Gaming on Linux ... Is Linux Ready for Gaming?

[@logicalfundy]

My jaw dropped when Microsoft explained what Recall does. It's one of those things you'd make a joke about and everybody laughs, but doesn't get taken seriously - because it's that bad of an idea. But for some reason, it actually made it into real code, and even passed internal reviews and meetings.

[@Leverquin]

@@logicalfundy what does recall do

[@DavidUtau]

It recorsabyour activity 24/7. Everything that happens on screen. EVERYTHING. Key presses too afaik. 0 privacy.

[@logicalfundy]

@@Leverquin Takes a screen shot every so often. Could have a password manager open, could have your bank's website open, could have confidential business documents open, doesn't matter. The reason is to allow you to "recall" something that happened earlier. Very poorly thought out, crudely implemented, should have been an API that apps could hook into.

[@Leverquin]

@@logicalfundy ... Wow. Impressive

[@Lockwood360]

So just remove it

[@MyReviews_karkan]

Every single game I play works 100% fine on Linux, except one game. Wuthering waves. Linux just cracked 4.5% market share. Developers will come by when this percentage is higher. Give it some time.

[@MyReviews_karkan]

@pupip55 nope. It just reached 4.5% last week or so. I remember a couple of years ago it was 2.8%.

[@KgDan-x8p]

I wish wuwa would work. 😭 I wouldn't need windows at that point.

[@vladimir_fomin90]

I couldn't launch Assassin's Creed Mirage no matter what I did

[@Kamion008]

I play wuwa on linux (patching is required)

[@Dan01-01]

Haven't the anime game launcher team already made a launcher for wuthering waves? I haven't tried it but I assumed it essentially worked just like genshin by getting around the anti cheat kernel requirement Edit: nevermind, I checked the page of the launcher and it is a public archive. It states that the game is currently not playable on linux

[@VallThyo]

I have been gaming on Linux for the last 5 years since I switched to Linux full time, and the experience is far from perfect depending on which type of games you play. But, everything, and I repeat, everything I play works thanks for the amazing community of volunteers that go out of their way to make sure stuff just works, so I have nothing to complain about it - but that also introduces few other problems, with some games being only playable if the community is active, if the community dies, the only way to play it on Linux also dies - Steam is the biggest platform to distribute games, but not the only one, many people seem to forget that. However, if someone that I know asks me if Linux is ready for gaming, and I see that they don't play games with kernel anticheat and they have am AMD card, I would say yes, because that's what I've been running/playing, and as our savior Todd once said: "It just works"

[@Wkaelx]

I feel like UE 5 games runs wierd, it's not much better on windows though.

[@Luquinha-qf4kb]

​@@WkaelxGood thing the main game i want to be playing on Linux was made on Unity.

[@Wkaelx]

@@Luquinha-qf4kb Not good, but since most games still use UE4 not a huge problem, still something to be looking into.

[@ghostsvoice]

Bro how to play pir@ted games

[@docu-menter2702]

​@@ghostsvoiceuse LUTRIS. There's tutorial about it on youtube.

[@logicalfundy]

I definitely remember when Linux was a desert for games. I tried, then gave up and went back to Windows. Then Microsoft started doing problematic stuff with Windows 10 & 11 - and Windows 11 was the last straw. I tried Linux again - and this time gaming support is completely reversed. Linux is also a lot easier to use in general than it used to be. I'm here to stay now. My home PCs are moved over to Linux.

[@PoeLemic]

Good for you. I am really considering that transition. I don't like being forced to throw away my older hardware (i7-6700k) which runs fine, because of Win11 requirements. So, I'll probably keep one system Win10, but the rest of my stuff (like a Windows fileserver) I do plan to move to Linux.

[@mhelmreich1]

​@@PoeLemicI like the fact that you have the choice. I have been using Linux since 1998, and I have been _Linux only_ since around 2001. The best computer related thing that I have ever done. Older hardware stays completely useful and competitive for probably three times longer than it does with Windows.

[@DavideDavini]

I tried and then fell back to consoles. Been mainly a console gamer until this very year. Now I main a PC for gaming yet again. I'm having the time of my life. 🤣 Cheers.

[@schrenk-d]

Been playing on linux for nearly 15 years now. It is as ready as it will ever be.

[@shadyKING057]

"... like Nobara, Bazzite, Drauger and others." i really can't understand how everybody miss CachyOS. With high chance this distro will give you better gaming performance than others

[@fooboomoo]

It will give you a faster desktop experience as well. It feels so much snappier than any other distro i have tried. I use it for work 100%

[@NeptuneSega]

We'll see how long this distro last. 10 years down the line, heck even 5 years.

[@shadyKING057]

@@NeptuneSega we can same about other distros which he named, thing ehat insais is still valid

[@michael_tunnell]

Because CachyOS is not made for gaming specifically, the beginning of the quote that is missing from your comment is “gaming centric distros like” CachyOS may be good for gaming sure but that’s not its primary focus. I wasn’t recommending these anyway but rather explaining they exist. I do plan to make a video specifically about CachyOS though

[@shadyKING057]

@@michael_tunnell Okay, thank you for explanation. Waiting for CachyOS video 👍

[@neckbread1829]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 already got a Platinum rating on protondb. So it basically works perfectly out of the box. Id say gaming for Linux is overall ready.

[@jorge86rodriguez]

I am a returning linux user and oh boy there is a huge difference from 10 years ago, luckily I don't play any game with kernel level anti cheat. But yeah outside of those few games the experience is better than windows since the os is lighter and more stable. We also have equivalent tools to monitor the performance of hardware. You may need to tinker a little bit more than windows but with each update is getting easier and easier to set up games

[@thedoc3722]

try bazzite os its like steam deack and has a desktop mode for browsing and using a desktop and then you can switch over to the gaming part.

[@two_motion]

Stalker 2 released yesterday. It works on Linux since yesterday. I think that's pretty cool!

[@johnpierre812]

Fun fact some older games work on Linux better than on Windows 10. I had moments where some older games didnt run at all on Windows but on Linux they did

[@demos113]

95% (some are just old & badly made) of my Steam games are working on linux, been enjoying that since Feb this year. 🙂👍 Win 10 was my final Windows... it's been a long road from Win 3.1 but i'm done with it.

[@konyption]

Pretty good breakdown! I switched from windows to Linux back in 2019 and I never see myself going back. Any games that have developers that are hostile to Linux simply aren’t worth my time.

[@tranthien3932]

Remember the time when we had to check wineHQ to see if the game was even able to start on Linux? Yeah, those were good times /s

[@DavideDavini]

My desktop PC is 100% dedicated to gaming and it runs Linux. Cheers.

[@michaelcjgreenway4788]

Having been on Linux Mint for a few weeks now, Steam runs quite well, and once I found the setting to run Windows games, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. Some things I've run into, however: 1. The frequent reloading of Vulcan (sp?) shaders can be annoying. 2. No Man's Sky is constantly validating at a 5 Gig size each time I run Steam. 3. Fallout 4 worked fine until recently, then the main game menu just quit working. 4. Depending on your hardware, there can be a noticeable lag or different look to your graphics with the extra compatibility layers running. It's not a deal breaker, though. That said, I was delighted at a smooth install, smooth Steam set up, and the easy recognition of my RTX 3060, including suggesting NVidia drivers verses the standard ones. So far, sans the above, Factorio and Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition run great (and they are Linux native). Subnautica also runs well. Hope this perspective is helpful. Cheers!

[@zincwing4475]

I am still hesitating, as I use a HDR10 screen, and I like having that enabled. Microsoft AutoHDR is a factor for me as well.

[@mhelmreich1]

Microsoft gives two great reasons to switch to Linux, Recall and the hardware 'requirements ' for Windows 11.

[@myyoutube62]

Gaming on Linux is 9/10ths indiscernible from gaming on Windows. Wine, Proton and other compatibility layers have come a LONG way, and now not only do I get identical performance on most games on my Linux-based gaming rig (obligatory "By the way, I use Arch"), but in many games, I get better performance due to how extremely optimized I can make the system -- I compile my own kernel tailored to my exact hardware which, while not a thing new users will be able to do, is still an option should they want to learn and be able to wring every drop of performance out of their system. The only points of contention for gamers migrating from Windows that I see are: 1) The inherent learning curve that comes with learning a new OS and how to do stuff in said OS. "Linux Noob" distros like Zorin, Mint and Pop! OS effectively nullify most of this curve though. Not only are those distros and distros like them as easy to learn as Windows, but can be made to look and feel exactly like Windows if need be. 2) The fact that if you have a huge game library, odds are that you will have to tweak some settings (especially in Wine) to get some games working/working perfectly that would "just work" in Windows. As compatibility layers improve, though, the number of games that require any sort of pre-/post-install configuration is decreasing all the time. Out of my library of 100+ games, I've had maybe 3 or 4 that required any sort of futzing about with Wine (2 of which were extremely old games; see point 4). 3) Installing non-native games has typically been a bit more complex than installing them natively on Windows, but that's quickly becoming a thing of the past. Things like Lutris (and the tailored "it just works" install scripts they host for thousands and thousands of games across all the major distribution platforms) make the vast majority of games essentially a 1-click install (well, a few more clicks than 1, but y'know what I mean). 4) There are still a handful of games that either won't work or will be a pain to get working. Ironically, in my experience, it's mostly older (like, WAY older) stuff that I have these kinds of issues with. I've had no issue running any AAA titles I've thrown at my system, but couldn't get the Windows 95 version of Sim City 2000, of all things, to work for the longest time and even then, it only barely works now and has a lot of issues. So, only a few issues and most are either mitigated to a large degree or are actively becoming more and more mitigated over time. Gaming on Linux is better than it's ever been, and it's getting better all the time.

[@madProgenitorDeity]

emulation on linux is amazing. PSP, PS2, even switch. even steam games play flawlessly

[@NanomachineExE]

New to Linux? Debian: Mint Fedora: (unsure I have the least experience here because I don't like fedora) Arch: CachyOS Both distros are extremely user friendly out of the box with robust installers. Know the difference - your front end and your operating system are not innately the same but work in tandem. Your OS is everything under the hood, but your front end is everything you see and touch in the GUI minus some OS specific tools. For these I recommend KDE plasma or GNOME if given the option.

[@NanomachineExE]

To tack on as I've thought about it a little longer, regular fedora is probably fine if you really find value in fedora, however, I find the biggest hassle with compatibility with Fedora (some may argue Arch is worse for that but CachyOS has been really good to me). Ultimately, get used to console commands and learning how to install software for your distro and you are good to go.

[@zolaarczakle]

I stopped playing when I had to let go Windows7 but now, I've spent more than 1500 hours in Baldur's Gate 3.

[@johntilghman]

Baldur's Gate 3 will run on Linux?

[@zolaarczakle]

@@johntilghman Yes, it does!

[@Mr_BetaMax]

haha clever plug at the end! was waiting for the answer but you just let it hang :P I've had a terrific experience with PopOS for general computing. Their addons and extra power management etc is stable and never let me down. Curious to see how they handle the new Cosmic desktop

[@michael_tunnell]

Thanks :D the plug at the end does send to a new video but the answer is provided within the first 30 seconds of that video so I think that works fine. lol I agree, PopOS is solid and is only now not in my list to recommend because of the questions about COSMIC and when that is coming out.

[@iFlxy]

If we want to get all EAC games on Linux, Epic Games has to get their stuff together, as the current version of EAC on Linux is pretty bad. It's not even about it not being kernel-level, It's just the case of Epic not caring about it, and not preventing basic Linux cheating methods and rarely updating it. THE FINALS uses a server side Anti-cheat and relies on it a lot, instead of purely on EAC, so that's also a solution.

[@kubuntukowalski]

98 percent of the games I've wanted to play over the past 3 years of daily driving linux os worked no problems. Lutris, Heroic and Steam Proton are amazing! Find a distro that works for you and dig in!

[@nessonic]

Always love to see the torch being held high! I'd be curious on (and this is a niche within a niche)- I am curious a deep dive on linux gaming in the competitive realm. I'm hard-pressed to find pros using linux in any competitive gaming scenes, even for the valve-backed ones. I can't account to that solely being the popularity dominance of Windows, I believe there's heightened sensitivity in competitive games for stability & consistency. One odd bug or quirk that only happens on *nix but goes away on Windows; no one would let that be reason some important match was lost. I think that same fear is present in a lot of regular players, too That said as I think this out I'm circling back to the popularity again; if *nix was the dominance-used OS then aforementioned odd bugs/quirks would be better caught via QA, i.e. roles would be reversed. Good ol' chicken & egg situation..

[@centy64]

Worth mentioning that Heroic launcher does have a windows build and frankly is far superior to the official launcher.

[@weench]

You have a great audio in your YT videos

[@TheRob2D]

I was there in the old times when the very idea of seeing a game work on Linux was absolute fantasy. To see where we're at now....... It's almost unbelievable. Every game I want to play these days works. EXCEPT, funnily enough, Half Life 2. Decided to play again for the anniversary and I just get infinite stutter with 1fps at the title screen. Switching to Proton crashes at the title screen altogether. Can't figure it out.

[@GlitchedVision]

when waylan /nvidia get settled down and we finally have some form of accessibility framework (orca/nvda style screen reader required), I'll be switching full time to Linux. I ran it full time back in 06-08 on my little laptop that came with vista but could barely run it lol... Came back to Windows when I finally upgraded my computer and since I was playing pc games regularly at the time and support still wasn't there for linux yet. Now though, I'm loving my steam deck and wishing for full low vision access software to catch back up so I can go back to full time Linux now that gaming's good :D

[@ernesthader1109]

Why not try the desktop mode of steam deck to try linux out? There are videos here of tutorials about that to see and feel using linux.

[@GlitchedVision]

@@ernesthader1109 SteamDeck desktop mode doesn't have simple access to a screen reader program yet due to waylan and the accessibility stack issue it currently faces.

[@DirkDierickx]

Gaming was always possible on linux, depending on what you expected of it. before steam+proton came along, you could play games in emulators, no new releases ofcourse, but still many fun games could be played. before steam came along there was a moment where it seemed linux gaming would pick up. Loki started creating very good native linux ports (i bought all of these), there was also a very early proton-like version of wine called wineX (later renamed to Cedega), which i also bought, and allowed you to play some of the big AAA pc games (diablo, wow, guildwars, warcraft 3, half life 2, etc). ID Software and Epic games even released native binaries of their games (quake/unreal)! Unfortunately this effort could not get enough attention/traction and both Loki and Cedega failed eventually. Oh, and one last thing, I don't want to forget the unsung developer heroes of open source games, some of which are really nice; freeciv, battle of wesnoth, etc.

[@ShaunakHub]

Tuxuracer always ran on Linux just fine... P.S. That is how much I game on computer, Linux or otherwise So, for me it was always ready ;-0

[@hnasheralneam]

saaaaaaaaaaaaaaame

[@UltimatePerfection]

Tuxracer is fun, but SuperTuxKart is a better game overall. And it's actually about racing instead of sliding downhill collecting fishes.

[@hiru92]

all older game just works on wine 9.20 for me, including newer on like space engine, native games like cs 2 , dota2, 0ad etc also works

[@The_Wandering_Nerd]

Linux flawlessly supports all the games *I* play, but then again, as those games are Tux Kart, Minetest, Nethack, and Battle for Wesnoth, the average Linux gamer's experience may vary.

[@OrkhanJulfa]

About so-called game ready Nobara distro. I've installed this Linux distro for testing and disappointed with it. Plasma on Nobara was very glitchy. I've tried to launch older games like Skyrim via Proton on Steam and Skyrim starting to play with huge drop of fps. May be around 5 fps. Tried Arch based like Manjaro or EndeavourOS and they worked perfect! So in my experience best distros for gaming are Arch based distros.

[@michael_tunnell]

Nobara is a very new project made by a very small team, mostly just one person so there are things to do for sure. I just put it in the list because it is made for Gaming but I also only mention it alongside the message that there may be some additional steps needed from the user to get it working as they want it to. However, Bazzite is a really good distro that is based on Fedora and has a lot of cool gaming improvements. I would say check out Bazzite if you want to try a Fedora base gaming distro. I would be very interested in what your tests result with. Yes, Arch base has some benefits but I wonder if Bazzite can do the same.

[@richardbaker4974]

I use Linux mint xfce for gaming. I use a late 2012 Mac mini 2.5ghz cpu 16gb ram 500gb ssd. I play steam and ps2 games with no external gpu

[@waynebickell1793]

I only fly X-Plane 12 on my Linux system. I'm not really a gamer but do enjoy a flight sim.

[@darkprinc979]

One unfortunate issue I've run into is with visual novels. Those tend to have embedded videos that just don't work on Linux. In my experience the rest of the visual novel will work fine, but any videos like openings and endings will just get skipped over. These seem to rely on Windows Media Player (or maybe it's Windows Media Center now, I don't remember) and from what little info I've been able to locate on the subject, Windows Media Player is either really difficult, or outright impossible to get working on Linux.

[@LMacNeill]

The only thing right now holding me back from switching to Linux is the lack of Parsec host/server software for Linux. Once Parsec releases that, Windows will be rapidly kicked to the curb in my house. (Does anyone know of any low-latency desktop-streaming software for Linux which has clients for Mac and Windows? Because I don't *have* to use Parsec -- it's just the only low-latency remote-access software I'm aware of.)

[@robotron1236]

I don't really like competitive shooters, I mainly play single player games (The Elder Scrolls and Fallout are my go-to's), so gaming on Linux has been absolutely amazing for me. I even get better performance in WINE/Proton than I did on Windows. Also, games should be developed for Proton/WINE and Windows, not Linux; it's cheaper that way and easier on the devs. Unless Valve goes under any time soon, do we really need native Linux games? Honestly, Linux native ports of games tend to break over time, while Proton gives you the ability to control the dependencies for each game in its own prefix. I make a prefix for every single game and no, I don't use bottles; I use protontricks-gui for the default prefix location, and the CLI for a custom location on a different drive. P.S. Almost ALL emulation runs better on Linux than on Windows; the only thing I've had an issue with is Xbox emulation, but Xbox emulation kinda sucks in general anyway. RPCS3 is my go-to emulator for anything from the PS3/360 era (the classic Resident Evil games are REALLY good on PS3); it's the best emulator out there both in usability and performance.

[@kaysimpson]

I had been on the fence for years, having dual booted or preserving my windows drive externally, but recall was the last straw.

[@xanderxk]

yes! even on wayland

[@ant9610]

How is the Nvidia-wayland stuff going?

[@AnnCatsanndra]

Right now, not super great. NVidia is putting out some updates for that, but the most popular distros probably won't be supporting it until their next major version drop when they update their bundled Linux Kernel so that they'll play nice with the updated NVidia drivers. To that end I haven't made the jump to Wayland personally yet. No idea how that works out for a rolling release like Arch but it kinda makes me tempted to spin up a secondary Arch boot just so I can find out.

[@necuz]

@@AnnCatsanndra The big issue was the XWayland flickering on drivers prior to 555, so yeah any distro that still ships the stable driver (+ stable XWayland/DEs) is basically unusable on Nvidia. On Arch the Nvidia Wayland experience has been very close to AMD for about half a year now.

[@matthiasbendewald1803]

I can't give an absolute answer to that, but I struggled a lot on my gaming PC with an ancient GTX 980ti that just didn't work with Wayland in the past. Also the performance was not great. The last 3 months I used Wayland on Bazzite and it was mostly smooth sailing. Even some bugs that were there with x11 are just solved, so for me it is working better with Wayland overall. Only some games have slightly less fps, but I don't feel that in games, like only a few percent.

[@UltimatePerfection]

More like whyland. Just like fusion, Wayland is always 20 years from being ready. Stick to what worked for the past half a century - X11.

[@TheRob2D]

You need to add nvidia_drm.modeset=1 nvidia_drm.fbdev=1 at the moment to get Wayland to work.

[@rpersen]

Most games works just fine. Sure some games won’t work, but I can live without those.

[@thomasaquinas9550]

In 2024 Linux is there. In allot of games Linux works better than windows. With the ability of running custom Kernels like Cashyos does, it's even better.

[@ricky865]

Usually the games that don't work on Linux even with proton are the online multiplayer, MMO, co-op games that come with anti cheat software because companies don't want to make it compatible with Linux. Me personally I don't have that problem because I pretty much don't care about those games.

[@YetiMusicCity]

Heroic is a better option at the moment since Lutris got stuck on Proton 8 and there are no more updates , Lutris is good for older games though.

[@michael_tunnell]

what do you mean it is stuck on Proton 8? Lutris was the first to implement the umu project which is still in early days

[@jay-j6l]

I switched to use Steam on Linux over dual booting into Windows

[@UltimatePerfection]

Gentoo is the best distro for gaming. Trust me on this.

[@aioshan653]

made the final plunge off windows permentatly last year before recall due to the windows 11 preformance issues on amd hardware. just have to find the right method and remember the ebb and flow of how things work. managed to get even the resource hog of a tech alpha star citizen to work this side at a good rate. only hitch is the eac or anti cheat issue with devs other than that it feels faster.

[@-iIIiiiiiIiiiiIIIiiIi-]

Got League of Legends to work on Linux "technically." Via Looking Glass using Windows 11 LTSC. But do this at your own risk. Riot can ban the account because TOS reasons. I like to live dangerously.

[@esra_erimez]

I game on Linux using Lutris and I can say that the graphics look better on Linux than Windows. I really have no idea why.

[@sagnikray7320]

Only some online games which I don't play are unsupported on linux. So switching to linux was easy for me.

[@InnerFire6213]

Proton is so good if a game is not playable right now it means the developers are actively blocking it. Probably got a microsoft deal or something. Those anticheat games even are able to run on linux, it's just that they kick you out after they detect you're not using windows. That kick is a feature that has to be implemented by the developers who otherwise could've used the effort to just use the anticheat on linux provided by valve. Therefore if a game is doing that I don't wanna play it

[@krykry606]

Linux gaming is fine with exceptions being those bricked by anticheat. However, some games do require effort to run.

[@1234enzor]

FPS depends on the game, RE Village gives 10% more fps vs running it on windows, World of Warcraft Classic about 16% more fps, League of Legends only works on windows cause there is no emulation for the Riot Vanguard and windows kernel level anticheat, Diablo 2 Resurrected depends on where you are in the game and if you have a mod that removes the lava glow in act 4 river of flame, if you have that mod it depends on the location but the fps gain is 2-20% vs windows, minecraft runs upwards of 50% faster on Linux, that is the games i have and play maybe others can add to the list of games running better on Linux.

[@techmouse.]

I've been gaming on Linux for over a decade. You guys understand Linux existed before the Steam Deck, right?

[@GamerEnLinux]

my channel said YES. XD

[@AnnCatsanndra]

It's been months since I've switched back to GNU/Linux (Specifically Pop OS this time instead of Ubuntu) and even before that I had a few months to experiment with the Steam Deck. At this point pretty much the only time I feel the platform switch pains in terms of gaming is 1: Broken in-game videos acting strange. (I can usually look up the videos online, but sometimes when it's a big moment like a end-game cutscene or a tutorial mini-video, that reaaaally kills the mood) 2: Big budget Very Online multiplayer games which go ham with anti-cheat. Mostly this just means Fortnite which isn't even that big a deal since I can cloud-stream that one if I *really* want to. (I just don't buy the games that go out of their way to add anti=cheat and play fighting games that don't usually need anti-cheat instead. I've run into more AFK players in fighters than I have cheaters.) 3: When I want to make a mod for a game I love and the *modding tools* don't work with Wine or Proton. 4: It feels like I am not allowed to file any kind of bug-reports for games because I can't *prove* that the issue is with the *game* and not with Proton or my own environment configuration. 5: As a developer I'm actually not entirely sure how to properly bundle and package and ship my own stuff so that it shows up in the repos, and it feels like "just grab it from my Github releases" feels kinda like I'm "not a learned Linux developer yet". That and I'm not entirely sure where to look to figure that out in a context where I won't *immediately* be live and in-front of an audience of strangers either. I'd kinda like a test run before I start getting people slamming me for being bad at whatever the heck I'm making in my spare time. Like, that sounds like a lot when I write it all out in text, but my day to day gaming experience is *darn good* when the games are using engines or frameworks that are even remotely popular. It's when stuff starts getting very custom and very elaborate like specialized VR 3D Modeling software (Shapelab 2024 can hardly get past the initial loading phases and that software was EXPENSIVE AS HELL for it to just not run on my platform of choice when they absolutely have the skill to support it if they wished, and Kodon for whatever reason just cannot load a native save file and it doesn't seem like that is ever going to get fixed. And as much as I'd like to just be "fine I'll just dualboot", because of the heavy push to force users to Windows 11 and to "simplify" it and to make it "fresh" by cramming Recall Spyware into it, I can't take the legal risk of Recall resulting in an NDA breech and I have too much data I care about on this machine to risk getting compromised with a baremetal XP setup. I plan to be sticking with Linux for the long haul with MacOS as a desperation alternative for the sole reason that I bought a Macbook when my day job had me on a Mac Mini for work. )

[@PoeLemic]

Please, returns between paragraphs in future, then it's easier to read. If a person is sight-impaired, it's really hard to read without spacing between paragraphs. Thank you. >> But, I am reading your entire commentary, but it just takes longer by having to move it to Notepad and spread it out.

[@lellyparker]

Linux has always been ready for games. But Microsoft Windows has a monopoly on the market and there is zero incentive for games developers to write games for Linux. It's not about if Linux is ready for games, it is about not enough people using Linux to make writing Games for Linux worth while.

[@Words-er5ez]

Linux Mint - best distro for newbies

[@michael_tunnell]

Mint is a solid option for sure, I’d put Zorin OS right up there with mint

[@redheadsg1]

6:58 I found that a bit BS but ok. We can say that of old games.

[@michael_tunnell]

I wasnt saying that was always the case but there are times where it still happens especially with people having to compensate for something changing in a game or if they are streamers and that kind of thing. But mostly it was to give an example of doing tweaks in Linux and tweaks in Windows aren't really that different of an experience.

[@PopsSinging]

I would answer: it's like anything else with Linux vs. Windows. What are your needs and expectations? There are many games that perform well on Linux, but side by side, they don't always look as sharp. Font and/or pixel rendering can be subpar in some games on Linux. You might not notice it if you're not as particular as I am, but even playing browser-based games feels different on Linux. For example, I was playing an archery game in Chrome on Windows 11. The graphics were clear, and the colors were vibrant. When I switched to Ubuntu to play the same game, there was noticeable pixelation, and the colors seemed slightly washed out. I've observed this in many of the games I play. That said, I grew up playing on Atari, the original Nintendo, Sega Genesis, etc., so these issues don't bother me enough to stop playing games on Linux.

[@Highwolfstudio]

U don't need windows 😂, Linux is so much better than windows

[@PavelPirogov]

Call me when it'll work with DLSS, VRR, HDR, VR so I can run any just released game and play on my favorite hardware using all it's features.

[@michael_tunnell]

I’m pretty sure DLSS is supported. HDR has some support but there is a big push for it being developed by Red Hat. VR is already supported and has been for a while. VRR is a term I don’t know so not sure support status

[@Magicman1335]

Yes thanks recall for making me fully take the plunge see ya never. I've been very happy gaming on linux

[@ringo8410]

Yes.

[@fairphoneuser9009]

Isn't Lutris just a launcher and no compatibility tool?

[@fyrestorme]

game support on steam deck is spotty at best. if you're saying that pc linux gaming is analogous in terms of support, that is a dubious endorsement of pc linux gaming.

[@michael_tunnell]

Nintendo Switch game support is spotty at best. I’m saying the Linux platform can run any game as long as the dev allows it to and also thousands of games regardless of the devs considered Linux or not

[@fyrestorme]

@@michael_tunnell what does nintendo switch have to do with anything?

[@fyrestorme]

@@michael_tunnell Ok I think I get what you're saying but that doesn't really make any difference. If we're resorting to technicalities and semantics here - even if "linux is ready for gaming" it doesn't matter to gamers if "gaming is not ready for linux", to paraphrase the difference between linux being capable of running games versus games actually being developed to run on linux.

[@michael_tunnell]

The switch is a limited gaming platform, not all platforms can play all games. Linux gets crap for not playing some games, the switch is purposefully isolated and yet it’s okay. Linux is incredibly impressive to be able to play games that were never meant to be able to play on it. There’s so much negativity around what Linux can play now vs the value the platform offers to gaming. I think what I said in the video is fair. I point out the platform can do it but there are speed bumps for some games.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I'd say Linux has been ready for gaming for a few years now if you stick mainly to STEAM, and Proton with an AMD, or Intel GPU(I can't speak for Nvidia as I don't use them), and I say if a game does not support Linux because of stupid DRM then they are not worth your money.

[@Luquinha-qf4kb]

Every time DRM is mentioned anywhere, it's being demonic.

[@skyknight0408]

Almost none of my games work on Linux. Not even the ones that ranked silver or better compatibility. Most simply don't start at all and the few that do run with unplayable single digit FPS. And as long as I can't find out what the problem is and how to fix it, I won't switch to Linux, because that's a major dealbreaker for me. The last time I had such problems on Windows was in the 90's. And those 30yo games run better on a modern Windows now than they did on the one they were released for.

[@michael_tunnell]

Which games? Also Silver is not a good rating, kind of confusing rating system they use but yea Silver means there’s a bit to do for making it work.

[@skyknight0408]

@@michael_tunnell Not only silver, but Gold too. I play mostly niche games like JRPGs. Until the new Mint that came out earlier this year, no game started at all. After the new Mint I got at least Tokyo Xanadu to start, but it ran like a slideshow. Tried switching between all available Proton versions with no results. Tried some of the other game launchers, like Lutris, Wine and Heroic. No Change. Other games I tried include the Neptunia games, Akiba's Trip, the Trails/Kiseki games, Tales of Berseria and that are only the Steam games. Older games I have on disc and such that I've downloaded the offline installer from GoG, I couldn't even get to install, because Linux can't handle exe-files. If I have to go through that hassle for every single game in my collection, then Linux simply might not be for me. Which is a shame because for simple everyday tasks like office work, online surfing and media playback, it works just as good as Windows. But all of those things work on Windows too, plus all of my games, even really old ones that had problems running on XP and Vista, run without problems since Win7. I simply don't have the same patience from back in the 90's anymore. I want everything to run right out of the box, because that's been the standard for at least the last 15 years and I don't want to go back to how it was back on Win95 when I had to fight for every single game to work!

[@Luquinha-qf4kb]

Are you trying to play Valorant or someone tricked you into using Gentoo much like someone tricking anime newcomers into watching Boku no Pico?

[@michael_tunnell]

I see. Mint is not the most compatible with some esoteric games like you saw. I’m curious if Zorin OS would be better because they do extra stuff for WINE support with exe files. I can’t say it would work but it might

[@skyknight0408]

@@Luquinha-qf4kb I have never heard of Valorant or Gentoo. And I had been watching anime for many years before someone tried to trick me into watching Boku no Pico. And by that time I had already been on the internet long enough to not blindly trust a random stranger and do my research first. It seems you haven't seen the long wall of text I wrote before, because KZbin is either hiding or deleting my posts.

[@anon3118]

I think indie devs will pick up on linux, but Publishers absolutely won't.

[@michael_tunnell]

I think Publishers might if they heard the reasons why. I think people "dont like change" and thus they stick to "what works" instead of trying Linux but if they tried it then they would see it would work for them. I know it likely will have little impact to the executives who make these decisions but I am making a video for them to see all the benefits and who knows

[@efficiencyvi8369]

I don't buy games from EA, Ubisoft, Activision/Blizzard, Rockstar or any other scum company that limits my user experience for their profit. And I'm perfectly fine. There are thousands of great games to play. It also protects me from the 25th boring remaster of Assassin's creed, FIFA or COD. I also noticed that almost all the games that don't work on Linux have a terrible rating. So I'm just sticking to the good game. BTW I switched to Linux with Suse 7 over 20 years ago. At this point not even all hardware was supported. I know those dessert years.

[@nichohells]

Diablo 4 is the only game I regularly play and it's giving a miserable experience on Linux 😢

[@paulharrison8379]

I have a new Windows 11 PC and two older Windows 10 PCs that are incapable of running Windows 11. In October 2025, Microsoft support of Windows 10 will end. This means that I will be forced by Microsoft to install Linux on my two older gaming PCs if I am to run a supported OS on them. I believe that there are tens of thousands people like me who have obsolete gaming PCs and so Linux gaming will definitely increase in 10 month's time. I also have Nvidia graphics cards in these two old PCs which I believe are less Linux friendly than those from AMD. What I would like to know is what version of Linux I should install on these two PCs to maximise Steam Deck compatibility and to also allow me to do some C development on these PCs? I currently also have a Sony Vaio laptop and a Dell Pentium 4 system on which I am running Raspberry Pi's 32 bit Debian distribution on these two computers but realise that I cannot install Steam on them because they are not 64 bit computers.

[@michael_tunnell]

Hi Paul, thanks for commenting and be sure to subscribe so you can get ready for the transition. I know it’s a year from now but I could use the sub lol To answer your questions, first any Linux distribution would be a good option for C development. Fun fact, Linux kernel itself is built in C. For gaming, it depends on the hardware. At the moment most Linux distributions will offer good gaming performance but by then it will likely be different recommendations than what it is today. For example, Zorin OS 17.2 is a great distro but there may be hardware limitations for some people but by then Zorin 18 will be released. I think it is better to get a distribution focused on usability rather than performance because practically all Linux systems have better overall performance than Windows. With that in mind, I recommend Ubuntu or something based on Ubuntu. I made a video specifically about getting started and picking your first distribution on this channel if you want more details on that. I think it’s linked in the end screen of this video. AMD vs NVIDIA is very different these days than in the past. At one point AMD was a mess so Nvidia was the go to but then the Lisa Su era brought in a revolution for AMD so it became the go to for Linux. Now it’s pretty even because Nvidia stopped fighting the platform and has now embraced it. This means that right now both options offer solid support for Linux overall. AMD has the ease of use won because you don’t need special drivers but Nvidia has the CUDA stuff so there’s that. I suspect by the time Windows 10 ends both will be even better.

[@richard1311]

single-player : yes. Multi-player : noybe.

[@michael_tunnell]

lol noybe… yes it can be nope and maybe

[@Taikaru]

SO glad I switched a couple years ago before the Micro$oft Spyware 11 Recall debacle! Gaming is great for a single-player type like myself. It seems to be mostly competitive multiplayer that get affected by anti-cheat issues.

[@xgui4-studios]

the only game i play on my laptop is minecraft so for me i am fine, i play the other game mostly on console so i am fined

[@fabricio4794]

I Play SuperTux Cart, and i Play PSP on my Notebook,yes,is ready to Gaming,Who is Steam?i dont need it.

[@anonytuser711]

If a game requires kernel level malware, I don't play the game. Bazzite is the best distribution for Linux gaming.

[@AI.Musixia]

no proton no wine no lutris? use umu :D

[@AdamDaviesSussex]

I use Arch. Can confirm; games work. Mostly. Unless there is anti-cheat. Most other games work just fine, if you don't mind a bit of tinkering.

[@a.akacic]

AAAAAAAAAAAAA so blame everyone else tactic... Typical linux normies

[@michael_tunnell]

what are you talking about? Linux already created a method to play games that were never made for Linux, so we have done work ourselves despite publishers ignoring the platform.Then some publishers purposefully block Linux from working and somehow it's Linux's fault? Go look at what Sony is doing, they are purposefully blocking gamers from regions of the world that dont have Playstation Network even for single player offline games. Yes, it very well can be the blame of the publishers because even some Windows gamers are getting screwed by publishers.

[@darthslackus499]

It's a good thing I never bothered to play LoL

[@ThePlayerOfGames]

Played Nuclear Option last night with a friend after a session of No Mans Sky Both on Pop!_OS One nVidia one AMD No problems

[@UltimatePerfection]

🐧❤️🐧

[@ThePriceIsNeverRight]

BUT

[@kevinleptons8818]

Go with Windows for gaming. Period.

[@michael_tunnell]

Go with Linux for gaming and privacy and security. Period.

[@Luquinha-qf4kb]

​@@michael_tunnell Specially if you both play VaM and like some r34 tags that can be a problem once Big Brother acknowledges it and uses Recall to see what you do on your PC.

[@fuseteam]

Sooo linux gaming is fine........... if the game publisher supports linux xd

[@mkedzier123]

There are also legitimate reasons not to support Linux - like the fact that anti-cheat solutions on Linux just don't work, all existing ones are laughably easy to bypass. Also, while many games work on Linux, when you look at most popular games story isn't as rosy as you make it appear: Minecraft - only Java edition, Bedrock edition does not work Fortnite - does not work League of Legends - does not work Valorant - does not work Call of Duty Black Ops 6 - does not work Apex Legends - does not work Roblox - does not work Destiny 2 - does not work and on and on...

[@matthiasbendewald1803]

Yes, but he stated exactly that in 0:28. I know a lot of people that play mostly single-player games or games that just run fine on Linux. For them, Linux would work just fine, as it does for me. And yes, anti-cheat solutions are easy to bypass if they are written "ethical"; they work better when they are hacking your system of course. This is working better, but it is only more difficult to work around, not impossible. And it interferes with my system in a way that I'd just not accept.

[@mkedzier123]

@@matthiasbendewald1803 He does mention that some games don't work, but he says it is because developers are stupid and don't want to make money. It is not the case - developers don't support Linux because it either would not work (i.e. lack of good enough anti-cheat solution) or it would cost them more then expected revenue from supporting Linux. Also, of course no anti-cheat solution is perfect, everything related to security is a constant struggle between people trying to secure it and people trying to break this security. Question is whether current solution is good enough - and Linux version of anti-cheat clearly is not sufficient - which is why most large multiplayer games don't support it.

[@matthiasbendewald1803]

@@mkedzier123 Well, you are right in the first point. I saw what he said as sarcasm or exeggaration. Not sure. On the second point it is not that easy. If linux was a well established platform for games, the devs would just get around the issues by implementing some server-side anti cheat, maybe with some artificial intelligence that would do its job. Or by offering streaming the game as the only option. It is the same thing, they don't do that because of expected revenue vs. cost calculations.

[@Luquinha-qf4kb]

​@@matthiasbendewald1803 Everything doing stuff ethically can't compete with evil unless if they employ evil practices...

[@matthiasbendewald1803]

@@Luquinha-qf4kb it is about cheaters Not Something evil. That are Just people behaving Bad, we found ways to Deal with that in real life, now we need to Deal with that online. There has to be a better way.

[@thingsiplay]

There is always a butt.

[@linuxforpunks]

Linux gamer since 2004. Steam are irrelevant to linux gaming - it comes down to whether the game was coded well, and Steam mostly take the credit for improvements that were already made in Wine underneath. Change what you play: bin anything that uses proprietary code, use retro emulators, and soon ai will make the game you and your friends want to play today - the idea of paying someone for that is dead by now

[@Lockwood360]

No....Still a lot needed on Linux. Performance still doesn't match windows. I can just de bloat windows and remove recall like i have lol. Iv tried it, but you still run into a lot not there. Takes a lot of tinkering outside of Bazzite and that's not perfect either.

[@michael_tunnell]

Quick note, recall has already been shown that it’s planned to be required. You can remove it now but that’s temporary

[@Lockwood360]

@@michael_tunnell No you can remove it via reg editor and its only for qualified AI x86 machines. Most PCs have it in the registry but its not connected to anything and never will be. My 7800x3d system will not require it. That along with literally all of windows annoying AI apps can just be removed.

[@Lockwood360]

@@michael_tunnell Id love to use linux but windows still just "works" for me and i can easily clean it.

[@Linux-Android-ChromeOS-Link]

Essa não é a realidade que eu tenho visto atualmente no Linux para jogos ou você não sabe fazer funcionar amigo. Desculpe nada a ver, Linux atual é para jogos sim... 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 Steam e Protons Wine Lutris Heroic gaming launcher DxVk mesa OpenGL & nvidia, Intel, amd drivers

[@Dimkar3000]

this is a really bad take, sorry. Linux is not ready for gaming for a very simply reason. Most gamers don't care for there OS, they just want theirs games to work. If your options are a bad OS where all yours games are supported and another OS where your games may not be, people are going to just use the first option. Also, even if steam gets the support to 90% it wouldn't matter for people who play online games. In multiplayer games the compatilibity is horrible. TLDR: gamers don't care for their OS, they just want to play games.