Are there hardcore gamers there or is it mostly for coders?
I recommend using an AMD CPU and GPU, but otherwise you can just assume a game works and it will most of the time. If it doesn’t, there might be some quick fixes, and if not then it’s an unlucky one.
See ProtonDB.
Check out the steam hardware survey: https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
1.47% of steam users
Does that include Steam Deck users? Steam OS is based on Linux, but I don’t see it listed on the hardware survey under the Linux category.
It’s probably counted as “Arch Linux” since it’s what the Steam OS is based on.
It’s broken out as its own OS:
SteamOS Holo is the one used on Deck.
I’ve been gaming on Linux since Proton first launched. It was good back then, and at this point I can play just about everything in my Steam library (nearly 1000 games). From indies to racing sims to triple a games. It’s great.
Anti-cheat is still hit or miss, but I don’t really play any multiplayer games, so that doesn’t affect me luckily.
I use Linux as my daily OS, for study and work. I primarily game on it as well!
Every game that I’ve tried on Linux runs smoother (less 1% lows) than on Wind0ws. I assume it’s because of the bloat on win11, but then again I researched as much as possible to clean up and optimize win11. Still runs much better on Linux. I mainly play Apex Legends, and though I don’t consider myself good, I was D3 in S15.
The biggest issue is dealing with the games that use Anti-cheat systems that put kernel-hooks on wind0ws, which can’t be emulated.
That’s very cool! In general, assuming a game runs well through proton, how’s the gaming performance between Linux and the same hardware on Windows? (You mentioned 1% lows are better, but what about average?)
I’m not super familiar with proton so I would think running in proton has some performance hit; is this not the case?
it really depends on the game. most will be just about the same (in my experience), but some are worse and some are better. It does help to have a lightweight DE/WM.
Linux as an OS is just so much better about getting good performance out of the hardware, and keeping itself out of the way. I’ve converted a lot of people to Linux over the year in an effort to get better performance on older systems. They couldn’t afford to buy a new computer, and usually just wanted to be able to check email and go on the web. Slap Ubuntu on and they were always shocked how much better everything ran, but was still easy to use.
I have been gaming on Linux since 2017, and it is super super viable now. Did you know that over 70% of the top 1000 games on Steam are playable on Linux?
I fully switched to Linux ~3 years ago and at the beginning I was worrying about compatibility, but nowadays I don’t really have to think about it anymore. I play AA games almost daily with both Steam and Heroic. Like others have mentioned, there are some games that doesn’t work because of anti-cheats, but I think there are only a handful of those anymore.
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I switched near Windows 11 release. I went with Ubuntu hirsute hippo. I had an Nividia card and a steam account and was shocked at how well my games were running. And it has gotten better and better.
Steam is doing great with pleasing gamers.
My path to Linux was similar to yours, except I dealt with Windows 11 for about 6 months before I finally formatted it and replaced it with Pop!_OS in a 1am rage after it completely fucked up for the 87th time that day.
I was shocked to discover that it was even easier to deal with than Windows 11. The last time I used Linux was a decade ago and it was nowhere near as plug-and-play as it is now. Games worked seamlessly. It completely blew me away.
I do a bit of coding but I mostly use my pc to game tbh hahaha, Deep rock Galactic is what I’m obsessed with right now
@s804 consider subbing to /m/linux_gaming
Valve has certainly given linux a boost with the SteamDeck and all the work they’ve funded to make it a viable gaming platform. I just hope they release SteamOS for all platforms soon, maybe we’ll see an uptick in PC pre-builds with SteamOS as an option instead of just Windows.
Through Steam and Proton, I’m able to play most of the games I’m interested in: Mass Effect, Last of Us, Jedi Fallen Order & Survivor. Steam Deck is built on Linux too.
Proton is huge and is making gaming on Linux actually viable. The Steam Deck also is a huge motivator for devs to make games compatible.
Steam deck has grown it a fair bit. Excluding anticheat, most games can be made to work with the assistance of proton See protonDB for specific games, but it’s a definite thing.
BattleEye and EAC are supported, IF the developers enable it for their games.
I can play whatever I want on Linux, there’s so many options that make it work like Lutris, Bottles, Heroic Games Launcher and Steam of course. There are some exceptions though, some games don’t work, but that’s often a deliberate choice of the studios. Looking at you, Bungie.
^ this. I still check protonDB occasionally before a purchase but it’s rarely been an issue in the last 6 years. That about as how long I haven’t had any windows in the house.
I use Linux exclusively for gaming. Sometimes there’s a performance hit or weird bug, but mostly it runs very well, occasionally better than on Windows. I have quite often heard of windows players complaining about older games no longer running properly, and I’ve often had no problems with these on Linux, for example the original Dead Space.
However there are technologies which are still quite some ways off. Rtaytracing is improving but still a generation behind windows in terms of performance and support. HDR is barely supported anywhere. Variable refresh rate, is supported in some instances, but not universally, e.g. Gnome doesn’t support it yet for Wayland. I don’t know anything much about VR but would suspect it may not be very well supported yet either.
I don’t know where you draw the line for hardcore gamer but I play a lot of games and so does my friend, who is nontechnical and also plays on linux, and we both have very few issues and love the experience more than Windows. It really depends on what games you wanna play but there are very few games that aren’t working OOTB. Protondb is a good site that I’m sure other people will link but if you’re looking to switch I recommend taking a look at this site for the major games that will/won’t work: https://areweanticheatyet.com/
