I game on NixOS all the time. Best distrito for me. Never break's unless I am actively editing my config, and then it's easy to revert. Stable, declarative greatness.
According to the NixOS Nvidia docs, lspci or lshw both output the bus id in hex and it needs to be converted to decimal. May be worth clarifying for folks that don't have values equal in hex and decimal
I'd love to see another video about setting this up through Flatpak. I'm not a Flatpak zealot, but I use it for games because Steam (and others) are separate marketplaces not checked by Nix contributors, and there are *so many* games that I'm sure some malicious code slips through their validation. Flatpak isolation isn't perfect but it can help with that. Flatpak is easy to install on NixOS, and Steam, Lutris, Heroic, etc. are easy to install through Flatpak, but the details are different than explained in this video. You can still install Gamemode and other tools through NixOS, and Gamemode knows how to track Flatpak-run Steam games.
What I'd actually be interested in is managing Flatpak declaratively with Nix. nixpkgs relies on Nix users to update apps and Flatpak relies on their developers, so it should be a great way to have the latest and greatest.
Managing flatpak with nix is possible, but none of the current solutions actually install stuff into the nix store. I'll probably make a video about it later
@@vimjoyer Thanks. I'm less concerned about managing Flatpak with nix than I am about getting the security benefits for otherwise unprotected installs like Steam games. I don't think it matters if it's in the nix store; the Steam-installed games won't be. It's nice if the extra tools (gamemode, etc.) are managed by NixOS, but the key part is isolating the games. It would be helpful to have a video showing how the Flatpak parts (Steam, Lutris, Heroic) can interact with the NixOS-installed parts (everything else, ideally).
I kind of get your security concern, but as far as I know. IIRC Anything executable from the Steam store is containerised when using proton. If it runs on bare linux then yeah sure, but if you just use proton on all your stuff the binaries are stuck in a container similar to flatpak.
I would love to see some long format videos from you. Especially around the more complex implementations with home manager and flakes, so we really have the time to cover the more complex concepts
have you considered making a psa video about the official nixos wiki? it seems like you have a fair share of nixos newbie traffic so i think it would help get the new wiki to appear over the old one in search results
Yep, it works about as well as any other distro I've gamed on. I've run BG3 and Elden Ring so far, little bit of driver trouble at one point but all good now. At least I know my config file will make it easier next time.
In the linux gaming space, especially for people with Nvidia cards, having the newest drivers is very desirable. It would have been nice to see the options on how to get the newest drivers (either upgrading to unstable channel entirely or for just the driver and relater software)
I want to ask a question regarding what you said starting 5:19, "...to access those capabilities gamemode and gamescope require specific permissions so adding them to the system packages alone will not suffice" My question is why is adding them to the system packages is not sufficient?
You can check what these options do in nixpkgs repo. Just search for them on the search website, and you'll see how these options modify your system for these programs to work properly. gamemode is a daemon, so it's option actually creates and enables a service for example.
do you think its possible for you to make a video on installing kernel modules declaratively, ive been struggling with it for a while now. Thanks being the best for anything nixos related
I still haven’t tried NixOS (though there’s a fresh VM waiting to have it installed so I can play with it). At 2:30 something hit me: I could just…do both. Right? Comment-out sync or offload parts as needed in my config, then rebuild. Except I know nothing weird should be happening with my system’s state because it’s declarative (and also less prone to my own errors). I do wonder if System76’s tools/drivers set this up by default. When I was looking at their page on how to configure for other distros, and NixOS was a one-liner…really got me curious. Edit: I…see. NixOS has a built-in way to do what I was thinking but with significantly less janky fiddling. That really does drive home how it’s just built different…I love it.
Damn! You nailed it with this video! Awesome info, all I wanted to know, and very relevant! Great job ! Does GameScope work with Discrete Nvidia cards now in Wayland?
Any chance to see a walkthrough of your own personal nix config? Or even a github link? I'm starting out my nix journey, and seeing some configs accompanied by content that explains what each feature does or why it's there would be fantastic
Hey, I watched a good amount of your videos preparing to make my Ultimate NixOS setup and wanted to point an error out in your video. Bottles should not be used from any Package Manager but Flatpak. It's the only one the Dev actually fully supports. When you run this as a package from your Package Manager you lose the containerization that the Flatpak offers. You also may potentially run into issues the Flatpak solves. This is also true for OBS: The only officially supported app is the Flatpak. I think if you were to do a follow up to this add in information about how to setup Flatpaks and demonstrate with OBS or Bottles and state "This is the only officially supported version of this application".
Not an error, it's your choice how you want to run your software. Official support is good, and I probably should have mentioned that, but I'm not going to install a separate package manager for one program.
I’ve been so interested in getting into NixOS, but steamVR without async reprojection is a dealbreaker, so I’ll stick to arch for the foreseeable future.
I've noticed that when I switch to nixos-unstable, it doesn't seem to detect my RX 6800XT and just lists it as an amd device. I'll try that xserver option and see if that fixes it. Also +1 for gamescope, it helped when Satisfactory wasn't grabbing the cursor.
Also Thank yo without you would have never have switched to this amazing distro, ive been distro hopping ever since i started to learn linux, thnk im staying with this one, already got everything set up with hyprland, made my own rice, set up my flake so i can copy it all on to one of my laptops which i made into a Pentesting machine, all the tools seem to work flawlessly. the fact that i can just restart and go into a previous state is amazing as well, really helps when i fuck something up.
whenever i try to add my nvidia gpu to my configuration.nix i lose i lose graphical interface and asked to login in TTY. thank god there is a thing called rollbacks. But i give up. my old gpu and limited time does not allow me to run games on linux.
I didn't think it would be this easy to configure nvidia drivers and set up Steam. Thank you! About gamemoderun, mangohud and gamescope, is it possible to use all 3 of them, and how would we do that? Just "gamemoderun mangohud gamescope %command%" on steam?
@@vimjoyer I don't think I'll have time to try it today, but when I do, I'll let you know. I just wish we could set up these commands in nix, for all the games
@@GiovanniAcosta I just did what I put in the original comment. Unfortunately I couldn't find a way to set it automatically for all games, but I could get back to it in the future. And I had to stop using gamemoderun because it would just cause my machine to crash, and I didn't bother to try fixing it
I would be willing to bet this does indeed work well, but idk where exactly to go to find these configs to edit as I’ve not used Linux that much before. I’ve used it, but not that much.
@@vimjoyerI understand this but as a relative newcomer to the Linux scene who adores the concept of NixOS its quite concerning and off-putting when I hear stuff like the creator getting booted from the project and large contributors getting banned/shadow banned
I ended up using Steam through flatpak and I got better results than with the `programs` entry - though it's been a while since I tried the nix config way. Might you know of any major differences between those? Or, whatever works - works. And move on :D
some things just straight up don't work with the flatpak last time I checked. Eg. you can't connect controllers due to problems with the permissions. Generally when folks say "I'm having XYZ weird problem with Steam on Linux" the first question asked is "Are you using the flatpak version?" it mostly works but has a variety of non-obvious bugs and limitations.
Suspect the answer to be no. But is it possible to use the integrated AMD GPU on 7950X3D with a discrete Nividia RTX-4090 in a desktop PC? i.e. connect DisplayPort to motherboard AMD GPU as primary GPU and enable Nvidia GPU for steam games / Blender 3D I suspect the problem to be passing through the AMD GPU's DisplayPort where some magic is utilized on laptop motherboards. It is difficult to find any references online and some have claimed it is possible (perhaps with caveats like maybe only integrated Intel)
There seems to be a page about it on the unofficial NixOS wiki, but there's not much information on it. Perhaps you could look for for similar machines on the NixOS-hardware page.
@@Foxfac3 Its cool, i just needed to point our the directory it was to go in with the protonup command instead of setting into in my config. seemed to have sorted things :)
Привіт всім! Хочу сказати, що Vimjoyer легенда. Вона навіть не уявляє наскільки вона легенда і наскільки вона гарна, і взагалі ви повинні цінувати Vimjoyer, бо таких як вона не було і не буде. Я б міг багато чого ще написати, але я хочу щоб вона вже зараз про це знала.
Спасибо вам Юрий за вашу работу ,всегда с нетерпением жду новые видео от вас .Не могли бы вы рассказать в следующем как переключаться с wayland на xorg ,не тянет мой ноут wayland на гноме,и как оказалось переключиться не так уж и просто.Спасибо ))
Vimjoyer, you've got to make a video on how to make NixOS look like windows 7, that would be goated while having this setup for gaming. With aerothemeplasma
Linux is for lowend gamer, if you want quality like all new Features from nvidia, only windows is the way. Nvidia, HDR, VRR, RTX HDR, DLSS Rayreconstruction, Framegeneratin, GPU undervolting or OC, all together you dont get it at once in linux. Even in 2030 you wont get. The communtity is big on linux but they dont put the efford together. Also to much distros, then not equal kernel version, moddified kernels.... Wayland, x11 or much more, whats the right to choose. Noway, stay away as a gamer from linux if you want quality gaming.
1. You can get DLSS and VRR on Linux. 2. Separate people don't owe you anything, and they won't magically "put the effort together". 3. This video is not for windows users, it's for those who want to game on NixOS. I'm not comparing any distro to windows, because I'd rather stop gaming then use windows.
Yeah this is pretty outdated, in years past gaming always kept me going back to Windows, but today I can run every game I play on Linux, even high end gfx titles like Cyberpunk w/ full ray tracing and Star Citizen with no performance drop. It just takes an extra step or two on Linux. The only gamers stuck are sweats who play games with kernel level anti-cheat, and even that will prob get support eventually as Microsoft continues to self-destruct Windows.
I game on NixOS all the time. Best distrito for me. Never break's unless I am actively editing my config, and then it's easy to revert. Stable, declarative greatness.
Vimjoyer is the GOAT nix content creator
💯
According to the NixOS Nvidia docs, lspci or lshw both output the bus id in hex and it needs to be converted to decimal. May be worth clarifying for folks that don't have values equal in hex and decimal
great... just AFTER i set up everything... time to learn how bad i did
I'd love to see another video about setting this up through Flatpak. I'm not a Flatpak zealot, but I use it for games because Steam (and others) are separate marketplaces not checked by Nix contributors, and there are *so many* games that I'm sure some malicious code slips through their validation. Flatpak isolation isn't perfect but it can help with that. Flatpak is easy to install on NixOS, and Steam, Lutris, Heroic, etc. are easy to install through Flatpak, but the details are different than explained in this video. You can still install Gamemode and other tools through NixOS, and Gamemode knows how to track Flatpak-run Steam games.
What I'd actually be interested in is managing Flatpak declaratively with Nix. nixpkgs relies on Nix users to update apps and Flatpak relies on their developers, so it should be a great way to have the latest and greatest.
Managing flatpak with nix is possible, but none of the current solutions actually install stuff into the nix store. I'll probably make a video about it later
@@vimjoyer Thanks. I'm less concerned about managing Flatpak with nix than I am about getting the security benefits for otherwise unprotected installs like Steam games. I don't think it matters if it's in the nix store; the Steam-installed games won't be. It's nice if the extra tools (gamemode, etc.) are managed by NixOS, but the key part is isolating the games. It would be helpful to have a video showing how the Flatpak parts (Steam, Lutris, Heroic) can interact with the NixOS-installed parts (everything else, ideally).
Many games do not work in flatpak unfortunately, i wish it was officially supported
I kind of get your security concern, but as far as I know. IIRC Anything executable from the Steam store is containerised when using proton. If it runs on bare linux then yeah sure, but if you just use proton on all your stuff the binaries are stuck in a container similar to flatpak.
Thanks to you I got NixOS running very well with a configuration struction that I'm pleased with. You are the GOAT of NixOS!
Thanks!
I would love to see some long format videos from you. Especially around the more complex implementations with home manager and flakes, so we really have the time to cover the more complex concepts
have you considered making a psa video about the official nixos wiki? it seems like you have a fair share of nixos newbie traffic so i think it would help get the new wiki to appear over the old one in search results
Excited to try this out tmr! Great explanation. Love how thorough you are!
Thanks for addressing hybrid even though it "cost" video length!
Since documentation for nixos is not the greatest... videos like this are GOLD!
Great video as usual. Had no idea nix-hardware existed going to use this with my laptop.
Bro, you are the best, it would have been way harder to set everything up without you!
Always a pleasure watching your content
Yep, it works about as well as any other distro I've gamed on. I've run BG3 and Elden Ring so far, little bit of driver trouble at one point but all good now. At least I know my config file will make it easier next time.
I don't play games anymore, but liked the video!! Keep going, bro!
You're the best! So much info I didn't know!
Não tem como, Oda é um gênio.
In the linux gaming space, especially for people with Nvidia cards, having the newest drivers is very desirable. It would have been nice to see the options on how to get the newest drivers (either upgrading to unstable channel entirely or for just the driver and relater software)
This please!
I want to ask a question regarding what you said starting 5:19, "...to access those capabilities gamemode and gamescope require specific permissions so adding them to the system packages alone will not suffice"
My question is why is adding them to the system packages is not sufficient?
You can check what these options do in nixpkgs repo. Just search for them on the search website, and you'll see how these options modify your system for these programs to work properly.
gamemode is a daemon, so it's option actually creates and enables a service for example.
@@vimjoyer Ahhh that makes it clearer now. Thanks for answering!
Your videos are so helpful! thank you!
do you think its possible for you to make a video on installing kernel modules declaratively, ive been struggling with it for a while now. Thanks being the best for anything nixos related
I still haven’t tried NixOS (though there’s a fresh VM waiting to have it installed so I can play with it). At 2:30 something hit me: I could just…do both. Right? Comment-out sync or offload parts as needed in my config, then rebuild. Except I know nothing weird should be happening with my system’s state because it’s declarative (and also less prone to my own errors).
I do wonder if System76’s tools/drivers set this up by default. When I was looking at their page on how to configure for other distros, and NixOS was a one-liner…really got me curious.
Edit: I…see. NixOS has a built-in way to do what I was thinking but with significantly less janky fiddling. That really does drive home how it’s just built different…I love it.
Haha, yeah
Damn! You nailed it with this video! Awesome info, all I wanted to know, and very relevant! Great job !
Does GameScope work with Discrete Nvidia cards now in Wayland?
I think it does
Bottles is absolutely incredible, whatever I threw at it, played without a problem.
Any chance to see a walkthrough of your own personal nix config? Or even a github link? I'm starting out my nix journey, and seeing some configs accompanied by content that explains what each feature does or why it's there would be fantastic
My setup is very opinionated, so I'm not entirely sure about that, but we'll see
I love your Voice.
did you trick me into installing spyware with your tutorials? because every time i have a NixOS question, you upload a video about it
Hey, I watched a good amount of your videos preparing to make my Ultimate NixOS setup and wanted to point an error out in your video.
Bottles should not be used from any Package Manager but Flatpak. It's the only one the Dev actually fully supports. When you run this as a package from your Package Manager you lose the containerization that the Flatpak offers.
You also may potentially run into issues the Flatpak solves.
This is also true for OBS: The only officially supported app is the Flatpak. I think if you were to do a follow up to this add in information about how to setup Flatpaks and demonstrate with OBS or Bottles and state "This is the only officially supported version of this application".
Not an error, it's your choice how you want to run your software. Official support is good, and I probably should have mentioned that, but I'm not going to install a separate package manager for one program.
I’ve been so interested in getting into NixOS, but steamVR without async reprojection is a dealbreaker, so I’ll stick to arch for the foreseeable future.
I've noticed that when I switch to nixos-unstable, it doesn't seem to detect my RX 6800XT and just lists it as an amd device. I'll try that xserver option and see if that fixes it. Also +1 for gamescope, it helped when Satisfactory wasn't grabbing the cursor.
great video. Do you happen to know a tool to control nvidia fan speeds on wayland?
The only issue I had was that, for some reason, Baldurs Gate 3 refuses to launch on NixOS (both flatpak and steam).
Didn't have a chance to try it out yet, but it has a gold + verified ranking on protondb. Did you try any of the suggested launch options?
Im just curious, what color scheme do you use for your videos?
Gruvbox
@@vimjoyer wait really? I did not realize it since its really well implemented here
@@drishalballaney I'm using a custom implementation for motion canvas
@@vimjoyer aah interesting 👀
Also Thank yo without you would have never have switched to this amazing distro, ive been distro hopping ever since i started to learn linux, thnk im staying with this one, already got everything set up with hyprland, made my own rice, set up my flake so i can copy it all on to one of my laptops which i made into a Pentesting machine, all the tools seem to work flawlessly. the fact that i can just restart and go into a previous state is amazing as well, really helps when i fuck something up.
NixOS 💪💪💪
nice vids man
whenever i try to add my nvidia gpu to my configuration.nix i lose i lose graphical interface and asked to login in TTY. thank god there is a thing called rollbacks. But i give up. my old gpu and limited time does not allow me to run games on linux.
The GOAT returns
I didn't think it would be this easy to configure nvidia drivers and set up Steam. Thank you!
About gamemoderun, mangohud and gamescope, is it possible to use all 3 of them, and how would we do that? Just "gamemoderun mangohud gamescope %command%" on steam?
yes, just chain the commands
@@vimjoyer I don't think I'll have time to try it today, but when I do, I'll let you know.
I just wish we could set up these commands in nix, for all the games
@@viniciusmelquiades Ever figure this out?
@@GiovanniAcosta I just did what I put in the original comment. Unfortunately I couldn't find a way to set it automatically for all games, but I could get back to it in the future. And I had to stop using gamemoderun because it would just cause my machine to crash, and I didn't bother to try fixing it
I would be willing to bet this does indeed work well, but idk where exactly to go to find these configs to edit as I’ve not used Linux that much before. I’ve used it, but not that much.
Would be so sick to have wine prefixes configurable by nix. One day...
Your videos are so sick! As someone who has probably been using Nix for a while, what is your opinion on the recent community issues?
Many distros had community issues over the years. I'm sure it won't hurt nix/nixos in the long run
@@vimjoyerI understand this but as a relative newcomer to the Linux scene who adores the concept of NixOS its quite concerning and off-putting when I hear stuff like the creator getting booted from the project and large contributors getting banned/shadow banned
NixOS is the best distro for everything
absolutely
Yep, and if it does not run in NixOS directly, I just run the application in a distrobox container....
@@MarkRijckenberg
"its the best for everything"
"you need to spin up a bunch of docker containers to get basic programs working"
we are speaking facts with this comment
I ended up using Steam through flatpak and I got better results than with the `programs` entry - though it's been a while since I tried the nix config way.
Might you know of any major differences between those? Or, whatever works - works. And move on :D
Hard to tell, I haven't tried the flatpak version
some things just straight up don't work with the flatpak last time I checked. Eg. you can't connect controllers due to problems with the permissions. Generally when folks say "I'm having XYZ weird problem with Steam on Linux" the first question asked is "Are you using the flatpak version?"
it mostly works but has a variety of non-obvious bugs and limitations.
Great video
What about Intel Arc GPUs?
Suspect the answer to be no. But is it possible to use the integrated AMD GPU on 7950X3D with a discrete Nividia RTX-4090 in a desktop PC?
i.e. connect DisplayPort to motherboard AMD GPU as primary GPU and enable Nvidia GPU for steam games / Blender 3D
I suspect the problem to be passing through the AMD GPU's DisplayPort where some magic is utilized on laptop motherboards.
It is difficult to find any references online and some have claimed it is possible (perhaps with caveats like maybe only integrated Intel)
Not sure about this specific setup, but you can try
Does this use the nouveau drivers or the proprietary drivers?
proprietary
Any advice on the Intel graphics? I just bought one of those 1L Lenovo Thinkcentres.
There seems to be a page about it on the unofficial NixOS wiki, but there's not much information on it. Perhaps you could look for for similar machines on the NixOS-hardware page.
@@vimjoyer thanks, I was just wondering if you had any experience with Intel. Thanks for making a video on gaming.
May bottles be used to run stuff like Fusion360?
Bottles uses wine, so I guess it is your best bet to try any windows software
what about the unFree software bit from a fresh install
Which software your using to edit videos
motion canvas
@@vimjoyer thanks 👍
ProtonGE is not showing up in Compatibility settings. followed instructions to the T
Not really sure, might be a steam issue
I think you need to restart Steam for new compatibility options to appear.
@@Foxfac3 Its cool, i just needed to point our the directory it was to go in with the protonup command instead of setting into in my config. seemed to have sorted things :)
How to run Riot Vanguard on NixOS?😅
Impossible
What is better for gaming ? Gnome or Plasma ? Any suggestions ?
use whichever one you prefer, the performance difference is negligible
why are you vimjoyer when you could be edjoyer
Or echo"">>joyer
Привіт всім! Хочу сказати, що Vimjoyer легенда. Вона навіть не уявляє наскільки вона легенда і наскільки вона гарна, і взагалі ви повинні цінувати Vimjoyer, бо таких як вона не було і не буде. Я б міг багато чого ще написати, але я хочу щоб вона вже зараз про це знала.
bro i was just trying to game on nixos yesterday im afraid now lol
no intel?
i might switch to nixos later
There's not much info about Intel GPUs on NixOS, and I don't have any myself, so I cannot test it. nixos.wiki/wiki/Intel_Graphics
Popular opinion: windows 10 is the best gaming distro
Спасибо вам Юрий за вашу работу ,всегда с нетерпением жду новые видео от вас .Не могли бы вы рассказать в следующем как переключаться с wayland на xorg ,не тянет мой ноут wayland на гноме,и как оказалось переключиться не так уж и просто.Спасибо ))
Vimjoyer, you've got to make a video on how to make NixOS look like windows 7, that would be goated while having this setup for gaming. With aerothemeplasma
You missed the Nix Gaming flake for ProtonGE and Jovian for making Nix act like SteamOS
I mean, Steam isn't broken anymore, so it is easier now.
Lol the first one here
Linux is for lowend gamer, if you want quality like all new Features from nvidia, only windows is the way. Nvidia, HDR, VRR, RTX HDR, DLSS Rayreconstruction, Framegeneratin, GPU undervolting or OC, all together you dont get it at once in linux. Even in 2030 you wont get. The communtity is big on linux but they dont put the efford together. Also to much distros, then not equal kernel version, moddified kernels.... Wayland, x11 or much more, whats the right to choose. Noway, stay away as a gamer from linux if you want quality gaming.
1. You can get DLSS and VRR on Linux.
2. Separate people don't owe you anything, and they won't magically "put the effort together".
3. This video is not for windows users, it's for those who want to game on NixOS. I'm not comparing any distro to windows, because I'd rather stop gaming then use windows.
But still its Not for normal users
Yeah this is pretty outdated, in years past gaming always kept me going back to Windows, but today I can run every game I play on Linux, even high end gfx titles like Cyberpunk w/ full ray tracing and Star Citizen with no performance drop. It just takes an extra step or two on Linux.
The only gamers stuck are sweats who play games with kernel level anti-cheat, and even that will prob get support eventually as Microsoft continues to self-destruct Windows.
The intonation of your voice is quite distracting
sorry
@@vimjoyer No it's not!! It's all fine :3
Could you do too for doing swap and having another ssd as storage with hardware.configuration.nix