i know that some games arent compitable and been to the site that shows which game is and which is not, and i also know most mods dont work on linux version which is a boomer (skyrim and rimworld mostly)?
so for gamers, why did you change to linux being a mostly a gamer?
Honestly, we’ve been eating pretty good fam. See https://www.protondb.com/ for game compatibility on Linux.
The only remaining pain points are (see the provided links for databases on what does and doesn’t work):
- Anti-cheat; https://areweanticheatyet.com/
- VR; https://db.vronlinux.org/
VR on linux actually works just fine from my experience. I’ve never had a game not work. The big issue is just headset support. The HTC Vive and Valve Index are the only headsets with official drivers, since they were made by Valve. Standalone headsets, like the Quest for example, also work using ALVR. Anything else doesn’t really work. There are open source drivers but they’re not complete enough to be useable unless something majorly changed there since I last checked.
most mods dont work on linux
Mods work just fine, it’s mod managers that sometimes don’t work.
If mods don’t have manual setup instructions, I install them on Windows, copy back to Linux the mod config file and happily play on Linux.
In my experience running the Windows version of the mod manager in the same prefix as the game also works.
If the game uses Unity and the mods are posted on Thunderstore, then Gale works perfectly.
I’m joining the linux cult. I’m switching my main gaming pc this week. I’m sick of seeing news of Microsoft aiding in atrocities and destroying game studios.
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Pretty good unless your game doesnt enable anticheat support for Linux like the battlefield games or fortnite for example. Performance per game is either on par or better than Windows. Game support can be checked on https://protondb.com/
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The Venn diagram of games I want to play and games that won’t run on Linux is two disjoined circles. My buddy really likes Helldivers, but that didn’t play nice because of the invasive anti-cheat. That has been the only one.
Tell your buddy you can play Helldivers with him!
Helldivers 1 and 2 are platinum and gold rated on ProtonDB with recent reports on both confirming they work well.
Helldivers 1 and 2 are platinum and gold rated on ProtonDB with recent reports on both confirming they work well.
For a more recent report:
I’m literally playing Helldivers 2 right now, on Wayland with HDR, and an Nvidia graphics card.
I just assume games work now and rarely need to check protondb. All of the games with kernel Anticheat are just as scummy as Microsoft with their microtransactions and FOMO systems intended to manipulate their players… so, I don’t care to play them anyway.
Sad to hear Hell Divers doesn’t work. Odd that they’d be so strict, it’s CoOp
I switched to Linux at the start of this year, and it’s been great, some small hiccups but nothing I couldn’t solve in a few min
I play helldiver’s just fine. Unless they’ve changed something in the last few months
I switched to Linux a few weeks ago after being a windows user. Windows is pretty much all I’ve known and grew up on it. I made the switch after my partner had been using it for a long time. We are both gamers and play things like palworld, sims 4, dark souls, etc. I’ve found that most games run fine even though they say that it’s not Linux supported. My PC runs faster and responds faster than I’m used to than it was on windows.
most games run fine even though they say that it’s not Linux supported
You might appreciate ProtonDB as a resource!
edit: ProtonDB
It’s great if you’re not into online multiplayer, and I was already running Linux for years as a daily driver before it ‘got good.’
To clarify there are several very popular online games with anti-cheat that will never work BUT there are also a ton of other multiplayer games that do work great. You aren’t going to be stuck in single-player only moving to Linux, you’ll just miss out on a handful of popular competitive games.
Because linux wasn’t a problem for me gaming anymore
As far as I know, all Rimworld mods will work with Linux. You can either subscribe to them on the Steam Workshop (and enable them from the mod menu in-game) or download them manually and put them in the mods folder in the installation directory. I’ve played with modlists that had more than 100 mods in them and never had a Linux related issue.
To answer your other question, I dual booted Linux for a while, mainly because of privacy concerns, but switched to Linux full time around the time Windows 10 came out. The thing that gave me the final push was Windows 10 on my new laptop telling me it couldn’t open a zipped folder and I would need to pay for that feature! There was also a backup copy of W10 on a second drive that I didn’t know about which automatically overwrote Linux when I tried to install it.
thanks! i guess i can have one ssd just for windows, and one ssd for linux?
I switched to Linux exclusively 2 years ago and I gotta say it’s been pretty awesome. Pretty much everything works without fucking around.
I changed to Linux because it’s better. Windows sucks ass.
Because it’s easier, it just works and it doesn’t nag me.
I use Bazzite, it’s been the best computing experience I had.
Ask anything you want.
have you tryed more distros other then bazzites? what would you recommend?
- 1998:
I tried my first linux distro: Mandriva
- 1998 - 2020
Every year I chose a distro and spent a month with it. Mandrake was a an eye opener. Then Ubuntu was the easiest, but it was not ready for me yet.
- 2021:
Linux is now ready for work & gaming, so I switched and tried these major distros and their downstream forks:
Debian
- Ubuntu
- Zorin
- POP OS
- Mint
- Tails
- Vanilla OS
Arch
- Manjaro
- Endeavour OS
- Crystal
- BlendOS
- SteamOS
Fedora
- Fedora Workstation
- Nobara
- Fedora Silverblue
- Ublue:
- Aurora
- Bazzite
I recommend Bazzite for gamers and Aurora, for everyone else. They are as if not easier to use than a smartphone.
I use Aurora on my work laptop, and Bazzite on my gaming desktop. Both have been great with no issues.
damn interesting, i see on steamchart that
july 2025, arch linux is most popular, what would you recommend?Every distro I listed is awesome in it’s own ways. Arch is great, but you will break it.
Arch is for people that want to learn Linux enough to fix it and/or tailor it down to the last package, if you want something that just works no matter what, it’s not for you.
However, if you have a second PC and your activities are not critically important and you have lots of free time, it’s great to learn how Linux works.
Having 2 drives also works fine. Just don’t dual boot on the same drive, as that will eventually result in being unable to boot.
I uninstalled Windows few years ago even though I play the latest AAAs and indies games, including in VR, that’s how good Linux for gamers.
You can check my post history but basically once you have your hardware well supported (basically the right drivers) and rely on a good system to evaluate compatibility (e.g. ProtonDB) then you won’t get any surprise.
I suggest though that you try it yourself, e.g setup a Linux distribution of your chosing, a game you already own and… see if it feels good. If it does not, feel free to ask around and people will be happy to help if you provide a clear problem with your documented attempts to fix it, at least you can count on me.
So… finally why did I change? Well beside the “it actually works” it is also a lot more coherent with my own WorldView and my skillset. I’m a professional developer, WebXR prototypist to be more specific, so having an OS that does not put arbitrary (well, mostly about control for profit) limits on what I can or can not do is simply better. I can play for fun AND I can tinker with the same OS. I don’t have to reboot if I just happen to have an idea that I want to try, I can just do it right here and there.
TL;DR: it works and it’s better, giving me all the freedom I need to be creative and not feel constrained.
PS: also not giving more money to multibillionaires from Microsoft does feel nice.
I built my wife a gaming PC. She’s controller only. It’s basically an xbox. Decided to try ubuntu to see if we could avoid paying for windows.
She’s already 100% Hogwarts Legacy and played a dozen other games.
The only hangup was controller support for Slime Rancher on her 8bitduo. Had to use an xbox controller.
She knows nothing about linux, but she’ll install and play games through Steam no problem.
Sorry your wife likes Harry Potter
I switched full time to Linux last year and primarily use my computer for gaming. It’s been great. I play games through steam so YMMV with other systems. I haven’t had any issues playing a variety of games such as Factorio (built for Linux), GTFO, Horizon: Forbidden West, PEAK, Ready or Not, Plate Up… It’s been rare for me to have an issue. I remember an issue trying to play Plate Up via steam remote play.
I play PlateUp with a friend, we started on remote play while I wasnt sure if I liked the game. It had issues where if the window lost focus, I’d crash and the entire game session was lost. Anyway, I bought the game and have never had any issues since. Its super fun!
