Experience: I have a bit of experience with Linux. I started around 2008, distro-hopped weekly, decided on Debian until around 2011, when I switched to Windows as I started getting interested in gaming. Tried switching back around 2015, this time using Arch Linux for about a month, but had some bad experiences with gaming and switched back to Windows. I have had a Debian and Arch VM in Virtual Box since then for testing different applications and a more coherent environment to work with servers.
Understanding: Which brings me to now, I am really interested in using Linux for gaming, I know there is Proton from Valve and that they have been really pushing Linux gaming forward with it.
Thoughts: I have been contemplating dual booting by installing Debian to an SSD and simply using the UEFI boot menu to choose instead of having to install to the EFI of Windows.
I guess, I should just do it, as it won’t affect my Windows installation, and I could test different games and if all works well, move over. This would also allow me to try different distributions, though my heart is for Debian, I even like Debian Unstable.
Note: I am sorry for the wall of text, I am just kind of anxious I guess.
There’s never a bad time to switch to Linux! The best time may have already passed, but the second best time is now!
I love the positivity!
I believe your last Linux experience in 2015 predates DXVK which has been transformative for Linux gaming. Wine used to have to implement its own DirectX replacement which necessarily lagged behind Microsoft’s implementation, and IIUC didn’t get the same level of hardware acceleration due to missing out on DirectX acceleration built into graphics cards.
Now DXVK acts as a compatibility bridge between DirectX and Vulkan. Vulkan is cross-platform, does generally the same stuff that DirectX does, and graphics cards have hardware acceleration for Vulkan calls the same way they do for DirectX calls. So game performance on Linux typically meets or exceeds performance on Windows, and you can play games using the latest DirectX version without waiting for some poor dev to reimplement it.
If you are using Steam with Proton, Lutris, or really any Wine gaming these days you are using DXVK. It’s easy to take for granted. But I remember the night-and-day difference it made.
Once you get it set up, all the anxiety goes away.
Back your shit up, and do it. Games that can’t be played on Linux at all are decreasing. A dual boot setup solves that problem entirely.
Yeah, proton can take a bit to get set up and running, but there’s plenty of help for it out there with a search. And, again, you’ll still have the dual boot option. Linux really does cut down on the bullshit.
On steam it’s basically just a toggle. Maybe setting the proton version in the game’s properties. For non steam games, launchers like heroic can even detect and use the proton versions you installed through steam, so you don’t ever need to really do any setup yourself.
How much % would you say of the games can be played on Linux?
Since that’s going to depend a lot on your own personal Steam library, you can check what works well on Proton with this site. https://www.protondb.com/
You can even enter your Steam Profile link in there and it will show you the ratings of the games you own. Of the 155 I own, 86% had a gold, platinum or native rating.
O, I expected more %, but that’s okay.
I had very few that actually failed to run, most of the rest is silver with a few bronze.
Native means the game was built to run on Linux without Proton.
Platinum works perfectly with no tweaks.
Gold works great, but may require some tweaks to work best.
Silver runs with minor issues but is playable.
Bronze runs but may crash or have issues preventing comfortable play.
Borked is unplayable.I drew the line between silver and gold. If I moved it down one spot to between bronze and silver, almost everything I own would run. I think this is fantastic. This is literally running games that weren’t designed to run on Linux at all, and almost all of them run perfectly.
But is it easier than before? A few years ago I had to set up every game in playonlinux first. Not that big of a deal, but I just want every game to work out of the box like Windows, not set up every game first.
Yeah. You just install them with Steam and play. The Steam client comes with Proton which runs Windows games on Linux.
For the games that require tweaks, someone on ProtonDB will have said what tweaks is needed to play it. It’s generally just adding one small command to the game properties in Steam.
Sounds fantastic to me! Thank you! I’ll try this out…
If the game is on steam it is pretty easy. I just install the newest custom proton from glorious eggroll. And before i start a game for the first time is select this instead of the default proton. Then it just works generally. I don’t check protondb anymore, only in case of problems. I can’t even recall a game that doesn’t work currently. Granted, i don’t play AAA, only indie games.
Got any recommendations?
Basically anything that isn’t Siege, Valorant…anything without an abusive anti-cheat
Ok nice! Thanks!
Thanks, this makes me feel much better about it.
@mouse @Zaphodquixote I dual boot with Windows 11 and very rarely find myself not using Linux… It plays every game I’ve thrown at it in the last 6 months. The only time I end up using Windows is because I want to use a specific peripheral, like my steering wheel for racing games, rather than because Linux won’t run the game! Lutris is great for non-steam games. Runs Overwatch 2, Diablo IV, Guildwars 2, and League of Legends perfectly for me. GloriousEggroll is worth looking at too 🙂
If you can handle there being a few games that you just can’t play, the time to switch to Linux began a couple of years ago.
I switched last year and kind of was in a similar spot to you - I had tried to switch in the past but something didn’t work so I went back to windows. But that last attempt has stuck. So I’d just do it. Proton is in an amazing state, old games and even most new singleplayer games will work - some modern multiplayer games with anticheat even work. I’d just check your library on protondb (you can sign in to see your library), see what doesn’t work, if you care about it, or if there are workarounds.
What I also did is make a list of stuff that doesn’t work and then find alternatives or workarounds. If some games don’t work, you can hold off on switching, check protondb occasionally and see if something changes. But if it’s all good, I’d just make the jump.
Anti-Cheat was one of the major things that pushed me back to Windows for gaming. They often aren’t compatible, invalidating the newly proton-compatible game
Yeah that’s big area that’s shaky with proton. Fortunately a few games have been adding support (halo MCC recently did). And for me, I typically only play singleplayer games - the most modern multiplayer game I play is titanfall 2 which works great on Linux.
But for someone who does play those games, I can see how the lack of them can be a huge obstacle.
I like your idea of making a list. If all goes well I might just move over, and keep Windows on a small disk for any outliers.
I believe Protondb has the option to sign in with your Steam account, and show you the status of everything in your library.
Yeah keeping windows on a separate disk is a good idea. I was going to do too that but I fucked up a dd command and somehow broke the original installation… So I just said fuck it and went full Linux.
If you’re tired of Windows spying on everything you do, this is a great time to switch to Linux. If you believe it’s ok that Windows spies on you because you have nothing to hide, then you need to do some more growing up lol.
Check https://www.protondb.com/ for the games you play. If some doesn’t work, ask yourself if you can live without them.
I’ve been full time Linux for quite a few years now, but I do have a dual boot mainly for VR. Other than that there haven’t been many games that I want to play that don’t work with Linux.
I’m actually quite excited hearing from everyone, gaming on Linux has changed so much in…oh it’s been 8 years since 2015. I will probably keep one small drive for a minimal Windows installation, just for the few outliers, however looking at ProtonDB shows that most of my games will work just fine or with a small tweak.
its night and day tbh.
🧐Linux cured a friend’s LoL addiction. Now they write code 😅😅😅😅😅😅🧐🧐🧐
It’s a great time to game on linux. I my personally use arch and everything works fine for the games I play be it with steam and lutris. I also have an nvidia 3080 and it works fine.
I recommend pop! Os for your first distro. It’s a very good distro that is newb friendly and it’s ready to go from the first boot.
It’s a perfect time to get your toes wet and there’s plenty of places to get help when your stuck. The popos subreddit is full of people with the knowledge to help and most important here at lemmy.
Proton works very well for me. I don’t play any games that use anti cheat though.
A lot of games that use anti cheat middleware don’t work, but I’ve heard support is improving.
I use Debian Testing. I recommend using Testing as well if you want to use Debian, or at least a custom kernel like xanmod to get newer drivers.IMHO it depends on what kind of gaming you do. For me, I play all the big tentpole AAA games on console. My PC gaming is mostly indy stuff and things that suck on console like 4x strategy games. For my uses, gaming on linux has been… surprisingly good.
I would definitely recommend trying it out with dual boot.
Just lower your expectations and dive in. Unless there is a specific game that you REALLY want to play… then search if (your most wanted game) 100% works on linux and then do it.
All in all, its just a matter of not expecting much and be willing to ditch some things here and there. Get used to “do it yourself” and you’ll be fine.
I was suggested to look at ProtonDB, and it looks like all my games will work fine. I will be giving it all a test in the coming days.
The games that don’t work are typically (not exclusively) games with anti-cheat systems or live service games. Most everything else works out of the box on Steam with Proton.
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It is the year of the linux desktop!
Every year is the year of linux desktop
Stop trying to make it happen meme.
We are 3% now, until the end of the year we might get 3.2%, how can this not be the year o the gnu/hurd?
Right???
I decided to try exclusively gaming on Linux for a few months as a “new year’s resolution” back in 2019, see if I could stop dual booting just for games. Never went back, deleted my Windows partition completely that Summer.
There’s a couple of important things to note, which you didn’t have in your post:
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which graphics card you have. If you’re AMD / Intel, the drivers are integrated into most distros, and they just work. NVidia is a bit of a ballache - once you know how to install their proprietary ones and disable Nouveau, they’re reasonably trouble-free. Reasonably.
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what kind of games you’re into. And really, the question is ‘are you into MMOs / online shooters’ that are likely to have troublesome DRM, because mostly everything else works.
ProtonDB has an entry for nearly every game on Steam with some compatibility notes, but really, Proton, DXVK, and the advent of the Steam Deck have really pushed things forwards - gaming on Linux seems less troublesome to me now than gaming on Windows used to be
Someone above mentioned ‘trouble with Lutris’? Works pretty damn well with my non-Steam games, but then, those are mostly from GOG, so a bit older and DRM free.
I do have AMD, so that’s nice that it will be a better experience. Recently AAA games have been very underwhelming, so I have been cutting back on new AAAs until later and when on sale. I play Guild Wars 2 (MMO) quite often, but I hear that it will play fine as it doesn’t have any anticheat. I am not into any competitive shooters, so I will be find on that front. Looking at the games on ProtonDB show that this will be a smooth experience, and I’ll be fine with some games not working or performing below average.
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A lot has changed since 2015 thanks to Proton. However, it’s not a magic pill. Some tinkering might be required, with how much and how often depends on what you play. So just give it a try and see it for yourself, dual boot is a viable option. Pick some user-friendly distro that handles Windows detection and offers easy video drivers installation. Are you sure that Debian is that distro given your struggles with Arch Linux? I’m not that familiar with it myself, I thought that Debian comes in a relatively raw state.
Thank you. The issue with Arch Linux was more about the performance and some games at the time just not working, which looking at ProtonDB shows they work fine now. I really enjoyed my time with Arch, all the customization and manually installing applications made it feel more personal and really “mine”. I will probably give a few distros a try before really settling in.
