I was a long time Windows user, starting with XP. I only tried Linux a few years ago, and while I loved it, at the time I had to dual boot for a couple specific Windows only things (VR and flight/racing sim hardware).
A couple months ago though, I got sick of it. I figured if I really wanted to do those things, I could boot up a VM, or just force myself to be patient and wait for a proper Linux solution. So, I wiped all my drives and installed Arch. Around this time, I also got an AMD RX 7600XT, so that was a nice performance boost, plus it waranted a switch to Wayland.
Let me tell you, I have been so pleasantly surprised by basically everything I’ve tried. Cyberpunk 2077 through Heroic Launcher, for example, with 15 odd mods. Runs at a solid 80fps at 1440p on high settings, the only graphical issue I noticed was flickering volumetric clouds. This game ate my old card (the venerable GTX 1080) alive even on Windows.
Just last night, I found my joystick, an old VKB Gladiator + Kosmosima grip, plugged it in and it worked perfectly.
What has really, really impressed me though is VR. I have a Quest 2 that I used to use via Steam link to play my PC wirelessly. Obviously that isn’t an option on Linux (yet) but that’s where ALVR comes in. Sideload the client on the quest, run the streamer on the desktop, start SteamVR, and bam, it works. The first game I tried was Elite Dangerous, one of my all time favourite games and easily my favourite VR epxerience. Now, I won’t go ahead and claim it’s perfect, hence the 99% in the title. After fiddling with the settings and making sure I had hardware encoding/decoding set up right, I had very good clarity, up to 120hz refresh rate, but occasional blockiness and artifacting, especially in heavier graphical scenes, like during docking. However, out in open space, it felt just like the ED I know and love.
At this point, I’m just going to look at fiddling with some settings and hopefully smoothing out the stream, but the fact that I can play my favourite games, with my favourite hardware, with great performance and in VR, and the amount of setup is really comparable to what it is on Windows is just kind of wrinkling my brain. Plus, only a couple months ago, this wasn’t the case. Support for things that were once doomed to be dual boot material for the foreseeable future is coming along rapidly. This is a great time to be a Linux gamer.
I just wish someone could have a walkthrough guide on how to get the games (and launchers) to work for me like they do for you. Every time something jams up and I have to reinstall until I shrug and put windows back on.
Trial and error, lots of reading ProtonDB, wikis, etc. I only just recently got a decent handle on how to properly use wine prefixes to get mods and things working.
In general, use Steam when you can, then use Heroic for non Steam games. Lutris is very powerful and super useful for games that aren’t installed from a larger distributor, ie from a CD or direct from the devs, but I find the UI can be a bit spartan. Steam and Heroic have fewer features but are way more user friendly.
Good luck. It can definitely be frustrating but remember that you have access to tons of resources and an excellent community if you encounter issues.
ProtonDB usually has pretty good information on launcher settings for games. I’ve found several good walkthroughs on game forums, as well, like on Steam community forums or the game’s own website.
What games are giving you trouble and where are you looking for walkthroughs? And what are you looking for in the walkthrough?
Been traditionally trying to use Linux Mint but am at my wits end so I’m willing to try anything. As far as what I’m looking for, just step by step to get Steam and Heroic installed and working. Any game I’ve found that has a launcher is simply a no go, never works.
Now we’ve got flatpaks out and people swear by them but I usually get something working one day and the next it quits. I admit it, I need more experience at this; but I can’t quit Windows until I understand what the hell is going wrong and how to fix it.
Linux Mint can be used almost entirely from GUI, so you should be able to install both Steam and Heroic through the software “store”.
Here are two guides specific to installing Steam on Linux Mint.
I don’t know what games you are playing, and I only used Mint for a short time before moving to other diatros, but I remember it being pretty plug-and-play for most things. I admit I was mostly playing through Steam and a few applications through Lutris (mostly FFXIV), using a Wine wrapper to use the official launcher.
For Steam, the Steam launcher will handle most of the game-specific launchers for you. For Lutris, make sure you open Lutris and update it after installing it and before trying to add any games to it. I don’t have any experience with Heroic (or with Windows version of Epic Launcher either).
It’s really easy, just install steam or lutris. However, some games might have their own specific issues when running under proton/wine under specific hardware configuration. If this is what happened to you, I’m afraid there might not be an easy way outside of putting some elbow grease to start tinkering with the config, or ask for help in linux gaming community.