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this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
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Gaming on Windows just works, gaming on Linux can work but might be problematic with some hardware (as is the case with OP based on another comment they made), let's not pretend it's as easy.
I probably wouldn't call it cancer, seems quite loaded, but gaming on Linux still has its snags even if performance on it its better. Like you and OP said, hardware is a big issue, but also some gaming-oriented creature comforts like a proper platform for recording/screenshotting. Steam has screenshotting but not recording AFAIK, Yes, OBS exists, but let's be real - it's clunky to set up because it's not meant to be a game recorder, it's meant to be broadcasting software. On Windows, it will detect a running game automatically and let you record. Someone did send me another piece of software that's simpler, but it doesn't support Wayland. The transition from X11 to Wayland is affecting a lot of software like this, and Windows just doesn't have this issue.
I still don't really understand the reason for switching to Wayland, especially since it sounds like it's still rather half baked even after all this time
As far as I know, the protocol is pretty much standardised and it's now up to the desktop environments to support and implement it, and that transition took a lot of time. GNOME has already been there and on its way to winding down X11 support, KDE has also been building up its Wayland support too. Waydroid (Android container software) requires it, and Valve uses it for Gamescope on SteamOS too iirc, to give games a more predictable place to render themselves on. Everyone's got a kick up the ass with regards to Wayland support recently, but for smaller, independent/non-corp backed or niche software, of course, it's gonna take a bit longer.
It's kinda like IPv6.
More than it being half baked, it's that is not a drop in replacement. It works differently, on purpose. So DEs, apps and even drivers (looking at you Nvidia) need to make changes to adapt to it.
For example apps that user screen sharing had to be reworked, because X11 allowed any app to just see the screen without any user action (I think Windows also does this, Android and iOS require at least a one time permission), but Wayland doesn't allow that as it's a security/privacy risk.
I guess I really should dig into it and understand it better... It and systemd aren't going away so I should just bite the bullet and learn them
Having recently switched myself I actually have experienced less issues and better game performance from Linux than I did on Windows, at least with the games I play and the hardware I have.
Definitely not what I would call cancer
"at least with the games I play"
As mentioned in a recent article that was shared around here, for the games that work on Linux performance on average is 17% better, for the games that don't work on Linux, performance is infinitely better on Windows 😛
For sure, but these days the main offenders are online multiplayer games with restrictive anti-cheats.
I would go so far as to say if those specific types of games are not your thing you aren't likely to experience any issues gaming on Linux.
I'm sure there are exceptions, but every time I think "oh this game for sure won't work" I have eaten my words.
And it's like a night and day difference from the last time I tried to do this about a year and a half ago. The progress I've seen is almost more impressive than the performance gains. 🤷
But if you switch to Linux for gaming, and the game you want to play doesn't work... Well it's not like you can trade that 17% performance improvement in to get the game to function.
That's a huge roadblock if you don't know what games won't work.
There's websites where you can check if a game can be played on Linux. For me personally I know a game I play a fair bit won't work on linux for a fact, and most of the stuff I need I can get to work on Windows just fine.
Yeah I mean if the game you want to play doesn't work then maybe Linux isn't for you, at least not at this time.
Not saying you have to switch.
Just that my personal experience with it has been very good, better than I expected, and way better than my previous experience not long ago.
As others have mentioned, you can check the status of your preferred games on websites like ProtonDB beforehand, you don't have to format your Windows drive and install Linux before finding out if your games will work.
You can always dual boot for those games ... A pain, I know, but doable.
Might even be able to run it on VM, especially if you set up a type 2 hypervisor. Again, that's it's own pain, but really should only be that on initially getting it to work rather than every time
But if I have to have a full Windows installation that I need to keep up to date, with the full setup of drivers and other software that I need to run games, what advantage does an average person (not software dev/IT enthusiast) have from running a second OS for the things that do work on both OSes?
It's kinda like saying "This racing kit car is amazingly fast, you can tinker on it and reconfigure it, and for everything that you can't do in the kit car, you can just keep a family minivan around".
That's nice for a racing/car enthusiast. But most people just want one car to do all they need.
I mean, it is a thing you can do if Linux is something you want to switch to, but just have these outliers. I'm not going to tell you why you should switch, I know neither if that's something you want or if that's something that will benefit you, that's for you to decide.
All I'm saying is these are a couple of ways to deal with that, that's all.
I have had no issues either, but setting a PC up for my little sister I quickly realized that for her it was a lot different. Games like Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege and Valorant do not run.
Valorants a big one for me. If I wasn't hopelessly addicted I'd have jumped ship on that games kernel level anti-cheat and windows all together
Some of the games I play can't be played on Linux because of anti-cheat. One even uses a fucking kernel-mode driver on windows so it sure as hell ain't working on linux