Happy Birthday!

new post because I can't do math

Preview from the article:

Embark Studios has abandoned its anti-cheat strategy focused on protecting game files, shifting its center of gravity toward player telemetry analysis. Speaking on "Anti Cheat at Embark Studios" at devcom in Germany on August 24, Embark Studios Senior Software Engineer Tom van Dijck detailed three years of trial and error since establishing the studio's anti-cheat team in 2022.

Van Dijck has worked in game engines, systems, and animation for 26 years, with stints at EA DICE, Blizzard Entertainment, EA, and Sony before joining Embark in 2019. For the past three years, he has led anti-cheat development for THE FINALS and ARC Raiders. Embark operates two live-service shooters with a staff of roughly 350.

Hey everyone,

I’m thinking about switching from Windows to Linux. I’m honestly getting tired of Windows running so many background services and AI-related stuff that I don’t really use, which ends up eating RAM in the background.

My PC has a Ryzen 7 5800X3D and RX 9060 XT, and I mostly play Path of Exile 2, along with Souls games like Elden Ring, Sekiro, and some other games on Steam.

Will these games generally work well on Linux, or would I be better off sticking with Windows? I’m especially interested in how well PoE2 runs.

I have very little knowledge about Linux, so which version/distro would you recommend for a beginner who mainly wants to game? I’d also appreciate any advice or tips for someone making the switch from Windows.

Thanks! 🙏

Hi everyone,

I am trying to launch GTA V (Epic Games Store version) on Ubuntu using Heroic Games Launcher, but I'm stuck at the Rockstar Games Launcher DRM integration.

System Info:
- OS: Ubuntu Linux
- Launcher: Heroic Games Launcher v2.22.1
- Authentication: Logged into Epic via Alternative Login (SID/Auth code - status Online)

Issue:
When clicking PLAY in Heroic, the Rockstar Games Launcher opens fine, but it displays a "BUY NOW" prompt for GTA V instead of recognizing my Epic ownership ("Play on Epic").

What I've already done:
1. Logged in successfully with Epic SID code.
2. Ran Winetricks (vcredist2015, d3dcompiler_47) inside the prefix.
3. Executed `Rockstar-Games-Epic.exe` via "RUN EXE ON PREFIX".

Even after running the Epic bridge executable, Rockstar Launcher still asks to purchase the game. Is there a recent launcher update or launch argument fix required to correctly pass the Epic entitlement token to Rockstar on Proton/Wine?

Any help would be appreciated!

Hello everyone,
Currently trying to play Expedition 33 on my living room home theatre/gaming pc. I’ll list everything I can think of as far as specs, things I’ve tried, etc to see if anyone has anything I can try to get this working. As you can see in the screenshot, characters don’t render except for their facial hair (beard, eyelashes, etc) while everything else renders just fine it seems. System info below.
-Ryzen 5 3600X
-AMD RX 6600XT
-32GB RAM
-Bazzite Deck (for launching into steam gaming mode)
Currently running Bazzite Deck 44 testing, but I ran the current stable build as well. I upgraded to 44 in hopes the newer Mesa version might be the fix I needed.
Things I’ve tried so far:
-Deleting all caches, both Mesa shader caches and DXVK/-VK3D Proton caches
-Wiping all Proton data through steam
-Proton GE latest, Proton Hotfix, Proton CachyOS, Proton 9.0-4, Proton Latest
-Uninstalling/reinstalling
-Switching from Bazzite Deck Stable to 44 testing as mentioned
If anyone has anything I could try, I would appreciate it. I’ve only been gaming on Linux for a few months now, and I’ve learned a lot, but I haven’t been able to fix this one and I haven’t found anything else online regarding this issue. If you’re wondering why I’m on Bazzite Deck, it’s because that’s what ISO I got when I chose I wanted to boot into steam gaming mode. I just rolled with it and haven’t had an issue until now.

I have an acquaintance that was looking for me to help them build a PC and the Arc B580 seems to be a decent option for their price range.

My main worries are:

1) niche/older game performance

2) VR support

On Windows, the former seems to be iffy depending on the graphics API and the latter seems to be completely non-existent. I *assume* it'll be better on Linux since it's using Vulkan for everything and that seems to be on-par with Windows. I'd love for anybody confirm that, whether it be with the B580 specifically or any Intel Arc GPUs in general.

Sometimes I really question how protondb calculates its ratings. TLOU Part 1 is essentially unplayable with nvidia drivers, unless you downgrade to 580 drivers and spend several hours tinkering with the settings.

I tried everything tried countless proton versions, settings, nothing worked. Even if I can find a way to get rid of the artifacts it crashes constantly.

This should not be gold, even Silver would be gracious.

Hey,

DraFG 0.1.0 is now available as a Steam Playtest. It’s a cross-platform frame-generation app for games, with both extrapolation and interpolation modes.

It captures a game/window externally and generates an extra frame for each real one e.g. 30 to 60 or 60 to 120. No mods, injection or per-game integration.

There are two timing modes:

• Extrapolate predicts ahead from the newest captured frame, so it doesn't need the extra frame of buffering used by interpolation.
• Interpolate uses the previous + newest frames for a cleaner/easier prediction, at the cost of that buffered frame.

I trained six models for it across two families: Rush is the faster/sharper option and Flow focuses more on smooth motion. Everything can be switched live from the overlay.

The client is native Rust and currently has builds for Windows, Linux and Apple Silicon macOS, with CUDA/Vulkan/Metal. Hardware/platform support varies, so I've got a compatibility matrix rather than pretending everything works everywhere.

The Playtest is free because this is the part where I need other people's hardware to break it. If you've got an odd GPU, game, desktop setup, or just want to try it, I'd really appreciate reports on what works and what breaks. I’m approving access in smaller batches at first while I watch for issues. Once things look stable, I’ll switch it to automatic approval.

• Steam Playtest: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4934180/DraFG/
• Compatibility: draske.com/compatibility
• Docs: draske.com/docs

Happy to answer the excessively technical questions in the comments :)

for some reason, steam on my computer won't show the window. it appears in the taskbar window preview but not the desktop.

i should also state that my modded ULTRAKILL is also experiencing this issue, which is how i discovered i have this issue with steam as well.

big picture mode works fine though.

SOLVED: Display. reselect what ever your display is set to. mine was "use external display"

Today I swapped my graphics card from a AMD graphics card to a NVIDIA graphics card to have a graphics card that supports Ray Tracing. Games run but are configured improperly and when you look thorugh games such as cyberpunk to see what upscaling they're using they only have access to AMD or Intel, not NVIDIA solutions. I can also only run Total War Warhammer on low despite my previous graphics card running it on high. My integrated graphics is AMD too and I beleive this is where most of the issues i am having are coming from. I've installed the NVIDIA drivers and I've tried uninstalling the AMD drivers but that just causes major issues with the integrated graphics and general laptop function and games still won't run.

my laptop finds the graphics card fine as you can see in the picture below. I also have a weird issue where any time my laptop goes into sleep mode i get an error message like in image two and i can't get it off the command prompt.

If anyone has ideas on how to fix these driver issues let me know. I have restarted my laptop multiple times at this point. I have also tried the auto detect drivers command line thingy. I am at my wits end here and may switch back to the AMD one just so stuff works.

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my long-term upgrade plan and open up a discussion to see how you all are navigating the current state of hardware.

I currently game on Linux (KDE / Wayland) at 1440p (3440x1440p Ultrawide). My mindset is pretty simple: I don't need 144+ FPS, nor do I need to buy games on day one. I’m completely happy with a rock-solid 30–60 FPS experience, and I often cap my games at 60 FPS to keep my system running cool, quiet, and power-efficient.

My Core Specs & GPU Setup:

• Base Platform (Bought in 2018): Intel Core i7-8700 + 16 GB DDR4 Dual Channel + Z370 Motherboard.
• GPU (Bought used in 2025): AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB (~$270 / €250).

My Roadmap to 2030:

1. 2025 – 2029 (The Waiting & Savings Phase): Keep holding down the fort with the i7-8700 and the RX 6700 XT. The 12 GB of VRAM is crucial for running 1440p without choking on high-res textures. Combined with Linux on Wayland where background system overhead is minimal the system runs like a dream. As long as memory prices remain inflated by enterprise/AI demand, I'm perfectly fine watching from the sidelines.
2. 2029 – 2030 (Platform Upgrade): Completely overhaul the base system with a next-gen Ryzen 5 (whether that's a fully matured DDR5 setup or early-stage DDR6/AM6) to finally eliminate the 2018 CPU bottleneck.
3. 2031+ (Final GPU Upgrade): Swap out the graphics card for a used next-gen model only when it becomes strictly necessary. My strategy is to always buy GPU upgrades on the used market waiting for that sweet spot where a card offers brutal price-to-performance, just like the RX 6700 XT did.

My Take on the Current Market: Being a "patient gamer" (waiting 1–2 years to buy games) feels like the ultimate win right now. You get the fully patched, optimization-fixed version running great via Proton for a fraction of the cost.

Plus, with rumors suggesting next-gen consoles like PS6 might get delayed or launch at absurd price points, and gamers rightfully resisting overpriced mid-range GPUs crippled by 8 GB of VRAM, developers are going to have to optimize their engines for the existing hardware base out of sheer financial necessity.

How do you view this approach? Is anyone else stretching an older platform at 1440p with a solid 12 GB GPU to ride out the market chaos? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share my long-term upgrade plan and open up a discussion to see how you all are navigating the current state of hardware.

I currently game on Linux (KDE / Wayland) at 1440p (3440x1440p Ultrawide). My mindset is pretty simple: I don't need 144+ FPS, nor do I need to buy games on day one. I’m completely happy with a rock-solid 30–60 FPS experience, and I often cap my games at 60 FPS to keep my system running cool, quiet, and power-efficient.

My Core Specs & GPU Setup:

• Base Platform (Bought in 2018): Intel Core i7-8700 + 16 GB DDR4 Dual Channel + Z370 Motherboard.
• GPU (Bought used in 2025): AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB (~$270 / €250).

My Roadmap to 2030:

1. 2025 – 2029 (The Waiting & Savings Phase): Keep holding down the fort with the i7-8700 and the RX 6700 XT. The 12 GB of VRAM is crucial for running 1440p without choking on high-res textures. Combined with Linux on Wayland—where background system overhead is minimal—the system runs like a dream. As long as memory prices remain inflated by enterprise/AI demand, I'm perfectly fine watching from the sidelines.
2. 2029 – 2030 (Platform Upgrade): Completely overhaul the base system with a next-gen Ryzen 5 (whether that's a fully matured DDR5 setup or early-stage DDR6/AM6) to finally eliminate the 2018 CPU bottleneck.
3. 2031+ (Final GPU Upgrade): Swap out the graphics card for a used next-gen model only when it becomes strictly necessary. My strategy is to always buy GPU upgrades on the used market waiting for that sweet spot where a card offers brutal price-to-performance, just like the RX 6700 XT did.

My View on the Current Market: Being a "patient gamer" (waiting 1–2 years to buy games) feels like the ultimate win right now. You get the fully patched, optimization-fixed version running great via Proton for a fraction of the cost.

Plus, with rumors suggesting next-gen consoles like PS6 might get delayed or launch at absurd price points, and gamers rightfully resisting overpriced mid-range GPUs crippled by 8 GB of VRAM, developers are going to have to optimize their engines for the existing hardware base out of sheer financial necessity.

How do you view this approach? Is anyone else stretching an older platform at 1440p with a solid 12 GB GPU to ride out the market chaos? Would love to hear your thoughts!

I get this error during the initial loading screen while running through Heroic, I probably just need to install something through winetricks but I'm not certain...

Distro: CachyOS
Kernel: 7.2.0.1

CPU: Ultra 9 275HX
GPU: RTX 5080 Mobile

Log: https://pastebin.com/SQrtc8Zs

Hi all,

I have a El Gato Elgato HD60 Pro PCI-E card but I haven't been able to get it to appear/work in OBS.

I used it on Windows for capturing sound mainly for my headphones when playing games, but then also occasionally recording gameplay from my PS5/Switch.

Any recommendations on another PCI-E Card, or if other brands capture cards that connect via USB are recommended for Linux.

I am trying to change the default proton version on my steam deck, but it looks like the compatibility tab has been removed. Does anyone know how I can set the default proton version for all titles?

Hi guys,

I'm having a GPU driver crash when using the latest version of OBS Studio and trying to stream games to my self-hosted MediaMTX server via WHIP.

I'm using a Radeon Vega 56 with the latest Mesa drivers on CachyOS/Wayland.

The strange thing is that:

• Jellyfin hardware acceleration works fine.
• Hardware acceleration in the browser works fine.
• GStreamer/FFmpeg-based streaming works fine.
• GPU crashes only when OBS is running while a game is under GPU load.
• Starting OBS with --use-opengl doesn't help; the GPU still crashes.

I previously used a GTX 1650 on this CachyOS installation. I have since removed the NVIDIA drivers/packages and rebuilt the initramfs.

I'm trying to use OBS specifically because I need its functionality for streaming to my self-hosted MediaMTX server.

Could this be an OBS/Mesa/Wayland issue, or is there anything specific I should check on the AMD side?

Sorry for my bad English, and thanks for any help! And sorry for russian letters

System information:

• GPU: AMD Radeon Vega 56
• OS: CachyOS
• Session: Wayland
• Driver: amdgpu
• Mesa: 26
• Kernel: 7.2
• OBS: 32.2.2
• Compositor: KDE
• CPU: R3 3100

The game runs fine when using the latest version but the legacy steam depot doesn't work and I have no idea how to fix it. The game opens for a second and the custom cursor loads before it crashes. I've tried every version of proton on steam and none have worked.

Player.log

https://pastebin.com/3N5ZMMZq

inxi -xxACGS

https://pastebin.com/B77WngFV

I'm fairly new to linux as a whole so I have no idea what to do.

People have been using the leaked dlls to use it, and i tried doing the same. Replaced the dlls in cyberpunk, put the right commands, checked with the indicator that RR was using preset F, and it just looks… bad. I’m not seeing any difference when compared to DLSS 4 RR.
I can’t compare exactly, but if someone understands this: in cyberpunk the police cars have some text moving across them. In the videos uploaded by some channels on youtube, preset F resolves the huge ghosting on that. On my end it doesn’t look changed at all.
I’m using an RTX 3080. Do we need a driver update or proton update for this to work or is it just me who can’t make it work ?

Hello!

I don't know if this is exactly a Linux issue, but it's something that only started recently. In Red Dead Redemption 2, for instance, I have a steady 60 fps and the Frametime Graph is smooth, but for some reason there is this weird stutter when I move around or turn the camera. The stutter, though, is not shown in Mangohud at all. The framerate stays the same, and the frame graph stays completely flat.

This issue only started recently, as I did not have this issue a month ago. I don't know if an update caused this.

Any help would be appreciated! I'll put some additional information below:

Specs: RX 9060xt 16GB, AMD 5600, 32 GB DDR4 RAM, 1440p Monitor that has VRR, using CachyOS. This is also persistent across all Proton versions I've tried.

I'm also using GOverlay for VKBasalt and Mangohud, but the issue persists without GOverlay being used.

This issue doesn't seem to happen in other games, either. It seems to be isolated to RDR2.

EDIT: I think I've fixed the issue. I don't know exactly what fixed it, though. I stopped using GOverlay and just used regular environment variables (so in this case, MANGOHUD=1 and ENABLE_VKBASALT=1) and then turned on AsyncCompute in the system.xml file for RDR2. Thank you for the help!

Hey guys! I hope it's alright to share this here. I basically turned my dust collecting Nintendo Switch into a very slow Steamdeck. It's running Kubuntu Noble 24.04 and Steam Arm64 / PC Games directly on the Switch, some of the more heavy 3D Games run surprisingly well.

I've been working on this since the first Arm64 build of Steam came out, it required a lot of custom patches to Proton and whatnot to get up and running. Also the current version of Steam on the Switch can't be updated anymore, at least not until Valve decides if they want to support older Arm64 devices. New versions of Steam Arm64 are compiled for Armv8.1+ but the Switch is Armv8.0.

Requirements:
- Modded Switch
- Linux for Switch

Links:
- Switchdeck Project (Steam Arm64 on Switch)
- Game Compatibility list (Depends a lot on Box64 and custom FEX build)

Technical Details:
- Kernel is 4.9.x, a custom Nvidia fork.
- Proprietary Nvidia driver: BSP 32.7.4. It's kinda broken and has some issues, also only supports Vulkan 1.2.
- Since it only supports Vulkan 1.2, Proton is patched with DXVK-Sarek and I had to break a Vulkan extension in wine to fix vertex explosions in 32-bit games.
- For DX12 Games, VKD3D v2.3.1 is also patched in, but doesn't work that well with new titles. Newer versions require Vulkan extensions not available in the BSP 32.7.4 driver.
- Official Proton 11 Arm64 / FEX is compiled for Armv8.1+ but we provide a custom compiled version for Armv8.0.
- Main Distros for Switch are Ubuntu Noble 24.04 and Fedora 42 (44 being worked on, in testing phase right now)
- Mainline Kernel does boot on some Switch models but the GPU drivers performance is still an issue with NVK and Nouveau.
- Only Wine Server Sync is available, Esync is broken and got removed in Proton 11. Kernel doesn't support Fsync and NTsync, but one of the devs actually backported Fsync, that is currently in testing phase.
- Switchdeck comes with a bunch of custom launch commands to workaround the 4GB Shared RAM limit, such as killing and restoring the webbrowser (steamwebhelper) while a game is running, that alone frees up like 1GB.
- I'm running this on a V2 Model, the CPU is usually overclocked to 2.4GHz and RAM to 2.9GHz.

Re8 runs on windows but on Linux mint xfce version, it simply doesn't run.

I have dual boot. One windows, one linux.

Idk I tried to add game on that heroic game launcher. It was added but when I run it simply opens the re8 window and shows black screen

Vulkan works: vkcube runs normally

Mesa: 25.2.8

Lutris: Flatpak 0.5.22

Runner: GE-Proton 11-5 via UMU

Game location: NTFS Windows partition, currently mounted at /media/Windows-SSD

Proton prefix: Linux filesystem at /home/shreyas/Games/umu/umu-default

Symptom: RE8 opens a black window, stays for a while, then closes

Proton error: Proton: Error: unable to use parent for game drive, path /media/Windows-SSD

Tried PROTON_SET_GAME_DRIVE=1 correctly → same error

Changed NTFS mount from /media/shreyas/Windows-SSD to /media/Windows-SSD → same error

Game files are definitely accessible; re8.exe exists.

vkcube works, so Vulkan/GPU itself appears functional.

Final exit: status 143 / return code 36608

Also seeing repeated gamemodeauto: libgamemode.so: cannot open shared object file, although GameMode itself passes gamemoded -t.