• Veraticus@lib.lgbt
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    1 year ago

    I went full Linux a few months ago and haven’t looked back. Steam has superb support for basically everything I could want to play – in some cases I feel like Linux actually performs better than Windows on the same hardware. I really appreciate the huge investment Valve made into making Linux gaming work.

    • six_arm_spider_man@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      I’m in the process of swapping over now. Certainly some speed bumps after many years of Windows, but it’s been kind of fun.

      There are a few games I’ve hit that I can’t play, but that why I’m dual booting for the near future. Linux as the daily driver and then back to windows when I have to.

    • Kizaing@lemmy.kizaing.ca
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      1 year ago

      I did the same, I’ve used Linux off and on since like 2010 but this year is the first time where everything I want to do just works. I have a windows drive available just in case but so far I haven’t had to use it

    • LukeMedia@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Only thing so far is other game launchers, and VR. I’m still dual booting, especially for VR.

          • SaltyIceteaMaker@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            I honestly just watched a youtube tutorial

            You probably can look into the arch wiki although if you don’t use arch there may be some differences.

            If i find the youtube video i will edit this comment and link it [here]

            Alternatively here is how i did it:

            •Install the bottles application (from the aur) •install proton ge runner •Create a new bottle •select proton ge as runner for said bottle •Download launcher installer (battle.net in my case) •run application > battlenetinstaller.exe (or however it’s named)

    • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I really appreciate that I can buy first-party hardware from Valve and then install and run GoG games on it without any BS barriers or workarounds.

      I got some GoG games on sale yesterday. Installed Heroic Games Launcher. Logged in. Installed the games. Clicked “add to Steam library” and boom, there they are in the Steam launcher alongside my other Steam games.

      This is just such a breath of fresh air in a modern world consumed by proprietary bullshit. Valve is the anti-Nintendo.

    • Llewellyn@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      in some cases I feel like Linux actually performs better than Windows on the same hardware

      What are those cases?

      • SaltyIceteaMaker@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Im may not be the person asked but i can still give you 1 particularly impactful case: minecraft. Now Minecraft (java) has native linux support so this isn’t valve’s doing but i get a massive performance lift in minecraft. On my old pc on windows i had barely 50 fps. On Linux i had 80 that’s 30 fps more with the exact same mods and settings

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I believe directx 10 games run better on dxvk or whatever, to the point that people recommend it on Windows for some games (GTA IV)

      • Janne Moren@fosstodon.org
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        1 year ago

        @Llewellyn
        File system operations are often faster. This is in part due to Windows doing more; it has a more complex and more flexible permissions system.

        Spawning threads and processes is also normally faster. Linux apps thinks nothing of spawning lots of processes with abandon, then have them opening and closing files all over the place. If you move it straight over to a Windows machine it will tend to run very badly as a result.

        • entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          In addition to the differences in permissions and kernel behavior you’ve pointed out, there’s also a huge difference in the filesystems themselves.

          Windows’ default filesystem is NTFS. Linux’s is EXT4.

          EXT4 is significantly more modern (2008 vs 2001) and featureful (no fragmentation, handles small files much better, journaling, etc) than NTFS.

    • Kit Sorens@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      I’ve always wondered how good proton is when the hardware is less standardized than a console/pc hybrid. Can you really just slap in any modern x86 CPU and Nvidia Card and just go? How’s driver handling? It’s been years since I’ve used a linux desktop environment, so I’d be coming to it with navigational/file-handling skills in terminal alone.

      • xuniL@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        Should work out of the box, if you want a better experience I would definitely recommend an AMD gpu. Nvidia drivers are a huge mess on Linux since Nvidia actively refuses to support Linux

        • Ulu-Mulu-no-die@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          What? You just have to install the proprietary drivers, they work perfectly fine. I get that if you don’t want any proprietary stuff NDIVIA is not the best experience (opensource drivers are not good because of lack of support) but I’d hardly call that a huge mess.

          • xuniL@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 year ago

            If you want to use Wayland without having to tweak lots of things or use weird hacks then Nvidia isn’t an option.

            Also in my experience the open source drivers nowadays have better performance and support than the proprietary Nvidia drivers

            • Chewy@discuss.tchncs.de
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              1 year ago

              Not the open source nvidia drivers. They don’t support reclocking so there’s no way to get any useable results for gaming (and if not for gaming, why use an nvidia gpu anyway? Compute isn’t supported in nouveau anyway).

              Edit: typo

        • miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          They’re an extra thing you have to install, which makes them less plug and play than AMD, but a huge mess? It’s far from being that bad nowadays

          • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            Not an extra thing that you have to install, an extra thing that you have to maintain, forever, instead of just letting the OS do it for you. Have you never borked your main machine with a flubbed driver update? Or found that, uh oh, you broke CUDA last time you upgraded and didn’t notice until you tried to do some work?

            • miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              No, I didn’t. I installed the driver once, same with cuda, and I let the system updates to the rest.

              And guess what, it actually does just work™

      • harpuajim@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        It’s sold a ton but my guess is that the majority of people who bought it are using it as a standalone device

        • Dudewitbow@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          I have a decently high end pc(12700k/4070) and i use it standalone more than plugged in myself

  • HouseWolf@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Even though I don’t have much interest in the Steam Deck itself, seeing the quick progress of Proton and games I regularly play working on the Deck is what got me to seriously consider Linux and finally switch my desktop over.

    Been daily driving EndeavourOS for over a month now and no regrets.

  • Bogasse@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I really hope they will continue maintaining it and release new versions 🤞

    • Fuckass [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      They also need to push Linux explicitly. Something like exclusive deals or sponsoring in game events if you play on Linux. Though it might just end up like TF2 with people logging in on a new device, getting the exclusive items, and using it as a currency to trade without actually using the OS lol

      Or, optimize CSGO and Dota and VAC for Linux and start using it in competitions to attract more curious minds.

      • bc3114@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        They could enforce SteamOS in Dota2/CSGO esports events. That would be a huge boost

  • arglebargle@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I took the steam deck on my last trip out of country to use on the flight.

    There was a monitor, mouse and keyboard at my destination. I worked for several weeks and used the steam deck in desktop mode for me, and used remote desktop on it for work.

    So I didn’t have to bring my laptop anymore.

    Awesome little device.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOP
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      1 year ago

      The fact that Valve decided to not lock it down and let you use it as a PC is hands down one of the best things about it.

  • ButtBidet [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I’ve been using Mint OS for gaming and it’s been perfectly fine. I probably can’t play some burning edge, this year games, but everything else has been fine. And I’m free from Windows garbageware.

    • TheFresh16@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      As a noob to Linux and a very casual/ infrequent gamer, I have a question for you. I recently made the switch from Windows to Mint (dual boot so I have a fall back) and found that I can’t play half of my steam games on it. I was surprised by the quantity since I have read a ton of comments referencing the high % of supported games. Much of my library consists of the indie genre, could this be the reason why I have lower playability? Or could there be some add-on that I am missing?

      • imikoy [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Most of Steam games rely on Proton for support. You need to enable it in Steam’s settings, under Steam Play.

        You can check how well a game runs on protondb. Some games may require additional steps to be playable (using a specific version of Proton, installing something), protondb reports most of the time include required information.

        • Cornelius@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          You need to enable it in Steam’s settings, under Steam Play

          Honestly, this needs to go away, there is never a scenario where Linux gamers only want to play some of their games. There should be instead some pop up window for non proton verified games instead of an obtuse setting.

        • TheFresh16@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Wow thank you so much for this - I had no idea! I am midway through a CPU change but as soon as I can get back in I will give this a try. Cheers!

      • ButtBidet [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        NGL, I play games off of Steam, which is easy mode. You can run the Windows game off of Proton, which is Valve’s program for Windows to Linux gaming. Did you try right clicking on the game in Library, going to Properties, then Compatibility tab, then choosing Proton. Almost always the newest version of Proton (8.0-3) will do the trick. Rarely the experimental version or an older version is better.

        Adding “gamemoderun %command%” [without the speech marks] to the launch options usually improves performance.

        There’s a bit of learning curve, but you can do it, comrade.