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SparkBomb 7 hours ago

Gaming on Linux is hit and miss, depending on the distro you use and your desktop environment. Some games should be launched with gamescope if you are using Gnome/GDM

To have HellDivers run in borderless window on Debian 14. It required me to manually compile gamescope (wasn't that difficult but Valve's instructions are out of date), and use the backports on Trixie to upgrade the kernel to 6.16, and update wireplumber and pipewire (sound was flakey on some games). Kernel 6.16 performs much better than 6.12 just generally.

All the Arkham games work perfectly. Doom Eternal has some weird latency in the mouse and aiming doesn't feel right.

I could never get my Xbox One bluetooth controller behaving with Linux. I ended buying a 8bitdo Xbox style controller which works perfectly. It is much better made than the Xbox controller and roughly the same price.

LooseMarmoset 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

A few games I've tried required a little fiddling to work correctly. Some of these, like Dark Souls, required me to get a Windows patcher to run in linux to patch a windows binary, which required me to launch the patcher from Proton in Steam, and know where Steam installed the game. Not straightforward at all, but it can be done. I would not call it an experience for the average Windows gamer.

Some of the latest shooters, will get you banned because anti-cheat.

That said, there's nothing in my library (180 games!) that doesn't run in Linux, and I have a number of games that you can't even get to run in Windows at all anymore.

I think the gaming community should all send Gabe Newell a Valentines Day card, or maybe a Christmas gift, or something. Seriously, the man has done so much for gaming, think of where we'd be without him. Windows App Store, Sony Game Store, walled gardens...

terribleperson 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

So to be fair about Helldivers, it doesn't even reliably work on Windows.

I have to install a two year old AMD driver to get Helldivers to recognize my GPU.

SparkBomb 6 hours ago | parent [-]

I've had zero issues on Windows. None at all. I have a AMD GPU.

Linux issues have been poor performance generally. Once I installed kernel 6.16 that was fixed.

crowbahr 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That's why the correct choice is Bazzite

SparkBomb 6 hours ago | parent [-]

No the correct choice is what I want to use and it is Debian. Distro-hopping doesn't fix your problems and you will end up with either the same issues or more issues by distro-hopping.

I use my Linux machine for things other than games and I am not moving to "distro of the week" to run one game.

tapoxi 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That's fair but Debian is shipping you multi year old packages when you want the latest drivers and mesa for games.

Bazzite has those, and you can just jump into a Debian Distrobox for development.

LooseMarmoset 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Usually Debian testing will get you where you need to go with Steam and gaming. The stable branch won't git r dun for you usually.