Technically you can, but anytime the shaders need to update it’ll download the full shader cache back to the boot drive so there’s a lot of back and forth
No its Just that at some point disk speed provides marginal improvments for most games, especialy since most games were designed with hdd drivers in mind . And sd vs ssd in steam deck are at that point. There are exceptions to that, but they are pretty rare ( alghtough i cant remember one right now but i know i watched one comparison where nvme disk provided actual reasonable benefit compared to sata so i imagine its even bigger with sd card ). So unless you play very specific game a lot that you know benefits from fast disk speed then it dosent really matter that much.
I used Linux before Steam came to Linux, those were the good old days where every game required tinkering in WINE. I actually didn’t have a Steam account until it came to Linux, and then I played only a handful of Linux-native games (Rocket League was one of them).
When Proton came to Steam, a whole new world opened up, and now I can basically assume a game will work and I’ll be right more often than not.
So from my perspective, it wasn’t a rocky start at all, but a gradual widening of my gaming library. I’ve since played a ton more games, so I’ve rewarded Steam for the effort.
I spent ages thinking that I’d found a title that didn’t work, getting barely double-digit frame rates in the 3D hub area.
And about two months later I realised that what I’d actually done was lock the laptop into low power mode with the CPU and GPU being way underclocked and locked to that regardless of load. One metaphorical switch flip later, 60+ fps.
I find myself using desktop mode more on the Deck while docked than my Windows computer, that’s connected to the same monitor. Still trying to learn how to use programs like Bottles correctly, but once I do, I’m getting rid of the Windows computer.
They work in general, especially if the games have no anticheat or 3rd party launchers. As an example, Sonys PC ports work very well on linux/proton. Linux gaming is great nowadays.
On launch day, 70/30 chance in favor. For example, Baldurs Gate 3 is working perfectly and it just came out. Some newer games may require Proton fixes that can take a couple days to roll out though.
The only time I’ve experienced a AAA game not working at launch or shortly after launch is when the developer explicitly goes out of the way to block usage on Linux.
I just bought a new NVME SSD as I need to reinstall Windows anyway. I am seriously considering at least dual booting Windows and Linux or just going full Linux at once. You guys in here and the Linux community on Lemmy show me that it is possible to escape Windows without too much trouble, even for a Linux newb like me.
Okay, I am not a complete newb, I have set up a few Raspberry Pis and do run a unRAID server, but I have never seriously used Linux as a daily driver on my desktop or laptop.
I am using single GPU VFIO passthrough and it’s good enough to game on, especially if you also pin your CPU threads in the VM. You will lose a little bit of performance but if you really need that extra power you can just switch to bare metal Windows using dual boot
If you don’t want the full bloated Windows I can recommend that you check out ReviOS
Interesting, never heard of ReviOS before. Is there a list of changes they’ve made? I looked thru their site and couldn’t see any such details their docs. I’d like to know what sets it apart from the likes of Tiny11 and Ghost Spectre Superlite etc.
I also considered using Tiny11 and Ghost Spectre but ended up with Revi because I don’t really trust Tiny11 or Ghost Spectre. It’s super easy for a malicious actor to include malware in those redistributed ISOs.
Of course the same thing can be said about Revi but Revi also offers the option to run their Playbook on a regular install of Windows. Or you could make your own custom Windows Playbook with Ameliorated.
Then there is also AtlasOS which, like Revi, is made using Ameliorated. I chose Revi because they had MS store and Windows defender still working and I like their custom tool. But according to Atlas developers, Windows Defender will be coming back in the next release.
In the end I guess what it comes down to is who you trust. The safest bet would be to debloat Windows yourself.
Using QEMU/Virt-Manager you can just create a new VM and instead of creating a virtual disk you just input the path to your drive manually. In my case it’s mounted at /dev/sdb
This will pass your full drive to the VM and Windows will just boot up like magic
Edit: If you already have a Windows VM I would assume you could just edit it and change from virtual drive to your full Windows drive instead. I don’t think you have to make a new one
Bought a second drive to run Linux on my gaming PC. It’s been a month and I haven’t had the need to boot into Windows yet. I had some initial troubles during installation but it’s smooth sailing since. After owning the Steam Deck for 1+ year and already running Linux on my laptop, it was the last step towards ditching Windows entirely.
I use Proton (Linux) for games where my hardware is overkill or my FPS is good enough.
But in games where the hardware is maxed and the FPS is below my preference. I use windows because there is still sometimes like a 10%-20% loss by running windows stuff from Linux.
In Steam Deck could be different because it’s more optimised maybe. There are exceptions that run better on Linux I understand (example: same FPS but less stuttering).
Diablo 4 runs well 60-40fps in the open world 60fps in dungeons on a mix of low/med settings. I play it at 50fps cap for smoother pacing and it’s a great experience.
My only issue with Proton are crash and rendering issues related to ray tracing on certain games (probably Nvidia’s fault). Also, Halo master chief collection crash after a few minutes gameplay, but that’s might have something to do with the game being made by Microsoft. Other than that, it’s perfect. Even DLSS is working fine too.
You didn’t mention it in your post, did you make sure you set proton to run for non-verified games in steam settings? Also did you try proton experimental and/or Proton-GE?
HUMANKIND seems to be a mixed bag but the others are reported to run well.
I did indeed try Proton. Proton is basically why I even bother to install Steam on Linux these days, but Humankind, a game I very much enjoy, does “almost” run. It’ll go to a black screen, and then it’ll freeze. I’ve tried different combinations of games and settings (incl. Proton settings)and launch settings, but not a lot seem to want to launch or work.
Again, I’ve been a general Linux user for years, and I’ll keep using it, but the dream is to completely ditch Windows. It doesn’t look like we’re quite there yet (to me, at least).
Note that I’m not making this post to hate on Linux or Fedora, even though it may seem a little… ya. I just want to game without booting into Win 11, and it doesn’t let me - yet.
Also, since you’re already on Fedora, you should check out Nobara, which is gaming-optimized Fedora-based distro made by GloriousEggroll, the guy who makes Proton-GE.
Do you have Proton installed, and did you tell Steam to run games using it? Go to Steam -> Settings -> Compatibility. Make sure Enable Steam Play is checked for both Supported and “Other” titles, and the drop down has a Proton version in it. I personally use Proton Experimental for everything.
I can’t help but notice that Civ VI, F1 2015 and Broforce which all work for you are all native Linux titles, and all of the ones that don’t work don’t have Linux versions and would therefore need to be run through Proton. ProtonDB lists all of them as Gold tier titles, so they should generally work okay with only minor issues. Steam doesn’t do great messaging and prompt players to do this from what I remember.
Appreciate the reply! Yeah, you’re right, the games that should run, run (even though Civ VI is having some issues with AA). I do have Proton enabled, and I have checked ProtonDB (and read comments for tips and “run-commands”, but I’m still stuck.
It should again be mentioned that I’m on Fedora 38, but that shouldn’t have any impact right? I’m aware that PopOS is the “go to” distro when you wanna game on Linux, but is that actually true?
Regarding the distro, definitely not the case. Steam Deck runs on Arch for example. Years ago I played on Fedora just fine.
If you don’t mind elaborating, what are the issues you’re seeing? I absolutely get your frustration, but I think many of us would be happy to help you and hopefully it’s a quick solution!
Any distro should work provided you have the right packages. The package maintainers will ensure the versions play nicely together. What matter a bit more is X11 vs. Wayland, and Nvidia vs AMD, but in general, I’m fairly confident you should be able to play on any distro through Steam. Some distros come packed with drivers/wine/etc. for convenience, some you might have to compile them. The former will advertise their “gaming-readiness”, I would stick to those. Outside of gaming, you will get the same smoothness you find with Fedora with other distros.
Excellent reply! I’m just running stock Fedora Workstation 38 on an all AMD-system. On paper, this should not be a problem. Maybe I’m missing a teeny tiny detail, but that’s part of the game I guess,lol. I’ll keep using Fedora as a daily and boot into Win 11 when I wanna game. Proton is moving fast though, so hopefully I’ll run “pure linux” soon.
I’ve been gaming on fedora for 2 years now, and it’s worked perfectly for me every time. Civ 6 has working AA for me, and even most ray traced games I have run with ray tracing. I can’t recommend pop these days because it is fairly old, and in its next version will get a whole new desktop which may or may not work well.
Thanks for your input! Much appreciated, and I’ll definitely keep using Fedora. A world where Windows isn’t the only proper OS for gaming would be awesome, but I honestly beleve we’re heading towards that world in the near future. Valve is working hard at Proton and things are only getting better.
There’s actually a distro based on Fedora called Nobara that is gamer focused. It’s maintained by a well-known Redhat employee who also maintains Proton-GE.
Nobara KDE has been my distro of choice for a while. Everything seems to just work for me.
Yeah I want Gimp to be good so bad but I’ve been waiting for like 20 years and it never seems to change…i really want a Photoshop and Lightroom ripoff for Linux.
Darktable is pretty neat, but i only edit photos of my dogs and gatherings of friends and family tbh, so it could lack a lot of what lightroom does and i’d never know.
It’s compatible with adobes .dng so you should be able to get usable raws from almost every digital camera with the dng converter in wine, if your cameras raw format is not supported.
Adobe may never do this. You might have some luck looking into alternative apps to the ones you work with.
There are some very compelling, cross platform, FOSS alternatives to Photoshop (GIMP, Krita), Illustrator (Inkscape), InDesign (Scribus), maybe premier pro (Davinci Resolve isn’t FOSS, but it is cross platform. You can also try shortcut, openshot, kdenlive but they’re not as advanced).
One thing I miss, however, is the interoperability between Adobe apps. Like copying a vector from illustrator into an InDesign document. I couldn’t do the same between Inkscape and Scribus
Abode is an alternative suite being developed by Culture Hustle, the company started by Stuart Semple, and who made the blackest black and pinkest pink paints, aswell as who ported the Pantone catalog after that whole fiasco.
Imagine paying a subscription; use Affinity Photo and Designer as these are very viable alternatives without the subscription. GIMP is not a good alternative despite it being free :(
If you don’t need Photoshop for actual work, then running it under Wine is a viable option. CC 2019 (20.0) works fine for the most part, but you need to install it in Windows first and copy over the installed folder. CC 2023 also works, but there’s no GPU acceleration support (yet).
I agree that the experience on Linux is quite variable; I set up my Linux installation to play games once 3 years ago (it didn’t take me hours) and my Steam games are plug and play. I don’t play all the games from those lists but RDR2 plays perfectly fine for me. Occasionally, there would be updates that would introduce a regression for some games (DX12 is still a bit hit or miss on some titles) and it would take a few searches to find a workaround, but I can accept that, since I can stay on an OS I trust and would rather use. Rarely, there would be a serious bug or issue that I find difficult to triage because I can’t tell whose fault it is between Proton/Wine, Steam, Nvidia etc. But this happened once in the past few years.
I think what would help is Steam making their own Wiki (with contributors) on gaming on Linux for its own platform for players who just want a streamlined experience.
But communities like /c/linux_gaming (or its orange site equivalence) are ways to get support and help one another. You could even see it as the “friends you make along the way”.
I would say gaming on Linux has come a long way since, but depending on how much time and energy one has for the occasional tinkering, one might need to exercise more patience. Sounds like Windows gives you what you need, and that’s okay.
A+ reply. I totally agree. I’ll say that the platform is NOT the problem, but the approach. What is “Linux” these days? A colleague who’ve been using Windows for all his 35 years asked my yesterday about Linux. “What’s the best Linux-thing (distro) for a noob like me that’s used to Windows?”, was basically his question.
My question then is “Well, do you game?” Of course, he games. He just bought Baldur’s Gate 3. He’s set for “life” (cough 1-6 months?). Anyhow, knowing he’s playing Baldur’s Gate 3, LoL, and WoW (yup), I don’t dare push him on his “linux quest” quite yet.
Also worth noting that the fact that Linux gaming works at all on many “Windows-exclusive” titles is an absolute magnificent feat of engineering. For the longest time we’ve been working to get games working on Linux despite both game developers and engine makers historically expressing anything between disinterest and antagonism towards supporting games on Linux.
But I also get that the final product is still not all that smooth from a user’s perspective. Just be sure to put the blame on where it belongs (definitely not Linux, or Wine who has been bending over backwards for over a decade to swim against the flow).
Wait, but the three games you listed all work great on Linux. I’m confused. I am a few hours into BG3, I play LoL a few times a week, and I know WoW works because I played a ton of Hearthstone and Overwatch a few years back and those were some of the first games working well with DXVK. So I know Battle.net games usually work great.
LoL and WoW basically work perfectly on Linux (platinum rated). As for BG3, it works fine for the most part with Proton-GE / Proton Experimental. But since it’s still very new though, expect bugs, but also expect the compatibility to get even better within the next few weeks.
My question then is “Well, do you game?”
Really though, the question shouldn’t be “do you game”, but "do you like tinkering around, fixing things, troubleshooting, and learning new things, in your free time? ", or, “do you like major changes, and having the patience to make a major change in your life work, or would you rather prefer familiarity and stability, a mindset of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’?”
If someone has been running Windows for 35 years and hasn’t checked out Linux already in some capacity, I doubt they’re the kind who likes change, the kind of person who likes to experiment and tinker. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend Linux to them based on that reason, unless they’re also the non-tech-savvy kind who have very simple requirements - like my Mum and Dad, who’ve been running Linux for over a decade now without any issues (because their requirements are very simple, so Linux fits their needs perfectly).
I’ve gone through about a dozen distros over the last year since I decided to use Linux exclusively, finally landing on EndeavourOS as my current home distro.
You know what I’ve found? I don’t play games nearly as much, because due to whatever the hell is wrong with my brain, I enjoy the troubleshooting as much or more than the gaming. It’s become an unexpected weekend joy to find some random game from my past have an absolute ball tinkering to make it work only to finally launch the game and say “alright, that was fun” and go to bed.
This is exactly what set me on my career path from my time as a teenager finding games on the seven seas. I found that I enjoyed doing all of the service administration, hacking, tweaking, and troubleshooting to get the games working, managed, and distributed more than actually playing the games.
I spent more time on ripping and copying PlayStation games than I did playing them.
Others have said enough but I just want to mention protondb.com look up a game you want to play here and you can see how others on Linux are doing with it.
Yeah, thanks for the mention, but it doesn’t seem very reliable unless people mention their HW. I’m on an all AMD system and even though it’s rated GOLD, it doesn’t even run on my system. (4600G & 6700 XT).
Yeah it should give you an idea if it’s Linux making it harder for you to game or if it’s your hardware. Or which version of proton they are using or any tweaks they did. Good luck!
This is a late reply so you may have already noticed by now, but in case you didn’t (or someone else who passes by doesn’t notice) - ProtonDB by default lists Steam Deck users on the top half of each game’s entry now so you won’t see those users hardware as it should be the same. However, on the second lower half of the page you’ll see people who aren’t on Steam Deck and generally users have their HW included so it shows up to the right of their comments.
I think its incredibly silly that it can’t be changed. I don’t have a Steam Deck for example, so I use this Tampermonkey script to add a collapse button to it (I don’t want them completely gone as its still a good rough indicator).
Yeah, I’ve (slowly) noticed this. At first glance it looks like something will run great, but then when you scroll down and read comments from people with other hardware, it won’t be that simple. The scores/ratings are, in other words, misleading (at a glance).
Want to add that on desktop steam you can also add the Deck Verified indicator to games. While this isn’t as in depth. It’s definitely more streamlined and makes it easier to find games that are supported well.
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