ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with • Hacker News Board

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#131

Post by anon7000 » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 12:42 AM UTC

d3Xt3r wrote: post #108

cortesoft wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been playing Madden and FIFA/FC for 30 years now. I love them. I love being able to play competitively against other people without having cheaters in every game. Those two desires (to play Madden and FIFA/FC and play online without cheaters) requires that I not simply refuse to buy those games.

> without having cheaters in every game. That's highly debatable. How do you know for certain they aren't using any undetectable cheats (like a driver-level cheat, say an aim assist) or a hardware level cheat? Cheating aside, how do you know that they aren't better than you simply because they've got better hardware? How do you get satisfaction from playing such games when there's so many variables that can affect ga…

Cheating is often very obvious, even when the player is on your team. It’s when multiple improbable, too-perfect situations happen for the cheater in the same game.

But that’s beside the point. Gaming companies who produce competitive online games know that the competitive scene will die very quickly if there is rampant, unaddressed cheating. This is why kernel-level anticheat exists. When you have a free to play game banking on the competitive scene & selling cosmetics, cheating is an existential threat to your entire business model, and players demand you do something about it.

Valorant players BY FAR don’t care about kernel-level anticheat, but do care about cheaters getting detected and banned. People put a lot of time into ranked matches, and enjoy the game a lot.

Does riot have other options? Sure, and it probably uses a lot of tools beyond the kernel-level system to help with it. But there is zero business incentive for them to migrate to a different anti-cheat system.

It does not take much to upset your competitive players, because they spend so much time in your game system. And they’re the ones paying for season passes & cosmetics keeping the game alive. There is a lot of risk that companies have no business reason to tackle.

This doesn’t matter for plenty of games, sure, but for people who care about doing well and who enjoy being able to be ranked (and work toward being better) in a fair system, anti-cheat is an important part of the puzzle.

The HN crowd is asking people to prioritize something they don’t care about (how anticheat works) over something they already enjoy and put a lot of time into. That’s not how this works.

It’s going to take a company seeing the value of a Linux market to invest in better anti-cheat solutions for Linux, or investing completely into server-side tech.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#132

Post by mulmen » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 12:51 AM UTC

d3Xt3r wrote: post #130

mulmen wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what the specific benefits of SteamOS are. It’s forked from Arch, I don’t know what Valve changes. Maybe slightly better hardware support for Steam Deck? I run Steam on Fedora on my desktop and have no issues.

I don't run SteamOS but I run Bazzite on my desktop, the main advantage of running these immutable gaming distros is to have a fuss-free gaming experience - my PC boots straight to Steam, and I never ever have to worry about OS updates or other maintenance tasks. Basically I get to enjoy a console-like gaming experience. I work as a sysadmin during the day, fixing PCs and stuff, and I really don't want to continue do…

Yeah that does sound nice. It really is the best possible experience if all you want is to play games.

I should have clarified that I meant the performance benefit of SteamOS over Bazzite specifically.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#133

Post by The_President » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 12:55 AM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #47

klipklop wrote: post #31

I know this is extreme, but people buying these Xbox handhelds over a Steam Deck are directly harming the future of gaming on PC. It's time that the PC gaming ecosystem breaks free from its dependency on Windows. Proton and SteamOS, combined with the unpopular mess that is Windows 11 is the perfect opportunity to do so. The long-term end goal for Microsoft is to lock down Windows and force signed code. Once users are…

I love my Steam Deck, but it is really frustrating how many of the games i regularly play can't be played on it - Madden, EA FC, PUBG, all won't run even though the hardware is plenty to play them. The limitations of anti cheat on Linux might be insurmountable

Bought GTA IV only to find out the Rockstar Launcher got broken on Linux about a month before I purchased it. Downloaded all twenty gigs of the game, can’t use a penny’s worth due to the broken Rockstar Launcher.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#134

Post by Telaneo » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 12:59 AM UTC

eru wrote: post #99

Telaneo wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DRM is optional on Steam. The dev can opt to not include it, and the default Steam DRM is trivially bypassed anyway. Valve barely does any gatekeeping that isn't caused by outside pressure, i.e. Visa and Mastercard in the latest instance, which they're atleast trying to fight back against, from what I can tell.

Valve does some important gatekeeping that has a real impact: There's (almost?) no ads and microtransactions in Steam games. If you look at mobile games or browser games, you can see that developers would put them in, if they could.

Fair point! Although that's a gate I very much like.

I don't think Steam has any complete blockers to microtransactions, given that there are games that do have it, although I don't think they're as predatory about it as mobile games are. Maybe that's down to cultural differences between PC and mobile, or maybe there's more too it.

Ads standing in the way of gameplay are indeed banned,[1] although there are ways around that I'm sure if devs really wanted to be knobheads about it, but people on PC tend to be more loud about ads in their games than on mobile.[2]

[1] https://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-seemingly-bans-all-s...

[2] https://news.designrush.com/ubisoft-assassins-creed-ad-spark...

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#135

Post by cortesoft » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 1:20 AM UTC

estimator7292 wrote: post #129

cortesoft wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love my Steam Deck, but it is really frustrating how many of the games i regularly play can't be played on it - Madden, EA FC, PUBG, all won't run even though the hardware is plenty to play them. The limitations of anti cheat on Linux might be insurmountable

Counter: it's the publisher's fault, not Linux. As you said, the hardware is perfectly capable, and the OS is capable, publishers just refuse to allow it without installing kernel level malware. It's EA's fault that you're required to install a damn rootkit to play a game. It's not the fault of Linux for refusing to allow this. Microsoft shouldn't allow it either, and they will likely shut it down before too much lon…

I am choosing to let them install kernel level software because I want to be able to play multiplayer games without cheaters. There doesn't seem to be any other way that people have found to effectively block cheaters.

A user is in full control of their Linux install, which is great... unless I want to play them in a game and they decide to cheat.

It is a tradeoff, yes, but one I choose to make because being able to play cheater free multiplayer games is worth it to me.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#136

Post by cortesoft » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 1:23 AM UTC

d3Xt3r wrote: post #108

cortesoft wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been playing Madden and FIFA/FC for 30 years now. I love them. I love being able to play competitively against other people without having cheaters in every game. Those two desires (to play Madden and FIFA/FC and play online without cheaters) requires that I not simply refuse to buy those games.

> without having cheaters in every game. That's highly debatable. How do you know for certain they aren't using any undetectable cheats (like a driver-level cheat, say an aim assist) or a hardware level cheat? Cheating aside, how do you know that they aren't better than you simply because they've got better hardware? How do you get satisfaction from playing such games when there's so many variables that can affect ga…

If a player's hardware improves their skill, they will get a higher skill ranking and will play against people who match their skill. All of the things (hardware, skill, network, etc) go into generating the person's skill level. That is fine.

Actual cheats are different because it fundamentally changes the game.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#137

Post by Gigachad » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 1:29 AM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #135

estimator7292 wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counter: it's the publisher's fault, not Linux. As you said, the hardware is perfectly capable, and the OS is capable, publishers just refuse to allow it without installing kernel level malware. It's EA's fault that you're required to install a damn rootkit to play a game. It's not the fault of Linux for refusing to allow this. Microsoft shouldn't allow it either, and they will likely shut it down before too much lon…

I am choosing to let them install kernel level software because I want to be able to play multiplayer games without cheaters. There doesn't seem to be any other way that people have found to effectively block cheaters. A user is in full control of their Linux install, which is great... unless I want to play them in a game and they decide to cheat. It is a tradeoff, yes, but one I choose to make because being able to…

Just play with your actual friends. If they start cheating you can go over and kick them in the nuts. Match making was a horrible development for gaming.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#138

Post by Gigachad » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 1:32 AM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #119

eru wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect playing any PvP game with random members of the public? Playing Streetfighter 2 with people you know should still be fun?

As an avid gamer for 35+ years, I have played a ton of PvP both locally and online. One of those experiences can't replace the other. I am married with two young children. All of my video game time comes in the hour or two after they go to bed and before I go to bed. I don't have friends around at that time, yet I still want to get some good multiplayer gaming in. Online matchmaking is amazing these days. You are abl…

For most online games, especially ones without chat, playing against sufficiently good bots is better than online. You don’t have to worry about cheating, connection issues, can quit mid game without issue, etc.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#139

Post by Gigachad » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 1:34 AM UTC

eru wrote: post #96

cortesoft wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The anti-cheats that the competitive games use rely on being able to trust that the checks they add to the kernel can't be overridden. It relies on Windows not being able to be modified to lie about that. Linux can lie about anything.

Is that a difference in degree or in kind? It's possible to change windows, just a lot harder. Unless you are talking about secure boot, but that's available to Linux just as much as to Windows. > Linux can lie about anything. Linux should lie about being Windows then.

It would be virtually impossible to completely disguise the fact that you are on Linux. It’s hard enough to trick software in to thinking it’s not running in a VM.

Re: ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than Windows it ships with

#140

Post by Gigachad » Thu, Oct 23, 2025, 1:36 AM UTC

brokencode wrote: post #79

colechristensen wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tools for owning your Linux OS are strong enough that anti-cheat is pointless because they're just broken all the time and nobody wants a linux box they can't control at all.

I think most people who buy Steam Decks don’t care whatsoever about Linux and would be perfectly fine with not having control over it as long as all their games worked.

I can imagine a world where you still have full control most of the time, but when you open a multi player game the system reboots on a clean / verified OS image. Then when you quit it can reboot in to the OS with all of your mods and customisation on.