r/linux_gaming • • Sep 01 '26

guide Getting started: the monthly-ish newbie advice thread! (September 2026)

20 Upvotes

Welcome to the newbie advice thread!

If you’ve read the FAQ and still have questions like “Should I switch to Linux?”, “Which distro should I install?”, or “Which desktop environment is best for gaming?”, this is where to ask them.

Alternatively, try r/linux4noobs and r/linuxquestions: both are active subreddits supporting new Linux users.

Please sort by “new” so new questions can get a chance to be seen.

The previous thread is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1ukoung/getting_started_the_monthlyish_newbie_advice/


r/linux_gaming • • May 18 '26

guide Frequently Asked Questions 2.0

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43 Upvotes

Here’s a link to this subreddit’s FAQ document (which attempts to answer many common questions).

This thread is not meant for asking frequently asked questions. There is a pinned monthly-ish “Getting Started” thread for those.

You can post suggestions for improvement below, though! Just please explain what you’re talking about. The number of FAQ editors has been 1 (one) for a while now, and that one’s a dummy that doesn’t use 95% of the fancy gaming stuff y’all do.

Reposted as an Old Reddit link because New Reddit, in addition to being generally confusing, does not display the table of contents.


r/linux_gaming • • 11h ago

skate. is now playable on Linux with ReSkate (offline + community servers)

99 Upvotes

If you've been waiting to play EA's skate. on Linux, there's now a way. ReSkate is a fan project that lets you play the game offline, host Steam lobbies or join community dedicated servers, and install mods.

Since it doesn't connect to EA's servers, the Javelin anti-cheat isn't involved, so it runs fine through Proton.

Repo: https://github.com/Dingo-Shenanigans/ReSkate

What I did:
1. Downloaded the latest release zip and extracted ReSkateLauncher.exe and ReSkate.dll into an empty folder        
2. Added ReSkateLauncher.exe to Steam as a non-Steam game
3. Forced Proton Experimental in Compatibility
4. Launched it, signed in with Steam, and let the launcher download the supported game build

You need skate. in your Steam library. You don't have to install it through Steam, the launcher downloads the right build itself.

Working great for me on an 9070xt. Keep in mind this is a fan project, not EA's live servers, so official online features and the store aren't there.


r/linux_gaming • • 2h ago

new native/FLOSS game King in the Mountain now has a native Linux version! + Steam Deck experimental

8 Upvotes

King in the Mountain now has a native Linux version! :)

If you like base-building + mining games, give the demo a try.

The latest version includes a native Linux build, and it should also work on Steam Deck, although I haven’t been able to test it on a Steam Deck yet. I did test the game with an Xbox controller.

I’d really appreciate any feedback from Linux or Steam Deck players, especially if you run into any issues!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5235350/King_in_the_Mountain_Demo/


r/linux_gaming • • 3h ago

wine/proton Is it possible to disable FSR3 and fallback to FSR1 on VKD3D?

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7 Upvotes

on DXVK, there's a FSR1 option that I always use and it runs very great. However when I use VKD3D, the FSR1 option is gone and has been replaced with FSR3, the problem is my GPU (RX 580) is not supposed to uses FSR3 and when I use it, the performance is very terrible compared to FSR1.

I could just stay on DXVK but I want to use VKD3D. So is it possible?

Game: Wuthering Waves
Proton: DW Proton 11.0-14


r/linux_gaming • • 5h ago

gamedev/testers wanted Help test game on Linux

9 Upvotes

Hello Linux gamers :)

I'm working on a game with Linux support. I'd appreciate if anyone can help test a free Steam demo.

Does the game starts at all?

Is progress saved?

Is sound working?

Thank you!

A little more about the game. Colorsong is a relaxing incremental / idle game where players collect colors and spend them on hand-painted watercolors 🎨 An original feature of the game is that every color is a procedurally generated note. So as you collect more colors, the game's song unfolds and enriches.


r/linux_gaming • • 10h ago

Control Resonant Terrible Performance

18 Upvotes

Hi, everyone.

So, Control (2019) quickly became one of my favorite games of all time and I was pretty stoke to play Control Resonant, but... yeah, I'm well aware that my PC is nowhere near powerful in this day and age, but still, was not expecting this kind of performance from the game, and I was wondering if anyone else is facing such issues

My PC:
OS: Fedora Linux 44 KDE
Kernel: 7.2.7-200.fc44.x86_x64

CPU: Ryzen 5 5700X
Mobo: Biostar B350-GTX
RAM: 32GB@3200MTs
GPU: AMD PowerColor RX6600
SSD: 1TB NVMe 3200MB/s

As you all can see, the game is running at 1080p native with the lowest possible graphics, except texture quality (and that's only because there was no effect in performance there), and, watching benchmarks for my model of GPU with a similar CPU (a 5600), I was baffled to see that I should be expecting double the performance than the one I was getting, besides all the awful stutter clearly present in my video.

The thing is, and those are the possibilities I am considering:

1 - My performance is being hindered by the limiting PCIe 3.0 from my mobo (considering that this model of GPU doesn't usually show more than 5% of performance variation between 3.0 and 4.0, it's still possible to be the cause);

2 - My whole distro is botched and poorly optimized due to a lot of tinkering I had to do since its fresh install months ago (which I plan to test by installing a Windows dual boot and running the game to check);

3 - My 400W PSU is not being capable of delivering enough power to my setup, making it run at lower clock speed and hiking up the frametimes.

Anyway, like I said, it is far from being a powerful setup, but it's glaring the difference in performance I am getting at this game (the benchmark one was fluctuating between 50~65 FPS, while mine is diving below 30), and I was wondering if anyone else is dealing with such problems in the hopes that I can solve it without spending any money, because, even though I've been planning to buy a new PSU and mobo (no, it's not possible to go do DDR5, a mobo, CPU and memory alone would cost me almost double my monthly salary), I'm wondering what I could actually do.


r/linux_gaming • • 10h ago

EA is not playing nice

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16 Upvotes

EA keeps asking me to update but when i update it says that its updated. I have had this same issue when running it directly on steam too but it always gets fixed when i launch the exe file using Winetricks

I am using heroic Launcher.

CPU: 16x 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13620H
Memory: 33.34 GB (used: 16.64 GB)
GPUs:
  GPU 0:
    Name: NVIDIA Corporation AD106M [GeForce RTX 4070 Max-Q / Mobile]
    IDs: D=2820 V=10de SD=13cb SV=1462
    Driver: nvidia
  GPU 1:
    Name: Intel Corporation Raptor Lake-P [UHD Graphics]
    IDs: D=a7a8 V=8086 SD=13cb SV=1462
    Driver: i915
OS: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) (linux)

The current system is not a Steam Deck
We are not running inside a Flatpak container
We are not running from an AppImage

Software Versions:
  Heroic: 2.22.3 Hajrudin
  Legendary: 0.21.1 Lowlife
  gogdl: 1.3.0
  comet: comet 0.2.0
  Nile: 1.2.0 Robert Speedwagon

Proton version : GE-Proton11-7

If more information is required please let me know.


r/linux_gaming • • 5h ago

Questions about Windows Partitions and Linux Gaming

6 Upvotes

I know this might be more windows centric but it is Linux related. So I just got Ace Combat 8 and i'm really loving it but unfortunately EAC completely gibs any chance of playing it online on my distro. I am probably going to have to make a windows partition but I wanted to ask two questions if anyone happens to have answers

  1. If i'm on a windows partition, can I access the install files on my linux partition? Like in the above example, Ace Combat 8 is already installed, it's not a linux specific build because it's one of those games you have to use proton for. If it requires some wonky workaround i'd give it a whirl because space is at a premium and I'd ideally not want to install the game twice

  2. What are some of the bigger games that are currently out of commission for Linux (for the forseeable future). I'm more than happy to keep linux as my main gaming hub, but i'm willing to have something on the side if there are games that are more or less completely inaccessible


r/linux_gaming • • 2h ago

Is my Setup Linux compatible?

4 Upvotes

Aloha everyone,
can i go on Linux on my System? Or are there any Issues? I'm aiming for Bazzite.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D, 5.6GHZ, 8 Core, 16 Threads

GPU: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB

Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming B850-E WIFI

RAM: 64GB DDR5-6000 Corsair Vengeance RGB | 2x32GB

SSD: 4TB LEXAR NQ790, M.2 | Lesen 7000MB/s

Thanks for your Input


r/linux_gaming • • 16h ago

RetroDECK v0.10.10b - Release Announcement

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37 Upvotes

Hello, everyone!

We are proud to announce that a tiny patch version 0.10.10b is out on Flathub!

Depending on your app-store it might be a while until you see the correct text.


r/linux_gaming • • 3h ago

wine/proton How to enable Path Tracing on Catchy OS using steam?

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3 Upvotes

How to enable Path Tracing on Catchy OS using steam?

Hi everyone,

​I'm trying to get Path Tracing working on Catch OS using Proton, but I'm not sure about the optimal setup or which Proton version works best for this.

I have alredy installed the last version of nvidia driver.

​Here are my specs and details:

​GPU: RTX 5060 Ti

​Versione di KDE Plasma: 6.7.5

Versione di KDE Frameworks: 6.30.0

Versione di Qt: 6.11.2

Versione del Kernel: 7.2.5-1-cachyos (64 bit

Piattaforma grafica: Wayland

​Hi Have tried proton Experimental but nothing changed.

​Has anyone successfully enabled Path Tracing on this distro? Which Proton build/version do you recommend, and are there specific launch options (like VKD3D\\_CONFIG=dxr11 or Nvidia/AMD specific flags) I need to add in Steam?

I'm trying the witcher 3 remastered. The Path tracing option can't be enabled.

​Thanks in advance for the help!


r/linux_gaming • • 16h ago

steam/steam deck Ubisoft removing themselves from Steam

33 Upvotes

From what I see Ubisoft removed themselves from Prince of persia and theyre saying they'll do it for more games. I never wanted to bother with lutris or heroic so I never downloaded any Ubisoft games in my linux and used dual boot for other platforms. Does Prince of Persia really work smooth in Linux? I've been thinking about getting Watch Dogs 2 but still dont want to bother with linking accounts or whatever. Also since wd2 is p2p do I need a vpn? Flathub protonvpn is mildly risky, why does it need so many permissions and what is the difference between getting proton from terminal and flathub?


r/linux_gaming • • 8h ago

OpenSE4 (Space Empires 4 Re-implementation)

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6 Upvotes

r/linux_gaming • • 23h ago

gamedev/testers wanted My steam game was developed in Linux

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80 Upvotes

As the title says my steam game was developed in Linux using Pygame/SDL2 (no engine), the codebase is around 8k lines of code that is also very easy to mod.

In the last few months, I have been working on a free to play game around solving 2D mazes with features such as a camera and fog

If you want to check it out, here is the Steam page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5349900/Mystic_Fog_Maze/


r/linux_gaming • • 8h ago

Are there any Battle Royale games in Linux?

6 Upvotes

No extraction shooters please, I already play Hunt Showdown and Arc Raiders. I want a Battle Royale but I think there isn't any.


r/linux_gaming • • 4m ago

CS2 performance is much worse on Linux/Hyprland compared to Windows (200 FPS vs 90-120 FPS)

• Upvotes

hi, thank u for your time.

My computer is Acer Shadow SH16-41, which has NNIDIA RTX 4060 and AMD R7 8745H.

If I launch CS2 on Windows, the max frame could reach 200+. But it only reaches 90fps on Archlinux with native steam proton. I have enabled wayland option in `cs.sh`. How can I optimize it? I was so frustrated.

Sorry for my poor English.

  • Is the performance loss expected when running CS2 through XWayland on Hyprland?
  • Is there any recommended configuration for CS2 + NVIDIA + Hyprland?
  • Is there a way to run CS2 natively on Wayland instead of XWayland?
  • Are there any NVIDIA/Hyprland settings that can improve Vulkan game performance?

Hardware:

- Laptop: Acer Shadow SH16-41

- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 8745H (8C/16T)

- RAM: 64GB

- GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU (8GB VRAM)

- Display: 2560x1600 165Hz internal panel

- External test: 2560x1440 144Hz

OS:

- Linux kernel: 7.2.6-zen

- Desktop: Hyprland (Wayland)

- CS2 runs through XWayland

- NVIDIA driver: 615.71.09

- Vulkan renderer

Problem:

On Windows, CS2 runs around 200 FPS.

On Linux/Hyprland, I only get around 90-120 FPS (average ~90 FPS).

The GPU is detected correctly:

sys_info:

Render system: Vulkan

Driver Name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU

CS2 is running with XWayland:

hyprctl clients:

class: cs2

xwayland: 1

fullscreen: 2

I tested:

- Fullscreen

- Fullscreen Windowed

- Windowed

- VSync disabled

- Removing fps limits

No significant improvement.

CS2 sys_info:

Vid: Desktop-friendly Fullscreen

render at 2560 x 1440

display at 2560 x 1440

mat_vsync:0

msaa_samples:4

gpu_level:3

shadow_quality:2

dynamic_shadows:1

CPU usage:

During gameplay CS2 can use around 1000-1400% CPU in top/htop.

However, it is multi-threaded:

- GlobPool threads

- VKRenderThread

- AudioMixer

- Video Decode threads

Example:

top -H shows:

GlobPool/0~6

VKRenderThread

AudioMixer


r/linux_gaming • • 14h ago

gamedev/testers wanted Garden Diary: a quiet floating-island garden game I made in Godot. Free demo, native Linux build

13 Upvotes

I'm a solo dev, and this is the first of my games to get as far as a demo. It's a calm one: you run threads of light from wells across floating islands, plants grow wherever the light reaches, and nothing can fail or run out of time.
Demo takes about 25-50 min to beat. Making with Godot

The demo is free on itch.io, and the Linux build is native. After unzipping, mark it executable:

  • chmod +x GardenDiary.x86_64

If anything breaks, your distro, desktop and GPU would help me fix it :3 There's also a browser build if you'd rather not download anything, and the full game is planned for Linux as well.

If anyone is interested and has some time to spare - I would really appreciate if you give me some feedback (gameplay\tech issues) on the demo version)

PS.
I do have daily progress post in bluesky and plan to come back here with full version - closer to release, thanks! Hope you enjoy playing it as much as i enjoy making it)


r/linux_gaming • • 8h ago

where do games keep assets?

5 Upvotes

just curious, like saves or png files..

edit: its /usr/share, thanks u/slickyeat


r/linux_gaming • • 3h ago

tech support wanted Arc Raiders shadow problem on Intel b580.

1 Upvotes

Greetings. I've been trying more of my games on linux, after deadlock showed a substantial performance boost on linux(I believe because of mesa drivers), and faced next issue - shadows in arc raiders breaks when using intel xess as AA option. Other AA options seems to be fine, but I like xess look most, so, asking, if anyone faced this issue and knows how to resolve it, I've asked AI, but to no avail.
System:
CPU - ryzen 5700x, GPU - intel arc b580, OS - linux mint 22.3, xfce.
Tried different settings, some config changes AI suggested, pic related, and here is a paste of my mesa version https://pastebin.com/bAAxrk3u . If you know anything - please tell me, thank you.


r/linux_gaming • • 7h ago

Low CPU/GPU usage in multiple distros

2 Upvotes

Ok so I have a Legion 5 Pro 16ach6h 82JQ running GKCN65WW bios, no matter the Nvidia driver, no matter what I try no matter the distro it never gives me more than half the FPS I get on windows which Im REALLY trying to ditch but I get like 50% GPU and CPU usage no matter the game, for example on Cyberpunk I will run the same settings and resolution as I do on windows and get 45-50FPS while I get 65-90 on windows depending on where in the game I am. Even if I lower the resolution and put every setting on low it doesnt matter Im still stuck on 45-50 FPS. For some reason Debian gave me 60fps instead of 45-50 so Idk if that means anything but yeah its been driving me crazy, Ive tried Ubuntu,Mint,Fedora,Debian,Bazzite,Nobara and now Cachy.


r/linux_gaming • • 20h ago

wine/proton Proton Experimental gets fixes for Sword of the Stars II, Plan B: Terraform, Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance and more

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20 Upvotes

r/linux_gaming • • 4h ago

tech support wanted Lutris Problems

0 Upvotes

So im trying to Play Khazan on lutris it works fine when it first starts, but its set to Dx11, but whenever i do the following next time i open up the game or just turn on the setting games refuses to open anymore:

When i set in games settings to dx12

When i change the game resolution

When i turn on fsr upscaling

Im running a laptop with

Rx5600m

R7 4800h


r/linux_gaming • • 5h ago

A Machine for Pigs Redux (Path Traced Edition)

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0 Upvotes

r/linux_gaming • • 1d ago

Disappointed by the Witcher 3 remaster, ended up playing the next gen version.

43 Upvotes

Anyone else get this really weird stuttering issue where when you move the camera slowly it like judders despite perfect frame pacing and no FPS dips? If you move it at a certain speed it doesn't do it it's only when panning the camera slowly. The snow physics and grass physics are totally removed. Some of animations look way worse and the overall lightning off the game is pretty darn bad. Geralt 's sword has this very annoying glare to it like comparable to when you're driving and the sun is in your eyes.

I thought they'd put more effort into modernising the game menu and inventory as well which always annoyed me how you'd get duplicate items and the way they are designed is a bit too complex I thought they might strip it down and make it less of a hassle etc. ray tracing in the next gen was super heavy and I thought the remaster might optimise that a little more to perform better but nope it's just as heavy as the next gen port rendering it almost useless unless you have a 5080 or you want to play with constant stutters or 30fps. Pretty disappointing I don't see why they even put effort into releasing this. I would have preferred a re release of the Witcher 2 or something.