Gaming on Ultramarine

Sometimes, you may want some downtime from work and have fun. While Ultramarine Linux is not primarily optimized for gaming, it is still a great platform for gaming, as it already has some performance optimizations applied out of the box, and can be further optimized with some tweaks.

Performance

Gaming performance on Linux will usually be similar (or sometimes even faster) than on Windows, as the Linux kernel is more lightweight and has better memory management. However, some games may not run as well on Linux due to poor optimization or lack of support for Linux.

Running games under Wine/Proton may help in some cases, but it may also causes issues. Your mileage may vary depending on the game.

You can refer to ProtonDB to check if your game is compatible with Proton, and to see what tweaks are needed to make it work.

Gaming Platforms

There are several gaming platforms available on Linux. But the most supported one is Steam, which comes with a native Linux client and has a large library of games that support Linux, as well as Proton for running some Windows-only games.

Steam

Steam is a great PC gaming platform, and it has native support for Linux. Many game publishers publish their games on Steam, and some even natively support Linux. Steam offers discounts for games published on their platform, and also has a built-in overlay for chatting with friends, taking screenshots, and more.

Steam runs on the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF), which essentially means that most of the UI is created using web technologies.

You can install Steam in 2 ways:

1. Install the steam package from the RPM Fusion repository. (system-wide)
2. Install the Steam flatpak from Flathub. (user-only)

The first option is recommended, as it has better system integration. However, the second option is also available if you are running Ultramarine OSTree/Kanopy/CoreOS, or if you want to keep Steam isolated from the rest of the system.

itch.io

itch.io is a platform for indie games, and it has a native Linux client. It has a large library of indie games, and some of them are available for free. You can install the itch.io client as a Flatpak from Flathub.

Epic Games Store, GOG, and Amazon Games

The Epic Games Store, GOG, and Amazon Games do not have native Linux clients, but you can use the Heroic Games Launcher to install and run games from these platforms on Linux.

EA Desktop/Origin

EA Desktop (formerly known as Origin) does not have a native Linux client, but you can either use the Lutris client to install and run games from EA Desktop, or manually install the EA Desktop client using Wine/Proton.

Using a Bottles prefix is recommended for EA Desktop, as it allows you to manage a dedicated prefix for all your EA games.

Ubisoft Connect/Uplay

If you still own games on Ubisoft Connect (formerly known as Uplay), you may be able to run some of them on Linux using Wine/Proton. However, some games may not work due to Ubisoft’s anti-cheat software.

See the Lutris or Bottles sections for more information on running Ubisoft Connect games on Linux.

Simply download the Ubisoft Connect client from the official website, and try running it using Wine/Proton.

Proton

If your game does not support Linux, or the Linux version happens to be inferior to the Windows version, you can use Steam’s Proton compatibility layer to run Windows games on Linux. Proton is based on Wine, and it is developed by Valve.

If the game you’re trying to play doesn’t work on Proton, check back in a week, it’s quite possible that it will work after Proton updates or active work from Valve.

Slow Download Speeds

There have been recent reports of slow download speeds on Steam due to issues with the Steam client and HTTP/2, see the relevant Steam for Linux issue for more information.

If you are experiencing slow download speeds and aren’t sure why, you can try disabling HTTP/2 in Steam by adding the following lines to the ~/.steam/steam/steam_dev.cfg file and restarting steam:

@nClientDownloadEnableHTTP2PlatformLinux 0
@fDownloadRatelmprovement ToAddAnother Connection 1.0

Heroic Games Launcher

The Heroic Games Launcher is a native Linux client for the Epic Games Store and GOG Galaxy. It supports downloading and installing native Linux games from GOG, and running Windows-only games from both GOG and Epic Games Store using Wine/Proton.

Lutris

Lutris is a game launcher for Linux. It supports installing and managing your game library from various sources, including Steam, GOG, EA Origin, and its own community-provided installers. It also supports running Windows-only games using Wine/Proton.

EA Desktop

Games that use EA’s Origin platform or EA Desktop can be run using Lutris. You can install the EA Desktop client using the Lutris installer, and then install your games from there.

Epic Games Store

Please refer to the Heroic Games Launcher section.

Bottles

Bottles is a tool for managing Wine prefixes. It is similar to Lutris, but is more focused on creating and managing Wine prefixes for multiple applications rather than creating each prefix for a single game or application.

Installing Bottles is only supported as a Flatpak. Any other version of bottles is not supported by the Ultramarine Linux Team.

Known Incompatible Games

These games are known to not work on Ultramarine due to various reasons, such as anti-cheat software, DRM, or API incompatibilities:

For more information on other games, you can refer to the ProtonDB website for compatibility reports.

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