Let’s not become delusional now. Linux as an overall operating system feels much better to use but only because we care to become tech savvy and to troubleshoot. There are so many headaches that come with Linux which makes it unattractive to most people.
We are probably not most people.
Thank you for being the sane one.
I’ve recently stumbled upon a lot of people like whoever wrote the article, rampaging all over the place, going “Linux is more user-friendly than Windows”, which is just an insane thing to say.
Linux is great, I love my Garuda to bits. But games are still optimised for Windows, we still need to use compatibility layers to get them running, and even though it’s gotten MUCH easier these days, there’s still a lot of titles that require tweaking/hacking. And some just refuse to run, period.
And then you have all the hardware compatibility issues that come with manufacturers just not supporting stuff. I can’t turn my GPU’s RGB off without Windows. I had to distro-hop to get the GPU drivers working correctly (it might be a “skill issue”, but that just proves the point, I think). Even titles that are marked as Gold on ProtonDB sometimes crash or refuse to run randomly.
do you have nvidia?
i’m going to push back on this a bit. gaming on Linux today is nothing less than a miracle story thanks to Vulkan, Valve and Wine. i can play AAA titles on launch and it just works, and often better than on windows.
gaming on Linux isn’t like it was 10 years ago. i’d say for most users, it’d be perfectly fine on an easy to use distro.
some things will not work, because of companies that still oppose Linux, like Epic and Nvidia, making using those products difficult. but that isn’t Linux’s fault, it’s theirs.
do you have nvidia?
AMD. The distro I had did something weird where I was getting around 10-15 FPS on the Desktop until I added the community repos and installed drivers from there. Everything was great until I realised that Steam stopped working at all and Heroic Launcher wouldn’t launch any games. After hopping over to Garuda, everything is fine-ish. Every now and again I launch something like Hogwarts Legacy and just need to reboot because nothing loads after the disclaimers. Still haven’t figured out how to launch Mafia DE. Etc., etc.
i’m going to push back on this a bit (…) gaming on Linux isn’t like it was 10 years ago
I’m not arguing that, I myself said that it’s great today with things like Proton.
But saying that it’s “better than on Windows” is just flat out insanity.
but that isn’t Linux’s fault, it’s theirs.
Average Joe doesn’t care who’s fault it is, just that he can’t play his favourite game without issues or terminal hacking.
there’s still a lot of titles that require tweaking/hacking. And some just refuse to run, period.
run into that shit on windows, too. and theres not compatability layers to blame, there.
Even titles that are marked as Gold on ProtonDB sometimes crash or refuse to run randomly.
and shit doesnt crash on windows? All protons in the world arent going to fix a games inherent bugs that make it crash.
run into that shit on windows, too. and theres not compatability layers to blame, there.
I honestly cannot remember the last time I had trouble running anything on Windows. Probably around early Windows 7? It’s been years.
and shit doesnt crash on windows? All protons in the world arent going to fix a games inherent bugs that make it crash.
Mate, come on… If a game crashes on Windows, you know it’s the game’s or the driver’s fault.
If a game crashes on Linux, it might be the game’s fault, or the driver’s fault, or the virtualiser’s fault, or the virtualised driver’s fault, or maybe a config file somewhere has something commented for no reason, or maybe you just rebooted and forgot to re-mount the secondary drive, or maybe a billion other reasons.
Gaming on Linux is MUCH better than it used to be, but pretending that it’s anywhere near Windows’ level of “fire and forget” is just being silly.
Ive had less issues getting gamws to run on linux than windows. Mh world runs without bsod and has better performance on linux, older games are easier to run since proton handles that while on windows theres tons of tweaking involved if it runs at all on 11 etc.
Not to mention all the drivers for tablet not needing to be manually started on linux every time I want to use it, my discord no longer has missing audio or audio input issues that I had on windows and almost everyone else still does etc. Flight sims and vr are the only two things I miss.
I’m not a techy, or a sys admin, or anything.
I never wanted ot think about my OS. I just want to click things and go.
Linux did have headaches when I switched. Some from my lack of knowledge, some from shit in linux just being fuckywucky. but that was many years ago.
I wouldnt say I’m any smarter today, than i was back then… but I will say Linux is so much better today than it was back then. Its reached the “it just works” stage, even for gaming, in everything I’ve tried with it. I am back to where I was on windows all those years ago, where I dont even think about my OS. I just click things and go.
I’m not so foolish to say its all sunshine and lollipops, especially with gaming, I’m sure there will always be a problem that crops up that needs a tweak/patch/config change to fix it… but honestly? Windows had that shit too. which is why I’d say, from a usability aspect, Linux is pretty much at parity with windows at this point.
And thats for gaming and shit.
if you are just a regular PC user where entertainment/email/bills/etc are all done in the webbrowser? Fuck…Linux has been good and ready for that for over a decade. My grandparents PC has run linux for over 15 years now, without nary an issue.
Depends on what types of games you want to play. If you play a lot of competitive multiplayer games you’re gonna have a bad time.
More people need to say that if you’re going to want ring 0, I’m not going to give you my money.
…which is a completely valid point if you don’t mind not playing those games. But if you do want to play them (for example because back when you got to love them, they didn’t have this), you have yourself a dilemma.
Unless you want to play against a shitload of cheaters every day (ruining the fun whenever you have 30 minutes to wind down), your game should have a decent enough AC to detect when someone loads a cheat, including the lowest level. And guess who doesn’t have a problem with 3rd party programs accessing ring 0.
So there you have it, you either stop playing all multiplayer games (not even just competitive ones!) entirely, or stick with Windows and all the awful things that come with it. I’ve been wanting to switch to Linux for the past 20 years, have been playing various multiplayer games over the past 2 decades, and it was always either the AC or just the sheer incompatibility (especially in the earlier years). There was even a time when people could happily cheat on Linux and get away with it in Counter-Strike: Source, because VAC simply didn’t work on Linux.
So there you have it, you either stop playing all multiplayer games (not even just competitive ones!) entirely
There’s plenty of multiplayer games that run just fine on linux. Including FPS games with perfectly functional anti cheat, it’s just a select few which are unfortunately very popular that actively block linux. This is the part where you put your money where your mouth is and support the games that support the system you want to game on.
I agree with your overall point.
However, as a professional codemonkey, I promise you that root-level AC is in fact less secure than server-side heuristic AC + user reporting, and tends to be user-hostile due to false-flagging of modified systems. Root-level AC can be bypassed rather easily these days with DMA and other out-of-band tooling.
As a case-study, League of Legends lacked any root-level AC for well over a decade, and was arguably the most popular game in the world at points. Cheaters were extraordinarily rare; the average player would typically encounter well under a dozen cheaters per thousand games.
Riot Games then released Valorant with full root-level AC, and had an aimbot explosion within a few months - mostly because they devalued player feedback & reporting in favor of their “robust” automated AC solution. Their overall anticheat strategy became less reliable on the whole, but they stuck to it because root-level AC is cheaper and easier to execute from the corporate-profit POV.
I agree with your first paragraph, if you just got hooked to these games and want to compromise your own privacy and security by playing these games, that is your own trade offs.
But your second paragraph claims that not compromising security and privacy means you have to deal with cheaters. That is false. The games who support Linux do not have more cheaters. In fact, there’s plenty of cheaters all over the anti Linux games, such as destiny and league.
Also there are plenty of multi-player and competitive games on Linux. It’s only a few who do not (who admittedly also happen to be some of the more popular titles). I only agree with this sentiment if you’re hooked onto the specific games that are anti Linux, not the competitive multi-player genre.
Take 100 random gamers. How many of them will know what ring 0/kernel level anti-cheat even means? They don’t care. They will happily accept whatever the publisher puts inside the game.
The only exception to this is Denuvo because it was affecting performance.
Disclaimer - I’m an ardent linux fan
They don’t know ring 0, but they would understand “this anti cheat is the most privacy invasive kind, controlling and monitoring everything on your computer”.
Then you’re really gonna have a bad time trying to play them on Linux since at least half of those are not even on PC at all.
They’ll sell every year to their fan base. The guys I know who play FIFA, only play fifa on console and they absolutely love it. They want the new version with the new player names and jerseys.
It’s the most predatory game I’ve seen so far. It has lootboxes, MTX, and all types of dark patterns.
Honestly at this point those fanbases are allowing companies to expand on anti-consumer practices to a similar degree as sports games. I wouldn’t feel bed if they started being left behind as well
Linux is now the best gaming system.
I’ll just share how my latest bout with gaming on Linux looked like, compared to Windows.
Install Anno 1800 on Windows:
- Start installation in Steam
- Ubisoft Launcher installs
- Anno 1800 starts
- Enjoy the rest of my evening
Install Anno 1800 on Linux:
- Install Anno 1800 in Steam
- Research how to start game
- Enable Proton compatibility layer
- Game fails to start due to missing Ubisoft Launcher
- Install Ubi launcher using method ‘add installer as game, set compatibility layer, install and change executable for application executable’
- Game fails to start due to missing Ubisoft Launcher
- Try with different Proton versions, fail each time
- Install Lutris and install Ubi launcher through that
- Game fails to start due to missing Ubisoft Launcher
- Give up for the evening
Next day:
- Read up some more
- Install Protontricks
- Encounter weird errors when starting it
- Try to find out what is going on
- Suppress tendency to just say ‘fuck it’ and start Windows
- Install Protontricks through Flatpack instead of system package, as the Flatpack version is slightly newer. Accept that this will result in a much larger installation due to not using system-provided libraries.
- Add Ubi launcher through protontricks, ignoring out-of-date instructions on the Internet
- Start game
- Cry at slideshow performance
- Give up for the evening
Next day:
- Research possible causes of performance issues
- Try multiple ways of enabling Nvidia GPU instead of integrated graphics
- Fail each time
- Turn off Secure Boot
- Correct GPU now available
- Better performance, although still not great
- Feel no enjoyment anymore at getting it to run or while playing
As much as I want to like it, this experience makes me feel that Linux is not fully ready for the masses yet.
Steam is supposed to handle installing the Ubisoft launcher during the first-time setup, it sounds like for whatever reason it failed to do that. It’s very likely that verifying the game files would’ve fixed the issue easily, as it re-runs the first time setup. If that didn’t work, deleting the compatibility files would probably have been the next step. I’d be very surprised if one of these didn’t fix it.
The rest of the troubleshooting steps you took until the GPU stuff were unnecessary, as they were basically Windows troubleshooting steps, not Linux ones. It’s completely expected to have to relearn how to troubleshoot stuff on a different OS and I’d really recommend asking in a Linux gaming community when you run into issues like that, until you’ve gotten the troubleshooting steps down.
Install Ubi launcher using method ‘add installer as game, set compatibility layer, install and change executable for application executable’ … Install Lutris and install Ubi launcher through that
Wine/Proton games are run in their own individual “prefixes”, which are essentially individual Windows instances. Both of these steps just installed Ubisoft launcher in a different instance. This would be a fine fix on Windows, but this is a different OS. The correct fix isn’t necessarily harder either, just different.
Install Protontricks through Flatpack instead of system package, as the Flatpack version is slightly newer. Accept that this will result in a much larger installation due to not using system-provided libraries.
“much larger” is relative, software is pretty small in general, especially compared to any modern games. It’s really not much space, and the flatpak runtimes will be reused for other flatpaks you install.
As much as I want to like it, this experience makes me feel that Linux is not fully ready for the masses yet.
I don’t even entirely disagree, but also don’t think the issues you faced completely demonstrate that. The Ubisoft installation issue was most likely a Steam client bug. First-time installations failing is 100% something that has happened on Windows, that’s why verifying game files is often the first recommended step when troubleshooting a game. Most distros that get recommended now have features to easily install Nvidia drivers. My personal recommendation for gaming, Bazzite, has an Nvidia ISO, which would’ve had them set up from the beginning.
Do you mind sharing what distro you were using? It sounds like whatever it is has bad instructions for setting up Nvidia drivers, I’d like to avoid recommending it.
Edit: Just read this back and wanted to add that I wasn’t trying to be rude or condescending at any point, or blaming you for the issues. I don’t think gaming on Linux is difficult, but I think people do need to do a better job preparing new users when they recommend it. It isn’t, and never will or even should be, the exact same as Windows. You have to learn the differences to be able to troubleshoot effectively, which just takes some time. Nobody knows how to troubleshoot correctly the first time they use Windows either.
I’m a bit strapped for time, so I won’t be able to touch on everything you said. But here goes:
It’s very likely that verifying the game files would’ve fixed the issue easily, as it re-runs the first time setup. If that didn’t work, deleting the compatibility files would probably have been the next step. I’d be very surprised if one of these didn’t fix it.
Of course I had to condense the experience a bit for readability and I don’t remember every step, but validating the game files, doing a reinstall and trying different Proton versions were parts of my troubleshooting steps. They absolutely didn’t work. I didn’t try removing the compatibility files afaik, but switching versions should basically have had the same result as that did trigger an first-time setup each time. The Ubisoft installer wasn’t part of that install for as far as I could see, or failed for each proton version without any visible signs.
The rest of the troubleshooting steps you took until the GPU stuff were unnecessary, as they were basically Windows troubleshooting steps, not Linux ones. It’s completely expected to have to relearn how to troubleshoot stuff on a different OS and I’d really recommend asking in a Linux gaming community when you run into issues like that, until you’ve gotten the troubleshooting steps down.
Linux is far from new to me, but gaming is a whole different beast compared to what I usually do with it. The steps I took were the recommendations from Linux gaming communities I came across. Even though I already suspected that the whole ‘install the Ubisoft installer through Steam’ wouldn’t work, if it is suggested, I’m not one to ignore that.
The problem here is mostly that the information offered on various locations differs and it is a question of trial and error to find out what works and what not, especially if you’re still figuring out the gaming ecosystem.
“much larger” is relative, software is pretty small in general, especially compared to any modern games. It’s really not much space, and the flatpak runtimes will be reused for other flatpaks you install.
From the top of my head it was 3 GB vs 160 MB. Which is quite the difference, especially if you’re working with a relatively small SSD. Flatpack is a mixed blessing in that regard, it’s not meant as criticism against Flatpack, it’s just a trade-off of having sandboxed applications.
Do you mind sharing what distro you were using? It sounds like whatever it is has bad instructions for setting up Nvidia drivers, I’d like to avoid recommending it.
It was Linux Mint, on an Nvidia Prime-based laptop. Drivers were included by default, no installation required, but couldn’t load due to not being signed. Hence the ‘turned off Secure Boot’. I could have MOK’ed around and signed them, but at that point I simply couldn’t be bothered anymore and just went for the simplest solution. Not sure it were official drivers or Nouveau.
Just read this back and wanted to add that I wasn’t trying to be rude or condescending at any point, or blaming you for the issues.
No worries, even though I don’t fully agree with you on everything, I appreciate your response and the fact you are trying to help out. I already saw somebody else mentioning Bazzite, so my next attempt will be to try that distribution.
I also noticed some ‘Ubisoft is just shit’ remarks, which might be true, but telling aspiring Linux gamers “well, you shouldn’t play that part of your gaming library anyway” is simply off-putting and unhelpful. So thanks again for being constructive, that’s what this community needs.
Linux Mint
As someone who just ditched them, apparently here was where you went wrong. Trying to get Nvidia drivers working on Mint for gaming is bad enough that some documentation for programs I’ve wanted to run has straight up said “Don’t even try this on Mint.”
Real shame because I liked a lot about Mint, but I would like to be able to run games like Warframe and Last Epoch more. I wish they were a lot more up front about the issues the distro seems to have with Nvidia.
They absolutely didn’t work. I didn’t try removing the compatibility files afaik, but switching versions should basically have had the same result as that did trigger an first-time setup each time. The Ubisoft installer wasn’t part of that install for as far as I could see, or failed for each proton version without any visible signs.
Understood, my bad for assuming! It sounds like you had some really bad luck, as I couldn’t find users with the same issues on ProtonDB.
The problem here is mostly that the information offered on various locations differs and it is a question of trial and error to find out what works and what not, especially if you’re still figuring out the gaming ecosystem.
I definitely agree that this is a big issue. ProtonDB is generally the best source, and besides that a lot of the best resources are unfortunately in difficult to search Discords. I would love to see a more organized resource for this kinda stuff. This issue extends beyond gaming on Linux, too. Looking up any Linux issues results in a ton of super outdated or just bad info.
It was Linux Mint, on an Nvidia Prime-based laptop.
Linux Mint is a great distro, but one that I personally recommend against for gaming. People recommending distros that aren’t great for some use cases is also a problem with Linux gaming. Mint’s stability means using outdated Nvidia drivers, something that I would absolutely try to avoid.
I already saw somebody else mentioning Bazzite, so my next attempt will be to try that distribution.
I do love Bazzite, it is easily the distro I recommend most to users trying Linux for gaming. The only warning I have is that if you use hardware that needs kernel drivers that aren’t upstream, and they aren’t packaged by Bazzite, you will probably run into trouble. I wanted to use a steering wheel that needed a custom driver and just had to give up on getting it working. The only solutions seemed to require a ton of knowledge about ublue and all the containerization technology they use. It’s not my main distro, so I really didn’t feel like dedicating the time to learning all that.
However, that’s the only issue I’ve ever run into with Bazzite, and otherwise it is super user-friendly and Just Works™.
Huh… I just installed and played Anno 1800 on my Bazzite PC a month or two ago with no issue whatsoever. Played great.
Yeah, the secret here is Bazzite honestly. If a game will run on Linux, then it’ll run with minimal setup on Bazzite.
Nobara too.
I cant remember the last time I had to futz with anything to get a game to work, been well over a year. The games just work. Only extra step compared to windows is the one time effort upon installing steam to enable steam play and set the default proton version to experimental. Experimental has run everything for me, flawlessly, for like a year now.
I’m sure theres still the occasional, rare game that might need some tweaking/setup/patch/whatever to get going… but thats something you run into on windows from time to time as well, so its hardly a ding against linux.
Thanks, I’ll give Bazzite a try. Hadn’t heard of it before and it didn’t come up in my search results when trying to find out what gaming in Linux entails these days. Back in the days Linux gaming was done straight in Wine or, if you wanted to fork over some money, WineX (later Cedega).
Bazzite, and Proton over Wine (like 99% of the time). Pretty much everything works. Check Protondb.com for instructions for individual games if any of them are giving you trouble. Sometimes you just need to add a command to your Steam launch option or something. But that’s pretty rare.
I also keep up with the most recent version of GE-Proton as it’ll usually work if the regular version doesn’t. Every now and then (usually older Windows games), Wine might work better. Or something like Lutris or Bottles.
But the overwhelming majority of games “just work” through Steam with Bazzite.
Ubisoft games that use their launcher can be annoying, but these days they usually work no problem. I don’t think there was anything specific I needed to do for Anno 1800. I don’t even think I logged in? Unless I’m thinking of a different game, I’m pretty sure I skipped the ubisoft login and it still let me play the game?
I had a similar experience but when i installed lutris everything worked so in total it only took like 20 mins to get everything up and running. Tho i do have a huge bias because i started using linux first(more than 10 years ago) and only started playing pc games a few months ago. Also if its a proper game without 20 launchers its really easy to get working, usually works outa the box.
Same. Bought a new gaming laptop sans OS with the intention of switching to Linux full time. After 3 weeks climbing the walls trying to get the thing to run properly, I submitted and installed windows. Everything is designed to work with windows, Linux is redesigned to run windows stuff, we are not the same. Once Linux has caught up I will make the leap, but today is not that day.
As a happy and satisfied Linux gamer I disagree.
Linux is the best OS overall, at least for me, but not the best for gaming for most people. Not yet.
Emulators Xenia (xbox 360 emulator) was not mentioned, because it is Windows only. There is no Xbox 360 emulator for Linux.
Game compatibility 80% are platinum or gold on ProtonDB https://www.protondb.com/
This is impressive, but you can’t claim that a system that can’t play up to 20% of game titles is better. Not to mention that some of the other titles might need some tinkering as well.
Conclusion Linux gaming is now a great and viable option for most people. But it still isn’t better than Windows if you don’t care about bloatware, security or privacy, and just use your machine exclusively for gaming.
Bonus: Linux is free, so you could maybe also get slightly better hardware by selecting it over Windows.
Well, there are games you can’t play on current Windows. Like I couldn’t get Fahrenheit work on it at all. On Linux it worked first try no modifications.
Probably not as many as 20% of games, though.
Haven’t played Fahrenheit in forever (not since it was Indigo Prophecy on the US Steam release), but never had issues. Is it having problems with more modern Windows versions now?
Yep, just couldn’t make it run on Win11 last time I tried, nor Win10.
Both the normal and remastered just couldn’t run well.
Also, platinum doesn’t mean shit. I’ve been trying to get a Platinum rated game on Proton working for the last week. the first distro I was using straight up could never run it, and I don’t think anyone using the distro I’m now on has been able to run the latest patch. So that 80% comes with the heavy asterisk of “Your personal machine may still not be able to run this.”
The author lost me when they showed the terminal command to install Nvidia drivers on Debian. Yes, it’s one sentence. That’s still extremely daunting to the vast majority of computer users. It undermines the author’s own thesis.
Linux is a better gaming OS for some (myself included) but there is still a small learning curve. It’s nowhere near as bad as it’s made out to be, but it’s not nothing.
I’d have softened the title and focused on the ways Linux shines as a gaming OS: compatibility with older games (1990-2010 in my experience) that dont work on modern Windows, the ability to get more performace out of older hardware, consistent behavior, and a much more pleasant desktop experience.
Windows is a better choice for many people, but Linux is just as good for many and a better choice for some.
I agree with your comment…except for the part about a small learning curve. The learning curve is steep and difficult. You’ve got to be willing to jump in as an enthusiast and not a casual user. This is not the choice for the vast majority of normies (as you rightly conclude). The saving grace for Linux will be pre-installed systems with extremely polished UI’s (like the Steam Deck).
I’m highly motivated to stay on Linux, but there’s still a list of open issues for me (this is a year and a half after adoption…I’m just living with these limitations now, and there are a couple more I’ve added to my list of unsolvable problems since).
That’s still a five year old stance. Just install bazzite and have a steam deck like experience on any PC without ever touching a terminal. It even does nvidia drivers out of the box for you. The curve is not steep at all. It’s still there, but it’s getting much easier very fast.
Until you need to install something that isnt on Flatpak. Then the flat learning curve suddenly becomes a vertical cliff :)
Agreed. There are tons of random papercuts that a lot of us just ignore or workaround without thinking about it.
I absolutely think Linux is the bees knees, but I always list a bunch of caveats whenever I recommend it. If you go in with modest expectations, you’ll be pleasantly surprised, and that’s much better than being disappointed.
The author lost me when they showed the terminal command to install Nvidia drivers on Debian. Yes, it’s one sentence. That’s still extremely daunting to the vast majority of computer users. It undermines the author’s own thesis.
I think it’s just a consequence of the variety of ways a Linux distro can present its options and settings. It’s far easier—and arguably, safer—to share a command than to anticipate how to get to a certain option or setting.
Just as an aside, I had this exact same problem when a friend asked me to do something on my system. I ended up having to send them screenshots of what I’m looking at in order to direct me to where I need to be. All that trouble could have been avoided had they sent me a command to run on my terminal.
Is it better to have a utility that a user can just click? Yeah! Someone can write a utility program that can do just that, I guess. But then again, the problem now becomes how the user can make sure this utility program is in their system.
I guess it can be a bash script? The user can download the script and then make it usable. It’s a few clicks in Dolphin and (Gnome) Files, probably the same in Thunar, but we’re back to the same problem: the variety of ways a GUI can take to the same end.
I highly doubt that Linux users, at least the ones who value customization, will want to lose that customizability in order to make things easier for Windows refugees and pull more of them in.
Id rather disable secureboot and copy paste a command in terminal than mess around with regedit tbf
Why do we treat people as if they’re too stupid for this. This is nauseating.
