Запускаем Windows игры в Linux

На мой взгляд, именно Steam и Lutris предлагают максимально современные и легкие решения для запуска игр. В качестве примера, поиграем в World of Tanks и World of Warships на Ubuntu 19.04.

Еще недавно, запускать Windows игры в Линукс было тем ещё квестом, затмевающим интерес к игре из-за тяжелого и не всегда удачного процесса установки игры.

С появлением DXVK (библиотеки основанной на Vulkan, позволяющей транслировать 3D приложения (игры) Direct3D 10/11), и как следствие Steam Play (Proton) – установка многих игр в Линукс стала почти такой же легкой как и в Windows.

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Запуск Windows игр в Linux с помощью Lutris

Lutris – сервис с игровым приложением, предоставляющий автоматизированные, настроенные скрипты для установки игр.

Интеграция с такими игровыми магазинами, как GOG и Steam, позволяет импортировать существующую библиотеку игр, а поддерживаемые сообществом установочные сценарии обеспечивают полностью автоматизированную настройку.

Установка Lutris в дистрибутивы на основе Ubuntu

Для корректной работы Lutris, разработчики рекомендуют предварительно установить Wine (версию Staging). Установить Wine в Ubuntu можно по нашей инструкции: Установка последней версии WineHQ в Ubuntu 18.04 и 19.04

Для Ubuntu подобных дистрибутивов добавляем репозиторий Lutris:

Для лучшей производительности необходимо установить последнюю версию видеодрайвера и библиотеки Vulkan.

Пользователям видеокарты Nvidia нужно добавить репозиторий с новыми драйверами и затем удобным способом установить последнюю версию драйвара:

Выбрать драйвер можно с помощью встроенной утилиты Программы и обновления – Дополнительные драйверы.

Если видеокарта поддерживает Vulkan API, то устанавливаем необходимые библиотеки (скорее всего они уже установились при установке видеодрайвера. Проверить, если видеокарта поддерживает Vulkan можно по ссылке: Vulkan API):

Пользователям видеокарт AMD / Intel:

Если у вас установлена Ubuntu 18.04, то стоит добавить следующий репозиторий:

Затем обновить предложенные пакеты:

Установка игр в Linux с помощью Lutris

Переходим на официальный сайт программы в раздел Games и выбираем нужную нам игру.

Найдя игру, выбираем (если доступно) редакцию скрипта с нужным нам сервером (например для World of Tanks это будет RU DXVK version). Нажимаем на Install. В качестве примера будет показана установка игры World of Tanks в Ubuntu 19.04.

Ссылка откроется в установленном приложении Lutris, нам предложат установить игру. Нажимаем на Install.

Дальше можно выбрать папку, в которую будет установлена игра. Продолжаем установку. Будет установлена нужная для данной игры версия Wine, соглашаемся на все установки. По окончанию установки онлайн установщика будет предложено создать ярлыки и запустить игру.

Затем откроется полноэкранное окно, в котором будет осуществляться установка игры. Не пугаемся, с помощью клавиш ALT+TAB можно вернуться в рабочее окно.

Запустить установленную игру можно как из программы Lutris, так и из списка установленных приложений.

Аналогично установил игру World of Warships в Ubuntu 19.04.

Именно в Ubuntu столкнулся с проблемой, при которой курсор мыши в игре не позволял делать обороты около 180 градусов. Ранее устанавливал игру в окружениях KDE и Cinnamon (Linux Mint), такой проблемы там нет. Если курсор вывести нажатием на CTRL, то можно захватить другие обороты мыши. Решение: переключение отображения игры в оконный режим.

Устанавливаем Windows игры в Linux с помощью Steam (Proton)

Для совместимости игр с операционными системами GNU/Linux, компания Valve разрабатывает проект Proton (Steam Play), который в свою очередь состоит из различных наработок, таких как Wine, DXVK, esync. Подробнее почитать о Steam Proton можно в нашей статье: Steam Play улучшает поддержку Windows-игр для Linux.

Информация о качестве поддержки Windows игр в Steam Proton доступна по ссылке: ProtonDB.

Для включения опции Proton, нам необходимо открыть Steam – затем Настройки – Steam Play – и включить доступные опции.

Версию Steam Proton стоит выбирать самую актуальную, т.е с большим номером.

Дальнейшая установка игр ничем не отличается от установки в системе Windows. Steam Play автоматически произведет нужные настройки для установки игры.

Сравнение производительности видеокарты Nvidia Geforce 1060 в Ubuntu 19.04 и Windows 10

Сравнение проводилось на ноутбуке с видеокартой Nvidia Geforce 1060 (6 ГБ) и процессором Intel® Core™ i7 8750H. Операционные системы Windows 10 1903 (build 18362.10019), версия видеодрайвера NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 436.15 и система Ubuntu 19.04 с версией видеодрайвера 430.40 (самый актуальный в репозитории ppa:graphics-drivers).

World of Tanks

Танковые сражения в World of Tanks в Windows 10 показывали от 115-130 fps до 150-165 fps, в зависимости от игровой сцены.

В Ubuntu 19.04 от 100 до 120 fps. Настройки Высокие, sd клиент.

World of Warships

В морских сражениях World of Warships в Windows 10 производительность держалась от 65 до 75 fps.

В Ubuntu 19.04 игра World of Warships показала производительность от 60 до 70 fps, но периодически сильно проседала до 25 fps. Настройки высокие, hight клиент.

Обе игры в Ubuntu были установлены с помощью Lutris.

War Thunder

Также, с интересом проверил производительность видеодрайвера в игре War Thunder. В Windows 10 игра была установлена с помощью нативного клиента, а в Ubuntu 19.04 с помощью Steam (нативная версия).

В морских сражениях в War Thunder в Windows 10 отображался fps от 65 до 85, в воздушных боях около 100 fps.

В Ubuntu 19.04 варьировался fps от 35-55 в морских сражениях и 75 fps в воздушных.

Версия из Lutris, использующая DXVK, в Ubuntu 19.04 показала fps от 50 до 75 в морских сражениях и 60 fps в воздушных.

Знаю, что разработчики War Thunder тестируют версию с использованием библиотек Vulkan. Не тестировал её, но уверен, что производительность будет значительно выше, чем у нативной версии, использующей OpenGL.

Euro Truck Simulator 2

В симуляторе Euro Truck Simulator 2 производительность в Windows 10 отображалась от 85 до 120 fps.

В Ubuntu 19.04 производительность игры ETS 2 варьировалась от 55 fps (в редких случаях) до 110 fps. В обоих случаях были использованы настройки Ультра.

Как видим, производительность игр в Linux уступает Windows 10, но при использовании библиотек DXVK и Vulkan разница гораздо меньше, чем при использовании OpenGL. В любом случае это прорыв для пользователей Linux: доступных игр стало гораздо больше, а их установка стала максимально простой.

На мой взгляд, осталось решить проблему работы античитов. Именно из-за проблемы с работой некоторых античитов, в Linux не доступна еще масса игр.

Gaming On Linux: All You Need To Know

Last updated November 9, 2020 By Abhishek Prakash 79 Comments

Can I play games on Linux?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions by users who are thinking about switching to Linux. After all, gaming on Linux is often termed as a distant possibility. At least, by some hardcore gamers using another platform to play games.

In fact, some people even wonder if they can listen to music or watch movies on Linux. Considering that, the question about playing games on Linux seem genuine.

In this article, I am going to answer most of the Linux gaming questions that a beginner may have. Some of the potential questions that I’m going to address here are:

• Is it possible to play games on Linux?
• What are the Linux games available?
• Where can you download Linux games?
• How do you get more information about gaming on Linux?

But before I do that, let me make a confession. I am not a PC gamer or rather I should say, I am not a desktop Linux gamer. I prefer to play games on my PS4 and I haven’t dived into the PC games available or even mobile games (no candy crush request sent to anyone in my friend list). This is the reason you only see a few articles in the Linux games section of It’s FOSS.

So why am I covering this topic then?

Because I have been asked questions about playing games on Linux several times and I wanted to come up with a Linux gaming guide that could answer all those questions. And remember, it’s not just gaming on Ubuntu I am talking about here. I am talking about Linux in general.

Can you play games on Linux?

Yes, you can play games on Linux and no, you cannot play ‘all the games’ in Linux.

Confused? Don’t be. What I meant here is that you can get plenty of popular games on Linux such as Counter Strike, Shadow Of Mordor , etc.

However, you should not expect a native Linux support for the latest and greatest games – which are typically available for Windows.

The reason, in my opinion, is that Linux has less than 2% of desktop market share and the numbers are demotivating enough for most game developers to avoid working on the Linux version of their games.

Not just limited to the userbase, but not all games work perfectly on Linux. But, there are workarounds (ways) to play a huge list of games and I’ll be mentioning how to do that.

If I have to categorize, I’ll divide the games on Linux into four categories:

1. Native Linux Games (games officially available for Linux)
2. Windows games in Linux (Windows games played in Linux with Wine or other software)
3. Browser Games (games that you can play online using your web browse)
4. Terminal Games (games you can play in the Linux terminal)

Let’s start with the most important one, native Linux games, first.

1. Where to find native Linux games?

Native Linux games refer to those games which are officially supported on Linux. You just have to download it and hit it to play it without any potential troubleshooting.

Of course, there are a lot of games that support Linux officially – but where do you find them?

Hence, I am going to list some of the resources which you can utilize to download Linux games.

Steam

Steam is a very popular digital video game store which offers incredible deals on games for Linux (including free games as well). So, it is an obvious source of PC games.

You can explore it to find tons of games ranging from AAA titles to Indie games.

Usually, you can easily find Steam listed in your app center or package manager. But, if you have no clue how to install and use it, refer to my guide below on installing and using Steam on Ubuntu Linux to get an idea.

GOG.com

GOG.com is yet another platform similar to Steam. Like Steam, you can browse and find hundreds of native Linux games on GOG.com, purchase the games and install them. If the games support several platforms, you can download and use them across various operating systems. Your purchased games are available for you all the time in your account. You can download them anytime you wish.

One main difference between the two is that GOG.com offers only DRM free games. Also, GOG.com is entirely web-based. Unlike Steam, you don’t get a native desktop client on Linux for GOG.com.

Portable Linux Games

Portable Linux Games is a website that offers a good collection of Linux games for 32-bit systems. You can’t run the games on a purely 64-bit system by default – however, you can try following a troubleshooting guide to make it happen.

The downloaded files have all the dependencies (at times Wine and Perl installation) and these are also platform-independent. All you need to do is to download the files and double click to install them.

It’s a great source for gamers who aren’t into the games made by big studios but just want to have a good time playing some games on Linux.

Itch.io

Looking for native Linux Indie games? if that’s the case, Itch.io is a fantastic source to find interesting games.

You can find a lot of Indie games for free and can also opt to choose a paid game.

Interestingly, you do not need to create an account to download free games. You can simply head to its page and download the file meant for Linux.

Software Repositories

You can also look into the software repositories of your own Linux distribution. There will always be some games on it.

If you are using Ubuntu, the Software Center itself has an entire section for games. The same is true for other Linux distributions such as Linux Mint etc.

2. How to play Windows games in Linux?

There’s a bunch of native Linux games out there. However, most of the popular games available aren’t available on Linux directly. In other words, the latest and greatest games do not support Linux (for the most) and are available for Windows only.

In that case, do we have a workaround to play those games on Linux? Yes, we do!

With the help of tools like Wine, Phoenicis (formerly known as PlayOnLinux), Lutris, CrossOver, and GameHub, you can play a number of popular Windows games on Linux.

Steam Play

If you’re fond of using Steam as your only source of games on Linux, you can easily try the Windows-only games using Steam Play.

Steam utilizes a compatibility layer to directly run a Windows-specific game on Linux. We do have a detailed guide on using Steam Play on Linux – I’d recommend you to explore that to get started with it.

Wine is a compatibility layer that is capable of running Windows applications in systems like Linux, BSD and OS X. With the help of Wine, you can install and use a number of Windows applications in Linux.

Installing Wine in Ubuntu or any other Linux is easy as it is available in most Linux distributions’ repository. There is a huge database of applications and games supported by Wine that you can browse.

CrossOver

CrossOver is an improved version of Wine that brings professional and technical support to Wine. But unlike Wine, CrossOver is not free. You’ll have to purchase the yearly license for it.

The good thing about CrossOver is that every purchase contributes to Wine developers and that in fact boosts the development of Wine to support more Windows games and applications. If you can afford about $10 a year, you should buy CrossOver for the support they provide.

GameHub

We already have a separate article on how to use GameHub on Linux.

But, to give you a heads up, GameHub lets you manage and play games from multiple sources that include Steam, GOG, and Humble Bundle.

Lutris Gaming

Lutris is something similar to GameHub but supports a wide range of sources that include Origin, Uplay, Epic Games Launcher, and several others.

It makes it easy for you to play Windows-only games on Linux. And, it is a quite popular tool used by many users. You can also check the official list of games it potentially supports before trying it out.

Phoenicis PlayOnLinux

PlayOnLinux too is based on Wine but implemented differently. It has a different interface and slightly easier to use than Wine. Like Wine, PlayOnLinux too is free to use.

It may not be the best choice among the others mentioned but you can browse the applications and games supported by PlayOnLinux on its database to decide for yourself.

3. Browser Games

Needless to say that there are tons of browser-based games that are available to play in any operating system, be it Windows or Linux or Mac OS X. Most of the addictive mobile games, such as GoodGame Empire, also have their web browser counterparts.

Apart from that, thanks to Google Chrome Web Store, you can play some more games in Linux. These Chrome games are installed like a standalone app and they can be accessed from the application menu of your Linux OS. Some of these Chrome games are playable offline as well.

4. Terminal Games

The added advantage of using Linux is that you can use the command line terminal to play games as well.

I know that it’s not the best way to play games but at times, it’s fun to play games like Snake or 2048 in the terminal.

To help you out, we have two separate lists of top command-line games and best ASCII games which are pretty easy to install.

How to stay updated about Linux games?

Now that you know where to find the games and how to use them on Linux, the next question is – how to stay updated about new games on Linux?

Of course, we will try to cover major game releases for Linux – however, we at It’s FOSS aren’t completely focused on gaming (as of yet).

And for that, I advise you to follow these blogs that provide you with the latest happenings of the Linux gaming world:

• Gaming on Linux: I won’t be wrong if I call it the best Linux gaming news portal. You get all the latest rumblings and news about Linux games. Frequently updated, Gaming on Linux has dedicated fan following which makes it a nice community of Linux game lovers.
• Free Gamer: A blog focusing on free and open source games.
• Linux Game News: A blog that updates on various Linux games.

Wrapping Up

I think that’s pretty much what you need to know to get started with gaming on Linux. There are plenty of free Linux games that you can try at the moment.

There’s also a very useful migration guide by the subreddit r/linux_gaming that can help you kickstart your gaming journey on Linux.

It’s time for you to add your inputs. Do you play games on your Linux desktop? What are your favorites? What blogs do you follow to stay updated on the latest Linux games? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Like what you read? Please share it with others.

About Abhishek Prakash

Creator of It’s FOSS. An ardent Linux user & open source promoter. Huge fan of classic detective mysteries ranging from Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes to Detective Columbo & Ellery Queen. Also a movie buff with a soft corner for film noir.

“… If all you care about is gaming, go for Windows.”
Windows is an expensive cardboard cutout reinforced with Bondo and chicken wire. Try using one of those “troubleshooters” and what you get is “I don’t know what’s wrong with your system. Gee whiz, what a cf. Sorry.”

If all you care about is gaming, you’ve got a much more serious issue than what OS to use.

I’ve switched to Linux on my laptop because there aren’t any games or specialist programs I need on it so have literally no reason not to for my needs. The exact opposite is true on my desktop which is specced for things like VR as well as multiple pieces of Adobe software that just don’t work properly through wine.

An article like this is perfectly helpful to people in my position wondering if there’s any games they can run on their Linux laptop.
To say nothing of people who enjoy gaming and are thinking of trying Linux, of which there will be far more.

As someone who only uses Windows as/when I have to these days: don’t be a tribalist douche.
My *personal* opinion is Linux is a more efficient and user-respecting OS – that doesn’t mean I don’t think Windows does some things better and/or has its place.
If it was unequivocally worse than a piece of open source software, we’d all be using Linux for everything right now.

“If all you care about is gaming, you’ve got a much more serious issue than what OS to use.” This shit line caused everyone to completely forget you even aid something.

I work as a self-employed IT support person for residential clients. I run Windows/Linux Mint/Mac OSX/Mac iOS/Android/Chromium. To each, their own, but the truth is that M$ stabbed most other companies out of existence in the 80s/90s so they are the most vicious top dog. You game, you go M$. M$ essentially sewed that up when it ruthlessly destroyed competition in the infancy of tech. I think humankind was totally ripped off by M$/Gates by allowing it.

Apple cornered the market early on for content creation and great displays. They’re as bad, if not worse, than M$ as far as corrupt & crushing, but they created their own eco-system (I find it draconian) and have plenty of humans bowing at their commercial, child-labor-using alter.

Linux went open-source and in doing so, has had the unique advantage of lots of great (beholden to no one) input to propel it along. Linux didn’t start out as a desktop environment at all- hence why even if game co’s liked it, it still would require new tooling for it to work.

The fact that Steam games for Linux play incredibly well & fast is a testament to the OS itself. Against the odds, it beats the pants off of the same games in an OS which made it’s name crushing everyone else out of the “open” market. Linux, isn’t even sold nor promoted, yet is supported by Steam. That, is incredible!

I think the funniest thing is that gamers believe that gamers have any real percentage of overall PC usage compared to people using email, Google, & MYOB, etc. They don’t! Gaming has always been a niche in the PC world. Far more computers are used for email/banking/photos/music. With that said, atm Linux Mint is my recommended choice for that 90-95% of PC users who are NOT gamers & aren’t in a stranglehold by OS to bow before M$/Apple.

If you’re a die-hard gamer, you have been lashed into the M$ corner, pure & simple. I think that’s a shame.

i am a linux lover your weekly newslatter boost me up ……thank you abhishek

is there also a way to play pirated games on linux?

Probably yeah
Probably a bad question yeah

Firstly let me begin by saying that I use both Arch and Win10 (dual boot). The former is for an all-purpose system while the latter is solely used for gaming.

I know the ins and outs of how to get games to work on Arch, with proton, DXVK and esync and some tweaking majority of games run smoothly. But here’s the thing, I just want to game and forget all, not waste my precious free time tinkering with an application just so I can experience it to the fullest extend. This is why I find a necessity to have a Win10 as a secondary OS just for gaming, it’s a click and play and forget.

What many people fail to realized regarding with any Linux distros is not all Windows-exclusive games performs well on it, performance penalty is always an issue and if you’re one of those that want to squeeze every aspect of your hardware into a game, Linux may not be the best choice for it. Not to mention the common problems with audios. Of course gaming with Linux is improving at a very fast rate due to the active community, however it’s not something that will happen in the near future.

Judging from this site and the comments posted, it’s a circlejerk-fest. I understand and agree with the superiority of Linux compared with other OSes in the market and the telemetry of Win10 but from the perspective of someone who just wants to play video-games, I cannot stress enough that Win10 is the far superior system for it. It’s no dogma.

For those who are in a limbo regarding both of these OSes, remember this, gaming on Linux is mostly a political statement and the people who uses Linux are using it for an all-purpose system and gaming is part of it. I doubt they would care if the latest games wouldn’t work immediately out of the box (hint: Red Dead Redemption 2 and Rockstar Launcher as of the writing of this post), but I’m sure there’s those that want to experience it here and now and not wait until it gets “fixed” or “patched”.

Flexibility is a good thing, a positive-trait that makes life easier. Being a stuck-up with either OS isn’t helping anyone’s case nor an elitist’s attitude is going to convince anyone from switching one to another. From my experiences on why people are reluctant to switch over to Linux is the elitism of the community, the comfort of a familiar environment will always trump an unfamiliar one, no matter how unethical the former is. As for the others, dual booting is an idea.

Bottom-line: If all you care about is gaming, go for Windows.

I completely agree that if possible you should keep a dual boot windows installation available if you want to be absolutely bulletproof.

That said, I disagree with your bottom line. If all you care about is gaming, get a console dedicated to it. It’s far less investment, both monetarily and in time spent. While it’s true that there are some games that come out on PC first, the current trend veers more towards the reverse in that a PC release is delayed while consoles have had access for multiple months.

It is also certain that gaming on Linux is a political statement, but I don’t believe that means it is silly or invalid. For example, I will primarily game on a console first, if it is PC exclusive I will check to see if it’s viable to run in Linux. If it’s not, I have to have a very serious interest in playing the game to pursue it further. Voting with your wallet is unfortunately the only power we have when, as you’ve noted, our numbers are so low.

In the end, it may make a difference, it may not. If your interested in promoting the viability of gaming on Linux so that you can play where you work however, simply rebooting to windows to play the latest trend is not helpful.