What do you mean with out of the box, if you play steam games that is pretty much install and play, For Epic and GOG I use Heroic Game launcher with the same success.
I don’t believe the majority of steam’s offerings are available on Linux, definitely not without wine/proton/etc. as a layer, but I would be excited to be proven wrong on that. I also don’t love the idea of one company, even if they are proven to be magnanimous historically, being the main portal for all of that. Linux games need to be able to work reliably not on Steam as well.
Off the top of my head, I don’t think any of the major Sony PC releases play on Linux. the last of us, god of war, uncharted for sure don’t. Starfield doesn’t as another user said, or any Bethesda game over the last 15 years IIRC. Skyrim doesn’t, Fallout 3 and 4 don’t. Baldur’s Gate 3 can work for some distros but definitely wouldn’t qualify as “out the box” unless you’re on a steam deck.
They do work without steam. Steam has just streamlined the process.
And of course you’d need a compatibility layer (e.g. wine/proton). But those aren’t dependant on Valve. Even though they’ve definetly benefited from their involvement.
Again the sticking point to me is “majority of games.” Where are y’all getting that info? Very happy to be wrong here. I think it’s great to see Linux gaming growing.
Protondb also has some hard numbers. There are some 12000 games that are playable on the steam deck. Also something like 70%+ of the top 1000 steam games are platinum or gold rated which means they work out of the box with zero or minimal effort.
I’ve played Skyrim and Fallout 3 & 4 on Linux, and Uncharted. They worked just fine.
You need to enable Proton for all ‘unsupported’ titles in Steam (literally two clicks). After that…the only games I’ve found that don’t work are down to anti-cheat. I used to occasionally have to change the Proton version for some games, but it’s been a while since I had to do that.
It’s nothing like gaming on Linux was 10 years ago. It’s much more like gaming on Windows, the last time I did it: you occasionally find a game that needs tweaking, but 95% work flawlessly.
When you are in the store, it only puts the little icons right next to the game as a short hand for what it works on. So for instance if you go look up Elden ring you will only see the windows logo. My immediate reaction is “this is not playable on Mac OS or Linux.”
That’s probably because there’s no native linux client. Elden Ring runs great on Steam Deck (Valve even precompiled the shaders for the Steam Deck, because the PC port constantly compiles them on the fly, leading to stuttering)
What do you mean? I use Linux on my laptop and on my steam deck, and for 99% of the time, I just hit the launch button and it works. Actually yesterday I had the first time where I needed to change the proton version, which was 2 clicks and then it worked perfectly. But that was literally the first time I had to do anything other than hit launch.
I am happy to discuss this further, but not if you’re going to do that annoying “my brother in Christ“ nonsense from Reddit. I would prefer we talk like adults here. I’m not allergic to being proven incorrect but, like most people I imagine, don’t respond well to performative snark. Definitely not when it ends with “you’re just wrong here’s no explanation or links just trust me.”
Just because the original response seems so ignorant. Like have you actually tried it? Have you looked up the user experiences? Why am I supposed to provide the links when you are making the claim? As another user mentioned most things are seamless to run. Yes they require wine/proton as a compatibility layer, but steam does it seamlessly, it is as easy as enabling the compatibility in steam options and pressing install, then play. And this generally works for non-steam titles as well, you just add the non-steam title and let steam handle the rest.
The OP of the video wrote himself that his process for setting up the games in the video was : install OS, install steam, install game, launch game on both windows and linux.
You can read the rest of my comments to understand the conversation, and where I have landed. You’re incredibly rude and I am done after this.
Either way, I know you’re just going to fight me instead of reading it, so I will just give you the cliff’s notes of what I learned: steam does not put up if a game is compatible with Linux if you have to run proton or something. It specifically only leaves the windows icon for compatibility. I was not aware of this, I feel like it’s pretty reasonable to assume that if Linux is not listed as a compatible platform then the game won’t run on Linux (just like with Mac OS). So go ahead and enjoy your victory lap or whatever.
No, especially AAA releases usually do not, or least not right away. For example according to ProtonDB Starfield (and yes I know, most people here don’t like it - but I do) still doesn’t work reliably, especially not on Nvidia cards. And no amount of indie puzzle games makes up for AAA titles working hassle free and on day one for the vast majority of users.
I don’t mind waiting a week until the relevant things are fixed, why do you need to play something the moment they are released?
BG3 worked for me on the week of release, I did not buy / test it on the day of releas however, but afaik all it needed to work fine was a switch from Vulkan to DX12
Its not a matter of it being AAA or Indie. Yes some games don’t play well or at all. Most games do, and they do it seamlessly.
According to ProtonDB Starfield works, with less FPS and some (rare crashes). I would bet my left nut that the main reason is that bethesda released a buggy incomplete mess and left it to the modders to complete for free. And if bethesda hadn’t put out spaghetti it would probably just work with proton.
I usually don’t, I’d like to but I generally don’t have the time for it. But many people do play on launch day, as you can see looking at the player charts on Steam. You can’t say “gaming on Linux works, you don’t need Windows” and then have all these little caveats. For the vast majority of people something either works when they click “Play” or it doesn’t work at all. This is an enthusiast community, but most people just aren’t that.
And I’ll admit that I didn’t recheck Starfield before commenting. Nice to see, it was a no-go on Nvidia initially.
For example according to ProtonDB Starfield (and yes I know, most people here don’t like it - but I do) still doesn’t work reliably, especially not on Nvidia cards
This is an nvidia driver issue more than a proton/wine issue. When amd releases terrible game drivers on windows, amd is blamed so why is linux blamed when it is nvidia’s fault¿?
TBH, not all games works on windows out of the box either. It usually is better than Linux, but I always need to do some adjustments when playing on desktop; to really work with minimal effort, it needs to be a console.
Not out the box they don’t. Pretty huge caveat IMO when discussing broader adoption.
Edit: TIL steam doesn’t list that a game that can run on Linux if you have to enable proton.
What do you mean with out of the box, if you play steam games that is pretty much install and play, For Epic and GOG I use Heroic Game launcher with the same success.
I don’t believe the majority of steam’s offerings are available on Linux, definitely not without wine/proton/etc. as a layer, but I would be excited to be proven wrong on that. I also don’t love the idea of one company, even if they are proven to be magnanimous historically, being the main portal for all of that. Linux games need to be able to work reliably not on Steam as well.
Off the top of my head, I don’t think any of the major Sony PC releases play on Linux. the last of us, god of war, uncharted for sure don’t. Starfield doesn’t as another user said, or any Bethesda game over the last 15 years IIRC. Skyrim doesn’t, Fallout 3 and 4 don’t. Baldur’s Gate 3 can work for some distros but definitely wouldn’t qualify as “out the box” unless you’re on a steam deck.
They do work without steam. Steam has just streamlined the process.
And of course you’d need a compatibility layer (e.g. wine/proton). But those aren’t dependant on Valve. Even though they’ve definetly benefited from their involvement.
Again the sticking point to me is “majority of games.” Where are y’all getting that info? Very happy to be wrong here. I think it’s great to see Linux gaming growing.
You can check community reports on http://protondb.com
It’s an estimation since proton has made such giant leaps. When a new game releases, you can assume that it runs on linux.
Protondb also has some hard numbers. There are some 12000 games that are playable on the steam deck. Also something like 70%+ of the top 1000 steam games are platinum or gold rated which means they work out of the box with zero or minimal effort.
I’ve played Skyrim and Fallout 3 & 4 on Linux, and Uncharted. They worked just fine.
You need to enable Proton for all ‘unsupported’ titles in Steam (literally two clicks). After that…the only games I’ve found that don’t work are down to anti-cheat. I used to occasionally have to change the Proton version for some games, but it’s been a while since I had to do that.
It’s nothing like gaming on Linux was 10 years ago. It’s much more like gaming on Windows, the last time I did it: you occasionally find a game that needs tweaking, but 95% work flawlessly.
Huh interesting. Steam doesn’t show Linux as supported for them. TIL
It shows SteamOS/Steam Deck compatibility usually. Which boils down to any Linux with Proton.
When you are in the store, it only puts the little icons right next to the game as a short hand for what it works on. So for instance if you go look up Elden ring you will only see the windows logo. My immediate reaction is “this is not playable on Mac OS or Linux.”
That’s probably because there’s no native linux client. Elden Ring runs great on Steam Deck (Valve even precompiled the shaders for the Steam Deck, because the PC port constantly compiles them on the fly, leading to stuttering)
I know but they’re the ones who have a Linux compatibility icon lol
I’ve played Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3 on Linux and both work fine.
What do you mean? I use Linux on my laptop and on my steam deck, and for 99% of the time, I just hit the launch button and it works. Actually yesterday I had the first time where I needed to change the proton version, which was 2 clicks and then it worked perfectly. But that was literally the first time I had to do anything other than hit launch.
My brother in christ, yes they do, for the most part they just do.
I am happy to discuss this further, but not if you’re going to do that annoying “my brother in Christ“ nonsense from Reddit. I would prefer we talk like adults here. I’m not allergic to being proven incorrect but, like most people I imagine, don’t respond well to performative snark. Definitely not when it ends with “you’re just wrong here’s no explanation or links just trust me.”
Just because the original response seems so ignorant. Like have you actually tried it? Have you looked up the user experiences? Why am I supposed to provide the links when you are making the claim? As another user mentioned most things are seamless to run. Yes they require wine/proton as a compatibility layer, but steam does it seamlessly, it is as easy as enabling the compatibility in steam options and pressing install, then play. And this generally works for non-steam titles as well, you just add the non-steam title and let steam handle the rest.
The OP of the video wrote himself that his process for setting up the games in the video was : install OS, install steam, install game, launch game on both windows and linux.
You can read the rest of my comments to understand the conversation, and where I have landed. You’re incredibly rude and I am done after this.
Either way, I know you’re just going to fight me instead of reading it, so I will just give you the cliff’s notes of what I learned: steam does not put up if a game is compatible with Linux if you have to run proton or something. It specifically only leaves the windows icon for compatibility. I was not aware of this, I feel like it’s pretty reasonable to assume that if Linux is not listed as a compatible platform then the game won’t run on Linux (just like with Mac OS). So go ahead and enjoy your victory lap or whatever.
No, especially AAA releases usually do not, or least not right away. For example according to ProtonDB Starfield (and yes I know, most people here don’t like it - but I do) still doesn’t work reliably, especially not on Nvidia cards. And no amount of indie puzzle games makes up for AAA titles working hassle free and on day one for the vast majority of users.
I don’t mind waiting a week until the relevant things are fixed, why do you need to play something the moment they are released?
BG3 worked for me on the week of release, I did not buy / test it on the day of releas however, but afaik all it needed to work fine was a switch from Vulkan to DX12
Its not a matter of it being AAA or Indie. Yes some games don’t play well or at all. Most games do, and they do it seamlessly.
According to ProtonDB Starfield works, with less FPS and some (rare crashes). I would bet my left nut that the main reason is that bethesda released a buggy incomplete mess and left it to the modders to complete for free. And if bethesda hadn’t put out spaghetti it would probably just work with proton.
I usually don’t, I’d like to but I generally don’t have the time for it. But many people do play on launch day, as you can see looking at the player charts on Steam. You can’t say “gaming on Linux works, you don’t need Windows” and then have all these little caveats. For the vast majority of people something either works when they click “Play” or it doesn’t work at all. This is an enthusiast community, but most people just aren’t that.
And I’ll admit that I didn’t recheck Starfield before commenting. Nice to see, it was a no-go on Nvidia initially.
This is an nvidia driver issue more than a proton/wine issue. When amd releases terrible game drivers on windows, amd is blamed so why is linux blamed when it is nvidia’s fault¿?
TBH, not all games works on windows out of the box either. It usually is better than Linux, but I always need to do some adjustments when playing on desktop; to really work with minimal effort, it needs to be a console.
Outside of invasive anticheat, everything I’ve wanted to play has worked, and often better than it did in windows.