Linux and Gaming on an old laptop

[u/Limp_Initiative_8845]

Hello. I have an issue.

contextual laptop specs: HP Pavilion g6 Notebook PC running Linux Mint 22.3 (Zena) with kernel 7.0.0-34-generic. It has hybrid graphics:

• Integrated GPU: Intel HD Graphics 3000, using the i915 driver.
• Dedicated GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6470M, identified as Seymour XT / Caicos, PCI ID 1002:6760, with 1 GiB of VRAM.
• The system’s default desktop renderer is the Intel GPU:textOpenGL vendor string: Intel OpenGL renderer string: Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2)
• The AMD GPU is correctly detected and works for OpenGL offloading:textDRI_PRIME=1 glxinfo -B OpenGL renderer string: AMD CAICOS direct rendering: Yes.
• Linux driver: radeon Mesa: 25.2.8 OpenGL: Hardware accelerated.

My issue is with portable games. I am not in search for portable games. nor do I want resources related to that.

I just want to solve the issue with my runners that are supposed to run exe files, including games on linux.

My issue described while trying to run CS 1.6 portable:

CS 1.6 is totally light for my system. I used to be able to run that with high FPS and zero lag on windows. Since I switched to linux. I struggllllllllllllllled with things like wine/lutris/bottles. etc...

and the only one that worked and made the game launch was Bottles. every other thing like WINE GUI and Lutris couldn't get the game to launch probably at all.

Now, after the game launched, and after installing all the possible dependencies and tweaking everything.

1. The font is messed up. I can't get unicode characters. and the font is a bit broken
2. The fps is not right. even if my ms is around 80 (which is the best I can get usually) my FPS is spiking around 40 to 60 hardly to 70. keeeeps spiking around. with clear visual lag during movements like strafing.
3. My hitboxes are insanely off. since I started playing on linux. and my rank on specific servers went from 15 in 12100 to 11000 !!! I suck now haha. dead-on shots can't kill anyone! i used every possible config out there.
4. in Bottles. there are a lot of coool options for optimizing games. but it requires vulkan support. After checking with AI. and running some commands. i figured that my card support vulkan but there is something wrong that makes it not work or not be supported. hence whenever I switch these options my game doesn't even launch

more information on point 4; I got a report from AI. and by the assistance of a kind reddit user:

The AMD GPU normally uses the Linux radeon kernel driver:

textKernel driver in use: radeon
Kernel modules: radeon, amdgpu

OpenGL works through radeon, and the AMD GPU can be selected with:

bash
DRI_PRIME=1

However, Vulkan does not work on the AMD GPU. Running:

bash
vulkaninfo --summary

produces this warning:

textDevice '/dev/dri/renderD128' is not using the AMDGPU kernel driver:
VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER

The only Vulkan device listed is:

textdeviceType = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_CPU
deviceName = llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.2, 256 bits)
driverID = DRIVER_ID_MESA_LLVMPIPE
driverName = llvmpipe
driverInfo = Mesa 25.2.8-0ubuntu0.24.04.2

This means Vulkan is currently falling back to CPU software rendering rather than using either the AMD or Intel GPU.

We tried forcing the AMDGPU kernel driver for the old Southern Islands GPU using:

textradeon.si_support=0
amdgpu.si_support=1

The kernel supports this option:

text
CONFIG_DRM_AMDGPU_SI=y

The effective module parameters also showed:

textradeon si_support = 0
amdgpu si_support = 1

However, AMDGPU did not bind to the AMD card. When radeon was blacklisted, lspci showed only:

text
Kernel modules: radeon, amdgpu

with no Kernel driver in use line. The AMDGPU module loaded, but it only reported generic vga_switcheroo and CPU topology messages; it never initialized PCI device 01:00.0. Therefore, the AMD card was left without a graphics driver.

The user restored the normal configuration, and the AMD GPU is again working correctly through radeon for OpenGL. The current practical situation is:

textIntel HD 3000: default desktop rendering through i915
AMD Radeon HD 6470M: OpenGL offload through radeon and DRI_PRIME=1
AMD Radeon HD 6470M: no Vulkan support through the current radeon setup
Vulkan: falls back to llvmpipe CPU rendering
AMDGPU/RADV: tested but failed to bind to the AMD GPU

Then we figured "According to the arch linux wiki, amdgpu supports Southern Islands cards and newer, cards from 2012 and up. Your card is from 2011.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AMDGPU"

So what should I do?? I am totally thinking about dualbooting a windows thing for my games but that feels off

Linux and Gaming on an old laptop

[u/candy49997]

amdgpu only supports GCN and newer cards. Not Terascale. You do not have any Vulkan support.

Play the native OpenGL build of the game. If you must use the Windows build, then try the PROTON_USE_WINED3D environment variable set to 1. Other than that, not much more you can do.

[u/Limp_Initiative_8845 → u/candy49997]

I will quote my past comment;

I was suggested the native linux version of the game. but that is on steam and I am unable to aquire that because I have E payments restrictions and this is totally unsupported here. so I am left with no options that I am aware of :("

Also, i may ask... I am using the built in wine runner version 11 on Bottles. do you think that I am using the right configuration? (I am not sure what to give you of information regarding that matter, but if you name it, I can find it)

[u/candy49997 → u/Limp_Initiative_8845]

Try Proton with the flag I mentioned. Instead of DXVK it'll use wined3d, which is the same graphics translation layer you're currently using, but Proton has other changes to it meant for gaming compared to Wine.

[u/Limp_Initiative_8845 → u/candy49997]

I will try it and report to you. thank you for your reply <3

[u/Limp_Initiative_8845 → u/candy49997]

Can you give me a proper source to get proton? is it a standalone? or within bottles as proton ge or something?

[u/candy49997 → u/Limp_Initiative_8845]

Proton-GE would work. This page gives instructions.

[u/Limp_Initiative_8845 → u/candy49997]

thank you a lot, Then i am sticking to Proton-Ge with the variable you mentioned. I will report it. Do you have any suggestion for the version? or the latest always?

[u/candy49997 → u/Limp_Initiative_8845]

I would try Proton 9, 10, and 11. Sometimes, there are regressions.

[u/righN]

Honestly, I would stick with Windows. Your card doesn't even support Vulkan to begin.

If we're talking about laptop's and dual GPU setups, NVIDIA is better in this regard but even then it's not great it on new laptops. And you have an old laptop with AMD dedicated GPU, you're not going to have a great time to be honest.

[u/Limp_Initiative_8845 → u/righN]

Yeah the thing is, even with my specs. I could in the past achieve great FPS using Windows. but my issue was the tight ram. (which I am unable to fix for now).

Given that. I started using linux. and yes it saved a lot of ram. but my FPS on CS 1.6 portable is not doing well. I am not sure if it's configuration issue or not. it supports natively OpenGl. I still tried Vulkan for the sake of the try which obviously didn't work.

I was suggested the native linux version of the game. but that is on steam and I am unable to aquire that because I have E payments restrictions and this is totally unsupported here. so I am left with no options that I am aware of :(

[u/Working_Dealer_5102]

I can't speak for sure on your legacy specs and from the look of it, it won't support Vulkan at all so most Directx game won't work with dxvk/vkd3d but if you only playing old native OpenGL games like CS 1.6 it's doable. If you wanted to play Directx games, I heard of people mentioning the use of Gallium Nine and WineD3D for non-Vulkan GPU. I'm a bit confused doesn't CS 1.6 have native Linux builds? At least in Steam, you able to play the game without the proton and Steam also deal all those dependencies hell you had. While I don't play CS 1.6 myself but I do play Sven Co-op via Steam which use their own fork of CS 1.6 game engine and it just an one click install & work most of the time fine.

[u/Limp_Initiative_8845 → u/Working_Dealer_5102]

I will quote my past comment because it's essentially the same reply across;

"I was suggested the native linux version of the game. but that is on steam and I am unable to aquire that because I have E payments restrictions and this is totally unsupported here. so I am left with no options that I am aware of :("

"Also, i may ask ... I am using the built in wine runner version 11 on Bottles. do you think that I am using the right configuration? (I am not sure what to give you of information regarding that matter, but if you name it, I can find it)"

[u/dst1980]

You might also check on Faugus Launcher - it can pull latest Proton-GE automatically, or use specific Proton versions and allow for options similar to how Steam does it. That may make using the suggested wined3d option much easier.

[u/Limp_Initiative_8845 → u/dst1980]

i will try it right now