Our computers are not only our digital communications and business tools, they are also a major source of entertainment. As we wind down from our work we like to log on and relax and de-stress with some fun. If you are wondering if there is a way for you to do that on Linux you are in luck! There are a number of existing games that run natively on Linux and that number is growing. In addition there are several methods which allow you to even run Windows games too!
This is a large section of our digital footprint and I would like to go over just a few examples of how you can get started.
Here are some basic categorizes that will get you started
Steam Games
Native Linux Support - Will Cover a bit on this post
Proton Compatibility Layer - will cover on subsequent posts
Games run through an Emulator
dosbox - old games like “the Aethra Chronicles” that are either shareware or have been released into the public domain. These often run just fine and many have aged quite well!
Wine - This is a Windows Interpretation program that runs Windows programs without Windows. It allows many windows games to be run. - Will be covered in subsequent posts
Native Linux games that are free and Open Source -
Since the dawn of Computers folks have been writing games like “Zork” , “Adventure”, and “Rogue”, so this community has a lot to offer. Really it is the design of the game not necessarily the graphics card that makes a good game. We see this in Movies and new games which seem to have all fluff but no substance. There is a reason why things like “Monopoly”, “Risk”, and Chess are still popular! But don’t think that there are only text or simple graphics available here - this is growing too! - This will also be covered in subsequent posts.
Steam Games
Steam has an application that is available through the Software Manager. You can find Steam by searching in the Software Manager (as the below example shows with Linux Mint):
I do, in fact. Time has been missing from my life the past few years, so I am falling a bit behind on that aspect!
Steam Play is actually as easy as activating an option in preferences. Then you can have a look at the game you’d like to get and then look at how it performs under Linux here:
Steam Play is Proton then? I’m using Proton-GE, which is the experimental version. PoE runs like a sputtering troll on it. I’ve been meaning to try other versions to see if it helps at all.
I would love to know more about your Minecraft success. On my Mint Cinnamon system, MC runs but is laggy. I administer a family MC server (through a hired server service) and really need it to run so I don’t have to switch to Windows to run it successfully. Are there some tweaks I could make that might fix my lag problem? It runs fine in Windows, dang it!
Hello, sounds like you need to allocate more memory for the game.Try this How to Allocate More RAM to Minecraft .I run an amd 8350 8 core processor at 4gig per core, with 4 memory sticks 16 gig total. minecraft is a big resource hog and needs that much horsepower to run without lag or crashes. So i guess more horsepower under the hood also helps.
Thank you. I have looked at that site and it offers some ideas, but I’m still stuck. I know immediately how to tell how much RAM I have in Windows, but haven’t been able to find that information in Linux, and I don’t remember how much I have (although I think my system is a reasonably good one.) I COULD boot back into Windows and look it up (dual boot system), but I want to learn how to do it in my preferred OS. Where would I find system information about how much RAM I have?
Next, the article suggests using the Default Launcher to allocate RAM. I tried following those instructions, but the JVM Arguments box doesn’t exist in my installation. Apparently not an option!
Method 2 is all about allocating RAM in Windows 10, obviously not applicable, but the java command line might be work (no doubt showing my ignorance here) IF I knew where to find the folder containing my Minecraft server directories. I don’t know enough about Linux to understand how the directories are organized, and can’t find it.
Method 3 refers to ATLauncher. No idea what that is. Same for Method 4, Twitch/Curse Launcher.
Can you offer further guidance? I’d really appreciate it!
Hi twitch/ curse was a 3rd party minecraft launcher, which enabled you to mod minecraft and add all kinds of mods using curseforge. Now it’s called overwolf launcher. I will look for the linux java setting. Oh and look under system settings and hardware for specs
Scroll all the way down, in the “Info:” category. You’ll see the Memory: 15.58GB - which is rounded to 16GB (as systems go by 8GB, 12GB, 16GB, etc.).
Having established that I have plenty of memory, now I need help telling Minecraft how much memory it may use. Suggestions? I still need to get Minecraft working well.
Steam on Linux also offers a Compatibility layer by integrating ProtonDB as an option in the setup of games which do not run natively on Linux. The following article has a nice explanation of how to get this setup and running.
Here is an example from my own setup for “Borderlands 3” which uses the ProtonDB Compatibility layer. I have chosen to use a stable release of ProtonDB rather than the latest Beta release because I want to work out all the particular issues. This is still a works in progress for me so I will post as I am successful in running this more challenging game.
The ProtonDB compatability layer has to download as would a regular game and you will find that each game that you setup to use ProtonDB will require some extra download and some extra computation. For instance, I have set things upon launch to pre-calculate shaders and cache them to save time.
For now this will get you started, and I suggest you choose one of your games that does not tax the most out of you system as your first attempt.
Well it looks like Will Welker has posted some good information as well over on the Jeff.pro Telegram Chatroom. Here is a link to some additional information on running Windows Games on Steam using Proton: How to use Steam’s Proton to play Windows Games on Linux
-Caleb C (Thanks Will!)
