My journey to successfully game under Linux (and overcome Microsoft's Stranglehold)

[igor_kavinski]

Searching for it, two things stand out:

Don't change to DX12 in the in-game settings. It will fail to launch and may require re-installation.

Other thing is to delete the game's compatdata folder (.steam > steam > steamapps > compatdata) or keep the folder but delete everything inside that folder.

 

[igor_kavinski]

If I had the bandwidth I'd do a backup of my BF2 installation and share it with you!

My suggestion is to make a copy of the folder, then search for all files. Delete all the files that look like assets etc. That should trim down the size dramatically. What you should be left with is just DLLs or config files. Give that to Indus. He overwrites his folder with that and maybe it works?

 

[igor_kavinski]

If I had the bandwidth I'd do a backup of my BF2 installation and share it with you!

This also reminds me. When Half Life 2 came out, I was a kid and couldn't afford to buy it so obviously bought a counterfeit CD/DVD. Upon launching the game, it was erroring out on a single file. Got on IRC, managed to find some really nice guy who sent me that measly few kilobytes file and my copy ran flawlessly! That day, I "felt" the true power of the internet.

 

[WelshBloke]

My suggestion is to make a copy of the folder, then search for all files. Delete all the files that look like assets etc. That should trim down the size dramatically. What you should be left with is just DLLs or config files. Give that to Indus. He overwrites his folder with that and maybe it works?

I'm not sure that would work with the way Steam backs up games. I didn't have any luck just copy/pasting the game folders, I had to do a Steam backup and restore from that for my games. I can't remember if BF2 worked that way or if it needed a full download and reinstall.

 

[igor_kavinski]

GitHub - CryoByte33/steam-deck-utilities: A utility to improve performance and help manage storage on Steam Deck.

A utility to improve performance and help manage storage on Steam Deck. - CryoByte33/steam-deck-utilities

github.com

Some people have had luck with that. Something to do with default swap space. Installing that, the default size is increased so that may resolve the issue.

@WelshBloke Let us know your swap size. Then Indus can compare to his swap size.

Some other good recommendations here: https://www.protondb.com/app/1237950?device=steamDeck

 

[WelshBloke]

GitHub - CryoByte33/steam-deck-utilities: A utility to improve performance and help manage storage on Steam Deck.

A utility to improve performance and help manage storage on Steam Deck. - CryoByte33/steam-deck-utilities

github.com

Some people have had luck with that. Something to do with default swap space. Installing that, the default size is increased so that may resolve the issue.

@WelshBloke Let us know your swap size. Then Indus can compare to his swap size.

Some other good recommendations here: https://www.protondb.com/app/1237950?device=steamDeck

I'll check when I get home in the morning, I'm running with 64gb of ram though so I'm probably not using a lot of it!

 

[igor_kavinski]

I'm running with 64gb of ram

THAT could be a clue because in Windows, the swap file automatically gets increased proportional to the amount of RAM so your default size would have to be greater than someone with 32GB RAM.

 

[Indus]

Just suffered my first complete lock up in linux..

Somehow fittingly trying to load BF2 and it was trying to load shaders and it just froze.. that game is really bugged.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Somehow fittingly trying to load BF2 and it was trying to load shaders and it just froze.. that game is really bugged.

Sure that your CPU didn't heat up? Shader compilation is VERY compute intensive and it was what broke Raptor Lake CPUs.

 

[Indus]

Sure that your CPU didn't heat up? Shader compilation is VERY compute intensive and it was what broke Raptor Lake CPUs.

Hmm..

That's not a bad shout.. I know I have a stable system and an air conditioned room, a dual tower cooler and today wasn't very hot but normally games compile shaders is under a minute, usually 20 seconds. BF2 takes like 45 minutes so I let it do it's stuff in the background.

I've run stress tests before for 10-15 minutes to see system stability but never ran it for 45 mins before. However it never happened before when I tried to do the same thing.

If it happens again, I'll definitely pay more attention to cpu overheating.

BTW have you had proton games randomly freeze on you for a second or 2? Is that an indicator of overheating CPU as well?

 

[igor_kavinski]

BTW have you had proton games randomly freeze on you for a second or 2? Is that an indicator of overheating CPU as well?

I have such a huge Steam library that I prefer not to do any experiments with it.

At some point, I think I will need to create a dummy Steam account with some of the duplicate Steam keys I have so I can test stuff out. I think the last time I seriously played a Steam game was maybe before 2020.

But depending on what you are describing, the freezing thing could be related to overheating (could even be NVMe SSD heating up). Make sure that your system isn't dusty and try a few gaming sessions with the case open. If that leads to no freezes, maybe you have an airflow issue.

 

[Indus]

I have such a huge Steam library that I prefer not to do any experiments with it.

At some point, I think I will need to create a dummy Steam account with some of the duplicate Steam keys I have so I can test stuff out. I think the last time I seriously played a Steam game was maybe before 2020.

But depending on what you are describing, the freezing thing could be related to overheating (could even be NVMe SSD heating up). Make sure that your system isn't dusty and try a few gaming sessions with the case open. If that leads to no freezes, maybe you have an airflow issue.

No I run an open case. Temps are pretty solid too but I just remembered I updated my bios.. maybe the Load Line Calibration setting was set to default instead of Mode 2.. and yes it was.

That's probably it!

 

[Indus]

I have a strange problem in Ultramarine Linux..

I use 2 devices for audio..




USB device 004 and 008.



Now the problem is everytime I reboot.. KDE swaps them around.

But both are identical items.. bazzite didn't have a problem with this... fedora didn't have a problem with this.. Cachy didn't have a problem with this.. I wonder why Ultramarine does..

Any ideas on how to fix this??

 

[Indus]

@WelshBloke I had BF2 start once but very laggy after installing Proton 10-1 but like numerous other reviews on ProtonDB.. it starts once and then you can't do it again.

But since it did start once.. I'll keep trying without changing anything. Maybe eventually it will launch.

I also noticed another minor detail.. in steam options I have FPS/ CPU/ GPU/ RAM usage set to show and it shows in every game launched.. but BF2 did not have it.. somehow Steam is not the launcher.. maybe EA games is and that's the problem??

Good thing I've started liking Overwatch 2 that gives me the same kind of fast respawn shooter.. but if you have recommendations for other games like that.. please let me know!

 

[Indus]

@Zepp @igor_kavinski

Have you found a good backup software for fedora/ ultramarine?

In LM/ LMDE I use timeshift but I can't use it on fedora.. people recommend btrfs assistant but I can't get it to work.. seems overly complex.. so have you 2 found a straightforward working software for backups?

 

[igor_kavinski]

Bacula
Kopia
Restic

Though haven't used any of them. I do my backups the old fashioned way. By memory. Usually I can tell what I have or haven't backed up.

 

[WelshBloke]

@WelshBloke I had BF2 start once but very laggy after installing Proton 10-1 but like numerous other reviews on ProtonDB.. it starts once and then you can't do it again.

But since it did start once.. I'll keep trying without changing anything. Maybe eventually it will launch.

I have vsync on and the games pretty much locked at my refresh rate (144mhz). I'm using a 5800x3d and an ati 6950xt. Do your other games run ok?

I also noticed another minor detail.. in steam options I have FPS/ CPU/ GPU/ RAM usage set to show and it shows in every game launched.. but BF2 did not have it.. somehow Steam is not the launcher.. maybe EA games is and that's the problem??

I'll check what mine does in game.

Good thing I've started liking Overwatch 2 that gives me the same kind of fast respawn shooter.. but if you have recommendations for other games like that.. please let me know!

I'm more of a "I don my robe and wizard hat player" so I'm all in on BG3 and Warhammer total war 3. I don't mind a FPS but I can live without them. I know Linux has issues with a lot of anti cheat stuff that's in some multiplayer FPS games.

 

[Zepp]

in recent years I've whittled down my archive to less than 100GB so I also just do backups manually to an external drive

 

[Indus]

in recent years I've whittled down my archive to less than 100GB so I also just do backups manually to an external drive

Since I've never done this before in Fedora.. what do you backup? your /home (complete copy and paste of that?)

 

[Indus]

I have vsync on and the games pretty much locked at my refresh rate (144mhz). I'm using a 5800x3d and an ati 6950xt. Do your other games run ok?

All other games run fine.

PUBG doesn't but I haven't played that in years and I knew about it upfront that it's borked.

And since I upgraded to a 16GB 9060XT.. games run smoother.. don't seem to stress the GPU out that fans need to go into overdrive.. but on a downside.. when I'm closing games.. they take a bit longer to close down ( a few seconds) but I noticed it.

Temps of GPU under 65C (mostly under 60C).

I also have vsync enabled at 144fps and it's so much nicer that I'm pretty much getting 144fps now with very few dips. Quite an upgrade over my GTX 1080.. even though I'm tempted by getting a 9070 (which will create more heat - something I don't want as my room is the hottest room in the house as it's south facing.)

My only complaint is the XFX Led was so bright it was causing me eyestrain and I had to put a shipping label on top of it!

I'll check what mine does in game.

I'm more of a "I don my robe and wizard hat player" so I'm all in on BG3 and Warhammer total war 3. I don't mind a FPS but I can live without them. I know Linux has issues with a lot of anti cheat stuff that's in some multiplayer FPS games.

I also have another free shooter I like to play in TDM bot shooting mode called Black Squad.

That launches and plays just fine. Infact I'm fond of it since it actually uses DX9 so it's quite easy on your system if you feel the urge to shoot a few bots!

 

[Zepp]

Since I've never done this before in Fedora.. what do you backup? your /home (complete copy and paste of that?)

Yep, basically. I have each folder from home directory copy/pasted to primary and secondary external drives. which are just old 2.5" 2TB drives from previously owned laptops.
but reliable brands. Hitachi and Toshiba.

 

[WelshBloke]

Ruh Roh!

 

[WelshBloke]

Ruh Roh!

View attachment 128698

Ok. After that the EA app failed to log in and the game shut down so I launched it again and it started up fine without the EA app doing anything.
Is your EA account linked to your Steam account?

 

[Indus]

Ok. After that the EA app failed to log in and the game shut down so I launched it again and it started up fine without the EA app doing anything.
Is your EA account linked to your Steam account?

Yes. It keeps saying it will not log me in without an EA or linked account.

And it clearly launched and went into game once.. so it was working and I haven't fiddled with anything. It says launching.. tries to launch for 5 mins and then nothing happens and process is killed.

Have to click Play again and start all over but the game actually doesn't launch.

 

[Indus]

@igor_kavinski and @Zepp

Can you please confirm 1 thing with me.. in discovery update app's settings.. your checked repository's are:

Firmware updates:

vendor directory - vendor automatic
lvfs - linux vendor firmware service

Flatpak (default)

Fedora 42 openh264 (from Cisco) -x86_64
Fedora 42 - x86_64 - Updates
Fedora 42 - x86_64

Terra 42 (Extras)
Terra 42 (Mesa)
Terra 42 (Mesa) - Source
Terra 42
google-chrome

Ultramarine Linux 42
Ultramarine Linux 42 - Source

Those are all that should be checked right or do I need any different ones? I clicked off quite a few of the NVIDIA ones and RPM Fusion ones