Gaming on NixOS ?
Gaming on NixOS ?
Hi, I am considering switching to NixOS and I was wondering what level of hassle I should expect for gaming.
I have been using linux for about 10 months so I don't know a lot yet. I am wondering if it is worth it to try gaming on Nix or if it is going to be way too much of a headache considering my limited knowledge.
I've had wildly different experiences trying gaming on different distros, and very differently from what I expected. It went from fine for a weird niche distro (antiX), to really awful for a distro supposedly "easy" and "good for gaming" (Manjaro 😑), to absolutely amazing gaming distro (Nobara), and finally to surprisingly good for a "don't try unless you are a Level 99 Tech Wizard dual-classed Zen Master you idiot" distro (Arch). So I really have no clue what to expect from Nix.
I really like Arch but my main issue is that I keep forgetting what I have already configured and how and with which settings, or I leave stuff partially configured because adhd then I forget it wasn't finished and where I was at, so using config files instead sound insanely more convenient and I've been wanting to try Nix for a while.
I'd be really glad for anyone willing to share their experience of gaming on Nix 🙂
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Some games don't work, despite what ProtonDB says, such as Stardew Valley.
I've played Stardew with no configuration on my NixOS install a few times before, I think you might have something else going on there?
Apparently, I'm not the only one. https://discourse.nixos.org/t/help-running-stardew-valley-in-nixos/48574
How do you avoid those errors?
Interesting.... I've just been pressing the "play" button on Steam 🤔 Let me do some digging and see if there's anything weird I might be doing.
Edit: Nope, confirmed, just pressing "play" in Steam using
GE-Proton-9-9works fine. Is there any reason you're running it throughnix-shellandsteam-runinstead of the Steam interface?Just tried
GE-Proton-9-9and the play button goes to "stop" and then right back to "play". I tried launching from terminal usingnix-shellandsteam-runso I could see the error messages when it crashes. Thanks for looking at your setup to see what was going on.Interesting, so it just crashes outright? Might I ask what your hardware is like?
It's a 2013 macbook air, which is weird because when I had OSX installed it played Stardew fine.
Huh, yeah that's really weird. Intel device, no Nvidia, capable enough hardware. Unless there's a hardware module for your device that that you haven't enabled in your
configuration.nix(I had to do one on my Framework for a few things to work properly), I don't know why that wouldn't be working for you. Out of interest, how did you install steam? Is it in yourenvironment.systemPackages, or did you enable it withpackages.steam.enable = true;(or whatever it is)I did both - I have
steamandsteam-runinenvironment.systemPackagesand I havepackages.steam.enable = true;Here's my hardware config:
hardware = { bluetooth.enable = true; # enables support for Bluetooth bluetooth.powerOnBoot = true; # powers up the default Bluetooth controller on boot opengl = { enable = true; extraPackages = with pkgs; [ intel-media-driver # LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=iHD intel-media-sdk intel-vaapi-driver # For older processors. LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=i965 vaapiIntel vaapiVdpau libvdpau-va-gl ]; }; pulseaudio = { enable = true; support32Bit = true; extraConfig = "load-module module-combine-sink"; }; xpadneo.enable = true; };
In my case I had zero problems with Stardew Valley. Moded or otherwise. Dunno what could be causing it.