Linux gaming [Guide]

keybreak · August 24, 2020, 6:37pm

Linux gaming

Why should YOU care?
You JUST want to game?
It must be very hard to ENJOY?

Not hard at all to just enjoy!
Buckle up and let’s spread some knowledge to make it easy for everyone!

Let this be our gaming hub, please share:

Update of tools
Best practices
Quality guides
New hot tech
Performance tips

Table of contents:

Introduction
1.1 Platforms
1.2 Common terms
1.3 Engines
Requirements
Steam
3.1 Setup
3.2 Install games
3.3 Configuration
3.4 Problems
Wine
4.0 Prepare
4.1 Setup
4.2 Engine
4.3 Create prefix
4.4 Install game
4.5 Configuration
4.6 Problems
Lutris
5.1 Setup
5.2 Configuration
5.3 Add game
5.4 Game configuration
5.5 Install game
Common problems
Advanced
7.1 GPU PhysX
7.2 ReShade & Ray tracing on any GPU in any game
Resources

Introduction

This section consist of just few terms / conceptions / libraries which may be scary sounding for newcomers - but they’re not, when structured right.

You may enjoy learning to avoid common pitfalls!

But if you JUST want to game - read Requirements, Steam / Wine, Lutris and you’re good to go!

1. Platforms

Platform	Pros	Cons
Linux Steam	• Very easy to use • Performance are same or better than Windows & Native • Big community	• Based on proprietary Steam client made by Valve • Your game library and saves depends on Valve corporation (unless manually backup)
Linux Wine	• Easy when you know • Performance are same or better than Windows & Native • Big community • FOSS • Privacy • Gives you 100% control of your engine, data and games	• Requires some knowledge or tools for ease of use • May break on update if you always use latest engine (not recommended practice!)
Linux Native	• Best performance	• May break on update, unless sandboxed • Currently limited number of games
Windows	• Ease of use • Compatibility	• Huge privacy and security risks! • Forced updates • Performance getting worse and worse compared to late years Linux, because a lot of PC resources are aimed on spying, even when you game.

2. Common terms

Term	Description
PREFIX / WINEPREFIX	Separate directory inside your Linux, which represents “Windows” machine, it’s drives, folders, registry etc, think of it as little sandbox
Engine / (Wine / Proton)	• This is what allow you to run Windows programs on Linux • You can easily downgrade / update engine version for any PREFIX
ARCH	Architecture of PREFIX is win64 or win32 based on chosen Engine You can use only one ARCH for PREFIX since it’s created, good thing that in 99% of cases, even if guides write otherwise you should use win64!
dll override / WINEDLLOVERRIDES	It’s not always possible to run an application on builtin DLLs. Sometimes native DLLs simply work better. You can override any dll in your PREFIX, these DLL overrides can be set using winecfg or you might want to use the `WINEDLLOVERRIDES` environment variable to set them. Options available: • native (=n) • builtin (=b) • disable (=) • native, builtin (=n,b) • builtin, native (=b,n)
Winetricks / Protontricks	Very important tool in your arsenal, which will help you tweak PREFIX to overcome some known problems, or install real Windows libraries, to heal some unfinished parts of Wine.
DXVK	Vulkan-based translation layer for DirectX 9 / 10 / 11 Probably most important project and milestone for gaming on Linux!
VKD3D	Aims to implement the full DirectX 12 API on top of Vulkan. Early in development, may have a lot of bugs and performance problems
Esync	Removes wineserver overhead for synchronization objects. This can increase performance for some games, especially ones that rely heavily on the CPU.
Fsync	More recent alternative with even better performance improvements, then Esync. However, you do need an Engine and Kernel that supports it.

3. Engines

Engine	Description
Wine	In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Linux, and the Word was Wine. This is most important project for topic at hand, in 1993 there were bunch of absolutely insane people who decided to start reverse-engineer Windows proprietary crap and redirect it to Linux native FOSS style for future compatibility, when Windows will die. Take a moment to create shrine for those people, it’s miracle that we see anything working at all!!
Wine staging	It contains bug fixes and features, which have not been integrated into the development branch yet. The idea of Wine Staging is to provide experimental features faster to end users and to give developers the possibility to discuss and improve their patches before they are integrated into the main branch.
Proton	This is fork of Wine maintained by Valve / Steam, but still itself FOSS. And what a great boost it gave for Linux gaming! But it is basically a set of patches: • DXVK enabled by default • Esync ready • Fsync ready Made to work with Steam, so keep this in mind when hearing term “Protonified”! Although it’s not officially recommended - you can easily use Proton with Wine directly.
Wine-TKG Proton-TKG	Custom bleeding edge builds by Tk-Glitch, may greatly improve compatibility or performance, especially with fresh games! • Esync ready • Fsync ready If you have fresh game which doesn’t work from day 1 - try it and watch for news, it most likely will be first build to run your game in few days!
Wine-GE Proton-GE	Custom bleeding edge builds by GloriousEggroll aka “the most patched Wine”, may greatly improve compatibility or performance, especially with fresh games! • Esync ready • Fsync ready • vkd3d ready If you have fresh game which doesn’t work from day 1 - try it and watch for news, it most likely will be first build to run your game in few days!

Requirements

1. Make sure your GPU supports Vulkan

Check your GPU in database

If there is an entry - you’re good to continue!
if API is below v1.3 - you will NOT be able to run DXVK 2.0+ and wine / proton v7.1+.
Not on the list? - that means your GPU is old enough to not support Vulkan.

You’re a serious gamer? Time to upgrade GPU!
Without Vulkan - DXVK won’t work and this is very bad news for performance and compatibility.
However you still can try to game:
1. Skip all next steps in Requirements section.
2. Make sure to disable DXVK / D3DVK globally in Lutris and Steam

2. Install Vulkan

vulkan-icd-loader
lib32-vulkan-icd-loader

3. Install Vulkan driver for your GPU driver

Even if you don’t have AMD GPU make sure you’ve uninstalled AMDVLK (unless you use it), because this driver is enforced by default and can reduce your performance!

NVIDIA

NVIDIA (proprietary, maintained by Nvidia)
```
nvidia-utils
lib32-nvidia-utils
```

INTEL

INTEL (open, maintained by Mesa, Intel)
```
vulkan-intel
lib32-vulkan-intel
```

AMD

RADV (open, maintained by Mesa, Valve, Red Hat, Google etc.)
Best performance and compatibility.
```
vulkan-radeon
lib32-vulkan-radeon
```
AMDVLK (open, maintained by AMD)
Only use in case RADV doesn’t work.
```
amdvlk
lib32-amdvlk
```
AMDGPU PRO (proprietary, maintained by AMD)
Best for ray-tracing performance at the moment.
```
vulkan-amdgpu-pro
lib32-vulkan-amdgpu-pro
```

HYBRID / OPTIMUS GPU (Laptop)

ArchWiki

Steam

TL;DR
Current best practice:

Enable Proton in Steam play
Check your game in protondb for game state / recommendations
Problems?
Try GloriousEggroll or TK-Glitch engines or see full 4.4 Problems section

Config location:

~/.steam

Proton engines location:

~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common

Keep in mind that Proton will be installed in the same library as the first Steam Play game you try to launch, and will only be installed in one location.

Game PREFIX location, where [appid] is your game id (look up steamdb if in doubt):

~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/[appid]/pfx/

More Proton FAQ

1. Setup

Create account in Steam
Install package:
```
steam
```
if you plan to use controllers. also install this one from AUR:
```
game-devices-udev
```
Launch client and login to your account
Enable Proton so you can play Windows games with Linux Steam:
Steam → Settings → Steam Play

Enable Steam Play for supported titles
Enable Steam Play for all other titles
Run other titles with dropdown - here you can choose Proton version which will be used globally.

2. Install games

Now you're ready to install games!

Before buy, you may want to check protondb, maybe it’s rare case which still have problems or game is just out and doesn’t work in Proton just yet (usually resolved pretty quickly week-month)
Buy / Download game
Go to Library tab
Select your game title on left panel
Hit Play!

3. Configuration

To configure Proton through Environment variables, which you may see in protondb reports (see available options)
1. Select game title on left panel
2. Right Button → Properties → Set launch options…
3. Enter desired variables, separated by space and ended by %command%
  • to disable variable add =0 after
  • to enable use non 0 values
  
  For example, let’s enable DXVK HUD
```
DXVK_HUD=full %command%
```
Install additional original Windows libraries with Winetricks (if required), where [appid] is your game id (look up steamdb if in doubt)
```
WINEPREFIX="~/.steam/root/steamapps/compatdata/[appid]/pfx/" winetricks "win7"
```
To use specific version of Proton for specific game (may be useful if latest gives problems)
1. Select game title on left panel
2. Right Button → Properties
  
  Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool
  use dropdown to choose Proton engine
Install custom Proton engine
1. Download custom Proton engine for example GloriousEggroll or TK-Glitch
2. Create a ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d directory, if it does not exist
3. Extract archive to ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d
4. Restart Steam
5. Select custom Proton engine for specific game or globally
Change default location for games library
Steam → Settings → Downloads → Steam library folders
1. Add library folder you can choose for example another drive
2. Right Button - Make Default folder If you want it to be default
You want to use NTFS disk with Linux Steam ( Why? - just drop Windows already )

Using a NTFS disk with Linux and Windows
You want to create log file to check if everything fine or file a bug, use Environment variable:
```
PROTON_LOG=1 %command%
```
Log will be saved at location, where [appid] is your game id (look up steamdb if in doubt)
```
~/steam-[appid].log
```

4. Problems

• Game doesn’t launch or crash

See if there are some known solutions to problems of this game at protondb or lutris.
Try to disable DXVK
```
PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 %command%
```
If it works without DXVK - play and please report bug to DXVK project if it doesn’t exist already!
Still doesn’t work?
Check Requirements and Proton bugs. If you have AMD GPU check this.
Even now doesn’t work?
Please report bug to Proton if it doesn’t exist already!

• Language doesn’t display properly during user input

Force your preferred locale:

HOST_LANG=ru_RU.UTF-8 HOST_LC_ALL=ru_RU.UTF-8 %command%

• Some games stutter at the beginning

This is normal, because at the beginning shaders have to be loaded first - so that it doesn’t stutter next time. They are written directly into shader cache.

Wine

Do NOT launch wine / winetricks directly from launcher or terminal without ENVIROMENT VARIABLES, as this will add unnecessary stuff and mess your mime-associations, icons etc.

TL;DR
Current best practice:

Create non-system WINEPREFIX with non-system Wine (amd64):
POL (staging-linux-amd64, upstream-linux-amd64)
it’s better to use separate prefix for each game
Check protondb and lutris for game state / recommendations
Install game, prefer drm-free installers like GOG
Use Lutris as launcher
Enable DXVK and Esync
Problems?
Try GloriousEggroll or TK-Glitch engines or see full 4.6 Problems section

Default WINEPREFIX for system version of Wine
(don’t need it for Games - can be safely removed, if it does not used by anything else):

~/.wine

Mono (FOSS .NET by Wine) & Gecko (FOSS Internet Explorer by Wine) installers location, both auto-installed while creating WINEPREFIX:

~/.cache/wine

Winetricks downloaded installers location:

~/.cache/winetricks

0. Prepare

Create all this bash scripts and make them executable.

create-structure.sh

Details

#!/bin/bash
title=$(basename "$0")
echo -n -e "\033]0;$title\007"

# Colors
c0=$'\e[0m'
c1=$(tput setaf 202)
c2=$(tput setaf 154)
b0=$'\e[25m'
b1=$'\e[5m'

# Force output in english
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

# OPTIONS
WINE_ROOT="$HOME/.PlayOnLinux"

STRUCTURE=(
    "$WINE_ROOT"
    "$WINE_ROOT/wineprefix"
    "$WINE_ROOT/wine"
    "$WINE_ROOT/wine/linux-amd64"
    "$WINE_ROOT/wine/linux-x86"
)


main() {

    create_structure
}


create_structure() {

    echo
    echo "   ---------------   Create structure   ---------------   "
    echo

    for path in "${STRUCTURE[@]}";
    do
        if [ ! -e "$path" ];
        then
            mkdir -p "$path" \
            && echo "${c2}[+]${c0} ${path}" \
            || echo "${c1}[${b1} ${b0}]${c0} ${path}"
        else
            echo "${c2}[x]${c0} ${path}"
        fi
    done

    echo
    echo "${c2}Script finished!${c0}"
}

main "$@"

create-prefix.sh

Details

#!/bin/bash
title=$(basename "$0")
echo -n -e "\033]0;$title\007"

# Colors
c0=$'\e[0m'
c1=$(tput setaf 202)
c2=$(tput setaf 154)
b0=$'\e[25m'
b1=$'\e[5m'

# Force output in english
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

# OPTIONS
NAME="GameName"
ENGINE="5.11-staging"
ARCH="amd64"

WINE_ROOT="$HOME/.PlayOnLinux"
PREFIX="${WINE_ROOT}/wineprefix/${NAME}"
WINE="${WINE_ROOT}/wine/linux-${ARCH}/${ENGINE}"
LOADER="${WINE}/bin/wine"
SERVER="${WINE}/bin/wineserver"


main() {

    create_prefix
}


create_prefix() {

    echo
    echo "   ----------------   Create prefix   -----------------   "
    echo

    ARCH=$([ "$ARCH" == "amd64" ] && echo "win64" || echo "win32")

    env WINEARCH="$ARCH" WINEPREFIX="$PREFIX" WINELOADER="$LOADER" WINESERVER="$SERVER" WINEDEBUG="-all" wineboot
    env WINEPREFIX="$PREFIX" WINE="$LOADER" WINESERVER="$SERVER" winetricks isolate_home mimeassoc=off

    echo
    echo "${c2}Script finished!${c0}"
}

main "$@"

install.sh

Details

#!/bin/bash
title=$(basename "$0")
echo -n -e "\033]0;$title\007"

# Colors
c0=$'\e[0m'
c1=$(tput setaf 202)
c2=$(tput setaf 154)
b0=$'\e[25m'
b1=$'\e[5m'

# Force output in english
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

# OPTIONS
SETUP="Setup.exe"
NAME="GameName"
ENGINE="5.11-staging"
ARCH="amd64"

WINE_ROOT="$HOME/.PlayOnLinux"
PREFIX="${WINE_ROOT}/wineprefix/${NAME}"
WINE="${WINE_ROOT}/wine/linux-${ARCH}/${ENGINE}"
LOADER="${WINE}/bin/wine"
SERVER="${WINE}/bin/wineserver"


main() {

    run "${SETUP}"
}


run() {

    echo
    echo "   ---------------------   Run   ----------------------   "
    echo

    local file="$1"
    [ -f "$file" ] || exit_error "$file doesn't exist"

    if echo "$file" | grep -iq '.msi';
    then
        echo "${c2}[>] run .msi ${c0} $file"
        env WINEPREFIX="$PREFIX" WINELOADER="$LOADER" WINESERVER="$SERVER" WINEDEBUG="-all" WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winemenubuilder.exe=d" msiexec /i "$file"
    else
        echo "${c2}[>] run .exe ${c0} $file"
        env WINEPREFIX="$PREFIX" WINELOADER="$LOADER" WINESERVER="$SERVER" WINEDEBUG="-all" WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winemenubuilder.exe=d" "$LOADER" "$file"
    fi

    echo
    echo "${c2}Script finished!${c0}"
}

main "$@"

tricks.sh

Details

#!/bin/bash
title=$(basename "$0")
echo -n -e "\033]0;$title\007"

# Colors
c0=$'\e[0m'
c1=$(tput setaf 202)
c2=$(tput setaf 154)
b0=$'\e[25m'
b1=$'\e[5m'

# Force output in english
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

# OPTIONS
TRICKS=(
    win7
)
NAME="GameName"
ENGINE="5.11-staging"
ARCH="amd64"

WINE_ROOT="$HOME/.PlayOnLinux"
PREFIX="${WINE_ROOT}/wineprefix/${NAME}"
WINE="${WINE_ROOT}/wine/linux-${ARCH}/${ENGINE}"
LOADER="${WINE}/bin/wine"
SERVER="${WINE}/bin/wineserver"


main() {

    tricks
}


tricks() {

    echo
    echo "   --------------------   Tricks   --------------------   "
    echo

    printf "%s\n" "${TRICKS[@]}"

    env WINEPREFIX="$PREFIX" WINE="$LOADER" WINESERVER="$SERVER" winetricks "${TRICKS[@]}"

    echo
    echo "${c2}Script finished!${c0}"
}

main "$@"

1. Setup

Install Wine package (it doesn’t really matter which one you use as system version):
```
wine-staging
```
or
```
wine
```
Install Winetricks package
```
winetricks
```

Run create-structure.sh script, it will create folder structure in your ~/.PlayOnLinux

.PlayOnLinux
├── wine
│   ├── linux-amd64
│   └── linux-x86
└── wineprefix

2. Engine

With Wine you can use any Engine!

Few things to know:

Usually it’s best to use latest version, unless there is known problem or update have broken compatibility for specific game
You can upgrade or downgrade to any Engine and Version without problems, just note that if you go from Wine to Proton your new user directory will move to:
```
drive_c/users/steamuser/
```
If your game configs / saves are in old user directory, just move them to steamuser or create symlink! Vise-versa if you’ll update from Proton to Wine
You can use only one ARCH for PREFIX since it’s created, good thing that in 99% of cases, even if guides write otherwise you should use amd64 !

Best to choose engines in given order, in case of problems:

PlayOnLinux (staging-linux-amd64, upstream-linux-amd64)
Best place for compiled versions of original Wine / Wine-staging.
TK-Glitch (Wine version)
GloriousEggroll
Proton Compile source or if you have Steam client - download it and copy this dir:
```
~/.steam/root/steamapps/common/Proton 5.0/dist
```
to your Engines path and rename it like that 5.0-proton:
```
~/.PlayOnLinux/wine/linux-amd64/5.0-proton
```

Once downloaded - put engine in:

~/.PlayOnLinux/wine/linux-amd64

3. Create prefix

From now to demonstrate complex case, let’s install Crysis from GOG.
After all, this is most important question of gaming: “But can it run Crysis?!”

Open create-prefix.sh with text editor of your choice, and change this options:
```
# OPTIONS
NAME="Crysis"
ENGINE="5.11-staging"
```
Run create-prefix.sh script
this will create your prefix at:
```
~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/Crysis
```

PRO TIP

Such a PREFIX is fully portable, if you remove this dir with symlinks to devices:

~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/Crysis/dosdevices

Now it’s safe to copy / backup PREFIX.
It will be auto-created next time you’ll run anything in PREFIX - so it’s safe!

4. Install game

Open install.sh with text editor of your choice, and change this options:
```
# OPTIONS
SETUP="setup_crysis_2.0.0.7.exe"
NAME="Crysis"
ENGINE="5.11-staging"
```
You can use absolute or relative to Setup executable, if you use relative, like i did here - just copy script to your setup directory.

Make sure your NAME and ENGINE variables are same as on 4.3 Create prefix
Run install.sh script
Follow installer steps and install to some simple location like C:\Games\Crysis
if possible avoid and disable:
- Any redist software like DirectX, Microsoft Visual C++ etc
- Create desktop icon / link

PRO TIP

In case you don’t like auto-installed proprietary garbage (sadly GOG installers doesn’t ask you about installing redistributables)

Create temporary PREFIX CrysisTemp
Install game as usual
Move game folder to clean Crysis PREFIX
Remove CrysisTemp PREFIX

This is rare case, but if you look on Lutris db see Wine GOG version
Install → dropdown → Views install script

You will see some winetricks recommendations:
```
d3dx10_43
d3dcompiler_43
vcrun2005
```
You can try without, but in that case it is a must (in general Lutris have decent recommendations):
d3d stuff - see more on unfinished DirectX 10 effects API
vcrun2005 is needed for some stuff like game saves (otherwise without it game will crash)

Always recommended to add win7 in the end of tricks, because sometimes winetricks reset OS to install some of the software properly!
Open tricks.sh with text editor of your choice, and change this options:
```
# OPTIONS
TRICKS=(
    d3dx10_43
    d3dcompiler_43
    vcrun2005
    win7
)
NAME="Crysis"
ENGINE="5.11-staging"
```
Make sure your NAME and ENGINE variables are same as on 4.3 Create prefix
Run tricks.sh script
Just proceed with installers windows-style, in case asked about Sending anonymous information or something along those lines - obviously choose NOT!

5. Configuration

Use Lutris as launcher it will make your life so much easier!
Read from 5. Lutris up to 5.4 Game configuration
To disable network for WINEPREFIX use Firewall

6. Problems

Installer throw errors like that:

Runtime Error (at -1:0):
Cannot Import dll: C:\users\user\Temp\is-VADAE.tmp\isskin.dll

err:module:import_dll Library MFC42.DLL (which is needed by L"C:\\users\\ready2rumbelx\\Temp\\is-L6E45.tmp\\isskin.dll") not found

To solve this - install those winetricks with tricks.sh:

mfc42
vcrun6

Installer fails:
1. Prefer simple installers and no DRM if you can - those are main points of possible failure.
2. GOG is best as it’s DRM-free
3. If your games is retail (CD / DVD / BD) and you fail to install directly in Wine, then install on VirtualMachine with real Windows and just copy installed game folder in your WINEPREFIX
4. In case everything above fails use , prefer steam-rip, epic-rip, gog-rip as those are cleanest installation available.
  (PM me for trusted sources )
5. Even now doesn’t work?
  Please report bug to Wine if it doesn’t exist already (don’t include details)!
Launch fails or crashes during gameplay:
1. Disable DXVK / VKD3D
  If it works without DXVK - play and please report bug to DXVK, if it doesn’t exist already!
2. Disable Lutris runtime
3. Try another Engine or version of Engine
4. On-line games might have problems with anti-cheat / DRM not working at all, so they can be unplayable, see protondb and lutris for more information!
5. Even now doesn’t work?
  Please report bug to Wine if it doesn’t exist already (don’t include details)!

Lutris

Best all-around game launcher, which can be used for: Wine, Steam, Native, Emulators
Has vast variety of options

When using Proton or Protonified engine with Lutris you MUST use option:

Disable Lutris runtime either globally or for specific game.
See how at 5.2 Configuration and 5.4 Game configuration.

Config locations:

~/.config/lutris
~/.local/share/lutris

Icons created by Lutris (might be useful to backup / transfer your library):

~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps

Wine / Proton engines location

~/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine

A lot of useful libraries & runtimes which for example allow to easily run Proton without steam client!

~/.local/share/lutris/runtime

1. Setup

Install Lutris package:

lutris

2. Configuration

You can configure Defaults for each runner (Default settings when you add new game)
On left panel hover your over Wine tab - Cog will appear, press it!

Show advanced options on left bottom -we’re no amateurs here

Runner options tab:

Wine version - most important one, here you can set / update default Engine which will be used for all games, you can use anything installed: System, PlayOnLinux, Steam
or any Engine you put in:
```
~/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine
```
```
~/.PlayOnLinux/wine/linux-amd64
```
Enable DXVK/VKD3D - useful to turn off globally, if your GPU doesn’t support Vulkan

System options tab:

Other ones may be useful to have:
Restore resolution on game exit
Switch to US keyboard layout(may remedy problems in case of multi-lingual inputs)

3. Add game

Press plus on top of GUI, to add game, let’s do it minimal setup required to start.
Game info tab
- Name - enter name of your game, you can name it whatever makes sense for you.
- Runner - select Wine
- Release year - optional, but nice in case you have big library
  (you can look up year of your game in PCgamingWiki)

Game options tab

Executable
Sometimes game have multiple executables, prefer x64 ones first!

~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/Crysis/drive_c/Games/Crysis/Bin64/Crysis.exe

Wine prefix
```
~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/Crysis
```

Save - your game will now be available on list
If there’s no game image, that’s caused by Name not exactly identical to database one.
No worries - easy to fix by Identifier!

Look game on Lutris db
Now get this id: https://lutris.net/games/crysis/ and paste it exactly to Game settings:
1. Select game, Right Button → Configure
2. Identifier Change now paste crysis
3. Apply
4. Save

4. Game configuration

Here are some essential configuration options to know!

Select game, Right Button → Configure

Runner options tab:

Wine version - you can force Engine for specific game (will be used even if you change global, so don’t forget to change that option back if you need)
Enable DXVK/VKD3D in most cases it’s best to use it, but you can toggle in case of problems
DXVK version - you can force specific DXVK version for specific game, in case of problems.
Enable Esync - best to enable in most games which heavily use CPU or avoid stutter
Enable Fsync - same as Esync, should be better, but Engine and Kernel must support it!
Lutris will alert you if it’s not supported by Engine in use

System options tab:

Disable Lutris runtime

Game options tab:

Arguments - that is very useful option!
You can pass game command-line options, for example in Crysis let’s force DirectX 10 mode:
```
-dx10
```

5. Install game

Lutris is easiest way to install games without , it will auto-install required Engine and Winetricks!
Also you can download Install script and edit it yourself

However it’s not recommended method of installation (without ), because:

• Scripts are made by other people and can be opinionated, outdated or not include current best practices mentioned in this guide, sometimes even work worse!

• Scripts can use win32 Engine which makes no sense this days.
You can change Wine / Proton version later, but not it’s ARCH!

Find your game from Lutris program (or on Lutris db)

Search → Search Lutris.net
Select game, Install
Choose Installer script to use, it might be:
Wine / Steam / Emulator - choose wisely!
From now just follow dialogs and install whatever is offered to you
Turn off Lutris search mode, now it will be available in your games library and you can play

Common problems

Sound crackles / cut off phrases

That is very rare case, for example with Mirror’s edge (2009)

Install packages
```
openal
lib32-openal
```
Configure by running terminal command:
```
alsoft-config
```
You can try all kinds of settings here, but to overcome crackles usually it’s enough to set:
Resampler quality to Cubic spline or higher
Apply
For Wine / Lutris override dll with winecfg
```
openal32 (builtin)
```
For Steam you need to run from Lutris and:
Select game, Right Button → Configure

Runner options tab:
- Disable Steam runtime (use native libraries)
System options tab:
- Enviroment variables → Add
  
  Key
```
WINEDLLOVERRIDES
```
  Value
```
"openal32=b"
```

Can’t set resolution / resolution is messed up

For Wine / Lutris:

Select game in Lutris, Right Button → Wine Configuration open Graphics tab
Emulate a virtual desktop
You can change Desktop size if you need
Press Apply and OK
Now you can:
- Change resolution in-game options, preferably to your native
  Disable Emulate a virtual desktop which you’ve used on step 2
  
  That should solve problem!
- Just keep using it with Virtual desktop

Advanced

GPU PhysX

So many times people on protondb mentioned, even on Nvidia GPUs to just turn off PhysX, because game start to lag since there are no GPU acceleration for it…

There are very interesting games with PhysX and no reason to limit yourself, which could make a world of difference!

GPU PhysX works only with wine-staging engine for now.
Install OpenCL headers
```
opencl-headers
ocl-icd
```
Install CUDA for your driver version:
```
opencl-nvidia
lib32-opencl-nvidia
```
In your game PREFIX install this winetricks:
```
physx
```
Make sure PhysX enabled in game settings!

Problems:

Some newer games like Batman Arkham knight for example, use newer library called nvapi, for now it’s not supported
There are constantly attempts to add it, but it’s real die hard! if you have ideas & experience - please step in and help!

ReShade & Ray tracing on any GPU in any game

FOSS screen space ray tracing with any game and GPU

Resources

Project	Links	Bugs	Wiki	Support	Devs
DXVK	GitHub	GitHub	Wiki		doitsujin Joshua-Ashton Contributors
VKD3D	GitHub (Proton) GitLab (Wine)	GitHub (Proton) Bugzilla (Wine)	Wiki		Józef Kucia (RIP) Alexandre Julliard Hans-Kristian Arntzen Contributors (Wine) Contributors (Proton)
Lutris	Website GitHub Database	GitHub	Wiki	Donate	Mathieu Comandon Contributors
Wine	GitLab Database	Bugzilla	Wiki Docs	Donate	Army of them
Wine staging	GitLab	Bugzilla	Wiki	Patreon	Alistair Leslie-Hughes Contributors
Proton	GitHub Database	GitHub	Wiki Options	Patreon (protondb)	Valve Contributors
Kron4ek	GitHub	GitHub	README	Sponsor	Kron4ek Contributors
Wine-GE	GitHub (Wine)		README	Patreon	GloriousEggroll Credits
Proton-GE	GitHub (Proton)		Wiki README	Patreon	GloriousEggroll Credits
Wine-TKG Proton-TKG	GitHub	Bugs	Wiki	Patreon	Frogging-Family

keybreak · August 24, 2020, 6:37pm

This post is reserved in case even wiki will grow too big

keybreak · August 24, 2020, 6:37pm

Disclaimer

Demand for this guide was over the roof lately (both publicly and through PM, some of you even offered help - which i appreciate a lot!), so i have to release it earlier than planned.

This guide should be suitable for anyone from complete newcomer to advanced user (latter will just read TL;DR of given sections for current Best practices and Resources).

Also, this guide is useful for any distribution, not only EndeavourOS or Arch - so you can share it for anyone who use Linux!

It is far from finished, but should be a very good start for PC gamers

Things to come

• I know that set of simple scripts in Wine section is very far from ideal workflow, to be user-friendly for wide range of people, but still it’s much easier, than what you’ll find after reading Wine wiki for 12 months.

Meanwhile i hope that those who don’t know Wine up close in personal will find great help in understanding it’s operation from guide and those scripts.

Don’t use this scripts, if you have PlayOnLinux installed and used - as i use it’s folder-structure to get auto-hooked by Lutris!

You can use many available tools like: pywinery, PlayOnLinux or Lutris itself to manage, but i won’t recommend it.

Personally i respect them for good ideas, but find them very bloated, unnecessary huge, full of dependencies, not-vanilla ways of dealing Wine sometimes, and not-functional for some advanced stuff…

I have already created a great script in bash capable of much more than just ease for gaming, but can’t release it right now until i’ll be 100% sure it’s perfect, after that i’ll release it FOSS on GitHub and AUR:

FEATURES

Pure bash
Very user-friendly
Interface GUI / CLI / mixed
Don’t auto-mess mime-types and .desktop files of original system (like Wine and Winetricks do), create PREFIX portable by default
No dependencies except winetricks and optional Zenity for GUI
Advanced management of ENGINE and PREFIXES, mass actions for:
- Update selected PREFIXES for specific ENGINE version
- Remove selected ENGINES (will warn if they’re in use by some PREFIXES)
Download and auto-install ENGINES:
- For now only PlayOnLinux (wine / wine-staging)
- Looking forward for adding Proton, Tk-Glitch, GloriousEggroll
- Will try to add custom sources in config, for pre-built Engines
Very easy to create prefix
Execute .msi or .exe Windows files from file-manager’s double-click - it will ask on which of available PREFIXES you want to run it!
Optional config for places where you store your prefixes, you can have multiple places which will be symlinked (for example Games on separate drive)!
Easy scripting from:
- Bash
- Probably will parse Lutris scripts for the future too
Config for chosen prefix:
- Change Engine
- All the usual options like winecfg, regedit, reboot etc
- Kill all processes
- Make prefix portable
Kill all processes for all PREFIXES
Make all PREFIXES portable

• Bridging old games (DirectX 1-8, Glide, DirectDraw) to work with Wine / Proton and DXVK

• Advises on Game configs and Mods

• Emulators

What i’ll need help with

Contrary to popular beliefs - i’m not terminator or even Wine-guru

Please alert me on:
• Typos, errors, dead links
• Best practices updates

What i very much need help with:
• Downsampling (i need universal ways of achieving something like Nvidia DSR for any game, regardless of drivers etc) - this is super-important for me personally and games quality!

• nvapi - if someone will come up with ways to hook this latest PhysX development or help Wine and DXVK - please do!

• AMD / Intel / Hybrid / Optimus graphics gaming. Anything on best practices for as i don’t have experience on Linux and hardware for it.

Now ENJOY!

And please excuse me, as i was and still am super-busy on a work, but will be here and will try to help however i can, but for now i need some rest

jonathon · August 24, 2020, 6:41pm

This needs to be a wiki page.

keybreak · August 24, 2020, 6:43pm

Probably too early, as this will unfold with some time even more and better…
But idea is on a plate

P.S. Now i need to figure out why relative links for table of content doesn’t work for 2nd post sections, like it did back in RTGI thread…

Othoric · August 24, 2020, 6:50pm

Awesome job @keybreak!

Kresimir · August 24, 2020, 7:18pm

Somebody’s been keeping well hydrated!

frog_monocle

Excellent job! This definitely needs to be a wiki page.

Something like this was really missing. Also, it is very well written, as I’m reading it, I love all the hidden memes and references. Great stuff

Can’t wait for the weekend to try some of it out on my pc.

keybreak · August 24, 2020, 7:21pm

To quote the greats:

Who let the frogs out?

I hope you guys catch Bible references for Wine

Moonfrog · August 24, 2020, 7:34pm

Very nice , great work , THANK YOU !

Love to see a gaming section divided in to parts :

Steam , GoG , etc.
Open Free games , Supertux , Tuxcart , etc.

Maybe we can start reviving the old free games to work again . Were did they all go ? Anyways a Gaming section would be beautiful !

keybreak · August 24, 2020, 7:42pm

Thx

Well, here is only technical stuff, but games themselves at least for now we discuss here
But who know what future will hold - i expect it all to grow

Playing nice & tidy
I run even stuff like GTA II in Wine

In things to come section:

This is what will help to reviving pretty much any game!

Plus there will be surely emulators section in future for stuff like NES / SEGA / PS2 etc

joekamprad · August 24, 2020, 7:54pm

i vote also to put this into a wiki page!

keybreak · August 24, 2020, 8:19pm

Well hey, thank you
Don’t get me wrong - i’m all for it!

Problem is that i just got message “You’ve reached maximum number of edits, wait for 9 hours”

And i expect this situation to be same in nearby future about it, since a lot is still in a works and in plans, but if it’s ain’t a problem we can do it even now (there’s only small technical thing about relative links i need to edit after 9 hours)

jonathon · August 24, 2020, 8:23pm

Call in a mod to “make wiki page”.

Tinymeat · August 24, 2020, 8:30pm

Wow! What a great job you’ve done here! Thank you very much for putting your time into this.

joekamprad · August 25, 2020, 8:48am

keybreak · August 25, 2020, 1:37pm

Maybe for lot of you it’s not a news already, but while writing guide i stumbled across this, and it was new to me!

After tragic loss of Józef Kucia (RIP) who started VKD3D which is DirectX 12 to Vulkan project, it was picked up by Proton (Steam), as well as a lot of people from DXVK and GloriousEggroll:

This means very active development, so i expect soon we’ll see very mature DirectX 12 on Wine (for last year or so it was still buggy and experimental).

So i’m looking forward to future!

mjl · August 25, 2020, 8:46pm

This is absolutely brilliant!! Thank you for your wonderful work - this should be the wiki page.

shockwave · August 25, 2020, 11:55pm

This is a great write-up. I recently moved from Manjaro to Endeavour. In Manjaro, a lot of my proton games worked, but now none of them do. Native Linux games seem to be okay. I am running optimus-manager with Nvidia. Games start but them seem to never launch, sometimes I get a small black screen that then shuts off.

Any ideas?

jonathon · August 25, 2020, 11:55pm

Start a new thread?

BONK · August 25, 2020, 11:59pm