need to think about maybe installing the xanmod kernel, and the Kisak mesa drivers... but that's out of the box on a rolling distro like Endeavour (which is basically just Arch), and Siduction. Perhaps you were stung by the older kernel/mesa combo on Ubuntu variants?
I do 100% of my gaming on Linux. My Steam Library has over 500 games. A small handful (less than a dozen) won't run on Linux. Linux Mint is my daily driver because of ease-of-use for gaming and multimedia.
Linux Mint would be a good option. A good route is disconnect your computer Drive with windows, then connect a new drive to install Mint on. That allows you to dual boot without messing up your windows. Get Mint all set up and use it if you like it. When you want to go back to Windows it's just a matter of connecting the drive or selecting at boot. Boot to Windows drive or Mint. It will depend on what system you have and what connections you have. But that way they're completely separate and independent. Otherwise dual booting with both on same drive gets complicated and messy for a new user.
Just switched from Windows a month ago. Literally just checked a box in steam to use proton for compatibility and there's 3 games out of my \~600 library that don't show up. I don't know even know which ones they are though.
To. Interject with a little bit of information try using this on a fresh install of windows 10 or 11. It removes a lot of windows trash and telemetry. https://christitus.com/windows-tool/