this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2024
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Linux Gaming

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I was a long time Windows user, starting with XP. I only tried Linux a few years ago, and while I loved it, at the time I had to dual boot for a couple specific Windows only things (VR and flight/racing sim hardware).

A couple months ago though, I got sick of it. I figured if I really wanted to do those things, I could boot up a VM, or just force myself to be patient and wait for a proper Linux solution. So, I wiped all my drives and installed Arch. Around this time, I also got an AMD RX 7600XT, so that was a nice performance boost, plus it waranted a switch to Wayland.

Let me tell you, I have been so pleasantly surprised by basically everything I've tried. Cyberpunk 2077 through Heroic Launcher, for example, with 15 odd mods. Runs at a solid 80fps at 1440p on high settings, the only graphical issue I noticed was flickering volumetric clouds. This game ate my old card (the venerable GTX 1080) alive even on Windows.

Just last night, I found my joystick, an old VKB Gladiator + Kosmosima grip, plugged it in and it worked perfectly.

What has really, really impressed me though is VR. I have a Quest 2 that I used to use via Steam link to play my PC wirelessly. Obviously that isn't an option on Linux (yet) but that's where ALVR comes in. Sideload the client on the quest, run the streamer on the desktop, start SteamVR, and bam, it works. The first game I tried was Elite Dangerous, one of my all time favourite games and easily my favourite VR epxerience. Now, I won't go ahead and claim it's perfect, hence the 99% in the title. After fiddling with the settings and making sure I had hardware encoding/decoding set up right, I had very good clarity, up to 120hz refresh rate, but occasional blockiness and artifacting, especially in heavier graphical scenes, like during docking. However, out in open space, it felt just like the ED I know and love.

At this point, I'm just going to look at fiddling with some settings and hopefully smoothing out the stream, but the fact that I can play my favourite games, with my favourite hardware, with great performance and in VR, and the amount of setup is really comparable to what it is on Windows is just kind of wrinkling my brain. Plus, only a couple months ago, this wasn't the case. Support for things that were once doomed to be dual boot material for the foreseeable future is coming along rapidly. This is a great time to be a Linux gamer.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

i only switched over quite recently (a few years ago)

i swear there has been significant improvements in wifi, bluetooth, gpu support, gaming over the last 10 years that made me think it was now good enough

also there was areas where linux was outdoing windows for quite some time; system wide audio equalizer, customization generally, home services and self hosting, development tools

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (20 children)

I switched from Windows to Linux during the whole Vista debacle back in 2008. For basically ten years I was out of the PC gaming scene. I fucking love Proton and what’s its done for Linux as a gaming platform. Now I play (almost) everything on Linux, no sweat. The only things I ever need my Windows partition for anymore are things with those shitty anticheat platforms that just assume you’re a cheater if you use Linux. Cause, you know, Linux scary.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Windows XP and 7 got a special place on my heart, but once i get a PC, I'm moving to Linux Mint

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am in a similar situation, I use quest 2 a lot to drive in assetto corsa. I have a Thrustmaster TS 300 PC, I don't think there are any Linux drivers for that base.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Oversteer should be what you need. Just take note that you need an extra driver module for the T300RS.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am like you but a year behind. I hope to get there too at some point. Switched to Linux for the majority of my pc use and a lot of games. But my VR flight sim and the occasional racing is holding me back. I have an HP Reverb G2 (Windows Mixed Reality) headset which doesn't work very well on Linux (yet?) and an Nvidia RTX 3080.

There doesn't seem to be an ideal Linux VR setup yet, now that SteamVR still does not work with Wayland. Hoping they'll fix it and then I can sidegrade to a Valve Index and an RX 6900 XT and be set. I don't like the complexity and latency of wireless streaming.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it's definitely not ideal at the moment, loads better than it used to be though.

I've heard that Valve has a linux native version of the Steam Link VR app in the pipeline, hopefully it comes within the next year or so.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I also recently made the switch and was pleasantly surprised at how many games I could still play, even "Windows only" titles. Though my requirements are nowhere near yours as I don't have VR or HOTAS.

I'm still rocking an NVIDIA 1060.. What's the Linux community consensus on NVIDIA vs AMD? Because I think it's about time to upgrade.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

AMD is generally a much better experience overall, but a handful of things are worse than NVidia (off the top of my head, Ray Tracing, AI, and Emulators. AMD cards tend to have graphical glitches in emulators even on Windows. They can be mitigated, and aren't universal but they are an issue).

In my experience, AMD is the way to go. My old GTX 1080 was a beast and put in great work, but just had too many naggling stability issues that constantly got in the way of enjoying it. Been really happy with my AMD.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

AMD being preferred was my sense of the situation so it's good to have that confirmed. Looks like I need to get more familiar with that family of cards.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have nothing to add except that ED with VR and hotas controllers is one of the best VR spaceflight experiences out there. Dogfighting with that setup is unparalleled. Being able to watch your target as you flip over them to their tail just gets my jimmies jumpin'.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

My jam was always turning off flight assist and just tossing a small ship through an asteroid belt. Haven't played much since Odyssey but I recently got the itch again

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If only I could play Rust on it, it would be at 100% for me

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Well... Technically you can, you just can't play on servers with AntiCheat activated.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Glad ALVR worked for you on Wayland. It never did for me but it's been a while. All Linux needs next is support from Adobe and AutoCAD and it'll be 100% for most people

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Photoshop too, unfortunately

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

That's part of Adobe so ye

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)

All it's missing from me are anti-cheat games and Adobe products.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Many games with anti-cheat work, a comprehensive list can be found here: https://areweanticheatyet.com/

Anyway, I wouldn't install a rootkit "anti-cheat" on a Windows machine under any circumstances, but that's just me.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

I'm so sorry you rely on adobe products, that's horrible

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

One day soon I hope. With Linux getting more market share I hope it gets more support

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Anti-cheat: shame, but I don't play them anyways.

Adobe products: I guess it sucks for corporate zombies, but again not giving money to adobe makes me proud.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Who said anything about giving money to Adobe? Yarg.

As a graphic designer, you don't really have much of a choice, unless you're independent.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

As a graphic designer, you don’t really have much of a choice

I'm sorry for your suffering.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I finally have Windows banished to a VM, only to be awoken for the 3 times a year I need a desktop version of PowerPoint.

I'm with you. 99% of the way there.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Have you considered any of the PowerPoint alternatives?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Runs at a solid 80fps at 1440p on high settings, the only graphical issue I noticed was flickering volumetric clouds. This game ate my old card (the venerable GTX 1080) alive even on Windows.

Do you use Nouveau or proprietary driver?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

They're on AMD, so not Nouveau.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Interesting that ALVR works on Wayland. Because regular SteamVR seems to be borked on Wayland ever since the SteamVR 2.0 update :(

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Valve did say that they'd be improving SteamVR on Linux quite a while ago, it's just going to take awhile because it not their main priority atm.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

I've actually never tried on X11. I will admit, using VR seems to cause some issues with the rest of my desktop (Plasma ocassionally needs to be reloaded). However in the grand scheme, I can get past that for now considering it doesn't cause any gameplay issues.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I just wish someone could have a walkthrough guide on how to get the games (and launchers) to work for me like they do for you. Every time something jams up and I have to reinstall until I shrug and put windows back on.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

It's really easy, just install steam or lutris. However, some games might have their own specific issues when running under proton/wine under specific hardware configuration. If this is what happened to you, I'm afraid there might not be an easy way outside of putting some elbow grease to start tinkering with the config, or ask for help in linux gaming community.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Trial and error, lots of reading ProtonDB, wikis, etc. I only just recently got a decent handle on how to properly use wine prefixes to get mods and things working.

In general, use Steam when you can, then use Heroic for non Steam games. Lutris is very powerful and super useful for games that aren't installed from a larger distributor, ie from a CD or direct from the devs, but I find the UI can be a bit spartan. Steam and Heroic have fewer features but are way more user friendly.

Good luck. It can definitely be frustrating but remember that you have access to tons of resources and an excellent community if you encounter issues.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

ProtonDB usually has pretty good information on launcher settings for games. I've found several good walkthroughs on game forums, as well, like on Steam community forums or the game's own website.

What games are giving you trouble and where are you looking for walkthroughs? And what are you looking for in the walkthrough?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Been traditionally trying to use Linux Mint but am at my wits end so I'm willing to try anything. As far as what I'm looking for, just step by step to get Steam and Heroic installed and working. Any game I've found that has a launcher is simply a no go, never works.

Now we've got flatpaks out and people swear by them but I usually get something working one day and the next it quits. I admit it, I need more experience at this; but I can't quit Windows until I understand what the hell is going wrong and how to fix it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Linux Mint can be used almost entirely from GUI, so you should be able to install both Steam and Heroic through the software "store".

Here are two guides specific to installing Steam on Linux Mint.

I don't know what games you are playing, and I only used Mint for a short time before moving to other diatros, but I remember it being pretty plug-and-play for most things. I admit I was mostly playing through Steam and a few applications through Lutris (mostly FFXIV), using a Wine wrapper to use the official launcher.

For Steam, the Steam launcher will handle most of the game-specific launchers for you. For Lutris, make sure you open Lutris and update it after installing it and before trying to add any games to it. I don't have any experience with Heroic (or with Windows version of Epic Launcher either).

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