Guide for gaming on Linux. Best distros for gaming, and for general use as well.

[Cyan]

Pop OS or Ubuntu (this one might work better, from personal experience).

THE BEST GUIDE TO START PLAYING GAMES ON LINUX

The Ultimate Linux Gaming Guide by Chris Titus. (very brief and really good, use the terminal like explained and you're good to go in a matter of minutes)

https://christitus.com/ultimate-linux-gaming-guide/

I came across this video of someone who has been a Linux user for many years, talking about the recommendation of a gamer with many years of Linux experience as well ...

In the video's description he takes you to this forum where people who are true Linux experts, answer the question as to whether it's the best Linux distro for gaming. (either Ubuntu -had to use it a LOT when studying, never liked it- or Pop OS)

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2020/12/the-best-linux-distros-for-gaming-in-2021

 

[Cyan]

MY EXPERIENCE WITH LINUX

On all Linux operating systems I've tested from a while ago I've always done the same thing - long story short. Basically .... I installed them on my computer's NVMe, the fastest drive.

Then I downloaded my favorite browsers, the .NET SDK, Discord, Telegram, file managers like Gnome Disks, Visual Studio Code, Steam and some games.

I used the terminal a lot, I downloaded the nVidia drivers. Well, below is an example of all the ISOs I've been downloading and testing.

Quick review of the distros I've tried:

Pop OS! (the BEST)

ArchCraft (like a good ArchLinux but with a more basic interface, not a walk in the park but can be taken)

ArcoLinux (decent interface, but I didn't like it)

ChimeraOS (pending review, but it's almost like SteamOS version 2015, in plan enters Steam Big Picture directly ....)

Garuda Dragonised (yes very cool at first, but run away from it like the pest)

Lubuntu (it's a minimized Ubuntu, the only one that didn't play sound, I don't recommend it. Living in that world of silence is not my thing)

Manjaro (my favorite 2º Linux OS, good interface and all very well. It uses Arch Linux, so I used the terminal quite a bit but very happy)

Puppy Linux (very rare interface and not suitable for the heart-fainted, but it is a brave option and only for that reason it deserves a mention)

Solus (right there with Pop OS and Manjaro. It literally flies at startup, 0.5 seconds and you're logged in. It's based on Arch Linux, I liked it a lot)

Sparky Linux Gameover Edition (fine, no problems, but no panacea either)

Steam OS (not the one that will come with the Steam Deck but the 2015 version or worse. Run away from it like the plague)

 

[Davros]

I use Ubuntu Gamepack https://ualinux.com/en/ubuntu-gamepack
for those games that dont like win 10 it will run from a usb drive so it doesnt need to be installed and theres no chance of messing up your pc
has amd and nv divers installed, steam, dosbox wine amd scummvm

 

[Albuquerque]

I use Ubuntu Gamepack https://ualinux.com/en/ubuntu-gamepack
for those games that dont like win 10 it will run from a usb drive so it doesnt need to be installed and theres no chance of messing up your pc
has amd and nv divers installed, steam, dosbox wine amd scummvm

Agree with Davros here; I've used Ubuntu Gamepack a number of times and it's always been really great for precisely the reason he mentioned: I boot it off my 512GB NVMe USB 3.2 disk and it's just a whole, high performing OS with everything I care about for playing old grouchy games without Win10 being in the way

 

[tuna]

I use Fedora but I don't really game on Linux.

 

[Cyan]

I use Ubuntu Gamepack https://ualinux.com/en/ubuntu-gamepack
for those games that dont like win 10 it will run from a usb drive so it doesnt need to be installed and theres no chance of messing up your pc
has amd and nv divers installed, steam, dosbox wine amd scummvm

Agree with Davros here; I've used Ubuntu Gamepack a number of times and it's always been really great for precisely the reason he mentioned: I boot it off my 512GB NVMe USB 3.2 disk and it's just a whole, high performing OS with everything I care about for playing old grouchy games without Win10 being in the way

do you both mean that you have it installed on a "system" drive or do you mean (specially Davros) you can install it Live? In that case Lakka and batocera might be great options for you.

Dunno about Ubuntu Gamepack but Pop OS is ideal for me. It was the best Linux regarding nVidia drivers. The only one without screen blackouts when setting the framerate to 165Hz -blame nVidia closed drivers though, other distros dont use this driver that Pop OS uses-...

 

[Cyan]

I use Fedora but I don't really game on Linux.

what advantages does it have? Just curious. It is one distribution I was so tempted to use, and in the end I didn't cos I tried quite a few distros while performing the same steps on them so I could judge which one fits me better.

You can suit Fedora for gaming. On Linux you have Steam -with Steam Play to use proton-, Lutris, Heroic Games Launcher (Epic Storee equivalent), MiniGalaxy, etc etc.

Also some Linux desktop environments are faster framerate wise, when it comes to games, according to this Excel.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...u40Mwsuz4PIFfWjBAaXNIn50Y/edit#gid=2127540895

 

[Albuquerque]

do you both mean that you have it installed on a "system" drive or do you mean (specially Davros) you can install it Live?

Not sure about Davros, but my NVMe USB key doesn't give the removable disk status flag at a hardware level, just like a fixed disk, so it ends up beig a "system" drive to the OS. But it works like a Live OS in that I can plug it into basically any modern-ish x85 machine (anything basically past the Core 2 Duo era) and it just works.

 

[Florin]

I mostly deploy Linux Mint these days. It's Ubuntu for all intents and purposes but sticks with .deb packages instead of snaps. I don't necessarily mind snaps but think they are most appropriate for large applications, not stuff like system utilities.

The Cinnamon UI is pleasing to the eye, troublefree, and sticks with a nice classical application based metaphor rather than pushing a document centric workflow. GUI handling of kernel selection and proprietary drivers makes it all feel complete and well thought out. Plus anything Debian or Ubuntu just works.

 

[tuna]

what advantages does it have? Just curious. It is one distribution I was so tempted to use, and in the end I didn't cos I tried quite a few distros while performing the same steps on them so I could judge which one fits me better.

Since Redhat pays for most of the desktop "infrastructure" (Pipewire, wayland, fwup etc.) you can get usually those components first in Fedora. You might or might not enjoy those aspects of a distro.

 

[Davros]

or do you mean (specially Davros) you can install it

you can install it but you dont need to it will run off a usb thumb drive or a dvd drive you leave your games on your windows drives and just double click on the exe

 

[Cyan]

Not sure about Davros, but my NVMe USB key doesn't give the removable disk status flag at a hardware level, just like a fixed disk, so it ends up beig a "system" drive to the OS. But it works like a Live OS in that I can plug it into basically any modern-ish x85 machine (anything basically past the Core 2 Duo era) and it just works.

how do you update it?

I mostly deploy Linux Mint these days. It's Ubuntu for all intents and purposes but sticks with .deb packages instead of snaps. I don't necessarily mind snaps but think they are most appropriate for large applications, not stuff like system utilities.

The Cinnamon UI is pleasing to the eye, troublefree, and sticks with a nice classical application based metaphor rather than pushing a document centric workflow. GUI handling of kernel selection and proprietary drivers makes it all feel complete and well thought out. Plus anything Debian or Ubuntu just works.

well, I've downloaded it and some other distros as well. I am trying to find out what distro suits me best for gaming and general use. I have Windows 11 installed on the SSD, so the internal NVMe is like my testing suite.

Since Redhat pays for most of the desktop "infrastructure" (Pipewire, wayland, fwup etc.) you can get usually those components first in Fedora. You might or might not enjoy those aspects of a distro.

never heard of those features or apps, frameworks or whatever. There is a Fedora version called Fedora Games Spin.

you can install it but you dont need to it will run of a usb thumb drive or a dvd drive you leave your games on your windows drives and just double click on the exe

cool stuff. That just works for old drm free games, right? I mean, if you click on a Steam's game .exe file you have to identify as the owner of the game, right?

On a different note, from the distros I tried the best one has been Pop OS overall for gaming and general use, and the one I liked the most, atm, has been Manjaro

 

[Davros]

how do you update it?

it can be updated if you install to a usb drive if you burn it to a dvd you just burn another whan a new version is released

if you click on a Steam's game .exe file you have to identify as the owner of the game, right?

yes, it comes with steam installed

 

[Cyan]

My gaming experiences with Linux with my typical games
NOTE! This post was written before I knew how to use this stuff, so take it with a grain of salt

Tried several distros, quite a few, but the one I like the most is Manjaro (for gaming though, Pop OS, Ubuntu Gamepack and Linux Mint might be better, those are great distros).

Your experience might differ if you use AMD hardware. nVidia's propietary drivers might be no good, and the "Nvidia's control panel" in Linux is a true joke.

Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed. With whatever nVidia drivers the other day ran choppy and barely achieved 60fps. This was on Pop OS with whatever nVidia drivers.

I used this command on Manjaro -it auto detects your hardware and updates you nVidia drivers automatically-

sudo mhwd -a pci nonfree 0300

Now for example Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed goes to more than 60fps even, ALL the time. I say more because the game originally runs at 60fps no matter what you do - as far as I know the framerate cannot be unlocked in Windows- but in the translation from DirectX to Vulkan, that limit seems to disappear.

With the new drivers the Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed works well. Crossing fingers.

The solution..., using Proton 4.11.13 in the Game Compatibility section.

Resident Evil 2 Remake. with Proton 6.35, it launched - in DirectX11, the game was set to work in DirectX12 and with it enabled it never starts in Linux, and it automatically launches in DirectX11-.

It detected the GPU as a GTX 1060 3GB. I start the campaign with Claire, hardcore level, from scratch. The intro of the trucker eating hamburger appears, everything is going very well.

I decide to skip that part so Claire's would appear on the bike. Bam! The game crashes and sends me the desktop.

I search for videos of people playing RE2R on Manjaro and they use Proton 5 something and I set the compatibility tab to Proton 5.13.6. Now it works!

The settings tell me now that I don't have graphics card so I have 0MB of VRAM memory, but it runs.

The problem comes in the framerate. Used to rocky 60fps in this game, the game runs between 30-40fps, without Freesync. Vulkan's HUB gives you the numbers by adding the following command in the Game Properties -> Launch Options.

DXVK_HUD = fps, devinfo% command%

You can imagine how the experience might be, unstable framerate fluctuating between 30-40fps and no freesync.

Then thanks to the people of nVidia and their horrible drivers -and even worse control panel-, to top it off, you cant fix an unstable framerate 'cos the Freesync settings are horrible.

Enabling Freesync in the nVidia control panel means that the monitor's framerate is 165Hz, which is cool, okay, but the screen "black out" every few seconds, even on the desktop. It's unthinkable to play a game that way.

Supreme Commader Forged Alliance: it launches and starts with a nice black screen that never goes out. It has a fix, but it's a really complex one.

And so on and so forth....

If all of this is fixed having with AMD GPUs and their open drivrers, cool, Steam Deck is going to be great. As I doubt it very much, atm I still think that Linux is not an operating system for gaming.

 

[Florin]

Your experience might differ if you use AMD hardware. nVidia's propietary drivers might be no good, and the "Nvidia's control panel" in Linux is a true joke.

Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed. With whatever nVidia drivers the other day ran choppy and barely achieved 60fps. This was on Pop OS with whatever nVidia drivers.

I used this command on Manjaro -it auto detects your hardware and updates you nVidia drivers automatically-

sudo mhwd -a pci nonfree 0300

BTW, on any Ubuntu type distro (like Pop!_OS or Mint), you can just:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

.. and pretty much always have recent Nvidia drivers available under 'Additional Drivers' in 'Software & Updates' (after you run 'apt update; apt upgrade').

 

[Cyan]

BTW, on any Ubuntu type distro (like Pop!_OS or Mint), you can just:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

.. and pretty much always have recent Nvidia drivers available under 'Additional Drivers' in 'Software & Updates' (after you run 'apt update; apt upgrade').

thanks for the tip. I use Manjaro and I wonder if there is something equivalent.

Lutris 0.59 beta now features Epic Games Store support.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/...-beta1-is-out-adding-epic-games-store-support

I found out that one of my favourite games, Alien Isolation, has a native Linux version. I downloaded it from my Steam account and might give it a try tonight. I play it on Windows with SpecialK HDR support and I am curious about playing it vanilla just for the sake of comparison.

The Linux version weighs 15GB -download size, 28.4GB installed-, Windows version 18.4GB (30,2GB installed), gamepass PC is 34GB installed and Epic's free version seems to be around the same size as Steam's version (Windows)

 

[Cyan]

my first screengrabs ever of a game running on Linux, using Proton 6.13-GE-1 and FSR enabled.

WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR=1 %command% is the command you have to add to the Launch Options text box in the game's properties.

 

[Cyan]

To complement The Ultimate Linux Gaming Guide by Chris Titus. (very brief and really good, use the terminal like explained and you're good to go in a matter of minutes)

https://christitus.com/ultimate-linux-gaming-guide/

He has a video on this guide, but I'd rather use the brief written guide:

This is from my favourite youtuber on these matters. (he uses the terminal here)

He has another video on that but using the GUI (preferably to use the terminal though)

 

[Cyan]

How to force the use of the Windows version in games that have a native Linux version on Steam

It might seem unnecessary but there are quite a few cases like Alien Isolation that are old games and did not use the best APIs on Linux (it uses OpenGL on Linux and DirectX to Vulkan version performs much better), which affects performance, or are somewhat poor ports without much support, etc etc...

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamPlay/comments/dt4hha

 

[Cyan]

How to set up Lutris (what a great app, btw!) for gaming on Linux.

With Lutris it not advised to use Proton, but the Wine version which is maintained by Glorious Egg Roll.

https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/wine-ge-custom

(thx to Zummerman for the pics)

On the main menu, open "Manage Runners"

Look for the Wine runner in the list of runners. Click on the green button to install.

Several versions will appear. Those compatible with FSR shall say "fshack".

Environment variables are added in their own section. And there is the possibility of adding them globally or game by game, being the latter the most recommended procedure since a variable can be good or bad depending on the game.

To add variables you just have to right click on the game and select "Configure". From there you go to the "System options" tab and scroll down to find the Environment Variables section.

There you have the "Add" button. To add the variables there are 2 columns, one for the variable name, and the second to add a value.

To enable FSR you must add a variable...

In the the first column the variable is:
WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR

Having the following value in the second column:
1

If we want to use a variable to adjust the quality level of FSR we add another one.

First column:
WINE_FULLSCREEN_FSR_STRENGTH

Second column:
A value from 1 to 5