Linux that can play windows games

How to Play Windows Games on Linux

Linux might not be the most popular operating system but it sure is one of the best for a number of reasons. It comes with consistent updates that are way better in terms of performance and use compared to Windows for many users. And that is one of the reasons why so many people prefer Linux over Windows.

However, being the most popular Operating System, Windows comes with its own perks and one of them is a massive library of games that are simply not available on any other platform. Fortunately, with the rise of technology, it has become easier than ever to run a Windows game on Linux without much hassle.

So, if you are looking to play your favorite Windows games on Linux and don’t know where to start, we have a complete guide for you right here.

Get Started with Proton

Linux has come a long way with constant updates and improvements and Wine definitely was one of the best things that happened to this Operating System. Wine allowed users to play Windows games on Linux, it did require some work but it massively helped.

But the real change came with Proton which was the result of combined work by Steam and Wine developers. Valve modified Wine and now it’s directly built into Steam for Linux, which makes it all the more accessible and a lot less complicated. Proton is also known as Steam Play and it is super easy to get started with, here’s how:

• The very first thing that you need to do is download the official steam for Linux on your system. You can get the download file from the official steam page.
• Once the file is downloaded, you can proceed to install it by following the simple instruction given on the screen.
• After the installation is completed, you should see Steam on your app launcher.

Play Windows Games on Linux

Once Steam is installed on your PC, you can go ahead and open it up. Steam Play allows you to play most Windows games without having to fiddle around with any setting. These games are pre-verified and certified by Steam before being available to users.

However, you can also run other games that haven’t been certified by Steam yet. Will they work? Well, that totally depends upon the game, many Windows games do work with Steam Play but some of them just don’t. So, it’s a matter of trying but the ones certified would surely work.

To play Windows games on Steam, you would have open up Steam, go to settings, and open up Steam Play settings from the sidebar. Now if you only want to play games that are officially verified by Steam, you will have to leave the “Enable Steam Play for Supported titles” checked. But if you also want to try out the non-certified games from other cheap gaming websites, you would have to check the “Enable for all other titles” as well.

That’s pretty much all you need to do in order to set things up for Steam Play. After that, you can go ahead and continue browsing games on Steam and you will find games for both Linux and Windows. You will see Windows Games marked with “runs on this computer via Steam Play”.

Lutris

Now another way to go about playing Windows Games on Linux is by using Lutris, which is an open-source gaming platform that uses a Wine compatibility layer and acts as a front-end for Linux users to directly download and play their favorite windows games.

Lutris is free to install and can be used to play games from a number of different platforms including Retro games, SNES games, and even DOS games by directly downloading them on your pc from a variety of sources including GOG and Steam. It’s a one-stop-shop where you can find all your favorite video games under one roof. But before doing all that, we need to install Lutris.

You can do that by following these few simple steps:

• The very first thing we need to do is make sure we have Wine installed on our system.
• With Wine out of the way, we can install Lutris by adding Ubuntu’s PPA repository by using the command below:
• $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lutris-team/lutris
• After that update the apt and then install the Lutris
• $ sudo apt update
• $ sudo apt install lutris

Lutris automatically detects games that are available on these platforms and give you an option to directly download them on your device. Both the options are great but Lutris seems to be much more versatile and useful for a variety of reasons.

Technize is a team of tech enthusiasts and experts who loves sharing the best computer hardware, software, and gadgets. We also write reviews on PC Build, networking, computer components, and other related topics. It’s our goal to offer you insightful reviews that will help you in choosing your next computer component or gadget.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Источник

Three Ways to Play Windows Games on Linux

The amount of false dawns for the rise of Linux gaming is beyond measure, but now in 2020 it looks like we finally have breakthroughs on several fronts that we can rely on. Valve has made extensive efforts to make playing Windows games on Linux as seamless as possible, streaming is on the rise, and tried-and-trusted old methods are more stable and reliable than ever.

Here we’re going to show the best ways you can play native Windows games on Linux, along with some basic pointers on how to use them.

1. Steam Play/Proton

Valve may have barked up the wrong tree when it thought that its so-called Steam Machines would democratize gaming for Linux users, but it seems to have finally hit the target with Steam Play. Using a wine fork called Proton – which is built into the Steam beta client – you can play a huge number of whitelisted (and many non-whitelisted) Windows games on Linux.

It essentially uses Wine, DXVK and other established tools behind the scenes so that you can install Windows games on Linux through Steam. Many games have been officially whitelisted and optimised to work with Steam Play, but thousands more games – including the latest ones – are unofficially supported and likely to work too.

To play Windows games that haven’t been whitelisted, select “Enable Steam Play for all other titles” in the Steam Play settings.

2. Stadia/Shadow/Other Cloud Gaming Services

Much ado was made about the fact that Google was entering the game-streaming subscription space with Stadia, but the reality is that such services have existed for quite a while now. They’ve been doing a good job of it too, with Shadow PC streaming on a high-powered ungated Windows 10 PC for a monthly fee of $35.

It may not seem cheap, but you’re not restricted in where you buy your games, unlike Google Stadia where you need to buy games through the service. On the other hand, Stadia can run through your browser and Chromecast, whereas Shadow is restricted to mobile and PCs.

Then there’s Parsec, which is a little cheaper than Shadow for lighter users, and lets you decide how powerful you want your PC to be. It also has great community options, such as letting you play local multiplayer games online.

3. Lutris

Moving away from the big companies now, Lutris is an open-source gaming platform that lets you import your games from GOG, Origin, Steam, Retroarch, you-name-it, into one convenient dashboard, then run them even if they’re Windows games.

Lutris is capable of running hundreds of Windows games via DXVK and Wine, much like Steam Play. The difference here is that Lutris isn’t limited to Steam games and lets you choose which versions of Wine or other runners to use on a game-by-game basis, letting you make the tweaks you want to really optimize performance.

You can even combine Lutris with Proton with a bit of tinkering, using Steam Play’s powerful wrapper from within the Lutris dashboard, where you can also run all your non-Steam games.

Conclusion

The above three methods are your best bets to play Windows games on Linux in 2020. There are a few other possibilities available to you, such as Crossover, or by using a virtual machine with GPU passthrough, but they’re not as efficient as our picks. Linux gaming is getting extremely close to overcoming those ages-old barriers to hardcore PC gaming, and the above options are only going to get more refined with time.

Content Manager at Make Tech Easier. Enjoys Android, Windows, and tinkering with retro console emulation to breaking point.

Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox

Источник

How to Play Windows-only Games on Linux with Steam Play

Game distribution platform Steam has implemented a fork of WINE; it’s called – “Steam Play”. With Steam Play, Linux users can play games available on Windows only. A compatibility tool «Proton» is used for Steam Play to make Windows games work on Linux.

Play Windows-only games in Linux with Steam Play

You need to install Steam first. Steam is available for all major Linux distributions. I have written in detail about installing Steam on Ubuntu, and you may refer to that article if you don’t have Steam installed yet. Once you have Steam installed and you have logged into your Steam account, it’s time to see how to enable Windows games in the Steam Linux client. Suggested Read 📖

Step 1: Go to Account Settings

Run Steam client. On the top left, click on Steam and then on Settings.

Step 2: Enable Steam Play

Now, you’ll see an option Steam Play in the left side panel. Click on it and check the boxes:

• Enable Steam Play for supported titles (This is usually checked by default to let you run supported Windows games seamlessly)
• Enable Steam Play for all titles (With this option, you can try/experiment other games that may not be known to work)

You can also opt to change the version of the compatibility layer (Proton) if you need it. Once you are done selecting the options, hit “OK” and proceed to restart steam in order for the changes to take effect.

To get the latest compatible support, you may want to use «Proton Experimental«. If you want to use a Proton version that is still in the testing phase, Proton Next should be the pick.

In either case, if the game supports a specific version as per your research, you can enable any of the available older versions as well.

For example, I have Age of Empires in my Steam library, which is not available on Linux typically. But after I enabled Steam Play for all Windows titles, it now gives me the option for installing Age of Empires on Linux.

Things to know about Steam Play feature

There are a few things you should know and keep in mind about using Windows-only games on Linux with Steam Play:

• A large number of Window-only games work on Linux using this feature. Some are AAA (triple A) titles, and some are indie games.
• You should not expect for all games to work seamlessly. Some might crash, and some might need a little troubleshooting to make things work with your hardware.
• You can always refer to ProtonDB or Steam Deck verified list to find games that you should try first.
• If you have games downloaded on Windows via Steam, you can save some download data by sharing Steam game files between Linux and Windows.

In addition, you should refer to our Linux gaming guide for more information.

How Do You Identify Games That Work On Steam Play?

I’m sure that you don’t have a lot of free time to download games one by one and test them with Steam Play.

As mentioned earlier, you can visit ProtonDB to check reports/stats contributed by gamers to see what games work and what do not.

Any game that has a rating of silver and above can be tried. However, it would make more sense to try Platinum/Gold-rated games first. The website also lists the games that are Steam Deck verified, which is also an excellent way to know what works on Linux.

You can use that as a reference to decide whether you should download/purchase a particular game.

I hope this tutorial helped you in running Windows-only games on Linux. Which game(s) are you looking forward to playing on Linux?

Источник