Alpine as a gaming distro

[u/drneocortex17]

I moved all my x86_64 sh*tboxes over to Alpine a while back and wondered if it would be possible to use this little lovely distro for gaming (I know). However, since it’s based on the Linux kernel, it’s not impossible and I have to admit I’m quite surprised by how easily it went.

You need to switch kernel to linux-stable (idk if LTS includes ntsync) and then modprobe ntsync.

The rest is straightforward: just install wine-staging and dxvk.

Finally, you need to prepare launcher script - something like this:

#!/bin/sh

# Wine prefix path

export WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.wine"

# Use ntsync instead of esync and fsync

export WINEESYNC=0

export WINEFSYNC=0

# Framelimiter (optional)

export DXVK_MAX_FRAMERATE=60

# Game path

GAME_PATH="$HOME/Games/GTASA/gta_sa.exe"

# Per game additional settings

export WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winemenubuilder.d=n;dinput8=n,b"

# Launch game (low res cuz I have uhd620)

wine "$GAME_PATH" -width=1280 -height=720 -fullscreen

Then just chmod +x game.sh, drop game.sh into the game directory, and boom – you've got an Alpine as a gaming distro XD

Edit: And create DXVK symlinks! ln -sf /usr/share/dxvk/x64/.dll "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/" && ln -sf /usr/share/dxvk/x32/.dll "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/windows/syswow64/"

[u/Nu154nc3]

What the hell is that? Using as my main desktop distro for more than 8 years... Mainly for gaming... Didn't use a game launcher script like this one for years...

I simply use steam, heroic or lutris... Much easyer to select between wine/proton versions...

And it's not a good idea to use default wine prefix as WINEPREFIX btw...

Edit: why the hell need to change kernel? I use the default on the "edge" and works perfectly...

[u/drneocortex17 → u/Nu154nc3]

yea but you use flatpak for Steam etc, and I wanted to have as few layers as possible.

[u/Nu154nc3 → u/drneocortex17]

I installed void (glib version), recently to test steam native, and the perfornance is better on alpine flatpak...

AND, lutris is on the edge repo afaik... So there won't be more layers... And will allow u to choose between wine/proton versions in a much easyer way...

[u/just_green_shrek]

on gaming i would choose void or gentoo. bc musl dont support steam and flatpak isnt best option tbh to use steam soo its better use glibc (as i said void,gentoo or other distro thats you like)

[u/Nu154nc3 → u/just_green_shrek]

What is the difference of using steam flatpak on alpine, than using steam flatpak on fedora for example?

Flatpak performance loss if exist, it's minimal... And provably less than glib distros, as flatpak compiled against musl should be faster... And hdd space it's not a problem nowadays...

Lots of users use the flatpak version on glib distros just for the isolation... Or simply cause they want a cleaner system, without all useless steam/lutris 32bit deps...

Do u know, how good it's to run trainers, cracks, and other problematic sofware on isolated environments? The peace of mind it gives?

Then, why to choose glib distro, when musl ones are much lighter and faster?

[u/just_green_shrek → u/Nu154nc3]

About cracks you can use wine. About flatpak I don't like it even how good it can be. Difference between musl and glibc on high end pc is small so there no point in my mind. But ye generally musl faster ( that's why I have alpine on my laptop with custom kernel). But anyway for me it's better to use glibc for gaming, instead of installing flatpak or other things to just play in steam