this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2024
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How are people coping with games that just won't run on Linux (aside from leaving them behind)? Do you dual boot Windows? Virtualize? What's your strategy for this?

This will be extremely rare for me since I don't play a lot of competitive stuff, but I'd love to find a solution. I have a large library, and it's bound to happen from time to time.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I was a total Rust junkie, I was playing 40 hours a week. Then they dropped support for the Linux client and wouldn't let Proton users do EAC. I had to stop cold turkey. But I fucking did it, because fuck capital-driven operating systems designed to exploit me and my own computer against me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

All games run perfectly. if it doesnt it bc if the anti-cheat the devs dont enable. I just dont play their games. simple as. Fuck them

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I stopped playing games. Honestly, they are more boring than lying around watching flys buzz.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Generally, Proton is enough for gaming.

I use Tiny11 when I have to use Windows to run games.

This modified Windows edition has no ads, no Edge browser, no forced online microsoft account, and no forced updates, so it’s a tolerable Windows edition.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Tiny 11 comes in two variants:

Tiny11 Core is not suitable for use on physical hardware as it outright disables updates. It's best used for short-term VM instances.

Tiny11 also has problems with updates. The advantages gained through Tiny11 will erode with applying Windows updates. The installer is more tolerable than Windows 11 by not forcing an online account (but still needing to touch telemetry settings). Components like Edge and One drive will inevitably rebuild themselves back in with cumulative updates. If this is something that coerces you to not update your system, don't subject yourself to using Tiny11. Additionally Tiny11 fails to apply some cumulative updates out of the box, which could be a further security risk.

I recently tested the main Tiny11 in a VM based on a different user recommending it in a now deleted thread. I was skeptical knowing the history of Tiny10 onward that 11 would actually be able to update properly, and NY findings backed up my initial skepticism of functional updates.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Thanks for the long details, dude.

I just use Windows to run games. I need nothing else on Windows. So Tiny11 is good enough for me.

In terms of safety, I don’t store any information on Windows, so I never update it. It's just a gaming tool for me.

If my game accounts like Ubisoft, Steam, or GOG are leaked, it’s acceptable. They are just some email addresses and automatically generated passcodes, easy to update. It’s not important.

And the file systems used by Windows and Linux partitions aren’t mutually readable, so running games on Windows is hardly likely to affect the safety of the Linux partition. It’s perfect.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Ah, that’s very helpful. Thanks!

Do you virtualize or dual boot?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I use dual boot. Virtualization is a bit cumbersome and inefficient for me.

I just use Windows to run games; I don’t do anything else on it. iPad/Linux is better for me.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I used to have a second partition with Windows for such cases, but over time I just stopped bothering with those games.

Now I just refund if it doesn't work and move on in my to-play list.

I still have a Windows VM for some applications and for doing firmware updates but I never bothered to set it up for playing games.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Mostly same here, but (I have an SSD with W10 on it. I haven't booted into my Windows drive since 2023. I only had a a few games installed on that drive, but it was also useful for the rare instance that I needed to some some propriety configuration utility.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

If it doesn't work I try a few things from protondb I try lutris then I give up and refund the game.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (1 children)

aside from leaving them behind

Why are we conforming to fit the software's needs instead of vice-versa? Fuck the devs who can't be assed to make it work for proton at the least. This isn't my job, I'm not being paid to use software that goes against my values. There's tens of thousands of games out there and I'm gonna let myself get so hung up on the few hundred that don't work that i just go back to m$?

Fuck. That. They deserve to get left behind. No piece of media is worth compronising on my values to consume.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago

It has been my experience that avoiding games with shitty features like microtransactions and whatnot, or where the studio treats its staff poorly, that kind of thing, also virtually guarantees Linux compatibility. Funny that.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I usually go on protondb and try whatever people tried until it works. Right now I'm playing on nvidia geforce 1050 ti with proprietary drivers on Bazzite and somehow it just works. For games that run badly natively on Steam I switch to Proton.

You might have a different experience than I do since I only play games that are at least 3 years old and never online competitive games.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Not the answer ya want, I RARELY play AAA games. Honestly haven't run into a game that wouldn't run so far.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

(aside from leaving them behind)

I do leave them behind. Same as with console exclusives or games for Macs (if they exist). If they don't run on my system, I play some of the hundreds of thousands of games that do.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

It kinda depends on what games you are using.

If they are online only with anti cheat dual booting is the only viable solution because most anti cheat’s that don’t work with Linux/proton will flag you as cheating if you try to use a vm.

If its some older game its prolly better to use a vm for that OS, lien a lot of old games for windows XP or windows 95 are like that. For really old ones you can just use dosbox which is very tried and true.

If it’s just some random game that doesn’t work I either A: figure it will get working in some way eventually or B: give up on ever playing it again.

I think I’m at the point where if a new game comes out and it didn’t work on Linux I just wouldn’t buy it. But I might be an outlier since most of the games I like usually get a Linux port or will work with proton anyways

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Everything I want to play that doesn't work on Linux is available on GeForce Now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My solution is "have a large game collection, and move on to the next game". The odd bad game will likely get better in a future version of Wine. Proton 9-something even picked up support for some of the fussier Japanese VNs (but not well enough for IMHHW, alas).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Then there's the ones that actively block Linux and will ban you if you actually manage to get it to work (*cough* Destiny 2 *cough*)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

When somebody tells you "fuck off, I don't want your business", believe them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Oh, believe me, I do

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

All of them i've actually wanted to try out I was able to stream via the xbox game pass website in a browser. It is not a perfect experience, but it is "good enough" on a decent internet connection. I understand that if you physically have an xbox you can also run the game on that and stream it to your linux desktop for much better performance and latency, but I have not tried this myself.

That said, it is pretty rare. The only ones I've tried that with were fortnite (a friend wanted to play the lego game mode, but it was short lived - starved for content, lol) and starfield (it was free on game pass and I wasn't sure I wanted to buy it).

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

I have a dual boot partition, but honestly the games that don't run are so few and far between that I really don't bother..

It's like if you bought a Playstation, how do you play Xbox games? Unless it's really worth it, you just don't.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

This might come off as an easy way out to your question, but very simply I just don't bother with games that don't run on linux. There's enough really great titles that run great on linux, especially with the help of proton.

I can't be bothered with using windows anymore. It's so bad. It's very very bad, I rather do something else than have to play games under windows. I'll only use windows if I absolutely m must, like for when I'm at work.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

This. I had written a similar last paragraph in my answer below, but decided to delete it before submitting.

I have to suffer Windows at work. No way on earth this sad excuse for an operating system gets anywhere near my gaming PC. I want my gaming PC to be for fun stuff, not use it to torture myself.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

What games are you playing? I have not encountered anything so far that has needed more than proton-ge, and even then it's only a couple of games that don't just work out of the box. I guess I primarily play indie games though, nothing that would have like anti-cheat which I understand is a hurdle.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

If I actually care about the game, I submit a ticket, asking for portability. This isn't really a thing anymore though, as usually the games that are incompatible with wine are games I don't want to play anyways (anticheat, cancerous drm). As for installing Windows, there is no game, and will be no game that is important enough to me to make me install corporate malware to play it, even in a VM, purely out of spite.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago

First things first: This hasn't happened to me in ages. I even stopped looking at ProtonDB. Stuff just runs.

However, if a game I buy really wouldn't run on Linux, I would just refund it (if possible) and play something else. I have a pile of shame that could fill a hundred lifetimes, I really don't need to play this one particular game.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I switched fully to Linux on my main gaming PC about 18 months ago. Honestly Proton has become so good that I really haven't had to dual-boot Windows or run a VM or anything. I even bought a licence for CrossOver when I first switched but ended up not needing it.

For the few games that really won't run (after trying what I find in ProtonDB and PCGW) I really do either A) wait for fixes, or B) just leave them behind. With a library of like 2500 games it's not hard to find something else to play.

These are the only games I recall not working at all for me:

  • Beyond Good & Evil (GOG) - Might be fixed now
  • Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (Steam) - Might be fixed now
  • Dauntless (EGS) - Broken due to Easy Anti-Cheat
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

It's nice to meet someone with a bigger pile of shame than mine. How do you pick the next game to play from that pile? And do you still add games to it? :)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I like how you accidentally (edit: or maybe not) donated Wine devs by buying CrossOver license :D

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

It was intentional 🙂

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I have a small windows install on a second SSD that I dual boot with. Most of my games work on Linux so I rarely have to boot over.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

For my sins, I do dual boot Windows 10. Though with wine and proton I reckon I can get ~80-90% of games to work.

I'd love to go 100% Linux, and I do my best to only buy games that support Linux. But there are sadly some old games and multiplayer games with friends that I still can't quite convince to work.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

I prefer to stand by companies that support my OS of choice. If they support me, I will pay them back. Otherwise I would be supporting them in ignoring my choices, so I put my money where my mouth is.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

I do without.

no way am I bothering with installing windows, in a VM or elsewhere.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

When I had to worry about that,I dual-booted. It's the simplest solution. I don't really play multiplayer PC games anyway, and multiplayer anti-cheat is 90%+ of the reason games won't run on Linux nowadays with the advancements made to Proton, so I don't really have that problem anymore and I haven't had any Windows on my system in a few years.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If it doesn't work in Wine (the only reason I've encountered so far is DRM), I just run it in a Windows VM. I play mostly visual novels, so it's not that much slower. For Anti-Cheat games, I boot into my Windows 10 installation. I still haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do with that installation come October 2025.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I suspect October will not be a huge deal. If a nasty exploit does pop-up in the wild I strongly suspect MS will back patch it for the next year probably.

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