PC Gaming on Ubuntu Linux

[HardOCP News]

The crew at Benchmark Reviews happened to do a little PC gaming on Ubuntu Linux recently and they wrote the whole thing down so they could share their experience with you.

In this article I’m going to be talking about PC gaming with Ubuntu Linux. I will discuss several areas that at the end I hope will give you a better understanding of PC gaming on a Linux based OS and how it compares to traditional Windows PC gaming that you may be considering moving away from or to try something different.

 

[OldDeadOne]

From reading the article,it looks like it still has a long ways to go....

 

[weuntouchable]

I'm not even sure what that article was. I was expecting a list of popular games that are fully supported, work correctly via WINE, etc. I was also hoping for some direct comparisons. Instead its an article trying to say that Ubuntu is a 100% capable replacement for Windows with "identical functionality" program offerings and full hardware support.

I like Linux and have tried it a few times in the past, and it can be a full replacement for Windows for a select group of users. But, PC gamers are not included in that group at this time due to the extremely limited catalog available when compared to Windows.

 

[nusse]

I am stoked to see where this goes over the course of the next year. I've been using *nix for many .. many years and gaming has always been quirky to set up and run. But when it worked (using Wine, Playon, Codeweavers, etc) it worked well and in somce cases BETTER than on Windows.

Personally I think the initial dislike of Windows 8 has really helped to fuel the transition to *nix for gaming plus steam and the improvements made, have really made *nix a very viable alternative to gaming on Windows.

 

[PornoSatan]

If Windows 8 is any indication, then Linux doesn't stand a chance - not because of it's lack of games, but because of it's lack of overall familiarity. And I just happened to be on my Linux box while making this post.

 

[TwiceOver]

Looks like gaming on Linux is the same place it's been for the last decade.

 

[Twisted Kidney]

From reading the article,it looks like it still has a long ways to go....

I'm a Linux user, probably for 80+% of my PC time, and you're dead on. It's got a long way to go, it's not the game availability it's the terrible drivers and the lack of usability. If you're new to Linux you can spend hours scouring forums for the console commands that will allow you to set your machine up for a given game.

We won't even talk about the foul creation that is WINE.

The sad thing is that when a company like Valve puts its resources behind Linux support the games can actually outperform Windows games. There just aren't enough Linux machines out there for most companies to justify that expense, at least not unless they have some aspiration toward heading into that space like Valve with Steambox.

 

[Super-D]

If Linux natively supported some good games, I would run it in a heartbeat. I tried running Ubuntu for a few months, and enjoyed it (other than the fact I couldn't play most of the games I wanted). I'm not going to screw around and give myself a headache trying to run WINE. If I want to play games for Windows, I'll install Windows.

 

[thewooster]

From reading the article,it looks like it still has a long ways to go....

It does. I am a linux guy, not a guru, but I've been using Various distros for years and love it. Even still, I keep my windows partition around for one reason: Gaming.

 

[griffinhart]

We won't even talk about the foul creation that is WINE.

Any time I read one of these Linux vs Windows for gaming articles, I give up on it as soon as Wine is mentioned as a part of the strategy.

 

[Master [H]]

That article was terrible. It felt like the starter to something longer, but nothing. Linux has it's place in computing, but it's not a gaming OS. We know how a console works for gaming: pop in the disc and play. Linux is the opposite of this.

I'm pulling for Linux. I've been dabbling in it since high school, but every time gaming comes up, it's a pain. I don't know if it's the variety of distros or what, but gaming support has been less than a Mac.
Linux isn't going anywhere, and maybe some day it will be a viable gaming platform.

 

[heatlesssun]

The biggest problem for Linux desktop gaming and desktop Linux in general is still the numbers. Windows 8.x alone shows up with nearly 10 times the market share as all Linux distros combined. And the numbers are much worse in Steam survey, which 8.x at over 20 to 1 to all of Linux. Ironically, with all of this talk about Linux gaming it seems to be doing worse in gaming circles than even more generally.

I think we're just well past the expiration date of a truly competitive desktop Linux market. It's been almost 2 decades now. After 20 years and the rise of mobile and a still very dominant Windows, the window of opportunity (pun intended) is all but gone.

 

[CreepyUncleGoogle]

The biggest problem for Linux desktop gaming and desktop Linux in general is still the numbers. Windows 8.x alone shows up with nearly 10 times the market share as all Linux distros combined. And the numbers are much worse in Steam survey, which 8.x at over 20 to 1 to all of Linux. Ironically, with all of this talk about Linux gaming it seems to be doing worse in gaming circles than even more generally.

I think we're just well past the expiration date of a truly competitive desktop Linux market. It's been almost 2 decades now. After 20 years and the rise of mobile and a still very dominant Windows, the window of opportunity (pun intended) is all but gone.

It's true...why should any company want to spend a bunch of money developing games for a very, very small market? Linux is okay for a lot of stuff and great as a sneaky-sly computer that hides in a rack someplace where no one ever sees it except through a KVM switch on a pull out screen AND it does okay if you don't really need super accurate conversions of Office documents into something like LibreOffice.

 

[Ashbringer]

Wine is extremely important to get legacy Windows games working. And it barely works. My 8-bit Nintendo has a better chance of working then Wine does.

To give you an idea, I wanted to play Mass Effect 1 on my Linux machine. So I fired up Play on Linux and installed Origin. It failed cause the web based download doesn't work. Gotta have the full install. Ok fine, got that installed and began to download Mass Effect. Except, it didn't work. A flaw in the QT file that comes with Origin that prevents it from downloading. Had to patch it. Finally Mass Effect starts downloading and it takes 4 hours. I could start the game, but I see no full motion video and the game freezes.

Mass Effect is reported to work fine in Wine, but it's not working for me. I can barely get World of Warcraft to work properly. We're talking about a popular game made in 2007, so you'd think it would work perfectly. The problem is the Wine developers are kinda cryptic in their intentions. The paid for version of Wine known as CrossOver, makes me wonder if Wine is ever meant to work properly. The developers are against the idea of a DX9 state tracker, which would allow Linux to run Windows games as if it's meant to be native. Which means nearly 100% speed compared to Windows.

But yea, I got to play Portal on Linux and that works fine. The linux verions that is. Games made for Linux seems to work fine, but it's the Windows games that seems to be like pulling teeth. Even if you do pull the tooth, it may need a root canal.

 

[pxc]

I'm just happy this isn't another Phoronix "linux gaming" link. Because those really suck.

 

[daglesj]

I think if Linux is to properly break through into gaming then it has to be pulled by a dedicated team/company that will have to charge for a fully supported gaming distro.

I don't think it can be done though goodwill/community. It needs a dedicated direction.

The current diluted disparate distro model is just slowing things down.

 

[jwcalla]

That article was terrible. It felt like the starter to something longer, but nothing. Linux has it's place in computing, but it's not a gaming OS. We know how a console works for gaming: pop in the disc and play. Linux is the opposite of this.

I'm pulling for Linux. I've been dabbling in it since high school, but every time gaming comes up, it's a pain. I don't know if it's the variety of distros or what, but gaming support has been less than a Mac.
Linux isn't going anywhere, and maybe some day it will be a viable gaming platform.

But isn't Android just a distro of sorts for Linux and it seems to be reasonably popular and not particularly difficult to use? Kind of a plug-and-play from the consumer perspective?

We just need somebody to do something like that but with a gaming console. Maybe call it... I dunno... SteamOS or something like that.

 

[jwcalla]

When we talk about Linux gaming as a failure, what we really mean is that there is a limited selection of games. Not that there is some technical insufficiency with Linux-based distros. I.e., the problem is ultimately outside of the sphere of influence of Linux developers.

And when we look at the problems of limited game selection, we see that it's just a matter of priorities for game developers. Only indie devs who have no money and three-man shops running in a basement have the time and resources to make Linux and Mac versions of their games. Big AAA studios who make $1 billion in pure profit every hour of the clock just can't afford to make a Linux version of their game (Valve excepted).

 

[DPI]

Let's wait until SteamOS/Steambox actually launches before going and sucking each others d1cks about Windows being the only way to game.

 

[mullet]

OPENGL

/Thread

 

[westrock2000]

When we talk about Linux gaming as a failure, what we really mean is that there is a limited selection of games. Not that there is some technical insufficiency with Linux-based distros. I.e., the problem is ultimately outside of the sphere of influence of Linux developers.

But does Linux have an equivalent of DirectX? I know there is OpenGL, but that is only for graphics. You still need all the other aspects to make the experience work. The sound, the inputs.

Take DirectShow for example. In the early days of Windows (and later days of DOS), you had to jump through all kinds of hoops to make sure a particular program could play a particular movie file. Now, because of DirectShow, you only have to download the codec once to your computer and now any program can use that codec to play movies.

Stuff like that is what made Windows the defacto easy operating system to use as "multimedia" became common place.

You also have Plug & Play, which was a god send from the DOS and Win NT days. I was shocked that even OSX was not Plug & Play...which makes me wonder if that's a limitation of the Unix foundation or because of the expectation of limited hardware on Apple's part.

 

[Ashbringer]

But does Linux have an equivalent of DirectX? I know there is OpenGL, but that is only for graphics. You still need all the other aspects to make the experience work. The sound, the inputs.

Not all Windows applications use every aspect of DirectX. For example Dolphin can use Direct Sound, Xaudio2, and OpenAL. OpenAL doesn't use Directx, and is supported under Linux.

Developers don't worry about audio, input, or networking in OS's. A lot of games exist in Mac OSX and it doesn't use any DirectX. In fact, any game made for Mac OSX is just a few steps away from working under Linux.

Take DirectShow for example. In the early days of Windows (and later days of DOS), you had to jump through all kinds of hoops to make sure a particular program could play a particular movie file. Now, because of DirectShow, you only have to download the codec once to your computer and now any program can use that codec to play movies.

Linux does the same thing with gstreamer. It can use ffmpeg and what not.

You also have Plug & Play, which was a god send from the DOS and Win NT days. I was shocked that even OSX was not Plug & Play...which makes me wonder if that's a limitation of the Unix foundation or because of the expectation of limited hardware on Apple's part.

Linux is more plug and play then Windows is. You can swap motherboards and hardware without any problems, where as Windows goes ape shit and requires a reinstallation along with a phone call to Microsoft.

Linux is not a bad everyday operating system. It's only problem is the ability to use Windows applications on it. Which also includes games.

 

[Wixard]

Maybe valve can make linux a viable gaming alternative. (that and the somewhat easier porting of cross platform games.)

But it's obvious by now that without the support of a large company, it's not going to happen on its own.

 

[jwcalla]

But does Linux have an equivalent of DirectX? I know there is OpenGL, but that is only for graphics. You still need all the other aspects to make the experience work. The sound, the inputs.

Developers can use SDL2 for getting to the other pieces they need. It's completely open-source, royalty-free and cross-platform too.

Take DirectShow for example. In the early days of Windows (and later days of DOS), you had to jump through all kinds of hoops to make sure a particular program could play a particular movie file. Now, because of DirectShow, you only have to download the codec once to your computer and now any program can use that codec to play movies.

Stuff like that is what made Windows the defacto easy operating system to use as "multimedia" became common place.

As Ashbringer mentioned, handling media and codecs is about a zillion times easier on Linux than DirectShow. You can rope the codecs into your own application (like XBMC does) or use one of the system-wide frameworks like gstreamer or ffmpeg.

Dealing with DirectShow is almost barbaric compared to what is available now.

 

[kac77]

.... it's the terrible drivers and the lack of usability. If you're new to Linux you can spend hours scouring forums for the console commands that will allow you to set your machine up for a given game.

Say what? I'm with you on a lot of things, and I think availability is really the issue, or more precisely the game selection being similar.

However, I've been gaming on Linux for years. I have yet to need the console for video drivers or even to install a game. Ubuntu in particular makes it brain dead easy.



How hard is it to select the version of driver you want and click apply?

Want to game? Install Steam.



Click the game and click on Play. If you are going to the console instead then you need examine why you have elected to torture yourself.

Now Wine is a beast. But then again you don't need wine to game. You need it if you want to play a Windows game in Linux when there isn't a port.

 

[pxc]

OPENGL

/Thread

Such shouty to add virtually nothing to the thread.

 

[InternationalHat]

I haven't gamed on it but Mint Mate is really easy to use. I'm pretty confident I could move my parents to it without any real issues.

 

[ecktt]

That article was....shitty. Linux will take forever to become mainstream on desktops, far more for gaming. Here's (imho) why:

1. Linux devs are simply not interested in the standard desktop users.
2. Drivers (esp AMD) are horrible. The semi-functional open source drivers are painfully slow. Hell, installing drivers requires you recompile the kernel.
3. The GUI is buggie as rain forest.
4. Upgrading hardware is a PITA.
5. Technical support expensive or lacking.

If you ever use vi as an editor, you would know who Linux is geared to.

 

[CreepyUncleGoogle]

That article was....shitty. Linux will take forever to become mainstream on desktops, far more for gaming. Here's (imho) why:

1. Linux devs are simply not interested in the standard desktop users.
2. Drivers (esp AMD) are horrible. The semi-functional open source drivers are painfully slow. Hell, installing drivers requires you recompile the kernel.
3. The GUI is buggie as rain forest.
4. Upgrading hardware is a PITA.
5. Technical support expensive or lacking.

If you ever use vi as an editor, you would know who Linux is geared to.

What are you talking about?

 

[ecktt]

What are you talking about?

Why Linux is NOT

Ubuntu is finally in a position to start to challenge the traditional PC gaming market

 

[Ashbringer]

That article was....shitty. Linux will take forever to become mainstream on desktops, far more for gaming. Here's (imho) why:

1. Linux devs are simply not interested in the standard desktop users.
2. Drivers (esp AMD) are horrible. The semi-functional open source drivers are painfully slow. Hell, installing drivers requires you recompile the kernel.
3. The GUI is buggie as rain forest.
4. Upgrading hardware is a PITA.
5. Technical support expensive or lacking.

If you ever use vi as an editor, you would know who Linux is geared to.

1. Linux devs are interested. It's just that nobody is paying them. Donate some money towards them and I'm sure you'll see things progress.
2. Drivers are working fine.

3. I don't see issues on my end.
4. Upgrading hardware is easier. I can swap motherboards without issue. You can't do that in Windows.
5. I never called Microsoft for help, and I won't with Linux. Just Google it or visit forums.

 

[Twisted Kidney]

Say what? I'm with you on a lot of things, and I think availability is really the issue, or more precisely the game selection being similar.

However, I've been gaming on Linux for years. I have yet to need the console for video drivers or even to install a game. Ubuntu in particular makes it brain dead easy.

How hard is it to select the version of driver you want and click apply?

Want to game? Install Steam.

Now Wine is a beast. But then again you don't need wine to game. You need it if you want to play a Windows game in Linux when there isn't a port.

And if you like frame rates that start with a decimal, that's the way to go, but you need to do a lot of customising and fucking around to get most games to run like they aren't installed on a cigarette package. As I said in my post (in one of the bits you cut out) when developers put effort into making their game work with Linux well, I would posit that it outperforms Windows. Most large developers don't do that because there isn't anywhere near enough ROI and most smaller developers don't have the resources.

I won't go into AMD's drivers. Because wow, just WOW. Be glad you have nVidia, we are suffering in the Linux space. That may be a huge source of the frustrating experience I have had in the last four years.

 

[heatlesssun]

1. Linux devs are interested. It's just that nobody is paying them. Donate some money towards them and I'm sure you'll see things progress.

Money always covers a multitude of sins. However one of the arguments for Linux for many years now has been how free it all is. So Linux is free, but if there's something you want that exists for Windows and is cheap of free just give Linux developers money? I remember very well when desktop Linux first started making a big splash and how the Linux community was really into the "it'll all be free" mantra. Big mistake. This was in the 90's and Linux as being taken far more seriously on the desktop than these days because no one was going to turn down a free lunch. On servers the idea worked pretty well. On desktops it never did. On servers though there's much more value added stuff that makes the economics work. On desktops where no one gives to craps about that model it doesn't work. But it does work on mobile devices where again it's easy to sell something else besides the OS.

4. Upgrading hardware is easier. I can swap motherboards without issue. You can't do that in Windows.

Assuming there is support for that hardware in the first place.

5. I never called Microsoft for help, and I won't with Linux. Just Google it or visit forums.

Pretty effective way to deal with Windows given the size of it's base. Heck, for all of those complaining about how hard it use to Windows 8, there's tons of great material.

 

[kac77]

And if you like frame rates that start with a decimal, that's the way to go, but you need to do a lot of customising and fucking around to get most games to run like they aren't installed on a cigarette package. As I said in my post (in one of the bits you cut out) when developers put effort into making their game work with Linux well, I would posit that it outperforms Windows. Most large developers don't do that because there isn't anywhere near enough ROI and most smaller developers don't have the resources.

Sorry but that's just not accurate. Look above you someone posted framerates. Nvidia especially gets pretty damn close to the same frame rates on either platform.

I won't go into AMD's drivers. Because wow, just WOW. Be glad you have nVidia, we are suffering in the Linux space. That may be a huge source of the frustrating experience I have had in the last four years.

Unfortunately AMD's drivers in Linux have been less than ideal. However I knew that going in, so I purchased appropriately. So I just don't have those problems. I game in Linux just how I would in Windows. There's no loss in performance and with Steam I've been gaming pretty hard without issue.

 

[SGA76]

Really wish I had went with Intel or Nvidia for my gpu in my now Ubuntu laptop.
Drivers are easy, like easier than Windows easy. You just pick a driver you want to use and it works. Sure you can mess it up, try to force an install through command line, but you can just as easily pick the wrong drivers for Windows and screw it all up as well.
Our familiarity with Windows just makes saving our current install a bit easier when we botch something.
But I know, Linux doesn't have DirectX. Almost every game is written for DirectX first in mind, some are coded for OpenGL but those are few and far between.
Steam does work native on Ubuntu, and out of a library of over 300 games maybe 50 have a Linux version. Grant it, that's A LOT better than 10 years ago, but its still not high enough to help adoption. Its a step in the right direction.
PlayOnLinux has a boatload of games that run on WINE now. Some even link to sites like GoG.com for easy install and auto configuration. Grant it, it works better with older games and not so good with the newer ones, but its an option and surprisingly easier than you'd expect.
The biggest problem in my opinion, is Linux is still looked at like a geek/ savant OS. That stigma scares normal users away until they actually sit down and work with it, then they're pleasantly surprised that the OS isn't as hard as they thought it was. The familiar structure of programs and control panels are there and easy to get to, software is as easy to install as a click to the software store.
Grant it, you're not going to be dropping in a copy of Office 2000 and getting a clean and pain free install, but there are alternatives is you're willing to do a Google search.
Really, things are MUCH better and more user friendly than ever before, but the stigma of being difficult or a pain in the ass is going to be hard to shed.

 

[Ashbringer]

Money always covers a multitude of sins. However one of the arguments for Linux for many years now has been how free it all is. So Linux is free, but if there's something you want that exists for Windows and is cheap of free just give Linux developers money?

Redhat developers have been big in donating code to get things working in Linux. They have in fact lately shifting focus towards Fedora, their desktop OS. It's not always money, but code. From what I understand is that distros like Ubuntu live off financial donations. For example, HP, IBM, Red Hat, Intel, Oracle, Google, Cisco, and many other companies will donate cash or employee time. AMD has full time empolyees working on open source drivers. Nvidia does not.

I remember very well when desktop Linux first started making a big splash and how the Linux community was really into the "it'll all be free" mantra. Big mistake. This was in the 90's and Linux as being taken far more seriously on the desktop than these days because no one was going to turn down a free lunch. On servers the idea worked pretty well. On desktops it never did. On servers though there's much more value added stuff that makes the economics work. On desktops where no one gives to craps about that model it doesn't work. But it does work on mobile devices where again it's easy to sell something else besides the OS.

It's that hardware manufacturer's have no interest to give Mirosoft money, just to sell hardware. That's what's going on in phones and tablets. Why give Microsoft a dime when Android is totally free? This wasn't really an option for laptops and desktop manufacturer's, until ChromeOS started to threaten Windows. Valve has been a really big push lately. A lot of the reason why lately Linux has so much attention can be thanked to Valve.

Take a look at the list of the companies who donate to Linux. Nearly all of them are in the hardware and support business. Valve's SteamOS promises new hardware sales without Windows licensing to get in the way. It's all about cutting out the Microsoft fat.

I tried Linux back when Ubuntu was 8.04, and it was crap. Linux is very different today, and I wouldn't be using it if it was crap. It just doesn't have the software.

Assuming there is support for that hardware in the first place.

Intel and AMD are very pro Linux lately. AMD made a big announcment to put more iniciative to work on open source drivers. Intel and AMD put support for products into the kernel, long before releasing them.

 

[PornoSatan]

Linux as an OS is so damn simple it becomes complicated. Like just yesterday I had an issue with my wireless adapter not working. I checked the logs and it said it was disabled due to "RF-Kill", which basically meant the physical switch was turned off, but it was in the on position. I went to manually turn it on by using iwconfig wlan0 txpower on and the logs said the operation wasn't possible because of RF-Kill.

So what did I do? Well in Linux everything is a file. So I did a "find / | grep rfkill" and found this file:

/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.0/ssb0:0/ieee80211/phy0/rfkill1/soft

Basically it's the file representation of the rfkill soft lock setting, it was set to 1

I set that bitch to 0 and the wireless activated.

 

[jwcalla]

I won't go into AMD's drivers. Because wow, just WOW. Be glad you have nVidia, we are suffering in the Linux space. That may be a huge source of the frustrating experience I have had in the last four years.

AMD's OpenGL drivers on Windows are pretty shoddy too.

 

[ecktt]

I won't go into AMD's drivers. Because wow, just WOW. Be glad you have nVidia, we are suffering in the Linux space. That may be a huge source of the frustrating experience I have had in the last four years.

Preach it!
I tried to put Linux (fedora, uduntu and OpenSuse) on an Acer 8943G with a AMD 5850 mobile gpu sometime last year. Quake 3 was a slide show. Installing either the 13.4 or 13.12(or was it 13.11) resulted in a Black screen of death on all distors.

 

[dgz]

I'm just happy this isn't another Phoronix "linux gaming" link. Because those really suck.

What? You don't find OpenArena benchmarks all that informing?

Seriously, though. They only test free games and wonder why no one takes them seriously.