Any Linux gamers here?

I don't trust PRotonDB unfortunately. Mainly due to when I briefly had a Steam Deck and something would apparently "run great", and then it runs at 25fps on potato mode. Again, it seems a minor thing but I don't want to have to research beforehand if something works, everything I get works as is. You can check any game and see wild contradictions in the comments.

I mainly use macOS fdor work, that kind of counts right. I always go through with this cycle, I try and think of why Linux would be better for me and I can't get past like 2 'pros' when I map it out.
 
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Infidelus said:
You might be surprised. The main problem with Linux gaming is kernel level anti-cheat software as the developers can't do that on Linux and so won't let the game run. These tend to be online FPS games but there are plenty of AAA games, including relatively new ones, that work flawlessly on Linux. ProtonDB, already mentioned above, is an excellent resource to see if something is likely to work.
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I know that anti-cheat software has always been a problem for Linux as some devs use it as an form of copy protection/DRM. But some of my older games dont run in PRotonDB or they run poorly.

When it comes to games, I want it to "just work" on my PC, if there isnt a console alternative. Same reason I don't game on my Mac's both being M4 powerhouses but wasted not used for gaming.

But for emulation, apart from one major emulator which has stopped supporting Linux. They work better than the Windows alternative.
 
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Ooh just remembered, I have a decent laptop hiding in a drawer, I could whack Linux on that just to see what the non gaming stuff is like, but from memory it was all perfectly livable. I'll spend hours looking at Linux distros now :rolleyes:
 
Noxia said:
I don't trust PRotonDB unfortunately. Mainly due to when I briefly had a Steam Deck and something would apparently "run great", and then it runs at 25fps on potato mode. Again, it seems a minor thing but I don't want to have to research beforehand if something works, everything I get works as is. You can check any game and see wild contradictions in the comments.

I mainly use macOS fdor work, that kind of counts right. I always go through with this cycle, I try and think of why Linux would be better for me and I can't get past like 2 'pros' when I map it out.
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I know you can get differing reports on ProtonDB, but it is just a tool that shows if a game is likely to run. It may not work for everyone but if there's a gold or platinum rating then the chances it won't work are slim. You may have to add a launch option or occasionally tweak something else for anything other than platinum but it's a small price to pay to get away from Microsoft's increasingly intrusive and bloated OS that you have less and less control over. If that's not for you then that's honestly fine but, for me personally, the pros of going full penguin far outweigh the cons :).
 
Noxia said:
Ooh just remembered, I have a decent laptop hiding in a drawer, I could whack Linux on that just to see what the non gaming stuff is like, but from memory it was all perfectly livable. I'll spend hours looking at Linux distros now :rolleyes:
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Here you go. Shouldn't take too long to get through them all :cry::cry::cry:.
 
One thing I have struggled with it's getting SteamOS to format my second M2 drive for use. It's formatted a 1TB SSD no issues, but just won't play ball with the M2, and I've tried a few different drives. I've got it formatted to EXT4 in desktop via Disks and I've set it to be the default storage for Heroic, so I'm getting to use it on the system, but just annoying not getting compatibility with SteamOS.
 
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Long post incoming (including rant!)

I've used Unix/Linux for a long time at work, dabbled with it at home but really only started moving onto it when MS started en*****ification (honestly, go back and use Windows 7, and tell me the user experience hasn't got massively worse with subsequent Windows versions) and it's been the boiled frog effect ever since.

I started experimenting seriously using it for gaming out of laziness (not wanting to boot into another OS) 3-4 years ago and the changes in that time have been momentous really driven by Valve and I can honestly say recently I've had no more troublesome experiences on Linux than I have had on Windows, in fact in head to heads a majority better experience (KCD2 springs to mind) even at release.

I still dual boot windows for the odd game (Gamepass mainly) and for meta VR. But the rest of the time I'm in Linux, currently CachyOS and PikaOS over several machines. I don't online multiplay so haven't ran into those issues.

I think it helps I've always ran an Intel CPU and AMD GPU so I've not got the issues Nvidia users experience due to their crappy way of doing things. Though my old quadro optimus laptop plays the low end stuff I use on it fine in my experience and I understand things are getting better in that regard.
 
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Mercurial said:
I still dual boot windows for the odd game (Gamepass mainly) and for meta VR. But the rest of the time I'm in Linux, currently CachyOS and PikaOS over several machines. I don't online multiplay so haven't ran into those issues.

I think it helps I've always ran an Intel CPU and AMD GPU so I've not got the issues Nvidia users experience due to their crappy way of doing things. Though my old quadro optimus laptop plays the low end stuff I use on it fine in my experience and I understand things are getting better in that regard.
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Do you have Meta PCVR games installed or are you just using their software to allow you to play Steam VR titles? If the latter you could try ALVR or WiVRn. I tend to prefer ALVR as that's the first one I tried, and it works well for me, but I've heard good things about WiVRn.

I keep hearing about issues with Nvidia cards for Linux gaming but I think I must be lucky as my RTX 2070 hasn't caused me any noticeable problems with the games I play. I do expect my next card to be an AMD though, though I've no imminent plans to upgrade.
 
It's the meta client unfortunately, mainly older Rift era titles which i still pick up and play occasionally. ALVR, although a bit fiddly initially, I've found fine and works well enough as well. I've not heard of WiRVn (as I thought ALVR was really the only game in town) so I'll have an investigate. :)

Regarding the NV, I think it's more historical now that a lot of distros have a specific Nvidia version to download or packages available.

Also, comparatively (and which is still a thing) their Linux drivers are less performant than the Windows equivalent, wheras AMD/Mesa is on par or better to theirs (mainly).
 
The ALVR UI leaves a lot to be desired :cry: as do the multitude of options (most of which can be generally ignored for the majority of users) but other than that it seems to work very well in my usage on my Quest 3. I only know about WiVRn because the ALVR devs have mentioned it a number of times, and even pointed users at it if they are having problems with ALVR :).
 
ALVR, once I'd got it setup and working to an acceptable level, I've just left to be honest, so maybe I do need to relook at it.

So thank you for the tip :)
 
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