Linux Gaming Guide - Distro Installation, Steam Games, & More!
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- Step by step guide showing how to install Linux and getting it setup for Steam, along with other useful software you’ll likely want for gaming. In my previous video I went into detail about the differences between the various Linux distros and gave my personal suggestions on a few of my favorite ones, so check it out if you’re not sure which one to choose: • Linux Gaming 4 Noobs -...
Follow up video showing how to install Heroic Games Launcher & Lutris (Epic, GOG, Battle.net, & more): • Linux Gaming Guide - H...
Need a new SSD? Here are my suggestions:
NVMe - SK hynix Platinum P41: amzn.to/49x9mdB
SATA - Crucial MX500: amzn.to/49yASHX
Download Kubuntu:
kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/
Download Etcher:
etcher.balena.io/#download-et...
Install Steam on Ubuntu:
sudo add-apt-repository multiverse
sudo apt update
sudo apt install steam
Install Steam on Arch:
Enable multilib, follow these instructions: wiki.archlinux.org/title/offi...
Then enter:
sudo pacman -S steam
or
yay -S steam
Install Steam on Fedora:
sudo dnf install mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree... -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
sudo dnf install steam
MangoHud Github:
github.com/flightlessmango/Ma...
GameMode Github:
github.com/FeralInteractive/g...
ProtonDB:
www.protondb.com/
These are affiliate links where I earn a small commission for purchases at no extra cost to you.
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Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:41 Installing Kubuntu
05:00 Software Updates
06:38 Installing Steam
09:53 Lets run some games
14:03 MangoHud - Statistics Overlay
17:32 GameMode Optimizations
18:25 Additional launch options
19:26 Other game stores and additional software
20:36 Outro - Hry
Was this guide helpful for you? Have any questions? Also which game stores would you like to see in a follow-up video? Let me know here in the comments.
Edit: Here's the follow-up video! czcams.com/video/5mOCwpS6sII/video.html
Also in this video I said that Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition might require extra commands to work correctly, but this is no longer true. DX12 and Ray Tracing should now work straight out of the box, no extra commands required (at least on AMD GPUs, not sure about Nvidia). Just enable Proton and you're set. It goes to show how Linux Gaming in Steam is continuously getting better and more streamlined.
The config file creation part was so new to me thank you very much. Alternatively, there's a GUI tool callled GOverlay to manage Mangohud.
9:08 in Endeavour OS, multilib repo is enabled by default, so Steam can be installed right after a fresh distro installation.
a video on gog would be good since it's another way to install and play games. there is a lot of people that dont know you can use an installer for games instead of a client launcher.
@@user-fe8yg5ed4e Thanks for the tips, I didn't know about GOverlay.
@@Ralphunreal For sure I'll definitely go over GOG next time.
Dude thank you! After hearing that MS is forcing AI Copilot spyware crap on us. I'm switching to Linux this summer when I get my full AMD rig together. :)
Nice man, you're not the only one! Many people are now making the switch which means Linux gaming should get even better moving forward!
For gaming, what distro do you recommend? Steam says they only officially support the newest version of Ubuntu LTS.
Thank you man ,perfectly made video without any bloat.
I'm glad you liked it, thanks for that!
Thank you so much for this primer. It got me started very quickly.
There are two possible outcomes, you become hooked and enjoy the entire experience if some occasional setbacks are not an issue or it'll be at best a mediocre experience and you'll stay with MSFT. Either way there is a good learning curve here :)
I've been debating the switch to Linux for a while now. Several mostly unsuccessful attempts kept delaying the move, but thanks @PhazerTech I finally did it! Enough MSFT crap, AMD driver timeouts, regedits that do nothing, all I needed was flawless experiences in a handful of titles and it was worth it. For those not convinced, try dual boot first, give it a try and don't get discouraged too quickly because of old habits.
This video convinced me to take Linux for a spin (again). Great content! For Epic store, I'd love to see how PSX games run
Thanks! Linux has improved a lot in the last several years so that's good you're giving it another spin. And be sure to check out my Linux playlist where you can find followup videos to this one.
Absolutely amazing guide man! Keep it up, this was super informative!
Thanks for that! Check out my Linux playlist if you haven't already: czcams.com/play/PLlLR7EXXYZ0bFjsMf_DkHIiGvJlToeecV.html
Thank you for this series of videos, Phazer! My PC won't run Windows 11, and I am already running LibreOffice and other free or open source applications on Windows 10, so I am making the move to Linux on the desktop this year. Gaming is important to me, and these videos really helped me to make informed decisions. I appreciate the delivery without distractions and hyperbole; that makes it easy for my brain to digest and retain all your helpful advice.
Glad it was helpful and it's great to hear positive feedback, thanks for that!
Thanks a lot, man. Very elucidative!
You bet! I just learned a new word, thanks :)
Thanks. Going to be going through this very soon.
Thank you, so clear this vídeo
This vid explained a lot of the missing parts for me. Thank you and subscribed.
I haven't yet checked all of your vids but if there is one suggestion you have not covered it would be modding games in Linux. For me the top 2 would be Skyrim, XCom2 and probably another like Witcher or a 3rd person shooter/slasher to cover the basics of file management and getting the mods to load. Most people use Steam and Nexus for modding, so these would be a great start.
That's great to hear! I replied to your other comment but it's good to see you already did what I suggested to do, which is to watch more guides and just dive into it and start using it, then the understanding will start to come. I haven't covered modding yet but yea that's something which could use its own video. For Steam Workshop mods you don't need to do anything special, they should work fine. Just keep in mind some games might prefer Proton experimental. As far as other mods outside of Steam, they can be hit or miss. Some Windows mods will install fine while others need Linux specific installers to work. For example, Mod Organizer has a Linux native version and you can use Nexus mods, so if you're into Bethesda games then you'll definitely want to check that out: github.com/rockerbacon/modorganizer2-linux-installer
Thank you for this video. It was my entry way into Linux
Great to hear, welcome to Linux!
Amazing video thanks a lot
Thank you so much for this video. Like and Subscribed!
You're very welcome!
Hey man ,just discovered your channel. I love your videos so far because I'm new to Linux and I'd love to be able to game. Id love to see a video on setting other launchers like battlenet. Love from Greece
Thank you! Happy to hear that. I'll be sure to include battlenet in the follow-up video :)
I really appreciate how clear you talk here. It makes it very easy to follow.
I also appreciate that there is no unnecessary music or fancy editing. Also, how fast is your internet?
The first game took like 5 minutes to install!
Thanks for that! When my channel was new I did put a background music track in a few videos but decided to stop doing it. Background tracks might be nice for videos that are primarily entertainment, but for guides and educational videos I feel they can be distracting, so it's good to hear confirmation of that.
And my internet gets about 300-350 mbps download speed, so it's definitely not slow! I can only imagine what gigabit internet is like.
@@PhazerTech yeah, you made the best decision in this regard.
Damn, definitely not slow!
I've got up to 150mbs but on 5g.
So even 70gb can take me the entire day 😂
ah man im so close to getting on this boat and getting off windows.
This looks exactly like the Linux that's on my Steam Deck, I may give it a try on my PC when I get another ssd for it. Thanks for the helpful video.
You bet! It should be very familiar for you.
Yes please more
Hope you make the other guide to install the other stores.
Yep I'll have it done in about a week!
Keep the videos coming!
So is Gamemode needed for all games? Just some?
Thanks! Gamemode isn't required at all, it just does a few system optimizations that will benefit some systems more than others. For example one thing it does is sets the CPU and GPU to performance mode to maximize clock speed, but modern CPUs already have a performance governor that does a good job. So in other words, your mileage may vary. It never hurts to enable it but some systems might not notice much a difference with it on.
Excellent eye-opening video, for those, like me, who are seriously considering giving Windows the boot, but are held back by concerns about games.
One question, hope it isn't silly: did I miss how to distinguish whether a game is Linux native in Steam versus runs via Proton? Is there an icon I didn't notice?
EDIT: follow-up question: can all these be installed in a virtual machine? No, not to actually play, but to gain experience, verify there's not snags, test other desktop/productivity compatibility, take notes. Make sure everything *works* before I got an wipe my disks. For various reasons, dual-booting is not an option at this time.
To check if a game is linux native or not click the game in your library, then click the information icon. You'll see a message saying "Runs on this computer via Steam Play" if it requires Proton. You can also check on ProtonDB.com.
And yes you should be able to install everything and run them in a VM, assuming you do GPU passthrough.
@@PhazerTech Excellent! Many thanks, that will give me a way to do some testing an evaluating. Will def. give Kubuntu a try, though for dev work I always use a minimalist Xfce MINT machine.
Thanks for this video. Please create for epic games
Thanks bud, I'll have the next video done soon
Nice video. But Sudo add-apt-repository multiverse does not do anything on linux mint 21.3
is setting your /home and / to dif partitions still recommended
it let you wipe your system without touching your programs or something right
It's a personal preference. You can accomplish basically the same thing by using backup software on your home directory. It's up to you whether you want to use partitions instead.
Thank you. I mainly use steam for my offline games and then Blizzard for the WoW. Do you know if presentmon of intel works on linux?
Glad to hear it was helpful! Unfortunately I don't have any experience with Intel GPUs, sorry I didn't mention them in the video. It looks like they should work fine, but of course driver updates are continuously bringing better support as time goes on. Hopefully someone who has an Intel GPU will comment and share their experience. And it looks like presentmon doesn't have support for Linux, but MangoHud should be a solid alternative for it.
@@PhazerTech Oh sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant the program presentmon. On windows you can use it to show activity stats on amd and nvidia gpus as well. I was just wondering if the program works on linux.
@@NetNeelsie Oh I see, my mistake for assuming presentmon is only for intel GPUs. It might be possible to run it with wine but it doesn't appear to have native support so using an alternative would probably be better.
@@PhazerTech No problem. Thank you again for the video and enjoy the rest of your day.
@@NetNeelsie Thanks, you have a great day as well!
So would i have to reinstal my steam games i have 257 eeek - i have a c drive and 4 x 1tb ssd's some of the games have a ton of mods would they need to be re modded. and what about my firefox bookmarks and p words. very cool video btw
You might need to reinstall your games. The bigger issue is that your drive is probably formatted in the NTFS format which will run slow in Linux. You'll need to reformat the drive into the EXT4 format to get best performance. You could transfer all your games to a different drive, then format your SSDs to EXT4, then transfer your games back to it (also it will probably take forever to transfer). Some games might work fine but others might have issues requiring you to reinstall them, especially the modded games. YMMV. In general it's probably best to start from scratch. But as far as firefox goes that should be easy to migrate: support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
Thanks for the video. I decided on Kubuntu as my distro for my newly built switching-from-windows-to-linux PC. I am having some issue with refresh rate. My monitor supports 165hz but I'm being limited to 60. Recommended fix for that? Thanks 😄
That's odd. I have multiple systems running Kubuntu with both Nvidia and AMD GPUs and I have no issues selecting higher refresh rates. The first thing that comes to mind is if you're using an Nvidia card make sure you have the drivers installed. There are a few other things you can try too. These two threads might be helpful for you:
askubuntu.com/questions/1350411/high-refresh-rate-monitor-stuck-at-60hz
www.reddit.com/r/Kubuntu/comments/u1sn12/waylandxorg_only_running_at_60hz_how_can_i_fix_it/
@@PhazerTech Thanks, turns out there is a Reddit post about Kubuntu 24.04 and AMD GPU issue. I was getting inconsistant boots/freezes on boot to splash (no image). An simple edit to GRUB config file fixes it. :)
@@Voidsworn Nice, glad you found a fix! Mind sharing the link in case someone else who has this problem sees this post?
Hey, i have followed your guide, but panicked when installing kubuntu and installed it on my main game drive therefore wiping all windows installed games! Ive reinstalled on the empty drive and have been tinkering all day. So I have 2 versions on seperate drives so windows now only has C: drive. What im struggling with is uninstalling it off the D: drive that i overwrote initially. But both windows and kubuntu work well and tbh i dont think it will be long b4 i wipe win11 os off completely. Im installing battlenet via lutris and will install steam after. Thanks for your video as it really prompted me to take the leap! Any advice to uninstall the unwanted kubuntu on d: ? i just cant find a way, cheers Grae
Oof that's not good! If your D: drive was an HDD then it might be possible to recover using special recovery software but it's not guaranteed. If it's an SSD then your data is most certainly gone. Like I said you gotta be careful when choosing the drive to install to. But it's not the end of the world, if you switch to Linux then you'd want to format the drive as EXT4 format and fresh install all your games anyway. Maybe this is motivation to completely drop Windows faster, lol
If I copy Linux on the same drive as my windows, will it replace windows and delete everything and the Linux I choose will be my main system? I want to switch over to Linux for gaming but always use my computer for other things.
It's possible to install Linux on the same drive as Windows and keep both of them, but personally I recommend getting a second drive for Linux.
Is there any way to bring game saves over from windows? Because Steam doesnt sync my cloud saves
Steam syncs cloud saves for most games, so if it's not for you then you should make sure that setting is enabled. You could also manually copy the save file for each game, but the location of the save file will be different for each game and it'll be a hassle.
@@PhazerTech Yeah that was the issue I was having. Maybe it was something to do with the specific game I was testing at the time or something. Because I know cloud saves were enabled both on the windows install and on whichever distro I was toying around with that the time but the linux version of steam hadn't pulled any saves down. I'm new to really doing much of anything with linux so it's quite a major undertaking to try to get anything working when I've had so many years of just knowing how windows works.
@@ram89572 It was probably that specific game. I've noticed the same behavior where certain games don't sync cloud saves, but it's not a Linux issue.
Well hopefully these videos are helping you with learning Linux, once you get the hang of it it's not hard.
I would use kde neon over kubuntu because its the default kde plasma distro
KDE Neon is more of a testing platform for the KDE developers. They explicitly state on their website that there will likely be more bugs than other distros, and for mission critical reliability needs they suggest using a different distro.
After installing kubuntu whenever I try to launch windows on my other drive through the bios the drive doesent show up?
You used a different drive for Kubuntu, correct? If so then it shouldn't have affected the Windows drive..
@@PhazerTech Yes I did, I found out that while installing it there was a windows boot partition that it reformatted. I backed up the important stuff onto my kubuntu drive and reinstalled windows and it worked fine after.
@@frontsteady That's odd, what were you using the drive for before installing Kubuntu? Well I'm glad you sorted it out.
@@PhazerTech I used my windows drive for apps and stuff and the other drive for movies games and music.
Do steam mods from the workshop run under Linux?
Yes the steam workshop is available.
@@PhazerTech
Does proton hadle the compatibility of the mods as well? Or do I need another program?
@@kelgrin2451 Yes proton handles it. Some games might prefer proton experimental for best compatibility. Also keep in mind other mods outside of steam workshop can work too, but not all of them. For example, mod organizer has a native linux version if you're interested in that: github.com/rockerbacon/modorganizer2-linux-installer
@@PhazerTech
Thank you so much for your help.
I know Linux is all about the commend line, but the day it win be like Windows, I'll move to Linux. Windows it's simple for me as English is not my first language.
Kubuntu not seeing my SSD in had a windows 11 installed on there
Windows might be in suspend, see this post: askubuntu.com/a/1395830
What about playing online
What about the ati cheating software
Will the anti cheating soft wear kick and ban you for cheating when your not really cheating
I haven't experienced that in any of the online games I play, but last year there were reports of some users getting banned in Apex Legends. As far as I know the issue has been resolved: www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/11gaefo/ea_is_falsely_massbanning_steam_deck_and_linux/
battlenet for me pplz
Already made a video for it. Check out my Linux playlist!
Tnx for setting most of new linux user for failure. Ubuntu based fixed release distros are unsuitable for gaming. Kernel updates are slow, drivers updates are as well, mesa stack lags behind for amd gpus... so many things ensuring some day one games run poorly. The real good choice for new user is a userfriendly rolling distro based on arch because that's what SteamOS is built on, that's easy to troubleshoot and the support around steamOS is mostly applicable to said Arch based distro (manjaro/endeavourOS and a few others). The words are harsh here but it's time people realize ubuntu based distros are NOT for gaming. There's a reason valve moved away from them with their steam machines. Ubuntu based distro may make wonderful daily drivers distro, but not for gaming.
Absolutely not true. Ubuntu based distros are completely fine for gaming. After all, Pop OS is one of the most popular and recommended distros for gaming. Why do you think that is? Because Ubuntu strikes a balance between stability and cutting edge, and for new users that little bit extra stability is worth it. The kernel and driver updates aren't bleeding edge but they're still updated regularly and are new enough they won't cause issues 99% of time. Also you seem to be ignorant to the fact that you can manually install more bleeding edge PPAs for Mesa, so if someone wants a more cutting edge experience then it's completely possible on Ubuntu. See my previous video where I talked about this topic in more detail: czcams.com/video/byz8YPzczxg/video.html
@@PhazerTech Pop Os is the most recommended because ubuntu forums are reassuring to new users, despite it's the stackoverflow of support, PopOs is also recommended because Systeml76 sells hardware so that's just another support layer for new users. As for PPAs and new users, that's exactly my point: it's a mess. New users don't know what PPAs are, they don't know where to find them, they need to make sure they don't pile them up unless they want troubles on inplace upgrades (btw nice perpetuating the myth arch is unstable, I've jumped straight on manjaro then arch linux for the last 4 years fresh out of windows after trying and failing with ubuntu many times before that, arch/manjaro NEVER broke and I've not been particularly diligent with maintenance and updates). Etc... As for Ubuntu having regular update: day one games sometimes have poor performances on arch and that gets resolved as soon as nvidia or the mesa stacks gets updated. On ubuntu, you need to find a dkms and wait for the repos to get updated. Again, new users stuff, I'm not saying it's not technically possible to run ubuntu for gaming but for new converts it's definitely not the right distro for ease of use. And it's most likely the best way to destroy expectations and get them to go back to windows. I know I've been there many times before settling on an arch based distro.
Everything is just easier on windows and i can also run apps natively and i can play more multiplayer games like destiny, cod, valorant, siege, finals, lol etc
you can run apps and games native on linux too. i dont care about cod or valorant,etc since they are bad games imo.
@@Ralphunreal yes you dont care, but those are the most popular multiplayer games on steam/twitch.
I was fine until you got to the part that turns off the majority: the command line box. No, thank you. This is why you guys have to stop that nerd fan boy crap! We come from Windows and don't do DOS anymore. That's why they have the GUI that does the software updates easily for you. I understand why you did that because it seems it installs everything at once. However, they need to do that in the GUI section also, so we dont need to type those command lines in. That's a BIG turn-off. There is no point in doing the black box command line crap. I'm not going to a new OS because I want to. Microsoft and many companies are making us because of that embedded artificial intelligence and NPU crap I don't want anything to do with. Just because you guys like all that nerd techy nonsense doesn't mean we. have to. That's why most hated Linux. I'm glad they are making distros more like Windows GUI. We need simplicity.
lol "nerd fan boy crap" 🤣
If copying and pasting a few commands makes you react this way then just stick to Windows buddy. Nobody is forcing you to switch. And even those distros that copy Windows appearance will still require you to use the command line for certain things. It's not a matter of us "liking it" or not, it's just how Linux is. You can choose to adapt or not adapt. If you can't adapt then I'm not sure what else to say besides stick to Windows.
@@PhazerTech -wow, nice attitude. I am defending those who are tired of feeling like they are pushed in a corner. And you wonder why businesses and consumers either don't use Linux or pay people to set it up for them. Maybe you have luxury time and energy. I don't.
@@ernies8828 You're telling me "nice attitude"?? 😂😂
@@PhazerTech -are you drinking when you posted that?
pc specs ?
PC specs ???
13:42