SteamOS and Windows Steam games

[msxyz]

I've a question for people who have tried this OS

I want to abandon Windows as I don't feel like moving to Windows 10 when the support for 7 and 8 will be dropped. Nowadays I use Windows only for gaming, having migrated all other activities to MacOS and Linux.

However, I do have a long list of games purchased with Steam. I know some Steam games are available for multiple platforms (Windows, MacOS, Linux) but roughly 95% of my library is composed of old games designed to be run under Windows only. Over the years, I've diligently saved them (the entire game directory along with the manifest files) and that's how I transfer my games from one computer to the next one.

Is there a way to run these games for which a specific SteamOS/Linux version is not available under SteamOS? I know SteamOS can use Wine but I'm not sure if Valve DRM will be handled.

 

[Davros]

What do manifest files do ?

 

[msxyz]

I don't know in the specific. They're named with the steam app id code. Without it, the game would simply be re-downloaded. I don't think they contain any unique user-key identifier, that

 

[msxyz]

they're just flags to tell Steam a game is present and correctly installed. The drm is hidden somewhere else. When you move a game from one pc to the other with this method you still have to manually reinstall certain redistributables that came with the game (i.e. net, physX...) before running the game or use the "verify files" option from the steam menu.