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Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

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Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#521

Post by p1necone »

Novosell wrote: post #264
shevy-java wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was younger I also was like that. As I got older, my interests in games decreased. That and also because I am too dumb to make wine work with games nowadays; it was easier in the 32bit era. :\ But the real problem is lack of time. There are so many things to do and so little time. Today's games are also not as interesting IMO. Most of them are just "who has the better 3D engine".

Games these days, just as before, are fantastic. Outer Wilds, Disco Elysium, Expedition 33, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring(Nightreign), etc. And I've not even listed quite a few of my favorites cause they're not popular enough for most people to have heard of them. Weird to say you don't game these days but also make blanket statements about games these days :p

Please tell me your more obscure favourites :)

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#522

Post by p1necone »

snoman wrote: post #350
p1necone wrote: post #32

I made the switch more than a year ago and it's been basically problem free. Almost all modern games work flawlessly through proton and I get better compatibility for really old stuff through lutris than I ever did on windows (I used to have to run a win 3.1/95/98 vm to play certain older games, now I just use lutris/wine). The only stuff that doesn't work is multiplayer games with unsupported anticheat - it's always…

Meanwhile nothing epic will work on mint (at least I can’t get them working), there are frequently broken components of games (eg. phasmophobia mic won’t work), most multiplayer stuff with anti-cheat won’t work. Whenever I see someone say “most modern games work flawlessly” I know they’re full of shit or just don’t do much gaming. Don't get me wrong, I’m not going back to windows, but it’s not the panacea that people…

I've never tried Mint, the two distros I've definitely experienced the vast majority of steam games just working out of the box were Fedora (earlier) and OpenSUSE (currently). I'm not lying. Although it's probably also worth mentioning I have a fairly modern AMD GPU (6800xt) - ymmv on NVidia or older cards.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#523

Post by distances »

omnimus wrote: post #460
hamandcheese wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Steam Deck. Haven't booted it up in months. It convinced me that I could game on Linux, now I game on my Desktop.

Similar thing happened to me. I borrowed steamdeck, realized that i don't like handhelds but i liked gaming on Linux. So i bought a laptop that replaced my macbook for work but it games better than steamdeck.

I use my Steam Deck as a game console, connected to my beamer and with 4x PS5 controllers. Works great for that with the Steam game mode. But yes it's been a long time since I played anything on the big screen.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#524

Post by ASalazarMX »

bogwog wrote: post #270
jjcm wrote: post #231

As strange as it sounds, I think Valve is extremely well-positioned to ship what becomes one of the first true Linux desktop experiences. There's a huge demand for gaming x ai development, both of which have similar hardware requirements, and Valve is already polishing their linux experience with Steam Deck. If they launch their own desktop with a properly managed OS and hardware, I think it would legitimately become…

Valve, the monopolist, should not have more control over the Linux ecosystem.

Valve, the monopolist, is releasing their secret ingredient (Proton) as open source, and actively maintaining it. I can't see how that could make Valve a monopoly on Windows-on-Linux gaming, actually the opposite.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#525

Post by bigyabai »

viktorcode wrote: post #519
bigyabai wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the software simulation or translation layer will never be as good as DXVK/VKD3D > every Windows game wrapped in a translation layer will be significantly worse That's not wholly accurate, though. Apple Silicon has reverse-engineered drivers that do perfectly well keeping up with immediate-mode multiple-pass graphics pipelines, MoltenVK is not SOTA anymore: https://youtu.be/BbJMPfXTbbE?t=447 You're correct that til…

I think what you are describing is Apple Silicon GPUs delivering good results with sheer power. However, when the same titles are adopting TBDR you'll get faster rendering time or higher resolution. Cyberpunk is a good example of porting properly done. Skipping unnecessary operation during frame rendering is always better for games.

I don't think I am. Even before Apple released Game Porting Toolkit, Crossover could play the game at nearly the same framerate as native: https://youtu.be/mEZJFjhLAbc?t=46

Looking at this kind of footage really does not convince me that "porting properly done" is worth enduring a library with no games. Nevermind the fact that the game runs fine through translation on the $400 Steam Deck hardware. You really are overstating the difference it makes.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#526

Post by distances »

vintermann wrote: post #456
drnick1 wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another example of this is Left 4 Dead 2, ironically made by Valve. The Windows client is far better, but unfortunately Valve hasn't fixed a bug that prevents joining VAC-secure servers when playing on Proton. This means you need to find an "insecure" server or host your own game.

Civ 5 is another sad example. It has a native port by Aspyr, but it's clearly inferior to getting it to work with proton (and not just for lacking mods).

Same with Civ6, native version has some game breaking bugs but Proton works flawlessly.

Civ7 we don't talk about.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#527

Post by bigyabai »

viktorcode wrote: post #518
scheeseman486 wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First, due to substantial differences in graphics hardware, that is tiled-based deferred rendering for Apple Silicon and immediate mode rendering for NVIDIA and AMD the software simulation or translation layer will never be as good as DXVK/VKD3D, which essentially do rendering on exactly same GPUs. In case of using TBDR the pipeline must be rewritten to get the benefits. Simply put, for Apple hardware every Windows…

I don't think there's any issue to run any older game using Crossover or similar on a Mac. Grab that on Steam or GoG and go. Not sure why Apple should become involved in those simulation efforts.

You shouldn't need to own Crossover. The code for running these games is Open Source, Apple is the only one that can fix their runtime to support it.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#528

Post by encom »

n_kr wrote: post #466
encom wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish there was an (k)Ubuntu-like Linux distro - apt-based, semi-annual updates, kde default or selectable - but without all the stupid Ubuntu-isms like snap and alpha quality rust coreutils and whatnot. I run Gentoo and Debian for myself, but I'd like something normie-friendly I can put on other peoples machines and not get a ton of support questions.

That is exactly Linux Mint ( https://linuxmint.com/ ) . I encourage you to give it a try. It is what I have settled on after 25 years of using linux, and trying near about every distro in existence.

I'm aware of Linux Mint, but I always dismissed it because of Cinnamon without giving it much thought. Looks like KDE can be shoehorned in without much trouble.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#529

Post by encom »

omnimus wrote: post #458
encom wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish there was an (k)Ubuntu-like Linux distro - apt-based, semi-annual updates, kde default or selectable - but without all the stupid Ubuntu-isms like snap and alpha quality rust coreutils and whatnot. I run Gentoo and Debian for myself, but I'd like something normie-friendly I can put on other peoples machines and not get a ton of support questions.

Imho the future (or present) of normie friendly distros is in atomic linux. Fedora Silverblue, Bazzite, Aurora, SteamOS. It seems to me that Ubuntu on desktop is traditional but quite behind. For normies its gonna be some Fedora based distro and they choose Gnome or KDE.

Fedora looks interesting I admit, but having used Gentoo for ~20 years and Debian for ~10 [1], Fedora feels like a new pair of uncomfortable shoes.

[1] And then one day you find / ten years have got behind you...

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#530

Post by distances »

rossy wrote: post #461
philipwhiuk wrote: post #298

It's crazy to me that Arch Linux is the second biggest Steam distro. That's always been positioned to me as the one for hackers and experimentalists. You'd think the more 'user-friendly' distros would be higher.

The more I think about it, the harder it is to recommend anything else for the average Windows gamer/prosumer but first-time Linux user. - Rolling release, so you don't have to do a major upgrade twice a year - which would otherwise be much more often than Windows. - Latest kernel and graphics drivers, so it works with newly released hardware with the best performance. - Steam, NVIDIA drivers, H.264/H.265 codecs, Gam…

> The biggest issue is the lack of an official graphical installer, but while the install process is intimidating, it's not very difficult for people who are patient, can follow detailed instructions, and have a vague idea of what a partition and a bootloader is.

I think this is one of the main reasons CachyOS has been on such an upward trajectory. It's mostly Arch, but that installation was such a breeze. A couple of clicks and done.

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