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Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

arstechnica.com

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Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#271

Post by literalAardvark »

p_ing wrote: post #254
literalAardvark wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since the hardware is better controlled and secured, and hardware attestation is a solved problem these days, it's not particularly difficult to enforce security to the point where you'd need to hardware hack a controller and connect it to a physical camera to bot. That's still gonna be annoying for players, but it'll greatly decrease incidence, and if reporting a player for botting requires buying and hacking a new…

Controller-based cheats have been around for awhile, like Cronus which allows scripted actions; reduced recoil in CoD, for example.

Sure, but that's because they're not protected. They could easily be protected.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#272

Post by minetest2048 »

Macha wrote: post #246
pxc wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These ports are also not usually source ports, so they're not much "more native" than the Proton ports. They often use the same kind of API translation layer, probably also built on WINE. I think as Proton sees more investment and becomes more advanced, it's probably becoming difficult for competing compatibility layers to keep up. A source port that is optimized as lovingly as its Windows counterpart will probably b…

Factorio and Minecraft (Java edition) are two of the few games that come to mind where the Linux port got comparable effort to the Windows port, and I don't think people are in a rush to play either of them in Proton. Your latest AAA open world RPG on the other hand? Yeah, you're probably going to have better luck in Proton even if it gets a native Linux port.

Factorio is the only game that I know that have Linux (and Mac) exclusive feature, which is non-blocking saving: https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-408

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#273

Post by sitkack »

happymellon wrote: post #266
viraptor wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very much not what I expected. Do you mind pointing out something Proton implements that windows doesn't?

While they are wrong, in that Proton is absolutely a subset of Windows APIs, it is describing aiming for an implementation detail. Yes call X is faster than call Y in Proton, but that could also be because its only 50% written and skips a bunch of side effects that will be created after you have written your game. Therefore you need to view Proton as a potential moving target. Not that Windows isn't too, but its just…

Thank you. I didn't do a very good job of explaining why I think Proton is worth targeting specifically if perf tests show it running faster than Windows.

The Windows API perf topology is astronomically large.

That Proton is faster than Windows can't be universally true, but if you stick to that subset that has good conformance with Windows APIs and is also faster, that should be the target (and everything is moving of course).

Cross benchmarking games between Windows and Proton, taking API traces and finding those subsets of APIs can usage styles will enable a game developer to target those Proton APIs that are both conformant and fast. It is that subset of Windows APIs (temporal spatial structural usage) that I am suggesting being the target. The API linting tool might itself compare API traces. In fact for those API traces from performant AAA games, I could see generating a header file that only exposes the same API as used by that game.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#274

Post by sitkack »

Jach wrote: post #79
MindSpunk wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignoring that, you know, 99% of users are running Windows and not SteamOS. Test on what your users run. Proton is just an implementation of Win32, you're still just targeting Windows.

Only 95.45% now ( https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey ) but yeah.

Over what time period? 99 -> 95.45 is a huge absolute number. Is most of that attributable to SteamDeck? Would that mean that 4.5% of active Steam users own a SteamDeck?

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#275

Post by sitkack »

p_ing wrote: post #198
sitkack wrote: post #22

Given that Windows games run faster via Proton on SteamOS, developers should prioritize targeting SteamOS APIs—not Windows. This ensures compatibility with Windows while maximizing performance. Game engines like Unity and Unreal must adopt SteamOS as the primary target, with CI systems rigorously testing both platforms. SteamOS, not Windows, should be the baseline for optimization. Does Valve run a SteamOS CI/CD farm…

The only stable ABI on SteamOS is Win32. Targeting anything else is asking for it to break over time.

I only referred to the API as exposed by Proton, no argument was made for targeting a different ABI.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#276

Post by Jach »

sitkack wrote: post #274
Jach wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only 95.45% now ( https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey ) but yeah.

Over what time period? 99 -> 95.45 is a huge absolute number. Is most of that attributable to SteamDeck? Would that mean that 4.5% of active Steam users own a SteamDeck?

If you click on Linux only and expand the details, SteamOS accounts for 31%. "Other" is the next biggest at 23%, and Arch (which SteamOS is built on) at 10%. Someone probably has made a comprehensive historical spreadsheet but the internet archives save the page frequently if you want to see trends. Even historically though Mac has commonly been known for being around 2%, at times more, it's only recently (like in the last couple years) that it fell below 2% and Linux passed it. SteamDeck did have a big impact for sure, though. I've seen estimates for around 4 million sold so far after three years, that's not bad. Putting some extra effort into your game's release to get it "SteamDeck Certified" seems worth it to me just to get that little bit of extra attention from those customers.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#277

Post by WorldMaker »

Ferret7446 wrote: post #270
WorldMaker wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Related to 1, Microsoft did announce a gaming-focused "debloated" Windows 11 experience especially for gaming handhelds to release "sometime next year". It will be interesting to see what it is like as a standard, but obviously it is not out yet.

So they are scared of the Steam Deck. Good, they need the competition.

And the Switch 2.

https://www.xbox.com/en-us/handhelds/rog-xbox-ally

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#278

Post by cma »

nullify88 wrote: post #260
p_ing wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The file system filter is still queried using exclusions. Eliminating all file system filters yields a faster read/write.

According to some benchmarking removing the storage filters offers a mild boost when compared to adding an exclusion and you don't have the benefit of some AV protection when other processes are accessing the volume like steam etc. https://blog.maartenballiauw.be/post/2023/11/22/test-driving...

In WSL 1, unix find and git status still run about 4x faster on Dev Drive than on NTFS with defender off.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#279

Post by ncr100 »

Fluorescence wrote: post #166
ncr100 wrote: post #120

Is this testing the same graphics performance / i.e. screenshot-accurate comparison vs Windows?

Shame you have been downvoted. That's a reasonable question no matter where you stand. Motion is important too, not just static screen-shots. I am 100% team Linux but cross-platform benchmarking is rife with problems. Differences are often from not testing the exactly same thing or different defaults that trade-off safety/quality/perf and can in theory be changed. No point measuring only one side of a triangle whose…

(this is Hacker News after all, seems like a reasonable question to me too)

I had not thought about Motion...good one.

Agreed regarding a responsible benchmark.

All that exploration could help illuminate (ha) the path to a user-first "Desired frames per second" Graphical Setting in game set-ups. "I just want 60 / 120 / don't-care 30 is okay". With nVidia going bonkers with new AI interpolation features the users may want a "minimum 60 please".

It's a soft feature that Consoles have, IMO, though with variable rate refresh panels I feel it's less of a draw.

Does Linux have workable VRR support?

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#280

Post by twosdai »

Ferret7446 wrote: post #269
ryukoposting wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget the ancillary applications that gamers want. If you follow Discord's website, you're gonna end up installing a DEB file manually. Then, every couple weeks, Discord won't launch until you go download another DEB file and install that. Oh, and good luck getting Discord screen sharing working on Wayland. I tried for hours, gave up, and switched to X11. So, just in Discord, we've already run into two hideous…

...why? Discord is available via flatpak. It Just Works.

Made the mistake the poster above did with discord did for years.

The package system is very important to learn in Linux. People have 12 ways to install an app, and they are far from equal.

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