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! th-cam.com/video/5mOCwpS6sII/w-d-xo.html In addition to MangoHud, you can also try Goverlay which makes it easier to edit configurations and allows you to enable it globally for all games. github.com/benjamimgois/goverlay 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.
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.
Excellent video! It's good you cover important prior knowledge, even if in passing, because there is so much stuff that often goes unexplained. I learned what "snap" packages are. Really well thought out.
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
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. :)
@@ernies8828 for gaming i'd recommend nobara linux based on fedora. its tailored for the best gaming experience in linux. plus, you get preinstalled software and a custom made kernel tweaked for maximum gaming perfomance.
I made the move to Linux about 6 months ago and Love it. The only games I tend to have issues with have Easy Anti Cheat. I run Linux Mint because of the ease of use, but really all the distros function the same. I dont even think you need to distro hop any longer.
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.
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
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.
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.
Thank you so much for this video. It really helps me in my decision-making of ditching windows. Especially just running Dark Souls III like it's the most normal thing to do :) I currently play Elden Ring and other than that I actually mostly use my browser in accessing various websites. I dont play any multiplayer games with crazy anti-cheat. I don't really have a reason to stay on windows. Even at work we use ubuntu server for some deployments so the termial is nothing strange for me. Thank you!!
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.
@@PhazerTech Updated reply: been making progress with Kubuntu 24.04. However, one thing you did not mention is that in mid installation of Steam you will be told that you (also) need the 32-bit version of the nvidia drivers! Even if all games are 64-bit. Bit unexpected, that. EDIT: how weird, Stream runs just fine, despite that warning without installing the i586 drivers!
@@michaelhoffmann2891 Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't encounter that message on Kubuntu 22.04 which is what I used in this video. I believe it's only an issue with 24.04.
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.
I might add it to the bucket list... but the reason why I'm hesitant is because some games run better on Linux while others run better on Windows, so I'm not sure how helpful it would be. The conclusion would be "it depends on the game". Generally speaking I think CPU-bound games run worse on Linux because of the additional overhead from Proton.
It's possible but there are a few issues. If you start using an existing Steam folder from Windows on Linux, you can't go back and forth. You'll need to stick to Linux and not use it on Windows anymore because there will be permission problems. But the bigger issue is that the NTFS file system is really slow on Linux. You'll want to format the drive as EXT4 to get good performance, which means you need to start from scratch.
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. :)
@@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
No, unfortunately most COD games use kernel level anticheat software which means it's not compatible on Linux. Visit areweanticheatyet.com to see a list of games that fall into this category. Hopefully these developers drop kernel level anticheats moving forward, not just for Linux compatibility, but also because they're a potential security issue on Windows.
@ Thank you for the replay and your Kubuntu guide for me set up as I went from Fedora to Kubuntu and I love the performance and all way more pleasing to the eye than Gnome imo.
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.
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.
Has anyone else had an issue where trying to launch steam gets stuck in a loop with a system-looking window titled "unpacking steam linux runtime container" appearing and reappearing for a bit before a steam-looking window pops up stating that steamwebhelper isn't responding? When installed by the terminal: Trying to uninstall tells me the package does not exist. "Package steam isn't available" When installed and uninstalled by Mint's software manager: allows me to uninstall, but then it's still in the menu, and the same as above happens. EDIT: It seems like nearly all versions of steam are currently completely broken???
Make sure your system is up to date first before installing Steam. Also in the software manager, did you install the flatpak version of steam or the normal system package?
@@PhazerTech Thanks for responding! It seems like everything is up to date, checked with the terminal and the built in software manager. I tried the normal package first, and when that didn't work, I attempted the flatpak. Both gave similar results. Looking online, this seems to be a very widespread issue. I saw one guy for some reason had success after using an older graphics driver (using an Nvidia card). I haven't tried that. Do you think I should try it by getting the .deb file straight from steam's website?
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.
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
@@salvogreco Thanks I appreciate that! It sounds like you need to install the Nvidia drivers. You can do that with these commands: sudo apt update sudo ubuntu-drivers devices sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall For some reason the latest LTS doesn't automatically install the drivers, so you gotta do it manually. I mentioned it in this video: th-cam.com/video/6lTWUsUN_vs/w-d-xo.html
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
I bought a gaming laptop with windows 11 installed and i cleared it with a fresh iso install but I try dual boot so many linux distros the brightness control just don't work for some reason I tried every youtube fix it just doesnt work
Have you tried an Arch based distro such as Garuda or EndeavourOS? For brand new hardware you'll want to use a cutting edge distro since these have newer drivers.
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/
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.
Why are you making it harder for people to install different stuff.. (Windows users will most likely never use the terminal at first, so don't tell them to get used to it, just use the GUI installer, which they will use anyway..) And mangohud has two modes one for Vulkan and one for OpenGL which will mean you need different launch options.. To setup Mangohud the easiest way is to use goverlay.. And when you use the global Proton option in Steam Settings it will automatically use that version for any game, if you haven't selected one for the specific game.. Which mean that Native Linux won't be the first choice, unless you turn the global proton version off.. And steam will give you an fps counter that will work in almost any game, if you turn it on in settings.. And any Ubuntu based distro will run into a lot of issues, like some packages won't install and other weird issues, Debian is more stable and pretty much just works.. I use Arch as I like to be up to date with the latest kernel and packages when possible, seeing I'm using newer hardware that requires the latest kernel above 6.2 to even work, and kde is the most unstable mess I've ever used.. I have used kde, xfce, lxqt and lxqt seems to be the better and more lightweight then the others, and I can't stand the likes of Gnome and others that nearly goes away with the simple taskbar and startmenu.. But to each their own..
Not everything can be installed through a GUI. Sooner than later it will be necessary to use the terminal, so might as well introduce it now and show how to use it. It's not difficult. Most of your criticisms are just nitpicking. Also I made a previous video explaining the differences between various distros and gave several suggestions. Ubuntu distros are the most popular distros and the most noob friendly which is why I used it for this guide. I have no idea what you're talking about when you say Ubuntu distros will run into a lot of issues and I think it's weird you'd recommend Debian over Ubuntu for new users. Likewise I have no idea what you're talking about when you say KDE is "the most unstable mess I've ever used". Lots of users love it, sorry you don't.
@@PhazerTech The first distro I used was Ubuntu, and it kept saying it was installing a package, and then returns to a state before the package was even installed, so never liked using it.. And I know that a lot of people like kde(I do like the GUI on kde), but it has never worked well on mine, it keep crashing, restarting the desktop over and over again, I had to manually stop kwin every time and until I just gave up trying to make kde run as the desktop environment is buggy and very unstable on any desktop I've ever used it on.. And running kde in wayland it kept restarting the desktop over and over again, you could see the desktop blinking and any windows would close in between blinks.. And gnome, kde even xfce can't run 24/7 without crashing, somehow so far I've only managed to keep lxqt+openbox running.. My work laptop is using fedora and it can barely run for 3 weeks before it crashes, fedora is using gnome desktop as default.. Well, I can actually do a complete arch Linux install from few different distros, without using the terminal at all(For normal use, and gaming..), if I don't want to.. Flatpak, pacman/yay does have a few different GUIs available.. appimage is also easy to use, in most file managers you can just right click, then properties then make executable.. And using deb files is also quite easy, by using distrobox, although the GUI for distrobox wasn't available the last time I checked, but aur/yay does have dpkg to install deb natively on arch.. But some tinkering is for advanced users.. Even Wine & Proton can get quite hard to get working at times, when it doesn't work out of the box..
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
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: th-cam.com/video/byz8YPzczxg/w-d-xo.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.
This is complete nonsense. I’ve been using Ubuntu based distros for over a decade now and do quite a bit of gaming. The ONLY time you really would need rolling release is if you are using the newest hardware and need the latest support. I stay a generation behind on hardware, and stable distros are my go to. Less problems. My gaming performance on my RTX3060 machine is pretty much identical between Linux Mint and Arch. Newer drivers =/= better performance for older hardware and can introduce regressions.
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.
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! th-cam.com/video/5mOCwpS6sII/w-d-xo.html
In addition to MangoHud, you can also try Goverlay which makes it easier to edit configurations and allows you to enable it globally for all games.
github.com/benjamimgois/goverlay
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.
@@MalLambung Thanks for the tips, I didn't know about GOverlay.
@@Ralphunreal For sure I'll definitely go over GOG next time.
Thank you man ,perfectly made video without any bloat.
I'm glad you liked it, thanks for that!
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!
LibreOffice won't support Microsoft documents after 2007, as only FreeOffice seems to have support for 2007->2021..
Excellent video! It's good you cover important prior knowledge, even if in passing, because there is so much stuff that often goes unexplained. I learned what "snap" packages are. Really well thought out.
Loving your videos brother! Very informative and efficient.
Thank you, glad to hear that!
Thanks a lot, man. Very elucidative!
You bet! I just learned a new word, thanks :)
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 :)
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.
@@ernies8828 for gaming i'd recommend nobara linux based on fedora. its tailored for the best gaming experience in linux. plus, you get preinstalled software and a custom made kernel tweaked for maximum gaming perfomance.
Agreed. So duhn with ms
How do you like it and what distro did you choose?
Absolutely amazing guide man! Keep it up, this was super informative!
Thanks for that! Check out my Linux playlist if you haven't already: th-cam.com/play/PLlLR7EXXYZ0bFjsMf_DkHIiGvJlToeecV.html
I made the move to Linux about 6 months ago and Love it. The only games I tend to have issues with have Easy Anti Cheat. I run Linux Mint because of the ease of use, but really all the distros function the same. I dont even think you need to distro hop any longer.
Yea you really can't go wrong with any distro, all of them can do gaming well. Overall it just depends on how cutting edge you want to be.
that vas the best video for linux gaming for me thanks man!
That's awesome really glad to hear that!
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.
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
would love to see you do another youtube on installing games outside of steam :)
Already made it, here it is! th-cam.com/video/5mOCwpS6sII/w-d-xo.html
Also be sure to check out my Linux playlist for more helpful guides.
Thank you so much for this primer. It got me started very quickly.
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.
Thank you for this video. It was my entry way into Linux
Great to hear, welcome to Linux!
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.
Thank you so much for this video. Like and Subscribed!
You're very welcome!
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!
ah man im so close to getting on this boat and getting off windows.
Thanks. Going to be going through this very soon.
Thank you so much for this video. It really helps me in my decision-making of ditching windows. Especially just running Dark Souls III like it's the most normal thing to do :) I currently play Elden Ring and other than that I actually mostly use my browser in accessing various websites. I dont play any multiplayer games with crazy anti-cheat. I don't really have a reason to stay on windows. Even at work we use ubuntu server for some deployments so the termial is nothing strange for me. Thank you!!
Glad to hear it was helpful! Seems like you'll feel right at home :)
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.
@@PhazerTech Updated reply: been making progress with Kubuntu 24.04. However, one thing you did not mention is that in mid installation of Steam you will be told that you (also) need the 32-bit version of the nvidia drivers! Even if all games are 64-bit. Bit unexpected, that. EDIT: how weird, Stream runs just fine, despite that warning without installing the i586 drivers!
@@michaelhoffmann2891 Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't encounter that message on Kubuntu 22.04 which is what I used in this video. I believe it's only an issue with 24.04.
Thank you, so clear this vídeo
Hope you make the other guide to install the other stores.
Yep I'll have it done in about a week!
Amazing video thanks a lot
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.
Yes please more
Thanks for this video. Please create for epic games
Thanks bud, I'll have the next video done soon
I have some problem with cpu like at kubuntu only discord on could take me like 30% of cpu power
can you do a performance comparision between different games on linux and on windows?
I might add it to the bucket list... but the reason why I'm hesitant is because some games run better on Linux while others run better on Windows, so I'm not sure how helpful it would be. The conclusion would be "it depends on the game". Generally speaking I think CPU-bound games run worse on Linux because of the additional overhead from Proton.
Hello, can i use same windows's steam library folder on linux ? Or i need to re download the game again ?
It's possible but there are a few issues. If you start using an existing Steam folder from Windows on Linux, you can't go back and forth. You'll need to stick to Linux and not use it on Windows anymore because there will be permission problems. But the bigger issue is that the NTFS file system is really slow on Linux. You'll want to format the drive as EXT4 to get good performance, which means you need to start from scratch.
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?
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.
Would call of dudy also run with experimental? Black ops 6 for example?
No, unfortunately most COD games use kernel level anticheat software which means it's not compatible on Linux. Visit areweanticheatyet.com to see a list of games that fall into this category. Hopefully these developers drop kernel level anticheats moving forward, not just for Linux compatibility, but also because they're a potential security issue on Windows.
@@PhazerTech ok, too bad then.
Hi there which do you suggest the user use if they are running an AMD or Nvidia GPU? x11 or Wayland?
Wayland is newer so generally speaking I'd go with that. Nvidia support didn't used to be very good but it's a lot better now.
@ Thank you for the replay and your Kubuntu guide for me set up as I went from Fedora to Kubuntu and I love the performance and all way more pleasing to the eye than Gnome imo.
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.
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.
Has anyone else had an issue where trying to launch steam gets stuck in a loop with a system-looking window titled "unpacking steam linux runtime container" appearing and reappearing for a bit before a steam-looking window pops up stating that steamwebhelper isn't responding?
When installed by the terminal: Trying to uninstall tells me the package does not exist. "Package steam isn't available"
When installed and uninstalled by Mint's software manager: allows me to uninstall, but then it's still in the menu, and the same as above happens.
EDIT: It seems like nearly all versions of steam are currently completely broken???
Make sure your system is up to date first before installing Steam. Also in the software manager, did you install the flatpak version of steam or the normal system package?
@@PhazerTech Thanks for responding! It seems like everything is up to date, checked with the terminal and the built in software manager. I tried the normal package first, and when that didn't work, I attempted the flatpak. Both gave similar results. Looking online, this seems to be a very widespread issue. I saw one guy for some reason had success after using an older graphics driver (using an Nvidia card). I haven't tried that.
Do you think I should try it by getting the .deb file straight from steam's website?
@@slaterpenna2797 Yea downloading the .deb file is worth a shot. I haven't used Linux Mint for gaming so I wasn't aware of this issue.
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.
Nice video. But Sudo add-apt-repository multiverse does not do anything on linux mint 21.3
Thanks. On Linux Mint it's already enabled by default
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
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
I tried this and most games are running at 1-10FPS 😞 any ideas?
Not sure. What's your GPU and which distro?
@@PhazerTech I went with the latest Kubuntu LTS and its an NVidia RTX 3080. your channel rocks btw, it just didn't work out for me 😞
@@salvogreco Thanks I appreciate that! It sounds like you need to install the Nvidia drivers. You can do that with these commands:
sudo apt update
sudo ubuntu-drivers devices
sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
For some reason the latest LTS doesn't automatically install the drivers, so you gotta do it manually. I mentioned it in this video: th-cam.com/video/6lTWUsUN_vs/w-d-xo.html
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
I bought a gaming laptop with windows 11 installed and i cleared it with a fresh iso install but I try dual boot so many linux distros the brightness control just don't work for some reason I tried every youtube fix it just doesnt work
Have you tried an Arch based distro such as Garuda or EndeavourOS? For brand new hardware you'll want to use a cutting edge distro since these have newer drivers.
@@PhazerTech I tried every distro man it just don't work I even tried Debian 12 too about an hour ago its also the same
I don't know what to do :/
@@mellowww2222 What model is your laptop?
@@PhazerTech ASUS TUF GAMING A17
Has anyone tried Medieval Dynasty Console game on ubuntu steam?
epic and gog
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/
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.
English is my first language but command line "language" might as well be greek to me, so maybe it doesn't matter as much as you might think.
@earthoid good point! Maybe some day I'll go with Linux but for now I'm still on windows 10😅
battlenet for me pplz
Already made a video for it. Check out my Linux playlist!
Why are you making it harder for people to install different stuff.. (Windows users will most likely never use the terminal at first, so don't tell them to get used to it, just use the GUI installer, which they will use anyway..)
And mangohud has two modes one for Vulkan and one for OpenGL which will mean you need different launch options..
To setup Mangohud the easiest way is to use goverlay..
And when you use the global Proton option in Steam Settings it will automatically use that version for any game, if you haven't selected one for the specific game.. Which mean that Native Linux won't be the first choice, unless you turn the global proton version off..
And steam will give you an fps counter that will work in almost any game, if you turn it on in settings..
And any Ubuntu based distro will run into a lot of issues, like some packages won't install and other weird issues, Debian is more stable and pretty much just works.. I use Arch as I like to be up to date with the latest kernel and packages when possible, seeing I'm using newer hardware that requires the latest kernel above 6.2 to even work, and kde is the most unstable mess I've ever used.. I have used kde, xfce, lxqt and lxqt seems to be the better and more lightweight then the others, and I can't stand the likes of Gnome and others that nearly goes away with the simple taskbar and startmenu.. But to each their own..
Not everything can be installed through a GUI. Sooner than later it will be necessary to use the terminal, so might as well introduce it now and show how to use it. It's not difficult. Most of your criticisms are just nitpicking.
Also I made a previous video explaining the differences between various distros and gave several suggestions. Ubuntu distros are the most popular distros and the most noob friendly which is why I used it for this guide. I have no idea what you're talking about when you say Ubuntu distros will run into a lot of issues and I think it's weird you'd recommend Debian over Ubuntu for new users. Likewise I have no idea what you're talking about when you say KDE is "the most unstable mess I've ever used". Lots of users love it, sorry you don't.
@@PhazerTech The first distro I used was Ubuntu, and it kept saying it was installing a package, and then returns to a state before the package was even installed, so never liked using it..
And I know that a lot of people like kde(I do like the GUI on kde), but it has never worked well on mine, it keep crashing, restarting the desktop over and over again, I had to manually stop kwin every time and until I just gave up trying to make kde run as the desktop environment is buggy and very unstable on any desktop I've ever used it on.. And running kde in wayland it kept restarting the desktop over and over again, you could see the desktop blinking and any windows would close in between blinks.. And gnome, kde even xfce can't run 24/7 without crashing, somehow so far I've only managed to keep lxqt+openbox running.. My work laptop is using fedora and it can barely run for 3 weeks before it crashes, fedora is using gnome desktop as default..
Well, I can actually do a complete arch Linux install from few different distros, without using the terminal at all(For normal use, and gaming..), if I don't want to.. Flatpak, pacman/yay does have a few different GUIs available.. appimage is also easy to use, in most file managers you can just right click, then properties then make executable..
And using deb files is also quite easy, by using distrobox, although the GUI for distrobox wasn't available the last time I checked, but aur/yay does have dpkg to install deb natively on arch.. But some tinkering is for advanced users.. Even Wine & Proton can get quite hard to get working at times, when it doesn't work out of the box..
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.
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: th-cam.com/video/byz8YPzczxg/w-d-xo.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.
This is complete nonsense. I’ve been using Ubuntu based distros for over a decade now and do quite a bit of gaming. The ONLY time you really would need rolling release is if you are using the newest hardware and need the latest support. I stay a generation behind on hardware, and stable distros are my go to. Less problems.
My gaming performance on my RTX3060 machine is pretty much identical between Linux Mint and Arch. Newer drivers =/= better performance for older hardware and can introduce regressions.
Cool tutorial just bro talking with 0.75 speed set it to 1.25 and it becomes normal.
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 ???
13:42
pc specs ?