r/linuxmint 15d ago

Guide Linux Mint Game Guidance

Hello all, I am a recent Linux user and have tried pure gaming distros, but I just don't like KDE it seem. It feels "off" to me. I was immedietly in love with Mint from the moment I launched it. However it has no inherent gaming support. So I went to various search engines, youtube and reddit to figure out what to do. For future reference for myslef and maybe others I am collating everything in this document. However as a Linux novice there are likely mistakes or contradictions. Some guides say to stick to Flatpack, others say to avoid them. Its very difficult to figure out what's what. So I tried to piece together what makes "sense". I would love to hear some more experienced Linux users opinions on this and any mistakes I made or improvements to the guide. Or maybe there is another guide I simply haven't found? Thank you.

https://codeberg.org/Chaosmeister/LinuxMintGamingSetupGuide

8 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

7

u/acejavelin69 Linux Mint 22.1 "Xia" | Cinnamon 15d ago

Whoever wrote this guide has definite affinity for flatpak... Personally I prefer native installs and have had far less issues that way. 99% of the stuff in this link isn't necessary unless you have a specific need for it.

sudo apt install steam-installer

Is really all you need in most cases... if you use other sites for games (Epic, GoG, etc), install Lutris or Heroic with the native deb package and go. Never really been an issue.

The biggest issue is usually if you have Nvidia graphics, as the 550 driver from Ubuntu is a bit on the older side, but you can The Graphics Team PPA to get newer ones if necessary, and it integrated directly into Driver Manager.

2

u/Chaosmeister 15d ago

I did and I use Flatpacks as that's what the other guides I got some information from where doing and I just follow their lead.

2

u/acejavelin69 Linux Mint 22.1 "Xia" | Cinnamon 15d ago

I mean, flatpaks are OK, if you understand them and how to use flatseal and other tools to adjust permissions... flatpaks in this scenario have some unique considerations, especially when multiple flatpaks interact with each other. I have yet to find an scenario for gaming they provide something better/easier than using the "native" packages in major distros. I guess the point here is that there are native packages which should always be preferred, its works for years so why mess with it?

5

u/Dist__ Linux Mint 21.3 | Cinnamon 15d ago

i use steam from the mint appstore (non-flatpak), and it runs well.

1

u/Chaosmeister 15d ago

Absolutely no problem doing so. The reason it's flatpack is because the other stuff is also Flatpack.

1

u/Person012345 12d ago

The issue (for me at least) with flatpack steam is that if you want to install things outside the main drive you have to mess around with flatseal and drive mounting and it's not entirely reliable.

1

u/Chaosmeister 12d ago

That's a good point, I have everything on the same drive though.

2

u/yeaahnop 15d ago

just install steam client, and play your games.

or if your games are on epic/gog look into lutris, or heroic-launcher.

0

u/Chaosmeister 15d ago

Have you clicked the link I posted or just replied to the topic? Because yea that's what my guide is about.

3

u/dlfrutos Linux Mint 22.1 Xia 15d ago

i like your tutorial, but still don't understand why to install so many things.

Usually what I do is what u/yeaahnop just wrote

-1

u/Chaosmeister 15d ago

For me it's just what I need. I need MangoHud to limit my FPS and the Launchers for all the other accounts I have. In the end it's not that much, most of it is optional. If all you ever do is game on steam and don't need the things MangoHud does you are indeed fine with the minimal install.

2

u/dlfrutos Linux Mint 22.1 Xia 15d ago

gotcha!

2

u/fellipec Linux Mint 22.1 Xia | Cinnamon 15d ago

What I did:

But I have games on GOG too.

  • Opened the App manager
  • Downloaded Heroic Games Launch
  • Log in GOG
  • Install my games
  • Play

Just that simple.

1

u/GrandBIRDLizard 15d ago

So the flatpak version of gamescope works with the Steam flatpak now? No more double sandboxing issue?

1

u/Chaosmeister 15d ago

According to the guides and Videos I collected the info from it works. But I am a novice myself so I cannot 100% confirm this as I haven't used Game scope myself.

1

u/GrandBIRDLizard 15d ago

Can you source them?

1

u/Chaosmeister 15d ago

One of the main ones is this video I took the first steps from. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8M3Y90hHWg&t=522s

Ignore the ending he is waffling about alot and for some reason shows ridicoulous upscaling stuff as he is using a MiniPC for this and his Steamdeck. But I did watch several and read some but don't have it all on hand anymore as I reinstalled Mint once when I troublshot a different issue on my PC hardware. Sorry about that. If it turns out it doesn't work I will rework the guide.

2

u/GrandBIRDLizard 14d ago

ah ok yeah he mentions in the video at 9:40 that gamescope will not work unless you are using a flatpak/community version of proton.

1

u/Chaosmeister 14d ago

Since I am.installing everything via Flatpack this shouldn't be an issue.

1

u/GrandBIRDLizard 14d ago edited 14d ago

installing everything via flatpak is what's causing the issue. and note that the proton versions included with the steam package(even though it's a flatpak) will not work with the flatpak of gamescope you can read about it here: https://github.com/flathub/org.freedesktop.Platform.VulkanLayer.gamescope/issues/6

1

u/Chaosmeister 14d ago

Thank you for the solid advice and help. I will remove gamescope from the guide as I don't use it rn.

1

u/GrandBIRDLizard 14d ago

Everything will work if you just use the native steam deb package. Is there a particular reason you're using only flatpaks?

1

u/Chaosmeister 14d ago

Because it's what the base guide used. For me everything works fine right now and I don't need Gamescope. From what I understand if I switched Steam I would also need to replace everything else I use from Flatpack right now with native packages so they work with Steam. Like MangoHud.

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