Computer games on Linux: Once a problem child, today a carefree everyday life. Many games run just as easily under Linux as you would expect from Windows: with just a few clicks everything is installed and ready to start.
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The weekly c’t podcast c’t uplink is available…
Valve, the company behind the gaming platform Steam, which itself uses Linux for its mobile gaming console Steam Deck, has a major influence on this development. The background to this and what Proton is all about, the compatibility layer optimized by Valve for Windows games, is explained by c’t editor Liane Dubowy in the c’t uplink. It also presents open source tools that not only replace proprietary game launchers, but sometimes also surpass them.
But what does the performance look like? c’t editor Benjamin Kraft measured these for current games such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Starfield, each for a GeForce and Radeon graphics card under Windows 11 as well as with the Linux distributions Nobara and Pop!_OS. He presents his sometimes surprising results in the c’t uplink.
Together with moderator Pina Merkert, Liane Dubowy and Benjamin Kraft discuss their experiences, which distributions are particularly suitable and what solutions there are if a game (or its anti-cheat software) refuses to cooperate with Linux.
Also present: Liane M. Dubowy and Benjamin Kraft
Moderation: Pina Merkert
Production: Ralf Taschke
c’t 25/2023 is available at the kiosk, in the browser and in the c’t app for iOS and Android.
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