Steam Is Making Me Buy My Games All Over Again on Linux When I Own Them on Windows

If you're at all interested in gaming on PCs, you've probably come across Steam, Valve's platform for distributing, updating and running games. Steam makes it possible to purchase a game, install it over the internet and then run it from the Steam interface. Ah, but that brings united states of america back to the historic period-old Linux gaming conundrum of support, as not every PC game is designed to run on anything other than Microsoft Windows.

That said, there are plenty of Steam games that will run on Linux, and quite oftentimes, a Windows Steam game can be convinced to run on Linux fifty-fifty though some 'fettling' by the user may be required. This arroyo is officially supported by Steam using a system called Proton. Getting all of these things running, and so maybe optimising the results, is what nosotros'll be looking at in this tutorial.

(Image credit: Time to come)

Steam itself is installed through a custom program called the Steam Installer. This makes sense, because Steam updates itself and the games you install with information technology, without relying on Linux'due south own update systems. These days, the installer is in the official repositories of many Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora and their derivatives. As Steam is proprietary software you lot may have to enable a specific repository, such as 'Multiverse' for Ubuntu or 'Nonfree' on Fedora.

To install Steam on Ubuntu open a final and type

          $ sudo apt install steam-installer .        

If y'all're running a DEB-based distribution, but y'all can't find the Steam installer in the official repositories:

1. Download the the installer directly from the Steam website

2. Open a terminal.

three. Install the downloaded file.

          $ sudo dpkg -i [proper name of archive]  as the super user.                  

The Steam application should at present be available via your distros bill of fare.

There is also another, unofficial, style of installing Steam that all Linux users might find interesting, and that is installation via the Flatpak arrangement. This offers a few advantages of its own in terms of privacy and sandboxing, as Steam is a system unto itself once information technology's on your organization. Installation instructions can be institute on the Flathub site.

Running Windows Games via Steam on Linux

(Image credit: Future)

In that location are many great games that run via Steam on Linux, just what if you want to run a game that doesn't offering a Linux version? In such cases, there is a good chance that it can exist made to run using a system called Proton.

An official part of Steam on Linux, Proton makes use of both Wine and DXVK, layers that translate Windows software and graphics calls into native Linux ones. However, there are some caveats. Firstly, compared with how the game runs natively on Windows, performance and stability might be an outcome. Secondly, it does raise some ethical questions as, arguably, running the Windows version nether Linux might reduce pressure level on the developers to make a Linux native version of a game.

Getting back to the outset indicate, the all-time way to go answers about the viability of running a detail game is to search for it on the ProtonDB website to see what luck other Linux users had with information technology. The database itself is well organised and includes information about when the testing was carried out and what the specific hardware and software configuration used was. The level of success of running the game on Linux is rated from 'Borked' to 'Platinum'. So, if you discover a recent, highly-encouraging report near the game running well on a similar ready-up to your own, the odds are good. In addition, ProtonDB reports incorporate information on tweaks you tin can utilize to make stubborn games run properly.

To run Windows versions of games on Linux:

1. Go to Steam > Settings > Steam Play.

2. To enable approved games select 'Enable Steam Play for supported titles'. Or to enable all games, select 'Enable Steam Play for other titles'. For the latter selection cheque the game's ProtonDB entry for compatibility and issues.

Troubleshooting and Tweaking Steam on Linux

If you look through ProtonDB, you'll notice quite a lot of references to Winetricks. So what is it? Winetricks is a helper script that installs various Windows components that are needed by games. The script pulls through the component and makes information technology visible to the Vino subsystem, and it's worth knowing about, even if you lot're using Wine outside of Steam.

To install Winetricks:

1. Open a terminal and modify directory to Downloads.

          $ cd "${Abode}/Downloads"        

two.Download Winetricks.

          $ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Winetricks/winetricks/master/src/winetricks        

iii. Change the file permissions to set Winetricks equally an executable file.

          $ chmod +x winetricks        

4. Using Winetricks, install CoreFonts, used by Windows applications via Vino.

          $ ./winetricks corefonts        

Things can get complicated if you want to apply Winetricks fixes to a specific Proton game, but not by much. Thankfully, there is a helper script chosen Protontricks for simply this purpose.

1. Install Protontricks. Open a terminal and utilise the Python packaging tool "pip" to install.

          $ pip3 install prototricks        

ii. To apply Protontricks to a specific game, yous demand to discover the specific game ID of that game using Protontricks itself. For example typing protontricks -s fallout establish Fallout and Fallout 4 installed on our Linux gaming machine.

          $ protontricks -s <NAME OF GAME>        

3.  Visit the ProtonDB entry for that game. For instance, nosotros looked at the entry for Cyberpunk 2077 which has a gold rating, but requires a few tweaks in order to work.

iv. Employ the Winetricks commands that lucifer the requirements for your game. Typically the syntax is.

          $ protontricks [game ID] [Winetricks command]        

5. Kickoff your freshly-patched game via Steam.

Special Options for Steam on Linux Games

Some games may need special launch options to be added in social club for them to run correctly. To do then:

1. Right click on the game name in your Steam Library and select General.

2. Type in the launch options from the ProtonDB entry. Typically these terminate with the cord %command%.If in that location are multiple launch options, ensure that there is only one %control%

You lot may need to edit a game INI file.

1. Correct click on the game proper noun in your Steam Library, select Backdrop.

2. In the Local Files section click on Browse to locate the INI file.

This guide originally appeared in issue 281 of Linux Format magazine .

ashworthsiverprours.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/game-with-steam-on-linux

Share this post