Linux Gaming @lemmy.world Hydroel @lemmy.world 11 mo. ago

Nowadays, what are the drawbacks and limitations of using Linux for gaming? What distro would you guys advise?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2287056

I feel like this is a question that might have been asked around and maybe there are guides around, but that's a discussion that I'd like to have with the lot of you.

The context

Using Linux on both my work laptop and the Steam Deck has made me quite interested in a full switch to Linux - my other computer is a gaming desktop, which I use a lot for many things, but mostly for gaming. Getting used to Linux has made me quite more intolerant to all the BS Microsoft is pushing than I used to be, the latest one being forcing the users to switch from the older email client to the new Outlook, which has a big, nice ad banner that looks like an unread email. So I've began wondering: after all, why not? Why shouldn't I embrace the penguin? Well, the answer is that I should not if there are too many hinders and drawbacks in using Linux, which would make me need a dual boot instead of a single OS install.

We all know gaming has long been one of the main limiting factors in switching, but the Deck has changed the whole landscape on that front. We've basically switched from "Windows is the only OS suitable for gaming" to "Linux is also viable", and the Deck has been made that available to the general audience. Therefore, nowadays, how viable is Linux for a gaming computer? What are the limitations users will encounter? Would I be able to play all the games from my Steam, Epic and GOG library with a bit of tinkering, including the new releases?

The drawbacks of using Linux (or those that I can think of)

Other gaming launchers support on Linux suck: GOG and Epic will work through Heroic Games but Activision/Blizzard, Ubisoft, EA and Rockstar games will all be a pain, or even not work at all. Is is true? Is there any way around that?

No Microsoft GamePass. Or none that actually matters, as the only solution is to pay for the higher tier and stream the games - so no game actually runs on the desktop. No, thanks.

Some DRM will prevent games from working, and this is especially true for games with heavy online content.

NVIDIA support for Linux is far from being on-par with that on Windows, especially the open-source drivers. Is this still true?

Many devices, especially those for gaming, might not have good (or even working) compatibility drivers for Linux. I know my UWQHD monitor works flawlessly on Windows, but requires quite a bit of tinkering on Ubuntu

Newer games might not be optimized for Linux in the first place

Tinkering is inevitable (as with any Linux computer, really)

What can we add?

The advantages (I can think of)

It's free

It's ad free

Customization on Linux is awesome, and I might end up spending more time ricing, breaking it all and reinstalling than gaming (see also, previous section's 7.)

I will no longer be sending data to Microsoft

What else am I not thinking about?

What distro?

And finally, let's say I make the switch. What Linux distro should I use? I've read a bit about Drauger, Ubuntu GamePack, or even Pop! OS with some manual setup. What do you guys think, and advise?

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19 comments

Just to provide a bit of contrast to the very helpful wall of text:

Debian/Ubuntu is fine so long as you allow it to use the closed source nvidia drivers. Ubuntu's approach to long term stable (?) releases scares people a bit (and there are some ideological thoughts on how debian packages are set up that you either don't care about or are already religiously opposed to), but... for gaming, pretty much none of that matters. Steam updates itself (or you update via the package manager) and you manage proton via steam or, if you are fancy, ProtonUp-QT. And then... that is it. The other concern tends to be that ubuntu is VERY snap/flatpak heavy these days which is USUALLY good but can get weird in terms of permissions depending on how you set up your file system.

Which kind of gets to the general "religion of linux" as it were. Generally speaking, partition your drive (or, just have multiple drives) and understand you are likely to wipe and reimage your install OS over time. Maybe there is a new distro you want to try and maybe you just managed to completely hose your machine and are now kernel panicking an hour before you leave on a holiday. But also that it takes about 20 minutes to repair a distro or completely change distros and then get all your preferred dependencies and configurations set back up. Whereas Windows... 20 minutes in is around the time Cortana is telling you that you just have to login five more times to start the install.

Same with drivers. If you want to stay as pure as Danny DeVito crawling on the floor? Go with AMD. They have MUCH better support for open source drivers (right now...). But the nvidia closed source drivers are good and you are already failing at being pure FOSS if you are using steam to buy and play games anyway. And as much as I love AMD's CPUs... you are still better off price for performance just getting an nvidia one because dlss is that damned good (FSR is a generation or three behind).

But, again: Just experiment. Figure out what distro works for you. I like kubuntu for my client use because Plasma is really nice and things generally "just work" outside of a few really annoying bits where, increasingly, chatgpt lets me avoid having to filter through the angry greybeards on forums myself. And for server use I am usually in either debian or rhel/centos/rocky and that manifests as me getting cranky on a call when I type apt instead of rpm or dnf.

But you can find giant walls of text supporting anything. Hell, there is probably some lunatic out there who still thinks people should use SunOS. The key is to experiment and decide which flavor of crazy you are.

But also? I strongly encourage just keeping a 1 or 2 TB drive for Windows, depending on what you play. You can try dual booting but my general experience is that windows will always find a way to kill your bootloader and you are much better off just mashing del when you boot up to pick which drive to boot into. 99% of my usage is on Linux but I use Windows for gamepass PC, VR (although it may be worth figuring out how to get my WMR working with linux steamvr...), and... updating the firmware on my 8bitdo controller because I can't be bothered to properly expose the usb device in wine. nvme drives are dirt cheap and most motherboards have at least two slots.
- Thank you for the recommendations! I don't mind having some proprietary blobs here and there - as you pointed out, with Steam and the games I was going to run on it, it's basically necessary anyway, especially with a NVIDIA GPU. However...
  
  I strongly encourage just keeping a 1 or 2 TB drive for Windows, depending on what you play.
  
  All in all, that, the drivers being a bit behind on NVIDIA and the few annoyances that happen with external devices (like you pointed out, with a 3rd party controller) are unfortunately exactly the reasons I might not to switch just yet: while it seems to be more convenient to go full Linux for a few things here and there, but if I am going to need Windows, should I really bother keeping both installations? I'd have to buy a new, larger NVMe because my system doesn't support that for now, reinstall everything anyway... And so far, I've been able to do everything I need without needing two parallel systems.
  
  I have an Nvidia GPU and have had no problem playing BG3 or Diablo IV, for instance. Nvidia drivers are a lot better than they used to be, at least by my estimation.
  
  If that was sufficient to make you not want to use linux as a primary desktop: Cool. You would probably have been miserable the first time you had to use a terminal to fix a problem (which very well might be installing steam). It isn't for everyone
  
  But also: If you don't think you have a need for windows (no gamepass, no VR, etc) then don't bother keeping a drive. In my case? I know there is work to get WMR headsets working in steamvr on linux but I use mine maybe once a year at this point so it isn't a priority to debug. And 8bitdo firmware updates are similarly rare (and I could probably get it working in wine if I cared enough). That basically just leaves gamepass PC for me and time will tell if I even bother to use the PC version of starfield or if I check it out on my xbox and then buy it on sale on steam if I like it.
  
  At the end of the day: you know your needs and use cases. I personally like knowing that I can switch OSes at the speed of a quick reboot, mashing delete, sitting through 5 minutes of updates running, and then switch back in about 60 seconds when I am done. Good 2 TB nvmes have been going for about 100 bucks these days so storage is cheap. I could also have futzed around with partitions to share a drive but... why bother?
  
  I'm a software dev, so I'm already quite used to using the terminal routinely. My current plan is to reconsider if I see an interesting enough NVMe sale - and there are constantly a few these days, so I just might, in the next few weeks.
  
  After all the advice I've been getting thanks to this thread, it appears that I would almost be among the best candidates to switch: I mostly play single player games, nothing with anti-cheat and no VR, I'm having heavy doubts that I still need anything Windows-centric. The main downside I still see is the performance hog with an Nvidia GPU.

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